My Heart in Focus: An Interview with Meleni Smith

By Gamal Hennessy

Creativity and connection are the heart of nightlife culture. The artists who perform and celebrate our experience are the foundation of that intimacy. As a fundamental part of our look at New York nightlife, we are going to take time to talk to the artists who bring life to connection. The first conversation in this series is with the singer songwriter Meleni Smith.

Vital Statistics

Name: Meleni Smith

Group Affiliation: solo

Hometown: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Website: http://www.reverbnation.com/melenismith

Latest Project: My Heart in Focus

Next New York Performance: 2.1.12

GH: How did your musical journey start? What was your first motivation? What was your first performance like?

MS: I started singing when I was six. The expression of music always moved me. It was the only art form, besides acting, that had the ability to make me feel extreme emotions.  I always felt very connected to it. My first performance was when I was in the 3rd grade for the entire school when I was chosen to sing the lead to "What the World Needs Now is Love Sweet Love." I was terrified. I wasn't even trying out for the lead but one of the student teachers overheard me singing to myself and told me to sing for my teacher.  I didn't even think I was doing anything special, but they chose me.  

GH: What is it about performing, especially performing in New York that you enjoy the most?

MS:  Performing is a rush.  You literally feel the adrenaline, the anxiety, the excitement… so many different emotions are experienced no matter the size of the audience.  I have such a love/fear relationship with it because the moment right before I begin, it's like looking down from the top of a cliff and everyone is telling you to jump.  But once you jump the relief and realization that you can do it and its ok feels so great.  Especially when the crowd is there with you and showing love and appreciation for what it is you're sharing. It's amazing.  I think some of the best crowds are in New York because New Yorkers really appreciate art and they love the experience of the live displays... but on the flip side New Yorkers are so spoiled.  They literally have seen and done it all so they can be tough crowds at times too.. haha.. But I love the energy always.  New Yorkers know what they like so if they're into it, they're REALLY into it. 

GH: How have your travels to places like Egypt and Thailand affected your writing and performing?

MS: Being exposed to different forms and styles always affects my art even if only on a subconscious level. I absorb it all and all sounds somehow find their way in my music whether it be new melodies that I pick up or rhythmic patterns.  Egyptian music, in general, uses more notes than American music so it was amazing to hear all the in between notes that I wasn't used to hearing on this side.  The entire experience of traveling by myself to these countries made me fearless and that fearlessness has definitely affected my performing.  I learned that life is really just about sharing your gifts with the people you meet and inspiring as many people as possible along the way. 

GH: What have you learned the most from working with artists like Alicia Keys and other superstars?

MS: I actually never got the opportunity to work with Alicia Keys but hearing her voice on one of my songs was awesome.  I guess from working with more well-known artists, I've learned that at the end of the day, we're all the same. We're all just artists yearning to express what we feel we need to channel into this world.  

GH: Tell me about the creative relationship between your music and your videos? Are they conceived and created at the same time or does one give rise to the other?

MS:  Everything begins with the music. The music is the fuel for all other art forms.

GH: Is there a driving message or focus in your new album?

MS: Well the record is called 'My Heart in Focus' and it basically chronicles falling in love, then falling from love or whatever happens when things change... what we all go through during this human experience. What reminds us that yes! We are alive!! It takes you on a journey of a heart. I have a song for every stage of love from the beginning to the very end. 

GH: What performances do you have planned for the new album in 2012? Are you planning a tour?

MS:  I'm just going with the flow.  I believe 2012 will be all about the flow... But definitely visit my pages for updates!!

http://www.reverbnation.com/melenismith

www.youtube.com/melenismith

www.facebook.com/melenismith

www.twitter.com/melilove

www.mymeleni.tumblr.com

Have fun.

G

The Social and Psychological Benefits of Pregaming

By Gamal Hennessy

According to the Urban Dictionary, pregaming is a synonym for drinking derived originally from tailgating before a sporting event such as a football game. It later became known as drinking before any major gathering. Many people see pregaming as simply a cheaper method for overconsumption. In many cases it can have that effect. What most people do not realize is that the practice also has social and emotional benefits based on bonding rituals that are a natural extension of the activity.

