Profile of DJ AM in the New York Times

Yesterday's New York Times had a profile of DJ AM, who was here about a month ago to do his own birthday party at Mezzanine. It's an intersting article about a guy who has lived through a lot (after getting hooked on crack he tried to kill himself by putting a gun in mouth, but it jammed when he pulled the trigger), dated a superstar celebrity (Nicole Richie), and now earns big bucks playing parties in Vegas and the NY meatpacking district. His party here was put together by the Vintage 415 group, who seem rather into the bling side of the music scene, which makes this very incisive quote from DJ AM all the more interesting:

After nearly 15 years of playing professionally in clubs, he finds them changed. To him, most places are no longer about dancing and having fun. “They are a tangible representation of what I like to call the universal lie,” he explained. “It’s a place where people pull up in their Porsche, show off their new Marc Jacobs bag or jewelry or, ‘Hey, look at me in V.I.P. with five bottles on my table.’ All this stuff means I’m someone in God’s eyes. But that’s the lie.”

Hmmm, really, couldn't really agree with him more.

Lowdown on Vintage 415 "Culture Marketers" from The Chron

Here's a link to an article in the Sunday Chronicle about "culture marketers" Vintage 415 who have been setting up various businesses and events in the city. They recently bit on the name of Bus Station John's highly successful "Double Dutch Disco" night at The Transfer when they opened Double Dutch at 16th and Guerrero (formerly Cama). The big DJ AM party at Mezzanine that went down a couple weeks ago was theirs, though it sounds to me like they're much more about "the biz" than "the vibe."

Here's some reviews of their bar The Ambassador from Yelp. Though I've not checked it out, this except from a 5-star review tells me pretty much all this dog needs to know:

1. Elegance: From the way the letter A is written to the rich, velvety decor, elegance is written boldly all across this Bar.

2. Hot bartenders and hostesses: Some of the women yelpers are totally smitten with the male bartenders. I was very impressed with the looks and friendliness of the waitresses I talked to, and one of them was a recent debutante.

3. Good attitude: Even though we were told half an hour ago, that our booth is reserved for bottle service(min. $500), it was said in a very friendly manner without any attitude. People need to recoup some heavy costs of starting Bars and if $ 500 bottle service is one of the means, more power to them.

4. Diverse customers: This place is drawing an upscale crowd(as evident by the $ 500 bottle service) looking for slightly edgy experience at night. During evening it draws a more relaxed, cool crowd.

5. Sense of completeness: The external environment of Rye and Swig, the interior decor with the telephone booth theme, the Frank Sinatra/Vegas/ratpack touch , the attractive, yet polite Bartenders/waitresses, the ballroom layout of the space with the upstairs balcony, gives a sense of harmony, a place to meet friends for Happy Hour before you start the night.