Any Annex/Ruff Club/hipster-haters out there may want take a minute to eat your words. Beyond the stately doors and glossy-bricked facade that once housed gyrating eye candy decked out in fuschia spandex, you'll now find the stuff of frat boy wet dreams. The first sign that the Doghouse Saloon brings something new to the LES is its um, sign. Featuring a middle-aged office worker in a doghouse upon which a buxom blonde is chillaxing, it serves as a beacon to any Brother Jimmy's patrons who are taking the night off to slum it on the LES. Sure, now you're nostalgic for the days of shoulder-to-shoulder American Apparel ad fodder, but if eating words isn't your style, the Doghouse has hot dogs in abundance and they come gratis with any drink. For those in the business of free, happy hour (4-8pm) not only snags you the hot dog, but $1 off drinks and a chance to spin the Wheel of Shot (Buttery Nipple, anyone?). After a few beer-shot combos you'll want to pass on the pool and skee ball for the most rarified of ancient Greek games--beer pong. It's a bit hush-hush, but ask at the bar, and you shall receive. If your eyes need rest from focusing on those elusive plastic cups, ten TVs playing non-stop sporty delights await. Various theme nights with Guitar Hero, margaritas, and bikini-clad girls bouncing on trampolines ensure that even Moby will probably end up making the Doghouse a late night haunt after closing up shop at Teany.

I wasn't around in the '70s but a few of the era's top trends are making their way into MCM's Spring 2010 collection. The European accessory house resurrected their tasseled Alda Tambourine bag and rumor has it that stylists from Teen Vogue and Harper's Bazaar have pulled the flirty bag in lilac and yellow. I, however, was most hypnotized by the ultra-luxurious Annodare bag. Annodare, meaning "knot" in Italian, is made of soft lambskin and the bag has been tied into a graceful origami-style twist. And if that's enough of a sell, the bag's TIE-DYED, making it the perfect accessory for toting around your Grateful Dead 8-tracks. (Oh and by the way, I hear they're opening a new store in Beverly Hills next year.)

Basel/Miami events and invites are rolling in and we just received word that beginning December 3, the Bass Museum (2121 Park Avenue, South Beach) will be showcasing selected pieces from the private collection of Mexican billionaire Eugenio Lopez Alonso with an exhibit called "Where Do We Go From Here?" Lopez is the heir to the Jumex juice and beverage company and has collected contemporary art for over ten years.  Currently housed outside of Mexico City, the full 1,300 piece collection is expected to move to a new site in 2011 designed by British architect David Chipperfield.  Chipperfield designed the new tower and interiors for Miami's Shore Club hotel in 2001. Also on view at the Bass will be works by Chicago's multi-talented Dzine (né Carlos Rolon).

1. Apple announced yesterday that there are now over 100,000 iPhone apps.  However, 98 percent of them are "unused, unnoticed and confined to a vast wasteland of obscurity."  (via Digital Music News and AppsFire)

2. Facebook pulled the plug on Dazzle Dancer Cherry Dazzle (né Cary Curran)'s profile due to "sexually explicit material."

The Ting Tings are featured on the cover of PAPER's November Nightlife issue and the UK band recently shot a new video for the single "Great DJ" while they were out in L.A..  Over 300 lucky fans were included in the shoot and each wore a black Adidas track suit while participating in a day-glo paint fight.  You can see all the action here.

Beautiful young faces came out of the Hollywood Hills to help celebrate the Hello Kitty Asics collaboration at the cozy L'Ermitage Hotel in Beverly Hills.  The two Asian powerhouses came up with three new pairs of shoes including a shiny black and gold pair that are prrrrfect for going to the club or staying home and dancing in front of the mirror.   

Some of the guests gave us some song recommendations for a fun night out.  

Mikalah Gordon from American Idol is loving the Paradiso Girls' song "Patron Tequila." "It makes me want to get up and move my body!"  

"I like Frank Sinatra," remarks Robert Lasardo, of Nip/Tuck fame. "His music reminds me of life back on the East Coast."  

Bella Thorne is hooked on "Imma Bee" by the Black Eyed Peas. "It's the easiest song to pop and lock it to."  

