Open Bar

After four months of planning, I helped throw a private open bar event tonight. I picked the venue, I co-wrote the press release, I spent three weeks gathering items for the gift bags, and I did the PR. All day I was shaking with nerves, and at the beginning -- even though we had zillions of RSVPs -- I was positive the entire event would be an abject failure because we didn't have a line out the door. Not to fear.

Below are edited comments I wrote to my staff of five writers. Seva and Jason are the New York Myopenbar guys, who flew in for the event along with the official Drambuie people and a host of NYC PR staff. All of us worked seamlessly to pull this off.

Thoughts, Comments, Vignettes on Tonight:

Head Of All Drambuie, overheard by Seva: This couldn't have been more perfect.

Seva: This is my second-favorite MOB party I've ever thrown, after the NYC Halloween one.

Jason on gift bags: The best I've ever seen.
Seva on gift bags: They were fucking fantastic. And totally Chicago, exactly what our Chicago kids want.

No one had to wait in the cold, there was the exact right amount of people to feel like a party without being too crowded or too sparse. The food was way better than I'd ever dreamed, the music fun (Drambuie may sign the MCs for their events in future!), the drinks novel and relatively easy to get, and of course the crowd fantastic, since it was put on by us and included so many of our friends.

As Alan and I walked out, we struck up a conversation with two guys. They were absolutely dumbfounded to learn we were MOBsters, exclaming, "We've been wanting to meet you forever!" They go to ALL of our open bars, and began listing all of their favorite write-ups and experiences. Turns out their favorite event was when they got wasted off Johnny Walker at the art gallery most of us went to a few weeks ago. They told us that they often pick an event based on how much they like the write-up... and then they gave me and Alan a ride!

Thanks for your tireless and unending dedication to the site. It's noted, appreciated, and lauded every week by over 3,000 subscribers. Seriously: we have groupies now.

Oh, and one final thing. You know how our very lofty and ambitious RSVP goal was 500? We got up to 492. Fuck yeah!