Don Hill RIP (photo by Julian Ungano)

Steve Lewis: Don Hill has passed, and a lot of people are getting together to celebrate his life. Since Don Hill went down, there's not as many places where we can all gather. And let's face it, Don Hill owned the place. He booked it, he answered the phones, and, we suppose, at the end of the night swept up the place...Michael T, tell me why you're involved in this event, and what did Don Hill mean to you?

Michael T: I met Don back in the eighties at Cat Club when I was very young. He opened Don Hill's in the early nineties, and I was one of the first persons to perform there. Later, in the second run of Don Hill's, I started to do my party, Rated X, there. It was really the first time that Don and I had worked together on a regular basis. It was super easy. Don was always the same. He was Don. It's so rare in the business to have someone that's just steady, where you know what you're going to get out of him. We had a great working relationship, and a comfortable personal relationship. He was a straight shooter.

Don Hill (RIP) will be remembered December 15th when a band of musicians will gather at Irving Plaza to celebrate his life and legacy. The show features performances from some of the musicians that blessed his night spot including names like Richard Butler (Psychedelic Furs), Royston Langdon (Spacehog), David Johansen (NY Dolls), Manitoba, Jesse Malin & the St. Marks Social, Lenny Kaye, The Toilet Boys, and many many others.

At 1am the party turns into Squeezebox. Tickets are still available. Flyer below...

Continue reading "Don Hill tribute happening at Irving Plaza"

Happy Birthday Michael, Michael it's your birthday

The office of the Los Angeles County coroner confirmed Friday that it had ruled Michael Jackson's death a homicide. It said the cause was a mixture of the powerful anesthetic propofol and the anti-anxiety drug lorazepam, both of which, previously disclosed court documents say, Mr. Jackson's doctor has acknowledged administering to him the day he died.

"The manner of death has been ruled: homicide," the coroner's office said in a brief statement.

It said the full coroner's report and a complete toxicology report were being withheld at the request of the police and the district attorney's office, whose investigation continues.. [NYT]

Michael Jackson would have been 51 today (August 29). And people are celebrating - as we speak actually, in Prospect Park. More on that and other events below...

Continue reading "Michael Jackson's Death Ruled a Homicide (Happy Birthday) --- Prospect Park event underway + other stuff to do"

Both Misshapes, held every Saturday for five years, and the other party, held on the eve of major holidays for nearly eight years, were regular destinations for young downtown clubgoers. Their unexpected back-to-back demise left the skinny-jeans-and-Converse set — along with the promoters who cater to them — asking the same question: What’s next?

.....“It’s just getting harder and harder to do weekly parties, unfortunately, at least for me,” Michael T. said, adding that the right site is difficult to find. “In a city just inundated with bottle service and things of that nature, that’s not me, and also ultra-hip Brooklyn ‘I don’t bathe and I have a beard’ is not me.” [NY Times]

Pic via here.