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By MATT KALKHOFF
Friday, May 23, 2003
He’s the newly crowned king of gay New York nightlife - the owner of
xl bar, a partner of Estate (formerly Limelight) and the longtime promoter of
Saturday nights at Roxy, probably the most successful run of any gay club event
in New York’s history.
What isn’t as well known about John Blair is that he is also one of the
best-connected out gay men in the city’s intricate web of political insiders
and power brokers. With Mayor Bloomberg, the police and the courts showing no
sign of easing up on the crackdown begun by Giuliani, today’s nightclub
impresario may need all the help he can get.
But Blair, a youthful-looking 54-year-old, survives and thrives in a cutthroat
business. At least as important - and no less extraordinary - he has also managed
to sustain an upfront, honest reputation.
Blair’s career began by accident in the mid-1970s. To promote gyms he
owned in Los Angeles and San Francisco, he threw parties for his mostly gay
clientele. When he tried to discontinue the events, the owners offered to pay
him to continue - a novel concept at the time.
By the time Blair opened the Body Center, the first truly gay-oriented gym
in New York back in 1978, he had perfected a unique marketing formula. “I
used to go to Studio 54 and give these free passes to every cute boy around,”
he reveals. “So after a while, our gym had every Studio 54 gay boy there.
Steve Rubell and his crew used to come to our parties all the time. Then he
recruited us to start working there.”
High-profile stints at nearly every major club in the city, from Underground
to Limelight, Twilo and Palladium, followed. For six months, he even had a restaurant
on Ninth Avenue and 22nd Street. Roxy, however, remains his longest-running
gig, and it was there that Blair introduced the city to its first gay roller
skating night back in the early 1980s. He later took over promoting Saturday
nights and has continued ever since, excepting a year at Twilo and Palladium.
Blair also helped introduce superstar DJs Victor Calderone and Peter Rauhofer
to gay New Yorkers. Lately, he imported Tracy Young, Thunderpuss and Manny Lehman.
Performances by Madonna, Bette Midler and Cher solidifed Roxy’s reputation
as the undisputed place to be on Saturday nights.
Political & community involvement
In 2001, Blair and his partner of 13 years (both in business and life), Beto
Sutter, unveiled xl bar along with business partner Jay Janis. The ultramodern
design and high-tech lighting, which reportedly cost around $2.5 million, raised
the bar several notches higher for urban watering holes.
Blair has used xl to host a variety of fund-raisers and political functions.
A major supporter of the Hetrick-Martin Institute and Gay Men’s Health
Crisis, Blair was a staunch advocate of Mark Green’s 2002 mayoral bid.
Green called his old friend “a community leader who fights for the gay
community with as much smarts and passion as any advocate for any cause in the
city.” He also cited Blair’s “loyalty, energy and honesty.”
Blair has also lent his support to other politicians, including New York State
Senator Tom Duane, Chelsea Councilwoman Christine Quinn, and State Assembly
Member Deborah Glick. He may not always agree with every position or policy,
but, according to Blair, they all have one thing in common: They listen to him.
“You’re never going to have a politician with whom you agree 100
percent,” Blair said. “You have to look at the broad picture. All
you can ask for from a politician is that they listen. Will they take your phone
call? Will they listen to your side, and not be one-sided?”
Blair himself said he doesn’t have the patience to be politician. He
has, however, managed to maintain a close connection to city politics through
his appointed seat on Community Board 4.
Blair got involved with CB4 four years ago because he said they had no idea
what New York nightlife was really about. “It was really an eye-opening
experience,” Blair recalled. “I think it’s a very smart thing
for a club owner to do because it will cure you [of your cynicism] when you
see something from someone else’s point of view. Nothing’s black
and white; no one’s right or wrong.”
While it might seem like a conflict of interest for Blair to be involved with
the very influential decision of the community board about liquor and cabaret
licenses for other gay venues, Blair maintains that he abstains from voting
when a business represents direct competition.
Instead, he says his expertise contributes to the board’s decision making.
“It’s harder for someone to pull something over on the Board if
we’re there, knowing the business the way we do,” Blair insists.
“It really does benefit the Board to have somebody who really knows what
they’re talking about.”
City’s nightlife under siege
Blair’s political connections might end up proving to be an invaluable
asset to ensure his own survival. Ever since federal prosecutors targeted former
club king Peter Gatien in a drug sting that proved unsuccessful but nonetheless
forced him to sell his nightclubs, the city and federal government have been
targeting bars and nightclubs with fines, court orders (Sound Factory must now
employ a drug dog to sniff entering patrons), Prohibition-style raids, and now,
the infamous Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act of 2003 (“the RAVE Act”).
Under the broadly written law, promoters and club owners could be liable for
patrons’ activities with penalties ranging from a $250,000 fine per charge
to 20 years in prison. The new law also allows the federal government to charge
property owners civilly, thus affording prosecutors a lower standard of proof
than is required in criminal cases. “If it was used exactly the way it
was meant to be used, it could be beneficial,” Blair said. “But
it’s too open to abuse.”
Estate@Limelight has involved Blair in some public squabbling with his Flatiron
Group business partners, which includes Ben Ashkenazi and his wife, Deborah,
Jay Janis, Joseph Klaynberg and embattled Exit owner David Marvisi. Marvisi
was the subject of a scathing investigative article in the March 4, 2003, Village
Voice.
Blair claimed that Ashkenazi snuck Marvisi in sometime after they completed
their initial dealings. “I walked into a meeting, and there’s David
Marvisi,” he recalled. “It was not a situation that I chose, or
that Joseph or Jay chose.” Marvisi apparently offered to help pay $400,000
in back property taxes owed by the venue’s previous owner, Peter Gatien,
according to the Voice.
Marvisi then began promoting and producing several of the club’s straight
parties, but he and Blair frequently clashed. Ironically, Estate’s most
lucrative night - and only source of revenue for three months - was Blair’s
Sunday parties.
For the record, Blair and his partners own the lease while Blair himself is
the managing partner of the liquor license - a complicated scenario, indeed.
And Blair maintained that it was a strictly economic decision to close Estate
earlier this year. Unlike Exit and Sound Factory, the club was not shuttered
because of alleged illegal drug use.
A new partnership has now been formed with Blair the sole original member.
After buying out Marvisi, Ashkenazi and the others, Blair must now tackle the
arduous task of reconfiguring the licenses to satisfy the promises he made to
the State Liquor Association. Blair hopes to reopen the club this summer under
yet another new name.
Despite the often-scandalous nature and shady business dealings endemic to
nightlife here, GHB may prove to be a bigger threat than the government could
ever be. GHB overdoses ended the highly lucrative GMHC Morning Party on Fire
Island, and the staff’s mishandling of ODs at Twilo helped close that
megaclub.
“GHB could be the death nail in the nightclub business,” Blair
complains. “I’ve been in this business for a couple decades, and
I’ve never seen a more dangerous, more destructive, or scarier drug than
that. We’re not the moral police, but we also have a liquor license to
protect, and we do have some responsibility for the people who are in our venue.
The future of nightlife rests more in the hands of the patron than it does in
the club owner’s.”
With a 25-year track record, Blair has proven he is a survivor. Whatever vagaries
of gay nightlife or obstacles occur, he will probably find a way to ride them
out and continue to expand his mini-empire
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