Put a Cork In It, Indeed - a reality check for Mrs. Fly Life

Thomas Donohoe January 15, 2007

Don't get me wrong, my Party People, I still love Tricia Romano and her weekly Village Voice insights into the mascara-laden, fashion forward, dare I say Hipster (for want of a better all-inclusive term) world that I leave to other promoters/party goers to enjoy. I'll allow the reader to take a peek at her solid history of noctournal expertise and get a better feel for the very specific genre of nightlife that she trumpets: some party photos from CobraSnake beyond 27th street and her most recent column in the Voice entitled 'Put a Cork in It: Bottle service corrupts the soul of New York City nightlife."

It is her most recent article that has garnered some steam in the nightlife community recently and one that I take issue with. The bottom line, kids: Bottle service is not to blame for any decay of NYC's once beautiful nightlife soul. It's in the attitude - that this article encourages - that 'My crowd/my party/my scene is better than yours.'

The point of her article and a growing sentiment within Manhattan community organizations and some major players within the nightlife community itself is, as Trisha aptly quotes from Aaron Bondaroff of the 205 club, "Bottle service has been running nightlife in New York for a long time. It's ruined the community." The first part is dead on. Insurance and rents for larger venues, which are costs beyond the control of the brave few who open these clubs, can only be sustained by this revenue source. The second point, however, that bottle service is the primary evil within nightlife is dead wrong. It is, at best, as bad as the attitude coming from articles such as Mrs. Romano's. That it has ruined the community is insane.

Here's what is really going on. There are pretty much three types of nightlife venues or what I'd refer to as 'clubs' in the city: the smaller ones with a rather specific demographic (such as 205 on Chrystie St., anything on Ludlow street), mid-size clubs that still focus their efforts on a specific music but are more open to 'outsiders' (such as APT, Lotus and Life back in the day) and large venues that try to attract the largest audience and tend to ignore catering to a specific demographic (Cain, Marquee, Home, et al).

The main argument that Mrs. Romano and others use is that people feel excluded and left out if they don't have the wallet to afford a table at a larger venue. They suggest that this focus on the rich is killing the essence of NYC nightlife. But beyond the evil that table service brings, which is giving a SLIGHT preference to people with money access, it is a distant second place to the fact that any venue or promoter or force that separates and markets to very specific demographics is driving people apart. This exclusionary principle, that Trisha Romano and these niche clubs are driving forward, is as bad as not letting a group of people in because they do not want to drop the admittedly crazy ducats on a bottle of Stoli.

The problem I see is that this need for another revenue source (bottle service) is a necessary evil while this attitude that smaller, more demographically elitist venues should be par for the couse is NOT necessary.

I'll end here for the time being because I'd like some other people to weigh before I delve more deeply into the primary intent of this post and this Nightlife section, which is to pose solutions to how we can help fix NYC Nightlife.