Who wouldn’t go for $1 tacos and $3 Jose Cuervo after a long day at work? That’s exactly what Avalon Danceclub & Lounge (205 N 5th St) offers on Tuesday nights from 4-8pm.
I didn’t have any other drinks besides the Jose crafted into a version of my signature Socialyte Delight (Jose, Pineapple Juice, Peach Schnapps and Grenadine) so I can’t speak on any of the happy hour prices, but each drink was indeed $3 even though I had mixed drinks.
My friend and I each had 4 tacos and that was plenty. I actually took one home. Avalon forgoes the traditional lettuce/tomato/sour cream version of a taco, instead opting to serve Chimichurri soft tacos in your choice of beef brisket(!) or chicken. Each taco is dressed with pico de gallo, sauteed onions, cilantro, chimichurri sauce and mexican cheeses. The torillas seemed like they were made fresh, and the meats were moist and flavorful. The toppings blend wonderfully to make a great tasting, and filling, taco.
Besides the food and drink, the atmosphere was nice as well. The patio was open, and it seemed as though the bartenders and waitstaff were as attentive to the patrons outside as they were to those of us taking advantage of the venue’s AC. One thing that my friend and I also noticed was the generous amount of male eyecandy in attendance. A few other ladies came in before we left, but we were definitely outnumbered.
Another night of Tacos N Tequila is tomorrow starting at 4pm. Ladies, I would definitely get down there to see what the place has to offer. Oh and anyone looking for a good taco and decent drink should stop by as well.
@Socialyte
This review was originally posted on thepulse-radio.com on 7/14/14
Monday, July 14, 2014
SHOW REVIEW: YO GOTTI AT XCLUSIVE ENTERTAINMENT CENTER
I was excited when I heard that one of my favorite artists, Yo Gotti was going to be performing at Xclusive Entertainment Center here in Columbus. My last concert experience there wasn’t a good one, but my fears were assuaged when I learned that this was a ticketed event and that no money would be accepted at the door. However, they did end up taking money at the door, and that ended up being a good thing.
One of my BFFs is also a hardcore Gotti fan and was totally down for paying the $50 ticket price (you could also get VIP to skip the line for $125, or VIP with a bottle for $250) so we were going to cop our tickets, but then we heard that another local radio station was having a text-to-win contest for tickets and a meet and greet with the rapper. Being that I run all of the station contests here at Pulse Radio, and know how the text club thing works, I decided to text in, and she did as well – and she won the tickets and the meet and greet! We were excited. Until no one called her to tell her how to get the tickets or when the meet and greet would be.
My bestie has a job that makes it hard for her to make personal calls, so I called the radio station on her behalf – and they didn’t even have her name on the list! The receptionist found her name somewhere, told me where the meet and greet would be, and I confirmed that the prize was +1. Side note: When I set up OUR contests, this is done under a specific text word so I know exactly who entered and won – and unless we need to pick a different winner, then the system sends a text to the winner(s). I expressed my concern to her when I texted in and only got the standard reply about joining the text club. My guess is that they picked their winners from the phone numbers of people that texted in, wrote it down and transferred the names to another list.
We arrived at the station’s studios at the designated time, only to be told that the meet and greet was cancelled until 9pm. That was fine as we still had some shopping to do. Around 5pm they called my BFF and told her that the meet and greet was cancelled. I was super disappointed – because I REALLY wanted to meet Yo Gotti in person.
As we pulled up to the venue later that evening, we were happy to see that the parking lot was as full as it is for the #PulseInvadesPrime events that Pulse Radio is there for every 1st Saturday. The line was rather long, but it moved quickly. Security was tight, there were metal detectors in place, and security personnel had wands to swipe you once you stepped through the detector. With the increase of violence in the clubs lately, I was glad to see that Xclusive was doing their part to ensure that their patrons were in a safe environment. Bestie and I sashay to the counter to check in – and learn that all of the winners except for 2, were only given ONE ticket. The lady that was taking money said she knew who I was because of #PulseInvadesPrime, but she couldn’t do anything. I was upset because who the hell gives away ONE ticket to a concert? Here at The Pulse, we ALWAYS give away a pair, and I had CONFIRMED that it was +1. I forked over the $50 and noticed that we had walked into a semi-empty club. Already having this experience at the same venue (we walked into the Elite side) I was unsure what would happen as far as the crowd goes.
