• by Kelly Samardak , April 9, 2010

Exchange Bar Media Tasting, Exchange Bar, New York
April 8, 2010

Last night I left the swanktastic Discovery post-Upfront reception to attend a media tasting at Exchange Bar. What does media taste like? Calamari, mozzarella sticks, and Buffalo wings, duh.

It was a pretty nice night, so the street-facing windows were wide open, letting the mild New York evening in as everyone's +1. Now, let's get a few things out of the way here - it was a little hard to tell who-all were media types, because there were randoms all over what I thought was a closed event. No big whoop, just made it hard to photo-stalk. Some French TV station was there, videotaping the whole thing right down to the bell ringing at 8 p.m., which I think signaled the "market crash."

Don't worry your pretty head about it, this was a good crash, where beer went down to two bucks a pop. See, Exchange is working this market-flux angle where the boozers influence the price. It's a nice little strategy to make the night one big party, with groups forced into interaction to grab cheaper drunk-makers. Smart, unless you hate people. But if you hate people, what are you doing out of the house anyway?

MBooth PR's Frani Lieberman and Alyssa Galella joined me over plates of yummy calamari and mozzarella sticks, which I always choke on. Seriously, it's like I'm an over-eager cheese-stick eater -- I always end up in a panic choke moment, eye watering as I hork up the choking dangle of hot cheese in my esophagus. Usually I hide it well, so my conversation partner has no clue what's going on. I'm an amazing date.

ArtofTalk.tv's Charlie Oliver was in the house! Whip-smart and irreverent, that one, and one of the hardest-working people I know, Charlie is rarely at tech-media schmooze-fests because she's usually working. It sounds like ArtofTalk.tv has some big announcements on the horizon; this is your official heads-up.

After hanging at Exchange for a couple of hours, Alyssa, Frani, and I headed out into the East Village night, on the hunt for outdoor seating to continue our conversation where I learned a lot more about PR. Small world, AttentionPR's Kristin Maverick stumbled into the path of our hunt. She was actually on her way to Exchange Bar to meet a pal and unwind after a hectic day.

Next week is going to be FABULOUS. I have the hottest date ever to the Good Housekeeping gala celebrating the most influential women in the past 125 years. I'm keeping it under wraps for now, but trust me, my date is very special.

That's Monday. Tuesday is the big IFC food + music bash at Santos Party House, which I'm pretty lathered up about, so let's hope it doesn't disappoint! I know I have two more events, but I can't recall and it's Friday, which means we all need to just get the heck out of the office and get the weekend started! Maybe I'll see you next week?

More shots on Flickr!