Just recently found out that Tuesday the Timbaland album release party will be taking place at Hudson Terrace instead of Kiss and Fly. Sad. So Tonight at 10pm Hudson terrace.

Sunday at 1Oak for my birthday was so much fun. Rihanna was at the table next to me wearing her sunglasses and having a good time. Of course she had security governing the area. Everyone was enjoying the superduper amazing DJ Questlove, who I seriously think may be the best DJ I have ever heard in my life thus far. This could be because I was intoxicated and anything I heard I started danced my ass off, but whatever. Heard the Gossip Girls were also inside and that Amanda Bynes had to wait outside for 20 minutes. The door was truly mayhem, almost as much as it is during the week.

I have to admit the Sunday night party just keeps getting better and better. I consider it the best Sunday night party in the city and for me, this Sunday was one for the record books due to my memory of it being quite weak but the photos being very entertaining. Here’s a photo with Questlove’s emcee who kept giving me shout-outs for my birthday. They also arranged a birthday cake for me. It was a memorable night.

Monday night I did the party at Stanton Social from 11pm till 1:30am and then hit Butter afterwards. It was ram packed inside with a lot of tables sold. Cast members of TV show “The Office” were there. Owners Richie and Scott were also there hanging out. Usual 1Oak looking type crowd. Models? Italians? Random dudes that know the staff. Amazing time though, and good music. I just love the venue itself. It is the longest running party in NYC (Monday nights only though).

Monday at M2 there was an event for Terrell Owens (wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills). His birthday is the same as mine, and there was a sexy event there for him. A good friend of mine Jen said Nia Long (actress) was there as well as a swarm of football and basketball athletes.

-Dec 6th Gossip Girls at 1oak
-Dec 9th Quo hosted by Fabulous and performance by Ron Browz
-Dec 11th the official Snoop Dogg Malice in Wonderland album release at M2

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So Tuesday night I met up with a friend who is connected with a lot of new spots and nightclubs that are opening. He took me to a place called Amnesia. You can check out the pictures below.

Amnesia is actually a large space. Location-wise, it’s closer to West Side Highway than Marquee, M2, Scores and Cain etc. When I walked inside, I felt it had an M2 vibe because there’s a high ceiling and the room’s really big. I envision it as a huge performance space. Like everything in New York, it used to be called something else, but I forget the name. The managers were chilling out in the basement on computers, chatting about future events. They told me there will be some private events taking place in November and as well as a soft opening so important nightlife people and press can view the space.

Next stop, Quo. I didn’t get good pictures here, but it’s not like this is a mysterious new club space since it’s the old Prime / Myst/ Retox. One trivial thing is that people are not sure whether they are calling it Quo or just Q, but they said it doesn’t matter. So far the club staff are calling it Quo and the sub-contracted consultants (i.e. Richie) are calling it Q. Below a photo of the walkway…the rest they wouldn’t let me photograph.

I think Suzie Wong’s owners are also involved in the reopening of this space. I think one of the guy’s names is Gary - really nice guy and always out partying. It’s in his blood to be at clubs.

Once again, I will mention Halloween. I’m selling tickets for The Park. There is a 9pm to 11pm or a 9pm to 10pm open bar, will confirm that soon. As I said yesterday, Kid Cudi was supposed to be there, but he is no longer since tickets are selling fast with or without him. The party there last year had 2,500 people clicked in, making it really one of the largest spaces in NYC besides Tavern on the Green. For those of you who don’t know where it is, it’s right next to Avenue, closer to 18st and 10th ave while Avenue is 17st and 10th ave.

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“The people” said 1Oak and Griffin didn’t have good energy Sunday night. I disagree. Griffin and 1Oak were just chill instead of packed. There was enough space to move around and relax. The crowd was just as good-looking as other nights.

For 1Oak, the promoters (new ones hired by a new promotional team) were warned the girls they brought had to be 1Oak quality. For Griffin, in a meeting with the owners, they said to ensure the club didn’t get ghetto. Amazingly, the opposite occurred. I’ve yet to be at a Sunday party this high-end. Both these venues have huge potential for being high-end.

