Ahh!
You've probably come to this page through a search engine or an
old link. I don't do blogs anymore on jackcolton.com, as this
site really out grew all that. Feel free to read the old stuff,
but check out the rest of the reviews, guides, and weekly columns
by visiting the main page!
Thanks,
Jack
Colton
Vegas
Party Blog for Sunday, October 22nd, 2006
Place
Attended:
Body English's "English 101" Party
A
wise person once told me “never get comfortable, never settle,
and don’t ever stop moving. If you follow these guidelines
of life, your life will always be fulfilling and interesting.”
Word. Another profoundly astute mentor once advised me “The
world is run by three things: Money, Sex,
and Power. Find out which of the three motivates
the people around you, and you can find what their true intentions
are.” Agreed. More recently, my ever so entertaining group
of friends have summed up all of their worldly insight into two
simple words meant to make my life fulfilling, interesting, and
filled to the brim with the three things that make the world go
around. Their advice? “Drink this.”
And with respect
to what most people consider “work” and “play,”
I find that one of the most exciting things about living and working
in the Las Vegas entertainment industry is the opportunity to
have the best of both worlds. On one hand you are able to constantly
meet and party with some of the world’s most powerful and
notorious people, and on the other you don’t have to take
the little things too seriously. This brings us to this particular
Sunday, which was a prime example of just that. We all started
out at the house for the standard pre-gathering, and the ever
inspired Dillon Reese decided to spice
things up a bit by going to the neighborhood gas station and spending
a small fortune on those little temporary tattoos they sell next
to the gumball machines (Ok, he spent $4, but that's a lot of
quarters!). It was his game and the rules were simple, everyone
had to randomly draw one tattoo out of a hat and wear it on the
side of their neck for the duration of the night – no matter
how stupid it looked. Check the pictures and you will see that
Mr. Reese upped the ante even more by shaving his ever growing
facial hair into one of the most white trash looking designs ever
seen this side of Texas. It just screams Pabst Blue Ribbon beer
and muddy boots. Mission: Not taking yourself
too seriously, completed.
The next phase
of the evening brought us to the sidebar (Peacock Lounge) of the
Hard Rock Hotel to meet up with the rest of the
gang before heading downstairs to Body English.
We met up, grabbed a comped cocktail or three, and headed over
to the club to help celebrate the “Sunday School | English
101” event. Jason Habel very kindly took
care of our group as always, and we made our way to the basement,
and ultimately into the hidden parlor room where entertainment
writer and celebrity host Tiffany Masters and
Body English proprietor
Andy Hersch ’s table was perched with all
of twenty-four (24) bottles of the famed Cristal Champagne
(at a staggering cost of $1,500 each), filled with some of the
most feared and sought after people in the history of Las Vegas,
and even a network film crew interviewing everyone for Tiffany’s
birthday. Next, out of no absolutely no where, a large group of
sexy cocktail waitresses walk up to me, sparklers in hand, and
hand over a little black box that had a faint “ticking noise”
coming from inside. Was Body English actually
trying to kill me? Hmmm. While at first I was a bit concerned
that I might be holding a bomb, my apprehension were quickly removed
when I realized that the box said “Movado”
on it, and that Body English (specifically Jack Lafleur
and Adam Nixon) had very kindly given
me an engraved “Jack Colton” giftset to help celebrate
their favorite Vegas entertainment writers! Very cool! Thanks
guys!
A
special thanks to everyone I partied with tonight: Manny,
Jaime, Justin Bueltel, Bill Le, Adam Nixon, Chad Saunders, Jason
Habel, Nobert, Sean Charsley, Jesse Fender, Tiffany Masters, J.B.,
Kalika, Lance Robbins, Vinnie, Dillon Resse, Evan Scholtz, Alex
Sabate, Jessica Blair, Derek Betcher, J.D, Chad Dallas, LP, Steve,
Mike, Justin Kunkel, Mark, Drummer KC, Martin Stein, Xania Woodman,
Jack Lafleur, Lindsay Lou, Jimmy Greenup, Dana, Badass Gogo, and
the few people I forgot!
Question
of the night: I can think of quite a
few of them. Ha!
As
you may already know, I've been occasionally turning the Vegas
Party Blog over to some friends of mine as "Guest Writers."
Today we have famed Vegas nightlife promoter Kalika Moquin's take
on the same day you just read about. Enjoy!
The
Same Sunday, From guest writer Kalika Moquin:
I
woke up at 12:45 on Sunday afternoon trying to recall activities
of the previous night. A quick glance at my colorfully stamped
wrist was all I needed to piece together that a stop at Tao,
a table at Jet,
and the Rhino Champagne room were all somehow
involved in the prior evening’s itinerary, and more than
likely, the direct result of this mornings killer hangover. Quickly
assessing the situation at hand, I concluded that I was in my
own bed, and after checking my blackberry, I sighed in relief
realizing I had not partaken in any drunken phone calls/text message
conversations. Yes, this morning could easily have been much worse.
