Jeffrey Sanker has died.

[+ Charlie]

Sanker, 65, died of cancer in Los Angeles. He was the founder of the annual White Party in Palm Springs in 1990, which has become the biggest circuit party in the US, attracting up to 30,000 participants (that's even bigger than the Palm Springs Weekend!). The party has had to be cancelled the past two years because of the pandemic. The City of Palm Springs awarded him a celebrity star on Palm Canyon Drive downtown, in honor of of the renown he brought to Palm Springs as a gay destination.

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Is this the same Sanker who moved his circuit parties to MX when the States wouldn't let large gatherings happen due to superspreader COVID fears?

[+ Charlie]

45 minutes ago, Benjamin_Nicholas said:

Is this the same Sanker who moved his circuit parties to MX when the States wouldn't let large gatherings happen due to superspreader COVID fears?

I believe that it is.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Benjamin_Nicholas said:

Is this the same Sanker who moved his circuit parties to MX when the States wouldn't let large gatherings happen due to superspreader COVID fears?

No, it's the other Jeffrey Sanker circuit party promoter... 🙄

[CuriousByNature]

1 hour ago, Unicorn said:

No, it's the other Jeffrey Sanker circuit party promoter... 🙄

Why the sarcasm? Surely in a country of 300 million people there can be more than one party promoter named Sanker.  Particularly since there is a 30-year span between the original Palm Springs parties and covid, right?

[Guest]

1 hour ago, CuriousByNature said:

Why the sarcasm? Surely in a country of 300 million people there can be more than one party promoter named Sanker.  Particularly since there is a 30-year span between the original Palm Springs parties and covid, right?

Who's the sarcastic one? BN or myself?

[CuriousByNature]

7 hours ago, Unicorn said:

Who's the sarcastic one? BN or myself?

The way I read it, he was just asking Charlie a question.  I did not see anything sarcastic in that.  But your response rang a bit snarky, to me at least.

[MiamiLooker]

3 minutes ago, CuriousByNature said:

The way I read it, he was just asking Charlie a question. 

Ummmm....a simple Google search would have easily answered the question, if there really was a question.

[CuriousByNature]

Sure, but is there anything wrong with asking the OP instead?  Have we all become so antisocial that we have to use google first, before asking one another questions?  I sure hope not!

[+ Lucky]

Jeffrey Sanker created an event that became huge. I went to one WP dance, but no other events. (They became a whole weekend full of events.)

They were expensive but fun. Drugs became a big deal as it seemed one must get high to have maximum enjoyment. So the City  of Palm Springs found itself in a position of endorsing and promoting an event where they knew drugs were paramount.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, CuriousByNature said:

The way I read it, he was just asking Charlie a question.  I did not see anything sarcastic in that.  But your response rang a bit snarky, to me at least.

BN's response was not a real question, just a sarcastic comment. My response was to point that out. 

[+ WilliamM]

2 hours ago, Unicorn said:

BN's response was not a real question, just a sarcastic comment. My response was to point that out. 

Why is that a problem?  Clearly, not everyone liked him.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, WilliamM said:

Why is that a problem?  Clearly, not everyone liked him.

Not really a problem, but if someone wants to criticize a recently-deceased person in a string which was begun in order to memorialize said person, I'd prefer if he just come out and say it, rather than make snide, passive-aggressive comments...

Edited May 31, 2021 by Unicorn

[+ Charlie]

I understood that BN's question was not really a question, but a comment about the one and only Jeffrey Sanker, and my deadpan answer was an acknowledgment of that fact. Sanker was a controversial figure within the gay community, and he received criticism for moving his circuit party business to Mexico when those events were prohibited in the US because of the pandemic regulations (I suppose he could have held one in Sturgis, South Dakota, but it probably wouldn't have been as successful there).

[+ Charlie]

5 minutes ago, Unicorn said:

Not really a problem, but if someone wants to criticize a recently-deceased person in a string which was begun in order to memorialize said person, I'd prefer if he just come out and say it, rather than make snarky, passive-aggressive comments...

