See Ya: Mark Baker Leaves M2
Three months after hatching the M2 plan to salvage the train wreck disaster that was Mansion, Mark Baker has left the building. It seems that the "nightlife hero" couldn't it make it work with low level promoter Joey Morrisey, so he is off to Moscow to produce some large scale events. Baker then plans on lending his superstar skills to one of the Hamptons clubs this summer, and then will team up on a new project with Jon B. and Barry "the Shark" Mullineaux, who are running the notorious stink box that is Greenhouse. So while M2 presses forward, we can all admit that it is one of the loudest and most expensive nightlife failures this city has seen for quite some time. The crowds never turned up, even during its brash opening complete with its original Miami team and before the city's economy really tanked. People were still buying (and selling) bottles, just not at Mansion. The plans to turn the place around with the tired Ministry of Sound and theme nights flopper royally, and Baker has left it in the hands of C/D list promoters to try and salvage whatever is left. With real estate development all but dead, the value of property in West Chelsea is greatly diminished. This club space is basically worthless until the next turnaround, and there is no telling when that will be. The end. [GNML]
DBTH
Reader Comments (47)
scott solish prob couldnt even get in to mansion/m2 losers
Happy Easter Cameron!
I can say that I know for a fact that M2/Mansion PACKS the place every single weekend it's insanely ridiculous the things you write about this club, where does your hate stem from? I just don't get it. I think instead of just ripping off EVERY other blog and combining it into one blog you should do your research from now on, they've had great press recently and some really VIP guests coming, not paid to come, but actually just going there to party. I love reading your blog and hearing about funny happenings but this is disappointing that with a good story like this you flopped and resorted to hatred. I'm so sorry to see your standards so low.
I think we should all be excited to see what Mark is planning on bringing us next, I know I am.
Hi DBTH Mark Baker here.
I always just try to refrain from commenting on "opinions" as thankfully this is a free country and everyone is entitled to one and whilst whatever you think about the history of this particular venue and the Miami Group and even my participation I think your comments are a little harsh and definitely not entirely correct. M2 is doing very good business right now, pays it's bills, employs a whole bunch of New Yorkers and believe it or not is a really good time for 1,000's of people every week. Anyone or organization who attempts to create something fun in this environment should be applauded not kicked in the teeth. Give everyone a break and please try to stick to the positive aspects of nightlife not just the negative I have respect for you and your column but your comments have potential negative effects on many people who are employed in the nightlife business, and that's just not cool when right now they have a job and with Joey and Artie's experience and energy will continue to have jobs in the future. There's way too much negativity out there we should be directing the criticism and anger at aggressive city agencies that are hell bent on closing venues not keeping them open.
Yours Sincerely,
Mark Baker
the dbth editor is a lonely and miserable person who continues to remain anonymous to his readers.
well, he is a residential real estate agent and his name is scott solish. he has never tried any venture remotely close to running a club, especially one of the size and scope of mansion. when it first came to new york, it was a smash and theres no ifs ands or buts about that. unfortunately, with rent prices sky high and bottle demand down, theres not much you can do for the bottom line.
scott solish has never written a positive comment about any venue. ever. no one in manhattan likes or respects him.
mark, you are definitely one of the great scumbags in nyc nightlife. welcome to dbth comments!!! i am personally pleased to see the bullshit promotional garbage that you, steve lewis, et al were spewing has been proven false. m2 providing jobs and all is a nice guilt trip for those talking shit, but just be honest about what happened. when you go out and comment to the press the way that you and steve did, then you can't complain about being called out yourself. i mean, you and steve both lost a tremendous amount of credibility on this project- as a partner and as a media personality. blame the economy if you want, but we know other clubs are killing it. you guys just blew it with a bad concept. in fact you got it all wrong- crowd, concept, timing.
bottom line, opium can't kill in nyc. miami is so different and cheesy. mansion never would have worked in nyc. the concept was years behind the curve. so was ministry.
you guys are old and out of touch. somebody's got to call your asses out and point out your failures. dbth has opinions and he expresses them freely. more often than not, he is right. and, more often than not, steve is wrong. somebody has to cut through the promo bullshit that you guys espouse. maybe if there were some quality nightlife people in nyc, most of the news wouldn't be negative.
hahaha, oh cameron, you're pathetic....
Scott came out as the editor a year ago, read NY Mag once in a while....
in addition, he rights positive reviews all the time, as opposed to schilling for surf lodge...
mansion was far from a raging succes outside the B&T crowd, which doesnt say much.
I know everyone in this city, including mark, and I like scott........so enough dude.
Attack him for being a real estate agent once more and i come snip your inbred balls.
Mansion is and always has been a club for a mass promoter crowd. No image promoter ever worked this party with the idea that it would actually work.
If im not at butter im down at 1 oak
are you guys blind? the only positive things DBTH has said are things about Beatrice Inn and a few other little venues, well GUESS WHAT guess you were wrong too.
but maybe we should all face the facts that this is a hard time for nightlife, clubs are closing left and right and it's not fair to attack one and save another, as people in nightlife we're all in this together, we're all new yorkers, and we all need to start acting like it.
