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Manhattan boIte GoldBar isn't afraid of overkill: not only does the establishment feature gold-leafed ceilings, walls lined with gilded skulls and an actual bar that's gold-plated, but its Saturday night DJ is named — what else? — Izzy Gold.
Still, according to Gold (whose real name is Francesco Civetta), that last bit is pure coincidence. "I came up with that name about a year and a half ago before I started working at GoldBar," the baby-faced 26-year-old explains. "Izzy Gold was Rocky Marciano's boxing promoter. I was watching TV with my friends and [a character] says, 'Izzy Gold is on the corner,' and we all thought, 'That's a cool name,'" Gold recalls.
Since July, Gold's been spinning for a crowd that has included Lenny Kravitz, Cameron Diaz and John Mayer, who Gold says "will ask me to play things, but mumbles, so I'm like, 'Get a pen and paper and write it down.'"
When he's not taking requests — which typically he does for only "really cool celebrities and pretty girls" — Gold is offering his own eclectic playlists. He spins Elvis as often as Britney and is most proud of his mash-up of Naughty by Nature's "Hip-Hop Hooray" and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama." A pairing which, he claims, "almost got me shot."
Like his song choices, Gold's techniques are similarly old school. He doesn't work off a Mac like some of his tech-savvy peers — instead toting around two cases jam-packed with mix CDs. "I should be using the computer, but I haven't gotten around to teaching myself yet," he admits.
The New York City native has been spinning this way since he was 15 — first at high school dances, and then, after meeting Scott Sartiano during a night out with his older brother, at Sartiano's now defunct 203 Spring Street. Fashion week parties for designers like Cynthia Rowley and Catherine Malandrino followed. After graduation, Gold tried a year at Wheaton College in Massachusetts, then dropped out before heading back to the New York nightlife scene. Last year he launched a T-shirt line that sells at boutiques such as Blue & Cream and Atrium.
Still, according to Gold (whose real name is Francesco Civetta), that last bit is pure coincidence. "I came up with that name about a year and a half ago before I started working at GoldBar," the baby-faced 26-year-old explains. "Izzy Gold was Rocky Marciano's boxing promoter. I was watching TV with my friends and [a character] says, 'Izzy Gold is on the corner,' and we all thought, 'That's a cool name,'" Gold recalls.
Since July, Gold's been spinning for a crowd that has included Lenny Kravitz, Cameron Diaz and John Mayer, who Gold says "will ask me to play things, but mumbles, so I'm like, 'Get a pen and paper and write it down.'"
When he's not taking requests — which typically he does for only "really cool celebrities and pretty girls" — Gold is offering his own eclectic playlists. He spins Elvis as often as Britney and is most proud of his mash-up of Naughty by Nature's "Hip-Hop Hooray" and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama." A pairing which, he claims, "almost got me shot."
Like his song choices, Gold's techniques are similarly old school. He doesn't work off a Mac like some of his tech-savvy peers — instead toting around two cases jam-packed with mix CDs. "I should be using the computer, but I haven't gotten around to teaching myself yet," he admits.
The New York City native has been spinning this way since he was 15 — first at high school dances, and then, after meeting Scott Sartiano during a night out with his older brother, at Sartiano's now defunct 203 Spring Street. Fashion week parties for designers like Cynthia Rowley and Catherine Malandrino followed. After graduation, Gold tried a year at Wheaton College in Massachusetts, then dropped out before heading back to the New York nightlife scene. Last year he launched a T-shirt line that sells at boutiques such as Blue & Cream and Atrium.
