Denver’s DJ Kostas K was in Miami on Monday night to kick off the Winter Music Conference, fresh from a great showing for his set at Tabu nightclub here in town on Saturday.
For his Monday night club set at Miami superclub Mansion, Kostas wanted to get a little funky to make sure the dance music festival started off on the proper beat. “I’m doing a lot of new electro-house stuff,” he said earlier this week. “But I’m bringing a whole lot of high energy to it and adding elements of trance and progressive too.”
The music conference is still in full swing, but Kostas is back in Denver, busily working on opening his first local club. He’s taking over the old Palace Events Center at 940 Lincoln St., and hopes to change a neighborhood eyesore into his high-flying vision of a “boutique nightclub” and lounge.
The new club, called DC10, will be modeled after the first-class lounges on the massive airliners of the same name. Just check your fear of flying at the door; Kostas’ plans include walls designed to look like the windows of an aircraft, complete with flat- screen monitors displaying custom visuals of takeoffs, flights, skyscapes and landings. And the fun won’t end there.
“The whole place is like an airplane inside,” he said. “Not only will we re-create the flying scenes, but we’ll have signs that say ‘fasten your seat belt’ and servers in sexy stewardess outfits.” DC10 is tentatively set to open in mid-May.
hurch, Monarck are up for awards
Speaking of the Winter Music Conference, Denver once again is represented well in the Club World Awards, which will be announced tonight in Miami. The awards are presented by Club Systems International, a club industry trade mag.
Among the expected nominations for hot spots in Vegas, NYC, Miami and Hollywood, our little not-such-a-cow-town boasts two of its own. The Church (1160 Lincoln St.) is up again for Best Club (it won the award in both 2003 and 2004), and Monarck lounge (1416 Market St.) and interior designer Jeffrey Elliott are up for Best Interior Design.
They’ll announce the awards tonight at an invite-only industry bash on the rooftop of crobar 24 @ Nocturnal, in downtown Miami. After the presentations, a slew of national and international DJs (including Richie Hawtin, BT, DJ Dan, DJ Hell, DJ Irene, Doc Martin, Josh Wink) are set to keep the party going until dawn.
We’ll know the winners soon enough, but the fact that Denver has two nominations in a list dominated by big-city superclubs makes me think we’re definitely doing something right here in the Mile High City.
Funkster Nocentelli at Dulcinea’s
Tonight and Saturday night, Dulcinea’s 100th Monkey scores points in a different way. The intimate bar is known for its jazzy neighborhood vibe, and this weekend it plays host to Leo Nocentelli, one of the founding members of the legendary New Orleans funk group the Meters, who defined their Southern funk sound in the ’70s and won the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001.
Nocentelli’s talent on the guitar goes behind funk. He has played with many of the best in the business, working as a session musician for the likes of Stevie Wonder, Patti LaBelle, Peter Gabriel, Dr. John, Sting and Bonnie Raitt.
After relocating to the West Coast and breaking from his band more than a decade ago to travel solo, he’s one of those underexposed talents who can play the best of rock, jazz and blues, but remains a New Orleans funkster at heart. Catch his sets up close tonight and tomorrow at Dulcinea’s (717 E. Colfax Ave., 303-832-3601), where he’ll be joined by musicians from Denver bands Polytoxic and Little Hercules.
Kat Valentine writes about night life Fridays in 7Days. Reach her at kat@kingproduction.com or call 303-820-1568.
