Southern Belle

Talk of the Town

The mornings in Atlanta are predictable. All traffic headed towards the city and Marietta is ok until about 630am, that's when someone has to have an episode on 85 south before the Spaghetti junction and everyone passing has to get a peek. Makenzie has a front row seat of it all in her penthouse condo. Every morning she flips through the news channels skipping the commercials, collecting her stock info and finding out if anything happened in her neighborhood or anywhere close to the club that would stop her patrons from wanting to go. Even if her night ends at 6am she's not going to miss the news. Today's no different except she is among all of her roommate's new friends trying to find a nice way to tell them all to get the hell out.

This was Alana's first week in the A and she already had her usual ass-load of groupies and tagalongs. Looking around the room, you notice the abundance of the plastic people. There are so many lace front wigs in the room; you dare not strike a match. There were the gay stylists that were leading the conversation on the floor about something that had to do with boots and making plans for everyone to meet up at one of the balls in midtown. Alana is floating around the room, exchanging numbers and schmoozing, and leaning on the counter in the kitchen is one disgruntled Makenzie sipping on bottled water rolling her eyes at the whole scene.

"You know eventually I need to get some rest Lana!" this was Mak's attempt at subtlety.

"Alright, everyone, Diva needs her rest, we'll pick it up @ my VIP tomorrow, I'll text whoever's on the list", Alana announces as she ushers everyone to the door.

"I don't know why you like all those people all in your mix... first nigga to rob me and your ass will be homeless", Mak laughed and shook her head at her friend.

"They love me, what can I say?"

Makenzie changed into her lounge pants and baby-T and started the water for her Tea. Makenzie always has tea before she starts her yoga on the balcony.

Alana is going through all her new numbers in her phone, deleting everyone who has a star next to their name and giving special ringtones to the ones that end in an exclamation point. This was her system of deciding who was worth getting to know. Alana was only interested in mingling with the socially connected. Homeboys with a demo tape didn't stand a chance. Every moment out was work for her. She needed to get as deep in other people's business as humanly possible, otherwise she wouldn't have a thing to talk about on her show segment.

"Three hairstylists, four ball player's wives' friends and a personal assistant, got to do better girl" Alana had a habit of talking to herself aloud.

Makenzie happened to hear her friend's personal conversation with herself, "Lana I swear, and one day somebody is going to snatch your wig off telling people's business."

"Ohm.....get out of my business and find your higher self.....Ohm, Ha ha", Alana always made fun of the fact that Makenzie did yoga and still had anger issues.

Makenzie and Alana have known each other since their days at USC back in Cali. They both pledged Zeta but Alana never crossed. Mak was always the one that followed through, Alana was always the social butterfly. Throughout the time that they have known each other Makenzie maintained her focus on being her own boss, even if it meant that she had to make some sacrifices and keep things simple for a while. All of Mak's hard work was paying off, the club is a success so far and her penthouse had been profiled in Atlanta style and Peach magazine 2 years in a row.

Alana on the other hand believed that there were certain things in life that she just deserved, one was to have any man that she wanted, for the moment and the other was to rock whatever label cost the most and looked the best on her. She spent her time during and after college as a groupie. She felt like life on the sidelines instead of the limelight yielded all of the glitz with half bullshit. She had cars, condos, jewelry and clothes to prove it, but the one thing that she didn't have was someone to come home to. Being among friends eased her loneliness and when it comes to friends, Makenzie was the best that she could ask for.

The phone rings and Makenzie takes the call. Makenzie begins her fax and email session and two hours later she decides to renovate her current property rather than go through the motions with a difficult seller. In this city a club has an expected life span of 4 yrs, anything that lasts beyond that is expected to set the standard in the club experience. There have been many big names, huge ones even that did not have that special something to keep the ever-changing Atlanta club society intrigued. Catering to the younger crowds only will have a packed house, but your bar and staff will suffer. The older crowd has lofty expectations for a high dollar door fee but they will keep the evening pleasant. 22-28 is the age range that will set the tone for the life and prosperity of a club, those are your unlimited tab VIP section patrons and this city has no shortage in that demographic.

Even though Kingston was hot, everything was pretty simple; open space raised VIP sections, bathroom attendants and drinks in clear plastic cups. The competition in the city builds with each passing year, and the likelihood of a club reaching 112, ESSO, or Velvet Room longevity depended on one huge thing...connections.