Who Wants to See a Billionaire

The Bobcats wasted no time getting back to business last week; their special invite we'll call a cocktail party introduced young and poor alike to the hidden hallways of the Arena for some season ticket prospecting.

Resembling the old Coliseum's Crown Club, this VIP lounge adjacent the courtside exit is normally limited to Inner Circle Club members parting ways with over $200 a game. But bottomless Heinekens and a meet and greet with owner Bob Johnson and Coach Bickerstaff lifted the veil on its affluence.

Never mind that Bob donated $33,000 on the spot to local charities or took fan Q&A about the elephant in the room--the conspicuously-absent Michael Jordan. The evening's rimshot at the conclusion of the short presentation was the invitation to observe the final auditions of the Bobcats Dance Team.

Still lacking a catchy nickname (remember my prior suggestions? Cat-tails, Felines), the creepy assembly of men sitting at the court's perimeter with drink in hand (myself included) could not console the crushed hopes of the last cuts. The final twenty or so should have no problem stretching the entertainment dollar, or those tight boyshorts.

Back to business. According to account executive Ryan Coman, early season ticket sales are brisk, up some twelve to fifteen hundred since season's end. The $199 season ticket is popular, accounting for some five hundred of those to date. The average thirty-three percent reduction in prices doesn't hurt, and neither does MJ's sudden involvement.

Wednesday's draft party (June 28) starts at 6:30 pm and is open to the public. For season ticket info call Ryan at 704-688-8814 or 704-BOBCATS.

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Believe it or not, but I'm investigating a lead that Joe's Raw Bar (Central & The Plaza) is hosting a skeeball league. A full review is forthcoming, but "skee-son two" starts in late August.

My oh my, is Whack-A-Mole next?

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Defending my position that the best spot to catch the July 4th fireworks show will be the balcony of Loft 1523, owner Adam Whalen is capitalizing on the event with a specially-ticketed six-kegger, catered food, and patriotic drink specials.

The price? A lofty fifty bucks, but the fireworks will be shot off the rooftops of CPCC, some three blocks away. A 4:00 opening leaves, um, some five hours before dusk to get your money's worth. Probably a good idea to take Wednesday off while you're at it.

Wave over Adam's name above for email, or call 704-953-1757.

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Talk amongst yourselves: Flat-rate tickets to get into bars for all you can drink a good idea? A bargain? Or a rip? Post your replies. (Consider: New Year's Eve, overindulgence, tip not included, mystery beer)

Reach Bryan. All emails will be answered.

Fashion Your Seat Belt

Thankfully, I wasn't the only one not clad in all white for last Wednesday's White Party hosted by Elevate.

I was half-white, with no racial pun intended.

While yet another event to raise founder Steve Caldwell a little dough to benefit Kids First of The Carolinas, the matter was a first-rate mid-week excuse to iron your best linen, and find a million reasons to spill sauce on it.

The flat rate ticket earned the usual unlimited beverage and food selections, and a fashion show at dusk provided by Modern Salon & Spa.

Now, I don't like fashion shows, because skinny models really creep me out, and I find fashion altogether effeminate. But the evening's brief raucous atmosphere and a well-oiled soundtrack didn't have me feeling like turning in my man card.

Instead, I reflected on the city's past, and realized that we never would have had something like this five or ten years ago.

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The16th Annual Lake Bash, hosted by aqua-celeb Ronnie Stephens, will raft up at its usual spot on Lake Norman at marker D-5 starting at 1 pm on Saturday.

Expect this reporter to be present, but I won't be working. Somehow the attraction of over three hundred boats and fifteen hundred people might encourage me to lose something valuable like a digital camera or a certain nightlife notebook, chock full of goodness with your business card after over three years of this work.

Bring your own beverage, food, and well, just about everything else as I wouldn't expect Mr. Stephens to foot your bill, either (hot dogs will be provided).

Directions by land? Find someone who has a boat, and mooch like me. If necessary, call Ronnie at 704-905-3457 or 704-664-6147 or www.lknfun.com's Nate Davis at 704-953-8138 for additional information.

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Cans would like for you to know that starting Sunday, June 25th at 8 pm, they will begin offering what I believe is the only live karaoke in the city, accompanied by local fave Orange Crush.

As a fellow crooner myself, a chance to sing with a live band is intriguing, but not on a Sunday. It takes a PBR tallboy or two of liquid courage beforehand, and I'll be darned if I'm going to miss Entourage on a school night.

But if you'll hug it out with me, maybe I could be easily persuaded otherwise.

Reach Bryan. All emails will be answered.

Strike, They're Out

The recent demise of downtown's Angry Ale's and Hoops & Dreams wasn't surprising; location and adaptation, respectively, ran out the clock on these sports establishments.

Is our appetite for televised athletics fizzling like Bobcats' season ticket sales? Hardly. Ale's suffered from a geography handicap, where the desolate stretches of Church and 3rd were only populated during home Panther games. H&D never shook the stigma of its comparisons to an airport bar and a pesky nightlife writer who picked on its cheesy menu headings.

Picasso's Sports Cafe will replace Ale's, supposedly waiving the aforementioned location issue, while Verona Lounge will occupy H&D's former second story spot over the 5th and Tryon intersection. Picasso's East Boulevard location will be unharmed.

Other suggestions for H&D's old prime spot:

• Duty-free shop; they got that airport thing going for them.
• Storage for a creepy mannequin display, with all that glass up there.
• Free BB gun target practice--make your best spiderweb crack!
• Innovative satellite Charlotte-Mecklenberg police station, to detain the surly types in a drunktank while we peep.
• Blow out all that glass, and make it the city's largest tiki bar.

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Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Charlotte cordially invites you to save the date on July 20, 2006 for an evening with aspiring heavyweight champ Calvin Brock at Cans from 6-8 pm.

I don't know the man, but he's awful pretty in his press release and I wonder how this "boxing banker" keeps that nose so straight. It almost makes me not want to hit him.

The event's interest is in recruitment; obviously, this organization's influence changes lives, but let's hope they leave the Little Brothers and Sisters at home while promoting their cause at a bar.

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While the University area teems with traffic and coeds, CarolinaNightlife.com is capitalizing on the sun with pool party dates at area apartment complexes.

I see no July dates, but a combination of bikinis, free drink and food, and a DJ would indicate that this coming weekend's first trip to Campus Connection may change that...if the bikinis show up.

I see no problem there.

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Grand Central celebrates its third anniversary on Saturday night with a little help from its friends at Lazyday.com where they'll buy your Bud Light from 7 to 10.

I've long preached this is the new Hut, for those who remember The City's Best Former Tiki Bar on College Street where eighties and nineties singalong ruled the day.

A good friend of mine calls it Satan's Lair, where its dark myths have dropped him all over the city in strange girls' apartments. Even the Number of the Beast on 6/6/06 left it unfazed.

Here's to many more.

Reach Bryan. All emails will be answered. Join his Myspace friends group...none of his real friends will sign up.