NYC Event Promoter And Gay Magazine Publisher Marc Berkley Dies at 56

Famed NYC club promoter and one-time magazine kingpin Marc Berkley died unexpectedly in his sleep last night on Fire Island. Berkley reportedly had a heart attack. He was 56. Berkley was the co-founder of HX Media, the now-defunct gay publishing company that owned the popular nightlife guide HX Magazine and the LGBT news title The New York Blade.

Berkley became a dominant force in Manhattan nightlife twenty years ago, when as the longtime promoter of Chelsea's famed Limelight disco, he and business partner Matthew Bank founded Homo Xtra, a folded newsletter guide to parties and nightclubs. (And an essential list of must-dos that I was never without when visiting NYC.) Later Homo Xtra morphed into HX Magazine, a glossy weekly whose high production values and titillating cover photos influenced similar gay bar guides around the world. Avalon Media, which owned a stake in HX Media, was forced into receivership by its creditors in February 2009. Several months later, HX Magazine was sold to competing NYC nightlife guide Next Magazine, who shortly afterwards ceased its publication. Two days after the sale of HX, the New York Blade shut down as well.

In 2001, when he was probably at the height of his influence on Manhattan's gay nightlife, New York Magazine wrote a frank, but fascinating profile on Berkley. An excerpt:

Scratch a gay party promoter and more often than not you'll find a fledgling political activist; Berkley's no exception. Especially when it comes to Mayor Giuliani's relentless war on the city's nightclubs: "We're living in Nazi Germany done by Disney right now." He's told Gatien that he'd be willing to do events at the Limelight free, because "if that club stays open one day longer than Giuliani's term, we've won." Over the years, Berkley's served on his community board, coordinated Heritage of Pride's nineteenth and twentieth anniversaries, and donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to gay charities. Even HX was conceived as a political statement: "I used to sit in on act-up's fund-raising meetings every weekend; that's where I met Matthew Bank. It was 1990, and at the time, Outweek was more or less the only gay publication -- Matthew and I used to call it The New York Native Medical Journal, because every week, it was all about dying. There was nothing about what else was going on in the city. That's how we came up with the idea for HX, as an alternative to that."

Nightlife figures, DJs, fellow promoters, and longtime customers are leaving messages of tribute on Berkley's Facebook page.

UPDATE: Berkley's former business partner, Matthew Bank, sends the following message: "I am truly saddened by the passing of my dear friend and former business partner Marc Berkley. His creative spirit and boundless energy helped make New York gay nightlife a shamefully good time for what seems like forever. Working with him to create HX was a grand adventure that I will relish for the rest of my life. I'll miss him terribly."

NY Blade Suspends Publication

Two days ago we learned that HX Magazine has been sold. Today comes word that its HX Media stablemate, the New York Blade, is suspending publication.

The New York Blade, one of the two major gay and lesbian newspapers in New York City, has laid off its editor in chief and suspended publication, the chief executive of its publishing company said on Wednesday. “Everyone was let go, but the people on The Blade know that they may come back if The Blade is coming back,” said the executive, Matthew Bank, of HX Media, which was formed in 2005 by the merger of The Blade and HX Magazine. The moves came on Tuesday after HX was sold to undisclosed buyers. The Blade, a biweekly paper with a free circulation of 22,000, was left with an uncertain future. “It doesn’t have an issue scheduled until a week from Friday.” Mr. Bank said. “There are a lot of things that can happen between now and then.”

This leaves NYC with only one gay news print source, the excellent Gay City News.

HX Media Spins Off Namesake Mag

In yet another sign of the woes of LGBT print media, HX Media, owner of the New York Blade (among other properties), has sold its namesake title, HX Magazine, the famed weekly guide to Gotham's gay nightlife. An investment fund that owns a stake in HX Media was forced into receivership in February.

"HX Magazine and the web site hx.com have been sold. The new owners of HX Magazine will be releasing details and information on their plans for the future of the title shortly. In the meantime, Bank and HX Magazine Publisher Gary Lacinski will be assisting them in the transition. HX Magazine issue 931 dated July 10th, which will be released on July 3rd, will be the last one produced by HX Media and its staff."

When I first started visiting Manhattan on clubbing excursions in the early 90's, I'd borrow copies of the first incarnation of HX, the folded/stapled Homo Xtra, and try to memorize bar addresses on the flight up from Miami. Let's hope that at least some of the current staffers hold onto their jobs under the new owners.

(Via - NY Press)

Grampa Goes Out

Last night Paul and I went to HX Magazine's 16th anniversary party at Lotus. Lots of gay publishing types were in the house, including Genre editor Neal Boulton (former editor of Men's Fitness) and Genre VP and publisher Bill Kapfer (pictured). Lady Bunny and Robin Byrd were cutting up in a corner, but I didn't get a chance to grab a shot of them.

After the open bar ran out and Lotus returned to its usual outrageous prices ($12 well, $10 beer), we popped over to Gym Bar to find a party for the Team New York Aquatics underway. Oddly, swimmers eat a lot of pizza, judging by the stack of boxes. I chatted briefly with one of the TNYA players, the statuesque Eyal Feldman (pictured), owner of lube company Boy Butter, whom I met at my last reading. After a drink at the deserted View Bar and another at the crusty, but always busy, Rawhide, I had to pack it in. It was only 11pm, but school night and all that.

Since it was a nice night, I decided to trudge all the way back to the 6 train at Union Square. (Also, I detest the L.) Somewhere around Broadway, I was waiting to cross the street when my head was turned by some high-pitched squealing. In a vestibule, two teenage Latinas were engaging in some public girl-on-girl action. Seeing me look over, one of them screeched, "Wassa matta Grampa, ain't you never seen no hot bitches in love?"

New. York. City.
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