We all know at least one guy who owns a fitted cap in every colorway imaginable, always has the coolest limited-release kicks, and knows more about underground streetwear than the average person knows about, well, anything. He goes to Art Basel every year, either to participate in an exhibit or support his range of artist friends. And now that the holidays are fast-approaching and this guy is on your gift list, what can you possibly give him that he A) doesn't already have, or B) doesn't think is totally played out? Here's a roundup of items that just might impress.

Raven O, former host at outré burlesque haunt, The Box, moved from his hometown in Hawaii to New York after winning airfare at a dance competition. He calls his childhood in the tropics that of a “country boy.” Raven’s life in New York has had its ups and downs, but recently, things have started coming together for the eccentric performer. He’s in the recording process for his first solo album and his one-man show at the Bleecker Street Theater, "One Night With You" was such met with rave reviews. More on the superstar's crazy past after the jump.

Today's title paraphrases the Thin White Duke as word comes from a strange source that Rebel nightclub may be changing hands. I was asked to be involved with the renovation, so it just might be true. If so it will mark the end of an error and quite possibly the beginning of a new one. As a rock mecca back in the day, the space had a mediocre run as Downtime. I went to a few goth nights there cause they're always great fun for 15 or 20 minutes. I might have caught a long-forgotten band fronted by one of my waitrons as well. Downtime/Rebel was/is located on a "seam" block smack dab in the middle of the city at 30th Street and 8th Avenue. Although not far from anything and real easy to get to, the location was just never sexy. It always felt like I was in Jersey -- or worse, Philadelphia.

So what happened to the much-whispered-about speakeasy at 643 Broadway at Bleecker? The basement space, known as Woodson & Ford, has a long and legendary history. Walt Whitman and Mark Twain supposedly drank here, and that's even before my time. More recently it was the ill-conceived, ill-received, and ill-attended Table 50. Q-tip made it happen for a minute, and Stretch Armstrong almost extended its run, but it eventually was flipped into Mr. Black, which in turn eventually moved along and to great success over at Rebel. Recently, Mr. Black's move to the Room Service space seems to have hit a snag, as some of the displaced Pink Elephant team seem to have wrested away control of the joint. Mr. Black will be gold wherever it ends up, but that's a story-horse of a different color. From a dear friend, here's the deal about what happened over at the super hush-hush top-secret Woodson & Ford, a speakeasy that nobody was supposed to speak about at all.

Word comes from Stuart Black that he is not insane. I mentioned the other day that Stuart has been changing venues for Mr. Black almost as often as he changes his clothes. He responded with a snappy e-mail. Bugsy is my old nickname given to me by "Mother" Chi Chi Valenti and "Father" Johnny Dynell. Although it is of course an affectionate reference to my rather prominent eyes, it is also a reference to gangster Bugsy Siegel. Bugsy Siegel saw a patch of desert and imagined Las Vegas, and I supposedly had a similar approach to nightlife when I tried, with Peter Gatien’s money and balls, to create the four-club empire that was Palladium, Limelight, USA, and Tunnel. My eventual stint in the can underlined the comparison. There were many other players involved, but the meeting that occurred at the Hollywood Diner on 16th St. and 6th Ave., brokered by Michael Alig, changed things for me and many.