A Re-Introduction to the tHOTlist

So did you hear? We’re bringing back the tHOTlist this weekend! It’s a numbered compilation of persons, places and things that the Thotyssey “staff” believes were particularly noteworthy and impactful in the prior year of New York City queer nightlife. But let’s backtrack for the newbies.

The brief history of Thotyssey is as follows: I “came out” later in life, I attached myself early on to Boots & Saddle on Christopher Street as My Place, and I remained solely there for years–happy enough, but too cautious to explore the myriad of other desti-gay-tions in the City. Because of that and my general craziness, I started researching what and where and when everything else was, and found myself compiling a list that seemed a little more extensive than what I found in the “fag rags” piled on the Boots windowsill. In 2016, when post-Myspace social media began to take over and everyone had something to say, I created Thotyssey. The site outlived most of the fag rags, which was pretty scary for me to realize… and I took the daily posts as my dire responsibility to the scene that took me in. There’s a little more to all that, but I’ll save it for my next Glam Awards acceptance speech in 2048.

Anywho, a drunken bar owner later suggested that I should do a Top 100 list, and that seemed like a fun diversion from my daily grind. Of course I quickly realized that 100 wasn’t enough to tell a full story, so in 2017 I published my first tHOTlist of 200+ (I don’t know how many exactly, I refuse to check back because I’m sure it is so, so embarrassingly messy). And… gurl. I didn’t know that people would react. Most liked it, some hated it, and a vocal handful had really pointed and specific things to share about who I included, who I didn’t include, and what I said in various entries. It was actually pretty shocking; I was a writer who has short stories published in indie lit mags for a few years and had gotten no feedback in any way from anyone; in the bars I was a wallflower who did everything discreetly like any respectable closet case. But now suddenly I was a topic. I wasn’t exactly seeking that, but it brought a lot of attention to Thotyssey which I believed was for the greater good for everyone.

So I kept at it for a few years. It’s a labor intensive emotional rollercoaster to prepare, but it was always for a greater good. And yes, of course, my inner gay drama queen / pick me girl was getting nourished in ways she’d never been. I’ve had many colorful accusations lobbed at me over the years with each tHOTlist: favoritism, elitism, ignorance, “cringe,” and that old chestnut “platforming predators.” My favorite tHOTlist response anecdote was hearing about a well-known queen who, during her live show, stopped tip-grubbing for five minutes to do a “girl please” rant about how I “don’t even work in the industry,” and I think she made Top 50 that year.

Eventually it took it’s toll–more about the time and labor than the emotional strain, which I dealt better with in my older age–so I stopped.

I decided to bring it back for a few reasons:

1. People have been constantly asking me about it, or referring to it in their own discourse.
2. After about a year of socially inept Brooklyn clownlings blowing me off and disrespecting my efforts to help them promote themselves, I decided it was time to Reintroduce Myself to the younger sect.
3. In general, it’s time! There’s a lot to talk about. Times are weird. We need to find as many ways to both celebrate and promote all that is going on.

And now some facts about 2024’s tHOTlist:

1. It’s mad late, obvs. I’ve been working on it since Halloween, but it seemed like every day I wanted to really dive into it I was pulled away by real world responsibilities, and every actual free day I had I just wanted to watch Bee & Puppycat and eat carbs. I didn’t mean for it to be published the weekend before the Glams; I wanted it to do it at least a week before, for maximum drama. But oh well, I can’t wait ’til AFTER the Glams, that would be lame.
2. It’s 500 entries. And I still left off so many people I wanted to talk about, but I had to cut it off at some (almost) reasonable number. I do think it’s a good sign that nightlife is still robust and diverse enough for me to expand entries AND still have to leave people off.
3. I based it on my own feelings and observations, what I’ve witnessed other people talking and posting about, and a lot of abstract stuff. Again: me, me, me, I, I, I. It is subjective. I feel that given the fact that I must research what everyone is doing every day, I have the best possible understanding of who is doing what where, and what it amounts to. But again… subjective!
4. Some “scenes” are less represented on this list than others: lesbian bars, piano bars, ballroom, the T4T Ridgewood raves, etc. Reasons: my own ignorance and laziness regarding these scenes, my inability to figure out how to fairly incorporate them as entries into the larger list, and the inaccessibility of certain individuals from these realms that keep more from learning more about what they do.
5. If I made any extremely incorrect observations, let me know. If I left off any photo credits (it happens, sometimes I copy paste the pics and then completely can’t find them again on the socials), let me know. If you’re mentioned in the same entry as a co-host you now hate or in a venue that’s since fired you, TOUGH SHIT, that was your 2024. Celebrate it.
6. If you hate something about it, I’ll ignore your DMs completely. Instead, please post publicly about your grievance because that benefits me so, so much more than anything else; your malice fuels my views and follows like water in the desert.

I think that’s all. I wanted to say all this before I dropped the actual list because I knew people will just be skipping past all this to get to the entries.

It should be out by Saturday. I can’t wait to hear, and not hear, what you have to say about it!

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[All above images were generated by Meta AI]