• by Kelly Samardak , December 11, 2008

Reprise Media Holiday Party, Bruce Loft, New York
December 11, 2008

I am a freaking idiot. I have various proof points to support this claim, but let's work with the most recent piece of evidence since it's closest in time and proximity, making it more relevant. Last night I went to the PRNewser party at Heartland Brewery. Oh jolly day! I didn't have to go to the West Side YET AGAIN. That's right, I put my heels on (instead of flatties to walk in) and walked, what, five blocks to Union Square and entered the bar, ready to throw down with good friends and have an old-fashioned Twitter reunion. Hmm, well this is weird. No one is here. Why? Because everyone was at the Heartland Brewery on 34th and 5th. The night was not a complete wash, however, as I did experience a surreal and sparkly Reprise Media night in an art-splashed penthouse, with DJ Spooky feeding the ears, and tables of food feeding the bellies.

PRNewser, I am so sorry I completely whiffed on this one. This boner did give me a chance to hit Rosa Mexicana to wish Anthony "Monte" Montenegro well in his new role at Nokia. His new gig combines his talent in mobile with his passion for music. And really, the world needs more bald executives, if you ask me. Ryan O'Rourk, digital and mobile account manager for Sony, David Miller, regional director at EMI Music Marketing, a very special ADA (Alternative Distribution Alliance) rep, and Liz Lowry, digital and mobile sales and marketing for Sony joined other music industry types clogging up the back of the bar. I've never been yelled at by so many waitresses before.

My +1 for the Reprise Media party, Gail Hilton from Qwikker, arrived and we cabbed it to the West Side Highway in the meanest cabbie's ride. He not only yelled at people on the street for being stupid, he also verbally abused us for using a credit card. This also explains why he's the only cabbie I've seen with his entire driver's seat area encased in bulletproof glass. While hunting for this elusive "Bruce Loft," we ran into two men who were lost on their way to One Little Twelfth, where one of them was planning to propose! Gail steered them straight with her BlackBerry map.

After trudging up and down West St, we finally found the penthouse that housed the Reprise Media holiday party, perched sassily on unlucky floor 13 (I thought buildings avoided that floor...).

Entering the main room, a multi-tiered dream in white with gentle curves, wooden steps, floor-to-ceiling windows vomiting up every single view of the city, and brilliant sloshes of art chucked on the walls, Gail and I looked at each other with the same expression. What are two girls from the Midwest doing in this life? I mean, seriously people, it's ridiculous. Stay in school!

DJ Spooky manned the top loft, which could house a bed on a normal day for its inhabitant, and while he kept the party warm with his blanket of beats, a display of 8bit graphics mixed with random, strangely-synced video solidified this as the next party to beat. Anthony Iaffaldano and his wife, Shannon, Noah Malin, and his wife, Tracy, were the first faces I recognized, and fantastic ones at that. Because guess what, the more people I met, the more it became clear, this was, literally, a company holiday party.

It makes a journalistic type warm and fuzzy inside to be trusted at a company holiday party -- and you know what, it also shows Reprise doesn't have anything to hide. There were no Enron-style lap dances, no dice games with stocks and bonds in the back, no sweaty grinding undie flashes on the dance floor (though, there was a chortle-worthy part of the evening when the guests surrounded, but did not touch, the dance floor as if it were encased in invisible fencing and they had shock collars in their drawers). From what I saw, Reprise threw a boatload of class at its people and they enjoyed it like grown-ups.

I also wonder if people were a little more subdued due to unavoidable reflection on the crap economy and employment cesspool. Guess who wasn't subdued -- Jeff Newelt, AKA "Jah Furry", a sparky gnome-like creature with a pocket full of names to drop. Dude has been everywhere, seen everything, met everyone, and if you played Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with him, he'd probably say "F that, I changed Kevin Bacon's diapers!" He was holding down some clear bevies with Justin Bolognino, Manager at Eclectic Method. They've known each other since Jah was five and Justin was three -- or the other way around. Either way, they've known each other since before they knew how to 100% work the toilet scene properly.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Emily Bryson and Yi-Bing Zhang of the Reprise San Fran office. Emily just bought her first Canon (woot!) and is happily heading down the path of photophile. In the upstairs-ish kitchen area I ran into Robyn Myers and Karl Kleinschrodt. Karl saw my camera and immediately began mugging while I snapped away. He nixed my first two shots (which I never allow) but green-lighted the one you see here in the Minute. I'm just saying...

All of you continue to hit me with opportunities that blow my mind. Would I be sitting on a sofa drinking a Stella, surveying a party in a penthouse adorned with art more expensive than my life, taking in truly breathtaking views of this amazing city if I was holed up in a cube in Gary, Indiana (no offense, Gary)? Thanks, Reprise, for an incredibly surreal and pinch-worthy evening. And for all those balls of mozz.

Check out the incredible party space in the Flickr photo set!

Send invitations to kelly@mediapost.com and I'll make every effort to show up at the right location

Want to feel the frustration with me when I don't read location info closely? I'm sure I'll tweet it.