Club + Venue Design Expo is the only exhibition and conference for professionals concerned with the interior design, technology, installation and services of mid-sized entertainment venues up to 7,000 capacity.

Innovation and customer experience are key. Club + Venue Design Expo provides a unique forum for cutting-edge venue technology, pro audio, AV, lighting, stage engineering, fixtures and furnishings, flooring, revenue generation and ticketing – the innovative products essential for today’s turnkey installation and retro fits for leading mid-size entertainment venues and nightclubs. As stated by Robert Casillas from The Monsoon Group Las Vegas, ‘Club + Venue Design Expo creates a material and equipment resource centre for outstanding venues’.

I am honored to have been asked to participate in the conference as a speaker and moderator and have a great panel of esteemed experts.  The topic of the panel focuses on the “art of nightlife story telling”  and how to create a design driven story through this process.  Further, as of yesterday i am extremely proud to have been invited to open the show as the keynote speaker.

Crobar is an awarding winning and internationally renowned nightlife brand owned by partners, and founders, Ken Smith and Callin Fortis. Originally friendly competitors in Chicago, they joined forces in 1989 to collaborate on more than a dozen successful restaurants, lounges and nightclubs in Chicago, Miami, and New York City. It was the duo’s impact on the revival of New York’s big club nightlife that earned Fortis and Smith a spot in Vanity Fair’s Spotlight spread on “The Kings and Queens of Clubs” in 2004. (Vanity Fair, April 2004)

The Crobar “chain was born” in 1992 when the first location opened in Chicago’s Near North neighborhood, “thus launching the brand that would become the industry standard for DJ-driven American nightclubs.” (100 Moments in Nightclub History, Club Systems International, Special Issue 2006).

Followed by locations in South Beach Miami on New Year’s Eve 1999, and West Chelsea in New York City in December 2003, Crobar was recognized for its “award winning design, unsurpassed service and world-class sound, lighting and multi-media (that) invited club-goers into a kinetic, interactive scene” (NYC Official City Guide, www.cityguidemagazine.com). Crobar New York was described as “a DJ’s favorite playground, a diva’s late-night martini, a drag queen’s Sunday dance party … the physical implementation of New York’s melting pot social scene.” (Nightclub & Bar, March 2006, www.nightclub.com)

As the nightclub designer of all of the pair’s past projects, Fortis and his BigTime Design www.bigtimedesignstudios.com was responsible for conceiving the re-invention of the historic Art Deco Cameo Theater into Crobar Miami, the re-design of Crobar Chicago to match, and the transformation of a 25,000 square foot industrial warehouse into Crobar New York. (Loft, April 2004, www.loft.com)

Recognized for its light system designed by SJ Lighting and superior Phazon sound system designed by Steve Dash as well as it’s architectural design, Crobar was able to count many of the world’s largest names in Electronic music as regulars, some as resident DJs – including Sasha, Tiesto, Danny Tenaglia, Deep Dish, Carl Cox, Sander Kleinenberg, Roger Sanchez, David Morales, Boris, Ferry Corsten, Larry T, David Waxman, Ralph Falcon, and Eric Morillo, to name just a few. (Nightclub & Bar, March 2006) (Top 100 DJs List found on www.djmag.com and www.djlist.com).

“I have played Crobar 5 times now, and every time has been amazing. I have been playing in New York since 1999, and I’ve played at almost every club there. I never found the right place to play for me until I found Crobar. Great Room. Super Sound System. And an awesome crowd.” DJ Tiesto (Nightclub & Bar, March 2006, www.nightclub.com)

All three Crobar locations garnered regular nominations in national and international award categories and won numerous “best of” awards over multiple years for design, lighting, sound, resident VJ, resident DJ, as well as in the overall categories of best nightclub, best superclub, best megaclub, and best dance club.

Although as of April 2010 the North American locations have all closed there are future locations in development in Atlantic City, and Charlotte

“Every morning, the line of cars waiting to get onto the Hutchinson River Parkway exceeds 40. Of course, you don’t have to patiently wait, you can drive down the center lane, passing all the civilized suckers and then, at the last moment, cut over.

Drivers hate this, and for good reason. The road is narrow, and your aggressive act didn’t help anyone but you. You slowed down the cars in the lane behind you, and your selfish behavior merely made 40 other people wait.

This is a different act than the contribution someone makes when she sees that everyone is patiently waiting to enter a building through a single door. She walks past everyone and opens a second door. Now, with two doors open, things start moving again and she’s certainly earned her place at the front of that second entrance.

Too often, we’re persuaded that initiative and innovation and bypassing the status quo is some sort of line jumping, a selfish gaming of the zero sum game. Most of the time it’s not. In fact, what you do when you solve an interesting problem is that you open a new door. Not only is that okay, I think it’s actually a moral act.

Don’t wait your turn if waiting your turn is leaving doors unopened.”

I began my day today with Seth and a cup o joe and finished my day with a trip to the front of the line. Tomorrow you can too.

