Nick Cohen is one of those brash mash-up, open-format DJs that has the gals swooning and the guys drooling over his skills. He punches the club clock every Thursday night at after-dark mecca Southside, often spinning for the downtown celebrity crowd-- shirtless of course.

Nick Cohen is one of those brash mash-up open-format DJs that has the gals swooning and the guys envious of his skills. It all seems easy to an outsider, this modern DJ thing. Serrato technology can put every song you might ever want to hear on a laptop and tell you exactly how to thread those songs together; DJs use this technology to mix in songs from different genres, as they have to constantly find a new way to thrill the crowd. They can carry thousands of songs with them, and the open format set that most clubs now feature can seem repetitive. The great DJs bring smiles to pretty faces as they mix in Dolly Parton, James Brown, or Gang of Four with a song that has been enjoyed so often it needs to be twisted. Those DJs that are successful and have the looks and charisma -- the whole package -- can demand megabucks In a market that has become ultra-international. Tours are no longer the domain of the house heads, as the worldwide table/bottle service phenomena demands DJs that make you sway in place rather than hit a dancefloor. People don’t spend money on dancefloors, but they do at tables.

Matt Levine, the brains behind The Eldridge, on getting thank-you notes, why other clubs shouldn’t focus so much on their custie’s wallets, and the reason nightlife experts pick his joint when they go out.

"White-collar boxing is keeping Gleason's open," owner Bruce Silverglade had said. Gleason’s motto is, “You don't have to smell good to train here." Despite the fact that he’s a graduate of Penn State, is well off, and comes from a good family, 25-year-old native New Yorker Tor Hamer is not only the country's number-one ranked amateur super-heavyweight, but also the anti-Rocky (sorry, Philly). Towering over his posse (preppy kids from the UES, the Gossip Girl types) at 6’2’’ and pushing 230 pounds, this charmer with a baby face (still intact -- he’s yet to get hurt, not even the boxer-trademark black eye) has a misleading mug for a bona fide boxing champ and party boy. Hamer’s other homes, besides the ring (he trains six days a week, for three hours straight) are “exclusive” nightclubs: Bungalow, Tenjune, Southside, and the Box. His longtime friend is Southside’s resident DJ, Nick Cohen, who’s dating Keith Richards’ daughter. "You’d think I ‘d get laid more often,” Hamer says.

Long-time friends Nick Cohen (a resident DJ at Southside) and Seth Campbell might one day get their very own word in the Oxford English Dictionary -- "shoewlery." It's like frenemy, but instead of enemies going incognito as friends, they've disguised shoes as jewelry, and the conceit works fabulously. Upper Echelon Shoes is the name of their unisex brand, and the shoes they make aren't just up the echelon -- they top it. Think signature sneakers with chunky 18-karat gold, silver, or gunmetal chains for laces; think Diddy wearing them to the BET awards; think an ad campaign featuring eight Amazonian bombshells wearing nothing but their undies and your shoes. Business, for these boys, is booming. And if they could have anyone in the world sport their kicks, who would it be? "The famous person that we would want wearing our shoes most is also be the person we believe would wear it best: Kate Moss," they say. Check the Midas-touched shoes after the jump.

I am deeply honored to be nominated by PAPER magazine for best nightlife blog. However, having already been honored as best nightlife blog by the Village Voice for 2008, I think it’s best that I withdraw and throw my support to another candidate. I have noticed the other bloggers nominated are campaigning, and feel I must spend my own energies campaigning for Barack Obama. I think the problems facing America far outweigh our little scene. I urge all my loyal readers to vote for Barack for President and Rachelle of Guest of a Guest for best blog. I would also like to nominate Brittany Mendenhall of Chichi212.com for Vice-Blogger. Thank you, and enjoy Part 2 of the conversation between myself, my editor Fernando Gil, and the Southside boys Anthony Martignetti and James Willis. (See Part 1 here.)

Nick Cohen, DJ and owner of Upper Echelon Shoes, punches the club clock, DJs sans shirt for the downtown celebs, and builds his upscale sneaker brand -- all to avoid those dreaded fluorescent office lights.