I was going to take the easy way out this week and just post my "most-read blog of 2019" which, in case you were wondering was "Vanna White gets a Black Eye" but I decided to start the year off by challenging myself and writing something new for you. ;-)
I love to entertain... and I don't only mean on-stage. I also mean in our home. I can come up with just about any reason to get people together to laugh, listen to music, eat, and drink. I've been the hostess (and drunken vinyl DJ) to many a late-night fondue party, where cheese-spattered tablecloths and paper bags overflowing with empty bottles of cheap wine greet me and my hangover the morning after. These high-calorie, high ABV evenings were what I lived for! Danny Rampage and I have been known to throw any number of extravaganzas ranging from 007-themed black tie affairs and speakeasy nights to fall-inspired food fests. We love to dress up (as you might have gathered if you've ever been to a Hot Pink Hangover concert) and parties are a great excuse to do that! I'm thinking that in 2020 there should be more of this sort of thing...
Evidently after the release of John Water's 1972 film, "Pink Flamingo," folks started placing plastic models of the birds out in their flower beds to indicate that they were intending to host a happy hour later in the evening and there was a high probability of mixed drinks inside. Just a friendly little neighborhood advertisement that fun could be had if you only knocked! I love this. If I'd known this several weeks ago, I would have asked for a plastic set of flamingos for Christmas. *I've read that pink flamingos in a yard can also designate swinger households, so if you're planning on knocking on that door, just know what you might be getting yourself into.
I also love parties. When my old bandmates and I landed in Prague in the early 2000s, one of the first invitations we received was to attend a birthday party at a late-night Czech drag show. We were jet-lagged but we accepted. Long tables lined the dimly lit space below the stage, and the venue smelled of old sweat and stale Pilsner-Urquell. They didn't sell individual drinks. No, you had to buy booze by the bottle. Soon the drag show started, and queens of all walks of life hit the stage in their outlandish costumes, and enthusiastically crooned songs of their choosing. My friends and I made merriment for several hours while being entertained by the show and feeling invincible after shaking hands with Absinthe. When it came time to pay the bill, somehow we had drunkenly misplaced ours. Now, in The States, this probably wouldn't have been a big deal, but it was evidently an incredible inconvenience for management at this particular establishment. "Why the hell can't they just print us out a new tab?!" I drunkenly shrieked to the burley, Czech-speaking manager... He was scowling at me, shaking his fist, and hollering something menacing in an unrecognizable tongue. Luckily, just when things were nearing possible banishment, I lifted a vodka bottle for one more sip for the road, and there, stuck to the bottom of the bottle was our tab. Those of us not yet passed out feebly paid the bill and left in search of deep-fried cheese.
I've toned things down slightly since the story mentioned above, but my goal for 2020 is to have more fun. I know that entertaining folks is a true source of enjoyment for me, so I think I'll organize a masquerade ball or maybe plan a onsie-themed high tea. I'm furiously crafting inventive party ideas and festive new recipes as I write this, and am going to get onto Amazon right now to buy those flamingos.