Customer Reviews

Confessions from the Velvet Ropes: The Glamorous, Grueling Life of Thomas Onorato, New York's Top Club Doorman

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
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are probably pretty unexpected adjectives for a book profiling someone known, not always affectionately, as "Door Bitch." But Belverio humanizes his subject with a behind-the-"behind-the-velvet-ropes" look at Onorato's decidedly unglamorous daily grind. Though the book has plenty of entertaining anecdotes and gossip, what I found most interesting were the details about the "day life" that supports NYC's nightlife. And Belverio's mini-history of famous doormen of the ages, people like Mark Benecke, Kenny Kenny and Derek Neen, also gives his book a fascinating historical perspective.

I dipped into the first page of this book, thinking I'd scan it for gossip. But I got totally caught up in Belverio's sharp, sardonic view of New York night life and couldn't put it down. The book has hysterically funny moments. It also updated me about what's happening NOW in the New York night scene. I've been going to clubs all my adult life but I never understood what makes a doorman tick as clearly as I do now. This was a fascinating read.The author has a finely honed wit and a great eye for detail.

The author of this book has a keen observational eye for the details of New York nightlife and its denizens. He takes what might first appear as a frivolous or superficial subject and manages to extract some real anthropological significance from it. But you can still read it at the beach.

I love to read NYC celebrity gossip columns mainly because I love to imagine all the excitement going on in the Big Apple. I've heard about nightclub line ups and doormen and the horror of rejection. This book not only made me feel like I was standing next to the doorman getting an insider's view, but by the end of the book, I felt like I really knew Thomas and that I really had been there. I can't think of another book that's been able to make me forget I was reading a book. I laughed out loud - this book made me laugh out loud. It made me see that anyone can feel like a star - the glamor is in the attitude not the pocketbook. Confessions of the Velvet Ropes is like a guidebook to cutting edge NYC nightlife complete with tips on how to pull off a look, to get into the club and how to have a wild time without getting hung up on being an outcast from NJ. It was a thoroughly fun book to read.

This book will be a great read for anyone with even a passing interest in the frenetic worlds of nightlife, popular culture and downtown shenanigans. Others have made much of Belverio's penetrating wit and keen observations, and they're right to do so: he captures the drama, excitement and star-studded absurdity of New York nightlife in a way that deliciously satisfies one's darker cravings for gossip while at the same time shedding light on what it all means. It's entertaining yet thoughtful, funny yet smart--and, most of all, shows Belverio to be a truly great storyteller.

If you want to know first hand the inner-workings of New York's most famous parties and the people who make them happen (along with the clubgoers that help make them famous) go read "Confessions from the Velvet Ropes" now. This raw telling weaves significant and interesting nightlife history, including interviews with the people who lived it, with tales of current scenes and connects them to give readers an untainted view of the underground world of NYC parties, fashion, social change and the fabulously outrageous characters that embody them. Along with colorful personal anecdotes and fun, sarcastic sidebars with topics like "Thomas's Top Ten Tips for Getting Past the Ropes," Glenn Belverio with the help of personal commentary from famed doorman, Thomas Onorato, makes this book a must-read for anyone interested in NYC history, social scenes and celebrity gossip. Whether you're from NYC, just moved there or follow the scene with a curious eye from afar - you will not be able to put down "Confessions from the Velvet Ropes" until you have devoured all the edgy and eccentric pages in their entirety. And you will be thirsty for more...

I was pulled into this book from the very first page. Not only does it paint the real life experience with every word but it is written in such a lively manner that the sizzling times in NYC just pour through you. I especially loved the Heatherette piece. Could not stop laughing. Looking forward to Glenn's next book. Five Stars from Paris.

I don't live in NYC, but I love reading about its nightlife, hot spots and celebrities. If you do too, this is a great book. Its really entertaining and well written. The stories are amazing!

Maybe someday I'll be in the Big Apple trying to get past such discriminating doormen---and now I'll have half a chance!

"This deliriously decadent chronicle of New York City's underground club scene has got it all--from dishy star tidbits to hysterical anecdotes of nightlife celebrity wannabes and neverweres. Glenn Belverio has got ten well-manicured digits on the East-side downtown pulse of the Big Apple--and happily, this witty and observant writer doesn't spare us its gloriously seedy core."--Scot D. Ryersson & Michael Orlando Yaccarino, authors of 'Infinite Variety: The Life and Legend of the Marchesa Casati'

Like 20th century anthropologist Margaret Meade,
writer Glenn Belverio plunges into the primeval world
of Manhattan nightlife with notebook and pen in hand.
Confession from Behind the Velvet Ropes is the field
notes. Thrill to the agonizing ritual of the carefully
dressed Manhattanite who must dazzle and bewitch the
senatorial village savant, a.k.a. Thomas Onorato, the
Club Doorman, to win entrance into the temple. See
this holiest of Late Modern Capitalist rituals enacted
like an outbreak of Ebola in all its variety--from the
Hades-like chaos of the Kimora Lee Simons Baby Phat
fashion show to the haunting revenge attack by a
banished Former Somebody of a birthday party for outer
borough tribesman chief Adrien Brody. Hear from Thomas
and Club Doormen past and present on the hallowed duty
of protecting the clans of cool from the poisonous hoi
polloi, as Belverio astutely and with great wit brings
a dark corner of the earth into satellite-specific clarity.