White Party

Two events on the same night and with the same theme (white attire) offer distinctively different Roanoke scenes.

By Marques G. Harper
The Roanoke Times

It appeared to be a make it or break it moment for Eric Williams, a 31-year-old Roanoke party promoter who has planned dozens of parties at area hotels over the past decade and has built a following among people looking for a good time.

Over the course of six hours last Saturday night, he chatted up guests and friends, kept his cool, paid attention to details and bounced between the two major parties he was putting on: "The White Party" at the downtown restaurant and lounge, Dolce, and a strikingly similar "All-White Weekend" a few miles away at Charades in the Wyndham Roanoke Hotel. Guests at both parties wore white head to toe.

In a city of Roanoke's size, why stage two parties with the same theme on the same night? "We didn't want to turn anybody away," Williams said as mostly white guests trickled into Dolce and mainstream hip-hop throbbed in the background.

Pre-party feedback, he said, had indicated that more than 350 people - Dolce's maximum occupancy - might show up. He also had word that stores at Valley View Mall were beginning to sell out of white attire. So the party at Charades was added for the anticipated overflow. In the end, it attracted more people than Dolce.

Williams said there were differences between the parties: Dolce's would feature Top 40 songs, some hip-hop and international sounds. The playlist included songs by Snoop Dog, Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Gwen Stefani and others.

The party also catered to an upscale crowd that didn't mind dropping $150 or more for VIP seating (four to six), a private server, fruit and a bottle of champagne. Some guests smoked hookahs; others dined on breaded shrimp, a chicken and rice dish, and vanilla cupcakes before hitting the dance floor.

At Charades, the white party featured mostly hip-hop, R&B and rap. Guests there could have their photos taken and nibble from a buffet before eventually ending the night with the R&B classic, "Never Too Much" by the late Luther Vandross.

The two parties also offered distinctively different scenes aside from the music and food: one (Charades) predominately black, the other largely white. One was reminiscent of P. Diddy's annual Hamptons bash called the White Party, while the other brought literary figure Jay Gatsby to mind.

Which white party you ended up at depended on word of mouth, which glossy promotional flier you happened to pick up, which radio station you listened to, which scene you were more comfortable in.

A flier advertising the Dolce event, picked up at a fitness center in Southwest, featured photos of a white man and woman and a black woman. Fliers featuring mostly brown faces and the same black woman were available at a black barbershop in Northwest.

Reached a few days after the parties, Williams said the differing clientele came down to musical tastes and "the crowds kind of channeled from there."

"Sometimes Charades is a mixed crowd. Sometimes Dolce is a mixed crowd," he said. "That's what we like to promote, a nice mixed crowd at both ventures."

In the end, Williams said, his dual party promotion was a success.

"It was a good turnout, being our first white event," said Williams, who stayed after the parties to get guest feedback. "We had anticipated a little bit more [people]. It's good to see people dressed up and having a good time. In Roanoke, we have a lot of professionals who work hard, and they want a place where they can play hard."

The bourgeois ideals of a party where guests must wear all white ensembles were revived in recent years by Sean "P. Diddy" Combs. In 1998, the rapper threw an elaborate party where A-List guests either wore white or were ushered away at the gate. Combs' party and the ones that followed were updated versions of the late writer Truman Capote's famed Black-and-White Ball, which once was called "the party of the century."

After P. Diddy's first bash, posh white parties popped up in cities such as Miami and New York. Now the style has trickled down to Roanoke.

Dolce's new manager, Kal Sharaf, said he wants to have more theme parties. Next might be a party where guests have to dress in black. In his view, the only connection between last Saturday night's parties was that they had the same promoter.

The reason for the party at Dolce, he said, was to introduce a new concept and to attract a new, more affluent crowd.

"We want to bring ideas from metropolitan cities, especially Chicago," said Sharaf, a restaurant and night club manager for 27 years. The white party, he said, is "for the crowd to come to mingle together. This way everyone is the same and dressed the same."

Some of the guests at Saturday's two events partied at both locations; others stayed put for the night.

Joshua Howes, 23, of Blacksburg said he ventured to Dolce with a friend to be a part of the scene. Dressed in a fitted button-down shirt, he also wanted to check out what people were wearing.

"These guys really want to do something for Roanoke," he said.

Calling himself a friend of Williams, Howes said, "Basically he's trying to bring style and something cosmopolitan to a small city."

Howes' only hang-up: "I was expecting more young people."

Nearby, Jennifer Hodges, 23, of Roanoke sat in an exclusive booth with nine friends. She had ordered her white dress with a plunging neckline from a Miami retailer. After a few glasses of champagne, Hodges' group grew restless.

"We expected more people," she said, adding that she and her friends were moving to Charades to finish off the night.

Meanwhile, at Charades, Angie Coleman, 32, of Roanoke was partying with her friends and sister. Wearing oversized, white-rimmed sunglasses and a white jacket with the collar turned up, she said she had no desire to go to the other party.

"I like this one better. I had fun tonight," she said sipping an apple martini.

Another guest, one who had gone to Dolce before ending the night at Charades, said the parties came down to this: You wanted either an urban setting or a cosmopolitan flavor - each bringing out a specific crowd.

Back at Dolce, longtime Roanoker Arnita Gaither said she began her rare night out at Charades but left early for the downtown party because the hotel scene was slow.

Standing outside Dolce near her car, she said downtown Roanoke nightspots need to expand their musical offerings and be more welcoming to different types of people, especially newcomers who are used to diverse crowds and sounds.

And just how was Gaither's first big night out in years?

"I come to enjoy myself for me," she said as a bouncer unfastened the velvet rope to let her back inside Dolce. But overall, "The night life ... boop. It's a pretty dead night."