Meet Mario Alfonso De Armas. Understated. Humble. Brilliant. I met Mario some time ago. I’m sort of surprised I had not met him before as the Crobar Experience launched a host of creative careers. Initially he came to the studio as a “photographer” to shoot a campaign for EXIT 66 and its nightclub design. Great stuff from both the creative director and Mario. It wasn’t until long after that he shared with me his back round, talents and experience as a creative director and graphic designer. He is now in New York working his creative magic as well he should be. A friend so judiciously said; New York is where you go when you are someone. LA is where you go when you are trying to be someone. Miami is where you go when you think you are someone. Hats off Mario and I look forward to what is next for you. Check him out. http://miniurl.com/94603.

I am Mister P. Some know me as the mayor of Pug Town. I am sick. I am not ready to die. I have been through two major surgeries in the past 5 days. My stomach has been cut open twice, my intestines have been repaired twice. I have slept in an oxygen tank, I have been given 7 plasma transfusions, I have a drain tube in my belly and guess what? I am alive and I am going to go home soon. I have a full time angel on my payroll. Her name is Dr. Sarah Evans. Aside from being a surgeon she works part time as a magician and she has worked her magic on me. I will never forget her for her healthy hands and healing heart. The big man has reached out to so many of his friends to garner prayer, love and support for me and it is working. I want to thank everyone for taking the time to think of me, to support me and to write well wishes. There is an old family friend that took the time today to share a pug story about my breed. I had no idea i was as tough as i am good looking. I want to share this story, aptly named A PUG TALE. This comes from a friend, somewhat of a creative mentor who posted this on Facebook today. The story goes like this;

Cal,

I want to pass on a pug story that I was part of. It shows just how much heart and pugnacious will power the breed has.
Last year I was out to a farm in Libertyville with my girls (springer spaniels, Sammy & Belle). Saturday morning almost a year ago to the day. 18 degrees. I ran into the owner searching for Percy, their pug. Normally Percy is let out at night with their other dog a huge rotweiller. That night Percy was let out alone. He never returned. Tracks in the snow showed that two coyotes scuffled and took Percy. When I arrived they had looked all night (single digits) and were basically looking for remains. I pitched in and within 2 hours found a very large and still warm dead male coyote. The owners asked that I check his stomach. They were upset and of course I did. I found two dead field nice in its stomach nothing else. Then I peeled back the skin around the coyotes neck to find the teeth puncture marks of little Percy. That little guy grabbed hold of the coyotes neck and killed him. Still no Percy. I looked all day. It’s a large farm 2,000 plus acres. I left disheartened. Well, next morning (Sunday) when the family comes home, there at the front door is a beaten up Percy. Friday night to Sunday morning single digit exposure. Rush to the Vet, IV, stitch him up and he is now perfect. This is a tough, tough breed. A dog that does not know how small it is. Dogs have played a very big part of my life. I feel confident in saying that he won’t leave you, ever.

Jack

My mom told me that it was not polite to stare. In some circles this may be true, in the design circle it could not be more false. Who couldn’t stare at this stair? From director Jacques Tati the film Mon Oncle is a designers dream to all that is timeless. Sometimes there is nothing as satisfying as a good stair.

My name is not Imago Montoya, thou if “you killed my father you should be prepared to die.” The line from the film Princess Bride is one that will never ever leave pop culture and has left a lasting and quotable meaning for so many. Not unlike the character that Mandy Patinkin plays in the film who introduces himself with such conviction and confidence, so does Philippe Starck. Philippe has designed some of the most famous places, people and things in our mid century. Nightclub design and his relationship with Ian Shrager has left more than an indelible wet spot on the sheets of boutique hotel design as well as the makers of things make. Pieces and parcels of his new reality show below as written by The Independent.

My name is Philippe Starck… I am a type of new bottle opener… I am a sort of door.” It’s hard to imagine Sir Alan Sugar going on like this at the start of The Apprentice without a severe ratings dip and a visit by men in white coats, but what the growly East End barrow-boy-made-good and the Gallic merchant of minimalism do have in common is that they both now front elimination reality television shows. The Apprentice we all know about. Starck’s new series, which begins on BBC2 tonight, is called Design for Life. The winner becomes part of Starck’s “tribe” (his somewhat cultish description of his Parisian design company) for six months, their triumphant concept given the opportunity to join the world’s most iconic orange-squeezer (the one that looks like a 1950s sci-fi movie’s idea of a space rocket) or those transparent Louis XV-style chairs that look as uncomfortable as hell.

“You make good design if you speak about life, sex, flesh, sweat. I shall open ze zip of myself and say ‘Now take what you want’.”

Passionate and busy. “He lives out of an aeroplane a lot of the time. But once he was pinned down he was fantastic to work with, he would turn up, usually on time, or if late he’d stay late. He took it very seriously, he engaged with the students on a one-on-one level, and he was always funny and entertaining. A lot of the time when hanging round to start filming he’d be sketching a pair of sunglasses or something. You can tell his mind is constantly working, working, working.”

I’ll bet this will be a good watch.

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