He came in like a Wrecking Ball: Rockbar Babe Joey!
Bar that I work at: Home will always be Rockbar! I also work in the summer at Paradise in Asbury Park, NJ, and you can catch me floating around helping out at GYM Bar.
How long I’ve worked there: Gosh, I really have lost count. All I know is that when I started there it was a simpler time: Obama was in office, children were laughing and smiling, Facebook wasn’t so toxic, and we were on the road to pay for equality and criminal justice reform… so I think three or four years.
What are my shifts: I am at Rockbar Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays
What makes this bar great: I wish there was a bar like this when I was a young teen in the earlier 2000’s with a fake ID. . Instead, I was a 16 year old in a state of sensory overload at Avalon (the old Limelight), tripping balls in a corner. Before I get in trouble, I must state that we have a scanner, and a valid ID is necessary to enter.
Anyways, the bar is just a melting pot of everything that makes our community great. Yes, traditionally, on the weekends, our parties cater to the bear community, but on the weekdays you never know what’s going down. My boss likes to call the bar “The Island of Misfit Toys.” So that’s the operation we are trying to run. We are cognizant of how multifaceted our community is, and we try to create a safe place for all.
Best drink I make: I’m a fucking professional, all my drinks are great! Jesus Jim! 😛
I love it when customers: Have people skills. It’s a shame that our primary mode of communication is our phones, because the damage is incredibly detrimental to how we speak to each other. For every “please” and “thank you” I get, I get ten “gimmes” and waves, in my face, to get my attention.
I hate it when customers: Besides not having manners, hmm… I hate it when customers don’t have their money out. It’s my favorite when I hear a customer giving audible noises to show that they feel they have waited too long for service, then once serviced they don’t even have their wallet out. Mind you, nobody waits longer than 2 minutes while I am working before I have a barback get your order.
Craziest thing I’ve seen here: Well on the weekends, it’s like avoiding land mines with the amount of guys enjoying a ride on the “D Train,” but you become numb to that.
Actually, the craziest thing that happened to me was that Miley Cyrus came in! She was super sweet! We closed the gate and she hung around afterwards. We killed a bottle tequila and danced to the song “Footloose.” All I know is, I woke up the next morning, massively hung over, to a phone call from my boss asking why the bank wasn’t counted out or any of the side work done. In my hungover state, I sent him a picture of Miley’s CC receipt (which I took during the night for proof of the evening), and flatly told him I partied with Miley after hours at the bar. And that was my golden ticket to not getting fired, because his response was classic “Awesome, did you give her a T-Shirt?”
For the next week I told everybody that Miley and I were besties, and every time my phone went off I would look at it and laugh and say “Oh Miley!” That got on people’s nerves real fast.
Other places I’ve worked: I guess I prematurely answered this already, but I work seasonal in Asbury Park at Paradise and I help out time to time at GYMbar. I also use to bartend up in Boston at Club Cafe while I was in college.
My hometown: I grew up in Rutherford, NJ in the Meadowlands. Asbury Park is also my honorary hometown, since I have been bopping around those parts since I was 19.
Stuff I do when I’m not bartending: I make bread… is that weird? Like legit, I make baguettes and sandwich rolls for the week. I make homemade pasta. My mom comes over and we make Puerto Rican delicacies such as Pasteles and Alcapurrias. Food is my world, and being half Puerto Rican and Italian, my apt is the spot to come over for dinner and kill a couple of bottles of wine, or vodka, or beer, or all of the above.
Besides that, I am a bit of gamer. So I spend a couple of hours doing that. If my roomie is over (we went to the Boston Conservatory for theater), we’ll drink some wine and sing a couple of tunes.
Typing this out, I am realizing most of my activities involve alcohol. I am triggered.
Single or Taken: Single
Who/what turns me on: Who: Channing Tatum–and no not because of the aesthetics, but he is funny and goofy and he seems fiercely loyal to his wife.
So I guess it’s humor and loyalty is what I look for in a guy. And nothing is sexier than a quiet confidence.
Favorite music: My favorite songsareDonna Summer’s “I Feel Love” or “There but for the Grace of God I Go” by Machine
So, I guess I am a disco kid. My mom and aunt were dancers at 54 back in the day. My sister is 13 years older than me, so I was raised on freestyle like Lisa Lisa, Stevie B and Cynthia.
Favorite movie or TV show: My favorite movie is The Fifth Element, it’s timeless. My favorite TV show is Sailor Moon. I watch it on Hulu when I get home from bar hoping with my friends while I eat mozzarella, sopressata, on crostinies in bed. God now I’m hungry.
Favorite drag queen: I can’t pick one. Because I love them all and also I am scared for my life if I piss one of them off.
I have a special place in my heart for Misty Meaner and Mocha Lite, since they were the first queens I met at Rockbar. And every time I see them in BK, it’s like seeing family. Florence D’Lee legit makes me piss my pants, she is so funny. And Viva Vidalia puts up with me picking on her. She hasn’t broken yet ,so it gives me something to look forward to while at work.
But the one that keeps coming back like a Herpes Simplex, the scariest of them all; is the one and only Miss Flippe Kikee. She fascinates me, much like a case study in Borderline Personality Disorder. Haha, I kid! When she is not walking into beer kegs, Flippe is one of my close friends. We can just hang out and laugh all day.
My drag name would be: Contestant # 69: Juicy Gangbang of Bergen County, NJ
Favorite gogo boy: I don’t really know any of the dancers by name. But they all are cute and can dance, so… all of them?
Favorite DJ: I love the DJ at our party Travesura, DJ Chiki Hiram Arocho. It’s the perfect blend of top 40 pop hits, hip hop and Latin music. Basically, my iPod gym playlist so I get turned up behind the bar when ever I get to work that party.
Other stuff you need to know about me: I am a social introvert Capricorn, with a rising and moon sign in Scorpio
Follow me on: I am old school and only have Facebook, so friend me on there!
Thotyssey 