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