The season of giving is here and it’s a fine time of year to help those less fortunate. Elves and More is a non-profit organization devoted to bringing hope to children who are living in poverty, by way of brand-new bikes. To an underprivileged child, a bike is basic transportation, because even simple bus fare may be too expensive for their family’s income. The goal of this program is to provide 20,000 children with brand new bicycles and another 5,000 kids with Treasure Boxes of gifts. On Tuesday, December 7th, from 7:00 – 11:00pm, SkyBar, located in the Penthouse at 3400 Montrose will be hosting an event to raise proceeds for Elves and More. This will make holiday wishes come true for Houston-area children to have a visit from Santa and receive gifts that their families couldn’t otherwise afford to give them. Admission at the door is $20.00 per person with 100% benefiting the charity, and admission includes "The Buffet Extraordinaire" presented by The Chef’s Table. There will be a cash bar, and Scott Gertner and his band will also perform. Each guest will receive one raffle ticket with the Grand Prize being a 2005 Lotus Elise Sports Car. For more information about this event, call SkyBar at 713-520-9688.

If any of you out there need Christmas Lights hung, I saw a sign for a company that offers the service, www.christmaslightsunlimited.com. That sure beats the pants off climbing up on the rooftop and hanging the lighting yourselves. Just thought I’d give them a free plug. Plug…lights, get it? Moving right along, look for the decorated Grey Goose Vodka holiday displays in bars around the city. There’s no better way to show your festive holiday spirit, than with liquid spirits, right? Club owners and promoters out there, the season brings a lot of new traffic through your doors and I have a friend who will come to your venue and take digital photos to update your website and chat it up with your guests while she gathers email addresses for you to beef-up your database. She averages 300 email addresses in two hours. If you’re interested in hiring her to help with these tasks, contact Dana at beautiful2day@netzero.com.

Exciting news! I have my own website now & you can see the current issue of Queen of Clubs as well as all the past issues. Check it out www.houstonqueenofclubs.com. Bookmark it in your favorites, why don’t you? I’d like to say a very special thank you to the charming and effervescent John Valenzano of HardLight Media for the web design & his gift of the domain name to me. That was one of the best presents I have ever received! Special thanks, also, to the dapper and debonair Khail Mills of www.hypermail.cc for partnering with me on the newsletter by designing the layout every two weeks, along with this extra edition, and for designing the QOC logo. I'm the luckiest girl on the planet to have these talented and lovable guys working with me.

Speaking of which, I sincerely miss all the talented and lovable DJs on KLOL. It’s now Latino and Proud, Mega 101 FM. I’m sure there are many of us who’ve grown up listening to the station. After 34 years, they suddenly changed their format on Friday, November 12th. My morning drive to work will never be the same. I miss the Walton & Johnson show, ferociously. How do you all feel about the change? Here’s the link to sign a petition and voice your thoughts on the new (and old) format. Who knows if this will do any good, but….http://www.webpetitions.com/cgi-bin/print_petition.cgi?99498781 Also, a loyal listener who designs websites has come up with www.bringbackKLOL.com where you can also sign a petition. It’s worth a try, because I want my KLOL back! I contacted Chris, who put together this site to bring back KLOL, and together we are hosting an "All I want for Christmas is ROCK" party at the Ruby Room, beginning at 9PM on Thursday December 9th. For details, visit www.rockhouston.com, www.bringbackKLOL.com or email events@rubyroomhouston.com.

About 200 bartenders and invited guests were at a party Smirnoff hosted recently that included an exclusive advance screening of "After the Sunset," along with a post-screening party including Smirnoff cocktails and hors d’oeuvres for all the attendees. A good time (maybe too good) was had by all. It was a really nice function and I got take the Smirnoff Quality Challenge that blindly compares Smirnoff to Absolut and Grey Goose Vodkas in a taste test. The event was terrific and after attending I can say two things based on the party, 1. Smirnoff rates right up there on taste with the more expensively-priced vodkas and 2. I wish I had a body like Selma Hayek.

Here’s a quick update on people in the booze biz, so you can keep tabs on all of your favorite bar staffers. Brian Dear has left his door position at Brian O’Neills Pub and is now a Server and Bartender at Hotel Icon’s Restaurant, Bank. John Williams, formerly of Bar Houston and Red Star is now bartending on Saturday nights at Toc Bar. Wild Child, Kimmy, who used to work at Bar Houston, Red Star and Live is now bartending at Slainte Irish Pub and OT is still slinging drinks at Opus, but you can also find him serving bottled water, juice and sodas after-hours at 20/20. Rico Falzone with Empire Bar recently got a promotion to management. Congrats to Rico, you big stud, you. Dave Short, who recently completed a 5-year stint @ Mercury Room has now created Cryolabstudios.com and is filtering his talents into the live music scene. South Beach bartender, Johnathan Cranford celebrated a birthday at the Ruby Room with about 60-70 of his friends and his "fan club." South Beach is ranked as one of the top Dance Bars in Houston, according to www.citysearch.com, and part of the success of South Beach could be due to Johnathan’s popularity. I’d also like to say best wishes for a lifetime of "happily ever after" to Christie and James Dixon who got married in Jamaica on November 14th. James a.k.a. DJ Thumpa is the DJ at the Ruby Room for Luscious Thursdays. Numbers Nightclub on Westheimer hosts "The Breakfast Club" on Wednesdays with DJs Mike Snow (one of the Queen’s all-time favorite DJs) and Wes Wallace. 80’s music at it’s finest along with 50-cent drafts & $2 drinks all night. I used to frequent Numbers when I was a wild party-banshee, about 10 years ago. If those walls could talk, I’d be in big trouble.

In the last issue, I bragged about Trey Warren and the great service I receive from LBX Lighting, so this month I want to share another gem, graphic genius, Leo Sanchez, of Industry Printing. Industry is the ONLY graphic design and printing company I’ve used for several years for my promotional flyers and Leo is a big part of the reason why. To see more of what makes Industry one of the most well-known in the city, check out their website, www.industryprinting.com. Partners Will and Ryan have built a strong business with the services offered through Industry. Leo created the Haunted Hollywood and Luscious Thursday flyers for the Ruby Room, to name just a couple of his masterpieces.

Before I sign off, I just want to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving and may you get to spend the day with the friends and family you love. Count your blessings, and be grateful for the good things in your life. I’ll spend the holiday with some very dear friends and my biggest hero, my father. My dad actually reads Queen of Clubs (and loves me anyway) and I want to say thank you, Daddy, for all the love and support you’ve shown me and for standing by me no matter what. Also, thank you to Jason, Tri, Tony and Al, my awesome bosses, for the opportunity to work for such a terrific place. I hope I will always make you proud of my (our) accomplishments.

A little tribute to the gone, but not forgotten, daily sign-off on the KLOL morning show…Bye, bye boys and girls, and remember to eat it every day!