Fade Into a Perfect Night: The Life of a Boston Club Promoter

Doug Akin walks into The Big Easy Bar on Boylston Street. A stern bouncer and a beautiful girl holding the VIP list promptly block his path. Akin doesn t seem like a man a club would turn away. Handsome and well-dressed, everything from his ID to his shoes checks out. Is he an enemy of the guy throwing the party? Not quiteahe IS the guy throwing the party. The beautiful girl is holding out the VIP list for his final check of approval; the bouncer is deferring people hoping to catch a word with the young host.

With a savvy and maturity well beyond his years, the 21-year-old wunderkind Akin serves as one of Boston s hot club promoters Making great nights happen on a regular basis requires hiring a DJ or band, rounding up a crowd, checking the lighting system, making sure the decor is >=smooth<= and hand-picking the door staff.

Growing up in New York City, Akin first started working at clubs when he was 16. Among his high school friends, promoting became a popular way to make money while having some fun. The group would arrange to take the door of a club on certain nights each week. In exchange for drawing in the crowds, the boys would receive a percentage of the cover charge.

After a year at Boston University, Akin took a year off from school to again devote his time to promoting parties in New York. He returned to BU in the fall of 1997 and is now a junior majoring in film. Along with fellow student Cobi Levy, Akin presently employs 15 other male promoters to assemble guest lists as well as 10 girls to hand out fliers at BU, Boston College, Northeastern and on Newbury Street.

Thursday nights, Akin promotes for Avalon. At venues this large, Akin says, >=Each promoter does a chunk of the club. The party is hosted by everyone, but each promoter puts his own element into each part of the club.<= In the six months he has worked there, he has helped to put on a >=beach party,<= a >=snow night,<= and a >=James Bond<= affair.

Other weeks have seen a Gypsy Kings after-party and a fashion show for Harley Davidson.

Akin works to establish a certain amount of consistency for club-goers. >=People like to see the same faces week after week when they come to a club,<= he explains. >=We give them comfort and reassurance, and they know what to expect. When people go out they may not be as enthused if they do not know what to expect.<= His method has paid off: Thursday night crowds at Avalon now typically hit the 1,300-mark.

Akin has also established himself at Karma, another club in the Landsdowne Street area. On Friday nights, he caters to a college crowd, with New York DJs like Hex Hector and Frankie Boas playing rap and hip hop. Recently, Akin and Levy have added Tuesday nights at The Big Easy to their list of gigs. Here they hope to attract a more >=international<= crowd of studentsa-their first night featured both a Latin band and a DJ spinning Latin sounds.

Akin sums up his role in creating perfect nights by saying, >=You have to put yourself in the center and create a scene around you, create a party with the right ingredients. Anybody can throw a party at a club, but you have to really know what people like. At a party the littlest thing can make the whole night wrong, and nobody wants people to be dispointed.<=