Celebrating African American History month with DJ Blaque Gurl

• DJ Blaque Gurl  will be spinning some old and new R & B in Heaven Lounge starting at 9PM.
• Februray is the biggest First Friday of the year – it was packed with more than 2200 people in 2010 and 2011!
• Dancing by The Wicked Little Girls
• Muusic for everyone by DJ’s Shannon, Markie and guest DJ Tatiana in the main room.
• EXDO – County by DJ Shannon from 6-10 followed by DJ Markie spinning retro and new dance mixes from 10-close
• Tracks – retro 70′s/80′s90′s from 8-10 and Top 40 dance/house from 10-close
• Heaven Lounge – R & B – retro till around 11 then hip hop till close
• VIP is just about sold out so contact Dede if you have a special party in mind
• Location Tracks/EXDO (3500 Walnut)
• Cover only $5 (6-9) and $7 (9-close)
• Voted Best Club Night Westword – Reader’s Choice 2009 and 2010

First Friday is the largest monthly women’s party in the US

• Winner – Westword’s Best of Denver – 2009 and 2010 “Best Club Night” Readers Choice
• Three rooms and 3 awesome DJ’s with music for everyone
• 120,000 watts of sound and lights at Denver’s biggest LGBT club Tracks/EXDO
• Dancing by The Wicked Little Girls
• Patio Bar
• Gourmet Grill
• ALL LGBT and allies welcome!

Music Format

6-10 – DJ Shannon spins country in EXDO – huge dance floor for two steppin
8-10 – Retro/R a& B/70′s/80′s and 90′s in Tracks by DJ AJ
10-2- DJ Markie spins dance remixes/80′s 90′s and more in EXDO
10-2- Top 40/House/Hip Hop and more by DJ AJ

Cover: only $5 from 6-9PM and $7 from 9PM – Close – Denver’s BEST entertainment value

1500 women from 21-75 – PRICELESS!!

BAD Teams Up With The Legendary Nuclia Waste!

Hey all: Have you been naughty or nice?

Join us for December First Friday and the Misfit Toy Drive!

Bring an unwrapped toy or gift card to First Friday and you will be entered into a drawing for a VIP Party for 4 (value $175). We are teaming up with the one and only Nuclia Waste to get some toys for families of AIDS victims this holiday season so we need your help.

First Friday #105 – still the largest and longest running monthly women’s party in the US. We welcome everyone and more than 1500 lesbians and their guests, from ages 21-75, attend every month.

3 Rooms and DJ’s Shannon, Markie and guest DJ Tatiana spinning everything from country/retro/Top 40 Dance/Hip Hop and House!

Dancing by The Wicked Little Girls

Doors open at 6PM. Cover only $5 from 6-9 and $7 from 9-Close

Winner Westword’s Best Club Night Reader’s Choice 2010 and 2011

November First Friday! Everyone Welcome!

First Friday is the largest monthly women’s party in the US

• Winner – Westword’s Best of Denver – 2009 and 2010 “Best Club Night” Readers Choice
• Three rooms and 3 awesome DJ’s with music for everyone
• 120,000 watts of sound and lights at Denver’s biggest LGBT club Tracks/EXDO
• Dancing by The Wicked Little Girls
• Patio Chill Grill

Music Format

6-10 – DJ Shannon spins country in EXDO – huge dance floor for two steppin
8-10 – Retro/R a& B/70′s/80′s and 90′s in Trakcs
10-2- DJ Markie spins dance remixes/80′s 90′s and more in EXDO
10-1- NEW! DJ Sinna-G will be playing a soothing, sexy and soulful mix of Deep House, Lounge & More in Heaven Loune

Cover: only $5 from 6-9PM and $7 from 9PM – Close – Denver’s BEST entertainment value

1500 women from 21-75 – PRICELESS!!

November First Friday! Everyone Welcome!

First Friday is the largest monthly women’s party in the US

• Winner – Westword’s Best of Denver – 2009 and 2010 “Best Club Night” Readers Choice
• Three rooms and 3 awesome DJ’s with music for everyone
• 120,000 watts of sound and lights at Denver’s biggest LGBT club Tracks/EXDO
• Dancing by The Wicked Little Girls
• Patio Chill Grill

Music Format

6-10 – DJ Shannon spins country in EXDO – huge dance floor for two steppin
8-10 – Retro/R a& B/70′s/80′s and 90′s in Trakcs
10-2- DJ Markie spins dance remixes/80′s 90′s and more in EXDO
10-1- NEW!  DJ Sinna-G will be playing a soothing, sexy and soulful mix of Deep House, Lounge & More in Heaven Loune

