Category: Party Photos

The 3rd Annual Kelly Gang St. Patrick's Day benefit (on behalf of Katrina victims) seemed even more festive than usual. Perhaps it was the food, or maybe it was all that great whiskey. Michael's Restaurant was packed with clergy, bag-pipers, media people, Irish and Irish sympathizers. Armed with green boas to ward off errant elves, we shot some photos of the media folks who attended this year:

Our boa helpers, Shannon Carpenter and Aileen Gallagher, sidled up to Susan Lehman, co-author of Ed Hayes' MouthPiece: A Life in -- and Sometimes Just Outside -- the Law.

Beth Fenner, who is Executive Editor of Women's Health and used to work at Glamour (way back when I was contributing there). Center is Business Week's Suzanne Woolley and Rick Tetzeli, editor of Entertainment Weekly.

Arnie Huberman with Conde Nast's chief communicationada, Maurie Perl.

Jon Friedman, of MarketWatch.

Susan Lehman with The New York Times' David Carr.

Susan Lehman again, talking to the top of David Carr's head.

Facing us, author and Thinker Bill McGowan, with his cousin Jeff McGowan, of EMI Capitol Records (left).

The ever-delectable David Hirshey, of Harper Collins.

Unidentified guy and Steve Giannetti, vp/group poo-bah of National Geographic Magazines.

And, sidling up to us for a tete-a-tete just as the St. Paddy's Day benediction is being said by the father, Playboy's Chris Napolitano. What timing!

For a brief time, we shared a table with Nancy Gillen (not shown), Elle Girl's Christina Kelly, Maureen ? (also of Elle Girl) and Dalton Ross, of Entertainment Weekly.

Real Simple's e-i-c Kristin van Ogtrop, quaffing her white wine, with The New York Post's Keith Kelly and Hot Scott Donaton, of Ad Age.

Ad Age's Jonah Bloom, already falling asleep in his punch, with Michelle Schiano.

One of the Time Inc. Hot Communications Babes (yes, there are a few), Ali Zelenko, with Jessica Kleiman, a top flack at Hearst.

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Some belated observations from Fast Company's 10th Anniversary party the other night.

1. It was refreshing to see a measured celebration for a magazine that has, from all accounts, been through the proverbial wringer (a sale, executive upheaval, eroding ad pages) the last year or so.

2. The signature drink for the evening -- "Fastinis" ("Fast Company" + "martini" ... Get it? Get it?) -- while undeniably fun to say, were pretty much what you come to expect of martinis at media parties: Too fruity.

3. Some refreshingly heartfelt toasts, given by editor Mark Vamos and Mansueto Ventures' Jay Goldberg.

4. Bill Clinton, one of the so-called Fast 50 was a no-show (we were told some of those profiled in the anniversary issue would be there) though sources say he's bound for the upcoming Inc. 500 party in Savannah, Georgia.

5. And despite our personal goal of shaking a billionaire's hand, Inc. and FC owner Joe Mansueto was not there, either. Mildly surprising. We had to settle for some of the city's heavy-hitting bloggers, like Andrew Krucoff and Lockhart Steele.

Photos of a revelry 10 years in the making after the jump.

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The roving reporters of BizBash — The Wall Street Journal of the event planning industry — have finally posted their full reports on simultaneous Super Bowl orgies in Detroit last weekend. The big four — Maxim, Playboy, Sports Illustrated, and ESPN The Magazine — staged a booze-fueled duel to the death for advertising pages in the backyards of their automotive advertisers, and the good folks at BizBash (who I've written for in the past) have all the salacious details.

Playboy secured a hangar at Detroit's airport, declared the theme to be the "Eight Mile High Club," and packed the place with 1,600 guests. Maxim saw their 1,600 guests, and raised them 400 guests, but took a major hit when it came to cred by hosting the party at the home of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and by invoking, of all things, the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "Starlight Express" as the inspiration for the roving packs of scantily clad "roller girls." (And Absolut built a bar themed to The Who's "Tommy." More evidence of the Manhattan media-showtunes connection.) Keith Kelly reports today that Maxim was shamed when the Freep found out about a guest-list policy of "hot girls only."

ESPN took over an empty warehouse and kitted it out to reflect the theme of its "Next" issue, but that was just one big diorama hyping sponsors like Gillette's Fusion razor and Miller Lite. The party took place at the Colony Club — "originally designed by Henry Ford's wife as a clubhouse for women," according to BizBash — which attracted just 700 guests trying to understand the appeal of the massively hyped ESPN Mobile service. Sports Illustrated, meanwhile, nearly quadrupled that attendance at its own party held at the Emerald Theater, which included not just swimsuit models, but an appearance by the Seattle Seahawks cheerleaders — an earnest attempt to trump both the Playboy bunnies and Maxim's rollergirls.

