Only a few days left to vote! The Chronicle's Ultimate Houston Awards voting polls will be open through August 9th. 6° Lounge is nominated in three categories, so please vote for Julian Ritchey as best bartender, and for 6° as best happy hour and as best place to see and be seen. Click here www.chron.com/banners/images/ult_form_2005/form.html. If you want to see WHY we are nominated for best happy hour, then book a happy hour with me, by calling 713-228-2990. Need a dominatrix to tell you other categories to vote in? Well let me be the vixen to command you, my kittens! Vote for these as the best in their categories: adult novelty store, Erotic Cabaret, socialite over 40, Becca Cason Thrash (I love her clothes! She spends on one pair of shoes what I earn in a month,) public access TV show, the Charles Snider Show (he is the coolest!), radio show Maria Todd (love her!) & Atom Smasher in the a.m. on 104, best weatherman Radar the weather-hound on channel two (I want to fix him up with my diva dog, Marlee,) liquor store Spec's (my home away from home,) jewelry store the Noble Lady, kids' clothing store Chase's Closet, dance club Hush (love Curtis Monroe, Max and Lucky) or M Bar (love the ENTIRE staff! Especially Carlos and Bob), hotel bar the Sam or the Whiskey Bar (love 'em both! I CANNOT live without Renee, Marissa, Trent and Nick from Whiskey,) Neighborhood Bar the Red Lion (love Denise and Craig, and Red Lion bathrooms are my favorite in the city,) Beer Menu the Flying Saucer (Jake Rainey, GM, is the MAN and the have a truckload of beers on tap) place to hear live music Sherlock's Pub (GM Chad Olson is foxy and was my boss at Outback Pub!) Jazz Bar Ringside at Sullivan's (I love Feiff and Alli Harrell at Sullivan's,) British Pub menu the Red Lion, Chinese and Vietnamese (they're so good, they're in TWO categories) Restaurant and best Dimson is Kimson (book your events there with Anna Rassmussen and have her tell you the funny story of how we became friends,) Greek restaurant Niko Niko's, Ice Cream Shop Amy's (I ACTUALLY KNOW AMY! Trey Kirby introduced us), Irish Pub menu Brian O'Neill's (Charlie rules!) Thai restaurant Kanomwan on Telephone Road, Vietnamese sandwich Les Givrals, new restaurant Lemongrass Cafi (smooches to Theo,) Sunday Brunch La Strada (hugs to Aldo) but FYI, Bocados has a bad-ass Disco Brunch, so check it out and finally, BEST open-air market should be the Yale Street Market that was grossly overlooked, so PLEASE write them in!

This deserves it's own paragraph: Go to the all-new Thursdays at 6° Lounge! Enough said! The official launch party will be on August 18th, complete with a fashion show from Erotic Cabaret that night too. Stay tuned to receive your e-flyer in the next week. Our new Thursday DJ will start this Thursday, so come by for a sneak preview and see who he is. As a matter of fact, 6° rules and I have done work for over 20 venues in my lifespan, so I have the right to brag and say I have the best job EVER! Sometimes I wish I was Jessica Simpson so I could shop without looking at price tags and see Nick Lachey naked. Then, I get to work the next day and realize I GET PAID to make people happy and have fun! Jessica, eat your heart out. I have the coolest job on the planet so stay tuned to see what events are coming up at 6°. You will be so impressed and you think you know what fun is now? JUST YOU WAIT!

On the topic of 6°, home of the future BEST bartender for the 2005 Ultimate Houston Awards, our resident Doctor of Mixology, Sir Julian Ritchey and I, will host our premiere quarterly MARTINI MIX-OFF Challenge Event on Thursday August 11th, beginning promptly at 9PM. The top three winners will receive a prize package and the top winning creation will also be featured on our Fall Martini Menu, and we'll make you famous by including your name and where you work on the menu. That should land you a raise or better TIP status from your guests. To register as a contestant, contact me at 713-228-2990 or kim@sixdl.com. Oh, guess what else? SHIRT HAPPENS (no that is not a typo, I did NOT mean s**t happens) at 6° each and every Thursday in August. You drop your biz card or fill out a form I have here at the bar for you, and every Thursday at midnight, we draw to give away a 6° Lounge SHIRT! You must be present to win, so get your booties into 6° on Thursdays to see Julian and me and possibly take home a cool shirt, but DEFINITELY have a great time!

