According to Jay-Z, “after the party it’s the hotel lobby” … or, you can just have the party at the hotel bar.

BLT in the Ritz Carlton just opened, and pretty much the entire hotel lobby is a lounge. It stands for Bistro Laurent Tourondel — not bacon, lettuce and tomato. In fact, a BLT in that joint would probably cost you $15, for lunch.

It’s not cheap… it is at the Ritz after all and the lounge is well, rather ritzy. And their organic cocktails and premium wine list of the lobby-lounge correspond with the price range of a steak house.

It’s been open a few weeks and since then has been the hot spot for N.Y. Knicks and pretty much every celebrity that comes through Charlotte.

The Ritz also has live music in the lobby-lounge on weekend nights

Meanwhile, the Aloft Hotel is opening in Ballantyne. And just like uptown it has the w xyz bar.

Since it’s at a hotel you can grab a complimentary USA Today or Wall Street Journal, sit down at the lounge and read it… or, play pool. The furniture at the aloft is unique — I was sitting on the cushioned coffee table, and one sofa looks like something straight out of psychiatrist office. It made me want to lay down and talk about my problems. They were smart not to keep it far away from the bartenders or else someone really may.

Also, you can purchase a snack at the hotel general store, or jump on the computer and check your Facebook. I learned it’s not a good idea to change your facebook status after a few drinks.

The grand opening party for Aloft Ballantyne is Nov. 12

Cason-Point: you don’t have to be checked in to check out the nightlife within hotels.

There’s also Café Sienna at the Holiday Inn, Chambers in the Crowne Plaza, Champions and Cutter’s Cigar Bar in Marriot Center City, Bar 10 at the Westin, Coastal Bar at Hilton Center City and the more appropriately titled Lakefront Lounge at the University Hilton …. and if you’re staying at the Days Inn on Woodlawn you can go to the Azteca restaurant for a little fiesta fiesta.

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Don’t know? Well let me help you out with that … here are my party picks for the weekend.

Friday – party at the Time Warner Cable Arena – the Bobcats will be the belle of the ball. Pun intended.

Saturday – There are a lot of races in Charlotte … NASCAR races … Race for a Cure … the mayoral race. But this weekend the Go Urban Adventure Race will be in town. A scavenger hunt based on text clues and physical and mental challenges. Kinda like the Amazing Race, minus all the reality show drama. Two person teams can register on-line.

Sunday – Runway for the Ballet Now this is like Project Runway meets So You Think You Can Dance. This fashion -slash- dance show will feature feature fashions from Morrison Boutique, Black & Blue, eMartini, Scout and Molly’s, and ChezElle on the runway and NC Dance Theatre’s Innovative Works will take the stage. All this strutting and sashaying will benefit the North Carolina Dance Theatre. And did I mention there will be catering from RuSans and wine from Aroogi’s Wine Room

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In spirit of Election Day I have decided to elect my favorite nightlife spot in Charlotte. The votes have been tallied, and I have come to a unanimous decision (with myself) that my favorite place to go for a night out is … (drum roll please) … The Time Cable Warner Arena.

Yes, really.

Not only have I seen concerts from Kanye West to Taylor Swift there (no, not together – or else he probably would’ve stolen the mic out of her hand), but the Bobcats season opener was last weekend against the N.Y. Knicks. So you know what that means … we have 30 some odd parties, er, I mean … games to go to.

But let’s just say I didn’t mind that the Knicks game went into double overtime, for the win … because I got to stay at the arena longer – they even have a post game party in their Front Court Bar.

In fact, I like going to the games so much that the Bobcats have noticed and started publishing my blogs on their site. See …

Check out Bobcats Break for behind the scenes, and in the stands reports from the dome of nightlife that is the arena.

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Trick or Treat? Halloween isn’t just for the tricks … sure, it has turned into “Dress Like a Slut Night” with so many girls going as “Slutty (insert occupation here)” — but despite the fact that it’s hard to find costumes that’ll cover your ass anymore, there were a lot of creative costumers out this Halloween. And as I made my rounds to judge various costume contests, I captured some of the winners …. Treat!

A blind Jake Delhomme seen at Coyote Joes — and even though just in costume, he still got boo’ed off stage during the costume contest. I also saw a Jake with a for sale sign on.

