May 9
...serving up your daily dish.
It's Monday night!
If you're home reading this, we wish you were here! For those who have to miss the big night, check back for updates soon...
May 9, 2005 in Party With Baristanet | Permalink
I'm so jealous! Oh well--I've brewed myself a pot of tea as consolation. Lame (and British) I know.
Posted by: Marshall | May 9, 2005 7:34:02 PM
Thanks for a great evening - the music, the food, the guests - the gifts, the conversation - great to see what makes this area ' tick'
adriana otoole
Posted by: adriana otoole | May 9, 2005 8:32:17 PM
Even though the goodie bags were gone by the time I left, the party was still fun. Kudos to the Barista on her first year!!! Great party, wonderful to meet new friends and to see the names behind the posters. Can't wait for the next one!
Posted by: Anne | May 9, 2005 9:55:43 PM
My boyfriend & I had a ball! He now refers to me as "Miss Martta!" I loved meeting the faces behind the posts! Thanks, Barista, and lots of luck in the years to come!
Posted by: Miss Martta | May 9, 2005 10:25:24 PM
thank you barista, for a wonderful evening, and thank you too, to greg and the church street cafe for throwing this delightful party, and for his tremendous generosity. the food was delicious, the venue inviting, and it really was great to meet so many fellow posters.
Posted by: fran | May 9, 2005 10:39:33 PM
Truly a lovely evening!! Got to see (once again) the Barista, Raymmondo, JMo and Roselee-- and met Liz, Fran (the original Hip-Hop housewife!!), Pam, Ann Marie, Chris, the Mayor of Glen Ridge (who posts under a pseudonym), and many more!!
Butch, we missed you!!
Posted by: latebloomer | May 9, 2005 11:00:04 PM
I spoke to someone this evening who said I post about my "brutal" upbringing as a Roman Catholic growing up in NJ and attending parochial schools. Not so. Not remotely so. I mention the way things commonly were back then (in my experience) not to "condemn" them, but rather to, at times, point out how much has changed. I did not, in other words, grow up in the Papist equivalent of either Komsomol or the Hitler Youth. It's just that things were "different" back then, but hardly unrelievedly brutal. (You want that, go reread "Oliver Twist.") That is very much solely in the mind of the reader met tonight, honest. As L.P. Hartley famously wrote in "The Go-Between," "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there."
And it was a pretty fair party, although it reminded me a bit of the MEWS affair. A lot livelier than that one, as far as I could tell, far fewer people so obviously on the prowl. And a decent noise level conducive to real (mainly overheard in my case) conversations. Long may the barista reign.
Posted by: cathar | May 10, 2005 12:07:13 AM
hi there cathar. that was me, fran, who remarked upon the catholic upbringing. just asked about it because of the quote which you said was commonplace in your youth: "if he gives you any trouble, father, just belt him." (see full quote in the thread about things mothers told us.)
i am delighted and relieved that it was simply something people said back then and not indicative of an excruciating childhood.
Posted by: fran | May 10, 2005 12:29:53 AM
Ahh, as an ex-papist, I fondly remember the days when Irish Christian Brothers patrolled the hallowed halls of my school, swinging leather straps at any one who looked at them crossed eyed. Those were the days, Cathar. We needed punishment and we got it, wether we liked it or not. "Ad Jesus per Mariam". Things were just different. Way different!
Posted by: Fond memories PAZ | May 10, 2005 12:31:02 AM
Thanks so much for a fine time. I wrote a wet kiss/love letter about it in my blog. Even pre-empted that other post I told you about . . .which will have to wait a day.
Yep, Baristaville trumped the NY Sunday Times!
Posted by: Dean Landsman | May 10, 2005 12:41:31 AM
Of course things were different, Paz. But I think even thee might be exaggerating just a tad for effect. No nun I ever had, whatever her rep, was the habited equivalent of Ilse Koch. Nor were the Christian Brothers (Irish or otherwise) ever akin to the Stasi.
