Sleepless during CIAA

"We're not even going to sleep tonight," said one CIAA partygoer last night as he sipped champagne at Talk of the Town's Heaven @ Blue party.

And he's right: if you want to continue the party from dusk till dawn, it's definitely doable.

I started Thursday's party agenda at Phrozen Hour at Picasso's uptown -- the fourth year the 06 Crew has offered free food and drinks while they last, and they never last long. The party started at 5 and the food was gone by 6:30. And despite the early hour, it was clear things were just getting started as visiting alums fueled up on food (and I spotted more than a couple of people doublefisting drinks).

From there, I party-hopped from the World Tour Party at Chima, hosted by Consuella (who looked gorgeous, but no one was there to see her. The place was empty at 9:30, despite the 8 p.m. start time); to the Heaven @ Blue party where the bar was packed with partygoers in cocktail attire grooving to hip-hop as D.C.'s Let It Flow (a go-go band -- we don't hear enough go-go in Charlotte!) prepared to rock the party; and then over to the EpiCentre for the Suite Dreams party where the dance floor only started to fill up close to midnight.

This is a late-partying crowd and if you're an "early to bed, early to rise" kind of person, you'll never keep up. I ran into several groups who were just leaving their hotels at midnight to go party -- and said parties go as late as 4 a.m. Then there's the breakfast buffets that start in the wee hours. Today, the day parties begin as the battered fish start going into the fryers as early as 11 a.m.

On my agenda today: the Tempo fish fry, Chuck Brown at Amos' Southend, Stogies & Stiletto's at Zink and Anthony Hamilton's album release party (the Charlotte resident is a recent Grammy winner).

My drink of choice: Red Bull and vodka. These CIAA folks put a party girl to shame.