I have to assume that a lot of people bought VIP tix because once the adjoining door was opened around midnight, and the people on the Elite side filed over to Xclusive, it was pretty good crowd. The first thing I noticed when we got in, was that the stage was set up with drum sets and lighting equipment. I was intrigued and was able to relax because it was evident that a show would be happening – or maybe it was the really good drinks, and the tunes by DJ Dru. Either way, my excitement for the show came back, and for good reason.
Although Gotti made the traditional club show arrival around 1am, he put on a GREAT show to a PACKED house. Accompanied by drummers, backing tracks, custom lighting and effects, he performed hits from his last album I Am, one of my favorite mixtapes, Cocaine Muzik 7 (The World is Yours) as well as some of his other past songs that Yo Gotti fans were eager to hear again. The crowd was stuck on Gotti’s every word, and rapped along to each song effortlessly. Not only is the 614 fans of Gotti’s, we also apparently love Meek Mill. As Gotti stated “Free Meek Mill”, he launched into Mill’s Intro and the crowd went crazy.
Gotti dropped his newest song “Errrbody” less than 2 days before the concert, and the attendees, myself included already had the song memorized. It’s definitely a banger that will continue to be in rotation on thepulse-radio.com.
I give the actual show 5 unbiased stars. The production was impeccable, the set list was great, and Gotti gave his fans their money’s worth.
To join the Pulse Radio text club for the opportunity to win tickets and prizes from our station, text ‘Pulse’ to 31996.
@Socialyte
This review originally appeared on http://thepulse-radio.com on 7/14/2014
One of my BFFs is also a hardcore Gotti fan and was totally down for paying the $50 ticket price (you could also get VIP to skip the line for $125, or VIP with a bottle for $250) so we were going to cop our tickets, but then we heard that another local radio station was having a text-to-win contest for tickets and a meet and greet with the rapper. Being that I run all of the station contests here at Pulse Radio, and know how the text club thing works, I decided to text in, and she did as well – and she won the tickets and the meet and greet! We were excited. Until no one called her to tell her how to get the tickets or when the meet and greet would be.
My bestie has a job that makes it hard for her to make personal calls, so I called the radio station on her behalf – and they didn’t even have her name on the list! The receptionist found her name somewhere, told me where the meet and greet would be, and I confirmed that the prize was +1. Side note: When I set up OUR contests, this is done under a specific text word so I know exactly who entered and won – and unless we need to pick a different winner, then the system sends a text to the winner(s). I expressed my concern to her when I texted in and only got the standard reply about joining the text club. My guess is that they picked their winners from the phone numbers of people that texted in, wrote it down and transferred the names to another list.
We arrived at the station’s studios at the designated time, only to be told that the meet and greet was cancelled until 9pm. That was fine as we still had some shopping to do. Around 5pm they called my BFF and told her that the meet and greet was cancelled. I was super disappointed – because I REALLY wanted to meet Yo Gotti in person.
As we pulled up to the venue later that evening, we were happy to see that the parking lot was as full as it is for the #PulseInvadesPrime events that Pulse Radio is there for every 1st Saturday. The line was rather long, but it moved quickly. Security was tight, there were metal detectors in place, and security personnel had wands to swipe you once you stepped through the detector. With the increase of violence in the clubs lately, I was glad to see that Xclusive was doing their part to ensure that their patrons were in a safe environment. Bestie and I sashay to the counter to check in – and learn that all of the winners except for 2, were only given ONE ticket. The lady that was taking money said she knew who I was because of #PulseInvadesPrime, but she couldn’t do anything. I was upset because who the hell gives away ONE ticket to a concert? Here at The Pulse, we ALWAYS give away a pair, and I had CONFIRMED that it was +1. I forked over the $50 and noticed that we had walked into a semi-empty club. Already having this experience at the same venue (we walked into the Elite side) I was unsure what would happen as far as the crowd goes.
