New York City Bartenders & Patrons

I was surprised to get the below e-mail. I am Irish-American, of course, and this is kind of a big deal in Ireland. I have been there ten times, and once I was there when this pageant was going on. It is like Miss America crossed with American Idol, a NASCAR race, and St. Patrick's Day on Second Avenue. So I am posting the whole announcement below, just in case you guys know of an Irish New Yorker who wants to enter. If she is a reader of NYCBP, I will be a sponsor for sure. Know of any great looking Irish girls?

Hello,

We are seeking NY-Irish girls ages 18-28 to be crowned The 2008 New York Rose of Tralee. If you have anyone who might be interested, please have them contact us right away as the interviews will be held on May 10th in NYC.

All of the details are below and attached in a word document for distribution.

Kindest Regards,

Elizabeth Kee
Committee Chairperson
New York Rose of Tralee Organization

Become The 2008 NY Rose of Tralee
Enter Now!!
The Search is on for the 2008 NY Rose!

The 2008 New York Rose of Tralee Selection Ball

The Broad Street Ballroom
41 Broad Street
(@ Exchange Place)
in New York City’s Financial District

Friday, May 23rd, 2008
6pm-10pm

*Rose Interviews will be held at
The Glucksman Ireland House at NYU
on May 10, 2008

For more information visit our website.

FAQs

What is The Rose of Tralee?

The Rose of Tralee Festival is an International competition, which is celebrated with entrants representing their Irish communities all over the world. The festival takes its inspiration from a nineteenth century Irish ballad “The Rose of Tralee.” For more information on the history of the Festival or the official website of the Rose of Tralee International Festival.

What are the requirements to enter?

• Be 18 years of age at the time of competition entry and will not have reached her 28th birthday on or prior to the last night of the International Rose of Tralee Selection on August 26, 2008.
• Be unmarried and have never been married.
• Be born in Ireland or of Irish origin by virtue of one of her ancestors having been born in Ireland.
• Never have previously represented any Centre as a Rose in the International Rose of Tralee Selection.
• Be available for New York Rose Selection, and if selected, be available for International Festival Events from August 22 – 26, 2008 inclusive.
• Be available for all New York Rose Events throughout the year.

How Irish do I have to be?

You must have some Irish heritage. There is no minimum or maximum percentage of Irish heritage requirement. It is a great reason to explore your heritage and discover your roots. This is encouraged of all applicants!

How “New York” do I have to be?

There is no exact requirement, however, you should be a good New York representative (i.e. know about where you live-if someone asks about the Empire State Building, you should know what it is. New York is The Empire State!”)

What if I don’t look like a Supermodel?

If you are anything like a supermodel, you won’t get far in this festival. This is NOT a beauty contest! It is an INNER-beauty contest! Most girls that are selected are the furthest thing from a “World Peace”, false smiling, stiff-hand-waving beauty queen. Usually girls that really know who they are and are not afraid to be themselves are selected as the NY Rose. We are seeking someone who is comfortable in their own skin, the kind of girl you’d meet and make life-long friends with! Beauty Queens need not apply!

What if I can’t afford the application fee?

You should not pay the application fee yourself- you should be sponsored. The idea behind the sponsorship is to involve your community, not to break your bank! If you need help making contacts, we can set you up with a Sponsor. All you have to do is ask!

What if I have nothing to wear?

You will need to have 2 outfits. The first outfit will be for your interview. Something you would wear on a job interview. Most girls wear a blazer and skirt or slacks, but some wear a plain cocktail dress with a jacket. The most important thing is that you are COMFORTABLE in your daytime attire. If you are wearing something that just doesn’t fit right, it is going to be difficult to be yourself- and “being yourself” is what the interviews are all about.

The second outfit should be a flattering dress. Most girls wear their best dress to the Selection Ball (some borrow someone else’s best dress!). This dress can be anything from what you would wear as a bride’s maid to a Ball gown you only thought you could wear in a fairy tale. Usually girls wear full-length dresses, but it is not a requirement.

