On ‘Billy Bishop Goes to War’ at the Belfry and the 'magic of theatre'

First a little back-story - being the minimalist that I am, you may be surprised to hear that, amongst the ten boxes of belongings we whittled all our worldly possessions down to when we made the move across the country to the west coast, is a box full of theatre programs. They are mostly from The Grand, of course, though a few are from Stratford, The Shaw Festival and a couple from that playhouse in Grand Bend - oh yes, Huron Country (not County) playhouse.

To get back to my story, or rather my back-story, though that box of theatre programs survived, ‘the big purge’, I’m afraid it didn’t make the journey with us to our new home. Instead, it was left behind in the cluttered abyss of my parent’s attic along with our jeweler’s anvil and that awesome set of golf irons I bought at a flea market for $40. Still and all, in that box of theatre programs are two that I, in this moment, wish I had. ‘Why is that?’ you might ask. Well, because tonight I’ll have the pleasure of taking in Billy Bishop Goes to War at Victoria’s Belfry Theatre. Need I say more?

Well, I suppose further details may be in order.

Had I had those programs I would now be placing them in an envelope along with the following note:

To Zachary Gray:

Enclosed are two programs that I would like you to have. They are from the two previous productions of ‘Billy Bishop Goes to War’, that I’ve attended, one in 1985 and one in 1999 both of which featured your father in the role that you performed tonight.

As I worked at the Grand in 1985, I had the pleasure of seeing that particular production numerous times. If my aged memory serves me correctly, on one of the evenings, the crew were unable to raise the curtain due to a technical malfunction. Your father and Eric Peterson were left to perform the entire play in the four feet of stage in front of the curtain. They did a excellent job dealing with the unexpected turn of events, and the audience that night, who were not informed of the circumstances, were left to believe that that was the way the show was always performed. It was the first time I fully understood the extremity of the expression, ‘the show must go on’ and the beginning of my love affair with live theatre.

Thank you so much for your performance this evening. I’m sure your father must be very proud (between you and me, I felt your interpretation of the role of ‘the musician' to be far more memorable*).

Yours truly,…

That’s where I would end my letter of course, but as this is a blog post I will partake in a little self-indulgent rambling (because it seems that’s what blog posts are for). You, in your more acutely tuned sense of theatre esthetic, may have always been aware of this, but it wasn’t until I saw that performance that I realized the significance of live theatre, where every show is different form the last (granted, not as obviously different as that particular performance, but I was a teenager at the time and responded best to exaggerated demonstrations along with excessiveness in general). That, to me, is one half the ‘magic of theatre’,

…the other half being no matter how long the line-up is outside the theatre door at five minutes to show time, the front of house staff always manage to get everyone inside and seated in time for the show to begin on schedule.

Magic, I tell you!

*As you will surmise I am writing this post in advance of my taking in the performance and this remark may not turn out to be factual. I’m going to assume it will be so as in my ‘aged memory’ I will most likely recall the minute details of this production more clearly, at least in the short term.

Sasquatch 2010

Crowd shot of the terrace at the Gorge during the National concert at Sasquatch 2010
Originally uploaded by theotherlondon