It didn’t
take long to realize that this was no ordinary Sunday; it was
Tiffany Masters’ birthday. I jumped out
of bed, downed two bottles of water, and called to wish her a
happy birthday whilst going over the game plan for the day. Tiffany
is not known to do things half ass, and her birthday party is
certainly no exception. We had been planning this party for the
past two weeks, and even though I was getting a later start on
the day than I should, I knew it was going to be one of the biggest
parties Vegas had yet seen.
I ran downstairs
to get ready when I realized I had one small problem. No car.
Apparently I wasn’t good to drive last night, and Michael
Tomes had ever so kindly taken the liberty to drive me
home. I swear, everyone in this business should own (2) vehicles,
one for home and one to keep on the strip. (I know you guys are
with me here, right?) I decided to turn to the one person who
has always been there to rescue me from all the irresponsible
situations I have often found myself in. Colton.
After a hour of whining about my situation and with dedicated
slow and steady efforts to bribe him with McDonalds French fries
(courtesy of Tawni), Colton
saved the day and took me to my car.
As I got into
my car I glance at the clock - 2:36PM. This gave me a little over
1 hour to tan, shower, shop, fix hair, fix my makeup, confirm
invites, and most importantly - to pick up Tiffany. No problem.
Being a notorious procrastinator, I am a master in the art of
“last minute” behavior than anyone I know. I got to
Tiffany’s at 3:45, right on time to make it to her 4:00
birthday luncheon at Nobert’s (pronounced
no-bear) house. Tiffany looked beautiful it her sexy black top,
jeans, and had her hair up in a pony tail. She had informed everyone
that the afternoon activities were to be casual. Not owning anything
casual, I bought a whole new outfit just for the event.
We buzzed
ourselves into the gate of Nobert’s estate, parked, and
made our way into the backyard. WOW, is all I can say. Nobert
had really put a lot of effort into making today extra special.
The patio was catered with beautiful flowers, table cloths, fine
china dishes, a chef, and 2 richly dressed servers. The lunch
was intimate and included only Tiffany’s closest friends.
Vinny, Donny Richmond, and
Robin Leach were just a few of the Vegas nightlife heavy
weights who arrived to help Tiffany celebrate her special day.
Wine and champagne flowed, toasts were made, and delicious salads
and steak skewers were enjoyed by all.
Before dessert
was served, Simona and I snuck out to make sure
the last minute arrangements for tonight were taken care of. Guest
list? Check. Decorations? Check. Cake? Check. Everything was going
as planned. At 9:30 Myself, Katie, and Erin regrouped with Tiffany
to attend the Xhibit concert at the House of
Blues - with Xhibit. Tiffany and X are very good friends
so we were immediately ushered in by X’s manager Liz and
taken straight backstage. Never having attended a hip hop concert,
I quickly realized that being back stage was probably our safest
bet, and would have had no desire to be anywhere else. We stayed
for the duration of the show, chatted with X for a minute after,
and made our way over to what was to be the main event. The birthday
celebration at Body English!
Nobert had
once again gone above and beyond to make tonight one of the best
celebrations Body English or Las Vegas has ever
seen! The entire parlor room was reserved just for Tiffanys birthday.
Chad Saunders enforced a strict door policy to
where if you were not well known industry personal, or on Tiffanys
list, you were not getting in! On the menu were free flowing shots,
Grey Goose and 24 BOTTLES OF CRISTAL!!!
I had never seen so much champagne in my life! Each table had
buckets of Cristal for all invited guests to enjoy. It was the
who’s who of the nightlife industry packed into the parlor
as Jack Lafleur spun an amazing set, good conversations
flowed, pictures were taken, the camera crew was filming, and
candles were blown. Tiffany, Jack Colton,
Xania Woodman and a few others in the parlor
were also simultaneously awarded Movado gift sets by Body English
to help honor them as the top Las Vegas entertainment writers.
Let me tell you, Body English knows how to host a damn good party.
The crowd, guests, music, vibe, and everything else was perfect!
It was around
1:00a.m. when the night completely spun out of control, and will
go down in history as one of the most fun nights I’ve ever
had at Body English, or in Vegas for that matter!
Colton was made my official partner in crime for the evening.
After closing down Body English the two of us were ushered to
an after party at the Palms Hotel. Good times. Good Times. -
Kalika Moquin
Until
next time,
Jack Colton
Colton@JackColton.com
Vegas
Party Blog for Thursday, October 19th, 2006
Place
Attended:
Ghost Bar for Chris Clouse's CD Release.
