Alexandra

Hi everyone, I'm writing an article for the North County Times newspaper about how bottle service has recently become popular in San Diego nightclubs. I'm looking for people from the San Diego area (especially from the north county area: Carlsbad, Encinitas, Del Mar, etc) who are willing to be quoted in my article about their opinions on bottle service and what effect they think it will have/is having on San Diego's nightlife. (You don't need to have ever gotten bottle service in a club before, but if you have, that's a plus.) If you are from the San Diego area and would willing to be interviewed for my article (or know someone who would), please e-mail me ASAP at Alexandra.L.DeLuca@gmail.com. Thanks!

Hi everyone, I'm writing an article for the North County Times newspaper about how bottle service has recently become popular in San Diego nightclubs. I'm looking for people from the San Diego area (especially from the north county area: Carlsbad, Encinitas, Del Mar, etc) who are willing to be quoted in my article about their opinions on bottle service and what effect they think it will have/is having on San Diego's nightlife. (You don't need to have ever gotten bottle service in a club before, but if you have, that's a plus.) If you are from the San Diego area and would willing to be interviewed for my article (or know someone who would), please e-mail me ASAP at Alexandra.L.DeLuca@gmail.com. Thanks!

Does anyone know where I can find the remix of "White Flag?" I'm talking about the house one, not the one on the CD. Thanks!

First of all, I'm glad I didn't bother to get tickets! I walked right onto the Pier when I got there at 7:30, but it was claustrophobic central so I decided to leave and watch from the fence -- much better. Anyway, yeah Our Lady Peace was embarrassing, but I felt bad for them when people started screaming for Sasha. Sasha is my hero so obviously I enjoyed his set. It *sucked* that they had so many technical difficulties but don't buy the conspiracy theory - come on, MTV knew 90% of the crowd was there to hear him so I don't see why they'd deliberately do something that would turn the audience into an angry mob! So, yes the sound problems sucked and yes his set was far too short, but the bottom line is WE ALL GOT TO SEE SASHA FOR FREE! How often does that happen? I hadn't heard Xpander live since S&D's anniversary party at Twilo (RIP) over 3 years ago, so that made my week. Thankfully, I left before Moby came on, so all in all, I had a great time.

I don't have tickets but I'm still going to try and go.

Ahhh I am going insane! Is the actual concert going to be outdoors? In other words, if we can't get in without tix, can we still hear/see anything from outside? Must...see...SASHA! xoxo Alexandra

So is Sasha spinning from 7:45 to 8:45?

C'mon... no one's going to come crash the party with me?

For those of us whom luck eludes and we don't win those oh-so-coveted tickets to the S&D gig this Tuesday, how many of you are still going to try to go? I just found out today (dammit!) that they were giving away a limited quantity of free tickets at both Virgin Megastores, but alas, they are all (of course) long gone. Do you think they'll let us in if we just show up at Pier 54? I remember at the free Oakenfold event that MTV put on at Rockefeller Center (the Swordfish premiere), they ended up just letting the general public in aside from people who had (free) tickets in advance. Anyway, is anyone going to go regardless if they have tix or not? I think I am... unless, of course, I get picked for those tickets... or someone wants to sell me theirs! (I'm serious...PM me if you do!) xoxo Alexandra

This is so random, but does anyone know the name of the song that they play on the "Live Webcast" from S&D's Detroit show on deltaheavy.com? The only lyric I know is when a woman says "what do you do, when the world, is not enough..." They played it in Albany and I LOVE that track... can anyone i.d. it for me? Thanks! xoxo Alexandra

