Friends….if you were not yet a sentient adult in 2000, please let me inform you that (a) it was fun, and (b) things often got slightly wild. And yet it still surprised me when I, whilst noodling around random photos of events of yore, read an Informative Caption that informed me that a party for Maxim was shut down by LAPD. Mostly, let me be clear, I was just surprised that I didn’t remember this happened. I am not at all surprised that said event occured. Per a contemporaneous piece in Salon:
Just how crazy did things get at the Maxim Motel party in L.A. last week? Well, let’s just say that Carmen Electra, Dylan McDermott, Kirsten Dunst, David Schwimmer, Marilyn Manson, Melissa Joan Hart, Beck and the rest of the guests who showed up for the fete at the Farmer’s Daughter Hotel Thursday night were startled mid-jiggle by police in riot gear, a fire department task force and helicopters circling overhead.
“The weird thing is it was really calm inside,” says a spokesman for the magazine, refuting reports that fisticuffs broke out between a member of the Cult (which was performing) and a Maxim staffer. “Brad Rowe was jamming up a storm with the female dwarf Kiss impersonators. Matthew McConaughey was holding court at the bar. People were just having fun.”
But the throngs outside, tipped off to the party’s locale by a local radio station, were clogging the streets and interrupting traffic, and so the fire marshal pulled the party plug just two hours into the festivities.
“I think it was a pre-convention exercise for the riot police,” said the spokesman. “They just wanted to prove they’re not taking any shit from anyone.”
First: I do not have snaps of McDermott, Beck, or the Schwimm. I did have pics of Marilyn Manson available, but decided not to buy them because he’s gross and you can imagine what he looks like. I do have photos of everyone else and Kiki Dunst looked VERY cute and also things clearly got wild.
Second: I forgot about Brad Rowe and had to look him up to make sure he’s not dead. Good news, he’s not! I don’t know why I thought that. He now seems to work in public policy, so good for him.
Third: “female dwarf Kiss impersonators” is both problematic and very turn of the century. One of the Informative Captions also told me that the party also featured “monkeys on roller skates,” and “a live tattoo parlor.” (As opposed to a dead tattoo parlor?! Also MONKEYS ON ROLLER SKATES seems like a terrible idea, especially for the monkeys!)
Fourth: I FULLY believe a Maxim staffer got into a fight with someone in the band. Anyone who decided to get monkeys on roller skates for a party would probably also deck the entertainment.
Fifth: The “convention” in question was the Democratic National Convention, which happened just a few days later, and at which Al Gore accepted the nomination. None of us knew how absolutely wild that election was gonna get.
