Party Monsters

Omaha Party

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 18:37:36 -0400

Our new podcast: Omaha, Nebraska: Culturally, stuck somewhere between Austin and Baltimore. Hosts Bunny, Coco, and celebrity guests introduce you to the town’s many secrets.

Easiest Party Foods from Martha Stewart

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 18:35:23 -0400

Easiest Party Foods from Martha Stewart

Humphrey Bogart at Liza Minelli’s sixth birthday party .

Sat, 25 Aug 2012 18:49:02 -0400

Humphrey Bogart at Liza Minelli’s sixth birthday party .

Making signature cocktails

Sat, 25 Aug 2012 18:46:29 -0400

Are there certain ingredients that are crowd-pleasers?

Oh, yes. Most popular when it comes to men are brown liquors, unique and custom bitters, and savory elements. I often will create custom bitters from a person’s flavor profile to add to their original signature drink. Women lean toward colorful drinks with exotic fruits and florals made with vodka or champagne.

Classic party songs: “Wild, Wild Party,” Charlie...

Sat, 25 Aug 2012 18:40:18 -0400

Classic party songs: “Wild, Wild Party,” Charlie Feather.

Bal des Ardents

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 03:29:44 -0400

The Bal des Ardents (Ball of the Burning Men^[1]) or Bal des Sauvages^[2] was a masquerade ball^{[note 1]} held on 28 January 1393 in Paris at which Charles VI of France performed in a dance with five members of the French nobility. Four of the dancers were killed in a fire caused by a torch brought in by a spectator, Charles’ brother Louis, Duke of Orléans. Charles and another of the dancers survived. The ball was one of a number of events intended to entertain the young king, who in the previous summer had suffered an attack of insanity. The event undermined confidence in Charles’ capacity to rule; Parisians considered it proof of courtly decadence and threatened to rebel against the more powerful members of the nobility. The public’s outrage forced the king and his brother Orléans, whom a contemporary chronicler accused of attempted regicide and sorcery, into offering penance for the event.

Scenes at the Chelsea Arts Ball. Some nice fancy dress outfits at this New Year's Eve party thrown by the Chelsea Arts Club. The theme is "fun".

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 03:27:27 -0400

Scenes at the Chelsea Arts Ball. Some nice fancy dress outfits at this New Year's Eve party thrown by the Chelsea Arts Club. The theme is "fun".

I Did It For Science: Key Party

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 03:24:15 -0400

Long ago, in a magical time called the 1970s, people threw key parties. At these sordid, drunken soirees, male guests threw their keys into a pot, and the female guests picked a set at random, pairing up with the owner of the keys. Debauchery followed.

Today, lock-and-key parties (a British speed-dating phenomenon in which men try to match their keys to women’s locks) are all the rage. But who wants to walk around with a lock all night waiting for some dude to open it when you could be tossing back Singapore Slings and getting busy with the neighbor?

Recently, my editors asked me to resurrect the legend (some say urban legend) of the key party. Is there a chance that in this lame-ass era I can recapture the good times of the “Me Decade”? Or, like a junior-high school dance, will my key party be an uncomfortable disaster?

Party scene from “An American in Paris” (1951)

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 03:21:03 -0400

Party scene from “An American in Paris” (1951)

"The Marilyn Monroe Party" by Gloria Pall

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 04:22:28 -0400

“Miss Cleavage of 1952, Gloria Pall, has taken a chapter from her upcoming Story of a Showgirl and has bound it as a limited edition book. The party referred to is the party that Ray Anthony threw for Marilyn on 8/3/52. Gloria recounts her entrance to the party, and her ensuing brief conversation with Marilyn. Only thirteen pages of the book are text…the remaining pages are made up of articles about the party (several of which talk about Gloria), magazine covers that Gloria was on immediately following the party, and a few other pictures of Gloria. Though this only takes a few minutes to read, one can get a few good insights into the feel of this famous party.”

Classic party songs: “Poem Party” by the Strange...

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 04:20:09 -0400

Classic party songs: “Poem Party” by the Strange Boys

Tom Waits’ private listening party

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 04:16:00 -0400

Tom Waits’ private listening party

Bill Murray Goes to a Party

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 04:15:21 -0400

Instead of calling it an early night in St. Andrews after the bars were winding down and the golf tournament he was there for had ended, Bill Murray decided to go out and explore the city.

He’d been out to drinks with fellow golfers when he met a beautiful blonde Nordic woman named Lykke Stavnef, who was there with her friend Marie Bergene who, naturally, invited him to a party.

Bill Murray said yes.

When they showed up, the 22 year old Lykke Stavnef says that nobody could believe that she had brought him to a house party. She was concerned that there were not enough clean dishes there, so Bill Murray actually decided to start washing dishes. Everyone was amused when he cleaned some dishes so that people could drink, but even more charmed when he happily accepted drinking vodka out of a coffee mug.

Before he left, he finished cleaning the feet-high dishes pile left by the college students, then went back to his hotel.

Hollywood Party (1934) trailer

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 04:11:42 -0400

Hollywood Party (1934) trailer

Classic party songs: “Saturday Night” by the Bay...

Sat, 18 Aug 2012 01:42:54 -0400

Classic party songs: “Saturday Night” by the Bay City Rollers.

The Top 10 Wildest Parties in the World

Sat, 18 Aug 2012 01:40:49 -0400

Clubbing and partying is now an international industry and there are hundreds of travel operators who specialize in sending you and your friends around the world to some of the planet’s hottest nightlife. So what are the world’s top ten wildest parties where to let loose and join the flow?

Playboy’s Party Games

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 12:33:18 -0400

Playboy’s Party Games

Classic party songs: “Dead Man’s Party” by...

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 12:29:03 -0400

Classic party songs: “Dead Man’s Party” by Oingo Boingo.

A few years ago, a professor friend mentioned reading about Mark...

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 04:15:19 -0400

A few years ago, a professor friend mentioned reading about Mark Twain’s fabulous gala 70th birthday party at Delmonico’s, which was attended by the leading literary lights of the day. The article was in Harper’s Weekly for December 23, 1905, and I was all agog because I knew that my novelist grandmother Onoto Watanna was present, along with her friend Jean Webster, a great-niece of Twain (and author of Daddy-Long-Legs). Photographs were taken of each table, and I was delighted to obtain scans of the pictures through the good offices of my friend Peter Hanff and Bob Hirst of the Bancroft Library at Berkeley. I immediately began Googling the guests, and made some surprising discoveries. Later, I was fortunate to score a copy of Harpers myself, on eBay. Now it has belatedly occurred to me that my blog is an ideal format to show some of these pictures, tell about these literary celebrities, and in general try to recreate a magical evening at Delmonico’s, over a century ago.

Host your own Surrealist Game Parties

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 03:17:49 -0400

When most folks think of Surrealism, people like Salvador Dali or maybe Andre Breton probably come to mind. But there is so much more to enjoy from the Surrealist movement as a creative force, a cultural force, a sociopolitial voice, an integration of art and psychology, and my favorite: Surrealist games.