"I love 'Aquarium' by Camille Saint-Saens, it has so much emotion and energy," says Brittany Curran from Men of a Certain Age. "It is a real invigorating song."  

Mash-up maven Nicky T is a big fan of HotNewHipHop.com. "I go everyday to see what new music has been leaked out, this way I can be the first in the loop."

Out on DVD are four great new collections courtesy of Turner Classic Movies and Warner Brothers.  The Comedy collection includes the riotous Marx Brothers film A Night At The Opera; the frantic black comedy featuring Cary Grant and his poisonous aunts, Arsenic And Old Lace; Father Of The Bride with Spencer Tracy and the lovely Elizabeth Taylor; and a personal guilty pleasure, The Long Long Trailer with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez on an ill-fated honeymoon with a 40-foot house trailer. Then there's the Hitchcock set, which includes Strangers On A Train, I Confess, The Wrong Man, Suspicion, and the Holiday-themed set with the sparkling comedy Christmas In Connecticut, A Christmas Carol and The Shop Around The Corner. Finally, there's Family, which includes Lassie Come Home, Flipper, National Velvet with a young Elizabeth Taylor, and the bizarre The Incredible Mr. Limpet, starring Don Knotts.

Last night I had an amazing experience. I spent a couple of hours driving around in a van with Juan de la Cruz, the Program Director of the Grand Central Food Program for the Coalition for the Homeless, handing out meals. My good friend, Bettina Prentice, got me involved and the night was eye-opening, gratifying and extraordinary. You not only give out food (last night: milk cartons, oranges, bagels, meatball soup) at stops around New York to people who depend on it (for some it's their only meal of the day) but you get to meet the people that many New Yorkers ignore on a daily basis. And the meals (including the cost of the van) cost $1.80 each! That blew my mind. I am going to do feeding van trips once a week and more if I can. Please check out the Coalition for the Homeless website to learn how you can volunteer and donate much-needed funds. I hope to see everyone at the Artwalk benefit (hosted by Alec Baldwin, Richard Gere and Carey Lowell) on November 17th which benefits the Coalition for the Homeless. Help is needed more than ever. The number of homeless children and adults residing in municipal shelters each night just exceeded 39,000 for the first time in 25 years.

WHAT: The VH1 Save The Music Foundation Benefit
WHERE: Esquire SoHo
WHEN: Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009
WHO: One Republic, Gavin DeGraw, Amber Riley, Chad Wolf of Carolina Liar
OVERHEARD: "Chad, wherever did you get that name from?" "I'm from South Carolina and as a little kid growing up, everyone called me a liar, Carolina's biggest little liar. So it stuck in my mind!"

 
 

Now this is what Mr. Mickey calls a nuclear family! It's the Klukr Family, with Mark Gilmor on the left, the chicken lovers behind the new iPhone app, Kluckr, that lets you rate, review and download info on the best place to get chicken wings in your city. Now MM is a vegetarian and animal rights advocate, so he won't be able to enjoy the wings with you. Also while you're at it you should demand that the wings come from grass-fed organic chickens!!! Happy chickens only! If you don't have an iPhone you can go to kluckr.com.

By now you've excavated most of your winter wear from the back of your closet and realized that down coat isn't as flattering as you remember, and that reindeer sweater isn't as charming as it looked on the rack at Beacon's Closet. Round up your duds and any other neglected items currently collecting dust at home (you know you're never going to use that salad spinner) and bring them to Score!, New York's roving pop-up swap. Saturday, November 21, they're hosting Scored at Score! an all-day exchange at 3rd Ward with a fashion section curated by Nylon senior editor Nisha Gopalan, a music section curated by Showpaper, DVDs and media finds curated by the Desk Set, and housewares and miscellany curated by Natalie Kamei. Even better? All proceeds raised go to food rescue organization City Harvest. Drop your stuff off when you walk in, pay $3 for a good cause, and get swapping.

Scored at Score! Saturday, November 21. 3rd Ward, 195 Morgan Ave., 1 p.m. - 7 p.m., $3 entry with RSVP. Donations accepted until 5 p.m.

