MiamiNights - Miami Night Clubs, Nightlife

God, Mansion is the new Ike Turner. Someone else has come forward saying Mansion bouncers used unnecessary force. Rapper Grandaddy Souf alleges he was basically attacked by several bouncers at Mansion, then stripped naked and then taken outside to be "left to die". Here is the Herald's explanation:

The club was packed with recording artists, but at one point, Watts was separated from his group. A bouncer, who is identified only as John Doe 1, asked for Watts' identification, which the rapper did not have on him.

Watts tried to explain who he was, to which the bouncer responded: ''I don't give a [expletive] who you are,'' according to the complaint. Parks said Watts raised his arms and told the security guard that he didn't want any trouble, but that sparked a brawl.

The bouncer struck him, Parks said, then Watts pushed back.

Suddenly, Watts was surrounded by 10 bouncers who began kicking, punching and stomping him before stripping him of his clothing, according to the complaint. The guards also choked Watts until he was unconscious, dumped him outside and ''left him to die,'' the complaint states.

The incident happened back in 2007 when Grandaddy was in town for the Ozone Awards. I'll admit when I started reading this story I automatically thought, "Here is someone trying to take advantage of Mansion when they are down." But he may have a legitimate case since passerbys took pictures of him bloody and beat up on the ground. The photos were then posted on MediaTakeOut.com.

Why do I feel this may turn a lot uglier for Mansion and its parent company the Opium Group?

Mansion, a group of bouncers and the Opium Group find themselves in a whole mess of trouble after three University of Delaware students say they were beat up by nearly a dozen bouncers after they refused to pay their bill. According to the Miami Herald, the group was told to skedaddle from their table because they needed it for other patrons. The students asked for their bill but when the waitress told them it was $700, they asked to see a physical copy because they didn't agree with the charges. Here is where things get messy:

At this point, a third person came over to the table and asked the students to come into an office in the back, which was filled with roughly 10 bouncers. When the young men again refused to pay without seeing a tab, employees of the club turned physical.

[...]

Sweeney, who is over six feet tall and 200 pounds, was taken to the floor with a choke-hold. After taking a few kicks, he passed out. The bouncers also went to work on Merryman and Costello.

The students then agreed to pay the $700 with a credit card and were told that Costello and Sweeney could go. But the bouncers said they weren't through with Merryman, according to Dennis.

''We're going to teach you a lesson,'' one told Merryman, said Dennis, who did not know what was meant by that.

Sweeney and Costello refused to leave without their friend, and all three took another round of blows. Finally, Merryman was able to barge past two bouncers and out a side door, where he was met by Miami Beach police, who were headed in the other direction.

Opium Group, you should remind your bouncers that they are not the law, not even within your buildings.

Oh and futher proof bouncers aren't the brightest of the bunch -- the whole thing was supposedly caught on video! I mean come on, a few of them had to know a camera was there.

Well this is exactly breaking news, but everyone knows Louis Puig and Parkwest fell into some hot water with the city of Miami after it was discovered that the venue was operating without a liquor license. Allegedly the operators of the club presumed that Space and Parkwest were one building, therefore only one license was necessary. It seemed that city bureaucracy was keeping Parkwest managers and employees guessing as to whether they would be open for Conference, there was even talk of moving all the events to the former Life Downtown venue -- which opened during WMC as the new venue 90 Degrees. Alas, at the last minute when it seem they were being punished for their oversight, a liquor license was obtained and WMC went off without a hitch, much to the relief of absolutely everyone involved.

This Friday marks the first weekend in a long time that Parkwest will open its doors for its Stereo party. Will the massive crowds return after such a long hiatus? I mean being closed for a month in Miami clubland is like being closed for a year; most people can barely even remember where they went the week before. We shall see this weekend, when Shawn Rudnick drops the usual house craziness in the main room.

That's a relief. It's over and done with. We can relax, detox, eat on a regular human schedule, be bored/lonely, and use phones instead of text messaging. WMC 2008 is complete, seemingly a huge success by most accounts.

A word of thanks: I had an awesome time this year and it was fulfilling on a professional level as well. I'd like to thank the entire Miami Nights family and the extended fam; our "foreign correspondents" Victor and Mike; and the promoters and venues who generously and wisely chose to work closely with us during this week, especially Embrace, Future Mob, Pawn Shop, PlexiPR Betty Kang PR, and Studio A.

I didn't go to every party (who could?); I didn't even go to 25% of the parties I wanted to go to. But here are some conclusions I've drawn from the ones I did attend. Keep in mind that I may have self-selected some of these results by where I went

What was the same as 2007: Incredible music. So many great DJs that I suffer from paralysis of analysis and just decide to do whatever is easiest. Banging music that I may never forget and will totally spoil me once the local DJs go back to playing like local DJs. Awesome, unique people in every nook and cranny. The ability to actually get in to a club during WMC is way too random. Door policies, photo access and drink prices change at the drop of a hat, tons of delays.

Read on for the rest of my ranting, and be sure to add your thoughts in the comments section..

