Goethe wrote "Night is half of life, and the better half." Words of wisdom always ring true, as The Last Party: Nightworld in Photographs, a hot new show at the cutting edge Serge Sorokko Gallery, proves.
Love, drugs, dreams, sex, violence—the exhibit documents the glamour and madness of Studio 54. And though it's sad to see pictures of so many dear and departed (hopefully for heaven—Andy and Halston, above all), the show reveals the allure of the night that time and death cannot destroy.
After the exhibit's recent opening, a cabal of nightlife veterans were treated to a taste of what's new at Cheetah, a major new player on the club scene that features a dramatic, comfortable design by Albert Haje and owner Robert Shalom.
Among the glitterati-thick crowd: Robert Altman, Susanne Bartsch and David Barton, Nell Campbell, Helena Christensen, Carmen D'Allessio, Morgan Entrekin, Eva Herzigova, Tico Torres, Dr. Howard Bellin, Georgianna Robertson, Irina Pantaeva, Taki Theodoracopulos, super art dealer Tony Shafrazi, and Nadine Johnson, who pulled it all off—the party that is.
Bret Easton Ellis congratulated Anthony Haden-Guest on his tell-all book The Last Party (upon which the show is based) which is a must-read for anyone who lived through Studio 54 or wishes they had.
Candace Bushnell looked divine in a booth with six men; Marc Biron looked busy in a booth with six women. Tim Hunt made an appearance sans wife Tama Janowitz (who stayed home to babysit). Patrick McMullan snapped shots of torrid actor/model Henry Reyes with girlfriend Alison Woodward, while fellow paparazzo Ron Galella played host for the evening with wife Betty (by the way, his life story has been picked up, as they say on the other coast, by Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas).
As you'd expect with this crowd, the debauchery went well into the morning hours, and the entire evening suggested that there would be plenty more last parties to come.