Ringing in the New Year at Ipanema

I was hoping that last night's blue moon would signal an auspicious start to 2010 after my disastrous 2009, but first I had to find something to do for the changeover.

Since I haven't been in town for NYE since 2004, I was at a loss.

Fortunately for me, Kendra at Ipanema decided to close the restaurant and throw a Shanghai Surprise themed evening and I was invited to join the hijinks.

I spent the late afternoon helping to transform the restaurant into an Asian den of inequity, draping gauzy fabric around the booths to create intimate alcoves, hanging Chinese lanterns from the already precariously low ceiling and covering the walls in intricate paper cut-outs.

The front area was cleared for the dancing masses and everything was set.

When I arrived back around 9ish, guests were already gathering.

Cam from Denali was DJing and dim sum covered the back tables. It was to be a great party with plenty of good people to talk to.

Hugel was there with his Christmas camera and we talked extensively about the year in music;

Andrew of Makeout Creek and the former occupant of my apartment compared notes with me on the J-Ward life and I had some great music and blogging talk with Nicole, the Food Punk blogger from NYC.

One of the best parts of the party was seeing such a dressed up crowd at Ipanema, definitely not the usual RVA attire.

I was totally impressed by how wonderful some of the guys looked in their tuxes and cutaways.

It's not often you see the local men looking so fine. Well done, gentlemen.

When the clock struck midnight, DJ Cambot launched into "Thriller" and the dancing began as soon as the champagne was swallowed; 2010 got an enthusiastic welcome from us all.

By the time I left, you could still hear the occasional celebratory gunshot in the distance but the moon was pretty much obscured by the clouds.

But once in a blue moon, you get what you really want, so I started 2010 with high hopes for happiness.

Let the year unfold.