Cover: only $5 from 6-9PM and $7 from 9PM – Close – Denver’s BEST entertainment value

1500 women from 21-75 – PRICELESS!!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month so “Think Pink” – Still the largest monthly women’s party in the US with more than 1500-2000 women from 21-75 every month

• Theme  -Pink Party! ! Anyone dressing in theme gets entered into a prize drawing (TBD)
• Sign up for free mammogram (January Schedule – some restrictions apply)
• Special performance by Denver’s own Ginger Sexton as “Melissa Etheridge” EXDO at around 11:30 gay time
• Complementary Air Brush Body Painting – wear a tank top
• Beats by DJ’s Shannon, Markie and AJ – spinning everything from country (6-10 EXDO) to retro (8-10 Tracks) and Top 40/Hip Hop/House (10-close Tracks and EXDO)
• Dancing by The Wicked Little Girls
• Coat Check – weather dependent
• Huge dance floor – three rooms and Patio Chill Grill
• Cover only $5 (6-9PM) and $7 (9-Close)
• Tracks/EXDO (3500 Walnut, Denver CO 80206)
• EVERYONE is welcome at First Friday.
• VIP Still available Contact dedefrain@babesaroundenver.com for details

THANK YOU…Dede Frain – Original BAD Girl!

September First Friday at Tracks/EXDO

Start the Labor Day Weekend with 1500 women! Theme is Back to School!. Anyone dressing in theme eligible to win cool stuff!

• Winner Best Club Night – Reader’s Choice Westword 2009/2010
• Music by DJ’s Shannon and Markie
• Huge Dance Floor
• VIP Bottle Service – still available – contact DedeFrain@BabesArounDenver.com for reservations
• Wine Special this month!
• Patio Grill and Chill!
• Tracks and Heaven Lounge open at 8 – Top 40/Hip Hop/House all night
• CW from 6-10 in EXDO
• Cover $5 from 6-9 and $7 from 9-Close
• All LGBT and straight allies welcome!

By Holly Hatch
July 27, 2011 | 9:09 am

The first Friday of every month, Dede Frain gets a little nervous. Like waiting for a date on prom night, she paces in anticipation.

“Sometimes I stand at First Friday and think, ‘Is anybody going to come tonight?’”

Frain, owner and founder of Babes Around Denver’s First Friday lesbian night, is still apprehensive before her monumental party begins. Yet for more than eight years, First Friday draws in a massive crowd of women. They flood through the doors of Tracks, in anticipation of the hottest monthly women’s dance party in the nation.

At a glance, it looks like a club scene on an episode of The L-Word. Women with short hair, long hair, faux-hawks and shaved heads are noticed on women of all ages, sizes, ethnicities and sub-culture styles. There are dykes wearing makeup and femmies sporting military dog-tags, and they are pouring through the entrance of Tracks from 6 p.m. until last call, without fail every single month.

They are dancing and grinding, sipping cape-cods or shooting whiskey, and getting down like never before. They are dressed in short skirts, tight hipster jeans, cutoffs and Dickies. From tattoos and piercings to sultry and sexy to happily partnered business owners. These are Denver lesbians; the BAD girls at Frain’s First Friday monthly lesbian party. There are more women in this club every first Friday of the month than most lesbians even knew existed in Denver. Frain’s party is colossal next to any club scene on The L-Word.

“I am still very humbled and surprised by the whole thing,” Frain said of the event that she started in 2003. Attracting women from all walks of life, BAD’s First Friday party is just what Denver was missing. Celebrating its 100th party next month, BAD is the largest monthly women’s event in the country, with an average attendance each month of 2,000 and ages varying from 21 to 75-years-old. It seems that the BAD girls are here to stay. And “ladies night” has taken on a whole new meaning.

Lesbian bars in Denver have never had great success. Frain realized that women in the LGBT community needed something different. “Women don’t go out as much as men,” she said. “They nest more, they connect, that’s why I’ve been so adamant from the beginning about not doing it weekly, and I think that’s what makes it successful.” And a success it has become. First Friday has lesbians, young and old returning each month, searching for new and familiar faces in the crossfire of the strobe lights in this constantly evolving female celebration.

With three different dance floors, women can boot-scoot and yee-haw to country-western in the early part of the evening, and shake it to everything from Top-40 Hits and remixes to ’80s favorites and disco grooves into the wee hours of the morning.

Just as Denver is diverse, so are its lesbians. And Frain will be the first to admit that women seek diversity in their music. So Frain and her resident DJ’s -Trina J, Shannon and Markie – give the women everything they’ve got as they spin the best music in every genre. “We really switch it up throughout the night so that we’re able to cater to the demographics,” Frain said.