You should wear something you think helps convey your personality and is appropriate to be seen in on a stage (no micro mini dresses as your friends and family will be seated below you!)

If you need help picking out what to wear, give us a call and we can discuss it or even meet you to give our seal of approval! 917.613.4326


Can I be engaged and still enter?

You if are engaged- Congratulations! And as long as you have not walked down the aisle and said, “I do!” before August 26, 2008, you can take part in the festival.

Who can I invite to the Ball?

Most guests are friends, family, sponsors and colleagues, but you can invite anyone you’d like! Tickets can be purchased on our website.

Can I bring my own Rosebud?

Rosebuds are girls, ages 5-12 that will lead you into the Ball for your introduction, and on-stage interview. They usually steal the show because of how cute they are with their tiaras and Rosebud sashes. It is not required, but if you have a Rosebud go here to apply. Please note your name on the application.

What if I win?!

If you are selected as The 2008 NY Rose of Tralee, you will be crowned by the current Rose of Tralee and there will be a flurry of photographers and friends and family hugging and kissing you!

In August you will be flown to Ireland (FOR FREE!) to compete in the festival, with all the Roses from all over the world. There will be Nation-wide television coverage of the Rose Selection that can be viewed on the web anywhere in the world. The best part is, everything (except souvenirs!) is paid for from the second you leave the NY airport until you arrive home as all accommodation and meals will be courtesy of The International Rose of Tralee Festival!

And you have a chance to be crowned to represent not just NY, but also the world, win a huge cash prize, a car and more!!

More details can be found on the International Festival’s website.
For unanswered questions or to enter, please visit the New York website.

Or call us at 917.613.4326

We hope to you will take part in this wonderful, historical tradition and enter to become The 2008 New York Rose of Tralee!

Labels: news

There is so much happening in March, that St. Patrick's Day (Monday, March 17) is too big a story for me. So I am going to the source of all New York bar news, Sean Murphy of Murphguide.com. According to Sean's list of all things Irish this month:

St. Patrick's Day is so huge in New York City that it takes a whole month to celebrate it, so March is St. Patrick's month in New York. Keep checking this space to help you plan your St. Patrick's Day (& month) activities.

Sean's drinking blog is also a good place to keep up with the daily happenings around the bars.

It looks like a big week to ten days coming up, so stay informed about where to go.

Labels: news

Sad news for the Upper West Side. Time Out was closed for good today. The plug was pulled on the venerable sports bar on Amsterdam and 77th Street early today. The staff was not notified in advance. At this time there is no plan for a “last night” party. The doors are locked.

For almost a decade, Time Out filled the space that was previously Boomer’s. It was a regular stop for anyone going to watch the big game (even with the worst TVs in town). Time Out was a terrific place to hang out, and had some of the best bartenders in the city. The longest-serving, Camit, had been on staff since September 2000.

This is a business, and for loyal regulars, the writing was on the wall. Just a few years ago the bar was busy seven nights a week and the upstairs was filled with people on a regular basis. But for some time now, the upstairs has been closed during the middle of the week, the bar has been not as busy as it once was.

The staff (five bartenders) is now out of work. If you know of a bar that is hiring, let me know, and I will pass it on to them.

I spoke to Carmit. “I’m sad,” she said. “These were my friends, all of my friends, and I’m going to miss them very much.”

We’ll have to plan an NYCBP party for Time Out soon, maybe at Yogi’s.

Post messages on the message board.

Labels: bars, news, upper west side

If you want bar news and specials, check out Murph's blog. In NYC, nobody has more bar specials and fun events than Murphguide. It is great that Murph has a blog now. Be sure to look at the news! You can find out what bar is having their first Sexy Lingerie Party on Thursday!

Labels: news

Let's have some bartender news from all over the map today...

ILLINOIS: A former bartender from Ireland, Kevin McTernan, started a cab service in suburban Chicago to get drunks and their cars home from bars. He started his service, Paddy Wagons, after he quit drinking and started a family. "I've seen a lot of people stumble out of the bar with intentions to drive," he said. "People driving drunk does not appeal to me." Now he passes out cards in bars to get people to reserve his service.

