NYC NIGHTLIFE

The meatpacking district is home to plenty of great places to dine. Yesterday the doors opened for a contender hoping to join the ranks. Toy, featuring modern Chinese and Japanese cuisine, is located in the Gansevoort Hotel on 13th street and 9th avenue. It replaces Tanuki Tavern and Carte Blanche to create a dining experience with its own heartbeat.

Daniel and Derek Koch, dining and nightlife gurus, created Toy in conjunction with China Grill Management. The twins acknowledge that the area offers plenty of Asian dining options but don’t think those options incorporate dining and nightlife the way Toy has proposed. Complete with a live DJ booth, the restaurant transforms to a nightclub at 1am.

[cover photo by Anthony Yong]
House music icon Danny Howells has been in the biz for the past two decades, and has certainly made his mark on the industry ever since. From touring with Bedrock Records owner & DJ John Digwee and mixing several albums for Global Underground, to creating his own label Dig Deeper in 2008, Danny Howells has become a staple in the industry.

Although Rob Fernandez may not yet be a household name, it's almost guaranteed that every DJ, producer, club owner, and club goer in New York City does. For the past two decades, Fernandez has been working his way up the nightlife networking ladder to become one of the biggest nightlife industry professionals in the city, helping to bring dance music to new levels with every event he touches. Rob Promotions, his company, is synonymous with NYC dance music mecca Pacha NYC, Dance.Here.Now and Asseteria. Not only does Rob have his fingers in most NYC noteworthy events, but most weekly parties including consistent impressive line-ups at Dance.Here.Now Thursday's hosted at Meatpacking District venue Cielo Club.

As the night of the third installment of Pacha NYC's 6 Year Anniversary Party approached, there was no denying there was a celebration amidst the venue that was overflowing with dance music lovers raising their glasses and singing along. Saturday's line up was impressive to say the least featuring mega DJs such as Martin Solveig, Hardwell, R3hab, Quintino, and Adrian Lux that kept club-goers pulsating on the dance floor well into Sunday morning. Swedish DJ Adrian Lux, most commonly known for his track Teenage Crime played an uplifting tech house set mixing in funky beats with vocal anthems. Closing off his set with a bleepy-house remix of David Guetta & Usher's Without You, Lux set the standards high for other DJs early in the night, with an amazing set by Hardwell to follow. After his set Adrian came back to Pacha's green room to chit chat with us about plans for his debut album as well as a new single to be released soon!

Celebrating the new release of their latest album Wake Your Mind, Cosmic Gate has been touring North America for months bringing big room trance beats to the best clubs and venues throughout the country. Luckily for fans, the German trance duo made a pit stop on their tour to famous New York City venue, Cielo Club. Earlier this year, we caught up with Cosmic Gate where they didn't give many details on the new album but later introduced the world to their trance hit track, "The Theme" to fans at their Pacha NYC gig. The song has been getting a tremendous from both fans as well as DJs across the world including it in their sets.

Arriving at Pacha NYC on Black Friday, the energy was evident before even walking through the doors. The venue was filled with partygoers all ready to dance off their Thanksgiving dinners and leftovers, at the prestigious New York City spot. Awaiting up and coming house DJ duo AN21 & Max Vangeli to headline the Black Friday event.

AN21(born Antoine Joseffson), the brother of Swedish House Mafia member Steve Angello, has been working alongside Max Vangeli for the past year caught up with us before getting into the booth at Pacha to tell us a little bit more about themselves and their upcoming projects. Vangeli, named one of the "Top 5 DJs to watch in 2011" by the Top 100 DJ poll on DJMag.com, and AN21 have taken over clubs worldwide with remixes of Swedish House Mafia's Save the World as well as Pendulum's The Island. Both anticipating the gig, they gave the crowd one of the best sets in which I have seen them, if not the best. Feeling the vibes of the club rocking to the music, AN21 even attempted (and succeeded!) in crowd-surfing throughout Pacha's main floor! Definitely a night for the record books, as per usual, at Pacha NYC.

