• by Kelly Samardak , July 22, 2009

AgencySpy Party, Pranna, New York
July 22, 2009

Sometimes, the events I attend are simply walking on the streets of NYC. Even though it was raining that annoying spit rain (why rain at all if you're going to do it that way?) I was downright joyful to foot it from the east village up Park Avenue and onto 28th. And all along Park I followed an orange, hairless, athletic man who was just a little off. As he reached deep into his navy cotton shorts pocket, I cringed. When he pulled out a conch-shell-sized, rolled wad of cash and rapidly and repetitively asked every blond woman that passed "Wanna spend the night in an Atlantic City hotel and go to the casino?" I thought two things. One, will it work? And two, why didn't he ask me?

One gal actually said "Yes" dismissively and he hooted at her, "Well, you'll have to put that cigarette out because I don't want any SCUMBAGS IN THE CASINO!" and skittered off under the guard of his umbrella. You're right, he was pretty fancy. After this sublime entertainment I found myself inside Pranna and face to face with people sporting sticker badges. Only, they didn't say AgencySpy and I didn't see a party. After finally finding the hostess, I discovered the party was in the cellar. How very secret-squirrel.

It's a pretty cool spot -- nice and dark, sparkly separated curtained booths along the outside, and tall tables to lean on when enjoying your beverages erect. I immediately found the hat-domed Matt Van Hoven smiling like a cloven-hoofed beast at the far end of the bar. He was happy with the turnout. After sharing some speech strategies ("I think I'm going to get really drunk before my speech") with the very tall and lovely Sarah Winiarski of William Morris Endeavor ("I really don't think that's a good idea," she said), he ran off to greet more arriving guests.

While discovering a ghostly water spot on the drink specials menu, I ran into Kristen Bryan and Karen Ram of DiGennaro. Karen is a girl after my Ohio heart -- she has family in Cleveland and knows of obscure towns like Peninsula. Oh, right, and has been to The Winking Lizard. You should go! Kristen revealed her love for The Band and I let her in on The Ramble, which is by far the best and most special show I've ever been to. She should go! I also met Michael Pollock, Just An Online Minute fan, and all around sweet fellow. He told me this column makes him smile. Score! John Yang of our wonderful drink-givers, Traffiq, and his pal, couldn't decide if they wanted their photo taken, so I took it anyway.

Morose over her PR-gal-swiped spicy cashews, Jenean Chapman of Agent16 dreamed of Crif Dogs, while Matt Caldecutt of Trylon PR and Nichelle Stephens of CupcakesTakeTheCake and many other endeavors and I discussed the horrible death smell coming from 13th between 2nd and 3rd. I kid you not, it's death. Nichelle almost made me spit my lung out when she compared it to the scene in "Boyz n The Hood" when the kids find the body. I'm telling you, it's death!

What isn't death is sweet potato fries. While I wouldn't classify sweet potato fries and spicy cashews as hearty fare, they're still delicious. Scott Portugal of Traffiq was guarding them. Who else was there? Let's do a little Romper Room shoutout!

I see Kevin McNichol from Emergency Creative, Lana from Agency.com, Chris O'Hara from Traffiq (whose college rugby team played my alma mater - Western CT ST U!), Paras Shah (who joined me in giving Dan "Danny" "Timmy" Cordela a good roasting for his appearance in the NYTimes "The Hunt" section. I'm sure his ears were burning) of Agency.com, Roshen Mathew of RAPP, and fashionably late and studious Jocelyn Borgner.

Tonight I'm going to get my meat on at the Buddy Media Tweetup at Hill Country! I can't wait to stuff my face with the fruits of big-boned mammals. Perhaps I'll see you there. If not, maybe we can meet somewhere else - like Atlantic City.

Thanks again to Traffiq for the first 100 drinks (I had them all myself) and to mediabistro and AgencySpy for a warm and fuzzy time.

Keep those invitations coming! Send to kelly@mediapost.com !

Check out the photos - more coming!