The Final Squeezebox at Don Hill's

Everyone was fabulous or acting the part. The red carpet and velvet ropes set the boundary between the connected and those who were arguing with the doorman or screaming into their StarTACS. A long line of fans and punksters spanned an entire block of Greenwich St., while media types congregated in a separate, roped-off area. It was just midnight, 15 minutes after the doors opened, and already the place was overflowing with locals, celebrities, drag queens, lesbians, leathermen in wigs, people exposing their asses (at a minimum), 80s glammed-out hipsters, burnouts, Calvin Klein models?you get the idea. Infamous door guy Thomas held the rope closed when necessary, stopping one glossy magazine editor because his "people were already inside."

It was time to make the scene, or be forced to leave. Surprisingly, we were greeted by name and whisked into the dark and already sweat-soaked confines of the club. We entered just as legendary Jayne County took the stage to do a number with the Toilet Boys. As we tried to make our way over to the bar, past the shirtless, spandex-clad Asian guy chatting on his Nokia, Bebe Buell shimmied by with her young stallion. We caught her attention long enough to find out when she'd go on and point out the Bob Gruen photo of her hanging behind us on the wall. After sucking down the mandatory Cape Cods and a Jack and Coke or two, we positioned ourselves closer to the stage so we could observe the spectacularly noisy, guitar-thrashing Joey Ramone tribute.

People went berserk as soon as Debbie Harry hit the stage, alternately jumping around and dancing or screaming while moving their heads to the beat. She performed two songs, the second being "Happy Birthday." What a teenage fantasy come true. Then we spied a girl rubbing Jesse Malin's crotch before he sang "Surrender." It was a hit with the fist-pumping kids in the front as well as the dancers positioned high on a pole, completely blocking our view. As 2 o'clock came and went, one of us set out to "make a lap" around the club. As he ventured into the bowels of Don Hill's to scope out hot rocker boys, the rest of our crew stayed near the stage to watch Cherie Currie of the Runaways sing a few songs, including the hit "Cherry Bomb," another number that made both boys and girls in the audience wet.

In between sets, Jayne County took over the turntables so a few of the original Squeezebox go-go dancers could shake it atop the bar and onstage. In a hot, tipsy moment we snapped a few pictures of punk dancer Lyle after he stripped to his brown Calvin Klein thong. As he danced clad only in the thong and a leather jacket, John Waters showed up in our peripheral view. Standing nearby was Melissa auf der Maur and some hot guy (who later performed "Under Pressure"). As the sweat continued to soak our shirts and make our asses itch (we were wearing polyester), one of us decided to call it a night. The other had squeezed into a seat a few feet from the bar, made out with a cute guy and idly watched the other rockers wander by. After chatting briefly with Justin Bond, he shared a ride home to Brooklyn with the pickup from earlier that night.