Fashion Week, The Hurricane Club and Lavo

The Nightlife Report for September 21, 2010

Compiled by Gamal Hennessy

Seize the Night
New Version Now Available!
The definitive New York nightlife book, Seize the Night, is now available on
Blackberrys, iPhones and iPads devices

Fashion Week 2011
Fashion Week Recap
The New York Times looks at the end of fashion week festivities: Nocturnalist Partying, Not Just Posing

Nightlife Winners and Losers of Fashion Week
Eater rates the high profile nightlife venues that timed their openings to coincide with Fashion Week because we there is no nightlife week...yet

Battle of the Rooftop Bars

The Village Voice ends Fashion Week by drinking and dancing high above the city.

New Venues
Lavo
Vegas staple Lavo comes to New York nightlife. Will other Sin City venues follow?

Hurricane Club
An upscale tiki inspired lounge joins Plunge and Millesime to add more nightlife to the Flatiron District

Tip:
Remember, The best venue isn't the most exclusive or expensive spot. It's the place where you and your people can have fun…

Have fun.
Gamal

Don Hill’s, Sin Sin, Siberia and Parisian Cocktails

The Nightlife Report for September 15th, 2010
Compiled by Gamal Hennessy

NIMBY’s Circle Around Sin Sin
(Guest of a Guest)
The home to Soulgasm is in the crosshairs of local residents after a man is allegedly shot and killed at the door

Siberia Moves Closer to Reopening
(DNAInfo)
The classic Hell’s Kitchen Dive bar is one step closer to rebirth.

Don Hills Re-imagined
(Urban Daddy)
The minds behind Kenmare take over the rock and roll venue. It might become a rock and models venue, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with that.

New York Cocktail Culture Invades Paris
(Financial Times)
The city known for its abundance of wine snobs takes inspiration from spots like Death & Co, Dutch Kills and Painkiller to create a new wave of cocktail drinker in the City of Lights.

Have fun.

Gamal

Nicole John, Lamb’s Club and Fashion’s Night Out

The Nightlife Report for September 8, 2010

Compiled by Gamal Hennessy

Special Report: Nicole John
Learning from Nicole John
(Prince of the City)
The death of Nicole John goes much deeper than Tenjune and Fake IDs. Nightlife and American culture itself has to accept responsible indulgence if tragedies like this are going to be avoided.

Who’s to Blame?
(Good Night Mr. Lewis)
Another perspective on the Nicole John death from operator Steven Lewis

New York Nights Review
(Prince of the City)
Lamb’s Club: Understated Class


Event
Fashion’s Night Out
(Papier Doll)
Your idea of nightlife might not include shopping, but these events will have cocktails and music so they can’t be all bad…


Health
Drinking Liquor Could Save Your Life
(Men’s Health)
"Research over a 20-year period showed that more than 1,000 adults who didn’t drink were 49 percent more likely to die—of any cause—than those who drank moderately"... Cheers


Law
Ladies Night is Legal
(Fox News)
A federal court rules that "Ladies Night" in New York nightlife is not a violation of men's civil rights.

Surveys
America’s Drunkest Cities
(Men‘s Health) Contrary to popular opinion, New York nightlife has more bars with fewer drunks than other US cities

Have fun
Gamal

Nightlife Police, New NIMBYs and the Continuing Smoking Struggles

The Nightlife Report
Compiled by Gamal Hennessy

A New Influx of New York NIMBYs (The Wall Street Journal)
More residential skyscrapers are going up, which means more conflict between the nightlife industry and rich NIMBYs

The NYC Police Cabaret Unit (The Wall Street Journal)
The NYPD is reinstating its Cabaret Unit, which could be good news or bad news for New York nightlife.

The Potential of E-Cigarettes (The Wall Street Journal)
Are E-Cigarettes the anwser to the NYC Nightlife Smoking Ban? Probably not. City Hall will most likely ban them too.

Smoking Problems (Guest of a Guest)
Unlucky Strike: Juliet Supper Club In Cigarette-Related Trouble...Maybe they should try e-cigarettes...

New Venues
BlkMarket (Midtown)
Lamb’s Club (Midtown)
Tzigan (Meatpacking)
The Whiskey Brooklyn (Brooklyn)
XIX (Lower East Side)

Bottle Service, Noisy Bar Crackdowns and Racial Profiling in Nightlife

The Nightlife Report for August 19, 2010
Compiled by Gamal Hennessy


Bottle Service History (New York Magazine)
A short history on "universally despised" nightlife staple, including a reference to a time when buying a bottle actually saved you money...

