'Twas the night before the tree* was to be lit when all through the city, not a soul could sleep. Sugar plums were dancing in their bellies from the recent Thanksgiving feast and bristling with anticipation, the guests of Cocktails with Courtney at Pulse Restaurant had a perfect view of the darkened tree...guarded and gawked at.
The soiree was delightful. The guests were brimming with wit. Confetti was on the tables and glitter was on some cheeks, thanks to sparkly Rainbow Heart and his creative face painting! Janine Trusello of Hip Vintage, and who was an integral part of the Cocktails with Courtney business during 2002, looked stunning in her rose silk top and long black skirt. She mentioned that the vintage clothing business online is a hot market and she has been recently elected to the Vintage Fashion Guild's (www.vintagefashionguild.org) Board of Directors.
Doubleclick's director of Research and Industry Relations Rick Bruner and Research Manager Heath Row (http://mediadiet.net) stopped in to schmooze. Rick came to my first CWC in San Francisco, when it was hosted at the stunning home of Bill Ryan, one of my business advisors. Singers and otherwise vocal extraordinaires Laaraji and Elizabeth Soychak (http://cdbaby.com/cd/soychak) met and mingled while Rainbow Heart painted a flourish on Elizabeth's left eye.
No eye-flourishes but exciting nonetheless, the Hudson River Museum's Special Events & Individual Giving Manager Allison Martin and her friend Marie-Louise Seelig chatted with Avenue-e Health Strategies' EVP Managing Director Anthony Manson. Anthony and I also tried to see if we knew where other former Young & Rubicam interactive people (from 1997-1998) had landed and what they were up to (If you're reading this and remember Y&R before it was even Brand Dialogue, drop us a line!)
Robert Weintraub of Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP and Dean Gamanos who does marketing and Grape Getaways (one-day trips for wine aficionados) also got to meet up and chat with some CWC regulars like Richard Allen Charles Leider (who's going to be launching a new site in January), NBC's Jim Andrews and attorney Havona Madama.
Anthony Citrano was regaling Lisa Latter (up from New Orleans) and I about his 7-weeks of international travel and what he'd do differently (fewer trains). Anthony had this luxurious time off after he sold his business and plans on more travel soon. John Bachir and Timothy Appnel geeked out later in the night talking about how they each were easing the blogging world with their programming finesse.
It was yet another lovely, low-key cocktails, a pleasant change from the massive mash-ups during the earlier boom! Check out the PICTURES: http://public.fotki.com/pulitzer/cocktails_with_courtney/2006/cwc-~-post-thanksgi/
A chronicle of the people and events in technology, internet and media since 1997, mixed in with snapshots of musings and observations.
