(Saturday – February 8th, 2003) – It was still hectic, and with the increase of groupies all over the hotel lobbies in the early evening, the buzz was on for the hottest ticket in town – the NBA Player’s Association Party. This is where all the celebrity basketball players would be towering over the obvious agents, coaches, sports professionals and specially invited guests – and the groupies, can’t forget them.
P.Diddy’s own party at the Swissotel in Buckhead was also a hot place to be, probably the next spot to hit after the Player’s Association party, but with traffic almost making it impossible to reach a traffic light a mile away in a descent time, Peachtree began to see some serious reinforcement from the Police – road blocks, detours, no-access zones, it was a mess. Unfortunately, many events were missed because of the sad fact of not being able to get to them. Although attending the 3-Point competition and Slam Dunk contest were great in itself, Saturday night really turned out to be somewhat disappointing. One of the first parties (actually the only party) we ended up being stuck in was at The Inforum, where LL Cool J, Tracy McGrady, were scheduled to be in the house and to perform, but some never showed up. After gaining entry using some serious streetwise skills, one couldn’t help look back at the suffering people at the door, forced into paying $175 per girl, and $300 per guy. That was the reality of the night. And optimistically, that might have been considered OK, if these scheduled artists and entertainers were to perform, but only DJ Clue showed up, got on around 1am and rocked the party until about 3am or so.
This weekend was just a share rip off for some, who nevertheless paid willingly, even though it meant no drinks or meals the next night. Unless you were really part of the official NBA events or paying exorbitant fares really didn’t mean anything to you, you’d be crying. Other hot spots to be that night would include: HEAT at the Fulton County Atrium hosted by Beyounce, Michael Vick, Ja Rule, Ashanti; 1st Annual All-Star Freak Fest at the 20 Grand Ballroom hosted and featuring Uncle Luke, Heather Hunter and Dynamite; and the Platinum All-Star Party at the Georgia International Convention Center featuring the Roc-A-Fella Family.
