Kevin Hickey Saved the Day!

Merry Christmas Eve, gentle readers! I trust you are having a lovely holiday... or at least will tomorrow. I am relaxing after a busy day and will be jetting down to L.A. after work tomorrow for the Sassy family Christmas celebration.

However, before any of that can be considered, I have something very important to discuss with you. This week something tremendous happened: I became old. Or middle aged, anyway. You may have seen references in previous posts on this space, but it's official now. On Monday, December 21, 2009, I turned 40 years old. I hadn't exactly been looking forward to the occasion, so I decided to have three days worth of parties to celebrate and keep myself from simply crawling under my bed and crying. There was a big Saturday night dance party on the 19th, a Sunday afternoon karaoke party on the 20th and an official birthday dinner on the 21st.

I planned everything well in advance and had secured a space for the Saturday night dance party by Thanksgiving. That party would start at 7 p.m. and feature music from DJ English Steve, whom I had hired to spin 60's soul and power pop, a little Motown, 70's post punk and 80's new wave and ska. Also, my band Sober Nixon would play a short set in the middle of things, and then the whole party would wrap up around midnight. At least that was the plan until I learned two days before my party that the owner of the venue, which shall remain nameless (this space is only for happy thoughts), had booked an entire evening of house music DJ's on that same night. She did this even though her event coordinator had given me the green light to bring my own DJ and perform with my band, as well as approving the time frame I'd requested. Plus, he had taken a $600 deposit from me to secure my reservation for the evening.

To make a long story short, there apparently was some kind of gross miscommunication between the owner of the venue and her event coordinator, and my party was thrown over for the evening of house music DJ's. Ick. I understand that they can make more money with four DJ's promoting the night and potentially bringing in a few hundred people, but it's just unprofessional to double book like that, especially since they took my money.

Luckily for me, however, I know Kevin Hickey.

About half an hour before I got official confirmation that my Saturday night dance party had no home (the official confirmation came the day before, mind you), the brilliant Kevin suggested I contact Il Pirata, a bar and restaurant in Potrero Hill where Kevin had held his 40th birthday party last year. I did, and within five minutes my party had been rebooked. I didn't bother bringing Sober Nixon to Il Pirata (we hadn't rehearsed enough, anyway), but English Steve still could spin. And spin he did. I may be 40, but I danced like I was 21 that night. Okay, technically, I was still 39 during the dance party, but you get my point. It was so, so, so much fun, as evidenced by the above photo of me with some of my very satisfied party guests.

Had it not been for Kevin Hickey, the 45-50 people who attended the dance party would have been crammed into my living room listening to my cd's while they jockeyed for somewhere to sit. So yay, Il Pirata! Boo, stupid original venue! And for the record, I have not yet received a refund of my deposit from that stupid joint, even though the owner claims she is going to return my money. I have legal resources to help me secure my $600, if necessary, but let's hope it doesn't come to that.

On Sunday, nine of us gathered at The Mint to sing songs. It was awfully crowded because The Mint was throwing their holiday party that afternoon, but that meant we got free food. Yum! And even though the wait was long, I still managed to sing "Perfect" and "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding." Singing songs will always make me happy, no matter what my age.

Then on Monday, also known as The Day I Became Old, the ten of us pictured here sat down at Amber India for a delicious dinner. If you have to be 40, I'd recommend at least enjoying a fabulous meal. Taste buds, I've decided, know no age. We drank scrumptious cocktails, munched on amazing food and engaged fantastic conversation. It was all so very grown up (and probably the only grown up thing I'll ever do, so it's a shame if you missed it).

Unfortunately for me, I've had to work at 4:00 in the morning all this week, including on my birthday and the day after. But I used the last gasp of my youth to celebrate with carefree abandon despite those early morning wake up calls. Tomorrow I get to "sleep in" since I don't have to be at work until 6 a.m., but then it's Christmas. And the party just goes on and on...