Okay, so I write this on the Thursday before each Monday or Tuesday it goes out, so this tidbit is from July 21st, but I went to see Paul Oakenfold at the Meridian (1503 Chartres) and it was my first time to see/hear him. He is everything I'd heard he is AND MORE! I was an Oakenfold virgin, but now I feel so "in the loop" and I can see why he is ranked #8 in the WORLD, see http://www.thedjlist.com/. Anyway, the venue was as freakin' HOT as all get out (ever heard of an AC?) but so was the crowd! Many cool people were in attendance. I probably sweated off five pounds, at least. I'm not kidding you, there was at least 800 people there and it was like Main Street at Super Bowl in that building. Special thanks goes out to Sean Carnahan of www.77002.com and Bob Fuldauer, king of the Meridian for the VIP treatment. It's so much FUN being me! Kudos to Trent, manager of the Whiskey Bar in the Hotel Icon, because took his staff to the event, which was $25 per ticket. That staff is obviously well-loved by their boss! I don't know if he paid for them or not, but if not he should have. By the way, The Whiskey Bar is nominated for best hotel bar in the Chronicle's Ultimate of Houston, so vote for them.

Impresario Entertainment and www.AxxisHouston.com bring you "Latin Wednesdays" at Mantra/Club Ice. Experience the best in Latin Beats and Hip Hop brought to you by DJ Axxis. The night is 21 and up only and fashionable attire is a must. You can find more info at www.impresarioent.com. These Wednesdays are hosted by Marco Reyna and Jason Valdez, who also bring you the hottest Latin Night every Friday Night and Copa Cabana with Chicago's own DJ Wicked. Copa Cabana is at 114 Main Street. Copa Cabana is not the same after the departure of Amanda and the only reason I mentioned the place is because I like Marco and Jason. I don't go there anymore. It's MY newsletter and I'll say whatever I want, but sometimes it's what I DON'T say that should tell you something. Hmmmmm.

I need to give props to one of my mentors, she's the biggitty bomb! Cleverley Stone has been helping hospitality professionals find jobs in Houston for over 8 years. Here's an example of a recent accomplishment: the Houston Texans and Reliant Stadium just found their new executive chef through Cleverley's resume bank. She concentrates on the hospitality industry in general, all positions. Cleverley is also starting a special new 'server resume bank,' servers can send their resumes to Cleverley@CleverleysNewsletter.com. Let me also give credit where credit is due. I'd never heard the term 'resume bank' before Cleverley started using it in her newsletter 8 years ago. Yes, I adopted the term from her, but imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, or a form of plagiarism in some cases, but not this one. She knows I got it from her, so don't try to narc me out to her that I stole it. She coined the term, I simply borrowed it and "COYNED" the term. Get it? As in Kim Coyne?

Hey party people, make that, SINGLE party people, have you heard of Eight Friends Out? Well, buckle up and enjoy the ride, because on Sunday, August 14th, there is an all ages Eight Friends Out Sunday Brunch at Arcodoro, 5000 Westheimer at Post Oak. Perhaps you've enjoyed the cooking school and the wine tastings at Arcodoro, and whether or not you have, here's your chance to enjoy brunch at one of the city's Top Ten brunch spots. Arcodoro features the Sardinian culinary artistry of Chef Efisio Farris (sounds like a porn star name. so his cooking has GOT to be good.) This is where the presidents (yes, the Bushes and the Clintons) eat when they're in Houston! Come dine with the best at Arcodoro! Be there at 11AM sharp. It's a $45 cash bar. Members only. RSVP required. Members only, well DUH, I guess you need to join www.eightfriendsout.com, so do so! Click here www.eightfriendsout.com/.

Hey, businesses out there: Have you ever felt like - Your ad in the newspaper was not being read? Your spot on the radio was not being heard? Your commercial on TV was not being seen? And, your website on the Internet was not being visited? If so, your advertising is not working for you. It is working against you. Want to turn that situation around? Now there is a place where you can "target your market and test your marketing message, cost-effectively" BEFORE you embark on an expensive marketing campaign. Welcome to the world of power networking. Welcome to the world of CDMM. This is where the power of the personal referral and technology merge. They will create a "buzz" for your business in the target market you choose, and they do that by designing and delivering a high-tech direct-mail piece synergistically connected to a localized front-page news story about your business. This is how they test the effectiveness of your marketing message BEFORE the actual marketing campaign begins. How much does that cost? Just $20.00. Interested? Contact Lamar Morgan at CDMM. I met Lamar on a networking site you can join for free, called www.ryze.com. I've been a member about 3 years now. Contact Lamar by phone: 707-929-9064 or Email: lamar@mchsi.com.

Join fellow golfers in your area for the 2005 St. Patrick's Irish Open presented by the St. Patty's Day Parade Commission (of which the Queen is an active member.) The golf tourney is on September 12th, 2005 with a shotgun start at noon. It will be a four-man scramble at Quail Valley Country Club, 2880 La Quinta Drive in Missouri City, Texas. Proceeds go to the 2006 St. Patrick's Parade. For details or to enter, call Sean at 832-978-4192 or e-mail irishmkk@aol.com.