A Party I Didn't Give, Darn It

BUT THERE'S STILL TIME!!!

You may have been puzzled by my references to the Katastroma Club.  This was a private club created by Alex Londres and me in an idle moment.  I think we had searched for people to play games with on a Sunday afternoon and turned up no one.  

Power loves a vacuum, so Alex and I anointed ourselves the founders and heads in perpetua of our new club, the Katastroma Club.  Katastroma means deck chair in Greek which seemed like exactly the tone we were trying to set - relaxed, sophisticated, and mysterious.  We immediately wrote up the simple rules for membership:

1. Drinking and Smoking de rigueur.

2. Formal Attire Only

3. You Could Get Out of Smoking or Drinking by Paying Tribute to the Heads of the Club,     but      ALWAYS     Formal Attire Required

$$$$$$$ TRIBUTE $$$$$$$

BIRTH OF THE KATASTROMA CLUB

I bring this up because it was a Katastroma meeting that became the inspiration for my favorite Party I Never Gave.

One of our club meetings was held in the studio of a public access television station.  We arrived in formal attire (10 members), felt too sober so went across the street to the divey Irish bar, had a snort or two, as my Virginian Pa would have said, then went back across the street to tape our club meeting.  We brought some new members back with us from the bar, everything about them escapes me except that they were cute.  We also had with us a bucket, a bottle of cocktail onions, bottles of gin and vodka, plastic cups, ice, a cocktail shaker, and elegant cocktail napkins.

We borrowed a metal folding chair from the studio and that became the table for our demo of the Katastroma Martini (given to us by Juan Mateus at the Algonquin Bar).  Possibly 10 fumble fisted minutes of drink mixing and explanation ensued, we drank enthusiastically, then someone put on music and we danced and drank for the rest of the half hour.  I have no idea if anyone saw it, someone still has a copy of the tape and I await the blackmail note.  It was silly and really fun and not expensive.

So, my child's version of this, age 11 or 12, would be to rent the studio and have two events, a pre-taping story crafting meeting, then the story enacted on TV, the revelry, cake and candles also broadcast.  I think you'd have to limit the writing team to 6 or no story would evolve.  Besides birthday food you'd have to bring really crazy costumes for inspiration, and I'd invite the parents who were hambones to participate.  I don't think you should have too many rules or too many expectations, but do have too many glasses of spiked lemonade.

If I were to call a meeting of the Katastroma Club now I would serve my martinis in 

Pimp Cups.

OBVIOUSLY

KATASTROMA MARTINI

Put ice into a shaker

Pour lots of vermouth onto the ice

Throw away the vermouth, keep the ice

Put 1 jigger Gin, 1 jigger Vodka on ice in shaker

Stir

Strain into cold martini glass, add olive and onion

An icy cloud of mystery spirits

Be ready for very bad behavior