Protection and Identity

According to David Grazian in his book On the Make, nightlife is an anonymous environment. Very few people know who you are beyond what you tell them. This situation is beneficial for anyone who wants to redefine themselves or explore lifestyles that they are not familiar with. This relative anonymity is one of the reasons nightlife is so attractive to young people and counter cultures who are seeking to define themselves outside the framework of conventional society. But that same unknown quality can create a high level of anxiety and insecurity for anyone attempting to define their personae and exploring new situations involving class, age, race, or sex.

A pregame with friends serves two purposes here. First, it creates a social bond for the group that they can turn to for short term support as they venture out. The idea that a young lady won't be abandoned by her girls if she is approached by a questionable man gives her more confidence to go out. A boy who knows he won’t be rejected, isolated or unsupported makes going out easier, even if the bond is largely a facade. The pregame creates that short term bond that makes the rest of the night an enjoyable group activity instead of a nervous isolated one.

A pregame also offers an opportunity for the members of the group to engage in activities that display and reinforce their sexual identity. The subtext contained in the competitive drinking games, sharing stories of past adventures, and the collective preparation for the adventures to come all help to establish each members desired (or perceived) sexual and social status.  Because a large part of going out is about projecting image (even more than the actual sexual, consumption or experiential value) the pregame is a vital part of the process because it helps establish image for the night.

Not Drinking Just to Drink

Descriptions of pregame activities reinforce this concept. In Notes from the Night, Taylor Plimpton describes meeting his best friend at a bar for drinks before heading out to the clubs. The experience they share isn’t about the drinks they consume or any conversations they have with strangers at the bar. It is about connecting with each other in a way that prepares them to enter the nightlife environment with more comfort and pleasure than they would have by just going straight to the exclusive venue. Keep in mind, this bonding experience is often not the result of a conscious choice. It is a natural by-product of the activity that would probably be destroyed if the players went into it thinking about the bonding process.

There are many pregames that end in a sloppy mess. There are many nightlife players that are predisposed to overindulge in alcohol and only use the pregame as the first stop on the road to a drunken stupor. But this does not negate or diminish the value of the pregame on an emotional, psychological or social level. The title pregame is extremely accurate because much like the pep talk that players give each other before a game, pregame drinking puts nightlife players in the proper frame of mind to enjoy the night.

Have fun.

Gamal

How to Find Live Music in 2012 (Websites, Apps and Social Media)

By Gamal Hennessy

I hear a lot of good music when I go out. I also hear quite a few suspect DJ’s, bartender iPods and other random forms of bad music in bars and lounges. This is not a recipe for a good time. To reverse this disturbing trend, I decided to start 2012 by going to see more up and coming live musicians play.

As well intentioned as this idea was, it created a big question: How would I find music I liked without wasting time seeing bands I had no interest in? There are thousands of good musicians who play in New York every year, but I’m like you, I don’t have a lot of time to sift through a lot of white noise. I started looking for ways to focus in on the bands that sounded good to me and avoid everything else.

Like any other problem in 2012, I tried to solve it with an app* or a website. My research has led me to a few contenders that each attempt to connect you to the music you want to hear. This is by no means an extensive survey, but hopefully it will help you find your way to a decent show or two.

Live Music Apps

Gigbeat: The best thing about this app is that it only finds the concerts of artists you want to hear. When you download the app, it scans all the music on your phone, compares it to a database of artists on tour, and then gives you the listings of every musician you listen to who is currently performing. It will also give you an alert to let you know when your artist is playing in your area and allow you to buy tickets to the show.

But the reliance on your music collection is also the worst part of the app. By definition, music discovery isn’t part of the experience because it will only tell you about artists you already know. Also, there is a lot of information on this app about shows you probably can’t go to. It’s all well and good to know that your favorite singer is playing in Seoul, Sydney and Tokyo this month, but if you live in Brooklyn that’s not really helpful. Gigbeat is good, but a function that can suggest similar local artists to the ones on your phone would bridge the gap to make this app completely amazing.