My friend Tanya Selvaratnam is in the middle of a book drive for a mobile library in the IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps and for orphanages in her native Sri Lanka. She is looking for books for kids ages 4-19, and so far she has collected hundreds from individuals and publishing houses. There are thousands of kids in the camps, so she would like to send many many more. The Asia Foundation is coordinating getting the books to Sri Lanka, and Tanya needs your contributions by November 19 to make the next container. If you don't have books that fit the bill, you can purchase books online and have them sent to her. To participate and find out more, please contact Tanya directly here. Mr. Mickey is sending a bunch of books that were super-cheap on QVC.com Here's the link. It's 15 books for just over 20 clams!!

1. DJ AM's Beverly Hills house is for sale for $3,795,000.  Here are some photos.

2. Dirty Projectors are performing with the L.A. Philharmonic at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on Saturday, February 27 at 8 p.m.  Tickets go on sale next Saturday, November 14.

3. The Top 10 Punk Clubs.

4. Bikes in the Kitchen party tonight, November 5, at Public Assembly (970 N. 6th St., Williamsburg) with Cerebral Ballzy and Radical Outing + DJs.  Tickets are $5 with free Colt 45 from 9 to 10 p.m.

5. The Bruce High Quality Foundation presents "Art History With Benefits" tonight at 6 and 8 p.m. at X Initiative (548 W. 22nd St.).  Admission is free.  The event is part of Performa 09.

6. It's Guy Fawkes Day.

7. We love French Horn Rebellion's "Up All Night," Toro y Moi's "Talamak" and Harlem's "South of France."

My BFF, photographer Thomas Whiteside just got back from Tokyo where he found this amazing contraption called The CoCo ("Be a Cleopatra's Nose"). But this device is also ideal for recovering cokeheads to snap on at night and avoid any coco puffs getting up their nostrils. It's also perfect for chronic nose pickers too. The Japanese really think of everything.

I can never rave enough about Brooklyn-based electroclash duo and performance troupe Fischerspooner. Comprised of Casey Spooner and Warren Fischer, the twosome has been obliterating boundaries for over a decade. And didn't disappoint on Sunday night at MoMA's sixth installment of their "Performance Exhibition Series."

Due to deliberately limited literature outlining the event, my companion and I had, at best, a vague idea what we were getting ourselves into. Described as "An evening-length... pop spectacle...[that] runs continuously over the course of three hours, with no clear beginning or end, on a large central stage that allows the audience to view the piece from all sides," we were unclear what precisely was in store.

Whatever it was started at 6 p.m. and attracted a healthy audience. Showgoers waited outside the main entrance and were eventually ushered in, semi-stampeding through the sole door security saw fit to open. Inside, we formed an unruly line, at the front of which we were told the performance was sold out. Bummer for those without tickets!

Bypassing the overpriced wine, my date and I made our way up the stairs to the second floor atrium while "Amuse Bouche" echoed throughout the museum. Hailing from their third record, Entertainment (May 2009), this kicked off the hour-long performance piece, which, we immediately learned, turned out to be an exceedingly stimulating, multi-sensory experience. The stage was assembled in nearly the middle of the space, a skeletal erection that did indeed enable myriad viewpoints and perspectives, though most attendees remained front and center. Following this first song, they plucked three from their sophomore album, Odyssey (2005), and later rocked numbers from their debut, #1 or Best Album Ever (2001).

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We were pleased to hear yesterday that L.A-based label Narnack Records has signed one of our favorite new bands, Iranian transplants Hypernova, who left Tehran for the U.S. so they could play their rollocking yet dark, slightly Interpol-y rock songs without the threat of public flogging. Seriously. Narnack will release their official debut, Through the Chaos in March 2010. Check out PAPERMAG's review of their recent show Mercury Lounge here.

The New York Comedy Festival kicks off today, and with 30 acts to choose from, PAPERMAG makes things easy for you with five assuredly funny shows that we guarantee will make your stomach hurt. 

Tonight: Stand Up for Heroes
NBC Nightly News host Brian Williams hosts "Stand Up for Heroes," a benefit for the Bob Woodruff Foundation -- which provides services that help war veterans reintegrate into society --  featuring stand up from Stephen Colbert, Louis C.K., Lisa Lampanelli and a musical performance from some guy named Bruce Springsteen.
Town Hall, 123 W. 43rd St., (212) 840-2824. 8 p.m. $100-$500.

