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Daniel Nardicio (born August 8, 1966, in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American producer, nightlife impresario, entrepreneur, and co-creator of the social network Dlist.com.
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Daniel Nardicio (born August 8, 1966, in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American producer, nightlife impresario, entrepreneur, and co-creator of the social network Dlist.com.
Nardicio was born on August 8, 1966, into a working-class Italian American family. His uncle is Danny Nardico, the only boxer to beat Jake LaMotta. [1]
At 17, Nardicio bounced around as an actor between San Francisco and Berlin before settling in New York City with his friend, cabaret singer Justin Vivian Bond. In 1990, Nardicio moved to Berlin where he worked as an opera singer and principal actor in such venues as the Bregenzer Festspiele and Theater des Westens. In 1995, he moved back to New York City to become an actor, only changing his mind after temping for a year and realizing: "As an actor you have no control over your career. I had to have more control over my life, so I went into nightlife."[ citation needed ]
In 2002, Nardicio opened the now notorious Slide Bar on the Bowery, making it into one of NYC's top ten gay destinations (according to The Village Voice's "Best Of" Issue, 2004).
At this time, he worked on various social media sites, including originating what would eventually become Dlist.com (from "Daniel's List", his original promotional email list), which at its peak was ranked the 6000th most popular site on the web. Nardicio created a weekly podcast called Dlist Radio that now[ when? ] has approximately 40,000 downloads on iTunes. In 2005, the podcast was voted as "Best Party Posing as An Internet Radio Show" by The Village Voice's "Best Of" issue in 2008,[ clarification needed ] and was tied with Kathy Griffin's Dlist TV show downloads for listeners. [2] [3]
Nearly a decade of substantial media work (including radio, Dlist.com, online TV, social networking, and parties) has led to Nardicio being best known as one of New York City's most well-known party promoters and nightlife fixtures. He is personally responsible for producing nearly 1000 events, including The Saint at Large, Peaches, Sandra Bernhard in Concert, and his longtime collaboration of events with punk singer Nina Hagen. Noize Magazine said about his events: "You haven’t done New York Nightlife until you’ve done Nardicio". He has thrown some of NYC's most talked about and scandalous events, such as his Night at The Playgirl Mansion parties and his notorious Tigerbeat the Slide. [4] The nature of these parties has earned him the monikers "The Gay Hugh Hefner" by gay media source Next Magazine, and "Sleaze Impresario" by New York Magazine. [5]
He is credited with introducing international comic sensation Pam Ann to the United States. His Road Trip reality show pilot with Bianca Del Rio was an internet sensation in 2005 but was passed on by Logo TV as they "weren't interested in drag."[ citation needed ]
In the summer of 2012, he began his "Icon Series" with Liza Minnelli, who performed with actor and singer Alan Cumming on Fire Island, in the first ever pairing of the two Tony Award winners and stars of Cabaret . Since then, he has paired Carol Channing with cabaret singer Justin Vivian Bond and has extensively produced in New York City with such personalities as Joan Collins, John Waters, Chita Rivera, Margaret Cho, Peaches, Bridget Everett, Pam Ann, Christine Ebersole, Dina Martina and the New York Boylesque Festival. In February 2016, Nardicio brought Tony winner Alan Cumming to Carnegie Hall in "Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs With Friends." He followed this performance by bringing Chita Rivera's Carnegie Hall debut Nowadays to the stage in November 2017.
Nardicio was the first American to produce official Europride events at Europride Warsaw in 2010. He brought over transsexual singer Amanda Lepore, Lady Bunny, and Whitney Biennial artist Julie Atlas Muz, and a party with Boy George DJing. The events were disastrous. Nardicio was quoted as saying, "The homophobia in Poland was palpable - it was absolute chaos". [6]
15 years ago,[ when? ] Nardicio started a Friday night party at Cherry Grove's Ice Palace, which is now Fire Island's longest-running weekly event to date. Fleshbot.com called it "the greatest weekly event in the world".[ citation needed ]
Nardicio has most recently opened shop in New Orleans via a new venture called Dworld Nola,[ clarification needed ] to which he has brought John Waters, Dina Martina, Alan Cumming and Sandra Bernard.
In 2017, Nardicio opened Club Cumming in NYC's East Village with longtime friend Alan Cumming, and in 2018 he bought Bedlam, an East Village staple. He currently is working on his production company, Red Eye Productions.
