The band plays on as a Titanic 1500 yrs of European civilization parties while sinking beneath the waves of invasion and self destruction. And president wrecking ball has made sure we're only 1-2 yrs behind Europe!
nytimes.com
<Partying Underground in Paris’s Secret Corners
By SARA LIEBERMAN
APRIL 1, 2016
Slide Show
SLIDE SHOW|7 PhotosUnderground Parties in Paris
Underground Parties in Paris
CreditDmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times
PARIS — Inside an abandoned seven-floor, 70-room house near the Arc de Triomphe, more than 650 revelers in floor-length gowns, curly white wigs and feathered masks gathered on a Friday night in January.
A nearly nude woman with a giant bouffant and flower-adorned underwear performed a sultry dance with pink wings, while a contortionist spouted French obscenities. At the bottom of a sweeping grand staircase, a four-piece band performed while couples waltzed.
For five years, a renegade group known as We Are the Oracle has been hosting such semi-secret parties in elusive sites throughout Paris, including the catacombs, empty railway tracks and abandoned chateaus. And not always legally.
What began as a word-of-mouth soirée among the city’s elite influencers has evolved into seasonal theme parties that combine the mystique of “Eyes Wide Shut” with the energy of all-night raves and the theatrics of “Sleep No More.”
When the invitation for the masquerade ball was unveiled last October, through a video that promised an epic party called “Venise Sous Paris” (or “Venice Under Paris”), it created intense intrigue. “OK, get your plane ticket!” proclaimed Marina Smith of Nova Scotia, who shared the invitation on Facebook.
Over two weekends in January, 2,800 attendees from as far away as Australia and the United States paid 61.50 euros (around $70) to dress like Venetian noblesse, sip Champagne and dance like Casanova until 2 a.m.
The next event is called “The Soviet Factory,” and it is scheduled to take place April 29 and 30 at a location that will be revealed a day before the party. Some 2,000 guests are expected to adhere to a Communist-chic dress code.
The parties were dreamed up by Foulques Jubert, 29, a former business student who spent a year attending 24 festivals in 13 countries (including Burning Man in Nevada and Tomorrowland in Belgium) to learn how to bring similar spectacles to Paris.
In 2011, he started a production agency, We Are the Oracle (a.k.a. WATO), choosing the name for the mystique it connotes. An early event took place in the catacombs of Paris, where Mr. Jubert and his team held a 40-person candlelit dinner party 100 feet below the Place d’Italie in the 13th Arrondissement.
“We had to walk for 30 minutes with chairs on our backs,” Mr. Jubert said. “It was really commando, and we weren’t discreet at all. It was stupid, but it was our first.” (Stupid, because the police came and everyone had to hide, which, of course, contributed to the party’s hype.)
Turns out, Parisians were looking for something beyond sipping Bordeaux on a terrace or waiting in line at the nightclub Silencio. “You’re diving into another world or another universe,” said Vincent de la Morandière, 40, a lawyer in Paris who has attended four of these events. “It’s a smart way to party. A pub or a disco is very boring, and so is going to a show where you stay in your seat.”
At We Are the Oracle parties, he added, “You are the show.”
The next party had a Cosa Nostra theme and took place at an abandoned farmhouse in the 11th Arrondissement. This time, town hall came knocking, but instead of shutting it down, town officials were eager to collaborate, offering Mr. Jubert after-hours access to city museums, swimming pools and other locations.
Our goal “is to have an interesting offer in night life, not just restaurants and clubs, but atypical night life,” said Frédéric Hocquart, a special counselor for the Town Hall of Paris. “It will make Paris more attractive to Parisians, but also abroad. This is why we support WATO.”
Subsequent parties became less covert but evolved into larger affairs with dress codes, themes and entertainment. In 2014, Mr. Jubert turned the Espace Glisse skate park in the 18th Arrondissement into a desert oasis with 60 tons of sand. An orchestra played the theme from “Lawrence of Arabia” as 3,500 guests smoked hookahs, rode camels and received henna tattoos.
As the parties’ reputation grew, so did the pressure to raise the level of extravagance. “Venise Sous Paris,” for example, took a year to plan and cost more than a million euros to produce.
That party was supposed to take place at the Richard Lenoir vaults, the water-filled tunnels under the Place de la Bastille between the fourth and 12th Arrondissements. But three weeks after it was announced last October, the city was struck by terrorism. The police thought that the canals were too dangerous, so Mr. Jubert looked for a new setting.
“Canceling was an awful option,” Mr. Jubert said. “We needed a venue that was attractive, exclusive and never used. Somewhere we could maintain our theatrical plans.”
After an extended search, his group settled on a house that once belonged to Calouste Gulbenkian, a British businessman who died in 1955. While guests were no longer “under Paris,” the concept was still a Venetian masquerade.
“I’d never been to Paris, and this seemed like the perfect excuse to come out for it,” said Phil Warren, 32, a research engineer who traveled from California and wore a black cape and mask with LED lights for that party. “I’ll pretty much do anything if it’s weird enough.”> |