Hi everyone, I'm currently working on an article on "Verbal Mistakes Women Make in the Workplace" for the September issue of Cosmopolitan and I need some quotes. There are 2 groups of people I need quotes from: - Women between the ages of 20 - 35 who have made (and conquered) verbal mistakes - Bosses or coworkers who have/have had employees/coworkers who make/have made these common mistakes. There are 6 mistakes the article is focusing on: 1. Using pointless fillers (i.e. "like" um" "you know") 2. Upspeak: ending every sentence as if were a question (i.e. "Hi, this is Susan? I'm calling from JP Morgan?") 3. Swearing, slang and informality (i.e. addressing clients as "you guys") 4. Speaking too softly 5. Using qualifiers before ideas (i.e. "I know this is a stupid idea, but...") 6. Phrasing commands as questions (i.e. saying "do you think you could have this report finished by Friday?" instead of "please have this report finished by Friday.") I would like to have a quote from a woman (age 20 - 35) who has made one of these common mistakes in the past, and a very brief explanation of how she got over it. For example: "I used to say "like" every other word, but now I try to pause for a second or two to make sure I know what I'm saying before I say it." Ideally, I will have 6 different quotes corresponding to each problem. I need a name and an age for these quotes, but YOUR NAME WILL BE CHANGED in the actual article (unless you don't want it to be). I would also like a quote from a supervisor or coworker of who has/had a female employee (age 20 - 35) who makes/has made one of these 6 common verbal mistakes, and why it is/was distracting or negative. For example: "One of our editorial assistants used to talk so quietly it was almost impossible to hear her, so her ideas never got heard." Ideally, I will have 6 different quotes corresponding to each problem. For this quote, we would like a name, age and name/type of company -- YOUR NAME MAY OR MAY NOT BE CHANGED, so please indicate whether you have a preference. If you can help me out, I need these quotes no later than May 15. Please send me a PM if you can help me out.... thanks, everyone! xoxo Alexandra

Does anyone know (or can anyone venture a decent guess) what time Digweed, Cox & Tiesto will probably be spinning in the tent at the Jones Beach show? I went to Area One last year and never left the tent... so amazing! My problem this year is I work on Fridays in the city until 7pm, so I figure I wouldn't get out to Jones Beach until 9:30 or 10pm at the earliest... do you think it's still worth it? All I care about seeing are Digweed, Cox & Tiesto, so will they be on by then? Thanks! xoxo Alexandra

Am I the only Tisch person here? Oh well... Class of 2000, represent! xoxo Alexandra

Glad to hear so many people had a better than expected time at Exit for Ferry Corsten last Friday... hey, maybe someone there read my post! No, seriously, if it went so well, I hope they follow my advice and keep it that way and keep the good DJs coming! xoxo Alexandra

Here's the link: http://www.petitiononline.com/1105 Please add your signature and tell everyone you know to, as well! xoxo Alexandra

Come on... no one has any opinions about Exit?! I find that hard to believe! xoxo Alexandra

Aww thanks... he's my baby! xoxo Alexandra

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Just show her this picture of my hot, Italian studmuffin of a cat, Angelo Romeo DeLuca... that ought to cheer her up! xoxo Alexandra

Guess not....

Good luck hon... My boyfriend is one of the few, the proud, (the hot!) the Marines so I have much respect & admiration for all of you military men & women. Best of luck! xoxo Alexandra

Is this for real?! Why haven't I heard anything about this? Hope its true! xoxo Alexandra

Not at all... just a club goer. I used to be, back in the day, but now going out is all pleasure -- not business. NYU, Represent! xoxo Alexandra