Thursday, 11/5: Mike Birbiglia
On his blog,"Mike Birbiglia's Secret Public Journal," Mike Birbiglia promises readers that any disappointment felt by attendees at his Town Hall show tonight, likely has "to do with factors in their own lives and not this great show I've assembled." There are also promises of a surprise musical performance by the comedian's favorite band. Check your life's factors at the door --  we think it'll be a worth while night.
Town Hall, 123 W. 43rd St., (212) 840-2824. 8 p.m. $30-$35.

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Heidi Schreck, smart and dynamic, is one of my favorite performers; she exudes personal power and intelligence onstage. She received a 2008 OBIE Award for acting, and has also had a half-dozen plays produced. "Creature," her first full-length New York playwriting debut, is directed by the experienced Leigh Silverman (Lisa Kron's Well, on Broadway), and has a cast of six, that includes the Drama Desk Award winning Marylouise Burke.  Set in 1401, the story revolves around a lusty, beer-brewing babe who decides she wants to become a saint. I spoke with the playwright.

 

 Hi Heidi. So what's Creature all about?

It's based on the first autobiography in English, written by a woman in the 15th-Century, The Book of Margery Kempe.  She couldn't read or write, she dictated it; so she had a ghost writer.

 

How did you come upon it?

It's a hilarious, kind of heartbreaking book that I fell in love with in college (the University of Oregon in Eugene).  It's the story of this woman who wants to become a saint but she's just so obviously not suited [for that], She's vain and proud; she loves sex and food.  She has all of these very human appetites, which she's trying very hard to eradicate.

 

And you thought it would be good play material.

I loved the book because you can see her making mistake after mistake in her journeys.  When I read it, I had so much empathy for her; for her desire to be perfect, such a wrong desire but one that I think is very human also.

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Though Katalyst Media -- the three-pronged film, television, and digital media production company Ashton Kutcher spearheads with partner Jason Goldberg -- might still be finding its footing in some ventures (The Katalyst-produced CW series The Beautiful Life was  canceled in September after just two episodes), its digital media department has found huge success as the first producers to make serialized, branded content exclusively for Facebook. Katalyst HQ, the company's original video series broadcast on the social media site, consists of three-minute clips that follow Office-esque faux documentary plots starring Katalyst Media employees, with branding for companies like Hot Pockets and Cheetos integrated through out. All of the episodes incorporate familiar workplace themes with a humorous slant -- one features a Katalyst worker who falls in love with an associate's "phone voice," another shows employees pitching bizarre plot ideas for a new Kutcher film to a frustrated Goldberg. Now in its second season, the series has been viewed by over nine million Facebook users who have shared the content over 62 times each. In other words, it's popular.

Kutcher's attachment to the project, as well as other celebrity cameos (Gary Busey has a recurring role as Katalyst' Media's human resources director ), likely has much to do with the series' popularity. But Sarah Ross, head of digital media at Katalyst, chatted with PAPERMAG about why else she thinks the show has taken off and why she hesitates to label their work as "marketing."

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WHAT: The 2009 ACE Awards presented by the Accessories Council honoring individuals and companies who have furthered the awareness and use of accessories.
WHERE: The Cipriani 42nd St.
WHEN: Monday, November 2, 2009
WHO: Guests and presenters included Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, Betsey Johnson, Nina Garcia, Molly Sims, Erin Wasson, Alexander Wang, Glenda Bailey, Christian Siriano, Steven Kolb, Agyness Deyn, Hilary Rhoda and Eric Daman
OVERHEARD: "Somebody should have told Lady Gaga that Halloween is over."