In 2008 Nardicio was brought on to Playgirl magazine, where he convinced Levi Johnston, the former fiancé of Bristol Palin (Sarah Palin’s daughter), and father of Bristol's child, to pose for the notorious publication. [7]
In 2004, Time Out NY named Nardicio one of the 50 reasons to love New York, and in 2006 HX Magazine gave him "The Spirit of New York" award. In 2012, The Village Voice named him "Best Gay Promoter" in its annual "Best of" issue. [8]
Nardicio resides in Manhattan. [9]
Alan Cumming is a Scottish actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades including a BAFTA Award, an Emmy Award, two Tony Award, and an Olivier Award. He received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for the West End production of Accidental Death of an Anarchist (1991). His other Olivier-nominated roles were in The Conquest of the South Pole (1988), La Bête (1992), and Cabaret (1994). Cumming won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for reprising his role as the Emcee on Broadway in Cabaret (1998). His other performances on Broadway include Design for Living (2001), and Macbeth (2013).
Michael Alig was an American club promoter and artist who was convicted of felony manslaughter. He was one of the ringleaders of the Club Kids, a group of young New York City clubgoers who became a cultural phenomenon in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In March 1996, Alig and his roommate, Robert D. "Freeze" Riggs, killed fellow Club Kid Andre "Angel" Melendez in a confrontation over a drug debt. In October 1997, Alig pled guilty to first-degree manslaughter. Both men were sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison. Riggs was released on parole in 2010. Alig was released on May 5, 2014.
Michael Musto is an American journalist who has long been a prevalent presence in entertainment-related publications, as well as on websites and television shows. Musto is best known as a columnist for The Village Voice, where he wrote the La Dolce Musto column of gossip, nightlife, reviews, interviews, and political observations. In 2021, he started writing articles about nightlife, movies, theater, NYC, and LGBTQ politics for the revived Village Voice, which returned as a print publication, with accompanying website. He is the author of the books Downtown and Manhattan on the Rocks, as well as a compilation of selected columns published as La Dolce Musto: Writings By The World's Most Outrageous Columnist and a subsequent collection, Fork on the Left, Knife in the Back. He currently writes about pop cultural and sociopolitical issues for the Daily Beast and pens a monthly gossip column called "Read Now, Cry Later" for Queerty.
The Club Kids were a group of young New York City dance club personalities popularized by Michael Alig, James St. James, Julie Jewels, Astro Erle, Michael Tronn, DJ Keoki, and Ernie Glam in the late 1980s, and throughout the 1990s grew to include Amanda Lepore, Waltpaper, Christopher Comp, It Twins, Jennytalia, Desi Monster, Keda, Kabuki Starshine, and Richie Rich. The group was notable for its members' flamboyant behavior and outrageous costumes. In 1988, writer Michael Musto wrote about the Club Kids' "cult of crazy fashion and petulance": "They ... are terminally superficial, have dubious aesthetic values, and are master manipulators, exploiters, and, thank God, partiers."
Joey Arias is an American artist based in New York City, best known for work as a performance artist, cabaret singer, and drag artist, but also as a published author, comedian, stage persona and film actor. He also goes by the names Joseph Arias and Joe Arias.
QBoy is a UK-based rapper, producer, DJ, writer and presenter. He is one of the original few out rappers in hip hop circa 2001 that became pioneers of the new subgenre colloquially known as "homo hop". QBoy is currently a DJ and promoter of popular LGBTQ club night and party 'R & She: The Queens of Hip-Hop & R&B' which hosts events in London, Berlin and New York City.
Jonny Woo is a British comedian, actor, and drag queen. He co-owns The Glory, an East London pub in which he regularly performs.
Rayne Baron, known professionally as Ladyfag, is a New York City-based writer, performer, nightlife personality, and events producer.
(Le) Poisson Rouge is a music venue and multimedia art cabaret in New York City founded in 2008 by Justin Kantor and David Handler on the former site of the Village Gate at 158 Bleecker Street. The performance space was designed and engineered by John Storyk/WSDG. It has become known for its focus on artistry, bringing contemporary classical music into the club setting, and offering a variety of set ups so that a seated classical performance can be followed by a standing set by a rock band or a DJ. Responding to a performance of Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time featuring pianist Bruce Brubaker at LPR, The Wall Street Journal reported: "The crowd – many of whom wouldn't even have known who Messiaen was – sat in rapt silence, and roared their approval at the end."
54 Below is a nonprofit cabaret and restaurant in the basement of Studio 54 in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Run by Broadway producers Steve Baruch, Richard Frankel, Marc Routh and Tom Viertel, 54 Below has hosted shows by such performers as Patti LuPone, Ben Vereen, Sierra Boggess, Lea Salonga, Marilyn Maye, Luann de Lesseps and Barbara Cook.