Over
the next few months I’m going to introduce some “Guest
Writers” into the Las Vegas Party Blog to help offer different
perspectives on the Las Vegas entertainment scene, and more importantly
– to help me update this thing more often! For today’s
VPB, a good friend of mine, Stephanie Weigel,
has indulged us with her version of Thursday night’s events.
I was there and can vouch for most of her accounts, except for
the part about me frolicking with supermodels and heiresses? Come
on Steph, You know I always miss out on that! Sheesh!
- Jack Colton
From
Guest Writer Stephanie Weigel:
For those of you who do not know 'left coast' musician Chris
Clouse, now is the time to put Google.com
to good use. Chris has been gathering a following all along the
West Coast in the hottest venues in San Fransisco,
Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix,
and of course Las Vegas. His unique indie rock
sound combine with DJ Soloman spinning beats
in the background have made him an "I can't wait for that
show!" kind of artist. So when he asked me to help him throw
the hottest release party for his new CD Chimera
in Vegas, I was in! Afterall, you combine a Chris Clouse show
with Ghostbar at the Palms Casino,
it's guaranteed to be a good night!
As Shannon, Amber, Andrea,
Steve, Chris, and I
made our way to the entrance of Ghostbar, I almost
got irritated that the line was so long (no body likes to wait)
but then I remembered that 1. These people are here for Chris,
and 2. We have a VIP table! After our host, Mike Bedrick
seated us at our very front, very center table, I scanned the
crowd for the friends. Sure enough, there was Chad,
Jessie, Alex, Evan,
Steve, and Kristin, drinks in
hand, smiles on faces. I didn't see Colton at
first (I figured he was being squired by some heiress or model)
but it didn't take long for him to make his way over.
I knew after an hour Colton would be contributing
to the evening's excitement, as always, he showed up right on
time with LITs in hands. and helped Shannon to add Jack Daniels
to her Vodka Red Bull. As Chris finished his first set, his manager
Jason Oronzi and I made our way through the crowd
to sell cd's. Let me prepare you for what is next: I am fairly
small and not at all tall. I am pushing my way through this massive
gathering of people, thinking like a girl - find groups of guys
and sell! No need. I was spotted by one group of people with these
cd's in my hands and that was it. Fifteen minutes later we had
sold out of all 50 cd's we had! This is why I told you to use
Google. Like, as soon as your done reading this.
As the show ended, we made our usual stops and Tao
and Tryst
before calling it a night at a friend's suite back at the Palms.
But not before driving down the strip, windows down, blaring Chris
Clouse's cd for all of Vegas to hear! - Stephanie
Weigel
Special thanks to Ghostbar VIP Host Mike Bedrick
Please visit www.chrisclouse.com
and www.myspace.com/chrisclousemusic
Vegas
Party Blog for Saturday, October 14th 2006
Place
Attended:
Playboy Comedy Show, N9NE Steakhouse, Playboy Club, Moon Nightclub,
and Cherry Nightclub.
What
a crazy few weeks this has been! Chris Clouse
played at Fleur De Lys, Tao had their celebrity-filled 1 year
anniversary party that had everyone from Janet Jackson
to Paris Hilton attending, True Religion
had a fashion show, VM Direct put on a massive internet marketing
conference, Playboy and Moon Nightclub
had their Grand Opening parties, REHAB had it's
last big pool party of the season, and most importantly...I was
at all of these events and several more!
Surely you see why I don't have time to update the Vegas Party
Blog all that often. haha. Anyway, let's get straight to it. Last
night Matt Lindsey, Kalika,
Lindsay Lou (from MySpace), and I met up at 10:30PM
at the Palms Playboy Comedy Tour. This soldout show was absolutely
hilarious, and featured Joel McHale (from E Network's
Talk Soup) and Paul Mercurio (From Comedy Central's
"Daily Show"). My favorite was definitely Paul because
he just picked on the crowd the entire time.
After the show Kalika and I
walk over to N9NE Steakhouse to meet up with
Dillon, Alex,
Masheed, and several more friends. As we are
walking in, we pass through the hundreds of people fighting to
get into Ghost Bar, hug the cashiers, high-five
the bartender, and Kalika says "I absolutely love N9NE
Steakhouse. I mean just look at all of the beautiful
people hanging around." Right about then, Masheed sees us
walking in and starts screaming and waving her hands in the air.
Which drew even more attention to us. As Kalika continues her
confident walk through the crowd in her beautiful dress, one of
her stiletto heels breaks off, and she falls to the floor
in one of the most perfectly orchaestrated grand entrances I've
ever seen.
