The V.I.P. Section

Few club Promoters have had much success on St. Johns' campus, and since the departure of a four man team by the name of Members Only, the Party scene just hasn't been the same. College Love sat down with The Members: Brian Mills, Manny Mensah, Daryl Painter, and James Bellabre to talk about the UPS and DOWNS of being the Kings of Promoting in Queens.

"We Nurture the Party"-Members Only

CH: How'd you guys come up with the name Members Only?
MO: I put my Members only shirt on, but it has nothing to do with the clothing brand. Manny came up with it. I felt like Members Only meant it could only be us, we all went to the same high school, a boarding school called Church Farm School in Pennsylvania, except for James. We all went to St. John's together except for Daryl who goes to York, but we all live together. We're a family so Members Only is only us.
CH: What made you guys want to start club promoting?
MO: I used to D.J. in high school, basketball games and some in college before I transferred to St. John's. But we just started with House parties and it got to big to have it at the house. The parties in the house were too crazy. That's why our house looks like this. We tried to have our first party at this club, called club backdown but it didn't work so we moved it to the house. All sorts of people came out to our parties. We used to call downstairs "Woodstock"because mostly white people would come and party downstairs. It was everybody's spot. We were the 1st people to have people inside, outside, downstairs all partying at the same time. And we had free liquor at the parties. It took days to clean up. We got cool with the cops, but they always gave us summons'. Then Brian suggested we do something different. Our first club party was at a spot called Queen of the Sea on Merrick Blvd. We called it "From the Crib to the Club". Our first club party made us realize we can make this happen. Everybody was in there.
CH: What's the craziest party you've thrown?
MO:The "Lick me like a lollipop" house party(4/17/08), everybody got food and drinks and girls got lollipops. Our most successful party was the "Pre New Years Celebration"(12/28/07) at Deriver.
CH: What are some of the benefits of being a club promoter?
MO: If you doing good money is good. It's exposure, and you get to meet people. We like to dress, keep up on our "freshness". It's like another job. Constant flow of money.
CH: I heard no one can throw a party at Deriver unless they go through you, Is that true?
MO: That's not true, we have good control over what goes on there. We've established a real good relationship with them. We have priority and they ask us about other people. We walk in there like it's nothing, long line and all.
CH: What have you been up to since graduating?
MO: (Brian)I work at a hospital., Members Only and I take pictures for Datswhatzzup.net. (Manny) T.D. Bank and Members Only, that's my life. (Daryl) Self employed & Members Only. (James) Supervisor at a mental disability center for adults & Members Only.
CH: Are you just focusing on over 21 parties now and leaving the college crowd alone?
MO: For the most part because we're transitioning to the city. Our crowd dragged us to the city. 21 crowd is harder there's a lot more competition. We're old now we threw a party not too long ago at Deriver and it felt like we were chaperone's.
CH: When you were at St. John's was there any competition with other promoters? To this day is there any competition?
MO: Spynfo used to throw parties. Nobody else was really doing it at St. John's. But in the city there is a lot of competition, we're small fish in the city. People like showcase ent. and Empire ent. they throw like 3 or 4 parties a week to our 2 a month. But our hope is to make this a full time gig. We are a business.
CH: Have you guys made it big you think?
MO: Queens, locally, yea we are 1 of the top. All-around crowd and experience, everybody has fun at our parties. Through 07-08 We had the most popular parties in Queens. If you ask people that went to a Members Only party they'll tell you, they always have a good time.
CH: How much are you making from this?, in a year? and for a night?
MO: On average anywhere from $8,000-$9,000 a night. For the year on average about $60,000 a year before expenses.
CH: What other colleges do/did you promote for other than St. John's and what boroughs?
MO: Last year we hit up York, Old Westbury, Kingsborough college, Brooklyn College, Stony Brook, C.W. Post, Adelphi, Albany. Basically any school in a 20 mile radius.
CH: St. John's is kind of quiet with the party scene right now, would you ever come back?
MO: I want to come back. We're trying to do something new, opening new doors. We feel too old handing out flyer's to students. On special occasions we'll be back.
CH: House parties or club parties, which do you like better?
MO: House parties are easier, it's house rules. We don't have to worry about clubs. It's less work but less profitable.
CH: I heard some of you or one of you was a dancer, do you still dance? How'd you become a club promoter from being a dancer?
MO: I was a dancer, I was involved in orgs. like C.S.A., A.S.A., and I did fashion shows when I was at St. John's. I was always dancing to reggae. Dancing helped and put me out there. I'm the African that could dance to the Caribbean music.
CH: So, what are the worst things that have happened to you guys since you started?
MO: We have 3 stories...

• Polish Hall, the Expectations were high! Spynfo had come to us about having a party together with him, because we both had planned separate parties for the weekend. So we were already on a roll with the hot parties and just about to start our peak. It costed us $8,000 to throw the party and we promoted everywhere, the last three prior parties at this place were hot. Polish Hall (Hempstead, Long Island) could fit 800 people and we charged $20 at the door. We had Collie Buddz D.J., Mr. Vegas D.J. it was planned to be crazy. But the week before a fight broke out, people started fighting to Haitian music. So Nassau cops said only 300-400 people could come and we couldn't cancel the party. We took a big loss that night.
• Then, we had a Pajama party at the Chinese spot across from Duncan Donuts. We brought the D.J. we brought the bar. It rained like crazy,(90% of the time we have a party it rains, it means we're going to have a good party) and we had a decent crowd. We let the party go on after security had left for 20 more minutes. The next thing we know a girl came and said someone just robbed y'all box. Brian had a nervous breakdown. We lost about 3-5 thousand dollars that night.
• The Overnight celebrity party at Deriver. We spent a lot of money on promotion. I Love Members Only t-shirts. It was Brian's birthday. James told these dudes they couldn't get in they weren't dressed right for the club. They left, came back, and tried to shoot James. James got hit with a bullet in his back, that is actually still there.

CH: What parties do you guys have coming up?

MO: Every 1st Friday, club villa in the city. March 20th we're in the city, and April 24th we're back at Deriver for the "St. John's concert" after-party.

"In this game you're going to lose a lot of money, and make a lot of money, like the stock market. One day we're trying to get to the point where it's constant. "-Members Only