• by Kelly Samardak , September 25, 2008

Adify's MIXX After-Party, Jay-Z's 40/40 Club, New York
September 23, 2008

Do you miss Enron? Man, those guys threw great parties. Hey, guess what? You can get your slice of Enron (minus the bilking, bamboozling, and hardcore bimbos) at any late night Advertising Week party! So far I've seen more professional gals (at least I assume so) behaving badly than I've seen in a Real World/Road Rules Challenge. That makes me ponderous man, really ponderous. Let's consider exhibit B: the MIXX afterparty, sponsored by Adify, at the over-stimulating-chuck-e-cheese-for-urbanites 40/40 Club.

I needed a third wind, which I got compliments of Crystal Light Energy. If anyone hears me saying I need some Crystal, it's not meth. I'd be a lot skinnier if it was. Anyway, I arrived with my +1 at 10:00PM on the dot with intentions of doing a couple laps, hitting all the rooms and floors, snapping some souls and then heading home to get a good rest. But you know what they say about good intentions. Wait, do I? Anyway, I saw Joe Ciarallo hanging out by the curb waiting for another mediabistro pal. Keeping him company was Emily Bennett, Assistant Account Executive, Horn Group.

The first thing my eyes landed on was this obnoxious plastic martini glass, presumably filled with a day glow orange liquid. In reality, the inside layer of the cups were filled, which made it even more confusing to drink, but fun. That, my friends, was the special drink: the Longtail Cocktail, a delightful little danger maker.

"Yeah, I have to stay away from those, they go down too fast," heeded a fellow at the bar. This fellow was none other than Josh Marmer, executive recruiter at AC Lion. Strange worldly enough, he's also one of the people who tried to help place me in my unemployment days. Worlds collide. Moving down the bar I found Russ Fradin, CEO of Adify, guffawing and imbibing with Gregory Galant, publisher and CEO of NewsGroper.

"Can I get your cards so I can caption you correctly?" I asked. They placed their cards in my sweaty little hand. "What a rude logo!" I yawped at Galant. You know, the best jobs are ones where you can apply the humor of a 15-year-old boy. It's the international language of love. Go see for yourself at NewsGroper's site.

Upstairs in one of the many secluded-from-the-peons rooms, I found Adam Tuttle, vice president, business development at Panache, rolling the Golden Tee ball with an Adobe rep (I heart Photoshop!) and a bunch of other goofballs. Outside of the room and down the hall was Tristen Efremenko, account manager, Hedgefund Intelligence. He was couching it with an unidentified Daily News dude. Speaking of news, Brian Morrissey, digital editor at Adweek and Fervent-Leg-Movement-phile was in the house, plucking up mini burgers like an alien spaceship nabbing Midwesterners.

It was a bit of World Bar reunion with Ryan Katana, assistant account executive at The Hyper Factory, helping my +1 and I fill the VIP seats. Oh! So, at the 40/40 Club they have these really low to the ground swinging seats. Those things are dangerous on a number of levels. Once you sit down, it's really hard to get back up again, like suddenly your pants fill with ball bearings. And secondly, if you've had one or two beverages of the fermented kind, swinging gently is just a tad nauseating. I can imagine the honk inducement on a hard partying night.

A party isn't a real party until the noodling, networking, not-your-average-self-promoter Noah Robinson (NoahTV!) pops through the velvet rope. That guy has energy to spare and ideas out the yingyang (a very popular spot for idea generation). Sporting his purple N*E*R*D t-shirt emblazoned with a huge pink brain, the scraggly mohawk sporting Noah chucked up the good conversation as always, ranging from soft reporting methods to media gossip to dating tips to what's next -- all wrapped up in a pita pocket of sarcasm. Love it. Oh P.S., he's heading to Brazil, so LOOK OUT. 

The best part of the night, besides catching some advertising professionals dancing on a table, was when Bill Cullen, account executive at EyeWonder, "tricked" a female friend into thinking he was about to splash her with liquid from the glowing cocktail. 

Unfortunately, there was a little left in the cup so it was less of a "trick" and more of a "hey, I poured Longtail Cocktail on your head, enjoy."

Send your disco media party invitations to kelly@mediapost.com and you're in Just An Online Minute!

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