After we
hear a giant 'PPPHLUMP aaaaahhh!!' noise,
about 15 people from the bar run over to see if she is ok, courteous
repeats of "Oh my God, are you ok!?" echo throughout
the room, the music actually gets turned down a little bit, and
then everyone from the bar starts trying to help find the widely
scattered debris of Kalika's now broken Blackberry phone, purse,
and stiletto heel. Absolutely classic moment in history. I mean...grand
entrance....then PLOP. I couldn't help but to start busting out
laughing at how funny it all was. Sorry Kalika!!
After that
debacle passed, we regrouped with Matt Lindsey, Jesse
Estrada, and Lindsay Lou, and head over
to check out Moon and Playboy. Apparently Matt
was supposed to be hosting the guys from Dashboard Confessional,
and that fell through for some reason. And in a bit of total irony,
somehow between him, myself, the former Marketing Director for
the Palms Casino, Kalika, and a few other nightlife heavyweights...we
actually had to tip the doormen on our way in! I wasn't too happy
about it at the time, but in hindsight, it's all good. We appreciate
them taking care of us. And hey, there's a first for everything!
On the elevator
ride up, our group of 14 got separated, so Dillon,
Alex and I all waited for the next 'lift' up
to the Playboy club and then went back and forth on the escalators
between this Playboy and Moon.
Somehow I get separated from them, and can't for the life of me
find any of the now twenty people that I'm with. Oh well, I figured
that I needed to review the clubs anyway, so I started exploring
the clubs myself (I'd been for the soft openings, but at the time
it was Open Bar. Enough said). The clubs are actually pretty cool,
and it's definitely a unique concept. Gaming and a megaclub. Two
clubs in one. Moon seems like it is Ghost Bar's
younger sexier sister, and I really like how they don't allow
too many people inside the Playboy Club. You
are free to move about as you wish (I'll write the official reviews
this week. I promise).
Once I finally
found a couple of my friends (Ken, Tony
Verdugo, Dillon, and Alex),
a couple of us sat down at one of the many high-limit tables at
Playboy Club and watched this guy play about 20 $8000 hands of
Blackjack (two hands of $4k each time). Absolutely crazy. At one
point he even "doubled" on both of his hands to a total
of $16,000. And Lost! In the course of the 15 minutes we were
there, this guy pretty much lost what a brand new Porsche costs.
To each their own. :-)
Next Dillon,
Alex, and I piled into the car and headed up north to Cherry Nightclub
where Peter Nehen (GM) and Dillon's friend at the door took care
of us. This was actually my first time to Cherry, and my interest
are definitely peaked. Typically highend Las Vegas clubs that
aren't on the Strip fizzle out after the first 6 months. It happens
all the time. But Cherry seems to have something pretty fresh
and unique about it, we see plenty of opportunity there. Details
to come.
Until
next time,
Jack Colton
Colton@JackColton.com
Vegas
Party Blog for Monday, September 18th 2006
Place
Attended:
Pimp and Ho Ball (yea, it was two weeks ago).
SIDE
NOTE: Sorry for the delay in getting any site
updates or Vegas Party Blogs up in the past few weeks. I've been
a bit busy. My roommate rented our house out to a hooker and her
family, so we had about two weeks notice to find a new home. I'm
dead serious. She hooks. Anyway, there are a couple of Party Blogs
that I wanted to make sure got up. Pimp and Ho and Vegas Prom.
So here is 1 of 2 for the Retro Party Blogs.... :-)
There is nothing
funnier than seeing a group of elderly tourists hanging out at
The Orleans on the night of the annual
Las Vegas Pimp and Ho Ball. One minute they are sipping
on free cocktails while reminiscing about the good ol’ days
and playing penny slots, the next they are horrified at the sight
of the passing groups of scantily clad women wearing fishnet and
pasties. The shocked look on their wrinkly old faces is absolutely
priceless.
This brings
us to two weeks ago when Las Vegas nightclub entrepreneur Tony
Verdugo invited me to join his group for the September
2nd Pimp and Ho Ball put on by his friend John Huntington.
I’ve been to this party a couple of times in the past (2003
and 2004), but never like this. Some people go out with a group
of 4 or 5, sometimes they might even squeeze together twelve people
for an all out night of debauchery. Tony Verdugo
doesn’t roll anywhere with less than 50 people, and true
to his word, I didn’t pay for a single thing all night.
We all met
up at the Alligator Bar inside The Orleans casino,
and waited for the rest of the crew to arrive. After about twenty
minutes, John Huntington came down with a couple
of security guards to escort our group into the arena. We walked
through the casino, into a service entrance, through an alley,
up an escalator, through the side door, up another escalator,
and into the only skybox open for the event. A private skybox
filled with over 70 bottles of SEX Vodka, mixers,
and plates of fresh fruit.
This room
looked out over the thousands of barely clothed revelers spread
across the arena floor, and we were joined by rocker Vince
Neil, the infamous Robin Leach, Food
and Beverage Magazine guru Michael Politz, superstar
DJ Shawna Verdugo and about 50 or so of the Vegas elite.