Tips for attending Sasquatch Music Festival

1. Showing up late Friday night is not as great an idea as you'd think.  Sure we avoided the Saturday Memorial Day weekend traffic, but the backlog of people arriving a day before the festival more than made up for any time we gained. We arrived at the highway exit just before midnight and it took 4 hours to go the last 5km to the campground entrance.  We were pitching our tent as the sun rose over the Columbia River at 5am.
2. Try to arrive at the gates to the concert grounds before 10am.  The entire campground seems to make a mass exodus to the gates between 10am and noon.  Arriving at the gate just before 10am can make the difference between waiting 10 minutes in line and waiting an hour in line.  If you think waiting an hour in line sounds bad now, wait until you're in the middle of it and you hear your favourite band launch into their set on the other side of the fence.
3. The showers are quietest in the evening.  If you can tear yourself away from the concert grounds before the shows wrap up, chances are you'll find the showers completely empty. Of course this means you're going to miss a headlining act, but these are the sacrifices we have to consider when going three days in a row without flush toilets and not many sinks and showers for thousands of people.
4. Concert goers are only allowed to bring one small sealed water bottle into the concert area. Once you've finished up that bottle you're left with the options of refilling it at one of the water stations, conveniently situated with the 'Honey Buckets', or purchasing water at $4 a bottle.  The smartest folks I saw brought water in collapsible water hydration packs, like the kind you bring along on a backpacking trip.
5. Judging by the conversations I overheard, it seems the benefits of reserving a 'premium' campsite are well worth the additional costs.  Upon our arrival I ignorantly lamented the conditions of our premium campsite until campers who had upgraded from the 'standard' sites began to pitch tents around us.  I can only image what they must have encountered to be so relieved to move camp in the middle of the night to an open field with a few scattered groupings of Honey Buckets and one communal sink at each 'rest area'.  [Shudder]
6. Next year I think we're going to consider giving the even-more-premium 'terrace' campground a try.  There were only a small number of sites in the terrace area, but I expect enough facilities for all AND campers were served free coffee and doughnuts in the morning.  That said, one does have to weigh the cost of spending twice as much for a better patch of grass to sleep on.
7. There's not a lot of running water around in the camping areas or the concert grounds.  For the sake of your health you might want to consider biting the environmental bullet and loading up on wet wipes.  Hand sanitizer is also a good idea.
8. Don't forget to arrive at the gate to the concert grounds prepared to spend the whole day and ready for any kind of weather.  You'll be asked to pay extra for 'in and out privileges' if you need to go back to your campsite and, personally, I think $10 is a lot of money to spend to grab a jacket. 
9. In 2010 there wasn't any wireless access at the Gorge (quelle horreur!), at least not that I encountered, and I did ask at the information booths.  A couple of the display booths had computers with internet access for concert goers to use.
10. Try the chicken chow mein.  As concert food goes, it's pretty okay.
    
    And above all... 
11. Have a fabulous time!  No matter what you have to put up with to be there, the musicians are going to make it well worth the experience.

View my Sasquatch photo set on flickr.

Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip, Day 5 - San Francisco, CA

Union Square, San Francisco
Originally uploaded by theotherlondon

Okay, I'll admit it.  I have perhaps, and just as of late, mind you, grossly underestimated the appeal of urban America.  I'm sure you will forgive me as I believe I am fair in professing that I am not alone in this mis-judgement. But still and all, I concede that I've had my share of recent love-affairs with the metropolises of the good ol' US of A (God bless her!) - Boston, Austin, San Francisco.  Fully aware of the unfashionable nature of such entanglements I tried to resist!  I truly did!

In my Canadian-esque interpretation of what makes a city fabulous I tend to measure the appeal of a city against the standard set by the most fabulous city on the planet, Montreal.  Specifically, Montreal during the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal.  I feel sorry for people who have never experienced the awesomeness of Montreal's Jazz Fest, but I digress.

Lack of jazz festivity aside, it's stellar details all the way for San Francisco. Firstly, 'if you're going to San Francisco' (sorry, I couldn't resist), be sure to stay at the Hotel Carlton on Sutter Street.  I'd guess it's not everyone's cup of tea, but you are going to love it, as we sure did.  It's reasonably priced, the staff are lovely, the location is excellent and the complimentary wine and cheese served in the lobby before dinner hour comes complete with entertainment featuring the musical stylings of the concierge.  How perfect is that?  Yes, look out, Montreal.

As we unfortunately, only had a day and a half to spend in San Francisco (but we will definitely be back), we barely had time to scratch the surface of the myriad of attractions and distractions the city has to offer.  With some effort, we managed to cram in most of the not-to-be-missed touristy engagements - a stroll on Golden Gate Bridge, a ride on a street car, a visit to Lombard Street, Alcatraz, dinner at Fisherman's Wharf (which we were warned by a local to by-pass), a walk through China Town, window shopping in Union Square, taking in a view of the city from Twin Peaks, and browsing the shelves at City Lights Bookshop.  We also ate a two spots featured on 'Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives', Grubsteak and the Golden Coffee Shop.  Whew!

View my West Coast Road Trip Flickr set.

Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip, Day 4 - Ukiah to San Francisco, CA

Wine Tasting at Chateau St Jean, Sonoma Valley, California
Originally uploaded by theotherlondon

We woke up on the fourth day of our road trip in Ukiah, California, in one of a string of equally forgettable hotels by the highway - the type of hotel that one ends up in when one is traveling with no specific itinerary save, 'let's wait 'til we're tired and then start looking for a place to stop'. This tactic, by the way worked fine for us in Ukiah but would later come back to bite us in the behind in a big way in beautiful, but outrageously overpriced, Gorda 'by the sea' (I'll get to that later).  

One other point I should mention about ending up in Ukiah for the night, if you ever take this trip you will encounter a fork in the road along Highway 101 in Leggett, California.  At this juncture (literally) you will be faced with making the difficult decision over whether to head west towards Fort Bragg and Highway 1 or continue on the 101 towards Ukiah and the Napa Valley.  As I believe you will agree, such decisions are best left to the mindless, random workings of chance or, as I prefer, the abstract pull of simple whim and fancy.  Thus, when the road divided before us, my mind ran to thoughts of Billy Bragg weighed against happy memories of drinking red wine out of the bottle around midnight bonfires on summer nights. What's a girl to do?  When I later learned from a 'friend' on Facebook that the stretch of highway from Fort Bragg to San Francisco is the money spot as far as coastal views go, the blow was comfortably softened by the glow of the wine tasting we'd enjoyed at the Chateau St. Jean Winery (and the realization that there were plenty more coastal views ahead of us).  That's all I have to say about it.

In my 'Sideways' tainted perception of California wine country, it turned out that wine tasting in Napa Valley was quite different than expected.  Chateau St. Jean was much more polished and orderly than the rustic winery environment suggested in the film.  Also, as we drove along the winding side roads leading off of the main highway, I half expected to pass Sandra Oh on a scooter (did she ride a scooter in that movie, or am I getting mixed up with some other movie?), but we, in fact, encountered very little evidence of scooters, philandering singles, or mid-life crisis burdened men acting younger than their age. But still and all, and  I say this comfortably knowing that you will forgive the perhaps inappropriately low-brow flavour of such a comment, the wine was pretty tasty. Yes, it was.  We purchased two bottles of 2006 Chateau St Jean Cabernet Sauvignon Sonoma County and a bottle of white truffle olive oil (that I believe was manufactured in France).

We arrived in San Francisco in the mid-to-late afternoon with plenty of time to snap some shots from the viewpoint at the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge, settle into our hotel, and take a short walking tour of the city that included Union Square and China Town.  I'm going to leave it there because San Francisco is too fabulous a city to tack on some comments at the end of this blog post ('Gobsmacked, I tell you!).  We'll save the details for next time.

View my West Coast Road Trip Flickr set.

Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip, Day 3 - Portland, OR to Ukiah, CA

Pacific Coast Highway
Originally uploaded by theotherlondon

Distance: 592mi
Driving time: 12 hours with frequent stops

We didn't actually see the coast until the third day of our trip. Isn't that strange? I mean, had you left London at the same time, you could've met up with us at that point.

There are, in all honest truth, no words to accurately describe the beauty of the Pacific Coast highway. In one day we saw beaches and caves carpeted with sea lions, trees larger than I'd ever imagined, herds of grazing, deceptively peaceful looking elk (apparently they can be extremely dangerous if approached on foot!), giant sand dunes, and all of it strung together with hundreds of miles of winding road skirting the edge of the pounding surf of the coast of the Pacific Ocean.


PCH haiku for D

Pacific coast road
technicolour dolby sound
and cheap gas to boot!

View my West Coast Road Trip Flickr set.

Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip, Day 2 - Portland, OR

Voodoo Doughnut
Originally uploaded by theotherlondon

I have been remiss!  Remiss to the Nth degree!  What kind of person am I that I would begin to recount a west coast road trip adventure only to leave you hanging after one measly day of travel, through rainy Washington and in the dark nonetheless!  I know it's no excuse, but, you must forgive my lollygagging, I've been recovering from our time spent in Los Angeles.  You know how it is.

But I get ahead of myself...

When last I wrote we were spending our first night (of two) in Portland at the Convention Center La Quinta. Unlike my perception of the bright and friendly Austin Airport La Quinta, where I happily sojourned during the SXSW conference in March, I'm afraid I don't have many good things to say about the Portland Convention Center La Quinta.  It is cheap - with the $50 cash back 'Portland Perks' deal offered on the Travel Portland website, it was actually cheaper than some hostels I've stayed in...which to be fair were a great deal more dingy and stinky.  Meh.  I still wouldn't stay there again.