During her speech at the French Institute Alliance Françoise's Annual Gala honoring avant-garde playwright and director Robert Wilson, actress Isabelle Huppert, Wilson muse and star of his upcoming production of Quartett at BAM, credited him with helping her become a more confident performer: "I thought I was invisible," she said, "but Bob sees the invisible." Ms. Huppert, who presented Wilson with the Trophée des Artes, was joined at the Plaza Hotel last night by guests including Isabella Rossellini, Elle creative director Joe Zee, and lady about town Tinsley Mortimer, who was there filming scenes for her upcoming CW reality show. The crew, who descended on Huppert while she was introduced to Mortimer, were eventually banished to an upstairs lobby as guests sat down to dinner. Wilson said that he couldn't have developed the unique vision Huppert noted had he not received the support he did in France -- specifically for his four-hour 1971 silent play, Deafman Glance. During its Paris premiere, Wilson said he left the theater 30 minutes before the production ended because he couldn't bear enduring an inevitably negative reception: "the French are so verbal," he explained. Wilson said, however, said he was astonished when a friend summoned him from his hotel room to return to the theater, where he was being given a standing ovation.

Photo from Patrick McMullan

Leather luxury goods boutique Perrin Paris 1893 threw a party Saturday night in Los Angeles to celebrate the launch of their new Beverly Hills flagship store and their top-selling Martha Bag. Co-created by domestic goddess Martha Stewart,  $100 from every bag sold will donated to the cancer research charity Stand Up to Cancer. We predict, however, that Stewart's bags will sell out before then -- almost every woman at the party, which included guests like Lyne Renee, Beatrice Rosen, Candice Accola, and Lynn Collins, left the party with one. And gentleman, rejoice: Perrin Paris 1893 CEO Michel Perrin and his wife Sally, who is the company's artistic director, told me they'll be launching a line of men's gloves and bags in the near future.

Bowman/ Bloom Gallery, 95 E. 7th St.

It's a tall order to say that any one designer is adding to fashion's narrative with his passion for the city itself. But while the Lower East Side may evoke images of the punk and street grunge movements that have overtaken everything below East Houston as of late, Kai D.'s Spring 2010 collection hearkens back to a time when the neighborhood was a working class melting pot. Nostalgic without being overly-sentimental, and focused on utility without being utilitarian, the Kai D. Collection is a study in New York's past and present; indeed, the collection is even titled "Local."

"You can't replace vintage with more vintage," said Kai D. Fan, designer of the collection. Such Zen-like statements would seem out of place if it weren't for the careful thought -- both historical and sartorial -- that went into each garment. From the vintage linen trim and burnt wood buttons of a soft construction naval blazer, to the Civil War-inspired suspenders over vintage Henleys, to the hand stitched 1/16" welts on the pockets of single-pleated khaki pants, Kai D. is not only keeping it local, but also keeping it in the details. And with so many designers crafting mission statements rather than well-tailored clothes, it's refreshing to find a menswear label that has the goods and the philosophical chops to do so.


Kai D.
75 Orchard St.
(212) 334-6241

Previously on PAPERMAG - Shop of the Week: Kai D.

1. Kaws has teamed up with Kiehl's on packaging design for their Creme de Corps limited edition skin moisturizer. One hundred per cent of the profits support children's charities.

2. Vibe is back. The magazine returns online December 8 and plans four print editions in 2010. (via Ad Age)

3. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade won't go down Broadway this year.  The route is still down Central Park West to 59th, over to and then down Seventh Avenue to 42nd Street, over to Sixth Avenue and then down to Herald Square.

4. The seven hottest women in the world at this moment.

5. A court in Wisconsin ordered Pepsi to pay $1.2 billion to two men who claimed the soft drink manufacturer stole their idea to sell purified water.

6. Nintendo's fashion game "Style Savvy" ($29.99, via Amazon) is out now.

THE LILY'S REVENGE
Taylor Mac has proven himself to be one of New York's more adventurous playwright/performers.  This could be his masterstroke.  In a five-part, five-hour spectacular, with more than 40 performers and musicians, and six collaborating directors, Mac theatrically unfolds the fantasy tale of a flower on a quest to become a man, only to find himself at the center of a revolution of flowers, intent on destroying their oppressor -- the God of Nostalgia.  Almost every type of theater, from Noh to puppetry, from vaudeville to dance, will be represented.
HERE Arts Center, 145 Sixth Ave., (212) 352-3101. Oct. 29-Nov. 22.
 
