Lil Spill

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Funny conversations today with Jacob, ad designer. He sent me an ad he had done for Nashville. In the ad he had a few different girls and he gave them nicknames. One of the girls I did not recognize. He labeled her ” Rebel” . I said to him who is she? He said that Jeff M. just hired her. I said “well if she’s brand new, who is calling her ” Rebel”? ” He said ” Me. And since I worked on this ad for 6 hours that’s going to be her nickname whether she likes it or not .” I had to laugh at that.
Austin is getting ready for ROT rally. That should be great for the bar. I spoke with Marshall today and he’s ready for it. Big money weekend for Austin!!!
I got a very complimentary letter today about Panama City. Keep up the good work girls.
Also I just received a very complimentary letter about a new NY girl, Maggie. This letter was from a regular , the short version was ” the regulars were very weary of her but she won them over and now everyone loves her.” Cool.

posted by Liliana @ 7:23 PM

Just got off the phone with Mike the new GM of Denver. He was floored by how good the San Antonio girls are. I think he feels a little shocked by the difference in his crew and the San Antonio crew. I told him to have some patience. It usually takes about 6 months for the girls to really hit their groove. I’ll tell you that Denver has a few really great girls. They’ll get there, it just takes time. He was so impressed with Lyndsey and Lexi. I’m so proud. I remember the first few months of San Antonio, I would hear ” The Austin girls are so much better.” Well I don’t hear that anymore. It took Austin, NY, New Orleans etc time to find their groove. All of a sudden one day you watch and you see that all the hours of training are coming together. I have no doubt in a few months the Denver girls will step up and be just as good in their own way. Patience! All in good time. Also kudos to Kelly. He was very impressed with how she runs the bar. ( so are all my investors). It took a long time for me to really grasp owning these bars but not living in the same city. Now I am so pleased when I hear a compliment about the girls and the managers. I feel guilty that I can’t always be on site at all the various bars, but at least I know they are doing a good job.
I do not consider myself a gullible person but I woke up last night and watched infomercials. I’ll tell you , Victoria Principle knows how to reel you in. Unfortunately there is something fake looking about her face so I can not buy or endorse her product.

posted by Liliana @ 12:12 PM

Monday, May 30, 2005

Nobody has heard a peep from Jeff Wiseman. He must not know that Memorial day is not a holiday for bar people. I’ll have to make sure to memo him. Jackson had school today so obviously the French do not recognize memorial day either. Mike from Denver is in San Antonio to train for the next few days. Last night was a good night for all the bars. The Bike night ( day) in Nashville is really picking up. I was speakinh with Jeff M. about Tuesdays in Nashville. It seems that it is referred to as ” singing Tuesdays” because the girs working all have these killer voices. They also do some other stuff and Beeler is grand master of that. So I will have to stop by on a Tuesday and check it out. Great monday night for all my bars. Today has been quiet. I love this new computer ! It is lightening fast. So cool ! I haven’t heard any really good stories this weekend. No jail time no unwanted pregnancies, no ” just got hitched to a guy I met last week” Overall pretty uneventful weekend.

posted by Liliana @ 6:22 PM

Sunday, May 29, 2005

I’m very pleased this morning. Every bar I own did poorly on Friday night ( Memorial day weekend). This morning I was going through the manager’s logs and every bar did very well last night ( Saturday). So I’m happy about that. I was just viewing some pictures taken by a photographer from Nashville. I have a graphic designer who has been helping Lee with some of the flyers, ads etc. We started looking at these pictures and barely any of them are useable. The girls look great but in the majority of the photos, a hand is cut off, or the top of their head is cropped. I’m so disappointed because it was a waste of a photoshoot for the graphics people. I hired the NY photographer to come to New Orleans, Clay Enos. Hopefully we can get some good shots. The New Orleans girls haven’t had a photoshoot in a while. I’m hiring a makeup person so they can look completely gorgeous in their pictures. Having a professional photographer take your picture makes you feel like a princess. I hope that for that one day all the girls feel like princesses. Clay just sent me some pictures he took the other night at the NY bar. As per usual the girls look incredible. The NY girls are mostly actresses. They know how to put their makeup on. At the bar openings Jacqui and I always ask the girls to do our makeup for us. I saw Star Wars episode 111 last night. Really good but the second half is really dark so I am not sure if I should allow Jackson to see it.