Denver is a hot-spot melting pot collecting residents from all over the world. This once-a-month party has become a novelty, and women keep coming back to party and celebrate their sexuality.

Although BAD’s First Friday event is a party by women, for women, Frain welcomes all LGBT members and their allies. The T-girls (transgender women) remain some of the biggest supporters of the event.

Frain said that she is flattered that even gay men in the community come out for First Friday, telling her “I love seeing the lesbians, its my girls night!”

Age doesn’t matter when you’re a lesbian in Denver. Frain said that even her elderly mother has attended First Friday. And then, there’s the woman who has been attending the event since the beginning. At 76-years-old Pat Berrington has remained a staple of the event. Berrington admitted that she’s only missed a couple First Friday’s. Her age certainly doesn’t stop her, “I love to dance,” she said.

“Everybody’s happy there. It’s great to be around people that are pleasant. I’m the oldest one there probably, but I’m in great shape.”

What began as a happy-hour get-together attracting hundreds of women, Frain moved her crew of women to The Lounge, and when even The Church could no longer sustain such a gathering,Tracks/EXDO became the First Friday hot-spot. Frain is continually surprised at the scope of what her First Friday nights have become.

It seems that every woman who has attended a First Friday has a fond, or memorable experience to share. Heidi Lantry revels at dancing the night away with hot 21-year-olds, while Sarah Heid remembers a First Friday holiday bash in which she spent the night happily making out with her girlfriend. Alicia Decker admitted to a crazy night where her crew took over one of the dancing cages, using it as their very own personal dance floor. “I think we (even) lifted up a few skirts and shirts to keep it interesting.” And then there’s Sarah Davis, who has fond memories of the old bathrooms at Tracks. “There was three inches of water and piss on the floor, and drag queens in every stall. After I left, I took the morning-after-pill and got a tetanus shot. All in all, it was a great night!”

Although BAD provides a night for the lesbian community to get rowdy and dance the night away, giving back to the community has remained Frain’s priority. Establishing relationships with charity partners and nonprofits is something Frain continues to uphold. With quarterly donations to nonprofits like the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the ATL Foundation (provides financial assistance to lesbians with health issues) and even political organizations like One Colorado, Frain feels her charitable donations make the success of her party the most rewarding part. “I wish I could do more,” she said. Since forming Babes Around Denver, Frain has donated to more than 18 different charities.

And with other lesbian organizations in the city, like Silke Reuthlinger’s Hip Chicks Out, Frain and BAD have committed to a women’s collaboration in the community. “We work together,” Frain said. “We don’t host events on each other’s nights; we support and co-promote for each other. We’ve never been divisive. We’ve really tried to connect the community rather than dividing them.” Perhaps that is what makes our little-big city’s LGBT community stand apart and continue to become successful and inclusive.

After each successful First Friday, Frain smiles. The mobs of women have come and gone. Fun was the name of the night, because, as Frain said, “Everyone is a lesbian on First Friday.”

100 Nights of Hotness!! Thanks to all of you for making this possible

• Celebrate the 100th First Friday – in our 9th year and still the largest monthly women’s party in the US
• More than 121,000 guest visits since 2003.
• Featured cover story in Outfront Colorado.
• Theme is simple – HOT!
• Complementary Air Brush Body Painting – wear a tank top
• Red Carpet entrance from 9;30-11:30 – see and be seen.
• Beats by DJ’s Trina J, Shannon and Markie – they have rocked First Friday and we couldn’t do it without them
• Dancing by The Wicked Little Girls
• Special performance by Denver’s own Ginger Sexton
• Huge dance floor – three rooms and newly remodeled patio with bar and grill
• Cover only $5 (6-9PM) and $7 (9-Close)
• Tracks/EXDO (3500 Walnut, Denver CO 80206)

THANK YOU…Dede Frain – Original BAD Girl!

July First Friday this week!. Still got Pride fever…party with 1500 women at the largest monthly lesbian party in the US

• Winner Best Club Night – Reader’s Choice Westword 2009/2010
• DJ Shannon spinning in EXDO
• Huge Dance Floor
• VIP Bottle Service – still available – contact DedeFrain@BabesArounDenver.com  for reservations

Music

• Heaven Lounge opens at 6 – Top 40/club and house video all night
• CW from 6–10 in EXDO
• 10-Close – House/TOP 40 dance/hip hop in EXDO
• Cover $5 from 6-9 and $7 from 9-Close