USING MY PARENTS AS THE TROJAN HORSE

But I still had yet to give up. My parents were going to have a luncheon and they were looking for a place to have their afterparty. They had someone (Shonda) go out and find a good place to have this event. Shonda was going to rent out Home nightclub, but I told her to go and check out Kolumbia instead. Shonda really liked it, so she talked to Jamie's wife, who happens to be very nice, and she told Shonda that we could use their spot for that Thursday. There! I finally had an IN.

My parents' event went really nicely. Jamie was impressed by the clientele that came. I introduced my parents to Jamie, and all of a sudden...he became this really Mr. Friendly type of guy. I couldn't believe it?!

So anyway, I decided to strike while the iron was hot. I came back by Kolumbia later that week and asked Jamie if it was possible to do a one time party instead of a weekly party. He says, "Sure, why not?" I was like, huh? Is this the same dude?? I couldn't believe it??!

So he tells me to schedule it with Dennis. I immediately come back the next day to talk to Dennis and we agree on the date of September 17th. It was already September 7th, so I only had two weeks to get ready. So I left immediately from Kolumbia to go to another club to promote my September 17th event with nothing but a pen and some napkins. I think by the time the party at that club ended, I had 25 people's email addresses on all these napkins. Surprisingly, everybody I talked to sounded really excited about partying with me, even though I was a complete stranger to about half of those people. I don't know why, but I wasn't complaining.

THE PREMIER THAT TURNS INTO A HURRICANE IVAN PARTY

So one week before my first event at Kolumbia, I see that there are hurricanes in the South that are supposed to move up to our area within a week. That's right; hurricanes! I'm looking at the weather reports every day trying to figure out when it's gonna hit up here. So of course there's only one day it was supposed to affect us; my day, Friday.

I was trying to figure out if I should cancel or not because I have a big bar guarantee (the amount the total bar tab has to hit in order for me to not have to pay it) that I was worried about, plus about $1,000 in expenses that I knew I had to pay for the event. It was really a nerve-racking ordeal.

So Jamie told me that I had to let him know by Wednesday of that week if I was gonna cancel or not. I decided to take a chance that the weatherman was gonna be wrong and that if he wasn't, my friends would not leave me hangin'. Of course, this was before I knew what I know now.

On that Wednesday before my event, I sent out a message to everyone on my evite that I knew it was gonna rain, but we were gonna have a place for umbrellas. I also said something to the effect of; the cause is bigger than the rain. I really tried to put myself in other people's shoes on this, and I asked if I were to get this evite, and I thought this money really could feed a starving mother, or kid in Sudan, would I come out in the rain? The answer was yes to me. Luckily, it was also the answer for the 215 people that came out on my first night. Out of those people, only about 7 of them consisted of my closest friends. Man, talk about a reality check.

Everyone thought that night went really well except me. Lemme tell you why I thought this night sucked. First of all, I was so discouraged by my results. I thought I was gonna have 400 people, grossing $4,000 and donating $3,000. Secondly, my friend that told me that she would do the coat check and help take the money at the door called and told me she was on her way, but then never showed up. My other friend who told me that she would work the guest list from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. didn't get there till 10:50 p.m. Thank goodness my ex-girlfriend Denielle (Dee Dee) came to help me out. She was a lifesaver; because that was definitely something she does not like to do. She is damn close to being a recluse.

And on top of all that, before the event even started, Jamie comes out to me and says, "Are you gonna have people in here tonight? There better be! Are you wearing that?" All of this is in front of Dee Dee and one patron who was the 1st to get there that night.

It was just a barrage of shit that I had to try to let roll off my back. Luckily I am a cool dude and did not respond (nor whip his lil' 5-foot-7 ass). But it made the night just that much harder.

Oh, I almost forgot...my friend Alysia had her birthday that night and I told her she could do a guest list that would be good until 11 p.m. So she sends out an evite and doesn't tell her people anything about a close-out time for the list, nor the charity aspect of it. She comes at 10:35 p.m. with her guest list (none of the names in alphabetical order) and is like "Here." So needless to say, she and all 20 of her people were pissed at me because they had to pay. I love Alysia and I know she meant well and we're cool to this day, but this just added on to how this night was already going.

Dee Dee got really sleepy by 2 a.m., so I had to go fill her post taking the money. That job really sucks by the way. I can really see why those front door people at clubs are assholes now, but I'll come back to that later. But to sum it up; I was just not the fun host that I try to be that night and everyone could tell.