But let's not doddle on the less than stellar details!  You and I prefer the amusing haberdashery of pleasant, loosely organized travel memories - e.g. 'Was that Bolivia or Switzerland?' - and the describing of aesthetically intriguing or culturally interesting finds that simply become more fabulous with the passing of time -  e.g. ' The colours in the marketplace were so vibrant I was gobsmacked' on second telling to become 'I was completely gobsmacked' later to be followed by an emphatic, 'Gobsmacked, I tell you!'

And I will tell you, there are many fine things to appreciate about Portland - unless you compare Portland to San Francisco, but we'll get to that post in a few days.  Anyway, taken on it's own, there are many fine things to appreciate about Portland and of all the fine things to appreciate - lovely architecture, interesting neighbourhoods, abundant evidence of the local population's regard of fine art, culture and all things environmentally friendly - what I appreciated most was the food.  In my admittedly limited experience, Portland is an exceptional city when it comes to culinary offerings. 

Our first real meal in Portland was at a comfy little diner in the city's trendy Pearl District called the Byways Cafe. At this point, I must make a confession that I fear may cast an unflattering light on our journey.  That is, that I planned the restaurants we would visit based on one of my favourite Food Network TV shows, 'Diners, Drive Ins and Dives'. In case you're not familiar with this show, which I would guess to be the case, it features a boisterous, bleached-blond, red convertible driving Californian, named Guy Fieri, who tours around the US visiting famed local greasy spoons recommended by viewers where he samples America's 'best' over-sized and deep-fried diner specialties.  You must forgive my shortcomings for referencing the 'p' word (plan) and the banality of scheduled television broadcasting, but time was short and a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do when she's traveling with a guy who's unfailing response to, 'What would you like to eat?' is, 'How 'bout A&W?'  As recommended by Guy, we ordered the blue corn pancakes, which were every bit as good as he said they would be, and the 'Lumberjack' hash which was okay.

After our meal at Byways, we took part in an informative and entertaining walking tour called 'Underground Portland' offered by a tour guide company aptly named Portland Walking Tours.  When the tour wrapped up, we decided to revisit one of the spots we passed during the tour, a little hole in the wall (literally) doughnut shop called Voodoo Doughnut.  This was, in fact, not the first time we had returned to Voodoo Doughnut during the day as we had passed the shop numerous times while exploring the core area, each time hoping the forty-five minute lineup would diminish on our next pass,  which never happened.  We finally acknowledged we would either have to wait or forgo the experience.  Well, the decision was obvious, of course.  When we were finally admitted to the closet sized interior space, packed with bodies, punk music blaring, anticipation was high. Gladly, we were not disappointed by the array of choices on the chalkboard menu, awash with tantalizing, exotic combinations including maple glaze with bacon - well, hello?! why hadn't anyone thought of that one before -  and our choice the 'Memphis Mafia', a banana fritter the size of a human head topped with peanut butter, chocolate sauce, chocolate chips, chopped peanuts and, for good measure, sugar glaze.  It took us three whole days to eat most of that doughnut and we ended up throwing some of it away.  My, it was good.

We had dinner at another 'Diners, Drive Ins and Dives' gem, Pok Pok, which unexpectedly features a menu of Thai street-food.  Unfortunately, I'm tired and ready to go to bed so at this point, I'm afraid we're going to have to make due with my insistence that a meal at Pokpok alone is worth the drive from Victoria to Portland.  Being the good, old friends that we are, I know you will know what I mean. Remember the fish and chips place at Tobermory I deemed good enough to warrant the drive from London?  Well this is twice the distance.  It's that good.

I know you're vegetarian, but I'm still going to recommend you try the chicken wings. Gobsmacked, I tell you!

View my West Coast Road Trip Flickr set. 

Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip, Day 1 - Victoria, BC to Portland, OR

Washington State I101
Originally uploaded by theotherlondon

Distance: 410km
Driving time: 1.5 hour ferry ride + 4 hours driving

Dear D!

I’ve decided to write my blog entries about our trip down the coastal highway to LA as if I was writing a letter to you. Partially because I particularly enjoy writing letters for you and partially because I suspect you may be the only person who reads my damn blog anyway.

