This past weekend was a bit of an oddball, but totally in a fantastic way.
On Friday, Hubby and I met up with two friends for dinner at a pub. Not especially strange, but these two were friends I’d made while at work. One of which, used to “work” for me as the Front House and Ticketing manager during concerts. The other “worked” for me as the Back Stage manager. The Front House has since gotten a bona-fide job as – wait for it – a Front House manager at a theater company in Baltimore. Her company recently bought a property downtown and is renovating it. Once done, it will be the third largest private theater in the City. The Backstage manager is working in the school system with special needs children. Both had references from the chorus to get their jobs. Both are excellent workers and very talented. Sometimes I forget how much a good reference can get you and I was happy to give both of these ladies one.
We met at 6 and left at 11 pm. I’m sure our waitress wasn’t pleased, since we hogged a table, but when you are accustomed to spending 2-4 hours chatting during rehearsals, a simple meal just isn’t enough time to “catch-up”.
The next day, Hubby and I had tickets to Beer, Bacon, Music. For $45.00, you got entrance to the event, all day “tasting” of beer and all-you-can-eat bacon. We got there a bit after the venue opened, and it was already packed with people. Lines were a bit outrageous and there was no clear entrance procedure. I don’t think we can ever go to any event without my mind clicking in to either how well, or how poorly, the event was planned. For this event, they were trying to funnel prepaid ticket holders, with pay-at-the-door patrons, all through one small tent. With no clear markings and long lines, people were frustrated and grumbling that they wouldn’t get in for at least an hour. When your event is only 5 hours long and you’ve paid $45.00, I can understand the complaint.
We were processed in 20 minutes or so, because I had Hubby go scout the lines and figure out what was really happening. Sometimes it pays to be familiar with this stuff. ;0)
In any case the word of the day was BACON! BAYYYCON! mmmmm, BACON! Men, Women and children were all chanting the same thing.
We quickly located the Bacon Building, where you were supposed to be able to sample 5 different flavors of bacon at their all-you-can-eat bacon bar. After about 20 minutes in line, we got to the serving table to be greeted by a sad looking volunteer who was doling out three anemic strips of apple-vinegar bacon to each person. Next to him where 4 empty serving dishes and at the end was a container of pork rinds that was rapidly dwindling. A glance at the other three serving lines revealed much the same scenario.
Well! Talk about some outraged patrons. People wanted their fill of bacon, and three small strips wasn’t going to appease the masses. Nevertheless, during the afternoon, we’d pass by the entrance to the Bacon Building and hear the same rumbling about how “they’d run out” of bacon. If you happened to be in line when a new pan arrived, there would be cheers, and since there was plentiful beer, many of the grumblings mellowed into less fearful grumblings as the afternoon wore on.
Another event that would raise cheers would be the inevitable glass hitting the floor. Someone at this event was incredibly silly when they decided it would be wise to have all the beer sampling glasses be made of real glass. The event was held in an area that was primarily pavement. There was beer involved. I guess the equation would be:
glass + copious amounts of beer+ pavement – bacon = shattered glass / people in flip-flops = DANGER WILL ROBINSON!
Um… duh?
In order to have those copious amounts of beer, you had to pay a penny for each sampling you wanted. I think there were more pennies on the ground than there were in the collection tubs at the booths. If you’d run out of pennies, there certainly wasn’t anything that was going to stop you from having more beer, as long as you were willing to scan the ground and not worry about what kind of fluid your penny was sitting in .
The event was winding to a close and Hubby and I decided we’d get something quick from one of the food trucks before they shut down and we had to leave. On a whim, we headed over to the Bacon Building first. Lo and behold, we spied a worker bringing in a fresh pan of bacon. We rounded the building and got into line, which by comparison was now fairly short. By the time we got to the pan, there was very little left and we got our 3 strips. HOWEVER, while we were nibbling on our prize, we hit the jackpot. In rapid succession, two more pans appeared with heaping mounds of bacon and a quick glance over our shoulder showed about 6 people in line. WHOA! So, we rounded the table and got not one, but two more containers, each piled high with enough bacon to satisfy even Hubby. SUCCESS! FTW! I guess good things do come to those who check in at the last-minute to scrounge for leftovers!
And finally, on Sunday we attended a Senior Recital for one of our chorus singers, although she was playing the violin instead of singing. Don’t ask.
Afterwards, we’d been invited to join her family at a local Indian restaurant for a dinner party. We arrived a little early and spoke with the owner, who made sure that my meal would be onion-free, and settled into to listen to the Indian electronica/classical/jazz fusion mix they had going. Odd, but not unappealing! As guests from my musical world arrived, we began to have plate after plate of colorful, fragrant and highly spiced foods arrive. By the time the 20 of us were served, the table looked like a page from a foodie magazine. It was pretty awesome and so different from a paper container of bacon! I had a fried avocado, which was heavenly, and some marinated shrimp, but all around me plates were overflowing with the most intriguing sights and smells. Those are BOO/YAY moments for me. Boo that I can’t eat most of it and Yay that it all looks beautiful and almost like art.
So, in all, I had a pretty eclectic weekend. From a pub playing pop Muzak, to a rock/grunge band with a banjo involved, to classically trained violin, to Indian electronica, both my palate and my ears had quite the smorgasbord!
Snippets and Tidbits 