Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus... EMI Publishing!

In a year where the year-end celebration has become as extinct as the dodo, EMI Publishing saved the holiday season with its annual mega blow-out (after all, royalties have been continuously collected since the dawn of recorded music, making the company somewhat immune to the casualties of most other media companies). The event was held at Hiro Ballroom in Manhattan's Maritime Hotel, once a cement eyesore with portholes for windows that's now a glam south Chelsea hotspot.

I arrived stag—my work wife Kristina bailed and Ayhan was working—so I was ecstatic to reunite with our dear friend Bernadelle, whom I haven't seen in a few months, since she moved to Riverdale in the Bronx. We spent the evening together, and I had a fulfilling catch-up blast.

Also on hand: Publicist extraordinaires Rob Goldstone and David Wilson (my hosts, pictured here), Billboard editor in chief Bill Werde and NNC News' David Perosi.

Hiro is as utterly hip as one could hope, with Asian dancers swinging through hoops, a la a circus show, and an apropos cascade of cultural decorations. The place was packed by the time I left, with a well-dressed, well-groomed, awfully good-looking crowd of the well-connected. God, I love New York shizzle.