A weekend toiling in my backyard saw hyacinth rearing their beautiful little heads from the recently thawed soil. The beautiful weekend weather roused them, and us, from our winter hide outs. Spring is near. In a flash it will be everywhere. With it comes a shift in the nightlife mentality, as spaces with outdoor spaces sweep the leaves and soot of winter from roof decks and patios. Traditionally spring is the time to open a new joint. Operators generally like to establish a crowd and reputation before the summer takes the A crowds to their summer retreats. Tourists will come to the city and replace migrating New Yorkers. If a club has not created a buzz and dollars for itself before this exchange of DNA, then it may wilt in the summer heat.

Places like Marquee and Pink thrive on tourists who remember these joints from a few years ago when they were more relevant to the New York scene. Most will be unaware of the glories of the newer Avenue and Provocateur. The internet revolution has made the marketing of a place a great deal faster and accurate. Many club operators with strong marketing teams think that opening by April doesn't matter as much as it once did. Opening as late as mid-May still gives them time to tell the crowds that they are open for booziness.

I am often asked to reveal which projects my firm, Lewis & Dizon, are working on. Many feel I give hand jobs to joints that we are working on, favoring these places over the next guys. I don't think this is true as I have blasted places that we did work on, like Webster Hall and Griffin, and have sung the praises of places that we have nothing at all to do with, like Lit, Beatrice, the Jane and many more. I try to report things as I see them without conflicting interests. My rule of thumb is, if I would say it if I wasn't associated, then I say it. I do hold back on stories about some places I'm working on at the request of owners. It sometimes irks me when another blogger beats me on a scoop when I have the keys, but alas, wearing a few hats will create these confusions.

I will tell you what spaces we are getting ready. In Carl's Place, Long Island, the finishing touches are being put on a mega restaurant/lounge named Sugar. I don't like the name, as it was once the name of my pal Patrick Fahey's downtown spot. I don't choose the names of most joints but we'll get to that. We're also finishing up a Greek restaurant called Beba on Spring Street, where the misguided Fr.og space once lived. We are in construction over at the old Nell's space on 14th street and 8th avenue. This restaurant lounge will be brought to you by the Butter/1OAK crew. Its name is super secret, even to me. We are in the last phase of the build out for a comedy club on 78th street and Broadway called Stand Up NY. This is our first comedy club and it is a totally different experience. We are focusing on the intimate relationship between the comic and the audience with every seat in the house too close for comfort and using sexy materials to make the place more couple friendly.

We are about to begin construction on a high end restaurant/sports bar on 14th and 8th. We are gearing up to deliver the 146 Orchard space to top Chef Camille Becerra. We are identifying materials and finalizing concepts for a roof, for a Memorial Day opening for a Brooklyn restaurant on the hush hush. We are designing a mega club out in Vegas, which I'm just dying to talk about, but I can't yet either. Other projects in the early phases of include a Jersey joint, a Lower East Side restaurant revamp and a hotel in Miami. We are also retained to do a joint for DJ John B, but have nothing to say on that subject right now. We are negotiating a number of other deals with a number of dreamers, but the delicacy of these discussions and nondisclosure agreements will keep me silent for now. The "we" is me and my understated partner, Marc Dizon. Where I never shut up, Marc speaks as if each word he utters means a day off his life. Our team includes, but is not limited to, Delia, Natalie and George, who work 18 hour days, but wouldn't have it any other way. If this is a bit of a puff piece for me well, you can't have it both ways. If you want me to tell you what I'm working on to clear up misconceptions and conflicts of interest, then its going to sound like me blowing my own horn.

In almost all cases, clubs, restaurants, bars and lounges share some of the same problems in getting open. Besides finding a space, raising the money, bringing in the players and navigating bureaucratic hurdles, it is the always exhausting to search for a name. Names are found off Google, shampoo bottles and in books by Blake, Shakespeare and Hunter S. Thompson. Mother's maiden names are revealed, hip movies are watched and lists of ancient or foreign clubs perused. The search for a name means 3am texts with names that seem perfect in dreams. Marquee was called Select until about a week or so before it opened. The process is all consuming and sometimes ends with Twilo or Mr Fuji's Tropicana or Life or 1OAK. Life was a great name that I had stored for years. My pal Kelly Cole, reminded me of this as we grabbed a Bleeker Street boite: "Butter was gleaned from a customer who brushed against my new Gucci leather and said "BUTTER." It was a eureka moment that got her a bottle of champagne." Plaid was universally considered a horrible name, but looking back to the generation of hipsters that ended up wearing nothing but plaid, I think the moniker wasn't the problem with that joint. Spa came from the old school name of candy/newspaper joints like "Gem Spa." I always have lots of places looking for names. Any ideas? And don't get fresh- Fresh has been used already.