Halloweenie Greenie 2005 (nightlife review and recap)

[greenie]

After climbing out of the cave that I spent November in, review/comments of the long and definitely epic Halloweenie Greenie 2005.

Thanks as always to Bill @ Mecca, MasterWeb @ OPM and LA Late for your friendship and assistance. You guys all went the extra mile. Thanks also to a few others on the board (who tend to stay below the radar with hookups), the weekend would not have been quite as incredible without your help.

Thursday: 12a-4a, Tao

My first time here. Without question the most visually spectacular club in town. Packed without making people squeeze by each other shoulder-shoulder, and enough room on the dance floor. Excellent layout, great sound system, professional staff from door to bar, overall just a really fantastic club that truly has an identity all its own. Really love how the club incorporates the go-go dancers in with the crowd (on smaller, shorter platforms) and I will never, ever forget the bathtub. Only down side for me was the music. Main room was stricly mainstream hip-hop and pseudo-mash, but it didn't seem that DJ Vice was putting much effort at all into original track selection nor even mixing from one song to the next other than basic crossfades. Downstairs the house room the music was a bit too euro/poppy for my tastes, it seemed to clash with the lounge/hang out vibe that is the intention of the room.

Friday 11p-3a, OPM

As always some of the best hip-hop you're gonna hear in any upscale club, anywhere on the planet. As the night moves on the music always gets better and better with creative mixes, unique track selection and beats that tend to scare away the mainstream lovers... in other words, some good shit. This was Fatman Scoop's first night and after easing into his work, he and MasterWeb began to groove off each other to lay down some mean tunes. My boys and I grabbed a table and a few bottles, and big ups to MasterWeb for spotting us early and moving us to a solid table on the floor... always a huge bonus to guarantee room for dancing, especially when you invite a few ladies to join you behind the rope. Professional and courteous staff as always. Only downside of the night was that the crowd was not the normal OPM Friday group; normally by 1AM the dance floor is absoultely hopping and grinding, but overall tonight people were a lot more chill, and the lines outside weren't anywhere near the length they normally are. Still, we had a killer time hanging out with our neighboring tables, dancing with tons of ladies, and just digging the music.

Friday 4a-8a, Drai's

After a quick recharge back at the hotel, over to what continues to be the best true afterhours in town. Typical mob scene inside the Barbary Coast surrounding Drai's elevator and stairs with a few hundred people all trying to find a way in; took a little longer than normal to get the attention of one of the door staff. Once inside the crowd level of the club was perfect, each of the rooms was full of a great, diverse crowd and the vibe was excellent straight past 8am. It was Fetish night for the staff, so the ladies were all quite resplendent in their leather and chains (although the black wigs made it tough to recognize them). Chris Aurelius and Joey Mazzola were really feeding off the crowd and were playing some excellent, excellent house and progressive; I don't understand how anyone can claim to like EDM but not like the music at Drai's. Only downside was the notion that someone was dosing, for a little while the bars were serving everything with lids. Then again, that's seen by many as an upside...

Saturday 3a-6a?, Empire

My first time at the spruced-up ballroom didn't disappoint. Nice, huge room and a really awesome crowd of people and costumes turned out. Great staff and quick service. Boris put out the best EDM set I've heard in Vegas in a long, long time, and the sound system is great. No doubt that Empire will continue to kick ass when they get the big names in town, but I'm curious to know how well they can pack the room when they only have the locals. Downside was the initial promotion of $50 pre-sales, or more accurately the folks who paid that much only to see others getting in for less. A lot of confusion from people who didn't realize the clocks were getting set back, either... but can't blame Empire for that. Don't quite remember what time I pulled out of there, I think around 6. Was far too exhausted from only having a few hours' sleep on Saturday morning and doing all of the Vegoose concerts from noon until 3am.

Sunday 12a-6a, Body English

The best overall night of the trip began with hanging out at the lounge and checking out all of the costumes in line; the crowd definitely went all-out, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that the number of ladies in eye-popping outfits led to an evening that would rival a night at the Playboy Mansion. Probably helped that Jenna Jameson and Jenny McCarthy were hosting the night -- and particularly their costume contest. EVERY table, upstairs and down, was filled with people in costume, I don't recall seeing a single person in VIP (other than staff) that wasn't dressed up. Kudos to BE management for their flexibility regarding how many people you could have as part of your table, and props to the door staff for keeping mental track of who was VIP and who wasn't. DJ Vice was on the decks but I'll venture to say he did a much better set than he did at Tao. To be honest the night flew by and I wasn't paying as much attention to the music as I normally do. I do recall he didn't mash as much as DJ AM used to in his BE gigs, and big props to whatever DJ finished the night, recognizinig that the dance floor was responding well to dancehall tracks and going with it. Downside? It was such an incredible night the hours went by way too fast.