We spent most of the time upstairs in the suite, but I did sneak
down to the floor a couple of times to check out the action. Great
music, outrageous outfits, thousands of people, no fights, and
a lot of people having a flat out fun time.
I have to
admit though; I was a bit disappointed in something. Back at Pimp
and Ho 2003, I was walking around the main floor and
looked down and started finding all sorts of money on the ground.
A twenty here, a hundred there. Naturally I picked it up piece
by piece and put it in my pocket, but I kept seeing more! As I
further investigated the source of a money trail, I found a couple
who had decided that the wife’s “pimp and ho”
outfit would be to absolutely cover her naked body in money. Who
does that!? I suppose as the night went on and things got sweaty,
her costume started falling off. Fortunately for me, she wasn’t
a small woman and I ended up finding over $1,000
by the night’s end. Ha! Only in Vegas.
Until
Next Time,
Colton@JackColton.com
Question
of the night: "Why do I always wear a suit to
Pimp and Ho?"
A
Special thanks to John Huntington and Tony Verdugo for the kind
accommodations.
Vegas
Party Blog for Friday, August 25th 2006
Places
Attended:
Bobbi Billard Party @ Body
English.
“AOL’s
#1 downloaded model Bobbi Billard is hosting
a party Friday night at Body
English,” J. Patrick-Tierney (JP) of
Astra Promotions tells me, “along with
about 20 other smoking hot supermodels and dancers.” He
could have stopped there and my interest would have been more
than peaked, but JP felt the need to continue
explaining that this group that ‘enhances’ the dreams
of millions of interested internet users around the world would
also be hosting an intimately private pre-party in Bobbi’s
hotel suite at the Hard Rock Hotel. And most importantly, that
“I was one of the five (5) males allowed to join their group
for the evening.” Hmmm…let me check my schedule.
As I’m
getting dressed to head to the Hard Rock, I’m
trying to seriously ignore the fact that Thursday night’s
festivities had turned my cough into a full blown ‘on my
death bed kind of a cold.’ But, mind over body, right? I
dig into my arsenal of over-the counters, take a little of this,
drink a little of that, and I’m good to go. I think!? Oh,
who the hell cares, it’s the Bobbi Billard
party!
The plan was
to have everyone meet up at Hard Rock’s circle bar
at 10PM, and then continue on to suite # 561
for the pre-party. I, in spite of knowing that the ‘plan’
absolutely never happens in Vegas, arrived promptly at 10PM to
the circle bar in search of anyone remotely resembling a group
of 20 internationally acclaimed platinum blonde-internet models
wearing skimpy attire. Assuming of course that
this group would stick out at a bar like an NBA player in downtown
Tokyo, I quickly realized that I was the only one there at this
point, and made my way to enjoy my hidden pleasure of “people
watching” over near the sports book until the group made
it down.
About 30 minutes
later, after watching a drunken woman fall headfirst into an ATM
machine, my good friend Chad Saunders
arrived to join me in search of the party. We quickly grabbed
a shot of Patron at Simons, and then made our
way up to the Hotel Suite to meet up with the man of the evening,
JP. To my delight, the room was filled with exactly the type of
women that JP had described in his invitation. We all enjoyed
a couple of drinks, had a few photo ‘opps’ with the
models, and huddled together to plan out our grand entrance through
the casino and into Body English.
The grand
arrival went flawlessly, as I doubt many people inside the Hard
Rock missed the 20+ platinum blondes, exotic dancers, and supermodels
making their way through the side entrance of Body English’s
velvet ropes, to the “Step & Repeat” (wall of
logos) for pictures, and eventually into the club. After all,
getting people’s attention is the ultimate purpose of the
evening! On the way in, Chad and I stopped to briefly chat with
Jack La Fleur and Adam Nixon before
making our way to the corner booth where the group had settled
in. Although, I don’t think there was anything remotely
“settled” about what was going on at the table, as
Bobbi, Chera, Stephani
Nguyen, and the girls were standing up on the top of
the booth dancing and cheering on the crowd of hundreds of fascinated
onlookers (for obvious reasons, mostly male).
All in all
the night went incredibly well. I always enjoy Body English,
and anytime I get to be a part of something as unique as tonight
- is a true pleasure. After a couple of hours, Chad and I had
to say our goodbyes to the group and make our way to our respective
homes. After all, this is day three of going out and I have a
cold!
Until
Next Time,
Colton@JackColton.com
Question
of the night: "Why am I always so damned punctual?"
A
Special thanks to J. Patrick-Tierney (Astra Promotions),
Chad Saunders (Body English), and Bobbi BiIllard for the kind
accommodations.
