Sunday, December 31, 2006

On The LastDay Of Christmas, My Family Gave To Me

....A Year Ending Memory.....


LiveBloggingNewYear's

2006Ville

7:01pm.....
Little e. has been listening to her new favorite, Louis Armstrong, all day in preparation; for Bigger E., who I picked up from her friend's C. earlier today where they went berserk with singing, guitar and bass playing, it was The Clash's 'London Calling' while cleaning the bathroom.

7:33pm.....
Guests start to arrive. One of the evening's tasks is to come up with the top stories/events of 2006, predictions for 2007, and things you would like to happen; little e says her favorite thing is.....'Today! No, wait.... my favorite is...... Everything!' I guess all Satchmo all the time will do that to a kid.

8:02pm....
Notice a Technorati hit on 'Billmon'...It's from Philadelphia PA, original home of Dick Clark's 'American Bandstand' if I'm not mistaken....Could hit of the non-45 kind be originating from Mr. Mon himself?

8:22pm.....
Neko Case blasting on stereo; Geez that woman can sing......Everybody is telling tales of their favorite New Year's of all times...Funny how they all seem to center on ones that happened when people were twenty-two.

9:32pm...
Tales of youthful debauchery abound....E. shows great interest....e. decides it's time to do people's nails....Me, I'm having a go at the Littlest Pet Shop Tamugachi....Those Tanya's Being Good are up now, OK I guess, but not quite the Rockin' New Year's Eve most in crowd are looking for....Maybe we can sneak Louis back into the mix soon?


9:45pm....
OK, nobody is on top of the tables yet, but e. is doing some 'chair dancing' and she is finding willing partners....Volume of both music and conversation are increasing....I am no officially DJ.

10:02pm.....
E. mentions massages....No response...Until she mentions feet.....Appendages immediately fly-out all over the place.....Chicago up, Ode to/from Billy Flynn drives the crowd maddening...

10:21pm....
No longer any shoes on any female feet....entire place smells like peach fizz and tsatsuma....Disco Inferno burns white hot.

10:32pm...
Righteous Brothers wail...all thoughts of early faux New Year's for little e. have gone out the window....People are now making fun of the fact that I have a jacket on, now tie mind you, but still....Twisted Sister sends needle to, in the words of Nigel Tufnel, 'eleven, which is louder than 10 by 1'.

10:34pm....
Little bit of a downer..... K. calls......she won't be coming before she heads for the airport to catch her wee hours flight back to Vietnam where she is teaching.....consensus Movie of the Year pick is 'Little Miss Sunshine'....hmmm....don't think Metacritics quite agrees .....'Wouldn't It Be Lovely' from My Fair Lady is the change of pace on the non-turnable turntable.

10:56pm...
Ha! K., a.k.a. 'The Trickster', does come by for fly-by, flash-in-pan visit.....C. immediately springs into action and makes her vegetarian Gyozas for road....Asian food for a woman going to Asia - go figure.....E.'s dance mix now on; honestly, I have no idea but, then again, I am an old guy.....

11:21pm....
'Mambo No. 5'....Total anarchy now (but never in the UK)....This may be the highest point of the evening....b/w 'Train In Vain'.

11:32pm....
e. breaks out the fake moustaches.....C. looks vaguely like Charlie Chaplin....Sorbet comes and goes....We are now in the homestretch....I have given up on playing DJ for the moment, a mix from our friend G. is now on extended play.

12:37am....
At last minute our friend B., who is staying over, convinces girls to have a P.J. New Years, which is a great idea until they start running up and down street with noisemakers (see image above - maybe OK idea anyhow)....Fireworks and boat horns from harbour go off, reminding me fondly of old days in Oakland where the noises were mostly guns being fired into the night sky.....e. burns finger slightly on dead-headed sparkler....cursory round of clean-ups have begun....E. says quietly, as she heads for her bedroom.....


"That was fun Dad, Happy New Year"


OK?

____
Unscripted post-script of the year's passing: When I was a kid my Dad always used to say "See you next year!" when he tucked us into bed on New Years Eve......e. actually burned her thumb and index finger on the sparkler, not real bad, but bad enough to keep her awake for awhile. As a result, I had to go deep into the bedtime guitar songs, even pulled out Mr. Tamborine Man for an extended play with made-up verses about Satchmo's adventures with that Irish guy's figment of his Strongman's imagination...... E., for her part, has decided to go in the Polar Bear swim with her friend J. at English Bay; this is no idle threat, she has done it numerous times before and she actually stays in and swims until I finally stamp my feet and tell her it's time to go, don't know how many more years she will listen; film at 11.

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