I have to assume that a lot of people bought VIP tix because once the adjoining door was opened around midnight, and the people on the Elite side filed over to Xclusive, it was pretty good crowd. The first thing I noticed when we got in, was that the stage was set up with drum sets and lighting equipment. I was intrigued and was able to relax because it was evident that a show would be happening – or maybe it was the really good drinks, and the tunes by DJ Dru. Either way, my excitement for the show came back, and for good reason.
Although Gotti made the traditional club show arrival around 1am, he put on a GREAT show to a PACKED house. Accompanied by drummers, backing tracks, custom lighting and effects, he performed hits from his last album I Am, one of my favorite mixtapes, Cocaine Muzik 7 (The World is Yours) as well as some of his other past songs that Yo Gotti fans were eager to hear again. The crowd was stuck on Gotti’s every word, and rapped along to each song effortlessly. Not only is the 614 fans of Gotti’s, we also apparently love Meek Mill. As Gotti stated “Free Meek Mill”, he launched into Mill’s Intro and the crowd went crazy.
Gotti dropped his newest song “Errrbody” less than 2 days before the concert, and the attendees, myself included already had the song memorized. It’s definitely a banger that will continue to be in rotation on thepulse-radio.com.
I give the actual show 5 unbiased stars. The production was impeccable, the set list was great, and Gotti gave his fans their money’s worth.
To join the Pulse Radio text club for the opportunity to win tickets and prizes from our station, text ‘Pulse’ to 31996.
@Socialyte
This review originally appeared on http://thepulse-radio.com on 7/14/2014
Monday, June 23, 2014
CELEBRITY HOSTED CLUB EVENTS: ARE THEY REALLY NECESSARY?
If you’ve ever headed to a club in anticipation of seeing one of your favorite artists perform, or host, then ended up disappointed, you’re not alone. Some of my Pulse teammates and I spent our Friday night in a club, waiting to see a concert that never happened. Unfortunately, this has become a semi-regular occurrence for shows that are held in nightclubs.
Here in Columbus, I often hear the complaint that there isn’t anything to do. This isn’t exactly true, because when I log into Facebook and look at the events calendar, there are activities lined up nearly every day of the week. What I find the problem to be, is a lack of quality events.
It doesn’t take much for someone to put a party together and slap it up on the internet in the hopes that it will stick, but what else is being offered? Sometimes the flyers are made in Microsoft Word, and just make the whole thing look sketchy. Sometimes it’s an issue of the venue not being well known, or just the way it’s promoted. Many event organizers have several hundred social media friends, but unfortunately those friends and followers don’t always translate into a successful event.
It seems as if a lot of “promoters” are taking the hosted by route in order to cut down on the work that they have to do for their parties. What I am referring to, are the parties where a celebrity, pseudo-celebrity, or Instagram “model” is the main attraction to the event. I’m not saying that these are bad events, because I’ve been to a few of them (including the one that the pic is from) that were great. The question that I have to ask is: Why is this becoming the norm?
Booking public figures to host or perform at an event isn’t cheap. In addition to their fee, there may also be travel and lodging expenses. So why do this if you’re not sure that it’s going to turn a profit, or be a hot party? Back in the day, it was rare to have celebs in attendance at Columbus clubs unless it was a concert after party or something like that, but everyone still had fun, and actually danced! Think back to the days of Red Zone (I can’t tell you which time, but it was in the early 2000’s), Club Mecca, Icon, Cove, and 504. Hell – what about The Neon and Studio 69? I often hear that a club is “too far” to go to, but back in the day, people from all over the city took that trek far west on Sunday nights, or out north to go those clubs.