Vegas
Party Blog for Saturday, August 26th 2006
Places
Attended:
Lucky's and The Killers @ Empire
Ballroom
As we were
leaving Bobbi Billard’s party at Body
English last night, Chad Saunders
yelled “Hey Colton, I have two tickets
for the Killers tomorrow with your name on them. You’d better
come by or I'm going to kill you!” My mother
always taught me to never turn down anything that’s free,
and I’d be an absolute fool to pass up an opportunity to
see such a great band in an intimate venue. Count me in Chad!
I went home and found one of the world’s biggest Killers
fans, Alex Sabate, and asked him
to join me. By the next day, word that we were going to the show
had somehow spread around town faster than a brand new steamy
Paris Hilton sex tape on the internet. Everyone
wanted to go with us. However, the show was sold out, and getting
extra tickets flat out wasn’t going to happen. :-)
At around
8PM, Alex and I meet up at the 24
hour diner “Lucky’s” @ The Hard Rock
Hotel for some pre-concert Steak and Shrimp dinners (local
tip: that’s not on the menu. You have to know about
it. Just ask for the $7.77 special). We hop in Alex’s car
and head over to valet at the concert at Empire
Ballroom. As we pull up, we thought we were seeing things
when we saw the long line of people wrapped all the way down to
the Strip. I’m not kidding, one hour after doors were supposed
to open, there were literally 1,500 people waiting in a straight
line to get in?! I’m no expert on concerts, but this would
probably mean that people have been waiting in line for hours.
Ouch! Those are some hardcore fans!
No time to
ponder that thought any longer, as we both have to pee like it’s
going out of style. We walk over to an Asian BBQ restaurant,
and hear (in middle aged Vietnamese accent) “Sorry. You
must buy something. Customers ownrry!” Ok, let’s try
McDonalds, nope not here either, (in a 20 year
old white kid accent) “Yo dudes, sorry. These bathrooms
are closed for cleaning!!” We finally decide to walk across
the street to the Monte Carlo, and with incidental
timing like something out of the “X-Files,” not two
minutes later Dana calls
saying that she and Mike Snedegar are currently
at the Monte Carlo and are coming to the
Killers show. I didn’t even know they were coming
out tonight, and who parks at the Monte Carlo!? Haha.. Anyway,
we meet up, use the restroom, and head to the casino bar for a
complimentary drink or two (Another local’s tip:
If you go to any casino bar that has the video machines on it..just
put in like $10 and play some quarter blackjack for a minute.
Drinks will be free, just make sure to tip well).
We walk back
over to Empire to
find the line has gotten even longer. As we get closer to the
door, Mike sees his friend Gino Lo Pinto,
who very kindly took care of our group without wait. We then made
our way inside to check out Empire
Ballroom. I’ve always said that the best nights happen
when there is some degree of “unification” amongst
the crowd, and Empire
Ballroom is pretty damn good about making that happen more
often than not. Whether the bulk of their customers are there
for the in style house music, the occasional celebrity DJ, or
simply to party their asses off until the sun is up; you always
kind of feel like everyone has something in common. Tonight it
was a shared love for the Killers, and the ‘vibe’
at Empire Ballroom
was totally on que as I expected it to be.
Opening for
the Killers was the Atlantic Recording
artist “Louis
the XIV.” I hadn’t yet heard of this group, but
their music was seriously pretty good. The crowd was pumped throughout
their performance, and at the perfect level of “concert
bliss” once the Killers finally came on
stage around 11:30. I’ll definitely call this one a great
night, and I send my great appreciation to Chad Saunders,
Mike Snedegar, and Gino Lo Pinto
for their help in making it so. I would have loved to stay out
longer, but I've got a cold and tomorrow night is Body
English Sunday!
Until
Next Time,
Colton@JackColton.com
Breaking
Nightlife Industry News: I just spoke with Tony
Verdugo, and he confirmed the opening and his involvement
in the new $35 million dollar mega-club “TRIQ”
inside the newly renovated Planet Hollywood
(formerly the Aladdin casino). Tony, the creator of several of
Las Vegas' premiere after-hour brands, has teamed up with World
Renowned Magician Steve Wyrick on this project.
“I’m trying to take this club back to the ways of
Old Las Vegas,” Tony said, “where the staff remembers
everyone’s name, and the entertainment experience is 1st
class no matter how much money the customer has to spend. We will
treat the everyday Joe like a VIP, and VIP's like God!”
He estimates the club will be open somewhere around late October
2006, and hopes to throw one hell of a scary Halloween
party, aptly titled "TRIQ or Treat." I can’t wait
to see it!!
Question
of the night: "Why do I not know how to park a
Truck in a parking garage? I grew up in Oklahoma!"
A
Special thanks to: Chad Saunders (Empire Ballroom), Gino
Lo Pinto (Empire Ballroom), and Mike Snedegar (Tao) for the kind
accommodations.
