:: Electric Psychedelic Pussycat Swinger's Club ::

:: Monday, January 12, 2004 ::

shopping with the black eyed peas

Ahh...ahh...CHEW! Excuse me. Must be this 1 DEGREE weather we've been having since i've been back. Sheesh. I knew it would be a bit difficult to adjust from one extreme to the other, but I never thought it would be THIS bad. I ended up with wind burns on my cheeks!

It's been an interesting weekend to say the very least. My friend Tortus was out here on a business trip through Sunday and we had planned to meet up for brunch on Saturday. I took the F train up near Central Park South to meet him at his hotel - the plush Le Parker Meridian. We all head downstairs to the lobby and Tortus' friend, Louis, informs us that we're gonna wait for the others in their party to meet us. The next thing you know, I'm shaking hands with these dudes named Taboo and Apl.de.Ap and I'm lighting up Taboo's cigarette. Turns out the "others" in their party were the Black Eyed Peas! Tortus' friend, Louis, is apparently connected to them in business and knows them from growing up in L.A. They were in nyc to appear on SNL and coincidentally were staying at the same hotel. What a trip.

Now I definitely felt the pressure of having to pick the perfect spot for brunch. Being the only person that actually lives in NY, It was on me to act as the tour guide for this sudden celebrity entourage. But the Peas wanted to squeeze in some shopping first, so we headed over to Prada and Gucci on 5th Avenue. This "quick" peek at a couple stores was turning into a shopping spree as they wanted to hit up a few more stores. Us non-celebrities were famished so we decided to part ways and meet up with them later in the night. Yeah. I went shopping with the Black Eyed Peas. Another typical Saturday morning for me in nyc. Riiight.

After brunch, Tortus and Louis wanted me to take them shopping so we hit up Lafayette below Houston where we split time between several shoppes. Tortus then accompanied me into Brooklyn where we met up with some of my friends to play some hold 'em. Louis went back to the hotel to rest up and afterwards we all met up and hit up the new "it" spot - Crobar. I'd never heard of it, but then again i'm not uber hip. Apparently it's the new hot spot in Manhattan and it's pretty difficult to get in. I don't particularly care for such places because i think most everyone in that scene is quite pretentious, but I'll admit this was not your ordinary night.

Tortus' business partner is opening up a new club out here (which is what brings Tortus and his coworkers out here) and he is apparently very well connected to most every other club owner in Manhattan. That and the fact that we were with the BEP meant that when we arrived to Crobar, where the line ran down the block in 2 degree weather, we were immediately escorted past the rest of the crowd and into the club. I must admit, it felt pretty weird having everyone stare at us. I'm sure they were wondering who the hell this scrubby asian guy was strolling into the club like he were someone famous. And it probably threw some people off that I was wearing jeans with a t-shirt and jacket, while everyone else trying to get in were dressed in their Sunday best. We were given our V.I.P. bracelets and were escorted to the V.I.P. booth (i'm trying to use "V.I.P." as often as I can in this entry b/c i'll probably never be able to use it again) where we had our own private waitress. They stocked carafes of orange and cranberry juice along with endless bottles of Belvedere Vodka and buckets of ice with every imaginable beer. I didn't get wasted, however, as I wanted to remember the strange chain of events that led me partying with the BEP in the middle of an arctic freeze in nyc. The best part was that I didn't have to spend a single cent.

What a fantastic start to the new year.

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