Day: April 12, 2003

Banquet Trip Report . . . or . . . a Capella Alumnae in the Nude
April 12, 2003
by Rich Bailey

Living out in West Virginia like I do, far away from the trappings of civilization, I was eager to partake of the annual MUSG banquet indulgences of wine, cheese, beer, and sauna. Not to mention food stuck in there somewhere. I had also returned from Washington eager to see old caver buddies and meet new ones. As luck would have it, this banquet turned out to be one of the best in more than a couple years.

Arriving fashionably late with Kendall after a trip to the mall to find something decent to wear (remember, West Virginia, people) I found many empty bottles of wine save one, the dreaded Gallo. I still managed to swill some of it down, just in time to hop in my car, heh-heh, and head to Calhouns.

A good number of alumnae showed up, but only one from before my time — Allen, as always. Aside from myself, there was Ed, Brad Ricks with friend, Johnny D., Steve Durkee, Bryce Geyer, and Mia. Others were conspicuously absent (Mandi?). If I forgot someone forgive me.

Calhouns served up some delicious BEvERages along with some tasty food. Unfortunately something went funny with the reservations, so we ended up not having a room to ourselves, but rather a group of tables in the main area. It would have been nice to have more of a group environment, but you can’t have everything.

So, to the main event, the party at Carls. To those of you who haven’t been there yet for an event, shame on you. It’s out in countryside, nice and secluded, and a great place to have get-togethers. There’s even a trampoline, not to mention sauna! So I arrive to the usual contortionists trying to weave their way up the practice ladder in the living room. Several successes, and a few tries. I stayed out of that mess, fondly remembering bruises from a few years ago after making it to the top.

Steve and I decided that sauna was a capitol idea and headed in that direction with fire start logs. The sauna was until recently a rat condo, and had had to be cleaned out and stripped of insulation. You got used to the rat pee smell after a while. No really! There was also a nice fire going in the fire pit. So all the alumnae partook, rapped old school to funky beats and got nicely toasted, in a literal sense. The current MUSG members decided to stay mostly inside, where it was not so naked. But later on there was a great crowd of folks around the fire, having heated political debates. Ugh. Well that’s that, a great time. People slept over, I didn’t, being fond of bed and whatnot. Peace.