First of all, this post was inspired by vixenfoxxy's quest to change Exit for the better, so props to her. I've been thinking about it, and it seems silly that we are all hoping and praying for, and gossiping and fighting about a new club for NYC when there already exists one that has LOTS of potential, NO "regular" crowd and LOTS of problems: Exit. I know -- and agree with -- the bad reputation Exit has on this board. But I also think it can be redeemed be following a few simple steps. So, here is my proposed plan to "save" Exit: FIRST and most importantly, Exit needs to decide once and for all what kind of crowd it wants to attract. Is it the current B&T crowd that likes Exit, SF and Roxy? The ex-Twilo crowd that is now split between Vinyl and Centro-Fly but is still largely displaced? A more "upscale" crowd like at Spa or Saci? No club can succeed by trying to be all things to all people, so Exit needs to pick a crowd once and for all, court it and cater to it. Once the crowd is determined -- and lets say in this case that Exit decides they want to woo the old Twilo crowd -– BOOK THE APPROPRIATE DJs! Figuring out who those DJs are should be pretty easy because each “type” of crowd has a very distinctive taste in music. The next step is to book those DJs BOTH nights, and more importantly, GIVE THEM RESIDENCIES!!! Exit has booked some awesome DJs that even Twilo never had (Ferry Corsten!), but it is confusing if one night is KTU-style house spun by a 2nd rate DJ and the next night is progressive house spun by an international superstar DJ. That is going to confuse the crowd and compromise Exit's reputation, so do what Twilo did and have, for instance, a huge DJ with a monthly residency every Friday night (S&D, PVD, Deep Dish, etc), and on Saturdays have an equally good DJ with a lightly smaller fan base (Ferry Corsten, Steve Lawler, Seb Fontaine, Nick Warren, etc) open up for Junior. Yes, that would be exactly like Twilo, but that's just for the sake of illustration -- whatever DJs Exit chooses to book or whichever crowd it chooses to cater to, my point is that in order to be successful, it has to have THE SAME TYPE OF MUSIC BOTH NIGHTS and have RESIDENT DJS at least once a month for the sake of continuity and to firmly establish Exit’s reputation as a certain "type" of club that caters to a very specific crowd. Okay, so now we've got the DJs all lined up. What now? KNOW YOUR CROWD! What do they like to wear? What kind of $$ do they typically spend? What else is important to them? For example, if its the old Twilo crowd, relax the dress code -- they aren't there to "see and be seen," they're there to dance. Likewise, if Exit wanted to attract a classier crowd, they should have a much stricter dress code and hire bouncers who would truly enforce it. But since we're using the old Twilo crowd for example, lets keep going with that. Relax the dress code, and think about other factors like having as big a dance floor as possible (get rid of any extraneous platforms with dancers and that huge stage that takes up half the dance floor), getting rid of all the “VIP rooms,” having some “chill out” areas with working water fountains and keeping the bars stocked with water and Gatorade. All of those things may seem incidental but they make a huge difference depending on the type of crowd you are catering to! Finally, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, depending on what crowd Exit wants to attract, GET RID OF ALL THE CURRENT PROMOTERS! Figure out if you really need promoters at all and if so, get the same promoters who promote for other places the “new” Exit crowd wants to attract. Even if everything about Exit changes, the crowd will NEVER change if you keep the same promoters! After all, as with any big club, the promoters attract the crowd as much as the DJs do, and if you wanted to attract a Twilo-esque crowd, having the people who promote SF or Spa are not the best people to do that. Along those lines, get door people who have worked at Twilo, Centro-Fly or whatever type of club has the same type of crowd Exit wants to attract. They are the ones who ultimately determine the crowd, so make sure they understand what “type” of crowd they are going for. Also related: pay attention to branding, like fliers, posters and the Exit web site. Redo it according to what the type of crowd the “new” Exit wants to attract. For example, if you’re trying to cater to the old Twilo crowd, look at their old fliers – no pictures of half naked dancers or gimmicky shit was necessary, because ultimately, top-level DJs sell themselves. So there you have it -– my suggestions on how to overhaul Exit. And keep in mind that I am not suggesting you make Exit into “the new Twilo” -– I was simply using that crowd as an example, and those are the same steps that should be followed no matter what kind of crowd Exit ultimately chooses to attract. One final note: whatever crowd Exit finally decides to cater to -– RESPECT THEM. Make sure everyone from door people to security guards to bartenders treats them with respect and courtesy: these are your patrons and they are the ones who will make and break Exit. Treat them well and not only will they come back again, they’ll tell their friends. Treat them badly and risk losing their loyalty and your hard-earned reputation. So, that’s my suggestion. Call me crazy but I think if you build it…they will come! What does anyone think? Any other suggestions? What kind of crowd do you think they should go for? Or do you think everyone will think of it as "cheesy old Exit" no matter what they try to do with it? Just curious.... xoxo Alexandra

