Cute new security guy Brandon-from-Boston gets a lesson from a veteran on how to wristband a lady, and I'm happy to be his test subject. Inside, the night is still young. Nag champa incense burns itself down in the booth where DJ Jimbo is spinning fresh and lively beats, careful not to bog the crowd down with too much too early. Owner Greg Neely is making his rounds, kissing ladies' hands and shaking the men's. Suited VIP hosts are seating parties all around the dance floor, which is quickly filling up with bodies. The bold ones get right up in the DJ's face with digital and cell phone cameras.
At 1 a.m., the music changes as DJ Dan takes the helm. His beats are deliciously dirty—"Dirty with a capital D and lots of rrr's," I tell him—and punctuated with all kinds of sound effects. The fog machines start up, and soon I can just barely make out the glow of a few cigarettes. Surprisingly, I count only four Glo Sticks. The main room's back bar rhythmically changes color: red, green, blue, red, green, blue ...
Before I realize it, 30 minutes pass. On the floor, everyone seems to check out and enter their own world. When a break hits, the crowd cheers and shows Dan some appreciation. When his beat becomes a pounding, driving, thumping, grinding race to the finish line, I can tell he's winding up his set.
It becomes so foggy that I can't tell at first if my favorite go-go dancer, Rhia, is on the hip-hop room stage. Tall and willowy in fuzzy boots and barely-there shorts, bopping away to Sean Paul's "Temperature." She tips her pink Ed Hardy hat at me and winks. "You like my li'l devil?" she asks. Ice resident Mark Stylz lets guest DJ Scene take over. Brian "Scene" Herwander, an official MySpace DJ and opener for DJ AM, asks if I'm on Myspace. "It's like having a child!" I laugh. "What ever happened to ‘Do you have a business card?'"
At 2:50, I'm taking in Sandra Collins' smooth, undulating set from the VIP balcony, where an unofficial DJ convention has gathered, with DJs Dan, D:Fuse, Mike Hiratzka, Rap, Scott Stubbs and MC Flint, all relaxing in a booth. "I love it," D:Fuse says of Collins' performance. "Right up my alley. She played one of my songs tonight, so I'm happy!" DJ Brian Hart, who does double duty as a VIP host and promoter at Seamless After-Hours, pops in before work to check out the crowd. His birthday was last week: "From what I remember I had a great time!"
Brian Klimaski, director of VIP services, sums up the best moment of the night as the look on everyone's faces when Ice's former marketing director Michael Fuller (now the N9NE Group's director of corporate marketing) showed up with just a two-minute warning. "Ice was his life. It was really nice to see him take his Saturday night off from his property and join us."
Neely approaches to kiss my hand and wonder aloud why I'm all by myself. He definitely isn't expecting me to whip out my note pad and start firing off questions. "I have a love affair with this club," he says. "The customers who come here are like no other, and I am so proud to give them a place to have fun." He then insists I meet him in the hip-hop room at precisely 4 a.m. to witness the Greg Neely All-Request Hour. He spins me around the stage for what seems like hours to two Michael Jackson hits, two Lionel Richie standards, and Neely's personal theme song, "Footloose."
There are nights you remember, and then there are nights you never forget. At 4:50, I take a look in my rear-view mirror at the glittery tower at the corner of Harmon and Koval. In three years, despite numerous management changes and an uncertain future, it still lights up the dark like a signal fire, letting the world know that at least for now, this house still belongs to Ice.
Xania Woodman thinks globally and parties locally. And frequently. E-mail her at
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