IDIOT SAVANT
The prolific writer/director Richard Foreman, maker of 50 plays since 1968, moves  to the Public Theater for his latest philosophical comedy.  Playing the title role is Wooster Group co-founder and two time Academy Award nominee, Willem Dafoe, who leads five other actors (two women and three men; all the men play slaves) in this avant-merriment, which includes a game of interspecies golf with a Giant Duck. Fore!
Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St., (212) 967-7555. Previews Oct. 27, opens Nov. 4-Dec. 13.
 
THE UNDERSTUDY
Julie White's wisecracking was so well-timed and pure in The Little Dog Laughed that it won her a well-deserved Tony.  Here she plays a put-upon stage manager in a new backstage comedy by Theresa Rebeck, directed by Scott Ellis, in which she has to deal with two male actors, Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Justin Kirk (both with regular TV series roles), one of whom plays the titular character, a theater person that the audience rarely sees.  Put your money on White's character to be the one still standing when the smoke clears.
Laura Pels Theater, Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theater, 111 W. 46th St., (212) 719-3100. Previews Oct. 9, opens Nov. 5-Jan. 3, 2010.
 

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WHO: Jamie Aaron Campbell
AGE: 23 
OCCUPATION: I work at Best Buy, and I'm also a full time student studying graphic design.
HOMETOWN: Akron, OH, aka the biggest shithole to ever be made.
SHOT IN: North Canton, OH
FAVORITE AKRON HANG SPOT: Thursdays Lounge is in downtown Akron.  It's a really fun dance bar with cool people and cute babes -- well at least most of the time.

WHO: Stephen Oravetz (aka No Shirt Kid)
AGE: 22
OCCUPATION: Remodeling homes in the Akron/Coyahoga Falls, Ohio area
HOMETOWN: Canton, OH. 
SHOT IN: North Canton, OH
FAVORITE AKRON HANG SPOTS: Rays MTB Skatepark, The Flow Skatepark, Evolutions Skatepark, Thursdays Lounge,  Crystal Lounge, Chipotle.

Unlike most Girls & Boys parties, Simian Mobile Disco's James Ford and Jas Shaw ruled the roost solo when they played Friday at Webster Hall. No VIP passes for photogs, bloggers and friends to loiter onstage while the British producer duo turned out tunes. This left my midget ass at the back, elbows propped on the bar behind me, straining on tiptoes. No matter. I could still make 'em out, even with superfans hoisted up on shoulders.

Also absent from the stage? All of the several guest stars from their recent record, Temporary Pleasure. Though they played "Audacity of Huge," a heavily digitized ditty featuring Yeasayer's Chris Keating, they skipped tracks featuring Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor ("Bad Blood") and Telepathe ("Pinball"). They did, however, drop "Cruel Intentions," featuring Beth Ditto of the Gossip. At this, SMD hopped up and down onstage and a nearby group tossed a heap of paper napkins in the air. They fluttered delicately to the ground like oversized confetti.

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After I finished gagging over Marc Jacobs' costume (his hot body shrink-wrapped in Sprouse/Vuitton from neck to toe topped by a platinum blond wig was too much for my nerves) I scoured the web for other costumes to rival Jacobs' fabulosity. I think Rihanna comes close -- but Rihanna with the sex goddess known as CoCo-T (rapper Ice-T's wife, naturally) blows Jacobs' costume out the water. J'die over the cartoon characters mauled to nakedness by a wild coyote (that was the look right?). 

Halloween in New York is a circus. Like any typical weekend in the city, people are loud, drunk, high, invasive of your personal space, and looking to get laid. But unlike most weekends, those people are dressed like zombies or chickens or dead Michael Jacksons, on the hunt for even more gratuitous sex. No one's safe on these Bacchanalian streets, and don't even think of getting out of a Halloween party, dignity intact. So what better way to spend the holiday hulled up away from it all in Bushwick's Market Hotel, listening to black metal? Mount Eerie provided the perfect creepy soundtrack to the most fucked up day of the year.

The ever-reclusive Phil Elverum, the brains behind Mount Eerie, has traded his solitary acoustic creations for bombast: onstage, two drummers (one pounded on a gong) and two keyboardists helped Elverum recreate the surprising heaviness of Mount Eerie's 2009 album, Wind's Poem. The set began in the same way the album does: with several minutes of purely static noise. Elverum arched his neck upwards toward the broken plaster of Market Hotel's ceiling, his eyes closed as the distortion from his guitar filled the space. "Oh, the voice of wind," he sang. "I see flames in common life/I hear the wind's dark poem." The room trembled with the sound. 

