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Continued: Red rockers get green light to party
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Having performed the previous night in Houston, Sammy Hagar didn't need to be reminded about Hurricane Gustav and the pall it cast over the Republican convention. But the singer long nicknamed the Red Rocker (so that's why...) gave RNC revelers a green light to party on.
"It's a shame and all that," Hagar told an invite- only crowd at First Avenue on Sunday night. "But at least you people don't have to go to work tomorrow."
Going to the home of "Purple Rain" to party for the Big Red seemed like an unusual proposition -- so odd, in fact, I brought a sport coat Sunday. So did one of the club's dreadlocked (but not pierced) general managers, Damon Barna. Most nights, the dress code at Minneapolis' legendary rock venue is anything you don't mind beer being spilled on, or even a little upchuck.
Turns out we didn't need the coats. (I left mine in the car.) It also turns out that not all the delegates invading our town this week are stiffs in penny loafers whose idea of a wild night is putting on a Tommy Bahama shirt and paying $300 for Jimmy Buffett golden-circle tickets.
I know: Stereotypes are lazy and stupid. But they certainly fit some of the protesters in St. Paul Monday afternoon, dressed in black hoodies on a 90-degree day with bandanas over their faces. If you want to truly create long-term anarchy, folks, maybe don't dress like the Unabomber and virtually beg to be arrested by dinnertime.
Certainly, some aspects of the Hagar show (a free party for the Southern Delegation) felt out of the ordinary for First Ave. For instance, more champagne was drunk in one night than in the club's previous 38-year history. Also, the beer in the club's downstairs bars had to be removed to make room for low-carb Michelob Ultra and Bud Light Lime, free to partygoers thanks to a little sponsorship.
I'd accuse the partygoers of improperly accepting freebies from U.S. corporations, except the beers truly tasted valueless. Oh yeah, and Bud won't be an American company much longer.
Mostly, though, the party felt like just another night at First Ave. Another fun night, that is. The crowd was loose and lively and friendly (Southern Republicans "are the nice ones," one guy told me). Only a few scattered attendees were overdressed in ties or power suits. In fact, many arrived in T-shirts. Granted, most of the T's had hokey slogans like "McCainiac" on them, but some of the revelers also wound up wearing the Friends of New Orleans fundraiser T-shirts on sale at the merch table (for a party at First Ave Monday night).
Over at the Fine Line, the VIP crowd Sunday looked even more casual, or at least less intentionally dressed down. The party there was an apolitical one -- welcoming all types of politico geeks! -- for the Screen Actors Guild. Local rockers the Alarmists, who are about as red as Norm Coleman is a bowler, headlined.
You'd think a shindig put on by the union for Hollywood actors would draw some star power. The biggest celeb I saw was that MTV VJ who interviews all the rappers. Ol' what's his name.
These GOP folks might party as well as the Dems, but they seriously need to beef up their guest lists.
Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658
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