Because the way into a 25-year-old media planner's 2007 plan is through his... you can guess. One of the magazine industry's saddest open secrets is that it's held hostage by twentysomethings who perform the yeoman's work for media planning agencies. The money SI spent on its party could have probably paid for the salaries of the seven employees it's seeking to jettison, but that would be counterproductive to say the least when your ad pages fell 16.8 percent last year. If you want to make your number, you have to break open a few thousand cases of Miller Lite.

On Tuesday night Fishbowl was in attendance at at Bruno Jamais on the Upper East Side at the launch party for Skin Deep, a magazine that unabashedly celebrates lookin' good by whatever means make you happy and bills itself as "the ultimate image enhancement resource." The current issue of Skin Deep features uber-supermodel Carol Alt , who has media significance not only for having appeared on the cover of a gazillion magazines during her heyday but also for being part of the first story to get Fishbowl's foot in the journalism door. More on that in a sec.

Back to the party and Skin Deep, which is pretty excited about plastic surgery. Topics in this month's mag include "What men really think about breast implants," "Mommy Makeovers," and a before-after featuring a 54-year old woman 6 months after Livefill had been injected into her nasolabial folds (no relation to anything by Daphne Merkin). From the looks of it, a number of those in attendance were already enthusiastic adopters; Fishbowl doesn't judge, we just eat appetizers.

The event drew a cross-section of media types including Page Six's Richard Johnson, who confirmed today that Alt, once dubbed "The Face" because, well, look at her, has not herself had any work done (Fishbowl isn't very savvy about such things but we thought she looked very lovely). Also present: Johnson's recent bride Sessa von Richthofen, new Court TV "Hollywood Heat" anchor Lynne White (who had 8 x 10 headshots liberally available for our convenience), Jossip's David Hauslaib, New York Post writer Sara Stewart (and I thought i recognized NYP's Diane Heifetz too - anyone know for sure?), "Apprentice" runner-up Kwame Jackson, baseball bad-boy Johnny Rocker, and Samantha Cole, whom Page Six says is a Hamptons party-girl.

Gift bags, upper-arm lifts, and the special bond between Fishbowl and Carol Alt after the jump.

Blade Balker [NYP]

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Fishbowl takes her camera with her most places, so you'd best be looking sharp. Still, not everything makes it on our precious blog - sometimes we can't upload for some reason or we get distracted or there's real news. Every time a photo goes unpublished, it's like a little arrow to the heart. So, today, on this last business day of 2005, I cast my quiver before ye in "The Year's Most Random Unsorted Vaguely-Organized Photos That Didn't Make It To The Blog." It's not that I don't have more, it's just that I'm kind. Vamanos, muchachas! Enjoy.

Campbell Robertson und Gabe Sherman, "The Situation With Tucker Carlson" launch party. Am I biased or do they look like an adorable Tweedledum and Tweedledee of Media? No, I'm probably biased.

FishFriend for life (and authoress of many a fine post on this here blog) Elizabeth Spiers and BlackBook/NYT/many-things contributor Dana Vachon, both of whom are pictured in a moment of summer early-evening relaxation at the farewell-for-a-few-months party for Salon NY editor Kerry Lauerman. Both are working on their first novels, both of which involve finance n' stuff. Fishbowl is a consultant on neither book.

Funkmaster Will Leitch (of Deadspin)

Fishbowls DC & NY, in the enforced Mediabistro dress code (just kidding - Garret Graff of FBDC was about to go speak on a panel; I was, er, not)

Seth Mnookin and Alan Baldachin of Hand Baldachin LLP at the Radar party back in May (Baldachin was part of the Radar legal team, and is Canadian and knew Fishbowl way back when)

Anthony Haden Guest and, er, guests at the Radar party. I don't believe any of them ended up in the pool.

The Kids from Fame The Black Table: Aileen Gallagher (now MB associate EIC), Will Leitch, and AJ Daulerio, late of Oddjack

Smoke 'em if you got 'em! Maer Roshan and friends at the Radar launch party - refraining from comment except to say, wow! You could smoke indoors! The Hotel QT really IS paradise!

And now we bring you an adorable baby picture! Media significance: tenuous (I was staying with his parents when the Judy Miller mea-culpa-that-wasn't-quite-a-mea-culpa ran, and that was where I wrote the posts that were cited here. Fishbowl: Proud to be #6. Hey, it's the end of the year. I'm allowed.)