posted by Liliana @ 9:19 AM

Saturday, May 28, 2005

I spent tonight at the New Orleans bar. I can’t lie I was very disapponited with the girls. They were going through the motions and on the surface they did everything correctly, but the energy wasn’t there. Positive energy begets positive energy, negative energy begets negative. I just felt they were off. I had someone come up to me and say I went to the San Antonio bar recently and the girls were really great. As pleased as I am that he loved the San Antonio bar , his face read that he was thinking, ” well I can’t say the same about the New Orleans bar.” There have been times at the New York bar that I have felt the same thing. As the owner, I want to do everything in my power to get the girls motivated and aggressive but sometimes it’s like pulling teeth and you find yourself making excuses for the girls. I really try to be true to myself and have real expectations of the girls. On this same subject, I have two managers that always write me and say the girls were great, high energy. I wrote one of them recently and I said statistically I just don’t believe that the girls are always as great as you report. I’m not trying to put the girls down but I know this concept like the back of my hand and there have been less then a handful of girls I can truely say never faltered. I want these managers to report accurately. I won’t hold it against them if they have tried their hardest and are reporting accurately. For god sakes the numbers are enough evidence of what’s going on. I deeply love all these girls and as an original Coyote myself, I know how hard it can be. But I just keep on telling them ” the harder you work , the more money you make!”
There is a song that keeps playing in my head and for the life of me I can’t remember who sings it. The song is called ” Outbound Plane” When I first opened the Coyote in NY people used to play this song all the time. It’s not the Nancy Griffith version! Torture.

posted by Liliana @ 1:50 AM

Friday, May 27, 2005

Just got my new Power G5! So fucking cool. This mac is so fucking fast it’s insane!!! New GM in Denver, Mike. Big ass biker with quite a bit of experience. I’m crossing my fingers!
Austin is getting ready for Republic of Texas ( Bike rally) and Nashville is getting ready for Fanfare. Two very big events.
NY just got a new security camera system. I told Jacqui to call me when she’s in the bar drinking so I can watch her on the monitors.
Jeff Myers told me that he has never seen any of the Star Wars movies. He is more pathetic then me. He’s so funny while he was in Denver he got a voicemail from a girl asking for a Booty Call. He played it on his phone and we broadcasted it over the speakers. It’s the little things in life that make you laugh.
Marshall is back in Austin, a big thanks to him for helping out in Denver. Also, Daniel , I’m very proud of you, Good Job!

posted by Liliana @ 1:10 PM

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

I’m so angry at Jeff M. I could spit( just an expression)! Without permission he and Danielle B ( new AM in Nasville, former Coyote Denver) asked 3 Denver girls to come for a week to Nashville. No care for their schedules or that I am the only one who can ask girls to travel. I specifically told him last week that I needed to look into it and he tried to bypass me. Again I am so angry. He is a gm himself. He had no issue with asking these girls and not caring about the Denver schedule. Forget me , he didn’t even ask the acting GM Marshall if it would be alright. Danielle B. doesn’t know any better so I understand her stupidity. But Jeff has no excuse. Traveling is an honor. I ask girls to travel when I know they deserve to go. Complete bullshit! Now I will look like the asshole when I tell them they can’t go.
I’m in the London airport right now. I got here a bit early. Jeff and I had a couple of meetings yesterday. Nothing earth shattering. Jeff and I had drinks with the CEO of Hard Rock , Mike Smith. In fact, He and Jeff had quite a few drinks. We had quite a good time telling stories of infringers and he telling stories of his trips to the south. Quite funny. Mike is very british, so I can only imagine how he sticks out in a small town in Arkansaw where he owns a cement plant. His company is in the process of opening a casino / hotel in Biloxi, Mississippi. He told us about advice he had gotten before scouting Mississippi. “there is the rest of the US and then there is Mississippi. As long as you understand that, you’ll do fine.” Jeff was talking about how his 2 year old son says shit and fuck. I have a feeling Mike was a bit shocked by that. I’m relieved that my son’s worst words are ” freaking” and “crap”.
Off to my 13 hour trip!