Fran, of course I remember your name, it was very nice meeting you. I was just trying to be gallantly vague there. And if you're the very same Fran with a surname I won't mention here who produced a CD tribute to Johnny Paycheck, you have my sincere admiration. Wreck of a fellow, pretty fine singer. If you also like Dwight Yoakam and Buck Owens, you're perfect by my standards. (Even if you did once term me mean-spirited.) If you two-step, you're even angelic.
Posted by: cathar | May 10, 2005 12:43:36 AM
Hey I was at Egan's tonight... where were all you guys?!
Posted by: Gonzo Journalist | May 10, 2005 1:19:02 AM
Many thanks, Barista, for throwing such a fine party! I'm so glad I got off my duff and attended, because I had a fantastic time meeting and being captivated by a good gaggle of guests ... my runnin' buddies Miss Martta & Mr. T, Carl D. Mayor, bitpusher, lurker S. & Julia, Cathar, and, causing me to lose all sense of time right up to 10 p.m., Pam, latebloomer, and Fran!
And those were only some of the many people who showed up. I might still be talking my head off if there had been more time.
Thanks also to the Church Street Cafe folks.
Now, about those incriminating photographs ...
Posted by: Chris | May 10, 2005 5:05:45 AM
Had a great time last night. Getting my nerve up to start posting. Donna
Posted by: donna | May 10, 2005 7:53:21 AM
thanks, cathar. yes, i think dwight yoakum and buck owens are top drawer, and i've got lots of weathered old lp's by people like hanks--williams and thompson, george jones, and even the likes of larry gatlin and moe bandy and the watsons, dale and gene--i'm a big big dave dudley fan too, of course.....but johnny paycheck's voice was in a class of it's own. did you ever hear the twangbangers? they put out a sampler cd on hightone a few years ago that's one of the best country albums i ever heard.
Posted by: fran | May 10, 2005 8:38:34 AM
sorry to leave so early, we had to go watch 24. it was good seeing/meeting the knitting lady, her friend from elm street, chris from bloomfield, marcia from clifton, kalindi from glen ridge and the rest of the gang. great party.
Posted by: julia | May 10, 2005 8:46:12 AM
A special thanks to Fran who brought me a CD of all kinds of eclectic stuff I like...that was sooo sweet of you. I'll reciprocate with tunes from Rhapsody.com.
Latebloomer: How did I manage to miss you? Drat! Oh well, maybe at the next Barista shindig!
Besides Fran, I did hook up with Chris (who I already know from the Essex Running Club); Jerry Mosier and his lovely wife, Rosalie Blooston; Mayor Carl B. from Glen Ridge; Cathar; Pam; Bitpusher: and I even had a nice conversation with Dick Grabowsky and his fiance, Irene! And of course, I got to meet the Barista (aka, Debbie) her self and her colleague, Laura.
People who I would have liked to meet but who were MIA: Butch, ROC, Lex, Walleroo, and Red State Man (remember him?).
Posted by: Miss Martta | May 10, 2005 8:46:28 AM
As my father would have said, "I ignored Dick Grabowsky."
Posted by: latebloomer | May 10, 2005 8:52:01 AM
I think we should do this every month:)
Had a great time..thanks Barista,Greg and Cheryl..hope i didn't bother anyone with my shaky camera ( seems people didn't even see me ) ...i'm going to put together just alittle spot on my cable show about the party ( only close ups/interviews with our Hosts )
Posted by: wayne robbins | May 10, 2005 9:05:33 AM
Man you guys are up early!
Woke up with a bit of a headache- but what fun last night meeting all of you. (except Butch & Cathar who I managed to miss- where were you two???)
Thank you Barista aka Debbie for such a swell party (and to the singers, and chef and Church St Cafe hosts too)
Posted by: Pam | May 10, 2005 9:26:00 AM