Gigbox: This app has several layers that make it a good source for shows. It focuses on your location and pulls upcoming performances. When you scroll down and find something you like, you can add the event directly to your calendar, share the event with your friends, buy tickets, read the bio of the artist and see videos of them from Youtube. You can also search for specific artists and venues, but this function didn’t work as well as the location search.

As a music discovery tool, Gigbox works well. For every artist in the database, it also cross references with similar artists and the ability to see and hear them before you go to the bar is key. Once upon a time people were willing to hang out in bars and listen to new bands hoping to find something special. But this is New York in 2012. Who has time to sit through 10 bad to semi average bands to find one good one?

JamBase: JamBase is unique because it has both a website and an app, although neither one is very appealing. The website will allow you to search for artists and shows around the world and once you find something you like you can buy tickets, add it to your calendar, buy their music via iTunes, read articles about the artist, join contests and a lot of other different things. The app is a stripped down version of this. You can still add the event to your calendar and get a map to the venue but I found the rest of the interface rather clunky and annoying to use.

The major downside of both aspects of JamBase is the lack of samples. There is a lot of information to wade through on this site and when I was done I didn’t feel like I was any closer to deciding on where I wanted to go. I would avoid this site and the app until they clean up the interface and provide more solid discovery aspects.

Last FM: A lot of the apps on this list are powered by Last.fm, which is surprising considering how unfriendly this app turns out to be. It has functions featured shows, recommended shows and local shows, but it looks like none of those functions work unless you pay for the last.fm service. I can’t tell you how much that service is or if it is worth it because I never checked. There are too many other free services out there to pay for a subscription. I guess that’s why Last.fm has to make money licensing its system to other apps.

Live Concert: This app allows you to import information from other music services (Soundkick and Last.fm) and then lets you search for shows in your area. As a stand-alone app, Live Concert is redundant. It offers the barest of information about the shows, no suggestions or samples that I saw and no ability to export the show information out of the app. It also crashes sometimes, so it’s probably best to skip this one altogether.

Live & Local: This app sponsored by MTV will access your Facebook music likes and then suggest local shows based on your preferences. It sounds good in theory, but the execution was very underwhelming compared to the other apps. It took me several tries to get it to work at all and when it did analyze my preferences it only gave me two shows compared to the dozens offered up by the other services. This service needs a lot more integration and functionality before it is useful as a live music source.

Reverbnation: This might be the best website for live music discovery. Once you create a profile, you can search by artist, genre, location and date range. As you browse through the results, you can hear samples, save shows to your profile, buy tickets and reach out directly to the artist through FB, Twitter or the Reverbnation social network. As a music discovery site, this has almost everything you need to plan weeks and weeks of live music.

Unfortunately, there is a downside. Reverbnation has an app, but it is for musicians, not for fans. You can get to this website on your phone, but the experience is much better on a computer.

Technology has made live music much more rare in New York nightlife, but it can also lead you directly to the live music you want to see. If you have another site or app that belongs on this list, let me know. I’m always looking for more info.

Have fun.

G

* All the apps listed here are available in the Android app store. They might be available for iPhone too, but I can’t confirm or deny that.

The Twelve Major Stories in Nightlife Culture for 2011

Complied by Gamal Hennessy

As you get ready to dive into the madness that is New Year’s Eve in New York, consider the rising stars, emerging trends and artists we lost in 2011. After all, if nightlife culture didn’t evolve and change every year, there wouldn’t be any nightlife for you to enjoy this weekend…

January
The New Club Kids
The New York Times takes a look at some of the newest tastemakers in New York nightlife.

February

Everyone knows that a drunken friend or stranger can ruin your night of fun. Not everyone knows these tips that can help you get through the drama.
Dealing with Drunks: Strangers
Dealing with Drunks: Friends

March

Nightlife Music: Adam Alpert, the founder of the successful 4AM DJ Company, discusses the importance of the music to the nightlife experience 

April

The Art of Clubbing: The New York Museum of Art and Design has a new program that presents nightlife as a form of art. 

