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Things were clearly a bit disorganized by the time my friends and I got to the John A. Wilson Building for the D.C. Council-hosted 51st State Ball. We didn't run into the security mess City Desk reported, but there was no signage or schedule posted anywhere, so a lot of people were milling around—it was just not clear where things were happening inside city hall.
Events were split up on different floors—there was a DJ on one floor, a stage where I presume Chuck Brown was supposed to play, and a jazz band tucked away in a large conference space. We spent several minutes just trying to find a coat check and were finally told by one of the security guards that he thought they were supposed to have one, but then the equipment didn't arrive in time. Almost everyone was walking around with their coats in their hands, so either there really wasn't a coat check at all, or it was extremely well hidden.
The biggest surprise of the night, however, was that there was no bar. No cash bar, no alcohol, period. Just water and sodas. Needless to say, ball attendees were kind of disgruntled. They were letting people with ticket stubs leave and come back in, so a lot of people left to get a drink at a nearby bar. While we were discussing the booze situation, a woman turned to us and admitted that she had started playing Solitaire on her cell phone because the party was so boring.
My friends wanted to leave early, and I couldn't really blame them. We've since heard that eventually, the live music acts got going, but Chuck Brown didn't go on until 2 a.m.
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A poorly managed, mindnumbingly boring fustercluck that owes its existence to booze-hatin churchies?
No, that sounds nothing like the DC Council at all.
Wouldn't the Wilson Building have had to seek an alcohol license in order to serve booze? Either someone forgot to seek such a license or the decision was made ahead of time for no booze to be served. Either way, sounds like an all-around lame-o-rama-fest.
This is truly poor planning on the part of the Council. The Wilson Building could have easily entered into a "voluntary agreement" with the local ANC to restrict alcohol sales to Fritz Hahn and circulate posters that state: "AFFLUENT HONKEY NEIGHBORHOOD. PLEASE BE CONSIDERATE AND USE YOUR 'INDOOR SCREAM'" in nine languages including Esperanto and braille. They could have easily had a cash bar where gullible morons could have bought watered down box chardonnay for $20 a glass, the proceeds going to the Harriet Walters Memorial High Def Plasma TV for the Council's private rumpus room. That gold-plated foosball table is looking a little rough around the edges. Isn't it about time they got with the 21st century?
One requirement to become a state: be able to at least manage a small dance successfully.
This was a brilliantly planned event in that it essentially represented the campaign for DC statehood in inaugural ball form. The soda acted as 'shadow booze' while the late arriving entertainment was a living tribute to government inefficency. Very postmodern. Foucault would have been impressed, though likely attending one of the real balls instead.
I respectfully disagree. This "ball" was more Lacanian than Foucaultian, particularly in the sense of misdirected jouissance. And like the Council's inept legislation, this "ball" f***ed and f***ed but never "busted a nut" in "quotes."
The sad thing is that this was a good idea put forth by Council member Harry Thomas, Jr., however in typical DC fashion things did not go well. Albeit Pennsylvania Ave was shut down much longer than expected, it is no excuse for the lack of entertainment found at the ball. I walked in at 11:30pm, and walked through a short security line. When I got to the elevators I spotted chairman Gray hopping on an elevator. I heard music, and thought ok this should be nice. BOY was I wrong. When I arrived on the first floor there was NO coat check and people just standing around holding their coats or just simply kept them on. The music I was fooled to believe was the sound system being checked to which I thought wow typical CP time. Most of the food looked as if it was devoured over so I grabbed a bottle of warm water. I was highly disappointed to see the tiny area where the band had set up. It was SO hot and hard to get pass people. It was like sardines in a can!
After I got tired of watching the band set up I went to the 4th floor where they were doing the electric slide and the cupid shuffle in one of the council chambers modified to a ballroom. Overall it was not worth the $51 ticket fee where I could have spent it at the local bar drinking and having more fun watching Obama at the official balls.