Tenjune was on the lower end of the spectrum with regards to quality, but the guys running that party Sunday night make a lot more money. The room is totally filled, the quality of the people is decent, and tables are being sold. So in my book, Tenjune was a good Sunday party to pay a visit to. Of course, I would welcome you at Griffin also Sunday, since I am there. Stefan (from Pink Elephant) runs the door at Griffin now, and he is no joker when it comes to rejecting people. He did that a lot Sunday night. He also had good reason (besides keeping the venue full with a hot crowd). The police said if they breached their maximum capacity again they’d be shut down, so he had to keep some people waiting outside till some others would leave. Crazy, right?

Heard Butter was whack from a few friends, but hey it’s a one-off.

Got some feedback from some friends at a new space called Amnesia 27th street and 11 ave. Richie Romero is dealing up with that.
Also, Quo on 28street is going to open. I believe in the old Prime space. I can’t imagine that would be good though.

I am actually looking for a Friday spot to work. Not sure what to do, go for high-end or filler. We shall see what offers are made…

Anyone who is ever interested in blogging or in club information, hit me up.

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So last night, Tuesday, turned out pretty sick, mainly because I got some video footage of LeBron James (the guest I couldn’t dish on last night) entering Marquee red carpet style. Mary J Blige was there as well (photo in previous post). LeBron, well, he’s huge and tall. He arrived at 12:30am with an entourage and answered one or two quick questions from reporters that had been camped outside for hours before disappearing into Marquee.

The line outside was pure madness – so long it even inspired me to take video footage.

I felt so sorry for the Marquee bouncers. No one was listening and they were forced to get a little loud and hostile to get people’s attention. Wale and J Cole were also there last night, but everyone famous left soon after they entered. LeBron and his “girl” must have stayed for about 30 minutes (45 max) before leaving for 1Oak where some of my friends said they spotted him later on. Ironically, the crowds showed up at midnight when all the celebs were actually there way before at 9pm. Then there were a few other basket ball players and smaller artists. Everyone just trying to make a living and network, spewing the usual bullshit at the door people making the assumption that they were more important than others and deserved to cut the line. Ah, NYC nightlife. Sometimes I just like to stand outside and observe.

So this whole event was called “More Than a Game.” In additional to being the reason for celebration at Marquee, it’s a documentary that follows NBA superstar LeBron James and four of his talented teammates through the trials and tribulations of high school basketball in Ohio, and James’ subsequent journey to fame.

Later in the night, I attempted to get into Avenue. Wass (the main doorman) sent a security guard to tell me Wass “wouldn’t be able to take care of me tonight.” I nodded and bent the corner for 1Oak. Sometimes it doesn’t always work out and lingering outside the door begging just looks bad (and annoys the doormen). I always say move on to the next venue and have fun. Oh, and don’t always blame the promoter when it doesn’t work out
At 1Oak, Binn (their door person) pops out every 5 minutes (just as I would if running the door) to let in his close friends, hot girls, and guys that are ritual Oakers. Once inside, I saw some balloons…maybe it was for Richie Akiva’s birthday? Who knows. It was the usual good vibe at 1Oak. Tall, pretty girls, the drunk guys trying to get their numbers and not succeeding because everyone at 1Oak has a stick up their ass. I will take a look at Simyone again sometime this week and see what I can find out for you.

In regards to La Pomme, some friends have been telling me it has been rocking a very good party while others tell me it is just like the old Ultra before renovations and they can’t stand it.

Guess I still have to see for myself.

In terms of new clubs…in Meatpacking I snagged this pic on Little West 12st and 9 ave. Is a club opening at the old spot called The Inn?

Friday I was at Johnny Utah’s. This place isn’t your usual club party. It’s more for people who are into bars and don’t want to deal with door trouble or paying cover. It’s the in-between corporate or PR girl type of crowd looking to have a beer and a laugh instead of champagne (which we actually get at the promo tables…huh). Friday I myself was actually in awe. When the emcee came on and started hyping the crowd, the DJ hitting some hip hop music, the crowd went absolutely insane. The emcee had to fend off people fighting to ride the infamous Johnny Utah mechanical bull. That’s what you call a successful night. Now what needs to happen is to bring that same energy to Mondays at  Johnny Utah’s. Let’s see how it goes this Monday.