May

Are You the Problem with New York Nightlife?: There is a certain type of nightlife patron that tries to prove his superiority by expressing a disdain for modern nightlife. I wrote about this type of patron in my 2009 piece If Nightlife is Dead, then You Killed It. Late last year, I described them in my series On Retros, Realists, and Rebels. Good Night Mr. Lewis confirms some of the same ideas in this recent piece.

June

What role did nightlife play in marriage equality? The Marriage Equality Bill was signed into law in New York this summer. Saying marriage equality came about because of nightlife might be going too far. But nightlife is a part of that story, so it is a part of our collective story as a society.

Beer Gardens: Along with rooftop bars, tiki bars and speakeasies, the beer garden has been a growing trend in New York nightlife for the past three years. This summer gave us six new locations in spots as diverse as Chelsea, Harlem, Grand Central and Midtown West.

Are Pop up Clubs the Next Big Thing?: In a response to both NIMBY community boards and fickle patrons, operators are taking the pop up model that has worked for retail stores and translated it into nightlife. Now dim sum parlors, strip clubs, Midtown offices, vacant warehouses, waterfront parks, and school playgrounds could be your next venue.

September

Measure Twice, Cut Once: Paul Seres, the head of NYNA and a prominent member of community board 4, speaks out on the relationship between City Hall and nightlife.

October

Why Should You Care about Nightlife Culture? Because it is central to the quality of life of a city and the people who live in it  

December

The Yale Nightlife Culture Course: NYU takes a long hard look at Madison Moore and his nightlife culture course at Yale. 

Obituaries

Don Hill The iconic operator passed away earlier this year. The venue that bore his name shut down a few weeks later.
Heavy D: One of the most exuberant MC’s from the Golden Age passed away from deep leg vein thrombosis a few weeks ago.

Nick Ashford: The Motown songwriter, signer in the classic group Ashford and Simpson and owner of New York’s Sugar Bar passed away over the summer after a battle with throat cancer.

Fire Island The center of gay nightlife on Fire Island was destroyed in a fire. Because it happened after the summer season, no one was injured. 

Have fun in 2012

G

On the Make: Nightlife as a Lifeless Sham

By Gamal Hennessy

On the Make takes a critical look at image management in the nightlife setting. Using Philadelphia as a case study, the book explores the motivations and tactics of various groups to deceive, manipulate and hustle people for various ends. While the book does offer insight into the intrigues of social interaction, the tone drains almost all pleasure from the actors. It leaves you wondering why anyone would engage in the experience at all.

The central idea behind On the Make is that nightlife can be seen as a series of con jobs or hustles. These are designed by the con artist to separate the victim from something valuable by offering them something worthless (or very close to it) in exchange. Club owners create artificial environments and force their employees to engage in false friendship or flirting to separate the patrons from their money. Public relations companies, local media and promoters make up flimsy events and pay celebrities to show up at venues in the hopes of luring the naïve and desperate. Men engage in complex rituals to solicit sexual contact from women and prove their masculinity to men. Women use more complex (and more successful) tactics to counteract lecherous men, acquire drinks and special treatment and pursue their own sexual conquests. Everyone participates in and has knowledge of a thinly veiled façade designed to create and control image. In nightlife, no one and nothing is what it seems.  

There is a significant portion of every urban population that avoids the club scene because they see it as “artificial.” That group will find a lot of ammunition for their position in this book. Most of the work paints a negative, predatory picture of nightlife culture. It also largely ignores two important facts. First, image management or hustles are not exclusive to nightlife. They are the common mode of conduct in everyday life. The way most of us act at school, work or at home on a daily basis is as much of an act of deceit as anything that happens in nightlife. Avoiding nightlife in an attempt to avoid fake people or because you don’t want to put on an act is futile. Those people and that act are part of your everyday life.

The other thing that Mr. Grazian and other nightlife opponents ignore is the cultural components of nightlife that are fundamental to the experience. Even if you eliminate or discount the musical, fashion, and gastronomic contributions of nightlife culture, the social aspect cannot be discounted. The interaction between people for camaraderie, sexuality and self-expression can be exercised in nightlife in ways that are not acceptable in professional or family life. More importantly, the pleasure and release that can come from nightlife culture does not occur in other aspects of life. Nightlife may in fact be an illusion, but it is an illusion that makes reality worthwhile for the people who enjoy it.