Johnny Dynell is a New York City DJ, record producer, recording artist, remixer, nightclub promoter, and nightlife impresario.
Barracuda Lounge, or simply Barracuda, is a gay bar in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1995, the bar is known for its nightly drag shows. It is a sister establishment to Industry, a nightclub, and Elmo, a restaurant. Barracuda is home to "Star Search", the longest-running bar show in New York City, which began in the early 1990s and may have served as an inspiration for RuPaul's Drag Race. In the 1990s and 2000s, Barracuda was a popular celebrity hangout, and it was frequently the site of promotional events for new music and Broadway plays. While closed for much of 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the venue underwent a major renovation. It reopened in June 2021. Critics generally praise Barracuda for its intimate, relaxed and entertainment-focused atmosphere, which was unusual at the time of its creation, and some credit this with revolutionizing the concept of gay bars.
The Cock is a gay dive bar in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is noted for its exhibitionist atmosphere and popularity as a cruising destination. Opened in 1998, the venue has been described by them. magazine as "a rarified taste of old New York and the cruisy gay scene that existed [there] in the '80s and '90s". In the late 1990s and early 2000s, it experienced frequent police raids under Mayor Rudy Giuliani's anti-nightlife crackdowns. The Cock has relocated twice, and its 2015 move along Second Avenue was met with opposition by nearby residents and Manhattan Community Board 3. Two other attempted moves, in 2014 and 2021, were blocked by the community board. Critics characterize the bar as "filthy", "seductive", and "alluring", noting that it is an unusual find in the United States and bears resemblance to European red-light district establishments.
Club Cumming is a gay bar and nightclub in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It frequently hosts cabaret events, Broadway-style shows, dance parties and drag performances. Celebrities, especially Broadway actors, often make pop-up appearances there. The club opened in 2017 and is co-owned by actor Alan Cumming and promoter Daniel Nardicio, who founded it with the owners of the space's previous establishment. The bar was ordered to temporarily halt its shows in 2018, when it was discovered that its liquor license did not include a provision for live entertainment. The matter was resolved swiftly and with community support. The club was shuttered in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it continued to host cabaret and comedy shows via live stream for most of the year. The venue reintroduced on-site outdoor events in December 2020 and reopened at full indoor capacity in May 2021. Club Cumming has generally been well received by critics, who cite its eclectic entertainment repertoire, its inclusivity and the spontaneity of its atmosphere.
Nita Aviance is a dancer, percussionist, jazz singer, DJ, music producer, actor, and a member of The Carry Nation along with fellow DJ/producer Will Automagic. Nita is also half of two other production teams, BOOKWRMZ and Brooklyn Is Burning, as well as a member of the production team Pyramide.
Boxers NYC Washington Heights, also known simply as Boxers Washington Heights or Boxers WaHi, was a gay sports bar in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was the fifth establishment opened by the Boxers NYC nightlife brand. The bar featured weekly events such as Latin nights, karaoke parties, urban nights, open mic events, drag shows, and screenings of NFL games and RuPaul's Drag Race. Its September 2018 debut was met with concern that it would contribute to gentrification of the area, but its approval was straightforward. The venue proved to be popular and received praise for its comfortable, welcoming atmosphere. Boxers Washington Heights announced its closure on September 29, 2020, citing difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Blake Allen is an American composer and viola player who is most known for writing the shards of an honor code junkie, music directing the 2019 revival of Over Here!, a frequent collaborator with Tina Burner, Insomnia at Carnegie Hall, writing the theme song for the talk show Doris Dear's Gurl Talk, and appearing on Shade: Queens of NYC.
The Q was a multilevel LGBT nightclub in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Backed by celebrity investors including Billy Porter and Zachary Quinto, the club was billed as "the largest queer-owned and -operated nightlife venue in Manhattan". It was known for its five distinctly themed rooms and for its entertainment selection, which featured A-list comedians, prominent local drag queens, burlesque acts and jazz bands. The establishment was originally set to open in 2020, but its debut was pushed to June 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2022, Frankie Sharp—one of the club's three founding owners—filed a lawsuit against the other two, Alan Picus and Bob Fluet. The club shuttered in March 2023 in the aftermath of the legal proceedings. During its operation, the Q garnered praise from critics, who have described it as innovative, inclusive and chic.
Daniel Isengart, born Daniel Bienert, is a performance coach, stage director, and culinary writer who became known as an entertainer in New York City’s cabaret scene in the late 1990s.