The next few photos are from a series I like to call "The People on the Telly are my Friends."

Oh, the 'stache. Tom Friedman on I believe it was "Charlie Rose," exuding manic energy and frequently giggling/chortling. I have it DVRd somewhere. I never did get a chance to use this photo, or the one I like to call "Thomas Friedman is crushing your head." Sad.

Fareed Zakaria. Need more be said? This is smaller sized for some reason, but enlarging it via code makes it look all pixilated so you'll get this version and like it. Is it me, or does Fareed somewhat resemble Willem Dafoe? Agree? Disagree? And what IS up with China these days, anyway?

Best friend Jon Stewart with not-unattractive guest George Clooney back in late September. We half-blogged this but it was getting tiresome transcribing all the times Jon pointed out that Clooney was a handsome man (money quote: Jon telling Clooney that he was so handsome that he should be spreading his seed around; Clooney replying that he was doing his best).

Bob Herbert on Tavis Smiley, which I had half-blogged before I realized it was a repeat. Duh. Sometimes I do that.

I was never at a party with any of these people, but they make me feel like part of their warm family every morning (just joking Miles, I'm yours). But these posters were all over the subway back in the fall (are they still?), in various permutations. Ah, Doozy.

George Clooney again, just because.

Heidi The Bitchin' Bloggin' Lawyer Whose Last Name Escapes Me und Overheard in New York's Michael Malice, posing insouciantly at the Andrew Krucoff farewell party, which doesn't seem all that long ago and yet he is now back. So wait, after you've been to Jerusalem does it vitiate the whole "Next year in Jerusalem" thing during Passover? Fishbowl is a Talmudic scholar.

Nikola Tamdazic, before the lens instead of behind it! You've probably all seen this guy's work - he's the crack photog who goes to parties on behalf of Gawker and snaps great-looking shots, sometimes of breasts (er, not anyone who has ever written for this blog). His work can be found at ambrel.net, but check out how cute he is, he looks like he just stepped out of the OC! Pictured with Fishbowl.

Daniel Radosh at the Radar party (I know, these are randomly-sequenced). I call this pic "Fresh-Faced Radosh" because he is glowing with innocence and vulnerability.

Tom and Tom: Toms MacFarland and Scocca from the Observer, rocking out in the upstairs room during the Radar after-party at Marquee. These two gentlemen know how to cut loose! Note the long, flowing flaxen locks formerly known as Scocca's hair.

Alex and Alex: The Alexes Ross and Balk (music critic New Yorker and music and all things critic at TMFTML respectively) at the infamous "Red Lobster" lunch in late July. Many people attended. Much grease was consumed. Yet the account remains unwritten. Sad. (That's Nichelle of Nichelle Newsletter looking on at the right, btw. She always wears awesome hats.)

Doozy and Rovey (taken by Greta Van Susteren and culled from a random website recently). White House press holiday party. Where was Fishbowl's invite? Hmph. (NB "Doozy" is my name for Fox's Steve Doocey, who unwittingly inaugurated the concept of "blog synchronicity," which has really taken off.)

Remember that Sync farewell party? My camera ran out of battery so I couldn't take photos but the indefatigable Mark Remy, late of Giant and presently of the super-secret Time Inc. humor website, was on hand to help out, and he whipped out his equipment right then and there. Thanks Mark! This shot is of former Sync features ed. Matthew Schneiderman, who says that only his mom calls him Matthew. Okay, we'll call you Matt, but only because we can now call this photo "The Matt in the Hat."

The gang from Golf Magazine! They were so fun. I have their names in my email somewhere, please hold. Update: Here we go! L to R: Seth Kelly, Lisa Taddeo, Mike Corcoran, Lisa Freedman. I'm pretty sure I got my Lisas straight.

Matt in the Hat rocks out with Mark Remy! Partying is FUN.

Here we have the lovely and wonderful Lisa from Men's Health, whose last name escapes me (I will find and fix). But she was a peach. (UPDATE: Said peach was Senior Associate Editor Lisa Jones.) She's with Tom Lippert, not a writer but a friend thereto, and also coincidentally the son of a partner at my former law firm, with whom I interviewed for my very first New York job. So, thanks Tom! Say hi to Nels for me!

Jon Stern of Penthouse, with Bill whose last name is somewhere with Lisa's and the Golf Mag people (UPDATE: Schulz). People, just so you know, Jon Stern is hilarious (we were in a sketch class together), and also, he knows his Ragtime.

Seth Kelly of Golf Mag with Tom the not-media person but the yes-attractive person.

"Daily Show" writer Scott Jacobson, who has a cat, with Mark Remy. Fishbowl doesn't really concern itself much with the Daily Show, so we were pretty breezy.

