🍬 Sugary Scoop: Get In The Game

Welcome to the Sugary Scoop, my free biweekly newsletter where we help you see and experience the magic of NYC that I love so much through curated events, experiences, artists, and community stories.

Let’s get to this week’s Scoop!

🍬The Scoop 🍬

• WHAT'S NEW

• THE SUGARY EFFECT

• PAST EVENTS

• AND DON’T SAY I DIDN’T TELL YOU ABOUT…

• ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

  • NOTABLE NYC HAPPENINGS THIS WEEK & BEYOND

    • EMPATHY PROJECT

June 24th @7pm (Soho): Sugary’s Social Movie Screening Presents: Dumb Money - Join us as we screen the hit movie Dumb Money followed by a discussion of the mechanics of short selling, meme culture in investing and the high wire drama currently unfolding in real life with Roaring Kitty once again putting the short sellers on notice and what is turning out to be the second chapter of the GameStop saga. _{(Social Battery Level: Medium Ambivert - Crowd Size Under 20-40)}

June 25th @6:30pm (LES): Unsent Letter Project Presents: The Write to Read Salon - Now that the Unsent Letter Mailbox has been out receiving the stories of New Yorkers, we have collected over 100 fascinating personal accounts of anonymity. This will be the first salon in which we we will co-host to give people a chance to read and discuss these contributions while perhaps contributing a story of their own in the process. RSVP HERE _{(Social Battery Level: Low-Introvert - Crowd Size 10-20) -}

_{(Space is very limited for each of these events so if you’d like to attend to any of these events, please hit the RSVP button below sooner than later!)}

Sugary Community Brand Kit

So the Sugary newsletter is getting a facelift!

In an effort to improve your viewing experience, we’ve asked the uber talented Marques Oden to draft a redesign of our newsletter.

Basically what this means is that the new look going forward is gonna feel less cookie cutter and much more customized for our community experience overall.

What it also means is that we’re tweaking things like section placement, event linking and a better flow to the bi-weekly contribution.

Expect these changes to trickle through little by little over the next few newsletters.

Marques is also gonna take a stab at a logo redesign. More on that later…

We can’t wait to hear your thoughts on all the changes we have made and definitely let us know if you have any thoughts on what we can do to improve your reading experience!

Are you a Sugary Member yet? Join the 150+ member community that gets you access to member-only events, special event perks, discounts and more

Get in the Game

My good friend Nadir who has shared countless experiences with me across many years has developed a standardized response to all of my propositions, “Default answer is YES” 👏🏼

Over the years this has become sort of a mantra in my circle of friends that we laugh about but are quite serious about in practice, spreading the gospel through action.

On a random Wednesday, DK and I stepped foot into Key and Heels for a very special moment…

We’d be vibing with none other than Grammy nominated artist Kaleo in an unforgettable and ultra intimate night of music at my friend Massimo’s speakeasy.

There, a hyper intimate group of “friends and family” enjoyed tunes that spanned the range of chart topping hits to a ragtag assortment of Nordic/Celtic/Anglo-Saxon/Americana folk tunes all through the night (ever heard Home on the Range in Icelandic? I can now say I have…).

This was in stark contrast to the previous night when Kaleo had opened for The Rolling Stones in front of 60,000 people in Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field stadium.

To my left were close friends and super fans who traveled from all over the world to be there. To my right…half the fishing commission of Iceland.

It was a perfectly bizarre assemblage of devotees and it was such a special moment for so many reasons.

But all of this wouldn’t have happened were it not for a governing principle that I’ve prescribed to long before this moment ever transpired and I’m convinced it is in fact THE reason why this moment occurred in the first place:

“New York City is a participatory sport, there are far more affordable places to sit on the sidelines”…of life.