IOWA: So a guys walks into a bar and orders a drink a bartender does not know how to make. Do you know the ingredients to a Pissed Off Japanese Minnow Farmer? Well the bartender said he'd make it if someone gave him the recipe. Lucky for the customer, he whipped out his iPhone (a novelty in Iowa City?) and pulled up the recipe for the bartender.

UPSTATE NEW YORK -- A bar owner accused of letting an off-duty bartender drink too much before she caused a fatal car wreck on Super Bowl Sunday says he never saw her drink alcohol that day. This happened in Patterson, north of Danbury on the state line.

MANHATTAN -- How do you avoid champagne fatigue? The New York Sun asked a veteran bartender Jonathan Pogash to show off some cocktails made with champagne. Pogash worked at one of my favorite bars, the Campbell Apartment.

PARIS --- A Francis Bacon painting sold for 13.7 million euros ($20.2 million) at a Paris auction. Bacon's ``Seated Woman,'' a 1961 portrait of London bartender Muriel Belcher, went to an unnamed bidder in the auction room, a Sotheby's spokeswoman said. Seated Woman portrays an isolated woman on a seemingly dismantled couch. It shows her seated practically hunched over, and almost suspended between two swathes of lilac and bottle green. Muriel Belcher was a bartender at the Colony Room, Bacon’s favorite drinking hole in London.

NEW JERSEY -- Restaurant people are tops -- and doctors lead the terrible tippers list, as compiled by Bartender Magazine. The Best and Worst Tippers List is based on over 3,000 telephone and web site responses conducted by Bartender Magazine.

The Tippers Lists:

MAGNIFICENT SERVICE
Restaurant People
Regular Customers
Small Business Owners
Hairdressers
Liquor Salesmen
Limo Drivers
Salesmen

TERRIBLE TIPPERS
Doctors
Lawyers
Bankers
21-25 Year Olds
Teachers
Computer Nerds
Pipe Smokers

Labels: news

Did you hear about this in the news early this week, about the Hill Tap Tavern in Elmhurst, Queens? It seems the owner didn't give too much thought to the city smoking ban. When an inspector came in to cite the guy at the bar, which sounds like an old man bar and is located at 83-03 Grand Avenue, Brendan J. McCartan (maybe an Irish guy? you think?) decided to go Old School with the inspector. The report, according to The Times, says:

According to the criminal complaint, the D.O.I. undercover investigator detected an odor of cigarette smoke and observed one of the patrons smoking at the Hill Tap Tavern. The undercover investigator told the owner of the establishment, who was later identified as MCCARTAN, that there were problems with smoking in the bar. MCCARTAN asked the investigator to give him a break and said that he would give the undercover investigator “one.” The undercover investigator stated, “$100,” and MCCARTAN said, “Yes,” and that he did not want any violations. MCCARTAN told the investigator he would put something for the investigator in the bathroom. The undercover investigator went into the men’s room after he saw MCCARTAN enter and he found five $20 bills placed on the sink. The undercover investigator thanked MCCARTAN who responded, “It is Christmas.”

Wow. That guy is staring at 7 years in the slammer.

Labels: news, queens

I just learned Coyote Ugly Miami closed. It did not last even 12 months. That makes six of the chain that have closed since 2003: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, DC, Philly, and now the one in Coconut Grove. WTF? I thought the CMT show was a hit? How come the bars are closing in these major cities? It does not make sense. What do you think?

Labels: coyote ugly, news

Wow, believe it or not, there may be a crisis in the whiskey business. They are actually running short at one distillery in Tennessee. Thank God it isn't Jack Daniels. According to the Associated Press, the dilemma is going down at George Dickel, makers of the brand George Dickel Whisky No. 8. The report says:

It's scarce because the Dickel distillery shut down production from 1999 to 2003, trying to reduce inventory of the Tennessee sippin' whiskey. It worked. And since whiskey must age, it's too early for a new batch.