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As if you didn't have enough choices for what to do this evening: the newest addition to the downtown Miami nightclub landscape has its debut tonight. 90 Degrees, formerly Club Life, is having a grand opening party tonight starting at 11. We toured the space while it was under construction, and it's had some much needed improvements done since I last visited (when it was still known as The Warehouse and decorated accordingly). We're excited to see what the future holds for this club, as it's definitely got the best location on the block. They're off to a good start: they're hosting the Ultra Music Festival carry-on this year.

90 Degrees is located at 60 NE 11th Street in Downtown Miami. Doors open at 11.

This prose-less post brought to you by my excessive hangover.

The International Dance Music Awards, held every year during Winter Music Conference, has nominated Space and Mansion as Best US Club along with Cielo, Pacha and Crobar (that shit is closed!) from New York and Ruby Skye from San Francisco. I mean I'm not going to argue with their choices, but same ol' same ol'.

Other nominees with a Miami connection include Ultra Music Festival for Best Dance Event, Robbie Rivera for Best Remixer, and Flo Rida's "Low" for Best Rap/Hip-Hop Dance Track. Most surprising is that the dance music establishment finally seems to be waking up from its slumber and nominating artists who, in my opinion, are truly pushing the genre forward. M.I.A., Justice, Calvin Harris, Daft Punk, Deadmau5 and Digitalism all scored nominations among the old timers of dance music as well.

Hey bitches, I'm blogging to you live from Brickell, my temporary home until I sign a lease at a new place. Let me tell you, two guys and a loft make for awkward situations. Well not really, but I expect it to happen soon enough. Unfortunately my gracious host forgot to pay his AT&T bill so I'm stuck blogging from the business center which is cold and has no windows and isn't remotely inspiring. So I may not blog as often as I'd like because I don't want to sit around here the entire day when I could be in the loft soaking up views of the Downtown/Brickell skyline.

Anyway onto to the reason for this post. Seems like Louis Puig is in trouble with the authorities over license issues at the newly opened Parkwest. If anyone notice, all the parties over the weekend at Parkwest were moved to other Puig-owned establishments leaving everyone to wonder what happened.

According to those gossip hounds over at Talknightlife.org, representatives for Parkwest were trying to put the blame on their sound system as the reason why, saying it was "knocking off the power in our neighborhood." Not true says some of the people posting in forum, Parkwest was operating under the assumption that Space and Parkwest were the same building and it only needed one license. Now it's not uncommon for separate venues to share one license, especially if they are in the same building. Snatch/Suite and Prive/Opium Garden can qualify under that, but Parkwest and Space can hardly be considered one in the same.

I know Puig has a lot of pull and will fix this situation pretty quickly, but it will be interesting to see if the city gives him a hard time. Will Parkwest be open this Friday? Not sure, but I'm working on trying to find that out for you.

Far be it for me to heed rumors, but this bit of info piqued my interest and I couldn't resist asking, "Is there any truth to this?" We all know there is some hint of truth to every rumor, no matter how far fetched. The grape vines in Miami have fed me this tid bit of info to exciting to pass up (unless it's common knowledge, in which case I feel like an ass). I think it's pretty well known through this site that we find Ultra's lineup to be to monotonous. So upon hearing of an alternative to Ultra I immediately asked for deetz. Obviously being a rumor not many were available but it was interesting non the less, and so I share them here to verify.

From what I heard there would be an entirely separate electronic dance music event held the same Friday as Ultra Day 1. With a completely different type of lineup and format I was told the event would be held in a large warehouse like venue sectioned off into rooms with over 30 artists spanning the globe. Rumors of broken contracts, closed door meetings and Ultra staffer meddling abounds. This was definitely some juicy industry bullshit. I can say the person feeding me the info is reliable and I have a knack for sniffing out bullshitters (pfft, who am I kidding. I'm as gullible as a blond).

Doesn't this sound interesting though? An alternate to Ultra? Much like the all the satellite art shows that occur during Art Basel, it would force an evolution for conference week. I would love to verify these "rumors" and be interested in hearing details if indeed this alternate occurs. Any readers heard about this? If I can get my hands on some solid information I will post it immediately. Until then let us know what you think or have heard in the comments!

Editor’s note: This is second in a series of posts analyzing Miami’s nightlife scene.

So yesterday I got into a debate with a well known Miami promoter about the city's attitude of entitlement, expecting to get everything for free when at a nightclub or lounge. It's true, a lot of people expect to get in for free and get free drinks or bottles all night as well. Obviously no business can survive under those conditions. But the question nightlife businesses should ask themselves is why is it that Miamians think this kind of treatment is the norm?

There are a lot of reasons why this new way of thinking has become acceptable. Club owners and promoters have put more emphasis on bottle service, beauty and exclusivity, moving away from what was once the cornerstone of nightlife: a talented DJ and the out-of-this-world club experience. So are club owners and promoters to blame? Not entirely, but the reason they find themselves with this problem is largely their own doing.

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In preparation for WMC 2008 massiveness, we're launching a new feature to make it even easier for you hard working promoter people to get word out about your events on MiamiNights. Click here to post your event on our site - no cost, no signup, or anything else required. We do review your postings to make sure you're not out-and-out lying, and it will remain on the sidebar for now, but it's so simple you could train your pet ferret to do it, and you should definitely do what I say even if you don't like your pet ferret.