New Years Eve used to be the holiday night in Kansas City…
Remember?
Hell, even as a tweenager we’d save up fireworks from the 4th of July and blast them off at midnight as the year advanced into the next. If you were a wild 14 year-old maybe you and your pals would sneak into mom and dad’s booze locker and grab a beer or two.
You’d get sick, but you’d be happy.
At 16 we’d score some weed, go to that crazy, wild rock party with no date but we’d sure look hard to find a hot chick to make out with as the clock struck midnight.
As seniors we’d search the entire high school for that special girl to take out to dinner and a movie for New Year’s. Hell, we might even take her to THE AMERICAN or JASPER’S if we could find the scratch. We’d always double, you know save money on gas and stuff. And by midnight we’d try and get to our pal’s house for some young sex baby – it was on.
What a night.
In our 20s it was the nightclub scene. The parties were citywide and packed. Every club had a special door cover, but damn, you got cheap booze, cheese and crap – even some champagne.
Every nightclub on the Plaza was jammed, as was Westport.
We even went out and bought that cool outfit just for that one night.
NEW YEAR’S EVE — IT WAS A BLAST.
Remember?
When we hit our 30’s, well now there was that one special girl, maybe even your new or future wife. Every neighborhood had that house party and of course the wild office parties where the object of the game was to not get caught with that other girl.
Then around the year 2000 – when the world was going end – our computers were all supposed to crash and things would be just awful.
However the world didn’t end and the computers were just fine, but a funny thing happened.
New Year’s Eve died.
Yep, the best holiday ever met its tragic end on Y2K and now the Plaza now has no nightclubs.
Oh sure, as the years have rolled by there were still those hotel parties with everyone you didn’t know and never wanted to meet in the first place. A few of the clubs had some action, but just a few. Traffic on the streets went from crazy to empty.
Even the cops were saving the DUI checkpoints for St. Patrick’s Day.
Now they call it Amateur Night.
Jasper’s is mostly a casual restaurant today – no more black tie action. And your friends can’t seem to get a baby sitter. The party at the country club is lame, and even teenage kids just go over a friends and play games online or watch TV.
What happened to New Years Eve? Where did we go wrong?
Oh yeah, this year it’s on a Monday. Great.
And the Hyatt, which used to have 3,000 people at its party downtown the last few years cancelled the entire event.
OK, it’s not a Hyatt anymore, whatever.
Hey, I think they’re playing all three Godfather movies back to back to back on TCM and Anderson Cooper is gonna be in Times Square.
Happy New Year!!!!
stop being a sour puss glaze.
I’ve spent about 8 new years eves in vegas. Nothing like it. We attended private
parties with everyone from black eyed peas to elton john….
Theres black tie events…casual events…and even some “special” ladies
for guys like you.
The hyatt was a big event once. Black tie…dress up…now its gone but that
happenedv because they let it go down hill. The entertainment was still
good…booze flowing…lots of great people…but when they relaxed the dress
code it really killed it.
Now people want a more casual night. and with dui’s lurking and costing
thousands people don’t want to drink and drive.
But the bars will be busy. People don’t want to get all drunk that night..
Glaze….times have changed…graba flight to vegas…everything you want
is there.
KC is just like all other towns…the casual relaxed atmosphere has killed
many of the nice events. Even the charity ev ents like jazzoo have
become more relaxed in dress and hence it become just another
party to many.
times change.
I have NEVER heard of this fu*kin guy.
elton…..i was the guy with the girl who came on stage
at the coliseum at ceasars palace during the elton john-billy
joel show …. remember…in the second row….then saw you
at foundation room 2 nites later….
Yeah I recall you rushing the stage dressed in gold spandex, wearing a feather boa,with an Ethiopian tranny . Try that $hit this year and we will stomp a mud hole in your a$$ and walk it dry, again.
With G-D as my witness, Harley, when I died for your sins, I had no idea what an enormous douchebag you would become. I would explain that in more understandable detail for you but I dont have any crayons.
I’ll be skiing again this year over New Years so KC will be far in my rearview mirror.
Traditions are dying everywhere. Hell families can’t have a evening Thankgiving dinner anymore because it’s a sure bet someone might have to leave to go to work because corporate greed wants to start Black Friday on Thursday. We really had fun on holidays many years ago and they was planned weeks in advance. Now days it seems that by the time a hoilday gets here people are sick of it or wore slick from it all. To me a lot of it is because familes no longer really function together anymore. As well big business hammers you from all sides wanting your hard earn dollars in their pockets. To many things going on and it has all the members of families strung out all over the place. Many say I am an old bitchy person who is wrong in saying things was better 30 years ago. But I have yet to have anyone be able to show me how what we have today is so much better.
I have to agree with Super Dave here folks…I get that too, oh you are just getting older…no it WAS better in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and even 90’s, a fact. While Vegas does rock on New Years Eve and Saturday Nights, its even down from what it once was…Chicago and New York still make it happen, but most of the rest of the nation, even LA, has gone lame.
Hey I admit it, I am in my 50’s and cruising the bars, and the like is maybe slightly in the rear view mirror(well not entirely) but I feel bad that people today are screwed out of all that fun, its a nice release from life. Unfair…good to see you posting on the subject Dave…Happy New Years…I’m gonna maybe hit the Hollywood Casino, fireworks, bands, babes, gambling and a private party along with my stop to open the show at Stanford’s that night.
Nice to see a more down to earth side of you as well. We maybe are getting older no doubt, but dead we ain’t and damn we really do know what fun was and we had it weekend in and weekend out and holidays as well was even a bigger blast.
Yep
+1 Superdave.
In 1999 a first time DUI was still a pretty mild situation. The blue blood crowd that populated the marquee NYears hotel events have aged and quit going…. that generation loved to show ap at black tie gigs and remind everyone of their royal status. 30-40 somethings these days don’t want a rubber chicken dinner and a complimentary glass of Andre to hang out at a very, very dated hotel. And…. we have been in a recession for ten years.
+1
And Obama doesn’t have enough experience/knowledge to fix the economy so it’s going to be at least another four years before anything changes.
People don’t need or want completely commercial contrivances for an artificial sense of community. With all the technological and entertainment advances in the last decade, it’s just more fun and relaxing to stay home.