One of life’s truly horrible experiences is when someone you know dies unexpectedly. There’s a surreal feeling whenever you think of them… “I was just talking to him last week”, or “She seemed so healthy”. We’re experiencing that now when it comes to the Election Night Bash and KPOJ. KPOJ was one of our co-sponsors for the event, and now we’re left with the feeling that “We didn’t know that was the last time we would see them”. Whether you were at the party or not, here is a quick catchup on one of our last nights with a good friend…
The night started great and got better. Nick Storie had gotten the Historic Bob White Theatre into fine shape for the event. The folks from O’Malley’s Bar, down the street from the Bob White, were bringing in the last of the beer. Dan Payne at VIP events was getting the final connections set up for the video, and Tapatio Restaurant was bringing in their food. Dave Fife from KPOJ was there as well, helping with the last-minute arrangements.
The first question was where to setup the food. We had to separate the underage folks from the elderly folks, so we decided to make the large theater area all-ages, and restrict the drinkers to the Wurlitzer room. For the most part that worked, but a few people didn’t like it because they had brought their kids and couldn’t sit in the all-ages area with them if they had a beer. We wanted beer and we wanted an all-ages show, but found out it was difficult to do both. At the next Bash, we’ll have learned our lesson!
Our own Charles Letherwood took the stage at about 630p to emcee the show and welcome everyone to the event. He explained that most of the evening would be a chance to relax and watch the returns, but that we’d also be breaking in a couple times with giveaways. There weren’t many glitches during the night, but this was one… how would we get raffle tickets to everyone when it was a free event and no one was issued tickets on the way in? The only answer was to go to each person individually and hand them a ticket. Slow and awkward, but eventually it worked.
Now people settled down to waiting, eating, and drinking. Since most of the in-play states were on the east coast, the polls were closing and important results were coming in early. It already looked like a good night, and cheers erupted as the list of Republican Teabag nutcases who wouldn’t return in 2013 expanded. George Allen, gone. Connie Mack, and Richard Mourdock, gone. Joe Walsh and Todd Akin, gone. Allen West was gone too, but he wouldn’t admit it until weeks later. Still, a very good night.
He doesn’t go to very many events, but he couldn’t miss this one. At our first giveaway break, Tom Dwyer himself took the stage to thank everyone for coming, thank the people who helped us make the Bash happen, and to give a few thoughts on the political landscape. We caught most of his speech on video, (part 1, part 2, part 3) but you can read the full text here. As Tom left the stage we gave away the first of six fabulous prize packages including bumper stickers, pens, signed books, cash, and some special individual surprises in each pack. Dave’s Killer Bread also stepped up with a box of bread to give out. This was much more fun to give out than the prize packages, because they suggested we just throw the loaves from the stage. And we did.
It wasn’t long before the report came in from Ohio… Obama had won Ohio in what would turn out to be 50% to Romney’s 48%. Even FOX called the election at that point… Barack Obama had won a second term, and the crowd went wild. It was a wonderful night, well spent with good friends, good food, and a good start for another four years for our country. We didn’t know at the time that just three short days later, KPOJ would… well, nevermind. It’s still too raw.
We could write more about this, but we all know the best part of any party isn’t the story as much as the pictures. So, here are the few pictures we have from the Bash. If you have any you’d like to share, please email them to Charles@tomdwyer.com. Thanks again to everyone for their support and the wonderful evening, and don’t worry… we’re already making plans for the next quadrennium!