Jon & Bill are friends. Aw!

Happy Chanukah! Latkes for everyone!

Do YOU have unpublished media photos for random barely-screened publication on Fishbowl? If so, send 'em in!

Last Wednesday Nerve threw a party in their SoHo offices just a hop, skip and a jump from the MB offices, so we hopped, skipped and jumped on over. The invitation had promised "a little live jazz and a lot of vodka" but as a bonus there were also several cheese plates plus veggies and dip, including some delicious and juicy tomatoes. A star-studded roster of hip downtown guests, including but not limited to The Onion, Salon, College Humor, HuffPo, Daily Candy, Bust, Paper, Flavorpill and Boing Boing were invited, as well as attendees from the New York Times, Harper's, New York Magazine and The New Republic. We're not sure they were all there but the party was pretty crowded, and people seemed to be having fun, which is the most important thing. A live pianist tinkled away as the guests tippled away, while behind them on various flatscreen computer monitors saucy photos of girls bending over and artfully-entwined bodies faded in and out. Sometimes people lost their train of thought in mid-conversation. Good clean fun.

The photos after the jump are equally hot, but in kind of a different way. Hey, you tell us when the All-Media Swingers Party is and we'll be there with the camera.

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Update: Esquire party details! (Which had nothing to do with Details except that Dan Peres is on the Public Theater's "Late Night" fundraising team). Anyhoo, enjoy!

Last nightweek Fishbowl attended the "Esquire Downtown" benefit for The Public Theater, and rubbed elbows with the likes of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rosie Perez, Cynthia Nixon, Ethan Hawke, Jeffrey Wright (who is AWESOME), Stephen Adly Gurgis and Billy Zane. We actually literally rubbed their elbows, which is why they asked us very nicely to leave. No, actually, we literally rubbed elbows because it was quite crowded, with all sorts of fabulous and attractive people plus many waiters carrying delicious cocktails and yummy appetizers, like the above-mentioned little soups, a creamy butternut squash with a chunk of delightfully strong cheese (bleu maybe?) and a walnut. Our bouches were amused.

More importantly, the party also featured a number of sporadically-staged readings around the giant Esquire apartment (see Cynthia Nixon on the right), which featured interior decoration by a number or artistes who obviously didn't underestimate the importance of being surrounded by Bloomberg screens. We'll have a full report on the event (we met David Granger -- he was so nice!) but it's late and your weekend has already started. So - enjoy this photo of Ethan, remind yourself not to stint on the bleu cheese and enjoy your weekend. We'll have full deets and more pics very soon!

UPDATE: Full deets and pics after the jump, as promised!

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Today's WSJ confuses me; it asks if Jane needs a makeover but seems to imply that any sort of change will be disastrous for the mag. Brian Steinberg wonders if it will "fare better under Brandon" - but I'm a bit confused as to where this urgency is coming from. I mean, yes, the mag is called Jane. But to suggest that the mag should immediately switch the title to "Brandon" is probably the single dumbest thing I've read today. I mean, Jane is very clearly a brand; it has been since 1997 and though it's been based on "the vision of founder Jane Pratt" it has been executed by a whole whack of talented staffers who have shared in that vision. The weight carried by the name Jane doesn't belong to Pratt alone; how could it? Too many people are invested.

To be honest, I remember being surprised when I found out there was an actual Jane (I haven't always been a media wonk, you know. There was a time when I didn't know what Condé Nast was). I had
always assumed that "Jane" was selected because of its sheer generic-ness with an eye to making it whatever you wanted it to be (and by the way I just found out now that Mirabella was a person). Back when I was a regular person who wasn't obsessed with media, I actually did not care who was editor of ANY magazine. I am not deigning to speak for all readers, I'm just saying that Madison Avenue (and the hyper-excitable WSJ) should chill; if Jane is doing well now, then they should keep on doing things well and free Brandon Holley up to have fun trying out new stuff to make it better.

Steinberg says that celeb-based titles have 'long-filled' the newsstand, but I have to point out that titles playing off a celeb like Oprah, Rosie and Martha came a good few years after Jane, and revolved entirely around the trappings of their celebrity. Jane revolved around less a person than an idea, an attitude.