So, to start at the beginning (I’m so sorry about that opening, but it’s what popped into my head and we’re going to go with it), which is right now, Baasje and I are waiting at the Coho ferry dock to catch the 4pm ferry to Port Angeles and Baasje is so bored he is cleaning his nails with a Swiss Army knife. ‘Does that bother you?’ he asks politely as I glance his way out of the corner of my eye. Then, ‘I wonder if they are going to show the hockey game on the ferry - they would if it were a Canadian Ferry.’ You get the picture. Why the seasoned Coho ferry folks would need us all to show up 90 minutes early to go through customs is beyond me. All it’s amounted to is a whole lotta waiting around and nail cleaning if you ask me.

…I decided to spare you an hour of me rambling on about the wait at the ferry dock and put my computer away. I won’t say much about the ferry experience, other than, the atmosphere on board reminded me of Sunday afternoons spent at the bowling alley with my father in the seventies and, if you ever happen to find yourself on this ferry, whatever you do, do not eat the food.

Oh, this is something you should find amusing - the ferry ride turned pretty rough towards the end of the crossing and we overheard the couple at the table next to ours in the cafeteria asking a passing ship’s officer if the borderline violent shifting was ‘normal’ to which he replied ‘I’m not nervous. Do I look nervous to you? When the staff starts looking nervous that’s when you have to worry.’ An answer which I expect would have put the couple at ease had it not been immediately followed by two cafeteria wait staff bursting out of the kitchen yelling ‘John! Stuff is breakin’ in there!’. Needless to say, I took a quick glance around for the nearest exit and took note of the axe mounted to the wall, should the need arise to break through a window in the event the ship capsized - thankfully, it did not.

The drive from Port Angeles to Portland ended up taking about 5 hours including a stop for a chicken fried steak supper in Tenino and 15 minutes of wrong turns after we got lost in Portland trying to locate our hotel. We took a pleasant route along ‘The Canal’ suggested to us by the cafeteria staff on the ferry - a winding two lane highway passing through a string of forest reserves and pretty lakes.

All in all it was pretty much what you'd expect on a first day of a road trip - the anticipation that comes with knowing the best of the trip is still ahead of us balanced by the relief of finally getting on the road. You know how it is.

View my West Coast Road Trip Flickr set.

SXSWi 2010, March 16, 2010 - Day 5

SXSWi 13th Annual Web Awards
Originally uploaded by theotherlondon

Got up and made my way down to the convention centre just before 9am to take in as much SXSWi as I could on the last day. The sessions/events I attended over the course of the day included, 14,000 Songs in 28 Days, Social Business, Keynote: The Future of Business Delivery, Cracking the Books: User Generated Content Management in Education, 140 Conference (Twitter) and the very fun Interactive Closing Party Hosted by (mt) Media Temple at the Mohawk.

I was a both sad and relieved to have the conference wrap up - with all the activity I was starting to feel a bit frayed around the edges - but part of me wished it wasn’t over. Or rather, part of me wished I had made plans to stick around for SXSW Music. Next time ;)

It wasn’t a perfect experience, there were a few bumps along the way, but the issues were relatively minor and not out of the ordinary for a large-scale conference (long line-ups for registration, occasional long waits for shuttles, and the false alarm evacuation come to mind). I attended one or two sessions (out of the 20+ total sessions I took in) that were disappointing or not what I expected, but the solution was simply to move onto another panel discussion or event.

As a whole I had a fabulous ‘noobie’ experience at SXSWi. The opportunity to listen to, and sometimes even speak with, the creators and developers of the tools I work with was priceless. The conference was well organized and I found the content to be extremely useful. On the networking side, I made a lot of great contacts and more importantly, some new friends.

SXSWi 2010 was one of the best professional development experiences I’ve had and I’d definitely love to come back for SXSWi 2011. Thanks Austin and SXSW!

