Clublife: Thugs, Drugs, and Chaos at New York City's Premier Nightclubs (Hardcover)

by Rob The Bouncer (Author)
Key Phrases: bouncing staff, nightclub industry, good bouncer, New York, West Chelsea, Long Island (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In this behind-the-velvet-rope memoir, anonymous blogger Rob the Bouncer (identity to be revealed "on publication") details his adventures working security at "Axis," a dizzying composite of real-life New York nightclubs. Spending grungy nights working the "Nightmare Square" of club-choked West Chelsea, antagonized by feuding bosses and berated by the downgrading clientele, Rob has plenty of material for his misanthropic observations. He spends most nights playing God to a line-up of bankers, club kids and mobsters, ogling his bartender girlfriend and babysitting the VIP room for pocket cash. Rob is a likable, identifiable narrator, an average working guy dreaming of something better, genuinely aggrieved to be trading barbs with women drunk enough to chuck tampons at him. Though structural tics can grate-like his use of second person and too-frequent shifts into screenplay-style dialogue-a handful of sidebars reveal useful tips for getting in: pack a fistful of twenties and never bark, "All my friends are inside!" And, a must-read for anyone with a tendency toward belligerence, instructions on how to leave without getting hurt ("Don't touch the bouncers on the way out"). Though the tough-guy-with-a-heart-of-gold routine feels familiar, club-goers will find Rob's dispatches entertaining and informative.
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Product Description

In Clublife, Rob takes readers on a harrowing tour of the seedy, dangerous, and often deranged world of New York's hottest nightclubs. In the tradition of Kitchen Confidential and The Tender Bar, Clublife is a remarkable memoir of the nightclub business and how drugs, alcohol, troublemakers, and violence conspire against the men clubs enlist to keep it all under control. Brutally honest and filled with incredible tales only a true insider could tell, Clublife gives readers an all-access pass into the seamy subculture of New York nightclub security.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: HarperEntertainment (August 14, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061123889
• ISBN-13: 978-0061123887
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #641,611 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Could (should?) have been better--but still good., January 31, 2008

By	Just Frank (New York) - See all my reviews

Okay, I'm going to unleash some criticism, so let me start thing off first by stating that Rob definitely has writing talent and I enjoyed his book. He does an excellent job portraying the nightclub world as he saw it. The writing is good and sometimes even funny. If you are a guido, a thuggish form of Italian male that Rob definitely despises, then you will either hate this book or love that it puts you and your kind in a momentary limelight.

My main criticism is that I found Rob's stories to be lacking. Or maybe I just bought this book with too high of expectations. I mean come on, you worked in the biggest baddest nightclubs in New York City and these are your best stories? I have friends who work as bouncers and bartenders in some dive bars around the city and they can tell me better stories about the fights and the freaks that they encounter every night. There was also not much dirt spilled about the people around him. A book with nightlife subject matter should have been filled with this kind of juicy stuff. It seemed like Rob was giving us the PG13 rated version of what he really saw. Maybe he didn't want to throw anyone under the bus or maybe the publisher wanted to produce a tame story. Oh yeah, the lists Rob puts together about things like "How you should approach a bouncer" were also kind of lame.

But all in all, it was a good book that I enjoyed. Maybe now that Rob is a published author he can do a sequel that is not so tame.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST-READ for anyone who loves to party...and the curious!, August 23, 2007

By	NaughtiLiterati (NYC) - See all my reviews

When I finished the last page of this book, I actually sat it down and APPLAUDED.

Those of you familiar with the popular blog Clublife already know what a terrific and funny writer Rob is, and those who don't can get a sneak peek and some laughs by going there and seeing for yourself.

Clublife details two years of Rob's bouncing in a popular Manhattan nightclub, its inner workings, decline, and the ultimate disgust he has with it all. Whoever called it the Kitchen Confidential of the nightlife scene was on point, for it is just as well-written and entertaining. Not only is his assessment of the club scene brutally honest but so is his opinion of himself, one of the most difficult things a person has to do.

You learn just how much the bouncers have to put up with (a former hardcore partier myself that now prefers being home with my books, it wasn't hard to convince me), how to behave yourself so you don't get strangled, and how not to behave. This book is laugh-out-loud funny and I found myself typing out several excerpts to share with friends. Once you start it, it's difficult to put down and is very much worth the wait endured since the book deal was first announced.

Now that I'm finished the book, I am buying a few copies for the bouncer friends of mine who I have terrorized on more than one occassion as thank-yous for always helping me out of my K-holes and never treating me like the fvcktard I was at the time. Hahahahahaha

I LOVE THIS BOOK! For another fascinating read on the club scene (much safer than going out and being a part of it), though more about the insane Peter Gatien era, check out Clubland by Frank Owen, the Village Voice reporter.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Read. Excellent First Outing!, August 18, 2007

By	Rob S. (Bay Area, CA) - See all my reviews

If you're here, chances are you're a reader of The Bouncer's blog (standingonthebox.blogspot.com). If you enjoy Rob's style as much as I do, this will hook you just as quickly. I read the entire thing in one go and couldn't put it down.

At times I found myself wondering if this guy was for real; for all we know he could be sitting in his mother's basement making it up as he goes, right? My brother's bounced for years and reading Rob's stuff it sounds very similar so I tend to believe it. In the end, the authenticity didn't really matter. It's a great read with insight into a world I'll never experience.

Very much recommended.

p.s. I hope it worked out with 'Amanda' :)