TONIGHT In NYC: Free JMG Pride Party & Marriage Celebration With Open Wine Bar & Legendary Drag Performer Jackie Beat!

If you're in Manhattan tonight, please consider joining me and fellow JMG readers for a special Pride Party in the private lounge at the Gramercy Theatre, 127 East 23 Street. Beginning at 10pm we'll have an open wine and champagne bar courtesy of Barefoot Wines. Slurp! Come celebrate one of the greatest victories in LGBT history!

AND the first 20 people to respond to this email: JMGParty@gmail.com will start the evening with free tickets to the new show by legendary drag performer Jackie Beat, Pray Away The Gay. (Enter the discount code "JMG" for $18 tickets if you don't make the freebie cut.)

I'm looking forward to seeing lots of you there!

Drinking Tips For The Weekend

Photographed at some bar somewhere.

NEW YORK: Liquor Authority Bans Malt Liquor Drink Used In Bronx Gay-Bashing

The New York Liquor Authority has moved to ban Four Loko, the caffeinated high-alcohol malt liquor drink that became known to many of us when it was used in a vicious gay-bashing in the Bronx, where gang members forced one victim to guzzle ten cans as they beat him.

The State Liquor Authority successfully pressured the state's biggest beverage distributors to stop delivering the wildly popular drink next month. The deal allows the state to fine any store found selling the stuff after Dec. 10, unless the merchant can prove it was ordered before the deadline. The 23.5-ounce cans come in lemonade, fruit punch and watermelon flavors. They have as much alcohol as three beers, along with a three-cups-of-coffee jolt of caffeine. "The caffeine wakes you up, causing you to drink more," said state Sen. Jeff Klein. "It can be lethal." The potent drink has caused havoc on college campuses nationwide. Young people like the beverages because they are sweet and a cheap way to get drunk. "One can and you're wasted," said Jeff Armani, 21.

The banning is unrelated to the Bronx attack, although its use there certainly put the drink on lawmakers' radar. Several other states have also recently banned Four Loko.

Wine Rack

For a mere $30, party-hearty gals can have the Wine Rack, a sports bra with a 750ml capacity and a sipping tube. Of course, your bust line will deflate as your buzz inflates. Soon to be seen at Phish concerts, no doubt.

Vodka Eyeballing, SRSLY?

Stand aside beer pong, because according to the British tabloid Daily Mail, drinking vodka through your eyeballs is some kind of fad in the UK.

Even as drunken student antics go, it was, by any stretch of the imagination, a disturbing scene. Surrounded by cheering rugby players, applauded by fellow members of the university netball team, 19-year-old Melissa Fontaine tipped back her head and giggled as fellow drinkers in the Students' Union bar pulled apart her eyelids and allowed them to pour a shot of vodka into her left eye. 'Vodka eyeballing', as it is known in student circles, is the latest drinking craze to sweep through Britain's universities. Those who do it claim that it induces feelings of drunkenness at break-neck speeds, providing an instant high.

But the devastating long-term damage it causes is becoming a major concern among doctors and university authorities who already worry that Britain's student drinking culture is out of control. Melissa, who left university last summer and is now 22, believes they are right to be worried. Her constantly watering left eye has been left permanently scarred by her antics. More worryingly still, she has been warned that her eyesight may deteriorate further as she gets older. 'I'm in constant pain because of what I did,' she says. 'And I'm terrified that it will get worse. I wish I could turn the clock back and change things. But I can't.'

At 40% ethanol, vodka's corrosive effect on the cornea can be immediate and permanent. According to the above-linked story, this idiocy has already surfaced in America, where barmaids have done it for extra tips. Kids today.

(Via - Gothamist)

Rachel Maddow Mixes It Up For You

In honor of yesterday's date, Rachel Maddow devoted a segment to the proper making of a champagne cocktail and a Manhattan. Apparently the Great Bitters Shortage of '09 is at last over.