While making this site I have come across many colorful characters and personalities. Over the top, humble, young, old, and everything in between, which is interesting considering that I knew absolutely nothing about nightlife not too long ago. All this info makes for great stories, and my friends are constantly asking me for them, especially the ones that don’t live in a metropolis like I do.
So I present to you a little feature I’d like to add to the site – nightlife stories and interviews.
First off we have John Tasch, a full time student and promoter that learned that the secret to an awesome Batman like double life is sleep deprivation and multitasking. His dedication has gotten him featured with multiple clubs on this site, and he really knows whats up.
John shares with us some of his club stories, from his humble beginnings, to beating the recession, to the power of a positive attitude and WATCHING A GIRL CATCH FIRE RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM HOLY SHIT!
More after the jump
CelebrityClubber(CC): Hit us up with some quick info:
John: I was born and raised in central jersey. I am 22 years old and transferred to the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising in the fall of last year. I’m studying marketing. Before going to school in NYC I worked retail for about a year which sucked. Once I graduate college, I want to work in either public relations or event planning.
CC: So tell me, how did it all begin?:
John: I got into promoting by accident. It was never planned. It’s kind of funny my job is to go to clubs because before this, I was the most anti-club person ever. I went out one night with a girl I knew and she was going to a club with this promoter who will rename nameless. I never really understood how club promotions worked. He gave me an opportunity to work for him and I took it. I worked my first party at Mr West and the rest is history.
CC: so what’s your life like outside of work?:
John: Promoting seems to have become a 24/7 job. I have no life outside of promoting everything just seems to work around it. I was taking 6 classes and 18 credits at LIM, waking up at 930am after I would get home at 5am. If that wasn’t bad enough, I was interning at Nylon Magazine 3 days a week. My life is hectic; I would be making facebook events at school and sending out mass texts sitting in class. I would be going out between 4 to 6 nights a week while making time for school. My sleep schedule became absolutely crazy. I would get like 4 or 5 hours a sleep a night if I was lucky. I was already an insomniac so the whole promoting situation didn’t help the situation. I basically would sleep the second I got home from class until the time I had to go out. I would end up waking up every 20 minutes anyways to answer texts and emails. There is zero downtime. I get calls all hours of the day and night. But its all part of the job so it no longer bothers me. The only ‘life’ I have outside of promoting is when I would casually go home to New Jersey for a night. Seeing my friends from back home and my family is awesome. Driving a car is amazing since I live on public transportation in Manhattan. Going home is my only escape from this crazy life but even at home the calls and text still coming pouring in.
CC: Speaking of crazy life, what’s some of the wildest most random stuff you have seen?
John: There are so many that come to the top of my head. I’ve seen it all and experienced it all in the past 5 months I have been doing this. One thing that comes to mind is actually from a couple weeks ago. I witnessed a girl catch on fire at a club (I probably shouldn’t mention which one). Anyways, I guess her dress was draping over the candle at our table and she basically went up in flames. It was exactly like you see in the movies. I was standing there is awe not even having a remote idea as to what to do. Some girl poured her drink on her which just made the fire worst. I kid you not, her entire dress was in flames. It didn’t take long for her to put it out and be escorted out but yeah, that was crazy.
CC: May I interject with a Holy shit!
John: Yes you may
CC: Holy shit!!!!!
John: Seeing celebrities is cool, but the longer you do this job, the less phased you get. Its crazy for example, how my night starts at Pink Elephant, continues to Marquee, then to Cafeteria and ends with me hungover the next morning piecing my night together. I never know where my night will end. I tend to grab girls and take them to other venues when I get bored. There’s nothing about this job that isn’t wild or crazy. It’s my job to party and make sure everyone is having a good time. What better job can you ask for? This may be the best college job in the world. I see people I go to school working retail and at restaurants and what do I do? I go out and party and make money doing it. I haven’t paid for a drink in 5 months… nothing compares.
CC: Cool, so besides the free drinks, what’s the best part of the job?
John: The best part of my job is the obvious, going to all these amazing places and partying. I must have been out like 50 to 60 nights this past semester. Most people wont be to that many clubs in their entire life. Some promoters get so caught up in the partying they forget they have a job to do. This separates the good and bad promoters and essentially the ones that will last long and make a name for themselves and the ones who will be gone in weeks. I have seen many many promoters come and go. I thrive off making sure everyone is having fun. A lot of promoters don’t care about the people they bring out, its all about the money and numbers. I make sure every person who comes out with me is having a good time and its kind of rewarding. Its a two way street, these girls coming out are making me money so in return I need to make sure they are having fun. The job is amazing and the people I work with are awesome people to hangout with. I meet amazing people every night and the people I bring out always turn into long time ‘customers’. In this recession, how many businesses can say they are making money by offering a free service to people? Girls come out and drink for free with me, the club makes money from the bottle buyers I bring out, we get paid, the club makes money, everybody wins and everyone is happy!
CC: That’s cool, but like every job it can’t all be peaches and cream right?
John: There’s a lot of politics and bullshit that comes along with promotions but I wont get into that. Sometimes you can’t win, some people you can’t make happy. These negative people will bitch and complain about everything, waiting outside for 5 minutes while we talk to the door, bitching about the delay between bottles, people find fault in everything. It gets to the point where I have asked people to leave the table. Some people are too demanding, they seem to forget that they didn’t pay to get in and I’m feeding them free vodka all night so just stop complains and go with the flow. These people are rare but I will definitely encounter them at least once a week. I am always the barer of bad news when I tell some girls boyfriend or friend they can’t stand on the couch. The club wants my table filled with girls, not some drunken guys dancing on top of the couch. People get pissed; they grab their friends and go to another table. I learned to stop caring about these people. It’s also pretty shitty having to be so shallow when I work certain parties. If I know the club isn’t going to let in ‘big’ girls or the not so good looking ones, I need to make sure they don’t show up with me to prevent the embarrassment for both of us. I have seen groups of girls get let in and their 1 ‘not fit for this club’ friend gets casually shut up. It’s fucked up but its all part of the business. It sucks being the middleman and telling these girls they aren’t going to be let in when all their friends were already let inside.
CC: Gotcha, great stuff. In closing can you leave my readers with some advice on nightlife?
John: Here is some advice to follow when you go out. Always make sure your dressed well and present yourself well while waiting in line. The door guys at many of these clubs watch how people conduct themselves while waiting in line to determine if they will be a good mix inside the club. Guys, always show up with girls if you don’t want to be asked to buy a table, and even then they still may ask you. I hate seeing people bitching at the door guy to get in. These dudes work really hard and if they are telling you that you can’t come inside it’s probably for a reason. If you get shut out at the door, realize that it’s not the door guys fault and move on. There’s 1000 places in Manhattan and making a scene at the door wont get you anywhere. Dress well guys, this usually means a dress shirt, blazer, and dress shoes. You can get away with wearing jeans at most of these places. Girls always dress up, dressing very ’slutty’ doesn’t always get you into clubs especially the higher end ones. The most important thing about going out is developing relationships with people who work there, especially whoever is working the door.
CC: Thanks for everything and good luck with being Batman!
If you want John to handle your night out, feel free to reach him at (732) 804-6480, by email at johntasch@me.com or check out his Facebook Group page
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[...] in the picture is John Tasch, a NYC nightlife promoter. Long story short, he’s pretty good (even did a story on him a while back) Click Here To Subscribe Bookmark [...]
Thanks-a-mundo for the blog article. Much obliged.
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