Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 5, 1993 TAG: 9301050149
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Kathleen Wilson
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
IN SEARCH OF THE BASH THAT WASN'T
When someone called me at home a few weeks ago to ask me out - you know, for a date - for New Year's Eve, he said, "I'm sure you already have lots of plans, but . . . "Wanna know how many invitations I had to mingle on New Year's Eve?
Not one.
The afternoon of the 31st, the deputy managing editor said: "So, Kathy. I guess this is your big night," referring to what he assumed was an evening jam-packed with party activity for this column.
Gee, if that guy hadn't asked me out, I probably would have been sitting at home with a fistful of M&Ms in one hand and a bag of potato chips in the other, watching Dick Clark and the Village People on "New Year's Rockin' Eve" and trying to hard to forget old acquaintences.
Surely, someone somewhere was having a party.
There was one obvious place I could ambush potential partiers. I headed out to the ABC store at Crossroads Mall to find out why the heck they hadn't invited me to their party.
I expected to find people hanging from the rafters, clutching bottles of liquor to ring in the New Year.
"There won't be a crowd here today," Wayne Dickerson, the store's manager, said. "Our biggest day is Christmas Eve."
Because of the warm weather last week - one customer was even wearing sandals and shorts - lots of people were buying vodka and rum, to make the kind of drinks you drink in the summer. You know, the ones with the little paper umbrellas.
Robert Mitchum - the one from Roanoke, not the actor/deodorant stud - had big plans.
"We're going to sit at home, drink daiquiris, and play Pictionary," Robert said.
If I wanted to join them, well, that was OK with him. It was just going to be Robert and a few friends.
A man wearing a Pepsi uniform, who would only identify himself as Mark, moved with purpose right to the aisle with the half-gallon bottles of Bacardi.
"We're just staying home," he said when I asked what his big plans were. "It is the safest thing to do."
Tom Gearhart was off to the shrine at the Kazim Temple with a few friends, and if I wanted to join them, well, he guessed that would be OK.
Tom - whose arms were filled with bottles of something called Island Squeeze Pink Ice Grapefruit Vodka Refresher - managed to reach out and shake hands with J.D. Dunbar, who was picking up everything he needed to celebrate New Year's Day.
"I'm going to sit at home and watch football," he said in a no-nonsense way. "I've got $200 riding."
On which game?
"All of them."
Gene Simmons and Bruce Noble thought it would be OK if I joined them in Fincastle to hear all the church bells ring in the New Year.
Andy Cohen, who owns Leatherhous, was just going to sit at home with the family and reflect on how lucky he feels.
"I want to celebrate just plain living in America," he said.
Most everyone I spoke to had similar small, but very meaningful plans.
In Roanoke, it seems New Year's Eve is a very personal holiday. A time to reminisce and look forward. A time to put the past behind you and zealously approach tomorrow.
But over in the tequila aisle, some folks had wilder plans. I kept hearing Ralph Martin ask customers: "You want the worm?"
Most wanted Jose Cuervo, but Ralph showed me a bottle of premium Mezcal.
"If I'm gonna go, that's how I'd like to go," he said, looking at the two worms floating on the bottom. "Those two worms went down smilin'."
Hazel Fleenor has just about seen it all in her 3 years working at the Crossroads store. She told me about one guy earlier that day who was fit to be tied standing in line. He snapped at her on his way out the door.
"Someone must have licked the red off his candy," she said with a sigh.
But she wouldn't let somebody else's foul mood spoil her holiday spirit. She and her husband, Fred, were off to the Moose Lodge to ring in the New Year.
THE PARTY LINE: If you'd like to invite free-lance Mingling columnist Kathleen Wilson to a party or social gathering, call her at 981-3434; when asked for the mailbox, dial MING (6464) and press the # key. Then leave a message as directed. Or write her in care of the Features Department, Roanoke Times & World-News, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010-2491.