Right after Johnny Utah’s, I took my crew down to Citrine since the owner David R. had asked me to come check it out. He runs a corporation called the Impulse Group. They’re basically are similar to Strategic Group (Noah Tepperberg for Marquee and Avenue) but not as potent. Impulse has under its wing the nightclub Citrine, Puffy’s Tavern, and just recently Johnny Utah’s…that’s a little inside scoop for you non-clubbers. Citrine had a good-looking crowd. The doormen Spencer and Han are from the good ole’ ClimaxVIP.com (very good guys that are very serious about the nightlife business and to me, very trustworthy people). Citrine charges a cover now. That’s news to me ever, and I used to work there on Thursdays some time ago.

We stayed at Citrine only an hour and a half and then went to Simyone the new EMM group spot (Mark Birnbaum Eugene Remm-I think Simyone is the name of Eugene’s Grandfather, hence the new name of the club. Those two always have some interesting reason for naming their clubs.) Obviously, they moved Alex Julian from Tenjune and now have him running the door at the old Lotus (aka the new Simyone). A lot of hot girls and good-looking guys here, then also the average looking guys that are friends with the owners of course and spend a lot of money. All of the who’s who was there etc., the usual BS for a brand new club when opening. Ellington Keys (as I mentioned before) is the # 1 model promoter. I saw him at Simyone with all his models and his partner Isaih (not sure if that spelling is correct). These are the guys who have taken the crown of being able to bring out ONLY MODELS. The Tenjune staff came through late night to chill out at  their new home. Tyson Beckford told me he loves the spot, so I wanted to see how good it really was. Eugene Remm was spinning.

The lowdown on the Simyone layout: You walk down some stairs after getting past the doorman. There’s some winding until you reach a long room. At the end of the room, is a doorway which then forms a “T.” Walking through this second doorway you can look left and right and there is another room filled with…tables (of course). On the walls in this room are funny-enough photographs of X-Rays, and when the colorful lighting passes behind it you can actually see the X-Ray. Then, they vanish. The ceiling’s low with a lot of color, while at the same time floor is black and roof is black.

I will have more information on La Pomme for you. I think I might stay on this Thursday to try it out again. I personally hope it’s more full this Thursday, because the venue itself is phenomenal.

I was one of three promoters at Thursday night’s Grand Opening of La Pomme, which wasn’t so grand from my point of view. From the look of the photos on Guest of a Guest, the pre-event seemed like it went really well. Probably less focus was placed on the actual night time party. My girls left early. Friday, however, a colleague of mine worked La Pomme and said it was a very good-looking crowd. Who knows; I have to take another look at this place. Boom Boom Room’s also a place I still have to visit.

In Part 1, I wrote about my first experience at eco-friendly New York nightclub Greenhouse. What I didn’t go into is how this was my first nightclub experience since my decision to quit drinking.

Yes. I wrote: Quit. Drinking.

Quit drinking and you’ll find this is not an activity your friends support you in.

Strange, right?

Your friends stand by you in situations far more complex than beverage preference and encourage you to improve your life in myriad ways. If you think this translates to them being supportive about your decision to stop axe-murdering your liver with vodka, you don’t speak the secret New York language of alcoholism. They won’t just hate you for putting down the bottle, they’ll guilt trip you about it too.

Anyhoo…It’s a Monday night, I set the scene, and I’m not ‘exploring’ Greenhouse per se because it’s too packed to adjust your shoulder blades let alone move. I didn’t get the memo that Monday night was ‘rock night’ so there’s an anonymous band playing music that involves electric guitars on a what appears to be a stage at the far end of the room. From the amount of people who showed up to see them, I assume this band, if you like this type of music, is considered very good. Or Monday night’s just the new Friday. Anything’s possible.