One thing I don't get is the spelling. Dickel likes to be more like Scotch whiskies, so the company drops the "e" and sells "whisky" and not "whiskey" brands. Apparently the brand is national, and is big in the Southeast and Midwest.

Anyone a fan of Dickel Whisky No. 8? Are there any songs about it?

Labels: news

You like Scotch? Did you hear about the auction that sold a rare bottle of 1926 Scotch whiskey for $54,000? It was a rare auction of booze, and not held in New York since Prohibition ended in 1933.

An anonymous collector dished out $54,000 for a bottle of whisky distilled at Macallan in Scotland in 1926, bottled in 1986 and rebottled in 2002. The Scotch had been expected to sell for between $20,000 and $30,000.

At those prices, you could almost put a down payment on a part-ownership of a bar, right?

Labels: news

The web site is back from the dead. You can thank one person for this: Alexis, the new managing editor. If she did not say that she would take things over here, I would not have brought the site back. So now you will start seeing her posting here on the blog and message boards. She is a terrific bartender who will bring a new perspective to the site. I've known her for a long time, and Alexis has worked all over town. Her first job was tending bar at a strip joint in Queens. She has worked at clubs, saloons, dive bars, and plenty of others.

Another cool thing is that her side business is selling sexy bartender clothes to her fellow drink-slingers. Check it out, if you are a bartender, she has great stuff at good prices. Alexis is a good businesswoman, which will also be good for the site.

I was really angry at the time I took the site down in November. As many longtime site visitors know, there was almost zero user participation in the site. Perhaps, with Alexis in charge, you bastards will wake up and take part in the community.

Please welcome Alexis as she takes over the site.

Labels: news

I love reading about bartender news. The thing about bartending and bars, there is always a news story, someplace. People love to read about drinking, and reporters love a good booze story. Such as...

Browns Mills, New Jersey: A beloved bartender died from complications of cirrhosis of the liver, and his regulars had some send-off for him. Francis J. Sinn was 62 and described in the Courier Post as a "grumpy old man" and a "charmer" by his former customers. So when he died, his ashes were tied to a balloon and sprinkled over town. I am not making this up.

Baltimore: A guy walks into a bar, drinks all night, is handed his tab, and according to the Baltimore Sun, "So this customer scratched out the prices he'd been charged on the check and wrote in what he felt he should pay." What happens next?

India: Guess what happened today? The supreme court in India ruled that women can tend bar. Welcome to the 21st Century. One story says,

"Young men and women know what would be the best offer for them in the service sector. In the age of (the) Internet, they would know all the pros and cons of a profession. It is their life… a citizen of India should be allowed to live life on her own terms," it said.

Antigua -- You know a lot of drinking happens on this island. I found this column in the Antigua Sun about a new book, the Cool Caribbean Cocktail Book.

Labels: news

So I pulled the plug on the site today. If you are a visitor to the message boards (now closed), you know I have been talking about this for 2 months.

I am not sad. It was a good run. Comments? Or are you still too lazy to post anything? LOL.

Labels: news

This one also comes from Murphguide. Our friend Aaron (of Coyote Ugly fame) is hosting this benefit party at his bar South 4th in Williamsburg...

Sunday, November 11
Benefit Fall Ball
For those of you who are wondering what South 4th is up to, it's means they are having a PROM. The theme is the Best of the '40s. Most importantly, the special reason why they are having the Fall Ball is that it will serve as a benefit this Sunday night for Gary Gray's father who was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor.

So we will be selling tickets to the Prom, and all the proceeds from those tickets will go directly to Gary's dad to help with his medical expenses during this tough time.

RSVP: kimmyhale@aol.com

If you RSVP for the Fall Ball, that will serve as your reservation for tickets.
Tickets are $25 per person, or $40 per couple, so specify how many tickets you would like when you RSVP
7pm-Mdnight
at:
South 4th
90 South 4th St. (Berry St.)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
(718) 218-7478

Labels: Brooklyn, news