Ghostbar Founder Now Pounding Red Bull Vodka's with Jesus, Heath Ledger, and Amy Winehouse

(*he's the one who doesn't play for the Mavs)

ASPEN, CO - Scott DeGraff, the man who launched the N9NE Group, died on Thanksgiving Day. DeGraff’s body was found in the garage of a home in east Aspen. An autopsy will be performed today to determine the official cause of death which police are calling an apparent suicide. DeGraff was 47.

DeGraff ran restaurants and nightclubs in Chicago, Las Vegas, and Dallas. [He and business partner Michael Morton] opened N9NE Steakhouse and Nove in Victory Park and Ghostbar in the W Hotel Dallas. DeGraff moved to Aspen in late 2008 and hit financial problems.

This is what happens when kicking ass goes wrong. So he had a few swings and misses with some other Victory Park failures and then found himself alone on a holiday in a cold, empty house with nothing but a bottle of cheap scotch, trembling hands, growing debt and a dwindling will to live. Who hasn't? Bottom line is that if you're a pseudo-celeb who can get a trendy new vodka to sponsor your birthday binge in this town, there's no question you crush it at Ghostbar like the supermarket checkout-line moms read about. Where else is it practically encouraged to pound Cristal, do a line off the balcony rail, feel up a Mavs dancer, and maniacally tease death by hanging over 33 stories just to get a thrill? This isn't your suburban Chili's here, people. I think we owe it to a true Dallas pioneer to hit up that bottle service and shoot up a speedball with an over-priced escort in an unlocked, DNA-stained bathroom stall. It's how he would have wanted it.