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Eco-fashion site Ecouterre.com had all the green bases covered at their launch party last week, from the setting at cozy Lower East Side boutique, Kaight, which carries environmentally friendly brands, to the name tags guests were asked to put on their glasses. "This way, you'll remember to re-use your glass," the bartender in the corner assured wary attendees waiting in line for organic huckleberry vodka cocktails. Partygoers snacked on vegan raspberry jam cookies that were apparently delicious -- the tray needed to be re-filled an hour into the party -- and milled among cases displaying recycled metal earrings and hand-painted lockets. Some guests prepped for winter, perusing the store's coats, chunky Alpacan scarves and hats, and cute, wool 60s-inspired shift dresses from Feral Childe (Ecouterre.com founder Jill Fehrenbacher and editor Jasmin Malik Chua also recommend winter  items from Stewart & Brown and Rebe ). Less practical partygoers, however, were pre-occupied with a handmade Andean Collection necklace made from ivory palm that was up for grabs in a raffle. "I don't need that, but I want it" one guest assured her friend in line for a second round of Huckleberry lemonades.

Photos via Tanveer Badal Photography.

This past Thursday,  Chaz Kourday, Lonni Bahls and Georgia Haege -- the downtown synth-pop band trio Whore's Mascara -- held a release party for their new single "Monogamous." The video, featuring the band's friends, friends-of-friends, hairstylists, and even roommates-of-hairstylists, was directed by fashion photographer Patrik Andersson, who has shot the likes of Kate Moss, Gwyneth Paltrow and Mick Jagger.

"The idea was to have a wedding party gone mad, the evolution from proper to decadent. I knew that my goal was to push the decadence," said Andersson of the shoot.

While the video's casting might evoke the song, "That's what friends are for," Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager they are not. With musical roots in 1980s electro-pop, Whore's Mascara's live acts feature darkly comedic riffs on everything from political figures to Manhattan club culture - with enough puns and double entendres to make a whore blush.

Download "Monogamous" here.

Henry Holland hosted the high holy day of Halloween for Brown's department store Saturday and the London fashion set turned up to celebrate with plenty of blood and bruises. 

Shepherd's Bush Pavillion, an unused 1920s theater space in London's East End, seemed like an unlikely setting for the party, but the sufficiently creaky space was the perfect backdrop for a night of debauchery. Guests entered through a defunct escalator, and there were projections of ghoulish images and jack-o-lanterns as far as the eye could see (someone said there were 1,000 of them). And there was blood.  Lots and lots of blood. Londoners don't like cutsie Halloween get ups, and most costumes featured copious amounts of the good old red stuff, gore, bruises, and ghostly pale skin.

There were little scenes set up all over the venue by designers and the LP. BG booth was a fiasco -- fashion people go crazy for a good set, and it was hard to miss the impromptu bondage shoot that erupted in the bloodbath. 

WHAT: Allison Sarofim's '80s-themed Halloween party.
WHERE: Allison's Greenwich Village townhouse
WHEN: Friday, Oct. 30, 2009
WHO: Valentino, Gloria Von Thurn und Taxis, Marc Jacobs, Lorenzo Martone, Bai Ling, Theoodra Richards, Yvonne Force Villareal, Nicole Miller, Marjorie Gubelman, Cynthia Rowley.
OVERHEARD: "I thought that was a Valentino impersonator over there on the couch. What an OMG moment I had when I realized it was actually Valentino!" 

You know you've really made it when someone dresses up as you for Halloween, and that seems to be the case with my dear friend Lynn Yaeger, the red-cheeked fashion icon. The lovely lady in the image is Ginny Branch Stelling who has a blog called My Favorite Color is Shiny (Uh, hello! Me too!). That's where she posted this pic of her dressed as Baby Lynnie. Pretty cute likeness, huh?