posted by Liliana @ 4:36 AM

Sunday, May 22, 2005

There is a former employee in New Orleans who has now started her own campaign to badmouth Chantel and Wendy ( not sure if my name came in). It amuses me that she thinks people will care. It is interesting to me because people who have worked at various other establishments know very well how good we are to our staff. Tough sometimes but fair and kind. Now this particular girl has always had a stick up her ass. But I just find it funny that she actually thinks people believe her or even care. The regulars and other employees have come straight to Chantel to tell her the slanderous stories this girl has been spreading. Chantel and I were laughing about it. In all my years in this busines I have never seen upheaval in any bar or restaurant over someone quiting or getting fired. People like their jobs and at the end of the day they don’t want to lose them even for their best friends. And as far as regulars go, they have their favorite girls but when that girl no longer works there they just find a new favorite girl. I had a girl in NY who worked for me for 3 years. She was a staple at the bar. I was at the bar one night and I just felt something was wrong. I decided if I was going to catch her doing anything I would have to leave so she would feel comfortable. A regular was there and he always paid by credit card. ( I left around 3am and there were only about 10 people left in the bar). The next day I opened the nightly receipts and called him personally. I lied and told him that the credit card machine was malfunctioning and I had to imput all the credit cards over again. I asked him if he could remember everything he purchased. The total he came up with was $76. I looked at the credit card receipt she had processed the night before and it was $26 with a $50 tip. Ah HA! I fired her that morning. I never told anyone that she was fired I just said she had moved on with her life. NOT ONE of her regulars stopped patronizing my bar. A few of them found out she was fired because she was making up some story. I remember one of her regulars came up to me and said ” Since you let ….. go I don’t know if I’m going to come here again.” I said ” that’s your perogative.” Well I think he’s still a regular and that was 9 years ago.

posted by Liliana @ 10:44 AM

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Denver still kicking butt! Last night I had Kevin go check on Daniel in Austin because I know he is putting in some crazy hours. I called kevin at around 11 pm and he said ” I’m closing the Austin bar tonight.” That’s cool. Kevin said that Daniel looked like shit and was getting sick so he sent him home. As everybody knows Kevin is always sick. And to add insult to injury he is the world’s biggest hypochondriac. When he has a simple cold he will go to the doctor because he wants to make sure it’s not a lung tumor. Well when I spoke with him last night he said ” I think Daniel is like me. He told me that he thinks he may have acid reflux. Lil , how cool is it to have another hypochondriac in the company!”
They can now call each other and commiserate.
I’m booked for my 1 day trip to London. I will be in London for 24 hours and my flights will take 27 hours total. I’m not looking forward to that. But I do enjoy being in London and going for great Indian food and since I’m with Jeff w. there will be a lot of beer.
Back to the grind!

posted by Liliana @ 10:14 AM

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Couldn’t go the distance. I woke up for the third day with a splitting headache so I ate a protein bar this morning. I’m officially done! I know Jacqui wasn’t feeling great yesterday either, I’m not sure about Travis. This fasting is not for me. I did not acheive the so called enlightenment that people talk about. I’m thinking that I’m going to take Aaron out for a steak lunch today.
Denver bar kicking some butt last night. Stopped by the New Orleans bar briefly, it was busy at around midnight.
Aaron and I went to see ‘Unleashed” the new Jett Li movie. A lot of gratuitious fighting scenes. The movie I saw recently that I would highly recommend is ” Kung Fu Hustle”. That was awesome. I went out and bought two dresses from China town when I was in San Francisco, because of that movie.
I have tried to get out of this London trip but Jeff has beaten me down and I am going next week. What the hell? I love London but the idea of another ridiculous flight just to come back the next day is daunting to me.
We’ve got another city that we are so close to signing in. I’m very excited. Cocowalk is going to be a long haul. I say it will take at least 6 months.