Arriving late Thursday night to a long line outside of Lavo, hand picking attendees to join in on the festivities. Making my way inside to the dance floor was a feat in itself, as the club was packed to the rims with the hottest hipsters New York City has to offer. One more trendier than the next, I slithered through the already toasty crowd, all donning a mixed drink in hand. All dressed to impress, party goers were dancing so wild there was barely an inch to move anywhere in the club.

Almost as if it were a cult following, all eyes turned to the DJ booth around 1am when the 1997 DMC World DJ Championship winner, A-Trak opened his set. Never disappointing, the turn-table genius gave the crowd an energetic and diverse tracklist that kept Lavo's walls pulsating until the wee hours of Friday morning. Playing remixes of songs by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Kid Cudi, along with a nod to mega DJ Avicii playing his 2011 club anthem Levels layering vocals by hip hop artists Rick Ross and Lil' Wayne kept the crowd guessing all night long. It didn't matter which track A-Trak decided to throw into the mix, the crowd jumped and sang along to every one.

On a night in which everyone deemed as a "once in a lifetime day", the date 11/11/11 is certainly one for the record books for Pacha NYC. Headlining the night was Australian DJ sensation Dirty South. Accompanying him on the line up for the evening was an opening set by Carl Kennedy and house DJ duo Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano, who have been blowing up through the electronic music scene over the past year.

Walking into Pacha NYC that night, I caught a glimpse of the opening set by DJ Carl Kennedy who started the party off properly with an array of dance floor hits. Wall to wall covered with people, Pacha was flowing with Champagne and bottle service attendants all leaning over the mezzanine awaiting for the man on the night. Chants of "Dirty South" filled the air, as the DJ born as Dragan Roganović entered the booth of the Midtown hotspot. Dirty South came prepared with plenty of dirty beats, keeping the at-capacity crowd mesmerized by his every move. Playing some of his latest hits including one of his new singles, "Walking Alone" that proved to be a dance floor destroyer, fully equipped with tons of CO2 smoke and LED lights. On his official twitter account, Dirty South had announced to fans that he would premiere his latest track with Thomas Gold and Kate Elsworth, and as promised "Eyes Wide Open" made the crowd go wild. At the end of his set, it is safe to say the crowd was left wanting more.

The fist pumping was out in full force last Thursday night, as Pauly D from Jersey Shore fame, was spinning at the NYC club Pacha, where the party didn't stop until early Friday morning. The club was packed to the gills with little room to do much but throw your first in the air and in the immortal words of the Jersey shore clan, “beat the beat up."

Pauly came on around 12:45am to an animated crowd who was ready to yell, scream, and support one of their cultural heroes. Dressed in a customized Pauly D DJ jacket, the MTV reality star got the party started right away with his endless list of catch phrases and familiar Italian flag inspired DJ equipment. Club goers ate up every word the DJ spewed out, each with one fist high in the air while the other hand held their camera phones hoping to catch a snapshot of the star. All night, Pauly stood in the DJ booth posing for pictures, making jokes with his friends, and getting on the mic to let the crowd know just who they were partying with. DJ’ing is secondary with him, as Pauly’s celebrity status makes him stand apart from others in his profession, as its more about the spectacle than the actual sound being generated.

If you haven't heard, now you have; the exclusive Sunday Brunch at Brick NYC has finally gotten some much-needed attention. Brick NYC, owned and operated by Vip Manchanda, coordinated the brunch with partiers and nightlife connoisseurs Daniel Samandarov and Reggy Mondesir. Brick's Sunday brunch is for those who don't shy away from flambuoyant sparklers, bottles (followed by more bottles) of champagne, and rosé everywhere you look.

A good-looking, trendy, energetic crowd bares no shame in letting loose on every Sunday afternoon. Seems like this team may be redefining the term "Sunday Brunch," and it also seems like Sunday day is the new Saturday night.