So, my iPhone just upped and died on me this morning. Apparently, all of the excitement of the Webutante Ball last night at the Empire Hotel in Manhattan’s Upper West Side neighborhood was just one party too much for it. In the process of dying, it deleted my not-so-professional photos of the scene, but thankfully Nick McGlynn of Random Night Out is never far away from any party (Eventually, there should just be a “Nick Signal” to let you know which party he’s at and is worth attending). You’ll find one here. Others, I’ll put up shortly with the proper credit.
So, I wasn’t originally planning to attend this. Regular readers of the weekly Consortium List will have noticed that it certainly wasn’t on my schedule. But, due to the nagging of Mashable’s Brett Petersel, Courtenay Bird, entrepreneur Oz Sultan, and others (who thought it would be fun to show up in jeans and blazers), the Roger Smith Hotel’s Brian Simpson, McKinsey & Co.’s Devin Brown, and NYC IT man-about-town Brian Papa and I jumped in a cab (ignoring the several livery ones who wanted to charge us 30 dollars for the privilege of arriving in style) and headed over.
Arriving late, we missed the open bar. In line and without an umbrella, I found freelance animator Lisa Daly. My sense of chivalry immediately took over and I stood there in line with her, shielding her from the early-summer rain with my more professional umbrella, the one I purchased about a year ago when a torrential downpour almost derailed my plans for a Bloody-Mary brunch after the Gay Pride Parade in the West Village. Unfortunately, I had to abandon my party in the process, but really, who leaves a woman in the rain all by herself outside of a tech-y party?
The line, it wasn’t a big deal. In fact, it moved so fast that we got to the front in time to see Web designer Rex Sorgatz and his date arrive and inform the bouncer that he was “on the list.” (Was this list even remotely important? On my way out, I ran into Web TV personality Shira Lazar in line. I mean, really. Lazar even had to wait in line?)
Upstairs, I found Tumblr blogger and “muse” Krisanne Crabill looking very much the webutante. She told me that she was at the party with her date, possible Webutante Ball Queen and freelance photographer Mo Pitz. I jokingly asked if we should start discussing our “tumblarity” now. She laughed. She knew I was kidding. (Who does that sort of thing?)
Then, it was off into the “sauna” that was the covered, special-party area. I found our hosts, media “power couple” and authors of the ThisIsWhyYoureFat.Tumblr.com blog Richard Blakeley and Jessica Amason looking the part of online-media society host and hostess. (Richard, before I forget, what I wanted to say is that you look “more and more Mad Men every time I see you.”)
Almost immediately, I saw many times many people I know, including social-media strategist Nichelle Stephens, the New York Post’s Justin Rocket Silverman, freelance writer Twanna Hines, Ask Melissa’s Jennifer Wright, Charitini.com’s Rachel Sklar, Andrew Cherwenka, Save The Assistants’ Lilit Marcus, the Daily News’ Davina Anthony (whom I totally didn’t recognize in her Webutante Ball dress), freelance writer Tom Hudson, Web entrepreneur Julia Allison, Cake Group’s Julia Kaganskiy, L magazine’s Andrea Rosen, freelance writer Matt Harvey, East Village Idiot’s Chris O’Leary, Liz Pullen, The New York Times’ Brian Stelter, Soraya Dorabi, and Evan Sandhaus (whom I just saw at the Semantic Web Meetup the day before), YAI’s Alice Hunt, and the “Chat Pack” from the recent happy hour at the Roger Smith Hotel. If I missed you, which I probably did, please e-mail me.
And, guess what? We’re not done yet! By my calculations, Internet Week doesn’t formally end until blip.tv’s party Wednesday. I’m sure that I’ll see you all there, just a little less formally dressed.