posted by Liliana @ 9:09 AM

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

My company was given two all expenses paid trip to Rio de Janiero. So I have a contest going on for the GM’s of my bars NY, New Orleans, Austin, San Antonio, Nashville, and Denver and corporate employees. I have submitted a number that is between 1 – 999 to Amelie, the web master. Tomorrow she will post the number on the site. Whom ever comes closest without going over wins the trip.
Contestants:
Jacqui
Chantel
Marshall
Jeff M.
Kelly
Lee
Kevin
Candice
Jeff W.

posted by Liliana @ 5:19 PM

I don’t know if I will make the 5 day mark on this fast. I’m actually not very hungry today ( day 2) but I do feel a bit light headed and I’ve had a headache.
Aaron came down to New Orleans to help out for a few days. I swear the employee meetings have been the same for the last 12 years. Whether it be new Orleans, NY, Denver, or anywhere else the meetings always talk about the same things. “Try harder” ” don’t lean on the back bar” ‘ Be more aggressive” and then the one that seems to be the hardest ” CARE”. I take such pride in my business, it’s a personal slap in the face when these girls don’t care about the bar or their fellow staff members.
We announced wendy as the new assistant manager in New Orleans. I think she’s a good fit with Chantel. On a positive note I did commend the girls for dressing up. They have been looking very beautiful the last few weeks.
I just got the San Antonio and Austin numbers. Let’s just say I’m very very pleased!!!

posted by Liliana @ 12:29 PM

Monday, May 16, 2005

Jeff Myers is so funny. We speak about 4 mornings a week at around 9 :30 am. We go through all the business at the Nashville bar, then we exchange funny personal tidbits. Well over the past few months since the Nashvile bar has opened I have learned quite a bit about Jeff. Firstly, he eats the same meals everyday. He goes to ( Denny’s I think) in the morning and gets biscuits and a coke. For lunch he eats a plain hamburger and a coke. At dinner time he will rotate a pizza from Pizza Hut or a plain hamburger and a coke. He has been eating this way for over 30 years. He told me he was embarrassed when a few years back the pizza hut delivery guy told him that his pizza was free. Jeff asked why it was free? The delivery guy said “well it’s your 150th pizza.” 150 pizzas from pizza hut, my god! He’s a perferred customer. Well as you can see , he is a man of routine. Today he tells me how much it bothered him when the screen for the touchtunes changed from blue to red. Now he desperately wants to change it back to blue because it is really upsetting him. Man, He needs a girlfriend!!
We have a solid lead on a GM in Denver. I am crossing my fingers it pans out.
Today is the first day of my 5 day fast. Both Jacqui and Travis are doing this with me. It’s 10:30am on the first day and I’m already starving. The kicker is that you can’t drink coffee. It’s going to be a long week.
New Orleans staff meeting tonight!

posted by Liliana @ 10:42 AM

Saturday, May 14, 2005

I opened the bar today in New Orleans. The minute the doors were opened 15 people walked in. Ashley did a great job at entertaining them and sales. Yaz is new and so is Stephanie. Both girls worked today with Ashley. they also did a good job but Yaz was definitely nervous around me so I backed off and watched from a distance. Stephanie is an excellent dancer but I had to tell her to show more energy during songs by AC/DC, Aerosmith etc. I could see the look on her face that she really didn’t know who these bands were. Man I’m getting old.
Travis and I are going to try a 1 week cleanse ( fast). I eat well but I eat a lot . It’s going to be very hard to stay on this program for 1 week. The program is actually 4 weeks long but there is no way in hell I can go 4 weeks. They say you can eat . But I don’t consider steamed vegtables and fruits enough to sustain me. Travis is going to be dieing. He sustains himself on biscuits and gravy everyday.
New me! I decided I needed to start taking better care of myself. All the traveling, no sleep and stress is killing me.
To help the new Me start, I bought a high grade juicer. I can’t wait to use this thing. ( Of course since the fast did not start yet, I will follow my fresh juice with some big meal )

posted by Liliana @ 5:51 PM

Friday, May 13, 2005

Surprise City:
Finally signed
Coco Walk

That is Miami , Florida!!!