In mapping the genesis of this experience…

Had I not been open to checking out a seemingly innocuous happy hour years back, I wouldn’t have met the individual that invited me to a John Varvatos fashion event

Had I not attended that fashion event, I wouldn’t have received an invite to a special salon held at the flagship store in 2022

Had I not attended the salon and brought my friend Massimo, there would have been no connection with Kaleo who happened to be the performer of the evening

Had there been no connection with Kaleo, there would have been no special show for DK & I to attend at Key and Heels.

You know that saying, “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”? I kinda equate that to the experience of “living out” the city. To get the most out of this town, I’ve always found proactively seeking out people and experiences while keeping an open mind and a curious heart is in fact the best way to go.

Don’t let your own doubt or pessimism get in the way of possibly discovering magic in this city.

This by no means is a guarantee that everything will work out, it would be unrealistic to think that and you’re inevitably gonna run into some duds here and there. But the possibility of discovering something priceless is worth it in my opinion…speaking as someone with extensive experience in this area across decades 😉.

New York City doesn’t give you anything. It’s all there, but YOU have to seek it out.

3:30am…I had finally cleared the doorway into my apartment after a long journey home from the UES. The pronounced vespers of a glorious Sauvignon Blanc swirling in my bloodstream drafting an equal 50/50 treatise with its sanguine counterpart.

It was gonna be a rough morning yet it was all worth it.

In my text messages, I received an invite from my friend to attend a preview for an immersive theater experience later in the week.

I knew little else other than that the premise of the experience involves a Faustian bargain on my soul…

Default answer is YES.

June 7th: Unsent Letter Mailbox Activation #2 - A small contingent of you came out to volunteer for this incredible initiative and within the span of just a couple hours we had collected over 60 letters of joy, sadness, anger, love and whimsy. We’ll be collecting letters throughout the summer as we build towards the next phase of the project which we’ll be revealing shortly.

June 8th: Sugary Summer Rooftop BBQ: Over 75 of you came out on THE perfect day for a fantastic rooftop BBQ to celebrate the Sugary membership reaching 100 members! GREAT eats from korean galbi, lamb chops, pork belly, thai chicken wings and longanisa were served throughout the night with grill master DK holding it down for the long haul while DJ Ying graced us with an amazing sunset DJ set and was also joined by NYC legend DJ Rafael De La Cruz (who incidentally pulled double duty as a grill master as well).

June 16th: Pickleball Social in Central Park #2 - 16 of you came out as we took over the courts once again at City Pickle @Wollman Rink. Beginner through advanced players were represented and it was as much about the vibes and learning as it was about that competitive spirit. DK took the time to bring up new players and compete with the more experienced players while I was…head cheerleader! Gooooooo team!

Nicotine Dolls

The music world has been blessed with newly anointed rock stars straight out of Brooklyn.

This band has taken the digital world by storm mainly in the form of close up magic (in-your-face intimate singing not more than 5 feet away sometimes closer to feel the visceral impact) and will soon become a global obsession.

Formidable frontman Sam Cieri leads his band of musical brothers through catchy original tunes and a diverse portfolio of challengingly precarious covers armed with a devil may care charisma and a raspy voice singular of a generation inspiring comparisons to The Boss, Rod Stewart, Axl Rose and perhaps John Mayer combined or somewhere thereabouts.

I went to check them out live at Racket NYC as they launched their summer ‘24 tour, their first ever. I wanted to see if the hype was in fact real and I am here to tell you…

The hype is real.

It was a venue that fit 600, but it could have just as easily been 1000 or 10,000. There was REAL love in the room, you could feel it so clearly.

Go see this phenomenal band before it becomes economically prohibitive to do so, because mark my words, these guys are one hit song away from going to the moon…and I’m here for it ALL!

What Makes You Sad (most popular song)

Till We Both Say (lesser known song)

How Do You Love Me [Reimagined] (newest song)

NOTABLE NYC HAPPENINGS THIS WEEK & BEYOND

6/25 @5:30pm - Unapologetic Leadership Cocktails x Collaboration: RSVP HERE

6/26 @7pm - WIN NY Dinner Series: RSVP HERE