Night of Decades

The madness has left me. No more talk about partying during the day. We are going back to a world when all partying is nocturnal. I mean if it is a hardcore party, it could start during the day. But as we all know, the cool people arrive fashionably late.\nSo what parties are we going to be fashionably late to this weekend? Why not have a party themed after a certain decade? We have all been to a psychedelic \'60s party; a trippy \'70s party and some of us have been partying since the \'80s. Now because we are in the 21st century we have another decade to exploit. Now that we are in the \'00s we can safely party through the \'90s.\nThe others decades are easy. The \'60s had hippies and free love. At a \'70s party, Afros and discos would rule. During the \'80s bad hair, music and yuppies. \nWhat do we have to work with during the \'90s? They are several ways that the \'90s were unique. In the spirit of it being the last decade of the millennium, we could go space age. This party would have techno music blasting so loud your kidneys hurt. People will be dancing wildly out of rhythm and out of step, so you might want to wear protective gear. The big rave-production companies do not always put on the best raves, so your home might be the best place to house a stellar rave.\nTo have the full experience of the rave, hire a DJ. It is possible to hire a DJ with his/her equipment for well under $50. If you wanted to go all out with lights and a long set you can pay upwards of $500 for a night. A good benchmark is if you spend more than $100 you should have a decent DJ with a decent light show, especially if it is a young college student that would like the chance to build up their experience. Going all out would be easy, too; it would involve some cool lighting and a few streamers.\nThe \'90s were not all techno-oriented. For a long time during the decade, grunge was the biggest craze. Grunge influenced everything from lifestyle to fashion. Dig through your old clothes and find your flannels and boots. Let\'s get back to our Gen-X selves and remember our fallen leader, Kurt Cobain.\nThe perfect Gen-X party needs to be hosted in a dirty basement or garage with a concrete floor to add degrees of authenticity. This type of party needs a garage cover band. Playing pre-recorded music would be evil. The Seattle music genre was supposed to be played live for maximum effect. The live format also leaves out the greedy record bigwigs who zeroed in on an art form they could exploit. \nWith all that said, the ultimate \'90s party still has to be the \'Gangster Jam.\' The inspiration for this party is the Dr. Dre song "Ain't Nothing but a G Thang." Think about it, this gives you a chance to find your beat down yellow Timberlands and the old pair of jeans that are 10 sizes too large. Forget about getting a keg, filling a fridge with 40s will suffice. Just be very careful not to play Eminem songs, as the flavor should be one of Ice Cube, Domino, Eazy E, Warren G and Snoop Doggy Dogg. \nThe \'90s were only nine months ago; hopefully we can all remember the parties we went to when we lived in the \'90s. They were a good time for many; let's see if we can recreate that good time for all.\nOnce again, I urge you to contact me if you have any cool party ideas that you would like to let the world know about. My e-mail address is ychami@indiana.edu. And finally let me say my piece and give a shout out to the football team. Go down to Lexington and kick some Wildcat butt.