Purchase On the Make: The Hustle of Urban Nightlife from Amazon.com

Have fun.
G 

Notes from the Night: A Nightlife Culture Review

By Gamal Hennessy


This is simultaneously the best and worst book ever written about New York nightlife. 

It is the best book because Taylor Plimpton captures the rituals of going out with a style that evokes every emotion involved with this intricate process. He describes the reluctance of being dragged out for yet another night and the anticipation of getting ready. He contrasts the ambivalence of the pre-game drinks with the struggle to get into hot clubs. He compares the arrogance that comes from getting into a club to the jaded cynicism of being around so many people who pretend not to care. 

He shows you the comfort of being with friends and the anger of being provoked by strangers, the pleasure and pain of drinking, the urge to dance and the fear of not dancing well, the attraction to beautiful women and the futility of trying to pick them up, the drained feeling that comes at the end of a long the night and the desperate desire for the night to never end, the frustration that comes from never find what he is looking for in nightlife and the contentment that comes from a good night out. Plimpton describes one night but in a certain sense he describes every night in this world in a writing style that is equal parts insightful and naïve. 

It is worst book because reading it can easily lead to the impression that the "exclusive club" experience is all that nightlife in New York is about. He specifically leaves out any reference to the bar and lounge environment, the live music scene, the underground venues and all the other types of nightlife that make New York unique. He never comes to grips with the idea that his nightlife culture is only a slice of a larger whole and that for all the allure of his scene, he is missing out on much of what New York has to offer. 

I highly recommend this book. It is a very good description of New York nightlife for anyone who can't experience it firsthand. It will also bring back a lot of fond memories for anyone who has actually lived this life.

Buy Notes from the Night at Amazon.com

Have fun. 
G 

Why Should You Care About Nightlife Culture?

By Gamal Hennessy

When I talk to people about being an advocate for nightlife culture, the first question I usually hear is “Why should I care about nightlife culture?” It is a good question. This is my good answer.

Nightlife culture is central to the quality of life of a city and the people who live in it. Without a thriving nightlife culture, our social dynamic is crippled. When that aspect of a city is gone students, tourists and young professionals migrate to other areas to find that connection. Without a thriving nightlife culture, the artistic and creative community withers. When that happens, the economy and reputation of a city falls dramatically because people do not feel drawn to that environment. The health and progress of a city is directly related to the health of its nightlife culture.

Nightlife culture in New York is complex and multilayered. It has fostered our arts. It has shaped the relationships between people of different classes, races and backgrounds. It has attracted people from all over the world to visit, live and work here. It is as much a part of our history and identity as Wall Street, Times Square or Fifth Avenue.

In recent years, nightlife culture has been damaged by political, economic and technological changes. Nightlife has been marked as a scapegoat and held responsible for urban crime and a lower quality of life. Rampant gentrification, higher real estate costs and contradictory urban planning has created conflict between nightlife and local communities. Advancements in digital technologies and fragmenting entertainment markets have stifled many traditional creative outlets in nightlife. While nightlife culture continues to grow and adapt, it has suffered recently.

So care about nightlife culture because it is the real reason why you go out. It is one of the reasons you live in New York City. Understand that it is important to everyone whether or not they patronize nightlife venues. Expose yourself to the cultural side of nightlife and experience everything it has to offer. Most importantly care about nightlife culture to make sure that it isn’t further eroded to the point where the city completely loses its artistic and social prominence.

Have fun.

G

Nightlife as a Marketplace of Transgression

By Gamal Hennessy

Every community claims to offer its members different benefits. Fashion offers glamour and self-esteem. Higher education offers preparation for adult life. Religions offer various types of spiritual guidance. Nightlife is similar. At its core, nightlife is a marketplace of transgression and we need that service to advance as a society.

What is Nightlife Transgression?

Transgression here means deviating from the norms of contemporary society. The environment of nightlife offers us the chance to transgress on a variety of levels that we can’t or won’t do in daily life.

