Dilettantes to the Dance floor: FIPV's 2014 Reboot

Guy Smith says he knows what's best for Fire Island Pines. And for anyone who ever saw a missed opportunity and knew they could do better, Smith will be either a role model or a cautionary tale come September.

After a decade of changes of ownership, even more changes in management, competition from neighboring gay community Cherry Grove and a well-publicized fire that destroyed its flagship property, the principal investors of Fire Island Pines Ventures are putting their trust in "the help."

Guy Smith has been a fixture in Fire Island Pines since the mid '90s. Amid a terrible storm that threatened to ruin his premiere day trip to the gay resort community, Smith instead became intrigued by what he saw. "I looked into the upstairs glass door of the 'old' Pavilion," Smith recalled, fascinated by the rustic allure of the space. "I saw all the vintage disco lighting in the ceiling there and I was captivated!"

Smith had been doing concert and club lighting design in New York and Boston, and immediately saw an opportunity. "I petitioned everyone I could find that worked there [at the Pavilion] to be the lighting director." The following summer, Smith was hired by the Pavilion's founding owner and Pines social architect - the late John Whyte.

"My first year," Smith recalled, "I took the entire lighting system down piece by piece, and changed 240 gels every weekend to keep the light show fresh." In the '90s, Smith had to deal with a somewhat unsophisticated layout to keep the Pavilion's crowd engaged under the now iconic chandeliers that hung over the dance floor, which Whyte had forbid him from ever touching. Smith had 13 lighting consoles at his disposal to run the entire system but still managed to also install rotating motors onto the chandeliers -�as a personal joke.

"Working there until dawn every weekend with Michael Fierman, Susan Morabito, Buc, Michael Morganstern and Robbie Leslie were some of the most magical memories of my life."

From these humble beginnings, Smith would launch a career in event lighting design with work on five continents, creating ephemeral visual experiences for clients as diverse as Disney and the Black Party.?

From the Booth to the Board Table

Nearly two decades later, Smith is back in the Pines, but this time instead of confining his talent to the four walls of the DJ and lighting booth, he will split his time between the restaurants, lounges, pool and hotel owned by Fire Island Pines Ventures (FIPV) as its newest director of entertainment.

"Last year, I felt like a huge opportunity was missed in the way the properties were managed and operated, and I saw a chance to make a difference," Smith told EDGE. "Though I have never been an 'entertainment director,' I submitted a proposal and lobbied everyone I could and became just that by New Year's Eve. I felt like I knew what Fire Island needed. It's a place for passionate, sophisticated people, and should have entertainment that plays to them, not to the lowest common denominator."�

To achieve this end, Smith put an emphasis on energy and passion for the community over traditional work experience when assembling his management team. "Take David Wright, our new marketing director," Smith says. "He's brilliant in set and window design, and hysterically funny. I met him 15 years ago, and we have been housemates for several years.�Now, I get to work side by side."

Literally at Smith's side is his husband, Robert Montenegro, a former weapons designer for the United States Department of Defense who has gone on to join Smith in creating visuals for large-scale circuit and EDM festival events around the globe.

"I met my amazing and patient husband, Robert, in the Pines, when I was production managing Dancing on the Bay with Junior Vasquez eight years ago. Now he works with me, and is my single greatest support in every way."

Smith and his team of newly baptized resort professionals have their work cut out for them this summer, reinventing a social scene that while tried and true has shown some wear throughout the years, succumbing to "party malaise." His first order of business will be a reboot of the jewel in FIPV's crown: the Pavilion nightclub.

A Disco Homecoming

Twice rebuilt, the Pavilion nightclub had a sterile second incarnation that was destroyed by fire and recently replaced with a highly publicized and lauded modern third structure. Although the Pavilion remained a focal point in the local nightlife scene, neither the second or third iteration have been able to recapture the excitement, energy and edge of its shabbier predecessor.

"I started out as the lighting director, and that's been pretty much my on-and-off role there for 16 years," says Smith.�"Sometimes I got along with the owners and managers, sometimes I didn't and had to sit a year out. I have rebuilt the sound system for the last two Pavilions, and now I am doing it for the third. I was always fine with the ups and downs - it's been a labor of love, and I always know someday I'll come back and be a part of things there again. Now I am, in a bigger way than I thought I ever would be."

