Swelter 25

Down to a crowded Les Bains for a satisfactorily disgusting Moroccan theme party, the promises of the night slowly dissolving on Washington Avenue. A starstruck Latin kid making an irresistible proposition -- twenty bucks for our hard-earned memento of MTV land -- easy money being infinitely more desirable than cheap sentiment. Loot in hand, running into the sang-froid fashion photographer Thomas Heidemann, bringing to bear the sobering world-weariness of Europe: "It's so ridiculous, all this frenzy, all these people desperate to get invited to that party. Over the years, I've learned one important thing in life: nothing really happens anywhere.