(The Rusty Knot fish hides in his shipwreck all night, checking out the fabulous room)
There’s a new dive bar in town for Spring! Owner of Spotted Pig (Ken Friedman), buddied up with the owner Freeman’s restaurant, and opened a down-home bar on the West side, which feels like some hipster Cheers headquarters where “everyone knows your name”.
Ken invited us to break in the new bar before it officially opened to the public. It was a precursor to the Spring Fever hitting the air these days. I spent most of the night having a life-catch up with my old compadre from Jane magazine, Gigi Guerra (who took over the Executive Editor spot at Lucky Magazine and is now doing tons of cool projects on the side). I finally met the whole crew from the fashion site, Refinery29. They are a real cool bunch of New Media superstars on the rise. The rest of the room was JAM PACKED wall-to-wall, full of NY creative community. The secret was out.
I finally went back last week (on an off-night) and celebrated a friends birthday, Tracy McNew, who runs Shady Records (Eminem’s empire). They just got back from Detroit, and we clinked glasses over the jukebox playing “Big Shot” by Billy Joel to “Big Beat” by Billy Squire. As you can tell, there’s a college flashback theme to this spot, complete with beer lamps. Anyway, 8 Mile Producer and Music Manager Paul Rosenberg chowed on his fancy pigs-in-a-blanket while we stared at the fish tank. Mr. Peter Wolf, the J. Geil’s Band singer, was sitting in the booth next to us (he hasn’t aged a day since his “Angel is a Centerfold” video). With him were Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads & Modern Lovers), Russell Simins (drummer for Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Jena Malone’s band), and the singer from the Hives. Truly, it was a bizarre evening, yet somehow, it left me with a warm and fuzzy feeling inside.
It’s going to be my new hang spot.
J
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