This Week In Lounge: April 9th - 14th

Songbird Queen Esther channels Billie Holiday Saturday April14th

Monday, April 9th
Tiki Mondays with Miller
Our pal, up and comping bar star, Garret Richard will be guest bartending at the island oasis known as Lani Kai with the legendary tiki pirate, Brian Miller.  Get ready for a host of island inspired elixirs featuring the rums of Mount Gay from Barbados. Each drink will be a vacation in a glass.  Richard and Miller promise, "If you can't reach paradise, we'll bring it to you."

Lani Kai (525 Broome Street, New York, NY) - 6pm to 2am.

Friday, April 13th
The Champagne Riot presents La Vie en Rose: A Sultry Evening Celebrating The Return of Spring

It's their Spring Fling, and The Rioteers are feeling friskier than ever! Celebrate the sultry rain showers and blushing flowers with a glamorous evening of hot jazz and even hotter burlesque!

STARRING:
The Girl With The 44-Double D Brain MISS NASTY CANASTA
Mind-Bendingly Bendable Beauty EKATERINA
Tap-Dancing Dervish GIN MINSKY
The Girl Who Spins You Round EVELYN VINYL
Boylesque Sensation GO-GO HARDER
and The Fastest Girl in Town MISS JEZEBEL EXPRESS

with EMCEE DANDY WELLINGTON and Hot Jazz by THE GELBER & MANNING BAND

Dress To Impress: Bring colour to our world! We want our party to bloom with exotic flowers and decadent blossoms. Bright and romantic for the ladies, carnation-clad elegance for the gents. Fluttery gowns, flapper favorites, old Hollywood glamour... wear whatever puts a spring in your step

Dominion NY, 428 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 9PM Doors/10PM Show$15/Advance, $20/Door


Saturday, April 14th 
The Billie Holiday Project featuring Queen Esther

At this special event, the performance takes a theatrical turn when two Harlem icons collide in a mix of music and spoken word. Accompanied by The Hot Five, Queen Esther augments the relatively unknown yet timeless songs of the jazz siren Billie Holiday with newly unearthed Harlem fables by Zora Neal Hurston. 


The Apollo Music Café -- located within the iconic Apollo Theater -- is Harlem’s new night spot where music genres from the Apollo’s heritage – R&B, hip hop, soul, jazz, pop, funk, and rock – are transformed by cutting-edge artists in a stylized lounge space.
 
The Apollo Music Cafe - 253 W. 125th Street, 9PM Doors/10PM Show, $15/Apollo A-list advance tickets, $20/Door - seating is limited so get your tickets ASAP!


If you have any lounger worthy events for our weekly recommendations, please email loungers at loungerati dot com for consideration.

Destinations: The Easter Parade & Bonnet Festival

Loungerati's Eff at the Easter Parade

The Easter Parade & Bonnet Festival is one of the last remaining authentic New York traditions. From the late-19th century until the 1950s, over one million people attended the annual event. Crowds may have thinned in this last half-century, but hardcore New Yorkers with penchants for ceremony and haberdashery keep it relevant.  Today, New Yorkers will put on their finest attire, sport creative head wear, and promenade up-and-down Fifth Avenue for several hours like Judy Garland and Fred Astaire. It is an informal amble, and any line between spectators and participants ebbs and flows like the Avenue's traffic.

From a lounge lifestyle-perspective, aficionados of vintage style hang up their tweeds and break-out fresh and found bright fashions. If you like to see boaters, seersucker, bonnets, poplin suits, bow ties, boutonnieres, and a glamorous, sartorial crowd, it is a must-attend event. Whether one is religious or not, the Easter Parade is treated by the city as its entrance to Spring. Jazz Age stalwarts such as Michael Arenella & The Dreamland Orchestra set up guerrilla performances in front the University Club. Lindy hoppers from the decade-old website and community, Yehoodi, show up with prepared routines as shutterbugs snap the whole scene. The New York Times photographer, Bill Cunningham, nips in and out the throng to spot those who'll grace next weekend's Sunday Styles section.

