Well, have you recovered from the Frosted Party yet? It certainly took me a while. Matt and Karen Smith did a great job of putting it together this year, so thumbs up to them and everyone else that helped them. The same goes for Ed Travers and the band, and to Craig Beierlein for the hospitality room tunes that went on until 3 or 4:00 AM (everything was a little foggy by then). Speaking of the Frosted Party, we will start the planning stage for next year now, and I’d like your input. Is it time to make some changes or even reinvent the party? We are PHIP’s most unique club with our territory extending into three states and our membership even beyond that, so it’s important that the party brings us all together. We also want to keep ticket costs within reason, certainly no more than this year, and a little less would be even better. What do you think; more emphasis on the entertainment and maybe less on the food? Is an open bar really necessary or would a cash bar be OK? Do you want to go back to a DJ? Should we bring in a very popular band that would draw both our members and other PHC members? Do you want a Buffett cover band? Please send me an email with your thoughts. dpohorylo@snet.net
Our next big event coming up is the 7th Annual Metro & Morris in Bridgeport on June 5th and 6th. Just in case you have not attended this event in the past, let me give you a few details. Our attendance last year was 335 parrot heads from twelve states and eleven parrot head clubs. Jim Morris and the Big Bamboo Band, a Metro favorite for years, will be back to play all afternoon into the early evening on Saturday at Captain’s Cove Seaport. In addition to our great music, the Seaport has a large marina (they always give boating Metro’s and their guests free slips for the weekend), a restaurant, a huge bar with a tugboat pilothouse inside and a forty foot model of the Titanic overhead, and a massive outside deck overlooking the water. We will have last year’s show recorded live and made into a CD box set, which will be part of our raffle this year. Our silent auction is second to none. We always try to get items that are very unique or just hard to get. Last year we had concert and theater tickets, the best corporate box seats for the Yankees and the Mets, tickets for the Martha Stewart Show and the View, a Landshark surfboard, an acoustic guitar with the opportunity to play (air guitar) with the band, a Margaritaville frozen drink machine and cooler, a Weber stainless steel gas grille and much much more, plus, handcrafted by our members was a shooter tray, shot skis, an Adirondack fish chair and a portable tailgate bar. We had more than 50 fantastic items last year. Metro’s Wendy and Barry Wight had the winning bid for what turned out to be a private luncheon with Crosby Stills and Nash, courtesy of Rolling Stone Magazine. How cool is that. I’m confident that this year’s silent auction will be even better. This will also be the third year that Jim Morris will play a solo acoustic storyteller show at the Acoustic Café on Friday night, and as usual, the Friday night show has already sold out. Jim recorded his first Acoustic Café show in 2007 and released it as his first live acoustic CD “THE LIVE GUY” at our 2008 event. We have strongly suggested to him that it would be great to release volume two at this year’s show. Once again we will organize a group of boat people to take the ferry from Port Jefferson to Bridgeport, with Connecticut’s Metros providing transportation from the ferry to Captain’s Cove. Our event hotel, the Marriott Courtyard, will continue to provide a limited free shuttle to and from the hotel and our venues on Friday and Saturday for anyone staying over. More details for the event will be made available in upcoming newsletters and the Banana Wind, and you can check out our event website at www.metromorris.com . We hope to see all of you there.
Your president,
Dave
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