When I was king of the forest, and a young bright person would come to me with aspirations of a career in nightlife, I would make them listen to a little ditty: "I will hire you, but you must understand that nightlife is like a roller coaster. You spend a little money to get on the ride and the first thing it does is it takes you up a great hill from which you think you can see the whole world. It broadens your horizons, and the anticipation of what lies ahead is a huge adrenaline rush. Then you plunge headlong into it—fast and fun, steep curves, and drops and spills, and you have barely enough time to catch your breath or see much else. Suddenly it's over, and you basically went around in a circle and didn't get anywhere, and the only person to really make any money is the guy who owns the thing." For the great majority of aspiring Steve Rubells or Noah Tepperbergs, that's all she wrote. Some are satisfied with the gal above their pay grade or the recognition at the club du jour's door, but few make a real career from it. I was very lucky to have worked for so many brilliant men who did, and Rudolf Piper was as good as they get.

Find out what's new out east

Every so often, I hear about an event that seems so cute or so silly that I cross my fingers and toes and throw caution to the wind and just go seeking wonderful once more. Tutu Tuesdays at Santos' Party House promised mixed format music and a crowd wearing tutus. I had to see this. As a huge fan of Santos' I figured a return to fun was surely possible. As I entered the basement a young crowd was dancing to a happy house track. Almost everyone was wearing tutus. I was delighted. It was downhill from there. Unfortunately it’s a one idea event. After the tutu smile fades you are left with a mediocre crowd and what I would describe as a forced format DJ set. It was all over the board, the mixes awful and the bass was so turned up I was sure something would blow… and I said it. Seconds later a blaring electronic sound preceded the shut down of the usually glorious sound system. When “sound” was restored, a Grace Jones track with almost no discernible vocals and again bass blaring and another clip (shut down) found me too embarrassed and annoyed to stay. My friends at the joint tell me this event is scheduled to be an every month thing. I think that may be tutu often.

1. Matt Damon, after Green Zone press day: Oh, boy! There are so many great restaurants here. I like Bob De Niro's place, Nobu. That's a good one. 2. Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi @ "Masks and Mayhem" Purim party @ Solo restaurant: Definitely, L.A., Voyeur, that club, I like it. 'Cause I just like low-key stuff because, since I've been in the limelight, when I go to clubs, it's just crazy. It's hard to, actually, party and have a good time, because I usually go out with Pauly and Mike in L.A., and it's just hard to party because everyone's, like, 'Oh!' They go crazy. And we love that, but, yet again, we like to have our low times. So, Voyeur, definitely, a good place to go because there's a lot of celebrities there, so we can actually relate with people.

Wednesday night, André Balazs accepted a small green KidRobot monster. There's nothing quite like an awards ceremony to inject a little energy into nightlife, and the gracious Balazs excitedly accepting on behalf of his Standard Hotel promised energy is on the upswing. Just being in the same room as nightlifers like Six Six Sick and Harley & Cassie invigorated my addiction to the night, and I'm not the only one.

An unassuming tourist type at an unassuming football bar tells me this: "New York restaurants are crazy! There's a club in every basement!" I nod my head. He means RdV, the bass-thumping club below Bagatelle. "No," says the unassuming tourist, "We were in some East Village pizza restaurant or something!" Jesus, it can be tough keeping up with the NYC Jones. There seems to be tons of hidden gems that try to stay away from the people like me who can write about them, Twitter about them, Facebook about them, and ultimately ruin them. Some things are worth keeping a secret, but when the party is in the basement of Coffee Shop or some media lunch spot that regularly gets off on decent press, it's easy to broadcast. Some other things will remain a mystery, until I can fully understand if it's an actual basement party or simply a couple of bus boys getting high between shifts.

David Graziano and Corey Lane are becoming moguls. David is a fantastic hospitality/interior designer with home runs like Pink Elephant and the Kiss & Fly/Bagatelle/RdV complex to his credit. Corey comes from an operations background but is well grounded in promotion, especially when it comes to South American house fests. I don't know one person that doesn't like or respect them. In an industry which sometimes creates tensions, that's a mouthful. I caught up to them (and their new publicist Steve Kasuba) at their new restaurant, Ganesvoort 69, where the old Florent restaurant used to be. Florent was in the Meatpacking District when men were still packing meat while other men dressed as women were also packing meat. Late night, a scene of running mascara and sex workers of every persuasion had a bite after a long night. For club operators and staff, it was one of the few places always open where you could get an intelligent late-night meal. It was an after-hours club affair or someplace to fuel up before taking the party to the late afternoon at one of the great house meccas. They kept a lot of the charm and some of the fixtures as Ganesvoort 69 pays its respect to its vaunted past.

As the holidays near, it's fun to roll the dice on what former hotspot will have a revival, or what invitees may finally get a glimpse of the most exclusive space by way of special event invitation. This week alone the The Bowery Hotel had a major resurgence, proving it's a party player by hosting the annual Humane Society’s Cool vs. Cruel benefit, back-to-back with tonight's Art Rocks! event. Same with the six-thousand-foot "local hang'" -- The Ainsworth -- which was ground zero for Stylecaster's Short Films Premiere Party. Sienna and Savannah Miller hosted a dinner to celebrate their spring 2010 collection at the Royalton (not exactly the downtown scene we'd imagined for them). Party palaces also revive with extreme makeovers' the closed 105 Rivington space -- a splinter off of the Rivington Hotel -- is getting a redux. It will be called CV, and it had a little show-and-tell this past Tuesday. All in all, the holiday times bring a little nightlife cheer in the form of new beginnings at old places, reminding people how awesome some of our nighttime landmarks can be.

Once again, the landscape of nightlife is a'changing. Sometimes, you have to stir up the water to catch a few fish, which is exactly what happened to us. East Village Monday-night favorite Le Souk lost its liquor license, forcing patrons to take their business to Le Souk Harem, but it's the neighborhood that's the real loser. Wandering aimlessly in search of something new and good on Sunday night, we found a new party at White Slab Palace. Places we'd long since wrote off somehow hit the spot if not filled the void. An object lesson on wandering outside your comfort zone.

● Lily Pond (East Hampton) - The 1Oak family will be hosting this Saturday and will have special events here all summer. The Grand Opening on Saturday has DJ Lee Kalt on the decks, and Sunday kicks off "1OAK at Lily Pond Blue & Cream" with DJ Jus Ske. ● Dune (Southampton) - AXE Lounge features DJ Phresh Friday night, DJ Mel DeBarge on Saturday, and Kiss & Fly hosts on Sunday night with DJ Berrie.