Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Whether you’re in heels, a baseball cap, or in a hotdog suit, you will receive love as it is meant to be. We will weather this challenging time like we weathered the rest and we will continue to be a beacon for people looking to be themselves without judgement or fear. While Marty isn’t with us, his vision and our purpose have never been stronger and continues to set us apart. Last year, our founder, our champion, our leader, an incomparable advocate for human rights passed away. It’s been a safe place for people looking for acceptance, not once, until COVID-19, has it closed its doors. It’s called a number of states home and while the environments Tracks has witnessed have changed over the years for both good and bad, it has always provided a place for EVERYONE to enjoy one of the wildest, craziest, most fun parties on the planet. Over the last 40 years, the club has weathered the HIV epidemic, the downturns in economies, and even the fear of violence in our communities. In my short time in the family, we’ve been named “Best LGBTQ Venue of the Year,” hosted countless celebrities, continued to boast one of the best sound and lighting systems in the industry, and have stayed true to our vision and purpose without wavering. I’m so proud to be writing this as Tracks celebrates its 40th year in Denver. And you’ll sure as hell respect yourself a lot more when looking back when you’ve seen all you’ve accomplished or fought through.
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It’s the “learning how to float” period though that gives you your reputation. You have to get smashed against the rocks a couple times. You don’t gain credibility and respect, knowledge, or experience, by simply riding the waves to the sand. Struggle, struggle, struggle, is the game. Expected that I’d move on before I reached the “next level.” And here I am, deeper in the trenches than ever before, almost at my four-year mark. I expected to leave when I found a job that paid better. Learning what he was good at, what he wasn’t the best at, and how I could take an incredible community and establishment to the next level. I spent the next three years learning his every move. While it didn’t happen when I wanted, I’m sure as hell glad it didn’t. But I would sure as hell figure it out.įrom the second I was hired, I wanted my boss’s job. While I’d never worked a nightclub before, I was pretty good at running other people’s businesses. And I do that with a servant mentality, a love for the people I work with, and a mindset that EVERYONE has something to teach me. What I had a passion for is taking something I had never done and throwing every ounce of energy at accomplishing my goal until I did. That while things come in different shapes and sizes, there’s something you can’t teach, and that’s passion. In fact, what he taught me is exactly what I’m about to teach you. I’ll take this one step back and say this. When leaving for the interview, I jokingly said to my friend I was staying with at the time, “wouldn’t it be crazy if they asked me to be the manager?” Well, after a couple in-person interviews, that’s exactly what happened. I had no idea what I was interviewing for but went in because I could not stand the idea of staring at my laptop for another second. I fought to get an interview at a bar and finally got called back for an interview. I started applying to any job I could find and now had started to apply to bars. Three months later, I was still jobless and having panic attacks almost daily while lying on the yoga mat at the gym. I had just finished my MBA and thought naively that with my credentials, I’d find a job without a blink. Long story short, I took this opportunity to move to the mountains and start fresh. I worked in a department of three people closely connected with the university President, so when I was let go, it was a surprise. My department closed suddenly at the university I was working at. While I know most people reading this have what I would call normal jobs, I hope that my story might help you see things in a new light, or at least see your normal light with a little more color. And what this crazy industry has instilled in me that will never ever go away. What I really want to share is what I’ve learned from spending almost four years in the industry, what I’m still learning. I went from working in finance, tech startups, universities, to managing one of the oldest and largest LGBTQ nightclubs in the country. In my comfort zone, if that’s event possible. I guess my story is one that started where I was most familiar. Today we’d like to introduce you to Isaac Domingue.