Wedding Reception at Palisadeum

This reception came off well.

First, the bad. I arrived to Cliffside Park well in time, but couldn't locate Palisadeum Drive. The street wasn't on Mapquest. Well, Palisadeum Drive is just the restaurant's private road. The sign was there, but I missed it several times, and got thrown off by unclear directions by gas station attendants. Next time, get even clearer directions (landmarks, local color).

The facility was beautiful, with sweeping views of the George Washington Bridge and Manhattan. It was a classy, smaller affair, with many formal Korean family traditions. The reception program was provided last minute, I had to move a speaker from cocktail are to main area and perform under pressure. It all came off well.

First dance- Just One Look by Bryan Ferry

Lots of Al Green and Marvin Gaye.

There was a formal Korean wedding ceremony with costume regalia, bowing to the elders, alcohol and throwing chestnuts into a blanket as a good wish for children.

There was litle dancing, but it was an adult crowd with many long, lost friends.

Copacabana, Maneater, Spice Girls, Caribbean Queen, My Goodies went over well.

The bride and groom both thanked me at end of night.

More Gigs and Prospects

Friday April 22nd: Rutgers fraternity semiformal at site in Edison, NJ. He found my website through a google search. That's encouraging!

Thursday April 28th: TCNJ fraternity/sorority semiformal dance at Italian restaurant in Hamilton, NJ. Hip hop and pop flavor like last year. This should be a fun event, albeit late night (until 1 AM).

"Island CD" project - A couple, "Masha" and Dave are having their wedding down in the Caribbean. They are fans of trance/house/lounge, and are looking for some mixed CDs for the reggae DJ down there to throw on. I am going to make these up for them for $150. It should be an entertaining and challenging project. A little dough won't hurt either.

Myra & Jay came out to my Sweet 16 on Saturday night. Not sure they liked what they saw or not. I spoke with them for a bit.

I have invited several prospects to the semiformals.

Have a strong wedding prospect for August 14th just over the NJ border in NY state. Weddings pay well, that this should be well worth it.

Meeting with an Old Friend in Manhattan

Miharu, aka Mimi, was in Manhattan in advance of a business trip to Albany. She had studied at my college as exchange student back in 1992. Now, she's in public relations/human resources at GE Toshiba plastics in Tokyo. Our last meeting was back in 1996? Charlotte was in attendance. She had never Mimi. The two of them got along well though. Mimi looked very good - perhaps a bit slimmer and her hair was straightened. Still a very positive attitude. Her and Jens (old flame) are still friends, but can't make it work romantically. At 33, she's getting beyond marriage age for traditional Japanese ideal. No romantic prospects either. Her work is very busy, and she worked all but three weekends last year. This is the typical Japanese career grind that I'm glad that I don't participate in.

We enjoyed an Italian dinner in Hell's Kitchen area. Food was pretty good and reasonably price. The waitstaff appeared to be 18 year old Mexican boys, and I believe that I heard Latin music at some point.

The evening of course ended at the nearby Samovar Bar, an old favorite of mine. Once again, it didn't disappoint! Colorful ethnic characters and musical performances prevailed. There was a new piano player, joined by a guitarist and violinist. I bought Charlotte a rose. I had a Russian beer (not too good) while the ladies enjoyed Russian tea with some berry jam. I assume that their tea was served from a samovar.

At 12:08 AM, we left the parking garage and arrived back in the Boro at 1:15 AM. Great time.