The Easter Parade runs from 10 a.m. through until 4 p.m. Gather in front of Rockefeller Center before making your way up to 57th Street, then stroll back down Fifth Avenue, and repeat! Once you are finished strutting your finest duds and headwear,head to these post parade destinations.

Since 1907, teetotalers have been getting their tea fix on at the traditional 4pm tea service Palm Court at the venerable Plaza Hotel (768 Fifth Avenue). The recent renovation has restored the 1,800 square foot stain glass sky light to its original grandeur. Linger for the savory snacks such as truffled quail egg sandwiches or freshly baked scones and gourmet pastries. It is a luxury indulgence and but worth the experience.

Thirsty parade goers should promenade over to King Cole Bar at the St. Regis Hotel (2 East 55^th Street at Fifth Avenue). This is birthplace of the Red Snapper, the predecessor of the Bloody Mary, which was invented in 1934. Order one with Gin (Beefeater or Plymouth) to get the authentic flavor of the era and quench that thirst under Maxfield Parrish's 30 foot long mural. Try to pick out John Jacob Astor in the painting and no the barkeeps won't give any hints.

Happy Easter from Loungerati!

Happy New Year! We are going on hiatus.

Fredo at The Salon's New Year's Eve Eve (photo G. Porter)

Happy New Year Loungers! I hope your festivities were successful, safe, and classy. Loungerati will be going on hiatus for the next month or two while I decide on the next phase of this project. We have hit the five year mark and growth is necessary to keep Loungerati fresh and worthwhile for the community. That said, 2011 was a tremendous year for the team and included such noteworthy highlights as:

• The Loungerati section of the CLASS Magazine 2011 award winning Blythswood Hotel cocktail bar menu by Mal Spence
• Fredo's Cinquecento cocktail being selected as one of the 101 Best Cocktails of 2010 and published in Gaz Regan's Annual Manual  for Bartenders: 2011 and Mr. Boston's Guide: 75th Anniversary Edition
• An incredible Repeal Day 5th Anniversary Party at The Rum House sponsored by Angel's Envy Bourbon
• Contributing to Umamimart's Happy Hour for the second year, special nod to the Paystyles, Vanessa, and Kayoko for bringing me into the family.
• A record number of Loungerati curated cocktail menus at the following swank affairs: Bootlegger 21 NY Vodka Launch/Salute to Harlem Glamour, The Salon's 10th Anniversary Party: Salute to Frank Sinatra and Lounge series at the Edison Ballroom, The Liberty Belle Spectacular July Fourth Extravaganza at Empire Hotel, Michael Arenella's Silver Scream Halloween Party and enchanting Winter Ball, and The Salon's Annual New Year's Eve Eve  at the Copacabana.
• Special acknowledgement and gratitude to the following bar industry pros who stood toe-to-toe or supported us at these events: Nino Cirabisi, Kenneth McCoy, Francine Cohen, Payman Bahmani, Jonathan Forester, Miguel Aranda, Hal Wolin, Michael Neff, Damon Dyer, Ivy Mix, and bar staffs at The Rum House and Ward III.

Hopefully, Loungerati can return with a 2.0 version that will expand beyond the current blog format. Only time and commitment can tell. So until we are back, I leave you with the inspiring words delivered by the Senator, one of Loungerati's founding members, at the first Lounge Summit at the Algonquin Hotel in November 2007:

"We shall drink to the end, we shall drink in the morning, we shall drink in the night, we shall drink in the gutters and the streets, we shall drink in the hills, ... we shall order after dinner drinks and digestifs, no matter what the cost, we shall never throw up, and even if we do, which I do not for a moment believe, we shall boot and rally and make it to the last call!

And so my fellow Loungers, in closing, let the word go forth that the torch has been passed [from] an older generation. Let every dancer, lounger, and barfly know, whether they wish us well or premium, gin or beer, whiskey or soda, that we shall pay any cover, tip any bartender, meet any manager or maestro, in order to assure the survival and the success of the lounge." 

Til the next whiskey sours,

Fredo - Editor, Loungerati.com