Forms of Nightlife Transgression

1) Sexual: As a sexual metaphor, nightlife encourages various forms of sexual expression, pursuit and exploitation as a fundamental activity. On a certain level, the sexual instinct within us that nightlife caters to provides the motivation for all other forms of transgression.

2) Creative: Driven by sexual energy, the music, fashion and dancing in nightlife is a thinly veiled public expression of indiscretion that has produced enormous amounts of artistic creation.

3) Consumption: In nightlife, food and alcohol are consumed in combinations and quantities that are often frowned upon by polite society. Illegal substances are also found in nightlife and their consumption clearly crosses public norms,.

4) Social: The subtle and blatant role playing that patrons engage in is an expression of transgressive behavior in modern nightlife. To a certain extent, the racial mixing and subculture creation that nightlife fosters is also a form of transgression even if it is not explicitly rejected the way some other forms of nightlife transgression are.

Benefits of Nightlife Transgression

Deviating from the norms of society provides the catalyst that a culture needs to progress and advance. The transgression inherent in nightlife has created several sparks that have led to evolution of American life.

1) The racial and class mixing of the jazz and disco ages supported widespread integration among different ethnic groups.

2) Increased acceptance of the LGBT community was sparked by nightlife persecution and protest several decades ago.

3) The safe havens created in nightlife for various marginalized groups allows for interpersonal bonding that isn’t readily available in day to day life.

4) Finally, nightlife offers an organic environment for artistic and creative progress that cannot be replaced by mainstream or social media. Although not everyone enjoys nightlife’s cultural advancements (because every generation rejects the new music and fashion of the next generation) it is the act of transgression that gives rise to creation. Nightlife is the social laboratory for that creation.

Detrimental Effects of Transgression

Public discussion about nightlife often focuses purely on its negative aspects. This creates a perception that nightlife is nothing more than a harmful influence on the city. Transgression in nightlife can create malicious criminal, social and health impacts from overconsumption or illegal consumption. Overspending can create financial liabilities as patrons pursue the objects of their transgression. Destructive prejudices including racism, misogyny and homophobia can also be a part of nightlife transgression.  It would be naïve to suggest that all transgression in nightlife is positive. However, it is just as naïve to conclude that all nightlife transgression is negative. Both exist in this environment and one should not overshadow the other.

Another adverse type of transgression is pseudo transgression. This situation is the watered down experience that attempts to create a transgressive feeling but it purely a commercial endeavor that does nothing to move nightlife culture forward. Scenes where everyone wears the same clothes, listens to the same music over and over and sheepishly follows established trends are as harmful to the spirit of nightlife as any other detrimental effect of transgression.

Checks and Balances

Nightlife operators need to combine two ingredients in order to be successful. On one hand, they need to generate revenue that will pay the bills and satisfy investors. On the other hand, the need to provide an experience that promotes the benefits of transgression while limiting the detrimental effects. Programs like the Nightlife Best Practices and the internal policies of each venue provide a system to ensure transgression does not get out of hand. When handled correctly, the nightlife experience can feel liberating without being dangerous.

Nightlife is a marketplace of transgression. While there are clear detrimental effects, New York needs the catalyst that nightlife creates to advance artistically, culturally and socially.

Have fun.

Gamal

Sutra Celebrates Seven Years as a Hip Hop Icon

By Gamal Hennessy

Most clubs in New York City do not last very long. Normally, a club can go from the hottest place on Earth to closed in 3-5 years. For a club to last more than 5 years and still be relevant is a rare and wonderful thing.

Clubs that stay opened the longest rely on good management and a reputation for particular type of music. There is a club on the corner of 1^st Street and 1^st Avenue that is still going strong after 7 years.  Its owner has been a strong supporter of nightlife culture who has built a haven for both underground and mainstream hip hop at a club called Sutra. I sat down with Ms. Ariel Palitz on the seventh anniversary of the space to discuss the impact that it has had on the Lower East Side, nightlife and the culture of New York City.

GH: What was the goal when you first opened Sutra? How close have you come to achieving that goal seven years later?

