5.21.2004Plexi presents Chris Fortier @ Filter 14What a night! Last night felt like three distinct parties as different party people came throughout the night. As the hostess it's always interesting to see the party progress from start to finish and experiencing the full-breadth of the night where anything can happen. Try it sometime, a night takes on its own distinct personality depending on the crowd. Most clubbers can't do the start to finish - it's long work, tiring and hard, so next time try giving your local promoter "the nod." Last night started out with a generous open bar with 4 or 5 different cocktails on the menu and $2 beers. Thanks Tommy Frayne! This helps lubricate things for the night. A mixture of catching up with friends, fans of Chris Fortier & Bedrock, old pals from Twilo, some business schmoozing, chats with TranceAddict.com members, requisite debauchery downstairs - fun! fun! fun! Wait, there was that old guy in the bra and skirt who slowly lost his skirt to reveal a thong, and then asked my friend Taj if he should take off his thong or bra. She said removing the thong would be politically incorrect and voted for the bra and even helped him release the clasp. TAJ!!! We already scolded her on that part but applauded her for her reasoning skills. For a second he reminded me of Mikey from Twilo with the DT & Junior hand puppets always prancing around his hairy, sweaty body in only boxers. Good times!  Then somewhere along the night the room turned into a sausage-fest. Guys guys guys! Not bad-looking ones, just lots of them. Then it slowly morphed into a full-on raging dancefloor with some hot Miami girls. Chris Fortier got into his groove and had me captivated on the dancefloor with some oldies Alanis Morisette Uninvited (Brother in Rhythm RMX) (haven't heard that since Twilo) and new tunes including Matthew Dekay Higher Thoughts (Steve Porter remix) (too bad he left early and missed this, I'm sure there's always a secret thrill when you hear your track on the dancefloor). There were so many good tunes in between but I've given up on trainspotting and I can only run up to the DJ Booth and ask the DJ so many times... Tune of the night: Tears for Fears "Shout" (Skylark mix) - hot, hot track. Chris played it twice and the second time was even better than the first! Filter 14 is our version of the NBC show Cheers. It's where everybody knows your name. Of course now I had to go look up the rest of the lyrics... To imagine that a small little dirty club in the meat-packing district could mean so much and provide such solace. Plus I think it's the only club left in NYC that does not subscribe to the evil, bourgeois ways of bottle service and probably never will. Thank God! All in all - a fun night for me! Being a promoter is an act of love and you learn the hard way not to let the numbers, the rain, the snow or any other act of God get you down. Even if it's just you, the bartender and the DJ - you can always still have a good time. Thankfully, last night we had a room full of drunk people to share it with. Come out to the next Plexi party - Plexi presents Chris Fortier party - Thursday, June 24 Filter 14 (432 West 14th Street) Free for you - just mention bettykang.com at the door. I'll leave you with this song... I hope everybody finds somplace to get away. Cheers ("Where Everybody Knows Your Name") Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got. Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot. Wouldn't you like to get away? Sometimes you want to go Where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came. You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same You wanna be where everybody knows Your name. You wanna go where people know, people are all the same, You wanna go where everybody knows your name. posted on 6:13 PM 5.13.2004My Hair Stylist: AVIIt's amazing how a hair stylist can transform you. I appreciate people who excel at what they do in whatever field it may be - music, art, technology, PR, and even hair. One visit to my stylist and you'll know what I'm talking about. Every client who walks in, walks out a completely new person. First, there's "the talk." Through conversation AVI will analyze you and find out who you are, how daring you might be and what would be appropriate for the individual. Don't ever let somebody shepard you to the sink for a wash before a serious conversation and analysis of your hair and lifestyle. Otherwise they're just cutting your hair and you might as well be sitting at SuperCuts. AVI is an Israeli and shares that passionate hot fire temperament known to artists. He works out of his home, mainly because I'm not sure any salon could even share his vision. Part-counselor, part make-up artist, part-confidante and full-on hair maestro! I blocked out a whole afternoon (as a hair appointment with Avi might often be filled with drop-in guests, two adorable dogs - chutzpah & little man, Israeli