The
Vegas Party Blog for August 24th 2006
Places
Attended: Tao,
Tryst, and Lucky's
@ The Hard Rock.
It’s
9PM and I’m sitting on the couch wearing a very
comfortable cotton robe, and enjoying two freshly cooked Hebrew
National hotdogs. I’m feeling a nasty cold coming
on, and that’s not leading to me entirely feeling the night’s
festivities. By 9:45PM, I had received about 11 phone calls and
text messages from Jessie, Dana,
Dillon, Chad,
Alex, Evan,
Steve, and Kalika. The
exact wording varied a bit, but they all had the same implication:
“You, Colton, will not be staying at home tonight in your
comfortable robe with your hot dogs. Don’t even think about
it.”
What a harebrained
thought! After all, both Tao
and Tryst had contacted
me earlier confirming that we would be stopping by for their Thursday
night parties. And who wouldn’t? It’s Thursday in
Las Vegas! I hurriedly got dressed and went over to Chad’s
house for the weekly pre-party. At around 11:30PM, we got into
our convoy of cars (voting, of course, to leave mine
at the house), and headed over to TAO to start
the evening. Tonight is the celebration of TAO “Mood
Director” Jimmy Greenup’s birthday,
and the Las Vegas nightlife industry locals are out in full force
to help Jimmy celebrate in style.
Tao
very kindly brought our group inside the club without wait, and
took care of a round or two of drinks. I was quickly reminded
what time of the year it was. For those of you who aren’t
from here, there seems to be a longstanding tradition that tourists
don’t come to Las Vegas in full force the week prior to
a major Holiday Weekend. With Labor Day weekend
coming up soon, tonight was certainly a part of the “calm
before the storm” as Tao wasn’t too
terribly packed (and you won’t find me complaining one bit).
After about an hour and a half we all regrouped in Tao’s
lounge and made our way to Tryst
Nightclub inside Wynn Las Vegas.
As we walked
into Wynn, Dillon decided that he wanted to try
his luck on the progressive penny slot machines just near the
club. He put in $5 and after his first electronic “spin,”
got 4 barrels of monkeys and an oil rig in a row. I’m no
expert on penny slots, but apparently that is a good thing since
it resulted in a major $10 win. His jubilation was short-lived,
because the machine malfunctioned when he tried to cash out, and
absolutely demanded that we find a “slot employee”
for assistance. To speed things a long a bit in the process, we
lit up every single slot machine “service button”
that we could find within 30 feet. It worked like a charm! About
two minutes later a very displeased slot technician
arrived to give him his ten bucks…and then we made our way
into the club.
Tryst
kindly took care of our group with no-wait accommodations, and
we proceeded into the club to check things out for the night.
Similar to Tao, Tryst wasn’t
too terribly packed inside, and it was pleasantly easy to move
about the club. After about 30 minutes of hanging out, I decided
that I would go officially introduce myself to the owner of the
club, Victor Drai, since I hadn't yet done so.
I walked up to find him leaning against his booth, and politely
said “Hey Victor, I’m Jack Colton,
we haven’t yet met in person, but I just wanted to let you
know that you made my upcoming list of ‘the most powerful
people in Las Vegas nightlife’ for my web publications.”
It’s possible that he didn’t hear what I said (also
possible that he hasn’t the slightest clue exactly
how much business I already send to his club on a weekly basis),
but he very rudely patted me on the shoulder and walked off without
saying a word. I was a bit pissed to say the least, but I’ll
take the high road and forget about it. Hell, I've been snubbed
by foreign Heads of States on occassions. I think I can handle
Victor Drai! :-)
Unfortunately,
there were more than a few people inside Tryst
tonight that didn’t have a clue how to let things slide.
As we were standing near the bar, we witnessed not one…but
THREE all out brawls between club patrons. One of which, was stopped
by security throwing one of the brave warriors to the ground in
an all out tackle. Sorry to say for Jessie (and
her drink), she was in the path of this heroic take down. This
sounds like a good sign that it's about time to go! We made one
final stop to the restaurant Lucky’s at the Hard Rock Hotel,
I ate a $7.77 Steak and Shrimp special, and we adjourned home
for the night. I can assure you that my cold has gotten 10x worse
from this night out, and it won’t have a chance to get better
tonight. I’ll be joining the #1 internet model, Bobbi
Billard, at Body
English for the Astra Promotions event.
Until
Next Time,
Colton@JackColton.com
Question
of the night: "Did I really just get snubbed by
Victor Drai?"
A
Special thanks to Jorden Miner (Tao), Mike Snedegar (Tao), Kalika
Moquin (Tao), Leo (Tryst), Tony Turner (Tryst), Patch (Luckys),
and Victor Drai (Tryst) for the kind accommodations.
