Senator Warner, Russell Simmons & Courtney Love Pack Michael Saylor’s DC/NYC Birthday Bashes!

GEORGETOWN, D.C. & SoHo, NY -- Celebrating his 47th birthday in a way that only one of the District’s most high profile and successful technology executives can, MicroStrategy founder and CEO Michael Saylor hosted back-to-back parties in both D.C. and New York over the weekend.

Given the prominence of many of the guests in attendance at both blowout bashes, details about each party remained closely guarded earlier in the week and scoring an invitation to one or both events was coveted among D.C.’s social set.

Burnt Sienna.
Local Washingtonians who turned out on Friday night for the first celebration inside Georgetown’s private City Tavern Club were treated to a private, nearly six hour long concert by five-piece cover rock band Burnt Sienna.

All five floors of the historic, members-only venue had been reserved for the occasion and it wasn’t hard at all to find a handful of D.C. notables, such as Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) or M.C. Dean CEO Bill Dean, milling about.

Nevertheless, the bulk of the celebrity crowd descended en masse the following evening, during Saylor’s New York City party, that counted more than 400 revelers in attendance.

Def Jam founder Russell Simmons and Michael Saylor at the Highline Ballroom (Photo: MicroStrategy/Usher).
Hosted at the Highline Ballroom in the famed Meatpacking District, Saturday’s celebration boasted the likes of Def Jam record label founder Russell Simmons (who also could be spotted toasting with Saylor over New Year’s in St. Barts) and FashionTV host and actress Hofit Golan among the attendees.

No stranger to D.C. concertgoers, popular party band Mr. Greengenes had been enlisted to keep the New York crowd entertained throughout the night, although it was clearly a surprise performance by Hole frontwoman Courtney Love that stole the show.

And then the night started to get interesting…
Afterwards, Saylor and a handful of close friends kept the birthday weekend festivities rolling until the early hours of the morning inside Chelsea’s exclusive 1 Oak dance club.

Staying true to his roots as a savvy software entrepreneur, it’s worth noting that both of Saylor’s birthday parties also served as successful test vehicles for MicroStrategy’s recently launched event management application, Usher.

Guests to both gatherings were asked to load the penguin mascot-fronted application onto their smartphones prior to arrival and could therefore be quickly checked-in at the door with the quick scan of an industry standard, on-screen QR code.

Mixing his birthday with business? Another year wiser indeed. Happy birthday Michael!