Zero Happiness

Nice guys sometimes finish second. I sat on the Emma Cleary story to allow time for negotiations to continue in private and my fair friends over at Grub Street ended up beating me to the punch. Since yesterday, a bad situation has gotten worse and lawsuits and injunctions seem to be imminent. The much awaited redux of Double Happiness into a restaurant lounge manned by gal around town Emma Cleary will most likely not happen. Although sources have told me that the space is just about done, internal strife between the investors and Emma have reached defcon 5 and she "feels better just walking away.” The problem here for the investment group is that it is her dear name on the liquor license. It is my understanding that if she does turn in the license as she plans to do, as early as today, the place will have to reapply, a process that will push the opening back for a year and maybe forever.

It seems Emma is not happy with English investor Lewis Black who was described to me by my very British source as a brutish fellow. “He’s a Billy Bunter type, a snobbish fat little bully from British comics.” Another chap said he was, “A secretive, spoiled rich kid who will just die if his name appears.” I don’t know the man to judge him but I do know Emma a little and for her to walk away from her dream so long in the making he must be bloody awful. The other investor mentioned is Fred Loh and Emma’s trust in him, “has waned and now it is completely gone.”

I asked Emma if things could be resolved and she said, “I don’t feel comfortable anymore and walking away from the project feels right.” She continued, “I’ve worked hard and I’m poor and aggravated by all this, I might as well be poor without this aggravation.” Contractor sources tell me that there have been, “many guys on this job and lots of mistakes made in construction.” I was told that the budget “has swollen from $1.2 million to $2.3 million. Despite his protests to the contrary, Shawn Kolodny seems to be involved. Indeed, when I asked him for comment he insisted that he was “merely a friend giving advice,” yet literally minutes after my call to him, Emma called me telling me that the investors were now on to her turning in the license and threats and offers were flying all at the same time. The joint originally was called Come, then became Lucky Eleven Lounge and then The Mott now BYOB might be a better choice

The claims that Emma was fired seem funny as she is the marquee name. Those frisky twins Derek and Daniel from Merkato 55 seem to be buzzing around and Sean may eventually come across but it will be hard to open without booze.

Late Breaking News
Another attempt to stop this story was made by people who claim to speak for the investor side. They asked me to postpone printing until Monday. I asked why I should do that, as last time I held what I knew I read about it on Grub Street the next day. “The parties are very close to an agreement and it would be silly to cause that process any harm,” they told me. I called Emma Cleary to see if indeed progress had been made and she replied, “Oh, really, that’s the first I’ve heard of that.” She insisted she has “not been contacted,” and that the “negotiations are at a standstill if not an end.” I called the investors’ mouthpiece who felt that I should hold the story because, “I hadn’t given the other side a chance to speak.” I reminded him that I indeed had but never heard anything back from them. I again offered them an opportunity to add their side to this sad tale. I was asked what her position was and I said, “I believe Emma would rather just walk away than do business with them anymore.” I was told that she would be sued. I told them that, Emma is without assets and even if they won, which seems unlikely from what I know, that it would seem impossible to collect money. I was then told that, “other things could happen to her.” I asked if there was a physical threat and I was told there wasn’t. I asked, “What could they be implying? Because it sounded like a physical threat to me.” (I have some small experience in these matters). The caller then backtracked into a repetition of variations of “it’s a shame, it’s a shame,” and a few, “I’m not really involved.” I saw that Dillinger movie tonight and liked it except from my small experience in these matters. I didn’t think that’s the way gangsters talk.