Live from the 60's Basement-Warming Cocktail Party (Recorded Earlier): Part 1

Finally! "I can't believe we're in the basement!" Josh says this all the time, because after two years of destruction, construction, dead rats (in days-of-the-week underwear nests), Gatsby-era electrical re-wiring, poured concrete, priming & painting, and decorating, the drywall dust has cleared, and the basement is not only habitable (housing two refugees from Sellwood), but suitable for a party. And not just a "hey, wanna see the basement after dinner upstairs" walk-through, but a g.d red-blooded American 60's-themed cocktail party!

Where once roamed rats now recline friends (sure, rats can be friends and friends can be rats, but here I'm exulting the glory of the hopes and dreams of our hosts for a swingin' pad in these wingin' times).

The Style Network missed out on this transformation (no, I'm sure everyone loves seeing Tempest Bledsoe again...). The Food Network could've done an hour on the hors d'ouevres (no, the Neelys are a delight!). E! Entertainment blew their shot at an Emmy for "Confirmed Bachelors of Clackamas County" (sorry, we couldn't secure a permit for Kardashians -- the stairway's too narrow).

Well, who needs 'em? We've got a blog. Canapes anyone?

The Brown Carpet: The 60's Basement-Warming Cocktail Party

Before reporting on the "First Soiree of Spring," let's see a few of our invited guests in their best "theme-wear." (Get-together at Adam & Josh's? Must be another g.d. theme party!")

 

 

The last two photographs were not of guests, but hosts. Well, Guest Hosts, really. The 60's Basement-Warming Cocktail Party was Guest-Hosted by Two Confirmed Bachelors, A Swell Dame, and An East Coast Pseudo-Intellectual.

Pre-Show: The 60's Basement-Warming Cocktail Party

Party preparations are a go! Or rather a "go-go!" Dig that crazy exotica, that langorous lounge splashing and oozing out of the speakers!

The hors d'oeuvres, as far-flung (time-wise) as the music, fills the kitchen table. I'm in my tweed, elbow patches unscuffed. Erin & the Boys are dressing as I type.

It's a soiree fit for Ferrante & Teicher!

Spotlight on: "The Chair of Contention"

 

Long before we have everything, we have nothing. Somewhere in between we have something. One kind of something is, simply, things. We have things. Some of us have a few things. Some of us have lots of things.

Adam finds things. I thrill to the hunt as well, so I'm impressed with most of the things Adam finds. But unlike Josh, I didn't have to live with these things until now.

Presently, there's one thing that Josh has always, let's say, disliked, that I too, having once admired, now loathe. Not aesthetically -- I still consider it one of the visual highlights of the basement; I loathe it functionally. The so-called "Chair of Contention."

It's deviously uncomfortable, in a Spanish Inquisition way. At first, you'll be deceived. The seat is firm, with a little give. In about two minutes, though, your ass is crying out for a throw pillow, an inner tube, even a bale of hay.

And the back of the chair hits you about 3" below your shoulder blades.

But Adam got it dirt-cheap, maybe even free. Yes, it's uncomfortable, but it's a fine example of late-50s, early-60s (I don't know) American furniture. What should Adam have done? Not brought it home?

Josh is at work but I can hear him shouting, "Yes!"

Chair of contention.

Last one down the stairs gets...

The Chair of Contention.

Re-Open Project Bluebook!

Sorry, false alarm. I shoulda known -- thought I smelled swamp gas.

Things I'm Learning Down Here 1.0

1. Bedsheets? Nothing less than 600 thread count.
2. Dogs are dumb,  but not dumb enough.

It's St. Patrick's Day again, and no one cares all that much. I'm having a Guinness and listening to Comcast's Music Choice, the "Sounds of the Season" channel, which is playing, for the most part, sub par Irish music. But in the realm of music, even sub par Irish music is better than most other music.

3. SNL isn't dirty enough anymore. Meaning it's not funny anymore.
4a. You can't have too many old leather suitcases.
4b. We have too many old leather suitcases.

Spatchcocked chicken for dinner tonight. And potatoes. We often cook and eat together here. Because we're friends. And we're renters. But mostly friends...with rent-ifits.

I can see how some people could hate Irish music.

Know what's great about jazz? 27 minute songs. (Currently loading the Complete Bitches Brew Sessions into iTunes).

Jaysus, cheer up, Paddy!

 

And that's what I've learned today!

This/That

Hey, kids! How ya been? It's Sunday and the four of us are watching "Quantum of Solace." Well, Josh & Erin are. Adam & I are on our computers. But we're all in the basement, having just finished a delicious meal of taco salads (I had to peek at everyone's bowls to see how to assemble it). Then, while the other three were dolloping a quantum of sour cream onto their Mexican mounds, I slipped downstairs and ate mine. I'm notorious for not waiting for others to sit down before I eat. I'm an ass. But I don't care. I get hungry.

So far not too exciting, right? Well, what's your life like -- a John LeCarre novel? (LeCarre and Le Car are not pronounced the same.)

So, the basement's a good size, plenty of room for pirouetting and Italian sign language. But it's not the Taj Majal (thank goodness -- that thing's a gawdam crypt)! So certain rooms and furniture serve dual purposes.

The bathroom is the hair salon. Erin chopped my lovely locks the other day (I used to cut my own hair until I realized that just because I couldn't see the back of my head didn't mean everyone couldn't either).


"I love how the TV's on and NONE of us are watching," says Josh, who, like Erin, is engrossed in his smart phone.

Den/Media Center, I guess.

Is that a wine bar in your kitchenette? Yes, yes it is. It is also my snack cabinet. Erin and Adam dip into it, but it's really my snack cabinet. Indeed, Adam declared me the snackiest person he knows.

To sum up: Bathroom/Barbershop. Den/Media Center. Wine Bar/Snack Cabinet.

Now, it's time for us to go to Bed/Cat Kingdom.