Nowadays, partygoers attend some events in the hopes of catching a glimpse of a celeb. Unfortunately, the celeb usually doesn’t even come to the club until an hour, or half hour before the club closes. Technically, the promoter has done nothing wrong, as they’ve fulfilled their promise of said celebrity being in attendance. They’ve likely also satisfied their bar guarantee if they have one, as the waiting patron will drink while they wait. I think that many would agree with me however, that this practice is annoying as hell. One might ask why the appearance is so short, if the guest is being paid. I’m just speculating here, because I’m not in people’s pockets, but this might have do with budget, or even just bad time management. When I wanted to have a rapper at my birthday party in NYC, I was quoted 12k for a 30 minute walk through. It wasn’t that serious for me however, and the party went on sans musician.
The “concert” that we went to on Friday had a late celebrity arrival, and was just frustrating in general. A rapper was to be performing at an entertainment center on the eastside. I actually got there on time for once (shouts to Reem) and when we got in the building, I said “wait a minute, this is the wrong side”. After I verified that the concert was indeed taking place where we were, I looked around and noticed that there was only a sprinkle of people there. The venue looked nice, Hennessy Girls kept giving us shots, and that was all well and good, but when I looked at the clock, after a few drinks and the club still not filling up much, it was nearly 1am and still no artist.
Around 1:30, some rappers, that I assume to be local, but had never heard of; came on stage and performed a couple of songs. Then, around 1:45 the DJ announced that the rapper of the evening was in the building. About 30 or so people gathered (this cannot be described as us crowding around anything) at the front of the stage waiting for him to perform a song. Unfortunately, we’re still waiting for that to happen, because what actually occurred was the DJ playing songs from the rapper and his camp while asking if “we remembered this song” while the rapper drank with his entourage and smoked a blunt, then got on the mic and thanked the crowd for coming out. Umm WHAT? At this point, I was over it because I felt lame as hell, and like I was at a rapper zoo, so I went to go get a drink. I needed one.
While the rapper was uber cool, and took pictures with all of us, I feel that what we witnessed was a result of poor promotions and relying on the celebrity’s name to push the event. The only radio ad that I heard, besides the ones that we ran on thepulse-radio.com was on our way to the venue on Friday night. I didn’t hear anyone talk about it, or see any posts on social media except the people that I went with and met there.
I have to assume that the reason why we got an appearance instead of a concert was due to low ticket sales, as many promoters rely on these funds to pay the balance of the contract once the initial deposit has been made. I’ve come to this conclusion because: 1. The event was moved to a smaller venue, 2. The tickets were originally sold on Ticketmaster, which is mainly used for concerts. If there was never to be a concert, and was always an appearance, then I stand corrected, but it wasn’t promoted as an appearance.
For the record, the lack of attendance had nothing to do with the venue or its location, because Pulse Radio invaded an event at the same venue the next night, and it had WAY more people there, with no celebrity host or performance. That just goes to show that it’s not really necessary. Let’s bring back quality events and when partying was fun. The people, DJ, music, and atmosphere make a party hot. Not celebrities.
How do you feel about the parties in your city? Leave a comment below!
@Socialyte
This story originally was originally posted on thepulse-radio.com on 6/23/14Friday, February 14, 2014
New Music: Beyonce ft. Kanye West - Drunk In Love (Remix) - Yay or Nay?
Well, Mr. West has jumped on the track that has the hoodest of hood chicks thinking that they should be at Pac Sun (Surfboardt). This is basically an Ode to Kim Kardashian and what they do in the bedroom. From his descriptions, it seems as if she's doing better than she was on that tape.... What do you think of it? Yay, or nay?
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
New Music: King Fresh - T.G.I.F (Thank God I'm Fresh)
King Fresh, who is 1/3 of the super group Luxury League, and VP of Young World Muzik Ent., released his solo debut T.G.I.F (Thank God I'm Fresh) on Friday 1/31/14. I was introduced to Luxury League while doing promo for Rich NYCe's hip-hop documentary 614 Days of Summer and became a follower of their music. When I learned that Fresh was dropping an album, I was excited because I knew that I could expect a quality product. He did not disappoint.