M2 does get a lot of B&T, but that's what happens when you make a big name for yourself, people from outside of the island find out. It's still making more money.
Stua, you are happy to see promotional garbage Mark and Steve Lewis are spreading? JUST SO YOU KNOW DBTH just straight rips his stories off of goodnight mr lewis. Wouldn't it be exciting if DBTH would say something different about this story OR ANY STORY than what other blogs have already written?
Stop fronting, Mark Baker is a legend AND still remains to be one of the only gentlemen in this business.
stua,
Anyone with half a brain can read between the lines of your commentary to see that your shit talking stems from one of two things: your self-loathing or your jealousy of Mark. Maybe if you got laid once in a while you wouldn’t be so bitter towards those who do.
Listen... Let me correct all of you on this......
New York Nightlife is a complete different breed then any other scene in the country. The idea of bringing a mega club to New York that had a mixed format was a good idea thinking the bottle spenders, the arab princes, the euro $ and the left over wall street money would and pop bottles. Obviously with the stock market pretty much going to shit after the summer of 08', ALOT changed in nightlife.
What people dont realize, is that after your cost of goods, your fixed costs and your staff/promoters, theres not much left for profit (if any at all)
There is going to be a drastic change in nightlife with in the next 6-8 months. Places that think that they are gonna make it through the summer and then hoping the economy will pick in the fall, are crazy. Steven Kamali and Alex Pickens are going to be filled with listings come Fall 09 because most places will wither go belly up because they wont be able to pay their rent.
The small places ala gold bar, kingswood, southside, the eldridge, those are the rooms that will survive and that will be the new trend.
I also think that the new places are setting to open as so called "hybrids" are going to be successful aswell because there wont be many payouts to promoters.
Look at the promoters that were once working at Citrine,Tenjune, and places to that sort that were making $1000 a night or so are getting that money anymore. DJs like Berrie, MOS, Cassidy,etc who used to get $900+ to spin are not getting that all in the city .....
NYC nightlife is about to change big time.... good luck to the big clubs. Here comes the little guys, Brother Jimmys, Southern Hospitality and places like that.
wow, "the true story" really shut us up.....I'll be at brother jimmys waiting for the new scene...lol
haha. dbth gets stories from steve lewis? sl is the one obsessed with dbth and dbth was aorund long before gnml. dbth was the orignal nyc nightlife blog and will always be. paper magazine award for best nyc nightlife website, bitch. everything else is an imitation. all the blogs have the same content cause there are so many now. what sets dbth apart is scott's honest, objective look at the scene. maybe the only positive comments are from places that are actually good. anyway, get off mark baker's jock and strat reading guest of a guest instead.
yay!!! come to brother jimmys above *windsor court* in *murray hill*
what up sorority sistasssss
hamptons share house anyone???
Don't forget the wet naps!
oh boy alls i can say is:
- Hi Mark Baker !
- Hi Steve Lewis !
- Hi Scott Solish !
- Hi "stua" !
damn, i know everybody! HOW FUCKING COOL AM I.
luv you all. really truly. sorry you're all pissed at each other cuz that kinda sucks.
i think you should all get together and buy me a drink.
yay !
Hey Abbe - has been.
You'll never be anyone re the above. Get a career and go away!
abbe diaz is like the typical dumb/murray hill/brother jimmys slut that would let me bust in her eyes after buyin her a vodka soda
i definitely owned up to the fact that mansion didn't get where it could have. there are a thousand reasons why that happened . the economy is certainly part of it. however mansions lack of success as defined by you cannot be laid at mark bakers door, at least not too much. he gave it a try but was handcuffed by conflicting visions, mostly out of miami and an unwillingness of the opium group to adjust to market realities. dbth and my column often cover the same story often from different angles. although scott has never run a club i enjoy his insight and am a loyal reader.i dont feel i am in competition with other blogs and i get along quite well with scott whenever we do meet. although writing for bb is rewarding it is certainly not my full time gig .design is. i will say this, i have operated some pretty good places and mark baker has worked for me , better, with me a few times. in the pressured world of nightlife arguments are bound to happen and mark and i have indeed thrown down. yet never have i seen him be anything but a gentleman, he always remains calm and polite and he has inspired me with his dedication and honesty. indeed to call him names is ridiculous as he has always endeavored to make sure that his employees are paid, paid well and on time and that they were always respected. in a business where owners see themselves as gods he is always a fair hand. i also think greenhouse is ok.. its not beatrice or even southside but their sunday suzanne bartsch , kenny kenny party is the best night in town for many. mondays are really fun and i enjoy wednesdays a great deal. indeed if you want to punch me in the nose or throw eggs at me or even talk to me face to face i'll be djing there tomorrow night.
oh and abbe diaz is hot! she's especially hot when she's pissed off , which is almost always ,, so she's always hot.,,
Don't throw eggs at Uncle Steve!
if dbth ever made fun of me, all id have to say is "scott, you're a residential real estate agent" and then just laugh out loud knowing that i will never be lower on the totem pole of new york society than mr dbth himself
don't throw eggs at scott !!!
and i'll buy abbe diaz a drink anytime..... maybe at mark bakers next joint
Cameron, you are an ass clown. You, your brother and your sheisty attorney who got you a bum deal should go have a lemon party together, and after you finish, you all can wipe each other off with those worthless shares of facebook stock. If you're any good, mr attorney may be willing to throw your a buck or two from the 30% cash he took off you. If not, well, at least you got a little man love out of the deal.
