With December’s drum roll into New Year’s Eve having focused a slow beating tom tom toward one decade’s finale (with barely and rarely enough of a nod to another decade’s welcome), concentrating on the event itself – this single night, this glittery precursor to January 1 and the immediate questions behind more Mummery and more predictions – seems almost a selfish conceit.
You haven’t really been playing the bigger, broader, more public game unless you’ve been making list upon list upon list for your 2010-2019 greats and hates (I only did one more personal list, at dosage, below, and therefore may have missed the opportunity to hone in on the night itself).
New Year’s Eve has so many components regarding where you are within the framework of your life at present – single, married, rich, poor, hungry, not hungry, are you drinking, drugging or abstaining, do you like parties or prefer less personal events, or more personal events, have you gone through a good year or a lousy one, did you get and/or give all of your holiday presents, are your loved ones all here or did you lose any this year, and how close to the year’s close?
I’m not going to bore you with dinner options and packages. Packages are for mailing. That said, dinner is what I’m doing, but, not a corny prix fie gathering where cheap champagne (mind you, there’s nothing wrong with cheap champagne in the right context) is part of the picture. I’ll be at something tasteful with loved ones, and no, I’m not telling you where, or at what time.
So, then, bars, live shows, and dance spaces are the thing of NYE 2019.
Tattooed Mom, 530 South Street
What’s great about this party is that there is no cover and no reservations required. There are free party favors, the occasional gift of postcard and poster art from several local artists, and a few signature cocktails to be had at the grungiest bar in town.
Boot & Saddle, 1131 South Broad Street
Lydia Lunch’s best friends, Philadelphia absurdists Pissed Jeans play, what B&S call a punk rock blow out with Stay At Home Dads, and Ghösh.
Blume, 1500 Locust Street
I suggest taking magic mushrooms and waiting for the colorfully painted walls’ floral motif to blossom.
Making Time at The Ave Live, 520 North Columbus Blvd.
As a precursor to its Jan 23 event with LCD/DFA’s James Murphy at Warehouse on Watts, the rad Making Time crew hang out tonight with Avalon Emerson in what promises to be a transcendental affair.
Dave Chappelle at The Met Philadelphia, 858 North Broad
The one comic voice in America who truly has no fucks left to give infiltrates two shows tonight at The Met, both of which promise to feature new material and both of which should get you out with enough time for additional after-hours cocktails.
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