All the single ladies! Beyonce and her back-up dancers seen at Andrew Blair’s

And here we have the mugshot magazine, The Slammer, that you can find at your local gas stations. But I found this one on Rich and Bennett’s Halloween crawl through Uptown.

Inspector Gadget and Spencer Pratt (his Heidi was off looking for her shampoo) were chillin’ together at Andrew Blair’s.

Dorothy wasn’t in Kansas … or Oz. She was at Halo, with her whole crew — the Cowardly Lion, Tin Man, and Scarecrow … everyone but Toto.

And this girl apparently just skipped the “Slutty (insert occupation here)” costume and just went as a slut.

I meanwhile procrastinated on making a costume … much like I do everything in life. So about an hour before the costume contest, into my closet I went … and came out with my old TopCats warm-up uniform and boxing gloves, and the Tampa Bay TopCats fighting in the bathroom costume was born …

To see more Halloween photos, visit QCAfterDark.com.

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I am proud to announce that I have finally welcomed myself into the 21st century and am no longer a twit on Twitter — though still a twit in general. But I became twit-literate and created a Twitter page for the purpose of keeping you informed with up-to-the-second nightlife news.

@brittneycason you’ll find tweets like …

“Free glass of wine at Aquavina after show at Knight Theater. Knight Theater open house is Dec. 5 and they’ll have karaoke on stage!”

“Jewel just dedicated a song to @ryanonair …but he was in the bathroom, which @jacinda961 informed her – and the entire crowd”

“Paging all groupies and gold diggers: the entire NY Knicks team is at the BLT bar in the Ritz Carlton right now, but more importantly they have organic cocktails here!”

“Free parking across from Bentley’s RSVP on Church and at Luna Lounge on College – all walking distance to Uptown … just saying”

“I just had a girl brag to me about sleeping with Tucker Max…what am I suppose to do? Pat her on the back on say “Congrats on the Herpes”

“Andy Roddick is in Charlotte and seeking suggestions for nightlife … where should I tell him to go?”

“Why do women always complain about men leaving the toilet seat up? … they never complain when we leave it down”

“Carl Edwards just limped by me DURING the race – was he injured from the wreck? No, he broke his foot playing frisbee”

… so follow me, on Twitter, not home at night because that would be weird.

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My friends all call me a dirty hippie — yes, to my face — but I beg to differ … I’m more like a hygienic hippie. I mean, sure, I do hot yoga, but I shower afterward. I just prefer holistic medicines over Western ones. That was, until last week when I found myself in an extraordinary amount of pain and sicker than I’ve ever been in my life. I even broke out the half a bottle of Hydrocodone that I hoarded from an accident I was in back in 2006.

You see, over the course of three weeks I felt my health declining slowly … treating each symptom as a separate, non-severe entity. I wrote off the swelling as bloating and weight gain, and when my skin started getting scaly, I just figured I was getting old. The chronic fatigue and back pain was just jet lag on top of a bladder infection … so I went and got acupuncture. But when that didn’t even help — and my fever went up to 103 — I figured I had become another candidate for Swine in ‘09, which elected me to go see a real doctor … something I’d been avoiding because not only am I a holistic hippie, but my insurance plan with my previous employer ended recently, so I am on a temporary freelancer’s policy at the moment. That said, I basically only have “shit happens” insurance … and well, shit happened.

I couldn’t even make an appointment with a doctor because everyone I called pretty much hung up on me when I told them my coverage. Considering at this point I couldn’t eat, or sleep and could barely walk, I slathered myself in Tiger’s Balm, took an expired Hydrocodone, put an Icy Hot patch on, and dragged myself to the minute clinic at CVS. I told the lady my long list of symptoms, and she gave me a look over. She placed some pressure on the spot where my Icy Hot patch was, which just so happened to be my kidney, which resulted in me squealing in pain so high-pitched that  only dolphins and bats heard it. “It’s your kidney!” she gasped. She yelled at me like my mother did about waiting so long to see a doctor. “You need to go to the hospital, like now — here are directions.” I did not pass go, I did not collect $100 – I went straight to Urgent Care. Sure enough, I had a really bad infection that had been brewing and spreading in my kidneys for almost a month, flooding my body with toxins. So, they drugged and doctored me up. I took a slew of tests – aced them all. And I lived happily ever after.

Or so I thought.

