Nightlife vs Real Life

I must admit I couldn't stand to hear people say " You should have been partying when the Tunnel was poppin' or some other  old  club I was probably too young to get in to.  How the times I have changed. I now find myself saying those same words to the youth.
  "You should have been around for Etoile, or the Supper Club.  They definitely don't have parties like that anymore."

I started going to nightclubs a little earlier than the suggested age of 21.  My greatest nightlife memory is of The World nightclub (now the WWE gift shop, I think).  My best friends and I stood on this long line like fiends to get in the party so we could catch a glimpse of Nelly in his Vokal attire.  At the time, his single was Andale Mami.  How did three under aged girls get in the club you ask?  My two girl friends have always been mistaken for sisters although they look nothing alike to me; however their plan was to use the same I.D. hoping the security wouldn't notice.  Of course he didn't.  Me on the other hand, I slipped in through a back door. I had no choice. Passing around the same I.D. THREE times was a great way to get embarrassed and kicked off the line.  Not to mention I am short and dark-skinned, the total opposite of the person on the card.  Today, that would have NEVER worked!! Security guards are no longer JUST security guards.  They also moonlight as Cops equipped with a handheld device that checks identification cards authenticity.  Nevertheless we were standing on couches in no time.  We finagled our way into V.I.P..... and that began our career.  From sneaking into the hottest venues to promoting these same venues & top artists under the promotional moniker of GLAMsquad.

GLAMsquad.  A group of women in 2004 who decided we were going to make money from something we loved to do - partying & meeting artists/celebs.  Half of the all girl crew was living in Brooklyn while the other half (myself included) attended school in Long Island.   Could you imagine travelling from Long Island to the city, spending all night & morning in the club - to travel back to Long Island just to make it in time for 9 a.m class and do it all over again the next night?   That was the life!! A good party then consisted of dancing all night long non-stop, sweat out perms / outfits, no fights and leaving the club when the lights came on... maybe.  

This regimen continued long after we'd graduated college. It was an addiction.  One particular night in Brooklyn we made about 12k without any celebrity appearances or radio-related DJs. *along with other female promoters*  It seemed as if the possibilities were endless.

Now if you were to ask me the last time I've stepped foot in a nightclub I would have to remember a close friend who may have celebrated their birthday recently. I no longer promote or frequent nightclubs for recreational purposes.  So much has changed.  It could be that I have matured.  The same things that excited me then no longer gets the same reaction now. Naturally people's preferences change and they move on to bigger and better endeavors.   That should be the meaning of life right?

Honestly, I can't get jiggy with the idea that Diddy can pen a rhyme that goes " ..all I drink is my sh*t, Ciroc by the case load" and now you have people struggling to look cool for 2 hours or until the Ciroc is gone.  Not knowing that the manager or the owner of the club has ordered the bar maids to sabotage your $200 Ciroc with house liquor. The idea is to get you to buy more liquor at this ridiculous price, meanwhile you have no idea you are drinking Ciroc flavored water. 

Photos of the night used to consist of DJs doing tricks on the 1s & 2s; of you and your girls dressed appropriately for the night; you and your boys arm and arm minus the unnecessary "no homo" caption underneath the frames.   Gradually it progressed to unwarranted hate messages in the comment section directed at the persons in the pictures to seeing the same "hood celeb" in all the clubs every night. What about the things aforementioned would entice anyone to hit the nightlife scene?

Behind the scenes is just as ugly. I've witnessed other promoters making deals with club owners to make sure no other upcoming promoters could ever book a club without first going through them. Female promoters are treated unequally and often times struggle to make as much money as their male counter-parts. *but isn't that in almost any industry*  

 As for the partygoer, there is no real fun to be had in a setting that suggests you stand around in your high end fashion attire hoping no one spills champagne on you should a fight break out.  Too many people have lost their lives in nightlife over who has more bottles on their table or street beef that spilled over in to the club scene. Nightlife in my opinion is a dog eat dog world and I am not in the least bit interested in the fight for scraps.  Voni V*I*P