Tuesday Night May 4^th

Written and Photographed by Wendy R. Williams

The cool guys with "Happily Even After" invited us to a rocking party at Lush Lounge (110 Duane Street). "Happily Even After" is a wonderful love story/fairy tale set in San Francisco.   

The director of “Happily Even After” Unsu Lee and his girlfriend,
Daisy Hung, pose in front of the logo for Hotbed Media.

 
Brianna Leigh Hansen works it at Lush with help
 from her trusty sidekick Beth White.

Then off we went to the Knitting Factory for a party hosted by the folks promoting "Killer Diller."  "Killer Diller" is a rocking story about group of kids in a Christian band who discover that they can play killer blues.

'Killer Diller' Director Trish Brock	The Killer Diller Band	William Lee Brock

Thursday Night May 6th

So now it's Thursday night and Miss Wendy is following Diedre Kilgore around Tribeca.  We were invited to a party (more on that later) but first we went to the Tribeca Drive In Theater for the showing of the last episode of Friends.  We checked in as press and were taken to the press pen. 

The Tribeca Press Pen
Hmmm, well what do you think?

Here's what we thought.  We left. Then we decided to sit on the porch at the Tribeca Bar and Grill instead and order dinner.  But we promise to watch Friends reruns. 

The porch of the Tribeca Bar and Grill

Then we went to the Tribeca Grand Hotel!  This place has the coolest lobby bar downtown  (see our cover photo of Brianna at the bar) except for of course, their sister hotel, The Soho Grand!  But more on that later too.

 
Diedre Kilgore in the Tribeca Grand lobby bar!

So then we were finally off to the party. It was at the Premiere Lounge (aka SoHO 323, 323 West Broadway) right across the street from the Soho Grand Hotel!  We had actually been invited to this party twice by the people promoting the film.  

Well... there are no photos of this party and no mention of the film company that invited us because WE NEVER GOT IN.  There was a nice lady from the film company standing outside.  She saw our names on the invited list and told us to go on in, but there was also a very arrogant doorman outside and he told us to leave.  Now dear readers, you need to remember that this was Diedre out for the night with Miss Wendy (a grandmother), as close to a group of church ladies as you are ever going to find out at night in NYC.  I guess he thought it was fun to pick on us and I am sure he thought everyone standing outside must have been really impressed by how important he was.  Huh?

So if you are on West Broadway next to the Soho Grand Hotel, don't cross the street.  Go to the bar at the Soho Grand instead.  Trust me, you'll love it!  And if you are an out-of-town film company paying oodles of money for a party to promote your film, here is some advice.  When booking the bar, in addition to asking the questions you would ask in any other city in the nation, like how much per head etc. etc., add this question. "Now you are not going to have some wannabe with an attitude standing outside abusing the press, are you?  Well, are you? And just in case your doorman does not have a clue who the "press" are, would you please tell him that they are the people who wear Tribeca Press badges and carry heavy camera bags.  Got it? Huh? Huh?"  Only in New York.

On to a more cheerful topic. Just look at the Soho Grand lobby bar! Doesn't this place make you want to get dressed in your best white linen and listen to Sam play "As Time Goes By."  So Casablanca! 

The Soho Grand Lobby Bar
(You can play me again Sam)

Or you can walk back down West Broadway to the Canal Room (285 West Broadway) and meet David, New York's friendliest door person!

Diedre Kilgore poses with the terminally cool  David.
  David works at a  pretty cool club too!

 
Diedre Kilgore in the  Canal Room!

So that was all!  Diedre was off to an all night film shoot and Wendy went home.  And if you are wondering why there are no photos of Miss Wendy, she is having a bad hair year and is delegated to doing the shooting!

 
Diedre Kilgore riding in style thanks to the
 cool people at American Express who
 supplied the pedicab!

So New York Coolies go out to Lush Lounge, The Knitting Factory, the Tribeca Grand and the Soho Grand and here's a Flying-Dog-Dooty to the Premiere Lounge.  So there.

Rock on!

Wendy