Monday 11p-5a??, Foundation, Tao, Tangerine, Paradise

I have to admit my memories of Monday night are very... umm... spotty. I think I was just too drained and although Monday's libations kept me going all night just put me over the edge. Despite sleeping all damn day Monday my body was still wrecked from the entire weekend -- nightlife is draining enough, but rocking out at Sam Boyd for Vegoose all day Sat/Sun (plus the midnight Randolph show at the Joint on Sat) just killed me. Anyway, I remember most of my stretch at Foundation room -- once agian, there's no question in my mind that this is the place to be on Mondays -- with a killer crowd of locals all costumed up. Solid music throughout (except for the 80s/whatever room, but that's just not my taste) and thanks to the folks who shared their tables with me simply because they loved my costume. Don't recall leaving Foudnation nor heading to Tao; I know it was before 2pm, because that's when my buddies called me from Foundation trying to find me. All I know is that I've got two pictures of me in the lounge at Tao with an Uma Thurman wannabe. I recall being ridiculously packed in to Tangerine, so much so you could barely move your arms, and jumping up and down in front the booth and Jazzy Jeff. Zero memory of being at Paradise, but an old friend confirmed I was there via email and I've got a credit card receipt from 5am. Downside of course is pushing myself too hard and not remembering anything as a result.

Tuesday 12a-4a, Pure

After regaining conciousness around 4pm on Tuesday, and spending about 2 hours trying to figure out what the hell happened on Monday night, the last thing on my mind was another late night, especially as I was now flying solo. But after eating one of the best meals of my life at Bouchon and catching Second City Scritpless (all improv, and hilarious), I was entirely energized. As usual Pure Tuesdays was a madhouse out front, but one glimpse at the VIP crowd and the general line screamed two words at me: sausage fest. Hit up two of the lounge bars in Caesar's and met three lovely gals who wanted to go in but didn't like the line (and were denied in flirting with the door staff)... thankfully God made guestlists, so in we went. The main room and surrounding area was packed to the gills, and there was barely room to move on the dance floor. The music was similar to Tao on Thursday; the same mainstream tracks and unoriginal work from (DJ Icey, i think), but just like Tao the crowd didn't really care. The floor was already shoulder-to-shoulder when the DJ dropped "Golddigger" which led to a big rush onto the floor... I squeezed out with one of the gals to go upstairs. Faarsheed was spinning on the deck and putting out some really solid tracks, but best of all was his outstanding mixing -- some really fantastic transitions and teasers. Popped back downstairs once or twice just to see if Icey had stepped up a notch (it hadn't), so I spent the bulk of the night dancing on the roof... and I've got to say, for anyone that loves EDM, there's something pretty incredible about dancing on the deck surrounded by the lights of the strip. Only downside of the night was the massively-male crowd, bad enough to the point where if a gal really started to tear it up (either upstairs or down), it would take all of a minute before a pack of guys would encircle her... not trying to dance along, just kind of standing and staring. Weird.

So there it is, in all its ugly glory... this was my third birthday/Halloween weekend in Vegas and by far the best ever. 2004 in Los Angeles was incredible, but getting from place to place just blows compared to the convenience of the Strip. Quite an unbelievable time and a year from now there's no question I'm gonna do it all again. Even if it includes the part where I black out throughout the course of an evening.

Can't wait for New Years!

[ukjay43]

Yo bro!

Me and the wifey dig your posts. You sound like a cool cat. Drop me a line the next time you are heading to Vegas. I know people "that know people". ;-)

Miami for New Years. Vegas probably for Superbowl Weekend.

Best,

[lalate]

Yo bro!

Me and the wifey dig your posts. You sound like a cool cat. Drop me a line the next time you are heading to Vegas. I know people "that know people". ;-)

Miami for New Years. Vegas probably for Superbowl Weekend.

Best,

damn biotch I told you about 300 weeks ago to hang out with the greenmister hahaha. jk

ps, guess what ... monastery ... sold for t h i r t y EIGHHHTTT million smackers (no joke).

[lalate]

Greeniest -

I'll holla at u la later diz week. Partied to 5 am Fri and was holiday shopping at 8 30 am in ventura county haha omg lol dead dead dead. And then last night kicked it at 1/2 dozen spots in la on a sunday hahaha. will holla lata.

[greenie]

Drop me a line the next time you are heading to Vegas. I know people "that know people". ;-)

bet.

Aside from NYE and the first weekend of march madness, I haven't picked out another weekend in late Jan or early/mid Feb to come on down to Vegas.

I've been in LV on NFL playoff weekends the past three years, but haven't been around on Super Bowl weekend. I know that's a massive weekend in general (some say the biggest weekend of the year), but how is SB weekend in terms of nightlife?

I'm sure clubs will be throwing big-deal celebrity parties and whatnot, but I tend to enjoy myself a bit more when it's a good vibe that the locals/regulars really get behind socially -- as compared to the vibe that locals/regulars are all stuck behind working.

(and for what it's worth, the main reason I'm out on that Madness weekend is more because I'm doing it to hang with a lot of old friends, all of whom are heavy college ball junkies... doubt that any of them will still be hanging with me at 6am, but who knows)

[BillLe]

I gotta add Green is one of the coolest kats I've hung out with. I don't think there has been a weekend he's been in town that we didn't have at least a drink, or two, or three..... If this guy lived here we'd be in trouble!

[greenie]

I gotta add Green is one of the coolest kats I've hung out with. I don't think there has been a weekend he's been in town that we didn't have at least a drink, or two, or three..... If this guy lived here we'd be in trouble!

And I keep telling ya, the more you people keep dangling that carrot in front of me, the more likely I am to just pack up shop and finally move out there...