cw6
by
Rip & Marsha Naquin-Delain
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RipandMarsha.COM
I
t's been almost a week of preparations for our big Ambush "Celebrate The Season" holiday party. It was our first big Christmas party since 1996. We had to decorate the house, office and balcony, as well as do all the cleaning, plus shop and cook up the "Old Fashioned Holiday Feast" on the menu for the evening's festivities.Nothing seemed to go right the entire week, so we were running behind on everything. Usually we prepare much of the food three days out, but as luck would have it, we were only able to do that one day out. So we missed two big events, the 5th Anniversary Party at Ninth Circle and CW's Birthday Bash at Starlight. Congrats Irish Mike and the crew at the Ninth Circle, and best wishes to CW on his b-day.
The big day finally arrives, and yes, everything is in order. The whole building looks festive, and we're delighted that all of the food turned out so well. Even the dining room tablescape seems to be more beautiful than normal. We have a new appreciation of all the silver we use since it was the first time in 30 years that we had to polish the damn stuff ourselves. (One of the casualties of Katrina was our long time housekeeper Dora, who is now in Baton Rouge.)
The feast included garlic stuffed pork loin; Mawmaw Gauthier's oyster cornbread dressing; Jaylene's artichoke supreme with shrimp; fabu "Down the Bayou" potato salad; Mama Naquin's pineapple fruit salad with cream cheese, coconut and marshmallows; Marsha's lobster & crab Louie terrine; Rip's smoked quail cream cheese torta with cranberry Jezebel sauce; and Mama Delain's candied orange slice squares.
The guests began to arrive and we were so happy to welcome them in the Ambush offices downstairs before sending them up to the liquor and soda bar on the second floor landing (Belle Lain's Magnolia Bar), and more importantly, the feast up in the dining room. About that time in pops our good friend, Steven Forster to click a few shots for his Big Easy page in the Times Picayune. He got several shots, including one of Phyllis who just loves to get her big mug up on that page, or on any page for that matter, in any paper.
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About half way through the party we grabbed our cowbell and headed on out to the courtyard. Once we got everyone's attention, we used the opportunity to introduce the new King Cake Queen of Gay Mardi Gras. We told the crowd the theme for the 2006 Krewe of Queenateenas' festivities was Rubys, Rhinestones & Royalty. The individual selected had put in her time for several years on the balcony and had wowed the crowd with her show and throw expertise, the only qualification to become King Cake Queen. The moment was finally here, and the secret was out. King Cake Queen XIII is none other than Raven Kennedy and she will reign as The Diamond Queen. We then went upstairs into the Victorian parlour rang the cowbell, made the announcement again, and repeated the action in the dining room down the hall towards our Bourbon Street Balcony.
A month prior to the party, we began our search for Raven, who had resided in New Orleans East. We learned she and her family had lost everything in Katrina. Trying not to tip our hand (keeping the King Cake Queen's name secret until the announcement was a top priority), we contacted our old friend and King Cake Queen X Teryl-Lynn Foxx to see if she knew how to reach Raven. She said she'd try since she'd lost track of her after the storm. A few days later Raven phoned us and we popped the big question. Raven is now residing in Houston since her home was destroyed here. At this point we didn't know if she would be able to accept, with living in Houston and all. However, we were absolutely thrilled when she said yes!
We kept her identity top secret even though Phyllis, on several occasions, tried to get us all hooched up and spill the beans. Girl, there is not that much white zin in New Orleans. Even on the day of the party, Phyllis phoned and said she had a card to address to the new queen, but she needed a name. Don't try it sister! Phyllis said everyone on the streets already knew it was either Donnie Jay or Princesse Stephaney. We told Phyllis she'd just have to wait until the party. And keeping that old girl waiting, who just happens to be King Cake Queen VIII, is quite a chore.
Well, anyway, back to the party. Once our job was done with the announcement, we relaxed and got to visit with our guest numbering 193 that evening. We had hand delivered almost 255 invitations in the Quarter, Marigny and Bywater, and mailed an additional 200. Even to this day, many of the invites mailed have not been received. The postal system is awful. In the last twenty days of mail we've only received mail three of those days. It sure makes doing business virtually impossible.
In the spirit of the holidays, we asked guests to consider helping sponsor us in the NO/AIDS Virtual Walk. And did they ever. The huge bowl is overflowing with checks and envelopes. We'll have a tally for y'all in the next edition.
It was nice to have the chance to actually talk to almost everyone, since normally the party crowd is between three and four hundred. Many of our guests, we had not seen since Katrina. Most of them have lost almost everything, while the rest lost it all. It's so overwhelming at the loss all around us. Yet, those same guests were so happy to be here, at our party, enjoying the evening, and getting away from their troubles. Many said it was like old times when life was so carefree in the Crescent City. Since August 29, all of us here have experienced some of the worst heartaches imaginable, so with this holiday season we all deserve some joy and camaraderie of the season.
And speaking of joy, why not embrace the season wholeheartedly? When you run into a friend or an acquaintance, how about a big hug and a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays or Happy New Year? It really does do the heart good.
T
he holiday season is just jam packed with festivities and parties. We caught the Chicken & Dumpster Revue's Gospel show at the Pocket with those fab Queen Fashions' girls Electra City, Tittie Toulouse and guests Coca, Starr Daniels and Tyriq Davenport.Satyricon's 4th annual Christmas Buffet and Auction was a smash success at the Friendly Bar Annex raising $2,000 with 50% benefiting Le Chat Noir. The affair was emceed by krewe captain Mickey Gil.
The Corner Pocket's annual Christmas Party, catered by Quartermaster: The Nellie Deli's Steve Mettner, was a blast along with the special Holiday Pot Luck Burlesque show starring SDGM Lisa Beaumann and Barry Bareass, plus those cute Corner Pocket Boys, and one of our favorites, the lovely Donnie Jay.
At the Friendly Bar's Christmas Party and Holiday Buffet on Friday, our dear friends, Sylvia Frank and Pat Skelly, unveiled their latest creation, The Jester Egg, which will be up for auction benefiting Buzzy's Boys & Girls on Feb. 11 at the King Cake Queen Coronation Bash at Ambush Headquarters (minimum bid $450). Since we got all hooched up with Tom Conner's, we missed Art Against AIDS later that same evening at Howlin' Wolf.
Saturday brought us to Salon D'Malta's 1 Year Anniversary Holiday Bash where Robin, and sister Monica, announced that their new line of D'Malta products will debut in February, all done with a champagne toast of Dom Perrion.
Good Friends' Christmas Gala X: The Turn-A-Bout Show was ably emceed by Dominique DeLorean, direct from Shreveport, and raised $2,527 for PFlag. GF manager Kim Ficaro was in her element and expressed gratitude to all the folks who decorated holiday trees up for auction at the event.
And closing out this edition was Starlight's 3rd annual Toys for Tots Toy Drive and show bringing in loads of toys and raising $550 for the project, all emceed by the fab Madam Adam Hawkins. And what Starlight production would be complete without Starlight's own vivacious Jaded Jade, unless it could be Ninth Circle's Miss Love down in the gutter again at the end of the bar with her sniff straws and toilet paper... Happy Holidays!