Well, here's the thing: if Sasha & Digweed or Paul Van Dyk played at Exit, I WOULD go to see them there. BUT, I wouldn’t be happy about it, and I’d only go because I’m a diehard fan and I can’t stand to miss them. And I’d probably be the exception because I’m pretty sure most of their fans would still stay away simply because its Exit – just read the board to see how many people are opting not to go see S&D at the World next weekend! So, on to your question -- would I (and other clubbers) be more likely to see them at a smaller or lesser-known venue that didn't have the same stigma attached to it as Exit? Yes, almost definitely. Although Limelight is too small and not set up to accommodate the kind of crowd international DJs attract, I think their fans would still be more accepting of seeing them there because of Limelight's reputation of a legendary club. Likewise, more people might be open to going to a smaller or less-established venue because there is no "regular" crowd there to contend with. BUT, that is all a moot point because I can't think of any existing clubs that are even halfway big enough to accommodate huge DJs and their followings, so that again brings us back to the matter of Exit. Its really ironic, because Exit is probably the biggest and best laid out of all the existing NYC clubs and in that sense is definitely the best place for DJs with huge followings to play. Unfortunately, Exit is also probably the most reviled club in recent history. I really can't think of any NYC club or even particular party that had as bad a reputation as Exit does right now. So how do we remedy Exit's bad reputation? I don't have any guaranteed solutions, but here are some things to consider: FIRST and most importantly, Exit needs to decide once and for all what kind of crowd it wants to attract. Is it the current B&T crowd that likes Exit, SF and Roxy? The ex-Twilo crowd that is now split between Vinyl and Centro-Fly but is still largely displaced? A more "upscale" crowd like at Spa or Saci? No club can succeed by trying to be all things to all people, so Exit needs to pick a crowd once and for all, court it and cater to it. Once the crowd is determined -- and lets say in this case that Exit decides they want to woo the old Twilo crowd – book the appropriate DJs. Figuring out who those DJs are should be pretty easy because each “type” of crowd has a very distinctive taste in music. The next step is to book those DJs BOTH nights, and more importantly, GIVE THEM RESIDENCIES!!! Exit has booked some awesome DJs that even Twilo never had (Ferry Corsten!), but it is confusing if one night is KTU-style house spun by a 2nd rate DJ and the next night is progressive house spun by an international superstar DJ. That is going to confuse the crowd and compromise Exit's reputation, so do what Twilo did and have, for instance, a huge DJ with a monthly residency every Friday night (S&D, PVD, Deep Dish, etc), and on Saturdays have an equally good DJ with a lightly smaller fan base (Ferry Corsten, Steve Lawler, Seb Fontaine, Nick Warren, etc) open up for Junior. Yes, that would be exactly like Twilo, but whatever DJs Exit chooses to book or whichever crowd it chooses to cater to, my point is that in order to be successful, it has to have THE SAME TYPE OF MUSIC BOTH NIGHTS and have RESIDENT DJS at least once a month for the sake of continuity and to firmly establish Exit’s reputation as a certain "type" of club that caters to a very specific crowd. Okay, so now we've got the DJs all lined up. What now? KNOW YOUR CROWD! What do they like to wear? What kind of $$ do they typically spend? What else is important to them? For example, if its the old Twilo crowd, relax the dress code -- they aren't there to "see and be seen," they're there to dance. Likewise, if Exit wanted to attract a classier crowd, they should have a much stricter dress code and hire bouncers who would truly enforce it. But since we're using the old Twilo crowd for example, lets keep going with that. Relax the dress code, and think about other factors like having as big a dance floor as possible (get rid of any extraneous platforms with dancers and that huge stage that takes up half the dance floor), getting rid of all the “VIP rooms,” having some “chill out” areas with working water fountains and keeping the bars stocked with water and Gatorade. All of those things may seem incidental but they make a huge difference depending on the type of crowd you are catering to! Finally, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, depending on what crowd Exit wants to attract, GET RID OF ALL THE CURRENT PROMOTERS! Figure out if you really need promoters at all and if so, get the same promoters who promote for other places the “new” Exit crowd wants to attract. Even if everything about Exit changes, the crowd will NEVER change if you keep the same promoters! After all, as with any big club, the promoters attract the crowd as much as the DJs do, and if you wanted to attract a Twilo-esque crowd, having the people who promote SF or Spa are not the best people to do that. Along those lines, get door people who have worked at Twilo, Centro-Fly or whatever type of club has the same type of crowd Exit wants to attract. They are the ones who ultimately determine the crowd, so make sure they understand what “type” of crowd they are going for. Also related: pay attention to branding, like fliers, posters and the Exit web site. Redo it according to what the type of crowd the “new” Exit wants to attract. For example, if you’re trying to cater to the old Twilo crowd, look at their old fliers – no pictures of half naked dancers or gimmicky shit was necessary, because ultimately, top-level DJs sell themselves. So there you have it – my suggestions on how to overhaul Exit. And keep in mind that I am not suggesting you make Exit into “the new Twilo” – I was simply using that crowd as an example, and those are the same steps that should be followed no matter what kind of crowd Exit ultimately chooses to attract. One final note: whatever crowd Exit finally decides to cater to – RESPECT THEM. Make sure everyone from door people to security guards to bartenders treats them with respect and courtesy – these are your patrons and they are the ones who will make and break Exit. Treat them well and not only will they come back again, they’ll tell their friends. Treat them badly and risk losing their loyalty and your hard-earned reputation. So, that’s my suggestion. Call me crazy but I think if you build it…they will come! Good luck with the vote on Tuesday & I hope they hear you out. xoxo Alexandra (btw, this post is getting really long so I'm going to post this as a new thread, too)