Mariah no-show at hubby Nick Cannon's Mondrian set
Actor and rapper Nick Cannon hosted an evening of free cocktails for BlackBerry users and their friends Saturday in the new Midnight Room at the Mondrian Scottsdale. And although rumors swirled all day, his wife, Mariah Carey, never showed up to the party Cannon hosted and DJ'd in the space that used to be Skybar.
Until 11 p.m., V.I.P. guests sipped cocktails named for the multi-function phone created especially for the BlackBerry Luxe Club event, including the inventively named BlackBerry Martini. Some guests were already on their sixth or seventh drink at 10 p.m., making for a rowdy party scene as people hurried to fill up before they'd be asked to pay for an $11 well drink.
The crowd, which mostly mingled on the patio nearest the DJ tables, was classic Scottsdale: young women in dangerously short, skin-tight dresses, and men with sky-high spiked hair and Affliction T-shirts mixed with corporate types in button ups and slacks, and cougars, grinding in the corner with each other.
Cannon took to the turntables just before 11 p.m. sporting a black "Barack the Vote" t-shirt. He kept crowd happy playing everything from Lil' Wayne's A Mille and Snoop Dogg's Ain't No Fun, to Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit and Guns N' Roses' Sweet Child o' Mine.
Cannon proved a charismatic, personable host, shouting out to the crowd, reciting lyrics and stopping occasionally to grin for a fan's flashing camera. At all times, two bodyguards on each side flanked the star and creator of the MTV hip-hop variety show Wild N' Out. Only photographers were permitted to breach the several feet of space Cannon kept between himself and his fans.
"He's so (explicit) hot," said Amanda Straus, 21, of Tempe, who pushed through the crowd with friends to snap a few photos of Cannon. Cannon is on a national tour DJing for BlackBerry, but working the decks is a relatively new passion.
"He has had the equipment for a while," said Dorian Graham, a member of Cannon's entourage and vice president of operations for N-Credible Inc. "He DJed an after party one time for Wild N' Out and realized how much he liked it."
Cannon now spins once a month in Las Vegas for the Pure Management Group, which owns Pure, LAX and the Christian Audigier nightclubs. Although Cannon kept the party keyed up, most people seemed fixated on catching a glimpse of his wife, who was napping in their room at the hotel.
"I wasn't quite sure who Nick Cannon was at first, and then I remembered, he's Mariah Carey's husband," said Lori Cummings, 27, of Tempe. "I hope I get to see Mariah." One bubbly guest huddled up close to the DJ stand exclaimed to her friends: "Did you hear there's a secret celebrity guest? It's going to be Mariah Carey!"
But the closest the crowd got to Carey was the end of Cannon's set, when he played five of her songs in a row. It served as a clever kind of inside joke, a winking way to close the set. Just after 1 a.m., Cannon's entourage ushered him out of the party efficiently. Graham said they were taking off to New York City that night.
"I thought Mariah was going to show up," said John Queeley, 24, from Denver. "Nick did a good job but I wanted to see her. Boo." (AZ Central)
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