The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century

Bob Tarantino, writer of one of my favourite local blogs, Let it Bleed

(“All the Left has to offer is hypocrisy and lies. We’ve got that PLUS

good looks. Testify!”), has put out the call to “all bloggers,

ex-bloggers, blog readers, blog

groupies, blogger wannabes and assorted hangers-on to gather for

drinks, yuks and good-natured fisticuffs”…in other words, a Blogstravaganza, right here in Accordion City.

The event takes place at Fiddler’s Green, located at 27 Wellesley Street East, on Friday, January 27th at 8 p.m..

Fiddler’s Green is a decent Irish pub that I used to frequent back when

I lived at the corner of Yonge and Carlton. It’s a nice central

location that’s also right on top of Wellesley Station.

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Those

of you who’ve been following Canadian politics will note that the

Blogstravaganza will take place on the first Friday after the big

general election, so there’ll be lots to talk about. Of course, by

“talk”, I mean the gamut of conversation types from deep intellectual

discussion to the verbal equivalent of the monkey knife fight pictured

above.

The non-GTABlogger gatherings tend to be, as Bob points out, VRWC (Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy)

meet-ups, sometimes with me as the token centrist. They’re aiming to

make this one a little different — if not non-partisan, at least

“pan-partisan”. They want the spectrum of political types:

Conservative, Liberal, “Dipper” (short for “NDPer”), Green and hey, if

you’re bringing the good stuff, Marijuana Party supporters.

That’s why Bob will be co-hosting the event with Jason Cherniak, who is a Liberal supporter (although these days, the Liberal party seems to have apologists,

not supporters), and hey, the co-hosting slot is open to an NDP

supporter if one is willing to sign up as such. Contact Bob for details.

As Bob writes:

If you’d prefer not to interact with your political opponents, that’s

cool too: we can all just retreat to our respective corners and glare

at each other all night. But what kind of fun is that? Just

think: the election will have just occurred – opportunities will abound

for celebrating with your victorious comrades and/or merciless mocking

of the losers.

…and,

having taken some guff for having the nerve to invite noted right-wing

bloggers to my parties, will add this bit of wisdom (taken from this interview) from New York impresario Chi Chi Valenti:

Since someone’s always hooking up, getting wasted or starting a fight

these days, my standard for a great party is somewhat higher. Most

importantly, there must be a MIX – Vampires and diamond dealers,

legends and New Kids, fetishists and objects of worship, romantics and

cynics, geeks and pop stars, boys, girls and everything in between.

Historically, New York’s best parties (and club nights) have combined

all ages, gender prefs, income levels and style schools. A roomful of

one kind of person is boring and predictable – it is the mark of the

provinces.

At the very least, we could get socio-politico diametric opposites Kathy Shaidle and Antonia Zerbisias drunk enough to wrestle for supremacy in a vat of creamed corn. It may not be pretty, but it might be amusing.

I’ll be there, and you should too.