I would love for DBTH to take a poll on what type of place new yorkers would rather attend. It should be a broad range of choices...
I gurantee places like Brother Jimmys, Turtle Bay Mcfaddens, Off the Wagon, Porkies are making hand over fist if you were to compare them to those like Gold Bar, SouthSide, Kingswood, The box and places of that nature.
or even one that shows what areas New Yorkers are going out .....
Murray Hill
LES
21st St
27th St
MEpa
West Village
DBTH take a poll....
Good idea!
i agree. those are facts that promoters and djs are not getting paid like before which is all due to what money is coming into the clubs.
teaming up with jon b and barry whoever. hahhaha i think mansion was more exclusve. losers
why do you think scott is a residential real estate broker? where did this come from? that is not his profession. this is a weird thing and it is an honest job either way. only a fucking insecure herb would put someone down for their profession.
scott, do you know any good deals in manhattan right now for a 2BR, new construction, 1100+ square feet? i need to make a move asap.
humbly,
been in the game for a long time
Not only does 2009 mark the end of overpriced shitty "exclusive" clubs in New York... I think we're all sick of the whole public relations game as well. Everything's marketed and packaged and glasses of piss and plates of shit are sold to us for hundreds of dollars because marketing tells us to do so. And when clubs fail, the public relations guys clean up the mess. I think it's time for New York to have something REAL, not 300 clubs that are image-driven or marketed well for 2 months and then that's it.
Bring a simple legit venue with good music and the people will come.
Because of me... everyone and their mother is a promoter!
YAY!!!
Reality Check,
what you allude to in your last line is what a place like Santos Party House has been trying to do since it opened ... admittedly the place is still a work in progress, but it did win the Paper Mag Club of the Year Award, Party of the Year Award, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs had an AWESOME secret show there last Sunday night!
Hi "shoe"/"dumb slut" !
I just wanted to say thank you for buying my book, PX This.
did you not get the accompanying instruction manual ?? you are actually supposed to READ it after you buy it, not just stick it up your ass.
but thanks again anyways!
Scott is not a residential real estate agent. Each comment asserting he is lacks credibility.
I know Mark Baker as a person and a businessman. He is as Kind of a guy as there is in this shitty business. Mansion was not a success but, no where near the failure that most of you claim it to be. As I have said before in my comments, not everyone in this city wants to be at Beatrice, 1Oak or something along those lines. In fact most of the people who go to those places are in the minority. Mark is a legend in this business. That is a fact. On top of whatever plans he has with Jon B. etc, he is also set to reopen Double Seven this summer.
Uncle Steve was wrong on this. He for sure doesnt like to admit he is wrong but, he did. Steve is a personality that many love and many don't love. However, he again is a legend in this business. He might not always be right (even though he thinks he is) but, he is right more often then almost anyone else.
All of you who comment should always remember that there is a person not only a name. when you start calling people you do not know scumbags, etc. it's just not cool. Mansion was not a success. Steve was wrong. That doesn't make Mark or Steve bad guys.
This is getting dumb. . Im starting a new venue
Scott is not a residential broker, or a real estate broker of any kind. I don't know what he does, but its not real estate. Check this site https://appsext7.dos.state.ny.us/nydos/searchByName.do and see for yourself...
Will you guys being moving all the stupid tables out of the way for Sharam on Firday??
*Friday
sharam? Is that the sham wow guy?
Ohh My fucking goodness how did I miss all this. The comment section over here has been kind of a hot mess lately but this is truly entertaining! Abbe darling Milk and Honey or Whitestar, your first three cock-tails are on me!! DBTH get your Twitter game up and start following me.
thank you ,for real, the one thing about my early mansion thumbs up that i think i got right is that clubland is getting really good. although i don't think there are any clubs that i consider great there are great parties or nights happening . i hardly ever went into mansion although i did visit my friends at the door constantly. the crowd was a decent crowd for quite awhile but the scenes resurgence was due to the efforts of many others. the best night there was the paper magazine awards party where scott picked up the best nightlife blog award. somebody said i was way up scotts ass and i dont even know what that means, another said that scott gets a lot of his info off my column. there has never been an instance where scott reported something that i got first where he didnt give me proper credit. i have said many times that i read this blog daily as i find it very informative. i totally respect it. i think we write from different angles most of the time. there is no competition between us. scott and rachelle at goag and myself and many others turn out a great deal of content with little financial reward. most of the time we get it right sometimes were wrong. mansion wasnt close to my standard of greatness but over the last year and change i got a lot of other things right...good luck to mark baker and to joey morrissey, artie and the m2 crew