Nightlife Hall of Fame Begins Nominations

I was honored to be asked to join the committee which will chose the first wave of nominees for the Nightlife Hall of Fame. This committee will nominate candidates from all genres of relevant club life. At a meeting catered by Pop Burger, members discussed the criteria for entry, plans to get a website up, and throwing a really good event and awards ceremony. Michael Blatter of Mirrorball sponsored this shindig, and the big push will be sponsored by Perrier.

Mirrorball’s statement explaining Perrier’s role:

For the past year Perrier has entrenched itself in nightlife sponsoring various clubs and events. For those too young to remember Perrier was a staple on the nightlife scene in the 80s and early nineties. Through their marketing agency Mirrorball, Perrier has graciously donated the seed money to get the NLHOF off the ground. We’re hoping every other brand can play nicely in the sandbox and step up help fund this worthy concept!

Hall of Fame committee members besides myself are Carmen D’Alessio, Claire O’Connor, Michael Musto, Chi Chi Valenti, John Blair, Fab Five Freddy, Nicki Camp, Patrick McMullan, Serge Becker, Stephan Saban, and Susanne Bartsch. Junior Vasquez, Funkmaster Flex, Lady Bunny, and John Gungie Rivera have been asked to join as well.

The Hall of Fame will exist online; the first group of inductees will be the “legacy” group. This group is of clubs and people and parties that were breaking new ground prior to 1980. Names like the Cotton Club and “21” were bounced around. A researcher showed us a nifty slideshow of pretty girls in party dresses long before they became somebody’s grandmother. I didn’t even know you could still do slideshows. The crop of Hall of Famers was the subject of much debate around a very large round table. Some felt only a handful should be chosen, but after some discussion, that seemed impossible. Then it was 50, and even that seemed limiting. I agreed with Michael Musto consistently—something that never happened before. He was definitely the voice of reason. The crudities were pleasant as well. Of course Michael Alig was a showstopper, with many saying of course, and others saying “omg no, he went to jail!” A quick list of potential nominees who went to jail: Steve Rubell, Ian Schrager, Peter Gatien, Neil Cohen, Maurice Brahms, me, and lots of others. So it was determined that jail time may not be a basis for elimination. One debate went like this: “But he owned like 6 clubs!” to which a “Yes, but none of them were any good,” followed by a “true , true, true” eliminated the dirty old man. Carmine D’Allessio kept on being surprised finding out that some people had passed.

I was pleased to learn that “Walter,” a club fixture for a couple of decades, was still with us. Walter as a very old man who would go to clubs, balance booze on his head, and do a little dance to lure young girls over to laugh and pet him. He always got a few pets in himself but never seemed to offend anyone. For a bit he had a column over at Spy magazine. It was a 1-inch-by-1-inch box, which didn’t make anyone shake. He wore a Spy hat at every gathering. Names were named, and it went, “She’s dead, yes he’s dead, yes he died,” while Carmen kept repeating “Really? Really? Really? When? How? When?”. Being deceased didn’t prevent anyone from being nominated—indeed it seemed to be an asset, making some fools seem like gold. It was determined that the person accepting the award would invariably be fabulous. This is a fun process and will include some public and current club types’ involvement.

My list starts with Steve Rubell, Ian Schrager, John Addison, Steve Maas, Maurice Brahms, Werner Leroy, Peter Gatien, Rudolf, Eric Goode, Howie Montaug, Mickey Ruskin, Fred Rothbell-Mista, Hilly Crystal, Larry Levan. Dean Johnson, Leigh Bowery, Michael Alig, Larry Tee, RuPaul, Grace Jones, Lou Reed, Debbie Harry, Andy Warhol, Nell Campbell, Richard Long, David Mancuso, Arthur Weinstein, Was Stevens, Steven Klein, Anita Sarko, Disco Sally, Grandmaster Flash, and Kenny Kenny. It will also include everyone on the committee. There are 50 more that I’ll remember after my coffee, but at this point it’s a gathering of many lists and many names and clubs and events as well. At the Hall of Fame event, winners will blame or thank their mothers and wives and people will invariably whisper “he got old.” The biz is tough on those in it for the long haul. There was some jovial discussion of what the award should look like, but that can’t be repeated here. Apparently there are tens of thousands of old invites sitting in crates around town, and some lucky intern type will get to scan them all for posterity.

Nightlife has its own rewards and of course its downsides. There was chatter about a fund to help old clubbies who, after years of toiling in parties, not eating right or sleeping much, consuming massive amounts of alcohol and other abusive substances, having questionable sex with questionable people they probably didn’t ask enough questions of, and enduring pressures from everywhere all the time, suddenly and of course surprisingly find themselves without means and very close to an unglamorous end. Someone thought they needed to be identified and helped. I suggested that most club types just fade away, and you just don’t hear from them again. They like to remembered as they were. Of course, there is me and those around the table who still make a go of it even as we are older than most patron’s parents. The NLHOF is a sexy project. I am honored to be part of it and welcome the input from my readers.