After my tests, a group of nurses came into my room with that face you make when you have to deliver news the other person doesn’t want to hear — avoiding eye contact and speaking in a lackluster tone: “Brittney, I know you because I always read your column… [thank you] … so, I hate to tell you this, but”… long pause.

The dramatics totally freaked me out.

“But, you probably shouldn’t drink for a while — and you should maybe consider staying home for a change until your kidney functions properly again.”

That’s it? I thought she was going to tell me I needed to go on dialysis or something — something bad. Though it has been hard for me to sit still, I needed to cop a squat in life. And it’s a small fee to pay for actually being able to heal. But the good thing about being sick is that I will never again take feeling good for granted, and really feel good. If you are healthy enough to get out of bed … then it’s going to be a good day.

And just so you know, there is no nightlife in the hospital. The cafeteria even closes early, but there is a pizza vending machine in the waiting room. A vending machine that makes pizza … really?

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What does one say to their favorite celebrity upon meeting them? Most people might say, “Love you work!” or “You are an inspiration.”

I, on the other hand, told Jewel: “Your first album got me through my awkward adolescent years.”

“Mine too,” she laughed.

Well since adolescence, Jewel has gone country, but I am apparently still awkward.

Jewel will be at the new Knight Theater tonight with Meiko… want to go and perhaps relive your adolescence?

Well then e-mail me at brittney.cason@creativeloafing.com and sing to me a couple lines of a Jewel song.

Tickets compliments of Blumenthal Performing Arts Center. If you don’t win, don’t fret – you can still purchase tickets here.

At least come to check out the new Knight Theater Uptown.

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The last stop before the stadium coming from Center City (where beers are reasonably priced) … is the Rainbow Cafe.

I didn’t even know the place existed until I walked by it and was offered a beer “to go.”

As in, buy a beer from their patio beer tub and keep walking down the street with it. Last I checked, that was illegal. But everywhere I looked, everyone was already just walking around, beer in hand — passing cops in crosswalks on their way to the stadium.

I felt like I had died and gone to New Orleans. So do we abide by a different game book of laws on game day and the container one gets benched?

So I called and asked … no, the law does not get lifted on game days, the cops are just busy. So, they can bust you … but not if you’re in a private parking lot, they informed me. Either way, if you pour your beer into a styrofoam cup the foam it makes it appear like hot chocolate … I mean, that’s what I heard.

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The Panthers may not be serving up good games at the stadium, but they are serving up good food – and for a good cause. From the field to the kitchen the Panthers go …

By Larken Egleston

Despite yesterday’s loss, the timing of the Panthers’ second win in a row couldn’t have come at a better time for the Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina. After a slow start to the season for the Cats, the city’s renewed interest in the team was evident in the turnout out at last Monday’s annual “Taste of the Panthers” event at Bank of America Stadium.

With the local food bank being the primary beneficiary of the event, it was a night where the “haves” could help feed the “have-nots” in our community by simply coming out and sampling some of the best food Charlotte’s chefs have to offer. With most of Charlotte’s top restaurants being represented (Ember Grille, Blue, and even a booth by the always-popular culinary school Johnson & Wales to name a few) there was no shortage of great food for the hungry crowd.

One of the highlights of the night food-wise was Mama Ricotta’s Kobe meatball sliders with homemade mozzarella, and tomato basil sauce on a homemade garlic roll…if there is such thing as a gourmet meatball sub, this is it!

Each restaurant got paired up with one of the Panther players, who all clearly enjoyed playing the roll of sous-chef and host when given the opportunity. With a mix of current and former players including Dan Morgan (who was representing his South Charlotte restaurant Cheese Mo’z), attendees eagerly wandered by each station for not only more to eat, but also a great photo-op with their favorite Panthers. Other players in attendance included Matt Moore, Damione Lewis, Jason Baker, Rhys Lloyd, Kenny Moore, and Panther alum Wesley Walls.

“Taste of the Panthers” has cemented itself on my list of must-attend annual events in Charlotte; and if you’re a football fan or a fan of great food (or in my case – all of the above) it should be on yours as well.

Panther rookie Sherrod Martin (who wins my “Most Eloquent Food Description” award for his perfect memorization of the dish his restaurant was serving) with his partner restaurant, Mimosa Grill.

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Head over to clclt.com/halloween to see a continuing growing list we’ve compiled of Halloween parties and events. Happy tricking — I mean, trick-or-treating!

(photo taken at last year’s CarnEVIL by Jeff Hahne)

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