Additional resources:

• My SXSW Interactive Flickr photoset
• My SXSW Interactive microblog posts on Twitter
• My SXSW Interactive notes and panel resources on Slideshare

SXSWi 2010, March 15, 2010 - Day 4

Dries Buytaert
Originally uploaded by theotherlondon

I'm guessing most people in the attendance at Dries Buytaert’s session, RIP Content Management System, myself included, don’t require a Drupal pitch to understand the benefits of going open source. That said, it didn’t detract from the geek thrill of listening to Buytaert, creator of Drupal, plead it’s case. The room - one of the ballrooms on the main level of the convention centre - was packed to capacity and despite complaints on Twitter about the lack of content and new information, nobody left. Buytaert took us through the ever expanding list of government organizations, corporations, and institutions who build their sites using Drupal. Upgrades introduced with Drupal 6, Drupal’s scalability, and the upcoming release of Drupal 7 were also touched upon. I was very pleased to get the opportunity to speak with Buytaert afterwards and came away with some useful information that will be of great help with a project I’m currently involved with at UVic.

Too bad about Monday’s keynote address! I think we learned at this keynote that a popular interviewer and a brilliant, visionary mind do not necessarily make for a great presentation. I’m not exactly sure what happened but of the 3,000 people who packed the main exhibit hall to listen to Evan Williams discuss Twitter, the majority had vacated by the time the address hit the half-way point. Things did start off with a bang with Williams announcing the new Twitter’s new ‘@’ platform - integration for websites called @Anywhere. The rest of the interview went pretty smoothly with Williams talking about his involvement in Twitter’s continuing development and strategy; his thoughts on building the company both externally and internally; his view of the Internet as a facilitator of the democratization of information and the role he expects Twitter will play.

Finished off my day at the Adobe All-Access Happy Hour with some yummy food, free drinks, tons of give-aways and a team of Adobe experts on hand to demo the latest updates and new products. Updates and new products included Flash Mobile development tool and Browser Lab which allow you to overlay opaque renderings of web pages in different browsers. How awesome is that?

What happened at the end of the day was probably the highlight of my entire SXSW experience, and similar to our trip to the Olympics, it had nothing to do with the core focus of the event, but with music. Half way through the day I noticed on Facebook that Billy Bragg was playing a surprise show at the British Music Embassy that night! Unfortunately I already knew I was too pooped to make it to the late hour of midnight when he would be taking the stage. That said after the Adobe Happy Hour wrapped up, I headed over to the BME on the off chance that I might catch a sound check and guess who was there, hanging out! Now that I think about it, perhaps running into Billy Bragg is appropriate to the conference…in addition to being one of my fave musicians he is also my social media hero. Check out his NoBonus4RBS Facebook page for an example of his handiwork.

He may not be a techie but he’s got the social part down pat.

SXSWi 2010, March 14, 2010 - Day 3

SXSWi 13th Annual Web Awards
Originally uploaded by theotherlondon

When I arrived at the convention centre at the late hour of 10am things were relatively quiet. I spent the morning checking out some of the sponsor lounges and then hit the exhibition floor. The exhibits for the film and interactive portions of the conference share the same space, which makes for a neat mix of exhibitors some of whom you might not normally see at an interactive and web trade show, but whose products and services are still relevant.

The theme of the day - for me at least - was social change. Of the keynotes so far, Valerie Casey’s address, “Systems Design Inspiration” has by far been my favourite. Casey’s presentation focused on fostering sustainable practices through systems design and included specific tactics of implementing change. Casey’s approach included, examining issues in a larger context, creating the right measurement of success and acknowledgment of the concept that it is necessary to change the purpose/goal in order to effect change. In closing Casey observed that the Interactive community has to be the leader in making change and called for audience member to step up to the plate.

I followed up the key note with the very well attended Crowd Sourcing Innovative Social Change. The session was held in a packed room with a very enthusiastic audience who were given the opportunity to participate in some real-time crowd sourcing. Joining the in-person attendees were a fair number of followers participating in the discussion from around the world.

The HTML 5 Accessibility panel included presenters Cynthia Shelly from Microsoft and John Foliot from Stanford. Along with the Designing for CMS and Objective C Crash Course for Developers this was amongst the more technical presentations I’ve attended. Shelly and Foliot demo-ed the still in development HTML 5 and provided a fairly detailed tour of the new document semantics. The discussion branched into the idea that these technical updates should be accompanied by a shift in attitude towards providing a better quality browsing experience for the disabled.

I finished up the day at the 13th Annual SXSWi web awards - a semi-swanky night of fun held at the Hiton. Our host for the evening, Doug Benson, did a fantastic (occasionally abrasive) job on the mic.