The other night, we watched a movie adaptation of Charles Dickens’ masterpiece,  A Christmas Carol. It was the 1938 version, all black and white and fuzzy and wonderful. Recent correspondences with infamous DJ Junior Vasquez had me comparing him to Dickens' main character Ebenezer Scrooge. Not because Junior is cheap or anything, but because of his transformation.

The opening tonight of W.i.P., otherwise known as Work in Progress, is a great relief. W.i.P will be a new space under Greenhouse with a separate entrance. It literally has been a work in progress for about a year longer than expected. I wrote about this joint and the collaboration between the Stuart Braunstein, Rony Rivellini, the Collective Hardware crew, the Greenhouse clan, and spearheaded by Barry Mullineaux, last October. At that time, I believed it would be the next big thing. I haven't changed my mind. In fact, I believe the potential for greatness is even greater.

As discussed yesterday, I will attend the Domi Dollz event tonight, at 7pm, at the Museum of Sex. Yes, this is an obvious ploy to be black and blue and read all over. I will then dash over to Stash, a place that is trying hard to be under the radar. I designed the joint with more wow factor than a Kardashian wedding/split/reconciliation (rinse, repeat). Its location right next to The Darby is fortuitous. It is small with 10 tables and a lot of design moves. Like all my relationships, there were times I didn't believe in it, but as it turns out, I am very pleased. It's in that soft opening phase. I don't think the name is out there, but seeing as I have now heard it from the lips of at least a dozen people, half of which they shouldn't ever let in, I think it's fair game. I put a little stash drawer in the table for your cell phones, and am planning on adding a phone charger at each booth. Yes, we learn as we go.

This Friday, a list of top-of-the-line owner/promotion types are throwing a bash at the newly restored Liberty Theatre in Times Square. This Gangs of New York bash is a Halloween party with super star DJs Felix the Housecat, Behrouz, and Sneak entertaining what figures to be a massive turnout. I took a tour of the old theater and talked to Mark Baker and designer Ray Trosa about the space and its future use.

Dress for blacklight.

The wait for the “Collective Hardware” follow-up at the space below Greenhouse has hit a snag. Curators Stuart Braunstein and Rony Rivellini promised shock and awe, and all we have now is "awww." It isn’t actually going to happen? It still might, I am told, but extensive delays with permitting have our heroes looking elsewhere for creative fulfillment. I asked Stuart what was up.

Monday night, after Bingo at the Bowery Poetry Club, we trudged through black snow and brown sludge to Heathers for my pal Tina Vaden’s birthday bash. Tina is my on-again-off-again photographer and a cutie, beauty, non-snooty talent and all around great gal. Heathers had my old brain percolating, as I was consumed by a sense of déjà-vu, all over again and again and again. While my Amanda danced with Tina and the ladies, I sidled up to the bar to chat with old friends. I asked, “What was this place?” and was told “Brownies.” After a dozen “no shits,” I strained to remember.

On those cop TV shows, sometimes someone close to a cop is whacked, which means that the cop can't get involved with the case because he or she is too "close." Of course, the cop who is relieved of duty or assigned to a desk job just can’t stay away, instead spending the next 48 minutes tracking the bad guys and bringing them to justice or to a quick and violent end. I sort of feel that way today. The restaurant that I built around chef Camille Becerra, APL, is parting ways with her before it even opens. As construction was completed over the last couple of months, it became clear that the owners and Camille weren’t getting along. It was like cowboys and Indians, and although at times it seemed like it was going to work out, well, it didn’t.

I stopped writing at the end of the last decade not because there wasn’t stuff to write about, but because I had nothing more to say. My old assistant Nasdaq (or Nadeska Alexis) pointed out that that's never stopped me before, but there was something about the snow that brought it all to a standstill after the rush of Christmas past. It was like a deep breath worth taking. I guess I could have told you where to go for New Years Eve, or at least warned you not to go there, but if you hadn’t figured out that you shoulda been in Miami hanging at Chloe and Paul Sevigny’s soiree, then you haven’t been paying attention to me anyway. For me, with a thousand and none options, I chose to stay home and watch The Battle of Stalingrad, a WWII marathon on the Military Channel. I'm not sure what fascinates me about it - watching the great city destroyed by the Germans, and then their demise. Maybe it’s the warm feeling that things here aren’t so bad, and could actually get much worse. Perhaps it’s the fear factor that things here are getting bad, and could really get much worse. Then the gal pal mustered me away from the tube and into the streets.

The space underneath Greenhouse seems to have found a curator. Collective Hardware’s Stuart Braunstein—who sometimes goes under the aliases Stuart Bronz, Stu Sweetness, or Bronz—will bring his considerable talents, attitude, and connections to a joint that wouldn’t be cool even if they left the doors open in January. Greenhouse is a machine, and those that like it love it, and there is nothing wrong with that. I like everybody there except for a few and they know who they are. I mean, I did throw my birthday bash there a few years back and my Blackbook one year anniversary bash, and I deejayed there a bunch, but sometimes “rifts” separate men and sometimes spaces evolve or devolve into other things. I still think it’s one of the best rooms in the city, and I was indeed the fellow who convinced Jon B to get over there and partner up with my lifelong friends Merlin Bob and Timmy Regisford. They have been keeping that Shelter party around since the birth of nightlife, and are deserving of mad props. The room Stu Sweetness is gonna make work is downstairs, next to the room with all the leaves. It will have its own entrance and not much else in terms of décor.