If I sound totally biased here, it's because I am: I had the opportunity to meet and hang out with the Jane staff on Monday as they welcomed Brandon to their midst (yes, much like a pliant dwarf, Fishbowl is available to entertain at your event as well!). I have to say I was struck by a few things: one, they were all
extremely fun and warm and cool, but more than that, quite a few of them had been at the magazine for a really long time. That kind of longevity says something, I think (the fact that they've turned their
offices into a makeshift bar with a neon sign reminiscent of Coyote Ugly says something else, too - I must admit I closed the joint down,
though I stopped just shy of dancing on the bar). Warning, we're about to name-drop: we were very impressed with the neon "She's So Jane" sign given to newcomer Holley, who fired it up for us so we could bask in its (actually very flattering) glow; we were also impressed with the hospitality of Special Projects Editrix Linda Doyle and Art Director Miriam Blankenship, who made sure I had my fill of delicious cheese. Check out the pics after the jump - there is one of said cheese - but also don't be so quick to check out on Jane just because Jane's checking out (worst sentence ever, sorry) (and also, Hilary Duff likes The Smiths? WTF?). For the WSJ and anyone else who is still wringing their hands at the prospect of a talented dynamo of an editrix stepping down, I have two words for you: Janice Min.

Photos of my new girl-crushes after the jump. Look people, don't whine; if you want me to girl-crush on you, clearly all you have to do
is feed me some cheese.

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Folio's Dylan Stableford explores the fabulous and buzzy world of magazine launch parties, crunching the numbers they generate - and expenderate - and seeing if they're commensurate. Sometimes at Fishbowl we like to rap.

Stableford wonders existentially if going to these mega-hyped launch parties really makes you cool (we say yes - send your invites our way!) and, more to the point, what exactly it does for the bottom line. For Domino, the launch with the heftiest price tag at a reported $300,000 - not including the heavily-sponsored high-end gift bags worth about $700 each. Between the 2,000 square-feet of sod and 6,500 square-feet of boxwood brought in from Maryland to create an "English garden," the 15 chandeliers, assorted chaise lounges, and enough ottomans for your very own empire, the vast white space of Skylight Studios was completely transformed.

Obviously the point of these events is to generate buzz, the kind that can be sold to advertisers and readers alike. In Domino's case that goal was achieved - the guest list was maxed out (not to mention the gift bags) and according to Stableford the Domino brass consider it "the most successful Condé Nast launch in recent years." For its maiden issue, Domino sold approximately 200,000 copies and 300,000 subscriptions. Thanks to the launch party? Well, $300,000 has to help.

In the case of Work and Topic magazines, which each held parties on a slightly smaller scale to celebrate upcoming issues, the goal was getting out the bodies and the buzz: at Work, it was all about just getting people there, while Topic took it to the next level by getting the people to get the people there (notably David Cross but also Jonathan Ames and Andy Borowitz). Per Topic editor David Haskell: "Another major goal [in addition to raising cash to offset production costs]...is to keep our name out there and provide interesting, off-beat experiences." No gift bags, but the kind of party that makes you jones for the next one.

Of course the magalaunch with the most hoopla in recent months was naturally Radar, festooned as it was with flinging pies and a sprinkling of boldfaced boldfacers (Tina Brown, Mort Zuckerman, Al Sharpton, FishbowlNY). Here, though, the buzz had built to a high-pitched keening leading up to the event. Fishbowl had fun at the party and appreciated her Kabbalah bracelet, but that wasn't really the point; Fishbowl didn't end up writing about it, after all. What Fishbowl and everyone else ended up writing about was, of course, Piegate '05 and the drippy drama and flingy fun of it all (Stableford calls the pie episode the "creamy climax" of the lead-up buzz. We were inspired by his, uh, alliteration).

Yet despite the buzziness of it all, Stableford believes that magazine start-ups lead launches of quiet desperation. I'm not entirely sure I agree; everyone at Domino and Radar seemed pretty cheerful, pie notwithstanding. And it's my experience that hope and delirious optimism can count for a lot at the beginning (otherwise why start anything?). But either way, it's the buzz that matters. And in the meantime, I want to go to David Haskell's next party. Especially if there's a gift bag.

Fear and Launching in New York [Folio]

Related in FishbowlNY:
Domino launch party, and the gift bags that shall live in infamy
Worst. Party. Ever. (aka Adventures in Party Reporting)

On Monday, FishbowlNY.com officially launched, and we threw a party to celebrate. In the middle of a blizzard. (Okay, so we technically launched on January 31st, and the launch party probably should have been then, but arriving late is the only thing we do fashionably, so throwing the launch party a month later is par for the course. We're also posting the party photos late. We value consistency.) More photos by Eric Green after the jump. (And if you prefer your photos with snarky commentary, go here.)

UPDATE: Our Foreign Correspondent, SAC, wrote a parody that we couldn't quite bear to post ourselves (too, too painful). You can find it here. This is why we pay him the big bucks.

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