Lighting Up Vegas, D.C. Style

Marc Barnes Brings the Love for All-Star Weekend

LAS VEGAS -- Marc Barnes is cranky. He's had but two precious hours of napping, and it's showtime again -- 11 on Sunday night, time for the grand finale of the three-night exclusive party he has thrown during the 56th annual NBA All-Star Weekend here, time for more beauties purring at the bar, more Escalades purring at the curb, more Moet bubbles purring down more celebrities' throats.

But not his, of course. Marc Barnes doesn't drink. He doesn't smoke. He chews watermelon gum while he grouses about how hard it is for a "perfectionist" to bring "9-to-5 professionalism" to the nightclub world, where most employees get it done on their own schedule, under their own relaxed rules. And here, during his first venture in Sin City, it's even tougher than at home in Washington, where he can project consummate cool at his own place, the Northeast nightclub Love.

"I'm trying to be more corporate. Trying to change people's thinking," says Barnes, 43. He doesn't identify who these people are, exactly, but he's clearly angry about a few delays in his venue's setup.

Even getting to work is a challenge. Hundreds of thousands of revelers and basketball lovers have jammed the Vegas strip, making driving even three short blocks a 30-minute stress test. He adjusts his tweed jacket, part of his typical uniform of polo shirt, khakis and spotless Air Force Ones and heads off into the neon night.

Shift work for the impresario.

"There is nothing like All Star. It's amazing to me. You have every class of black there is. The billionaire, the millionaire to the middle class to the poor. This is the event," Barnes said.

Some call the annual All-Star Game and its attendant scene "Black Hollywood" weekend, as African Americans of all social and economic groups converge to party and parade around and perhaps bother to see one of the star-studded basketball games. And while most of the ladies' skirts were misdemeanor-short, a majority of the Hummers and limos were stretched. Barnes tries to host at least one function every year during this time. This year, he went for three.

Friday night, sports commentator Kenny Smith hosted a celebrity poker party. Saturday night, partiers joined host Cleveland Cavalier LeBron James for a party. Barnes said both events attracted between 1,500 to 2,000 partiers; on hand were ballers Vince Carter, Tony Parker and actresses Rosie Perez and Victoria Rowell. But Sunday was the final big party with Oscar-winning actor and singer Jamie Foxx. This was the culmination of a plan that started back in September, when Barnes first flew out to Vegas to see if the two-level, 25,000-square-foot Empire Ballroom would fill the bill.

"This is Marc Barnes man. He's Congress," Foxx said as he arrived Sunday night among a throng of reporters and screaming fans before being ushered to his VIP table at the center of the dance floor. "Marc Barnes doesn't just throw parties. They're experiences."

The Marc Barnes experience is going to have modelesque minglers with Platinum Cards who know how to behave. Celebrities, business leaders and politicians have relied on Barnes to make sure their occasion comes off without a hitch; at Love (formerly Dream), Bill Clinton once grooved onstage for a DNC fundraiser. Beyonce has graced the premises. Gilbert Arenas had a stupefyingly outrageous birthday party there just last month. Himself sculpted in ice, himself surrounded by ladies in only the briefest bits of gold lamé, all just because he turned 25. Here, competition for the sophisticated hip-hopper willing to pay up to $200 to party with Barnes was stiff, especially when there were dozens of other parties going on throughout the city. At Empire, $4,000 bought a VIP table for the evening. Barnes had committed to providing $300,000 in receipts over the weekend to Empire's owners, in return for opening their club. With another couple thousand showing up Sunday, Barnes met his mark. While he declined to talk about the weekend's take, he said his revenue from the weekend set a record.

Moet Hennessy USA signed on as a sponsor, said Jason Parker, the firm's events coordinator, because "Marc Barnes knows the hip-hop community. He has a vision and knows how to throw parties."

A father of four whose wife, Anne, coordinates Love's catering, Barnes has spent more than 18 years throwing parties. He owned Republic Gardens on U Street before moving on to his club off New York Avenue.