Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't put it down....
Review: After taking in an interest in the movie "Party Monster" I picked up "Clubland". Minutes after opening the book I was hooked. 36 hours later I was taken aback. The story and the little known details of the 90's Manhattan club culture came alive once again in my mind.
The story of Peter Gatien, Michael Alig and Chris Paciello is fascinating. A true journey through the best and worst of times.
Highly recommended+++++++++++++
Rating: 
Summary: A Modern Dante
Review: "Nel mezzo del camin di nostra vita" (in the middle of the path of life)--so begins Dante's epic poem, _Inferno_, offering us an unrivaled tour of Satan's underworld and its denizens, ultimately tracing a moral geography of Dante's own world. Like Dante, Frank Owen bravely narrates an epic adventure which plunges us straight into the heart of Gotham's seedy underworld. Similar to Dante's _Inferno_, Owen's tour offers us an intimate glimpse into the twisted lives and minds of some of clubculture's most creative and powerful characters. The story focuses on the federal government's attempted takedown of the mysterious eyepatch-sporting Canadian club mogul, Peter Gatien, owner of the world-famous club Limelight, housed in a deconsecrated church in downtown Manhattan. Owen unravels a complex story involving international drug rings, pumped-up feds, psychopathic mafiosos, and a spectacularly gruesome murder and dismemberment orchestrated by Gatien's favorite party organizer, Michael Alig. While taking the moral high ground, Owen is not afraid to describe his own forays into the shady club world, including an unforgettable segment near the book's beginning detailing his experimentation with the club drug Ketamin, also known as "Special K." I found this story highly engrossing throughout--no pun intended. My only caveat is that Owen's portrayal of New York's clubculture grossly exaggerates the clubbing experience by focusing on its most nefarious aspects. Among the millions of people, including myself, who danced at the Limelight during its heyday in the 1990s, it is hard to believe that more than a small minority engaged in the outlandish pursuits described in this book. Also, like the Juliani administration which was in power during this era in New York's history, Owen's book gives the misleading impression that everybody who clubbed in New York was somehow involved in the sales, distribution, and consumption of drugs such as Ecstacy, cocaine, or Special K. As a former Manhattan resident and a current historian of nightlife, I find this picture hard to believe, and I look forward to more sober, objective, and reliable studies of the 1990s New York club scene in the future. Even so, I can't deny that I found this a fascinating, thought-provoking, and worthwhile read.
Rating:
Summary: a good insight into rave culture
Review: a very well-written and thorough account of some crazy days. The author really uncovers much interesting content and weaves a highly entertaining and, at times, disturbing story.
Rating:
Summary: Drugs, Decadence & Murder
Review: Awesome book. Frank Owen really gets down into the nitty gritty details and names names like no one I've ever seen before. I live in NYC and have been to the Limelight many times as well as the Palladium and various other dens of iniquity (RIP Coney Island High - the best scene ever) and his version of the needle hits the vein right on. I felt like I was reading a transcription of the scene and the vibe that was just like being there. I was so caught up in the book and all of the details that when I finished it, I went online to VillageVoice.com and looked up a bunch of Owen's other articles. This guy and his book are killer! By the way, I miss those days, but if you search NYC there are still a few great spots, just not on the size and scale of the Limelight...Guiliani could shut down clubs, but he couldn't kill off the spirit.
Rating: 
Summary: nostalgic
Review: for someone who has been there, done that and got the t-shirt it was a trip down memory lane. he didn't get the facts all correct and as with James St. James' book, there were not enough pictures but I think it's a good read for those who want to know all about that time in that scared place.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best reads of this year
Review: Frank Owen captured the avarice, selfishness and overall narcisstic world of NYC's club scene of the early 90's perfectly. This is a great read, extremely well researched, and well worth your time to read. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Wishing for more
Review: Frank Owen has written a fast-paced, suspenseful and riveting page turner. I could not put this book down until I was finished!! If you were in New York and got high and hung out in clubs in the 90's-you will recognize the players and after the first page you will be H-O-O-K-E-D baby!!
Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put it down (isn't that cliche?)
Review: I just love how the story came to be: Frank Owen was hired by the Limelight's owner to write a story about The Limelight at the same time The Village Voice asked him to write about the drug scene in "clubland" so after five years, he came out with one hell of a book. We follow four of the most fascinating (and true) characters I have ever read about, how they started a revolution and were all connected, yet all so incredibly different. I bartended in New York City for almost a decade, I knew the owners of many of the clubs mentioned in the book, I even knew one of the DEA guys in the book. I thought I knew it all. I found out I didn't know a thing. Frank Owen takes you there, he makes you understand how it all came together, while creating a mystery (rather the characters created the mystery, Frank Owen, simply knew how to string it all together, without it being confusing and making it extremely intriguing. ) Most important, he doesn't take a side (Like the movie and book Party Monster and how I am sure Gaiten will have his movie made) Owen stays wondefully true to all. Even if you have never been to Manhattan, even if you never knew a Fed, even if you have no idea what The Limelight is/was...this book is worth it and by the end, you will know it all!
Rating:
Summary: The "REAL" Story
Review: I recommend this book to anyone who's ever been/is involved in clubland. This story gives you an insight on what really went on behind the scenes. I was amazed at how many details were brought up in this book as well as how many different characters Frank was able to capture in telling one story. I've read Disco Bloodbath long ago but took me a while to purchase "Clubland" and the 2 don't even stand the comparising. Disco Bloodbath was funny no doubdt about it, BUT "Clubland" is a more serious, deeply detailed, well-captured story. After reading it, I've already purchased "Mob Over Miami"-a story about Chris Paciello's rise and fall and also "Studio 54".
Also, it answered so many questions I had about nightlife nowadays. What went on during the 90's and it's downfall had a HUGE impact on the nightlife today, and not only in NY and Miami, but all throughout the US.
"Clubland" is an absolute MUST read is you are interested in knowing the nighclub history.
Rating: 
Summary: Great story horribly written
Review: I was shocked too learn that the author of this book was a writer for the Village Voice. Although not the New York Times or the Washington Post, I would still expect a journalist from the Voice to approach his subject with a semblance of objectivity and professionalism. The author of Clubland, however, writes like a junior high school newspaper columnist relaying the week's campus gossip. The almost unreadable text is unfortunate, because the story is actually quite interesting and involves much more than disclosed in the (equally horrible) film "Party Monster." In fact, I found the events of the story so compelling that I was actually able to plow through page after page of the writer's superfluous, unabashedly biased, and uncalled-for commentary--which in itself wasn't even well written.
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