posted by Liliana @ 8:43 PM

Comments: Dear Lil,
I just wanted to write this e-mail because my friend and I visited the Austin bar over the past weekend (May 5th-9th) and we had such a great time that we never even made it to any of the other clubs. We even got to see you up dancing on the bar at the end of Friday night. I wish now that we had said hello but at the time you were busy overseeing things.
We go to the Coyote Ugly in NYC alot as we are from CT, and we have visited Las Vegas and New Orleans as well. And everytime we go, we come back with great stories (some of which have to be edited). I have to say that the Austin bar has one of the best atitudes and enthusiasm of any of the Coyote’s we’ve been to. The girls were always upbeat and energetic, even during the day when it was slow and you weren’t there watching.
All of your staff are friendly and made us feel welcome. We have to give special props to two of the guys… Danny who bar backs and keeps everybody laughing, and Jesse who bounces and keeps everyone grounded while still having a great time.
Thanks to all of you for a great weekend at Coyote Ugly Austin. We hope to be back soon.
Jackie and Maryann

This letter is code for ” Lil you were pretty drunk if you were dancing on the bar.”
Lee just called me and said there are hundreds of cops, swat team etc near the Denver bar. Damn it! Can”t the bomb threats be far away from one of my bars?

posted by Liliana @ 11:48 AM

I just got back from the San Francisco area, what a beautiful city. I walked for miles around the city and as much as I miss living in a big city I realize why I moved jackson out of Manhattan. You could live in the most beautiful area of any major city and there will still be a panhandler at the corner , a drug addict, or just somebody creepy standing right in front of your building. I look at the world with different eyes now. In a lot of ways I’m immuned to many of the shortcomings of urban life but I always think about my son’s safety first. I want my son to be well traveled , see the world. But I want home base to have a lot of trees, friendly neighbors, and even the dreaded Lemonaid stands.
The bars. Kyle brought some really bad karma to the new Orleans bar, I can’t remember having a worse week in New Orleans. But on the other hand now that he’s back in Nashville, I think the numbers went up. Go figure. San Antonio is doing very well. I heard that Heath got gently pushed in the river. At least he got pushed, freaking Kevin Bailey jumped in willingly. Gross.
I can’t belive we still have not hired anyone for Denver. I have marshall out there right now. I am being very cautious because I want the right person in there. Lee has a few leads , let’s hope somebody pans out that doesn’t have a rap sheet.
That’s all folks!

posted by Liliana @ 2:09 AM

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Austin Kicking some butt this week! The extra bonus is that Daniel hasn’t burnt the bar down! ( cross my fingers)
I asked Kyle what he thought of the New Orleans girls? He responded ” There are a few really good, hard working girls. But you certainly have a few really lazy girls too!” Chantel and I talk about that all the time. There is one particular girl who can be so lazy that even Kyle makes jokes ” She was really great for about an hour last night”.
A few girls from the DC bar came into the New Orleans bar on Monday. From what the staff said they were very mean, making derogatory remarks about the New Orleans bar. Pretty sad because we get a lot of Coyotes from other bars coming into the New Orleans bar, and they always have fun and bond with the girls and the bouncers. Even though the DC bar is a franchise I still wish the girls good luck. I consider them sisters in all of this. But in defense of my New Orleans bar, which I own, I receive more positive e-mails about the New Orleans bar then any other Coyote. And to direct this specifically to the DC girls who were in this week, I receive the most negative e-mails about that bar. Perhaps instead of coming in on just Monday night with attitude, they should of come in a couple of nights on the weekend and actually learned something.

posted by Liliana @ 11:50 AM

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

I’m supposed to go to London next week. I hope it’s nice weather. This business relies on a lot of patience. This will be my fourth time going to London . Every trip I view spaces talk to money people etc but I never see or meet people that are the right fit for Coyote. Statisticly , the more trips I take over there the better chance I have at securing a location and finding the money people.
I signed the surprise city yesterday but until they countersign I won’t announce it. Cancun is yet another project where I have shown an enormous amount of patience. But even I have a fuse that is getting shorter with time.
An absolutely beautiful day in New Orleans today. 69 degrees and sunny.
I got a really nice e-mail from a firefighter yesterday.

