NEW YORK (Club World Awards/ www.clubworldawards.com) - The Club World Awards, hosted by Club Systems International, is pleased to announce the 2005 'disco globe' winners, originally revealed in a star-studded ceremony during Miami's Winter
Music Conference that almost didn't happen.
The call came in at noon on the day of the ceremony: After a series of unfortunate events, original host venue Nocturnal wouldn't be ready to open in time. Club World organizers were hoping for the best but expected the worst: Nocturnal's Monday and Tuesday events had also been cancelled. Nevertheless, Nocturnal management found the ceremony a surrogate venue – Pure, on the downtown Miami waterfront – and Club World staff spent ten harried hours burning through cell phone batteries to get the word out on the venue change. By 11 p.m., Pure was hopping with all the nominees and VIPs who had RSVP-ed for Nocturnal.
The ceremony, expertly helmed by master of ceremonies The Scumfrog, was representative of the decadence of dance music: Promoters mixed with porn stars, while tech-heads talked shop with super-DJs at the back bar and members of the press took notes. We're talking about some high-level networking here: 'Best Superclub' presenter and emerging dance music star Kelly Osbourne even requested face time with reigning trance princess Sandra Collins. The two eventually met under a series of dizzying flashes. All presenters received a gift bag packed with goodies from Armani Exchange, 5inch, Twelve Inch LP, Electric 7 and even new RBK DJ kicks from Reebok.
Among the winners, New York City reigned with a whopping eight (of a possible 11) awards, proving once again that the city still doesn't sleep. Crobar took all four of its nominations, including Best Superclub, Best Lighting System (SJ Lighting), Best Video System (Artfag & V Squared Labs) and Best Interior Design (BigTime Design & ICRAVE Design Studio).
Cielo was named Best Club, and its Deep Space resident Francois K took Best Resident DJ honors, proclaiming that Monday nights are as good as any to go out. Sullivan Room came away with the people's choice NightStalker Award, voted on by the clubbing public – a clear testament to its popularity with the musically-minded clubbing set. And homegrown Sunday night favorite Asseteria won Best Party, showing that clubland still has a playfully deviant soul.
Winners were chosen by a panel of 12 industry-expert judges using a weighted ranking system. Full bios are available upon request.
Despite the last-minute location switch, The Club World Awards was a huge success, drawing over 400 creme de la creme attendees. We would like to applaud all the winners, and the year-round efforts by all the nominees toward the advancement of nightlife. The cycle begins again in September 2005, when submissions for 2006 nominations will start being accepted.
Please see the special May 2005 issue of Club Systems International, with photos of The 3rd Annual Club World Awards. For a complimentary industry subscription to CSI, please go to www.clubsystemsinternational.com and fill out the provided form.
CLUB WORLD AWARD WINNERS 2005
Best Superclub: Crobar, New York
Best Club: Cielo, New York
Best Lounge: Tabu, Las Vegas
Best New: Compound, Atlanta
Best Sound System: Mansion, Miami Phazon & Sound Investment; Rain, Las Vegas, Infinite Audio (Tie)
Best Lighting System: Crobar, SJ Lighting
Best Video System: Crobar, Artfag & V Squared Labs
Best Interior Design: Crobar, BigTime Design & ICRAVE Design Studio
Best Party: Asseteria, New York
Best Resident: DJ Francois K, Deep Space at Cielo
Best DJ Product: Denon DN-S1000
Best Sound Product Or Series: Turbosound Aspect Series
Best Lighting Product Or Series: High End Systems DL2
Best Video Product: Pioneer DVJ-X1
Best Effect Product: Jem Hydra
Best LED Product: Color Kinetics iColor Flex SL
NightStalker Award: Sullivan Room, New York
Quick Highlights about the winners:
Best Superclub: Crobar opened in December 2003 and has since become a global destination of internationally renowned superstar DJs such as Carl Cox, Erick Morillo and Paul van Dyk. The club plays host to ongoing monthly residencies for Sasha, Sander Kleinenberg, Murk, Boris and Roger Sanchez.
Best Club: Cielo beat out two-time winner The Church to take the Best Club crown, once again proving the effectiveness of its comparatively tiny size and adventurous music policy. The club continues to rack up similar honors, even when pinned against larger, longer-standing venues.
Best Lounge: Tabu started its own dynasty, winning the title for the second straight year. The MGM Grand property, widely credited with launching the ultra-lounge craze when it opened in 2003, is one of the only venues in Las Vegas that features house music exclusively.
Best New: Compound, a three-environment Atlanta club in the former site of an auto dealership, joins past winners Ice Las Vegas (2004) and Maze Miami (2003). It's too early to tell if this 'Best New' is cursed like the Grammys': Ice has its own hit reality series, while Maze closed in early 2004.
Best Resident DJ: Francois K, Deep Space at Cielo. This ongoing weekly residency is celebrating its two-year anniversary with a two-day party featuring Rhythm & Sound in their exclusive NYC debut, joining Francois K in his adventures into future dub, spacey vibes and abstract grooves. K joins Danny Tenaglia (2004) and Oscar G (2003) in the distinguished Best Resident winners' circle.
NightStalker Award: Sullivan Room. This small NYC boite packs a big punch with an underground ethos and top musical talent that rejects the VIP bottle service attitude with a music-first policy and hospitality to match. Top international talent include West Coast luminaries DJ Garth, Kaskade and East Coasters; plus Scumfrog, Hector Romero, Behrouz, DJ Three, Mazi, Jay Tripwire and D:FUSE. Sully celebrated its three-year anniversary this April 2005 with a full sound system upgrade and a fresh new interior design scheme.
Best Video Product: Pioneer DVJ-X1. Pioneer took home its third consecutive disco globe this year, not for its popular CDJ series of pro CD players, but for its trailblazing video player that allows VJs to manipulate visuals just like DJs tweak music.
Club Systems International is the only magazine in North America dedicated to the look, sound, and feel of nightclubs. Launched in July 2000 to instant acclaim, the monthly publication covers the world's best venues from a technical & aesthetic perspective. Club Systems International and sister publication DJ Times are published by Testa Communications.
Best Party: Asseteria/ www.robpromotions.com
Best Superclub: Crobar/ www.crobar.com
