A Chronicle of Nickfest

And so Nickfest officially ended on Saturday evening with a big old bash at my house. The year-llong celebration leading to my 50th birthday had a memorable finale, to make up for what I considered somewhat tepid enthusiasm for the 12 months of pre-functions. The party had a Caribbean theme, reflecting my love of Jimmy Buffett. But we mixed things up a bit by demanding Hawaiian shirts and leis of the participants.



Here is a pix of me cuttin' the rug with Mariel and Heather, while the lead singer of P.F. Flyer unleashes some classic rock.



Rather than spend a lot of time crafting a well-written report, I'm going to take the old journalistic trick of just writing a list.



1, Best Hawaiian shirt awards, as selected by me, went to Carmen Yount for women and Jeff Gillespie for men. I salute you, and may the dung of a thousand parrots descend on those who wore regular clothes.



2, Band members Jeff Gravelle and Darren Young, along with the other musicians whose names I do not remember, should consider quitting their day jobs and go on the road full-time. The set list was awesome, starting with ``Play That Funky Music'' and ending with ``Shook Me All Night Long.'' One criticism: ``Super Freak'' should be played every night.



3, Thanks to those who ignored my wife's unfortunate note on the invitation that there be no presents. To Aaron, Charlie and Mark, your thoughtful gifts of cigars will be savored in coming weeks. Special thanks to Charlie, who arranged his five cigars in an ascending order of length, representing the decades of my life. The smallest cigar represented years 1-10, the slightly longer cigar covered years 10-20, etc. My only criticism with this poetic gesture is that the cigar representing the current period is not long enough.



4, Carey's gift of framed Buffett album covers was huge; thanks to the DeWalts for the big poster of the smokin' hot bikini babe that I immediately mistook for a picture of Ann; and the many bottles of fine libations will not be wasted. The used golf club from Bruce will be remarked upon no more.



5, Apologies to all for abandoning the bar I had set up in the party room so I could dance. I was a pretty crappy bartender, anyway, as I think the margaritas were too weak, judging by the lack of vomiting.



6, Thanks to all who brought that great food, especially Brian Buck for pulled pork and Korean beef lettuce wraps. Ann deserves special celebration for cooking up hot wings, meatballs, mango salsa, and other foods, making the drink menu, hiring the band, setting up the party room, cleaning the house and making sure everyone had a good time. She made it all look easy, so easy in fact that I see no reason why it can't be an annual event. Here's looking forward to Nickfest 51 next March.