| How hipsters ring in the new year
This week, I asked a handful of celebs in our national music scene how they are going to whoop it up on New Year's Eve.
Most people responded, but there were some scenesters who didn't – probably because their plans are too cool to share (wink, nudge). Whether you spend it with a bunch of friends and family, or by yourself (with Dick Clark), here are some ideas about how to party, party, party or sleep away your New Year's Eve.
Chris Nelson, co-host of MuchMusic's Going Coastal:
"When it comes to New Year's Eve, I tend to follow the principle of 'Lay Low and Prosper.' Like most people, I find that all the anticipation of going out on New Year's has invariably led to disappointment – especially at midnight when you find yourself puking into a stranger's toilet... not that it's happened to me, mind you. So this year, I will be staying home, and a bunch of friends will be coming over to puke in my toilet."
Carolyn Mark, of Carolyn Mark and Her Room-Mates:
"I usually don't play, but this year I'm going to play with the Hard Rock Miners at the Railway Club in Vancouver and it's gonna be great! Haven't worked out an outfit yet, but the way I figure it is that I'm the opening act so I can be drinking espresso martinis by 11 and talking someone's ear off by 11:30. The perfect New Year's!
"I know two couples that last year got some bottles of scotch and read out the whole script of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? I thought that was a great idea. I have another friend that goes to her parents' cabin on Shawnigan Lake (on Vancouver Island) and swims nude off the dock at midnight!"
Mayor McCA, Toronto's one-man band:
"I'm heading back home to Hamilton to play a show with Swearing At Motorists and The Constantines. It should be a crazy show. I think that I will get really drunk and probably wake up in a strange place. Although I don't always remember what happens on nights like that, they're fun... I think.
"As for people who are staying home all night, here is a fun activity to perform when boredom strikes. First, make sure your face and hair are dry. Then take a jar of smooth peanut butter and cover your head with it. Then run around the house laughing because that's 'such a crazy thing to do.' By the way, I have never done this. Really. I swear." Nardwuar the Human Serviette, of Thee Evaporators:
"Unfortunately, I don't have anything planned for New Year's! But I can say that what you do on New Year's Eve, you do all year round! So make it good! Also if what you do on New Year's Eve sucks, you can correct it, because what you do on your birthday, you do all year round as well! But if your birthday is on New Year's Eve, you may be fucked."
Montreal's rock ’n’ rollers, Les Sexareenos:
"We're doing a few things on New Year's. Firstly, we're having a black-tie dinner at 4 p.m. (only friends are invited), complete with mariachi band, belly dancers and teenage contortionists. After dinner, we're splitting up. Half of us are getting plastered at The Midway – a bar here that features a guy playing elevator music through a Casio and a computer set on screen-saver mode while old drunks dance and fight and watch pornos on the hanging televisions. The other half (of us) are ducking into an alley and chugging some bottles of Bellini apple vermouth.
"We're all meeting again at around midnight to usher in the new year at our very own show, the First Annual Sexareenos New Year's Swap Meet – actually a show played by us with strippers, great DJs and prizes to people who actually start fucking and incite everyone else to drink, fuck and puke all night!
"During all this – at about 4 a.m. – we're gonna sneak out and burn down a few churches. After that, we split up to go visit our families.
"My recommendation to people staying home is that it doesn't really matter. Why drink, fuck and have fun when you can watch the living death himself, Dick Clark, make the ball drop right into your own living room? Find some of your mamma's pills and wash them down with a bottle of Baby Duck. Happy New Year!"
Jen Deon, of Vancouver's The Dirtmitts:
"The last couple New Year's (Eves) have been a real bust. Like, I would have been better off at home popping paper bags if I were hoping for a significant experience to ring in the new year. So, if I've learned anything from this, it's not to build it up so much. I mean, who cares if it's the ultimate countdown party or not? That being said... I'm going to party my ass off this year!
"There are two options: I could vacate Vancouver and head south to Seattle to see The Shins play at my friend's bar with after-hours parties expected. There is a little posse going down that plans to show Seattle how it's done. The second option is a warehouse party at an old meat packing plant where The Rockin' Carnival and Variety Show is taking place. Put on by Dave Yellowboy Yonge, a local performance artist, this should provide all the drunken shenanigans I could handle or need.
"Yeah, I could stay home and pop balloons and throw rice with the cats, but I guess instead I'll go party with low expectations and hope for a good time." |
