Playing off a play-on-words, this month’s “Cocktails with Courtney” soiree featured the talented cellist, Kate Dillingham, at Flute. While named for the glasswear they serve the champagne in at this champagne bar, our musically inspired night brought out a hearty number of interested guests on the drizzly Tuesday, March 25th evening.
Among those who looked as fresh as a daisy, despite the rainy night, I got to chat with fellow sage Silicon Alley-ers like David Blumstein, Debbie Newman, Dara Tyson, EventMe!’s Volker Detering, UJA.org’s FedWeb project manager Joli Halper and attorneys Havona Madama and Steve Filler. Julio Cassels came by to check out who else might be out and about; as did t/bex’s Alexia Henke, Nicole Kikoski and Amy Weinrich (that’s sixdegrees.com founder Andrew Weinrich’s sister). Larry Kooper had an exciting update: he’s now the director of Strategic Partnerships at the The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Danielle Cyr, Steven Haines, and the Julie and Beth Flanagan duo were other guests that enjoyed a Bombay cocktail this evening as well.
And there were quite a few fine new folks that streamed in to listen to the strings like Skilo Brand’s Jennifer Maclure, Datamonitor’s SVP Debra Albert, Tiffany & Co.’s Pilar Bretos and Deutsch Banc Alex. Brown VP Miroslav Visic. Merrill Lynch VP Scott Hague invited his pal JEGI Capital associate Ashraf Shaaban. Morrin Bass and Ping Yu told me about their asset management program. Executive Color Systems’s Andrew Campagnuolo and Pantone’s Victoria Herbert were the color experts for the evening and as we prepared for the brief concert, I chatted with Nancy Jaffe and Chris McCarthy, who both just moved back to New York from San Francisco!
Kate’s performance was, as usual, moving, emotional, modern, edgy and classic. Her teaser was just enough to get guests clamoring for raffle tickets for a chance to see her concert at an even better price than already offered. For more information on getting tickets to Kate’s April 16th concert, please contact: http://kdlgm.home.mindspring.com/debut.htm or Merkin Hall: 212-501-3330 After she performed the enthusiasm and energy from the guests was significant. Les Concierges Christopher Hammett, American Airlines pilot Orit Katzir and Cisco Systems’ Nimesh Ganhdhi were among those who rallied. VantagePoint Venture Partners’ Jim Marver and Ken Kharbanda also stopped by for some Sapphire martinis and musically-inclined conversation and comraderie.
If you missed this Cocktails, never fear, we’ll be doing another preview for Kate a week before the concert so check your “Cocktails with Courtney” emails and http://www.pulitzer.com/calendar/index.shtml for all the skinny! (ps. The pics are up!