You had a streetball / Hip Hop show on an Ivy league jazz radio station. That’s not really a question, more of an observation.
And a good one. I had the world’s first-ever talk radio program discussing playground basketball on WKCR 89.9FM. It was called On the Fence, and came on earlier in the evening every Thursday before me and Stretch Armstrong’s hip hop show. I also wrote the first article on sneaker culture in media history, titled “Confessions of a Sneaker Addict.” It ran in Source magazine in 1991. I also hosted the first TV series ever dedicated to sneaker culture, called It’s the Shoes, which ran for two seasons on ESPN. I could go on but I’ll stop there!

What kicks do you have on permanent ice?
There is no pair on permanent ice in my closet—everything gets worn at some point! There are definitely joints that only come out on special occasion when they’ll be a good amount of heads that will understand what’s on the feet and can appreciate it.

DJ to the stars Cassidy Podell started on the turntables in fifth grade. Since battling club owners for entry into venues (to work, of course) as a teen, the UES-born mixmaster now works with a list of clients on the level of: P Diddy, Jennifer Lopez, Jay Z, Kanye West, Oprah, Barack Obama, and Mariah Carey. And if that’s not enough, the 27-year-old has recently discovered and produced new club-track sensation O’Neil McKnight (the album drops later this year). Cassidy acquaints us with humble beginnings, a first meeting with P Diddy, and his rom-com guilty pleasure.

The man who takes care of the day-to-day at LA’s hottest nightclubs (Hyde, Area, Foxtail) under SBE’s Sam Nazarian claims he’s a dedicated family man well before he’s a nightlife guru. “I’m family guy, I have two little boys. I have one side—the cool factor, being ahead of the game and in the nightlife scene—but at the same time I have another side that people don’t normally get to see.” Nonetheless, he’s running some of the biggest celeb magnets in LA and is constantly surrounded by bottles and models. Can he really turn out to be a normal guy?

From his perch in the Rooftop Bar high above Kittichai, Robert d’Arcangelo—general manager of the Thom Bar and A60—calls the shots at 60 Thompson (and sometimes pours them).

What are your favorite places?
My favorite restaurant is La Siesta in Sperlonga, in a small beach town at the beginning of the Amalfi Coast in Italy. Not cheap, but the food and style of service is basically perfect. Stresa in Paris is another. In the city, really, there’s a small Argentinian restaurant on the Lower East side called Azul Bistro. The food is always consistent, the service is very casual, but if it’s any type of date or business meeting, I can always count on things going the right way there. If you pay attention to the ceiling, it’s plastered in old Argentinian pin-up centerfolds, but a lot of people don’t notice.

Joao Daniel has moved on from Le Royale and is focusing his efforts on the coolest party for the hot summer, “Get Up, Get Down” at Hotel Gansevoort on Saturdays (12pm-8pm) and Sundays (12pm-4am). Here’s the lowdown.

UPDATE: Joao has actually moved on from Le Royale—see here for details on his new gig.

Upon his arrival in New York, Joao Daniel started working in restaurant kitchens hoping to become fluent in English, but he ended up picking up more Spanish than he anticipated. Like most newcomers, he eventually started hitting the club scene, and surprisingly, this was where he honed his language skills. His nightly activities quickly snowballed into a profession. Now the charming Brazilian has his weekly schedule consistently booked with hosting gigs on Monday nights at Le Royale,Wednesdays at 60 Thompson, Thursday through Saturday at Pink Elephant, and Sunday nights at The Eldridge. He’s also in on the Saturday and Sunday pool parties at Hotel Gansevoort. Joao gives us the scoop on where we should be going out.

Last night we had the privilege of attending the splendid after-party for the Cinema Society’s screening of surefire hit The Hangover. Packed into the midsummer night’s dreamy yard at the Soho Grand was everyone from Zach Braff to Paula Abdul and Caroline Rhea (!!!). But the person we most wanted to speak to was New York nightlife dignitary Amy Sacco, regarding a recent, somewhat unflattering column our nightlife blogger Steve Lewis wrote about the state of her club institution Bungalow 8. I asked Amy if she really didn’t know who Steve Lewis was, which sent her off on an mini-tirade against poor Uncle Steve. Amy was cool, though. It’s when Leonidas himself showed up behind her that we shifted into shit-our-pants mode.

I wasn’t aware of the fast lane as a boy hitting rubber balls with sticks in middle-class Queens, but as I grew up, I heard about the crazy Joe Gallo. I heard that he stood up and questioned the status quo. That’s what was going on: America was growing out of the Ozzie and Harriet 50s and embracing a new sexuality, new politics, and minority and women’s rights. For the first time since the Civil War, masses took to the streets to protest a war. Joey was the rogue gangster who asked why his world had to be this way, and they called him crazy. Then they whacked them. Reading Tom Folsom’s The Mad Ones: Crazy Joe Gallo and the Revolution at the Edge of the Underworld took me back to a bygone era. The book presents a believable image of a man trying to change thousands of years of mob tradition. I talked to Folsom about his new must-read on a warm, sunny afternoon in Little Italy, outside of what used to be the Ravenite Social Club and John Gotti’s headquarters.

President and CEO of Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theater Foundation, Jonelle Procope will celebrate the Apollo’s 75th anniversary on June 8. At the event, the Apollo will induct Quincy Jones and Patti LaBelle into their Legends Hall of Fame, with Jamie Foxx and Mariah Carey presenting. Bill and Camille Cosby will also receive the Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis Arts and Humanitarian Award at the celeb-studded gala. Jonelle spoke with us about standing on the same stage as so many legends before her, why Steve Harvey represents the Apollo man, and a few cues about Amateur Night.

Albert Trummer is the Austrian bar chef and brains behind Chinatown operation Apothéke. With business-minded partner Heather Tierney, Trummer serves his liquid medicine from behind the bar to an eager clientele night after night at the booming corner spot on Doyers Street. While growing up in his family’s restaurant in Austria, Trummer learned his way around the bar and turned his father’s private club into a booming hotspot at the age of 15. He’s since worked for the likes of David Bouley, the Chambers Hotel, Home Bar on Shelter Island, and 60 Thompson. The master mixologist speaks about who does nightlife best, the apothecary premise and his plans for the future. And for a special video clip, he even mixes up his famous flaming inferno beverage for BlackBook’s Cayte Grieve and Eiseley Tauginas.