Smith recalls one of his first experiences engaging the crowd an evening at the Pavilion: "The music ... it was beautiful, dramatic, lyrical, uplifting and amazing." Even before the renovations, Smith admitted the old sound system was able to pack a punch! "The old sound system just sang and surrounded the dancers," he said. "It was all so intense, and sexy -�euphoric! I was instantly hooked!"

Now that Smith is entertainment director for FIPV, which owns the Pavilion, and after the many enhances and renovations that have brought it into the 21st century, he is guaranteeing that the best is still to come. "We have a really curated collection of new DJs, and a very specific sound I am cultivating," Smith insists. "We have a sophisticated island full of music lovers and dancers, and I want to create a new Fire Island Pines sound - one as identifiable as Ibiza, or Mykonos, or Stockholm."

The Pines' signature daily social event, Low Tea at the vintage Blue Whale, has also had a serious amount of work getting ready for this year's influx of partiers. "We installed the wooden ceiling," Smith revealed, "and a beautiful, very high-fidelity sound system to make the room more acoustic friendly." The intention is to give Blue Whale's guests a nostalgic take on their Fire Island visit. "DJs will be taking their turns at the tables there, spinning disco, saint classics, '80s, Fire Island classics, '90s house, even some '70s funk and Motown and '60s beach music."

In contrast to the traditional beats coming from the Blue Whale, the Pool Deck - a property that until recent years had been ignored and underutilized - will have a more contemporary sound centered around new music, pop remixes, and young fresh DJs from Manhattan and the boroughs that are trending in gay music now.�Helming this effort are DJs Matty Glitterati and Vito Fun, who Smith says "are both so incredibly talented and such intense characters - sometimes it's fun to just watch them bounce all over the properties covered in glitter and wigs."?

Bringing the Boys Back to the Pines

The youth-centered approach to the Pool Deck programming will complement another new endeavor whose intent will be to literally breathe new life into the one of the few institutions in the Pines geared to transient visitors: the Botel. Arguably the least glamorous property owned by FIPV, the Botel is a 1960s-era structure that has gone through years of failed rebranding, including a fancy French name (Hotel Ciel) and minor upgrades with IKEA-style furnishings. Yet, despite the best intentions of these efforts, with cinder-block walls and numerous rooms with shared baths, the end effect was not unlike slapping a garter on a dead whore who still thought she could get top dollar. With the physical limitations of the space in mind, "Botel Barracks" is a new venture aimed at attracting young men who don't mind bunking literally three and four to a room. Unlike previous attempts, this incarnation promises to be priced accordingly.

The steep price tag of a stay in the Pines continues to be an issue in a community that has in many ways become a victim of its own success, in danger of pricing itself out of existence. High house-share costs, steep drink prices, hefty cover charges and a local grocery store that is not unlike going to Cartier to buy food have all contributed to a decrease in youthful energy (and bodies), which in recent years have flocked to neighboring Cherry Grove.

"We have taken large strides to get back to our roots: strong drinks, made with good liquors (no more well booze), but at a cheaper price than the weaker drinks from past seasons. We're all working tirelessly to come up with good, strong drinks, and have recreated the John Whyte 'Planters Punch' - it's exactly the same drink from 1961." Smith adds, "I had one for the first time and it knocked me back to the '90s in more ways than one - and it's cheaper than it was last year. We have also done away with the door charge for the Pavilion for all but the biggest DJs; and even then, the fee will be nominal."
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Reminding the next generation of Pines revelers that they are standing on the shoulders of giants in the world of partygoing is a balancing act that Smith hopes to achieve this summer. For Guy Smith, who boasts a history of living in house shares with an age range of 23 to 80, it's an opportunity to continue a long-standing tradition of fun and frolic. "I just hope all the young people coming in remember that we are all a tribe and have to stick together," he says. "We have all these younger guys coming out and changing things, and I love that! Young people will always be young people, but in Fire Island Pines, we all have a place."