You might not be surprised to discover that Augusten Burroughs has problems with Christmas. The good news for us is that he can take his traumas and travails and turn them into stories that both shock and delight. In his latest book, You Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas, he does just that leaving one with a distinctly Burroughsian feeling where dread and joy join hands in bittersweet harmony. I asked him a few questions about the holiday season we all love to hate.

David Hershkovits:  Do you think Christmas -- or family holidays in general -- are  more difficult for gays.
Augusten Burroughs: Life in general  -- not merely Christmas -- is more difficult for the gays. Gays have less calcium in their bones and slightly higher amounts of mercury, a soft metal. As a result their bones are softer which makes the weight of oppression that much more difficult to shoulder.

DH: What are you planning to do on Christmas this year?
AB: This Christmas, I plan to replicate -- in exact detail -- my birthday: I will sit on the bed all day and night fucking around with Linux and retouching pictures of ladies.

DH: Who would be your ideal family to spend Christmas with and why?
AB: The Addams Family. Because they would not ask me to cheer up and smile.

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1. You know we love Roisin Murphy. If you're also a fan, click here and you can hear her new single.

2. Surfing?  '50s music?  Are we in a time warp?  If we told you six months ago that the retro wheels of pop music might be headed back to the beach, you might have laughed.  And if we mentioned Florida?  No way. Well, listen to The Drums and Surfer Blood.  Both bands are from the Sunshine State and both are getting worldwide attention for their hipster-gone-surfing sound.  We're getting a woodie!

3. The Fifth Annual Shred for Your Life Guitar Battle takes place tomorrow, November 3rd at 7 p.m., at Santos Party House (100 Lafayette Street).  This year's judges are David Cross, Jaleel Bunton and Paul Major.

4. Augusten Burroughs is reading from his latest You Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas today, Monday, November 2, at Barnes & Noble on Union Square.

5. Here's a very awkward Vanity Fair interview with Clive Davis.  It's the 35th anniversary of Clive's Arista Records and he'll be speaking at NYU Kimmel Center (60 Washington Square South) on November 4 at 7 p.m.

I was very upset to hear that the new Broadway revival of Brighton Beach Memoirs abruptly closed last night, a week after it opened to mostly very positive reviews. I saw the play last week and really enjoyed it. Sure, Neil Simon can be a little cheesy in that old-fashioned blood-is-thicker-than-water kind of way, but even though the play is 26 years old, and I'm only 27, I laughed audibly on several occasions and told anyone who asked what was good on Broadway this season to see it -- but unfortunately they won't be able to. 

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WHAT: Svedka and PAPER Present Mr. Black 2033
WHEN: Friday, Oct. 30, 2009
WHERE: Mr. Black, BLVD, 199 Bowery
WHO: Ladyfag, One-Half Nelson, Sofia Lamar, Evan Monster, Drew Elliott, Mack Dugan, The Return of the "Ass"
OVERHEARD: "So, Mr. Ass, I heard you retired?" "No, I moved to L.A. and now I have two Assboys working for me there."

Ten years ago, sisters Robyn and Bianca Moreno moved to the Lower East Side to launch their fashion careers.  Now -- with several books, high-profile styling gigs, TV appearances and an accessories line between them -- the girls have returned to their old stomping ground and opened their first store.  A Little Wicked carries a selection of vintage, re-worked and designer label womenswear.

So what makes this newcomer stand out in a neighborhood sprinkled with second-hand stores?  For one, no attitude!  Robyn, who runs A Little Wicked, is an effervescent style guru, bubbling with ideas and fashion tips for all body types. Tell her what you're seeking and watch her pull it together. Because she genuinely enjoys helping you. Secondly, this assortment is everything you want and nothing you don't. Sometimes so-called vintage stores feel a little like Good Will -- with ten thousand busted pieces for every good one you find. A Little Wicked, however, is carefully-curated, with chic, flirty separates that are totally wearable. The Morenos embarked on a road trip this year, collecting quality vintage clothing from New York to Savannah, and then modified much of it for a superior look and fit -- a ruffle here, a shorter hemline there. Finally, where many vintage parlors veer toward kitschy or too cutesy, A Little Wicked is...well...a little wicked! The style is sophisticated, but with a dash of edgy humor.

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