Save Coney Party Recap

Since I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep again, I decided to put up this entry I've been meaning to add.

On Saturday, March 8th, I went to the Save Coney Island party that Lola Staar organized. I invited a bunch of friends and family, and despite laziness and the rain, some of them made it. Since I knew my Brother, his girlfriend, and a friend of theirs were on their way, I waited outside Southpaw for a while after the doors opened.

Before the doors opened, however, I was mistaken for a bouncer (a lot) because of my height, my being right outside the back-door, and because I tried to help people as much as possible by answering questions, helping the performers get in, etc. One of the security guys was giving Scotty the Blue Bunny a hard time, for example, but I convinced him that he was alright and he was let in.

Once inside, I immediately went to buy ten raffle tickets (ten because it to support Coney), and went to mingle. I talked up David Gratt for a few minutes, discussing how we both thought the Coney Island scene and the Gotham Girls Roller Derby scene would mesh well together, and then I partied and enjoyed the show for a while.

When my Brother, his girlfriend Lizzie, and their friend Chris came, they got settled and watched the show with me. We all partied together and had a lot of laughs and eye-candy (and ear-candy, too - Kilsy was awesome).

During all of this they did a few raffles, and when they got to the second batch, they auctioned off a date with Miss Cyclone. They called out the winning number, and it was not mine. But the winner wasn't around anymore, so they chose another ticket, and I thought "Hey, I think I have that one" but I didn't believe it at first so held my tickets up to my brother's iPhone (for light) and confirmed it.

Murray Hill, entertainer extraordinaire (who took over for Scotty the Blue Bunny & Ekaterina as host) called me to the stage and joked around with me for having so many tickets. Once he confirmed that I won, exclaiming "Holy shit," he brought me up on stage and I stood with him and Miss Cyclone herself, Angie Pontani. Murray joked about me getting lucky on my date, teasing Angie, and also teased me about what I called my "Coney Style" - my jeans & sneakers and T-shirt of a hot dog on a date with some mustard. Then he asked what I did for a living and when he heard that I was a Financial Analyst, that sealed the deal. He basically, using music and body language, signalled "Jackpot!" which everyone cracked up at.

Angie brought me backstage, and since she had to go get ready for her next act (all of the girls are really hard working entertainers) I had a seat and talked to some of the other ladies there, talking about growing up in Coney Island and they told me how I'm going to have fun on my date, etc. Then Jen, the "Ringmaster" of Thirsty Girl Productions, came and gave me her card so that I could get in touch with them, and they ushered me back to the main events.

When I got back to the party, I found out that amazingly enough the next raffle that they had was won by my brother, who was also called to the stage to get his prize pack. He asked whether he had to get up on stage, because he didn't feel like climbing up, and Murray told him that since he looked like he could kick Murray's ass, he didn't have to come up. ::grin:: Hey, I can't help it if all of us Schubert men grew too much because of all Mom's good cooking.

Afterwards a bunch of people whom I didn't yet have the pleasure of knowing congratulated me, and even as I walked around later, strangers kept telling me to have fun on my date. The rest of the night I hung out with my bro, Lizzie, and Chris, and also my hard-working other friends like Lola, Norman Blake, Allen Lee, Pookie Patootie (stage manager that night), and made my way home via the subway.

Somehow, I made it back home and spent most of Sunday recovering and telling my family about our crazy night. It was doubly awesome because of all the great people there, so a giant thank you to everyone who made it such an amazing night!

Oh, and I'll keep everyone posted on our date!