In case anyone wonders, my post was not really intended to memorialize Sanker, but simply to inform those who were interested that a well-known figure in the community had died. I have no personal knowledge or opinion about the man.

[CuriousByNature]

This was the first time I ever heard the name Sanker, so my own ignorance evidently led me to missread the tone of the various replies.  Not the first time, and likely not the last...!

[kingsley88]

@CuriousByNature same here. Never heard of him but then again I've never been to any circuit party nor did I ever go to Palm Springs before April of this year. 

[CuriousByNature]

45 minutes ago, kingsley88 said:

@CuriousByNature same here. Never heard of him but then again I've never been to any circuit party nor did I ever go to Palm Springs before April of this year. 

I don't even know what a circuit party is... a gathering of electrical engineers?

[Guest]

2 hours ago, CuriousByNature said:

I don't even know what a circuit party is... a gathering of electrical engineers?

Same here...but since Sturgis is mentioned, I’ll note that one poster (back in August) even referenced Sturgis and attendees as candidates for the Darwin Awards for potential Covid implications.  Yet, here, in a “closer to home” situation, there is barely tacit mention of the global health implications of an intentional circumvention of venues to allow the “show to go on.”  And that doesn’t even address the comments admitting the irony of municipal authorities who are tacitly “endorsing and promoting an event where they knew drugs were paramount.”

I’m avoiding comments making political/socioeconomic references since this is The Lounge, but I hope the irony is not lost on y’all.

Now, I guess I’ll go look up this guy and google “white party” too

Edited June 1, 2021 by BnaC

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Yep, I was being ironic.  Sanker was a shithead.  He was not known in many circles for being a kind man.

Uni's reply to mine was fine.  Circular snark doesn't bother me.  It actually made me chuckle

 

 

 

Edited June 1, 2021 by Benjamin_Nicholas

[+ Lucky]

17 hours ago, CuriousByNature said:

I don't even know what a circuit party is... a gathering of electrical engineers?

No, no, you bring circuit breakers and see who can pop theirs first!

[caliguy]

Hopefully this is the party's over studio 54 moment for the white party and circuit parties in general. They served a purpose long ago as fund raising for HIV charities but mostly just comradery when we were more isolated back before the internet and Grindr. They're outdated now though. Nothing but venues for tweakers and Sanker got filthy rich doing them. 

I wonder how many guys became meth addicts and hiv positive during those wknds?  I’ve been to the 3 white parties and it's always the same. 

 

 

Edited June 1, 2021 by caliguy

[Luv2play]

The only White Party I attended was in Montreal in the late 1990s or early 2000s and was held on the rooftop of the Place Ville Marie, that gorgeous cruciform shaped skyscraper in the downtown, above the restaurant Altitude 747. It was a beautiful summer evening and everyone was dressed in white and they had great dancing music.

During the evening a musical performance was given by this striking Black female vocalist and a helicopter flew above with a spotlight on her in her shimmering white gown as she belted out her melodies. All the lights had been turned down for her performance.

It seemed everyone was on Special K, I think, the drug that made everything slow down. I was on vodka and tonic, the strongest medicine I take.

It was an enchanting evening but one I never repeated as the occasion didn’t present itself again. I know there were circuit party types that travelled to these events but that didn’t include me.

[+ Lucky]

The White Party had rescheduled this year for September, but with Sanker's death it is now moved to 2022, specifically the weekend of April 29th.

https://www.desertsun.com/story/life/2021/06/01/white-party-palm-springs-moved-april-2022-after-founders-death/7500084002/

[+ Lucky]

Also announced: Coachella will take place April 15-17 and 22-24, 2022, while country music counterpart Stagecoach will happen April 29 to May 1, 2022, organizers announced Tuesday.(desertsun.com)

 

The weekend of April 8-10 is still open, or so it appears. I wonder if there will be a party at, say @OliveGarden? Somehow Olive comes to mind!