“Hi!

I just wanted to relay a little story about Coyote’s New Orleans that you might be proud to hear about.

I am a professional firefighter from Ohio and every year for the past 10 years a group of firefighters have been going to JazzFest. We started going to Coyote’s when it first opened and we pretty much hang out there every day because we have so much fun there. A few of the Coyotes remember us from year to year, Chantel, Wendy, Tara, and Sara most notably.

This year we had 21 guys in our group. We followed our tradition and spent most of our days partying at Coyotes and having a blast. Late Saturday night, one of our brother firefighters had a heart attack and was rushed to Tulane Hospital. He is still in intensive care as I write this. On Sunday, we told the Girls about “Pops”. They were very concerned. Chantel put together a “care package” for Tony. She also told us she and some of the other girls were going to visit him at the ICU on Monday (05-02-05) and deliver the care package. WOW!!!

I know this is a long e-mail, but we are a brotherhood and this meant a lot to us. The Coyote girls of New Orleans went above and beyond and we will never forget that. This would not happen in any other bar in New Orleans. Coyote’s will be our “home base” every year…

We know Coyote’s is a big business and that this won’t turn into millions of dollars, but some things mean more than money (especially to firemen!)

If you talk to Chantel, please relay our gratitude.

Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,

Middletown Fire Monroe Fire Hamilton Fire Fairfield Fire

John Scranton Brad Wargo Bryan Hanna Ray Webber

Brett Rose Tony Folino (hospital)

Todd Myers

Greg Evans

Jason Meischke

Glen Schlub

Robert King

Jon Meyer

Jason Venters

Brett Schindler

Jim Malin

John Kuehnle

Mike Vultaggio

Dave Pittman

Jess Chaille

Ryan Chaille

Wayne Shupp

posted by Liliana @ 11:54 AM

Monday, May 02, 2005

What a week last week. If it could go wrong it did. To cement my week, I received a letter in the mail from “profile protect” speaking about a loan from Chrysler. Well I don’t have a loan from Chrysler so now I have to see if someone used my name to get a loan. What crap!!! I bought a few pairs of shoes on the internet and someone steals my identity. Damn! Friday night was some fluke night where all the bars did horribly except for New Orleans ( Jazz fest). Thank god the rest of the weekend was good. Austin had a kickass Saturday and Sunday !!! Some guy sent me pictures of Daniel ( am Austin) up on the roof of the bar trying to save a cat. What a good samaritan, hopefully that good deed will compensate for the bad karma he has on him.
Really irritated with someone ( I won’t say who. They know who they are). This particular person works for me. This person called up Chantel to try and get tickets for Jazzfest. Here’s where the lie comes in, Chantel calls me and says that this person asked for tickets for both of us. Well I already had tickets put aside for me. Chantel felt it was strange that this person made it seem that it was at my request. The truth is that this person just wanted tickets for themselves. I said to them on Friday ” is it that you want company to go to Jazzfest or you just want to score some tickets?” What this person doesn’t realize is instead of lieing , just ask if I could get them a ticket. I would have no problem with that. I hate lieing. Just like a few of the girls this week called in sick in New Orleans. I know damn well that they just wanted to go to jazz fest. I would have more respect for them if they actually called and asked for the night off.
Will told me something Libby of New Orleans said a few weeks ago that is hilarious. She said she was running low on gas but that she would be fine because she was going to turn off her car radio and the airconditioner to save gas. Very funny!
Jacqui called me this morning with a line I will end my Lil Spill with : ” Lil, I hate all people today.”

posted by Liliana @ 12:07 PM