Playmate pays visit to Bar One

By Andy McMurray

Playboy’s Playmate of the Year arrived at Bar One, 1000 W Lincoln Highway, on Friday night, but to some patrons she proved hard to pick out in the large crowd.

2004 Playmate of the Year Carmella DeCesare arrived, with her mother, at about 10 p.m.

Booking agent Chris Casey said her usual security entourage did not come Friday.

“The big guy’s my friend,” Casey said, looking at Bar One’s biggest bouncer.

DeCesare said she spends a lot of time on the road, averaging between eight and 11 flights per week to make appearances at nightclubs and bars.

Fans, for the most part, are pretty positive, DeCesare said. However, the occasional obsessive fan does turn up.

“Some people have pictures of me when I was a kid,” she said.

This is part of the reason DeCesare has worked for a yellow belt in the Korean martial art hapkido.

“It’s nice to know you’ll be able to protect yourself,” DeCesare said.

Patrons ranged from excited to indifferent about DeCesare’s presence.

DeCesare and her mother sipped drinks while a Cortland couple, married for 44 years, entertained the crowd by grinding away on the dance floor.

Leocadio Paez, part of the dancing couple from Cortland, said he knew about the playmate but would have come to Bar One regardless.

“We’ve come here for 15 years,” Paez said. “We came here when it was Amnesia.”

Students also turned out in droves at Bar One on Friday night.

Other students could not find DeCesare amongst the crowd of bar goers.

“I haven’t seen her at all,” said Spencer Wayman, 21, a senior political science major.

It would be better if more guests like this came to DeKalb, Wayman said.

Wayman’s friend Mike Rice, 21, a junior political science major, expressed puzzlement.

“There’s a playmate here?” Rice said laughing as he looked around with a confused expression.

“No, here’s my opinion,” Rice said. “You get a lot of horny college students to come out and think they’re going to see a playmate. It’s great.”