AP: I spent a lot of time in Bar 16 as a patron before I bought it and opened Sutra. I loved spending time there because of the type of people I met and the vibe of the place. When I became the owner, I wanted to keep that spirit. I wanted a place where different types of people could come and have a good time. I wanted to have different types of parties and different types of music. I wanted Sutra to represent underground New York. We had that vibe from day 1. It didn’t matter if we did bhangra parties, soulful house sets or hip hop parties. The goal was to always to celebrate the diversity of New York and we were always able to pull that off.

GH: I know you have a lot of different types of parties, but I’ve always seen Sutra as a hip hop spot. A lot of that has to do with the people who perform here. It’s a long list that includes Funkmaster Flex, Questlove, Mos Def, Slick Rick, DMC, Just Blaze and a lot of others. When did you first realize that the hip hop industry embraced Sutra?

AP: There was a night early on when Questlove was in the DJ Booth spinning and Black Thought and Mos Def just jumped in there and started freestyling.  We had no warning but everyone in the room loved it. It has such a raw energy about it. It felt very natural. There was no hype, no drama no problems. Everyone was just flowing with them. I sat back at the owners table and knew it was special.

GH: Were there a lot of nights like that?

AP: Yes. A lot of artists come to Sutra to experiment on a live crowd. You can put out music on the internet, but nothing beats getting the reaction of people in the club. Artists like Just Blaze and Tony Touch know that. They’ll come and drop new beats and hooks and samples all the time and then we’ll hear those same elements in top 40 songs 6 months later. Sutra has been the birthplace for a lot of new music.

GH: What has been the most successful party Sutra has had over the years?

AP: We’ve had quite a few long running parties, but Toca Tuesday has to be the crown jewel. Tony is truly a professional artist and it is people like him that keep people coming back week after week. He is one of the reasons Sutra has been so successful.

GH: What are the other things that have helped Sutra last so long when so many other clubs don’t?

AP: We never tried to make people feel like they didn’t belong or they couldn’t come in. We won’t turn your friends away because of their race or anything else. We don’t try to force bottles on everyone. We throw parties that people enjoy. We’ve always been able to attract talent that people wanted to see. We have a good relationship with people on the block and in the neighborhood. All those things help keep the doors opened.

GH:  So what’s next for Sutra? Do you plan to keep it opened for another 7 years?

AP: I actually put Sutra on the market for sale this week, partially to coincide with the anniversary. I had a goal in mind when I opened Sutra and I’ve achieved it. I love Sutra and the impact it has had on my life and the life of the community and culture, but I have other goals, new businesses and new ideas for the Sutra brand. Once I find the right buyer, it will be time to move on.

GH: How do you think Sutra will change once you sell it?

AP: Ideally, the new owner would inject new energy into the place but still keep the inclusive spirit I inherited from Bar 16 and developed in Sutra. Ultimately I don’t know what the new incarnation will be, but I will do everything in my power to make sure that it will be a benefit to the quality of life for neighborhood, the people and New York.

GH: Do you think artists who have strong ties to the spot might buy it? Rappers have bought venues before…

AP: Owning a nightclub is a very different business than being a rapper or a DJ, but if someone in the industry would want to take it over that would be great because hopefully they would be able to infuse the same great talent and great vibe that has kept Sutra alive this long

Have fun.

G

My Top 13 Songs for Halloween

These songs have captured the energy and menace of Halloween for me over the years. Most of them aren’t pop hits and some of them are pretty old, but this is a very good list to listen to while you’re getting ready to go out or drinking in a dark room tonight. The nightmares should be very interesting indeed.

Have fun.

G

1. Love Song for a Vampire: Annie Lennox

2. Moon over Bourbon Street: Sting

3. King of Pain: The Police

4. Black on Black: Dalbello

5. Cry Little Sister: Sisters of Mercy

6. Closer: Nine Inch Nails

7. Close Your Eyes: Lita Ford

8. Total Eclipse of the Heart: Bonnie Tyler

9. The City Never Sleeps: The Eurythmics

10. Six Days: DJ Shadow

11. Bring Me to Live: Evanescence

12. Put Your Lights On: Santana

13. Wrapped Around Your Fingers: The Police