Baird Jones Memorial Party at the Plumm Might Have Actually Pissed Him OffSo on Friday night there will be a big, open-to-all bash to celebrate the memory of New York nightlife mainstay Baird Jones at the Plumm. The art collector, promoter, and gossip stringer died two weeks ago of a heart attack, and now everyone’s invited to toast his memory. Except, according to Grub Street, the venue might not be one that Baird himself would have been too happy about. In fact, at times he even worked to shut the club down. Baird called New York to complain of some of Plumm owner Noel Ashman’s poor business practices, including paying for underage models to visit the club and ripping off promoters. (He didn’t complain about how Plumm publicists incessantly exaggerated celebrity items to gossip columnists, but we’ll throw that in there because it’s always annoyed us.) Baird’s fellow promoter, Ivy Supersonic, says that she and the Webster Hall curator had a whole bunch of correspondence over the issue. Click on through to Grub for the whole story and Noel Ashman’s response.
Baird Jones’s Memorial Party to Be Held at Club He Secretly Tried to Close [Grub Street]
Related: Gossip Guru Baird Jones Reported Dead
ink-stained wretches
Gossip Guru Baird Jones Reported DeadAccording to Ben Widdicombe, the New York gossip world has lost one of its enduring fixtures. Baird Jones, the “Webster Hall curator” who supplied items to “Page Six,” “Rush & Molloy,” Gatecrasher, and Cindy Adams, was found dead in his apartment yesterday, a friend says. The death isn’t yet confirmed by authorities (we are waiting to hear back from the NYPD, who told us they are looking into it), but Widdicombe’s source is a close friend of the reporter. If it’s true, we are saddened by the news. We knew Baird from the party circuit and he was an odd duck, but always very friendly and helpful. He had an uncanny knack for getting celebrities to tell funny stories, and an incredible memory for odd details. He also used to sneak us beers if the party we were at only served froufrou cocktails. We’ll let you know if the NYPD will confirm the report. We, and surely Cindy, Ben, Richard, Paula, George and Joanna, are hoping that they won’t.
‘Baird Jones Has Passed Away’ [Ben Widdicombe’s Oscar blog, via Gawker]
Update: The NYPD confirms that Jones was found dead in his East Village apartment last night around 10:30. They were unable to determine the cause of death, but they detect “no criminality at this time.” His family has been notified, and the investigation is ongoing.
intel
Webster Hall Owner Spending $3 Million to Open a Nice, Quiet PlaceWebster Hall owner Sean McGarr and his partner, Michael Sinensky, are spending $3 million to turn a former stable at 621 46th Street — a space also pursued by Ivan Kane for his controversial Forty Deuce project — into a nightclub and events hall named Hudson Terrace. The community board, concerned about improper zoning and neighboring club Pacha’s plan to open a rooftop bar, has recommended that the State Liquor Authority deny the new club’s pending liquor-license application, but McGarr isn’t sweating it. He says that come Thanksgiving he’ll be ready to show off a 6,000-square-foot first floor with a video ceiling and a 4,000-foot semi-enclosed rooftop terrace that will emit radiant heat in the winter and Vegas-like mists in the summer. “It will be a comfortable place to have a cocktail and lounge,” McGarr says, pointing out that 50 percent of his business will be corporate catering, with the nightclub open only during the weekend. “I won’t be installing a Steve Dash sound system like I have here at Webster Hall.” Sinensky and McGarr’s East Village sports bar, the Village Pourhouse, will also be opening an outpost at Amsterdam and 109th Street in November. Cheap pints or double-digit cocktails? Pick your poison. —Daniel Maurer
