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.
Clublife
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle.
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
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.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
About the Author
Robert "Rob the Bouncer" Fitzgerald is the author of the Clublife blog. He lives on Long Island, New York.
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
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.
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.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Rob "the Bouncer" Fitzgerald is not a writer, but well on his way. Clublife reads well, tracing crooked steps from the working class neighborhoods of Queens village to the rotten streets of West Chelsea at 0430. Along the way, Fitzgerald hits blackly humourous high points of attempted murder, sexual assault, extreme premature ejaculation, and, ultimately, redemption.
I confess to being a serial reader of the author's widely-read blog, from which many of the best exchanges of the book have been cannibalized. Truly, brevity is the soul of the Bouncer's wit. He's at his best in short exchanges, doing reportage style chapters that get hysterical quickly. That is, if you enjoy laughing at the refuse that litters New York's nightclub scene, which I certainly do.
Keep reading past that first chapter, because as a neophyte writer, Fitzgerald is still mastering the art of catching your attention from the starting gate. He tends to ramble a little when trying to provide background, and often takes too long to make a point, using ten words where two would suffice. The spectacular nature of the book (as it is mostly autobiographical) is actually that a bouncer with no real background as a writer could come out of the woodwork to create something so brutally honest and compelling. If his first creative "spurtings" are this productive, I am looking forward to when he ejaculates a fully formed load of work.
I confess to being a serial reader of the author's widely-read blog, from which many of the best exchanges of the book have been cannibalized. Truly, brevity is the soul of the Bouncer's wit. He's at his best in short exchanges, doing reportage style chapters that get hysterical quickly. That is, if you enjoy laughing at the refuse that litters New York's nightclub scene, which I certainly do.
Keep reading past that first chapter, because as a neophyte writer, Fitzgerald is still mastering the art of catching your attention from the starting gate. He tends to ramble a little when trying to provide background, and often takes too long to make a point, using ten words where two would suffice. The spectacular nature of the book (as it is mostly autobiographical) is actually that a bouncer with no real background as a writer could come out of the woodwork to create something so brutally honest and compelling. If his first creative "spurtings" are this productive, I am looking forward to when he ejaculates a fully formed load of work.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
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.
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.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Awesome book!
I'm a really big fan of the author's blog and his raw NO BS style of writing, and this book is definitely an awesome continuation of what he writes about on his blog.
Published 12 months ago by XpressNightly
Can I Have My 3 Hours Back?
I buy a lot of books in different moods and as the owner of a bar/restaurant I bought this book after reading a good book by a waiter. Read more
Published 16 months ago by R. Spell
So so
This books skims,I think people are looking for much grittier stories than the stories told here.
His absolute distate for patrons I find quite disturbing as well. Read more
His absolute distate for patrons I find quite disturbing as well. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Kerryn H.
Solid and Entertaining
Clublife is an enjoyable read that offers much more depth then one might expect from the typical "blog to book" hype. Read more
Published on October 16, 2007 by Jack
James Frey Watch Out!
I've been looking forward to this book for a long time. It did not disappoint, as it had some of my favorite passages from his blog, but he put them together in a fresh new story... Read more
Published on September 20, 2007 by fm
50/50
It's interesting to see it from the bouncer point of view, as these are the people that club promoters deal with the most. Read more
Published on September 13, 2007 by Eubin Kim
Pointless But Entertaining
Rob the bouncer is full of tips for 'guidos' about how to act in clubs. Unfortunately, real guidos won't be buying, much less reading, his book. Read more
Published on September 11, 2007 by Bradley F. Smith
An excellent and entertaining first work
Having read Rob The Bouncer's blog for the last several years, I'd been anxiously awaiting the book since it was first mentioned. And I wasn't disappointed. Read more
Published on September 8, 2007 by Larry R
Made me feel much better
I'm not the kind of person to be let through the line into a hot club -- too old, too fat. But I've been disabused of any illusions I had that the people who do get in are in any... Read more
Published on September 5, 2007 by L. Rogers
Fair
The pros: the author has writing ability, and it's an entertaining read.
The cons: it's a one trick pony that never really goes anywhere. Read more
The cons: it's a one trick pony that never really goes anywhere. Read more
Published on August 30, 2007 by Mr. Point Out The Obvious
Inside This Book
(learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
(learn more)
bouncing staff, nightclub industry, good bouncer, shift pay, mob guys Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, West Chelsea, Long Island, Staten Island, Grey Goose, Jim Hughes, Penn Station, Nightmare Square, South Ozone Park, Tenth Avenue, West Side, Bergen County, Old Vito, Washington Heights New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
bouncing staff, nightclub industry, good bouncer, shift pay, mob guys Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, West Chelsea, Long Island, Staten Island, Grey Goose, Jim Hughes, Penn Station, Nightmare Square, South Ozone Park, Tenth Avenue, West Side, Bergen County, Old Vito, Washington Heights New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
So You'd Like to...
Look for Similar Items by Category
- Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Memoirs
- Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Regional U.S. > Mid Atlantic
- Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Travel
- Books > Business & Investing > Industries & Professions > Hospitality, Travel & Tourism
- Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences
- Books > Travel > United States > Regions > Northeast
