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What's on the collective minds of 500 Internet executives who have seen their net worth frantically yo-yo up and (mostly) down over the past two days? Jumbo shrimp.
And fat oysters on the halfshell, and vodka martinis, and frantic business card-swapping, all found in abundance at Los Angeles' infamous Playboy Mansion Tuesday night, as a streaming-video company called Streamsearch.com hosted one of several bashes kicking off this week's giant Internet World confab in L.A.
What was missing from this party? Practically anyone concerned with the Nasdaq's recent gyrations. "It's going to come back," shrugs Allison Tatum, public-relations manager of one-year-old Perks.com, as she swizzles a Ketel One and tonic. "Absolutely," nods Mari Kupiec, the company's national sales manager. The two spent the night working the crowd like congressional candidates, without hearing a word about paper losses or bursting bubbles or job security.
SKIVVY DIPS.
Instead, this confident lot sticks with introductions and future partnerships. The supremely cocky, meanwhile, strip down to their skivvies and enjoy a dip in Hef's "Grotto" -- a series of hot tubs constructed under a man-made cave in the backyard.
As if to underscore the parallel universe we've entered, Pamela Anderson, (yes, her of the Playboy centerfold, Baywatch and a hundred million Internet downloads) makes an appearance -- not at the Mansion, but during Red Herring's Hollywood launch party at Sunset Boulevard's Chateau Marmont a short jaunt away.
"I've been exploited by the Internet," Anderson says, holding court from a corner cushette on the Marmont's pool deck. "I was essentially drafted into it. So now it's the next step for me to create assets for myself and my children." E!'s film crew dutifully records her Internet rumblings, and fans stop to listen as if Peter Lynch is pontificating on mutual-fund investing. Does she worry at all about this week's market roar? "No, the Internet is the natural progression of [the entertainment] industry," she says.
NO LOSERS HERE.
"There are going to be some winners and some losers," adds couch-mate Leonard Armato, a top sports agent who represents Shaquille O'Neal and Oscar de la Hoya, and is helping get Anderson online via the incubator-type company, Digital Media Campus, that he unveiled last week. There's no doubt in Armato's mind which category he'll wind up in.
Actually, at these parties, there's little doubt in anyone's mind. No less than 700 people crammed into the Red Herring party. The valet parking queue at the Marmont -- best-known as the place where John Belushi fatally overdosed -- stretches for more than a block. It was originally scheduled as a cocktail get-together, running from 7 to 9 p.m.. True to the invite, the bar shuts promptly. But no one leaves. No one dwells on the past day's events. Everyone talks of the future.
"I'm happy a correction is coming now," says Steve Glenn, president and chief executive of PeopleLink, which provides community services to Web sites and is eyeing a yearend initial public offering. "It was inevitable. And I'd much rather have this happen six months before I IPO. I do feel bad for people filing S-1s [IPO registrations] right now."
Those folks must have stayed home. Ten O'Clock. Eleven O'Clock. The hearty are still mingling and dealing. Many have retreated to an after-party, co-sponsored by Variety's site (even the dot-com parties are joint-ventures!), in one of the Marmont's large private bungalows. For the warriors of the New Economy, the party, it seems, never stops.
Lane is the former editor of P.O.V. magazine EDITED BY DOUGLAS HARBRECHT
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