While many artists today are releasing EPs with only a few songs, King Fresh's T.G.I.F. is a 15-track masterpiece with production by Selah Benjamin, C10, SupaNatra, Billionaire Boyscout, Miss Weezee, Lake Erie Monsta, and Shane Tubaugh. One-dimensional this album is not. While the songs Save Us, Bartlett, and Exotic, include the type of boasting that one would expect from someone named "King Fresh"; the artist taps into his emotional side and caters to the ladies on tracks Where She Go, Never Thought, and Situation. Luxury League's C10 and Selah Benjamin make an appearance on Let It Go. The infectious beat makes the track the perfect song to start a club night off right; and RSVP is crafted like a movie, giving the listener a peek into Fresh's past and how he came to be. Listen to American Nightmare through to the end, and you will see why the "American Dream" is not all what it's cracked up to be. Needless to say, this project has something for everybody.
King Fresh says,
"I believe that where ever you are in life is only because you're supposed to be there. If you're at the top or at the bottom it's all because you made it that way. If you want to be at the top, or you're not happy with where you are currently... Work your ass off to change it. And with this album (TGIF~Thank God I'm Fresh) the world will know where I'm headed; and that they can do it too."
Peep the album below, and grab your copy from Audiomack.com
Fresh is a native of Cleveland, but relocated to Columbus, Ohio to attend The Ohio State University. He still resides in the city after graduating with a Bachelor of the Arts degree.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
1/13/14's Monday Night Mashout on Pulse Radio
Check out the Monday Night Mashout with DJ O Sharp and yours truly from 1/13. I
talk entertainment news and provide tips for a good club experience, which I've
listed below. You can reach DJ O Sharp on Twitter at @djosharp and me at @socialyte
1. Prepare to pay.
Even if there is a special to get in free, things happen… you don’t want to get caught
at the door looking stupid because you don’t have $ to get in. People get 2nd hand embarrassment
from watching people tiptoe away or haggling over a cover charge. Your friends will also be pissed if they have
to leave because you don’t have it.
2. Set your budget.
If you and your people are going out, use the “put with” method and see
what yall have collectively. Which
brings us to my next tip.
3. Pregame. Have a drink or 2 before you get to the
club so that you have the money for the door and have a few drinks for inside
(I ‘m not condoning drunk driving so if you’re driving you might want to take
some unopened airplane bottles and drink in the parking lot). Get some food so it soaks up by the time you
have to go home or take a cab.
4. Go early enough to get in free. “Ladies free all night” usually means until
11:59. Midnight is AM. You’re welcome. Ask a dude if you can skip the line because
he has to pay regardless.
5. Don’t look for handouts – don’t come to the door
looking for the owner/promoter thinking you have some kind of imaginary pull. 9/10 the door person doesn’t care. Also, the owner has nothing to do with the
door because the promoter is likely paying EVERYBODY including security. Have money to at least get in, and get a
drink. Also, if the owner/promoter is your friend: SUPPORT THEM!
Thursday, December 19, 2013
The Monday Night Mashout on Pulse Radio
I had the pleasure of being on the Monday Night Mashout with DJ O Sharp on Pulse Radio. We talked about the film (614) Days of Summer, Columbus artists, Beyonce's new album, Love and Hip Hop New York, Reality TV and more! It was a great time and I'm looking forward to doing more radio in the future.
The livest 2 hours in radio goes down every Monday night at 8pm! You can tune in at Pulse Radio, The Usual Suspects site, or by searching "pulse2k13" on the TuneIn App. Check it out below and let me know what you think!
The livest 2 hours in radio goes down every Monday night at 8pm! You can tune in at Pulse Radio, The Usual Suspects site, or by searching "pulse2k13" on the TuneIn App. Check it out below and let me know what you think!
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