• by Kelly Samardak , October 29, 2010

Cocktails With Perez, Stone Rose, New York
October 28, 2010

Last night BlogAds hosted "Cocktails With Perez" at Stone Rose in Columbus Circle.  A lot of changes have been going on Chez Perez, including a more positive blogging experience (AKA no pervy drawings on photos, no overt bullying, etc).  It seems that the pink blog that has dished the dirt and the occasional upskirt is growing up, adding verticals, and becoming more advertiser-friendly.  Is Perez Hilton selling out?  Maybe.  Does he care what you think about that? Doubtful.

The first sign that Perez Hilton was obviously buttoning up was the party location: Stone Rose.  Stone Rose is located at the mall.  Oops, I mean The Shops At Columbus Circle, or what we in Ohio call "the mall." Stone Rose is a lounge with that stuffy businessman happy-hour feel.  I looked around thinking that the club kids, including the sparkly captain, Amanda Lepore, and rapster Cazwell would be so out of their element.

A photo booth was set up with all kinds of pink and feathery props.  Separate tables, pointing to the vertical Perez blogs featuring branding pieces to help you remember their themes after the party.  Teddy Hilton featured dog treats, Fit Perez presented guests with water bottles, make-up mirrors sported the logo for COCO Perez, and T-shirts were rolled out for the flagship OG blog, Perez Hilton.  Partygoers were flittering around Stone Rose with white bags, filling them with goodies.

As I stood by a forest green velvet seat, sipping some sort of ginger ale, cranberry, vodka beverage I spotted a ninja.  Having a ninja at your party is never a bad thing.  He was no Amanda Lepore, but I had to take what I could get.  Ninja buddy was pimping Ty Ku, an Asian spirit blending lower-calorie-than-vodka Soju with Asian superfruits to spin your brain.  On the house cocktails like Teddy's Tea, Mobile Mashup, COCO Cooler, Fit Fizz, and Simply Pere  featured Ty Ku products.   Also on the house were Arizona products like... Vapor Water. What the?

Blogads founder Henry Copeland and superstar Blogads Senior Strategist Nicole Bogas were mingling around along with plenty of their Blogads teammates.  One Blogadder's response to my "but where are the club kids, man Kid Sister was amazing!" reminiscing was, "But wouldn't you rather not have your feet stick to the floor and not have to wonder what you're sitting on on the couch?"

Honestly? I don't remember Greenhouse having a sticky floor.  What I do remember was the glittery excess that felt perfectly aligned with a celebrity gossip blog, and was uniquely Perez.  Stone Rose was more Joy Behar, but so what, who cares.

Also, Randy Gerber, if you're listening, hummus blopped on a cracker should not be an option as a passed food.  Hummus belongs in a bowl at my house.  Other strange foods whisked by, plated with alien vegetables.  So bizarre. 

I ran into John Macchia, who is in the music biz.  He knew my +1 for the evening, Nithya Rajendran, who among various marketing activities is one of the greatest karaoke hosts ever.  EVER.  After taking a round of photos that introduced me to Chris Daniele and Mike Arnold, media planners at MEC, I found John Macchia again, this time talking with Veronica Prager and Susan Natoli of Susan and Veronica, two spunky ladies who design fashionista aprons.  I took a quick peek at their designs and some are quite racy.  Sexy kitchenware absolves you of all burnt meatloaf fiascos.

The clock struck 7:50 p.m. and I had to head out, but not before running into Sandra Bernhard, who was slated to perform around 8 p.m., as I skittered out the door.  That woman is ageless.  She looks exactly like she did 20 years ago.  

There wasn't anything wrong with the party, really, there just wasn't anything super special, then again, I did leave before Sandra took the stage - maybe she gave that party a kick in the butt.  While I was there, however, it was missing that certain Perez Hilton zing that usually sets his cocktails apart from other typical industry mixers, but maybe that's just the way his blog empire is headed.  Maybe the next one will be at the Google Cafeteria with a performance by Michael Bloomberg.

Photos are up on Flickr!