The
Vegas Party Blog(s) for August 19th - 23rd 2006
Places
Attended: N9NE
Steakhouse, Rain, Ghost Bar, and ICE.
I’m
no stranger to going one place and getting dragged to ten others,
but this past Saturday was just unusually cruel (although, I’d
be a complete moron to complain about it). Around 3PM I get a
call from Dillon asking me if I would
like to join him at the Orleans Casino for a
4:15pm screening of the ever-so-popular “Snakes
on a Plane” with Samuel L. Jackson.
Yea right. I laughed hysterically at the thought, and told him
that I would meet him there around 5:30pm to hang out and possible
go bowling afterwards with his crappy snake movie watching group.
I went to
the Orleans as promised, watched a few frames
of intense bowling competition between the staff of the Spearmint
Rhino, and then shortly there after felt my phone ringing.
Not surprisingly, my first thought was “Uh oh, it’s
Kalika....” I didn’t even
have to answer the phone to know that she has some wild shenanigans
in store for the night, and it will undoubtedly make my head hurt
like hell in the morning. Haha. Sure enough, Kalika
calls and says “Hey Colton,
whats up? You are coming with me to N9NE Steakhouse.
You have no choice in the matter. I’ll be there in 30 minutes!
Meet me there!” I guess this is why I've always made a habit
of being dressed to go out at all times...
I get in my
old beat up car of the day (read the new “about
jc.com” section for more info, you’ll laugh, a
lot) and head to the Palms. It’s a good
thing Kalika has major pull at N9NE,
because the place is packed beyond belief and we don’t have
anything remotely resembling a reservation. They scoot some people
over and we sit down for some drinks and appetizers. I kid you
not; my Long Islands were actually so strong that they were clear!
CLEAR! We hang out for an hour or so, and right as our tab comes
due, Kalika’s friend Charlie
comes downstairs and hands her a complete comp slip for our entire
meal. Very nice of him, wouldn't you say?! We meet up with another
friend, John McDonald, and head over to Rain
for a bit.
Rain
very kindly took care of our group without wait, and provided
VIP wristbands for unrestricted access around the club. We walked
straight to the hidden backroom to hang out for a bit, and then
ventured about the club to check things out. I must say, I’m
seriously always impressed every time I visit Rain.
This club offers so much entertainment value to it’s customers!
If it isn’t the miniature lake that impresses you, the hanging
go-go dancers, the flame-shooting trusses, or the multitude of
hidden enclaves; you should at least be awed by the VIP Skyboxes
that overlook the thousands of reveling club goers in complete
comfort and seclusion.
Seclusion
didn’t sound half bad, so we made our way up to the SkyBoxes
to say hello to Charlie for a bit before adjourning
on to make an appearance at Ghost Bar. I think?
It isn’t that Ghost Bar wasn’t a
lot of fun, and it surely wasn’t that we had too many drinks
(we didn’t), but I can’t for the life of me remember
anything about being up there! Like, at all. If I hadn’t
found the comp receipt in my pocket dated “Saturday, August
19th,” neither Kalika nor I would have
remembered being there. Regardless, we greatly appreciate Ghost
Bar’s excellent hospitality! Haha.
It’s
getting late at this point, but we have one more stop to make
before we conclude the night; ICE Meta_club’s
famed 3-Year Anniversary Party. We drive over to ICE,
but I absolutely refuse to pull up to valet in the car that I’m
driving (again, check out “about JC.com”
for a humorously inspiring explanation of why). I mean, we have
reputations to keep! We park at the Fairfield Resorts just down
the street and make our way into ICE. I don’t
care what you may have heard about ICE’s
past year, but even I have to admit that they have completely
returned this club to the uniquely comfortable vibe that they
had the first two years they were in operation. The music is good,
the crowd is on cloud nine, and it’s impossible for us to
not run into at least one or two people that we are happy to see.
Way to go ICE!
The next couple
of days were certainly equally as interesting, but I just don't
have time to blog it all. I had a press photoshoot with Tracy
Lee on top of the Rio @ VooDoo Lounge, and
on Sunday night my friends almost got into a fight with the spikey
haired guy from MTV’s “Pimp My Ride.”
Tomorrow is Tao / Tryst,
and Friday I am joining the Strip Magazine party
at Body English with
Bobbi Billard. From what I'm being told, it will be about
20 incredibly hot girls with just four of us dorky looking guys.
Should be fun!
Until
Next Time,
Colton@JackColton.com
Question
of the night: "Why are there so many Muthaf**in
snakes on this Muthaf**in plane?!!!" -
Samuel L. Jackson
A
Special thanks to the super sportsbooker Charlie, Jovan Andow
(Rain), Mike Cardella (Ghost Bar), Kiki Kuzmeriek (ICE), and Tracy
Lee (NapkinNights) for the kind accommodations.
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