coffee, cigarettes, and tête-à-têtes about life, love and the everyday), but it was well worth it. I've already referred many friends and colleagues in the music, clubbing and fashion industry and the word continues to spread - new converts being initiated all the time. If you need that something something in your life or just looking for a change, then drop me an email and I'll hook you up with the haircut of your life. Here's the latest 2005 haircut for me:  posted on 2:10 PM 5.12.2004Friday night in NYC. Even with the warm days the edge of winter still hangs in the air with the unseasonable chilly nights. Avalon's industrial heater was brought back outside to the velvet ropes to ward off the cold and I think the weather warded off the clubbers as well. Darryl Elmore's (NYC uber-doorman) theory: when it's nice out people spend all day out in the sun and then too tired to venture out combined with folks coveting tomorrow's potential sunshine instead of sleeping it away after a long night of clubbing. I should know, I remember losing years of Saturdays when Twilo was still open. I've been a Nick Warren fan since his Global Underground CDs held the right amount of progressive beats and beautiful, ethereal, classic trance melodies. None of the endemic high-hat, soaring pads, filter sweeping, hands-in-the-air, formulaic trance you hear nowadays. This was back when Tranceport was still revered and "trance" was not a dirty word. He used to tour as the support DJ for fellow Bristol mates Massive Attack. The story goes that one day the Massive Attack remix of 'Les Negresses Vertes' was due, but the rest of the group was ill, so Nick stepped in and the resulting mix sold over 25,000 copies! His Twilo debut with Sander Kleinenberg was a bust and NYC clubbers have a surprisingly long memory, but I just happened to be at WMC 2001 so his reputation remained pristine in my mind.  WAY OUT WEST (live). Back to the show at hand at Avalon. They were joined on the main stage by vocalist Omi - a local Bristol girl with a sweet voice and cute little dance moves but not quite the diva that a club vocalist merits. Maybe she can grow into that role. Their set was great although there were a bit too many ambient moments with swirling melodies lost in the soaring gothic ceiling and too many breakdowns. Finally, later in the night Nick and Jody seemed to reach their stride - full throttle with an engaged dancefloor audience but it was nearly 3am. A bit late for a club that closes at 6am. You've already lost some of your core audience but I can only imagine what an artist must encounter across different clubs in different time zones on different continents. The expectations vary so much I think it's hard for anybody to find their right niche without a regular residency, but then it's the DJ's job to: read the crowd. Live PAs need a performer's enthusiasm i.e Junkie XL or Infusion (both exhibit maniacal energy, flailing arms and bouncing when performing) or you might as well be in a dark, elevated booth out-of-sight. Overall, I think the show needs a bit more energy in the music and the performances but hopefully that will come over time. Do check them out live though and from the tracks that they've debuted, their new artist album should be quite brilliant! Whatever ambient tracks may not have worked in the club are sure to sound wondrous in your iPod.  Saturday Night. A legend returns to 662 Sixth Avenue, techno auteur JEFF MILLS heralded a residency at Limelight in the early 90s and his return to Avalon marked a homecoming of sorts. The man, the myth, the machine. I have heard so much about Jeff but had seemed to miss him every time in NYC. It seemed a lot of people came out of the woodwork for this one, as only one like Jeff Mills can spur. I even spotted a couple old skool ravers who might have looked like they stepped out of 1991. His set was a fluid display of musical talent, sweeping across genres. For some reason I anticipated banging techno, sloppy mixing and mechanical speed (from all that I've heard about him), but he delivered a smooth set sprinkled with classics Bells, Strings of Life, Knights of the Jaguar and tossed in the occasional funky, house track in there. A reported lower back injury prevented him from displaying his full range of motion but I have his Exhibitionist DVD to replay all his moves form different angles if I so choose (a la porn DVDs). The DVD is a "step forward into a new era in Electronic Music" and displays Jeff Mills as a true innovator! Go buy it now!P.S. I've given my Danny Tenaglia grand finale re-cap some more thought and a blog entry just wouldn't do it justice. Look for a bigger piece to grace the homepage as a homage to 6 Hubert Street. Don't worry - I actually took notes at the club and post-closing. Yes I was that girl standing in the smoking corral scribbling on a scrap of paper. Stay tuned! posted on 11:56 AM About Last Night :: Archive |