Thanks, Awards and Powers Irish

It's that time of year when thanks, presents and awards are given out. My experience--okay, they mean my age--often has me asked to judge some award or another. I've been around a really long time. When I started out a club was something you hit a drunk on the head with at a saloon. The good people over at Night Club and Bar have asked me to judge some categories for them this year for their Nightclub and Bar Awards, "To recognize and applaud the best in U.S. nightclub and bar concepts and operation". There are concerns that revealing this top secret info will result in corruption or subtle persuasion. I must agree that shocking as it may seem, some people in the club industry cannot be trusted to play fair. So I wont tell you what categories I'm judging, but I'll say this: If you are a nominee, don't call me about anything. No need to catch up, or chew the fat, or see how I'm doing. I'm doing great. If you were me you'd be doing great too.

And the nominees are…

Bar Awards Categories
●Bartender of the Year: Sponsored by Absolut Vodka
●Beer Bar of the Year
●Cocktail Lounge of the Year: Sponsored by Absolut Vodka
●Hotel Bar of the Year
●Small Wonder Bar of the Year
●Sports Bar of the Year
●Wine Bar of the Year
●Nightclub Awards Categories

Club Awards Categories
●Mega-Club of the Year
●New Club of the Year
●Nightclub of the Year
●Ongoing Promotion/Party/Event of the Year
●Resident DJ of the Year
●Single Promotion/Party/Event of the Year
●Ultra-Lounge of the Year

These awards will be presented at a VIP reception at the Nightclub and Bar Convention and Trade Show, March 8-10. It’s the 25th anniversary of Nightclub and Bar and they are to be both congratulated and taken very seriously. For further information try nightclubandbarawards.com.

The other day, a bunch of guys and dolls from my generation of clubbing were sharing stories and Powers Irish whiskey at a dive bar in the l.e.s. See, it’s not all Boom Boom Room, 1Oak and Avenue for your humble servant. I likes to mingle with the peeps too. We were having one of those back-in-the-day discussions, and it was presented that the big difference between now and then is that everybody who hangs in Williamsburg today were the bread and butter of cool clubs then. There is a lot of merit to this argument. I had been to BK earlier in the evening. I go there as often as I drink and hit a few spots. It is getting harder for me to celebrate the validity of New York nightlife when every bk place I visited was vibrant and packed, and more importantly devoid of bottle service baboons. Uncle Stevie finally discovers Brooklyn! It’s not at all like that. The mega clubs from back when had hipsters as filler rather than the frat boys. The hipsters just don’t bother much with NYC joints, as few in the city cater to them. Still there is Brooklyn cool and Beatrice cool, and that gap is so big you could drive a PBR delivery truck through it.

My night got fuzzy over at 200 Orchard where I was commanded by a family member, Jamie Lynn Dutro, to meet her newish beau Alan O’keefe. Alan was hanging with us until he joined his band Des Roar on stage. Described as “California Sonic Bobby Socks Rockers,” the band totally blew me away. It was really refreshing that Alan can back up his accent and all around nice-guy rap with musical chops. He will be fully indoctrinated into my clan this Thanksgiving over dinner and some more Powers Irish. Bartender/proprietor/guitarist/vocalist Graham Finn was serving me Stella’s and Irish before his band The Dead Sparrows took me back to my rock and roll roots. I loved 200 Orchard--hot crowd, basic no bull rock and roll. They even had Andy Rourke from the Smiths DJing. We popped across the street after to the 6th Ward where old friend Jimmy Gestapo from seminal hardcore band Murphy’s Law and pals talked about the dearly departed and the time before man and such.Don’t let me get started. We raised our glasses to Ray “Raybeez’ Barbieri, frontman of Warzone, who is still with us even though he is not.