Noisy Bar Law(New York Press)
New law will revoke the liquor licenses of "noisy" bars. Score another win for the NIMBYS:


Racial Profiling in Nightlife (Gothamist)
Former Bolmor employees accuse management of racial profiling to exclude unwanted patrons. It's ignorant and underhanded if its true, but most modern venues serve niche markets and race figures into that calculation. The only difference is the level of subtlety in the execution...

Top Ten Party Cities (Ask Men)
Ask Men provides a list of the top party cities of the past 100 years including London, Ibiza, Dubai and of course... NYC



New Venue Announcement
Living Room Downtown (Financial District)
Plunge Park Avenue (Midtown East)
Silkstone (Chinatown)
Theater Bar (Tribeca)
White Noise (East Village)

Idle Hands, Salon Millesime, Sankey's and Nightlife Security

The Nightlife Report for August 12, 2010

Compiled by Gamal Hennessy

...we hunt down the nightlife news so you don't have to...

Opening

Idle Hands
The old Save the Robots space in Alphabet City is reopening as a bar that combines high end bourbons with rock n’ roll.

Salon Millesime
The new lounge inside the Carlton Hotel in Murray Hill will be a coffee bar during the day and a live music lounge at night.

Sankey’s
The Manchester mega club plans to open a sister venue across the pond molded in the style of old school favorites Twilo, Sound Factory and Vinyl. If you listen very closely you can already hear the nostalgists moaning that the venue will never work.

Security
NYS Re-writing Rules for Nightlife Security
What does a security guard in Macy’s and a security guard in Love have in common? They both get the same training to do their jobs even though they have very different jobs under very different circumstances. The state legislature is currently debating changes to the rules that would require more background checks and training for anyone involved in nightlife security. The new regulations are still being hammered out and while new rules will improve security inside venues, it won’t do very much to improve security outside a venue where most of the violence occurs.

Have fun.

Gamal

Gin Wigmore: NZ Rock Invades America

By Gamal Hennessy

New York Nights wraps up its focus on nightlife and music by spotlighting a new face in American music. Virginia “Gin” Wigmore is a chart topping signer/ songwriter in New Zealand who has played with established American artists like John Mellancamp and Sheryl Crow. She sat down with me at the Hudson Hotel last weekend as a part of her second US multi-city tour to discuss stage performances, nightlife neighborhoods and the draw of New York City.

GH: You were sixteen when you did your first performances. Tell me about that experience.
GW: I was incredibly nervous when I first started. I was very intimidated by the thought of performing in front of a crowd. Then I looked out into the audience and realized that there were only six people sitting out there. It was just a couple of my friends and a few homeless guys who were there free drinks. My stage fright was much easier to deal with after that.

GH: So why did you stop doing those shows?
GW: The open mic show had a winner every night and one night I won. When I went to collect my massive $6 prize, they asked me for my name, age and all that stuff. When they found out I was too young to be in a bar they kicked me out and told me I couldn’t come back without my dad.

GH: So you would have been better off if you lost the contest?
GW: Yeah, I should have let them keep their $6.

GH: I assume that when you played in New York for the first time there were a lot more people in the audience.
GW: Absolutely. We did our first show at the Cutting Room. The place was packed with media people, record executives and folks like that. It was one of the most amazing shows I’ve ever done. It’s one of the things I love about playing in New York.

GH: Why is it so important to you to play here when you’ve had so much success in Australia and New Zealand?
GW: When you are growing up as a musician in any country, you want to get to America and you specifically want to get to New York City. That’s the pinnacle of live performance. The only way you could be a bigger deal is if you did a show on Mars or something.

GH: You mean playing in really large venues here?
GW: Not really. Once you get to New York, it could be a tiny little place or a big hall. The key is getting a show in New York. We’ve done some amazing sets at places like the Mercury Lounge, and I would have loved to play at a place like CBGB before it closed down.

GH: So what types of spots do you like to hang out in when you’re in New York?
GW: I love spending time in Greenwich Village at spots like the Spotted Pig and I really want to go back to areas like Park Slope and the East Village. I’d probably get a place over there if I could.

GH: Are you planning to move to the City eventually?
GW: Yeah, once my plans for worldwide domination fall into place. It won’t be long now.

You can see Gin’s latest videos on Youtube or visit her Website to find out more.

Have fun.
Gamal