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Dusk closed tonight out of respect for DJ AM, found dead today in New York

Dusk, the new nightclub at Caesars in which DJ AM was a strategic partner, will be closed tonight out of respect for the DJ, who was found dead of an apparent drug overdose today in his New York apartment.

He was 36.

AM, raised as Adam Goldstein near Rittenhouse Square, had just performed at Dusk's industry party on Tuesday. He also performed there Saturday after throwing out the first pitch at the Phillies/Mets game at Citi Field in Queens.

"We are devastated by the loss of Adam Goldstein, our dear friend and valued member of the Dusk family," Nicole A. Cashman, a spokeswoman for Dusk said tonight. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to his loved ones. He was a true talent who will be greatly missed." Cashman said no decision had been made about whether Dusk would open Saturday.

A Radar Online report suggest that AM, who had been clean for many years after a past of drug abuse, had been using painkillers since suffering burns last September in a South Carolina plane crash that killed four people. AM and musician Travis Barker, who was also injured, were the only survivors. AM told the New York Times in 2007 that ten years earlier, while high on crack, he tried to commit suicide with a .22 caliber pistol but the gun jammed. He credited that incident with helping inspire him to get clean. Last September, a week after the crash, Philadelphia DJ Day, turned into an event in support of an injured comrade with a hundred DJs including Mayor Nutter, once known as "Mixmaster Mike," wore t-shirts that bore DJ AM's name written in the famous lettering of RUN DMC's logo.

Daily News television writer Ellen Gray recently caught up with DJ AM about his upcoming MTV show "Gone Too Far," in which he helps stage interventions and arrange treatment for those battling drug addictions.

AM, who attended the Philadelphia School, Greenfield and Friends Central before moving to Los Angeles at 14, told Gray that "the bad things started in Philly." "It got much worse when I left. I think it's just around that time, though -- 14, 15, I was just so insecure moving to a new city, trying to fit in, that I would do anything, you know, to be accepted and liked," he told Gray last month at the Television Critics Association meetings in Los Angeles.

"The only thing that ever worked for me is when a recovering addict tried to help me," AM told reporters of his battle with drugs. "The only way I can keep it [sobriety] is if I give it away."

The show was to premiere Oct. 5. MTV has not yet announced what will be the future of the show.