What was cool about my evening at Greenhouse is that I actually saw different kinds of going-out people. What do I mean by that? I mean along with seeing your club staples:

1. Men in jackets who are trying to hard
2. Eurotrash
3. Baby models
4. Wanna-be models

I also saw people dressed in grunge and Goth. A party just feels so much more like a real party once a Goth person shows up! If I were a New York promoter, I’d hire a Goth person to flank me at all times just to differentiate myself.

An eclectic mix of people is not something you encounter often in exclusive nightclub locations. Especially being sober, I found Greenhouse’s variety fascinating. This may be painfully obvious, but it’s amazing how much more you’re able to observe your surroundings and the people around you when not drinking. Perhaps because everything’s not blurry.

So what’s it like to be in a club stone cold sober? As in ‘stone cold for the whole night,’ not because you just arrived there?

Well, it’s a mix of

1. Heightened awareness as described
2. Jealousy for those around who are drunk…and happy
3. A giddiness that you will not be hung-over tomorrow, which is quickly replaced by
4. The realization that by not drinking, you now have nothing in common with 98% of the room and should probably just go home

In short, it’s a fish out of water sensation made more manageable by Greenhouse and their leafy, nature décor, which made me feel sort of like an amphibian anyway. I guess if you’re going to give sobriety a go, a club that trying to look like it’s part of the wilderness or at minimum, the back garden of a rehabilitation center, is a good place to start.

Rain always makes the New York cab market extra competitive. Last night, I fell prey to two bizarre cab experiences. The first involved fighting over, then sharing, a cab with a man named Bjorn who turned out to be my New York neighbor. The second, more awkward, was my chat with a balding Brazilian-Israeli taxi driver. It went something like this:

Him: “”I’ve picked you up before. You Russian.”

Me: “Um…maybe…I don’t think so.”

I pretend to be fascinated by my iPhone.

“What do you do for a living?”

I tell him. Now I’m involved. I ask him where he’s from. I do this a lot with cab drivers for some reason. Somehow this results in him telling me about how as a New York cab driver, he has ‘crazy’ with a capital ‘C’ stories. Naturally, I prompt him with:

“So what’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened to you in this cab?”

Thus begins a diatribe in which he tells me some of the wildest stories I’ve ever heard, stuff I thought was limited to the fictional spheres of soft-porn channels. His headline:

“Women are crazy.”

That’s old news, but this guy claims that nightly, if not several times a night, women will get in the front seat of his cab and throw themselves on him. He then shows me this huge stack of condoms he keeps next to him at all times while driving to ‘protect’ himself from drunk, female predators.

I’m in the backseat thinking:

“TOO MUCH INFORMATION!!!”

Apparently, it’s not limited to nighttime though.

He tells me a girl he picked up in broad daylight just hopped into his cab, shed clothes and started touching herself. Another he claims just took off her shirt and spent the entire cab ride trying to kiss her own nipples. Another sat with him in the front seat and well, I’ll let you imagine, while he drove her across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Sure this guy was better looking than your average cab driver, but a far, far cry from a Ricky Martin look-alike. Are New York women so out-of-control that we’re raping cabbies? Do we party that ridiculously hard? Does our desperation run this deep?

As we pulled up at my apartment building, he points out:

“There are four times the amount of womans than mens in this city.”

I gulp.

“And a lot of these mens are gay.”

True.

“Lots of womans, they are lonely. And I am lonely too.”

I give him a really big tip and tell him I’m glad it’s working out for him.

For people who want a side of club music with their dinner experience and can actually afford to pay for their meal instead of attending promoter charity dinners like the ones I’ve written about at One, Bagatelle is the place to be. It’s a meatpacking block away and while One and Bagatelle have nothing in common except for excruciatingly loud dinner music and being the brainchildren of club owners, I find myself comparing the two because they’re the kind of restaurants one frequents pre-going out.

Haters describe restaurant-hybrid-disco Bagatelle as ‘an overpriced, overcrowded clubhouse for Guidos and women with a lot of mileage.’

Fans describe it as ‘the best food and social scene in the city.’

