Sandra Collins

outside Avalon NYC

Sandra & Vello

(main page fireworks photo from the free public domain photo site http://pdphoto.org)

If you are reading this, then you probably like DJs and electronic music, which means you are likely to go out frequently to clubs or large events (or have done so in the past), and THAT means (the editors of this being experts on this particular demographic) that come New Year's Eve, you do one of two things. #1 - stay home. Yep, in our completely unscientific survey, a full 50% of you chose to stay home this year! What are you getting old? Learned your lesson from past years out on "amateur night"? Or were you one of the unfortunate ten thousand or so who bought tickets to GIANT in Los Angeles to discover it was "postponed" till summer due to rain and safety concerns? (Ouch.) #2 - You went out to some fabulous club and hung out in the DJ booth with the superstar DJs, sipping champagne till 5 in the morning and snapping unforgettable photographs. Oh, that would be Carl, our writer. Some guys have all the luck! At least he's sharing the story...

Avalon NYC: Sandra Collins drops bombs while Paul Oakenfold disappoints
Report and photos by Carl Noone Jr.

New York City revelers were treated to an exciting evening of incredible progressive dance music and mind-blowing visuals as the Perfecto Records team-up of Sandra Collins (along with her VJ extraordinaire, Vello Verkhaus, in a one-of-a-kind tag team set) and Paul Oakenfold, tore things up for one of the most memorable New Year's Eve parties this writer has had the opportunity to cover.

Manhattan's Gothic cathedral-turned-nightclub, Avalon, (formerly The Limelight) was the staging ground for a power-packed evening of drink and dance that turned the near-legendary space into a virtual Disney-ish playground, complete with massive ice sculptures, beautiful ambient lighting, and plenty of smiling faces, minus the normal attitudes and posing.

The usual fare of an open bar with noisemakers, champagne toasts and overflowing VIP booths were the norm when the festivities began, as the posh upstairs Spider Club throbbed with the sounds of Queen and Billy Idol.

After welcoming Sandra into the building, I quickly bolted up the maze-like corridor of stairs and hallways that lead to the plexiglass enclosed DJ booth. Housing its own bathroom, leather couch, and accent lighting, the booth quickly became the focal point of the evening as the warped images of Ms. Collins' face beamed across the huge video screens in eerie synchronicity to her hypnotic beats.

The Stoli and Alize' flowed like a fondue fountain as this makeup-clad urban temptress took the throng from well before midnight long into the night with a set that combined a few familiar classics with some spectacular new tracks and remixes, all taken from her collection of CDs for an incredible, 4-hours-plus CDJ-only set.

Dressed in a leather mini, complete with dangly chains and a thick band of dark eye makeup across her face, her tracks seemed as hard and twisted as she looked, yet flowed together like the perfect wave, each lunge from the Pioneer and Rane equipment prompting a returning thrust from the crowd, both in the booth directly behind her and on the packed floor, in perfect synchronicity.

And just like good sex, climaxes came and went all night as the nearly-sober and always sexy Sandra grasped my hand, leaning into the rotary mixer and holding on for dear life as another wave came rushing back from the crowd. With the Sasha remix of "Insomnia" by Faithless leaving a mark deep in my mind, our embrace was broken by the news that Paul was soon to arrive and all her guests were to vacate the booth.

Unfortunately, as quickly as Vello and Sandra welcomed the long-haired disheveled-looking Oakenfold and his massive reality series-taping entourage to the booth and said their goodbyes, the 4:50 am crowded dancefloor quickly became sparse and unresponsive, proving that Ms. Collins, just like a good orgasm, had truly sent the room somewhere they weren't able to return from for some time.

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