Obviously, getting a reservation’s close to impossible and even if you do, an hour long wait while you suck down outrageously over-priced martinis in a body lock at the bar is mandatory. The best word to describe this restaurant: Crowded. The runner up word: Euro.

While one guy did sport a donkey rope, the rest of the crowd was the slicker, elegant Euro type who knew the brand name of the shoes they were wearing off the top of their head and kept colorful kerchiefs in their suit breast pocket. The ladies that accompanied them were decorated accordingly.

FYI Bagatelle is a great place to wear your most uncomfortable, super-high heels. It’s so crowded that you can use fellow patrons to keep your balance walking around and falling is an impossibility.

Once we finally sat down, a waiter that looked like he’d just completed the half-marathon greeted us with a broad smile while sweat / tears trickled down his face. At another point, when I flagged him to take our order he made it half way around our table before sprinting off again with only half our orders received. I was more concerned about that man’s cardiovascular health than the restaurant’s service in general so the waiter and I remained on good terms. That is until he told me my entrée of choice, the scallops, was no longer available. That left me with the veal. Boring. But the goat cheese and foie gras appetizers were great. Get them if you ever find yourself here.

Also, keep your eyes peeled for the most attractive Asian male waiter (or water boy?) who circulates the restaurant all night with ridiculously shiny, long hair and a sexy saunter under his aproned black pants. He’s somewhat mythical looking and my friends and I decided he should star in the next Lord of the Rings movie and probably received a frightening amount of attention (and cash?) nightly from older women.

Don’t come to Bagatelle if you really want to talk to anyone because the music level makes that impossible (they actually have a DJ by the door).

Do come if you want to be dancing to ‘My Dream is to Fly’ on your chair by dessert.

I was flabbergasted when Jamie Mulholland and Jayma Cardosa announced they were gutting and redecorating 27^th street nightclub Cain. Sure, 27^th street isn’t what it used to be, but from what I could see, safari-themed Cain wasn’t suffering. The music was always preppy, the promoters plentiful and the dance floor consistently full – maybe with tourists and out-of-towners – but it’s in Chelsea! That’s where hotel concierges tell these people to go.

I have fond memories of when Cain used to be one of the most exclusive clubs in the city. Their chic Italian door people would stare you down with what felt like daggered icicles shooting out of their eyes until you felt too insignificant to even try getting in. Cain’s always been a fun, familiar friend, even if no longer in its prime. I mean, Marquee’s not longer in its ‘prime’ and remains by far the most profitable nightclub in Manhattan. I didn’t think Cain’s owners would want to ‘mess with success,’ but someone got bitten with the rebranding bug and Cain Luxe was born.

Upon hearing this news last month, I started feeling bad for Cain. Had things plummeted to such a low that they needed to add an abbreviation of the world ‘luxury’ to their name just to make the point they were still classy? What was once a hot club now sounded like a child of divorce with a hyphenated surname. I decided I’d have to do a quick swing by and check the place out of myself.

The entrance is the same but the club’s entirely different. My jaw dropped upon arrival.

Why?

Because these were right in front of me:

Cain’s new décor revolves around a runway in what used to be the center dance floor. Go Go dancers shuffle around it in an awkward line like birthday candles strewn upon a cake. I felt like I’d entered Bada Bing and at any moment, I’d see Tony Soprano waving at me with his cigar from the bar.

What had happened to this place?

Technically speaking, they moved the DJ booth to the opposite side of the room (sure that cost a fortune) and hung red stringy thingies everywhere, which to me just accentuated the fact that this could be a brothel. Impressive elephant tusks support the ceiling and a beautiful mural’s on the back wall (if you manage to remove you eyes from the grinding women in front of you, you’ll appreciate it.) It’s sort of like Cave du Roy meets the jungle…which for me, didn’t really work. On this plus side, they clearly revamped their sound system and the quality is excellent. This place is definitely not the old Cain.

While I personally was not a fan, this venue could be wild fun for bachelor or bachelorette parties. Then again, maybe my whole perspective would be different if they had male dancers up on that stage.