Eve and Flow

New Year's Guide

by Jakob Dorof

	print	email	reply	rss feed

Published: Dec 16, 2008

For the Lonely ...

Looking for someone to keep you company in '09? Beat Street Station in Manayunk invites you to dress up for the "largest singles party of the New Year," with the added boon of several raffles, cash prizes, party favors, a gourmet buffet and champagne for all at the stroke of midnight ($40 until Dec. 27; $50 after; $75 at door if available; 9 p.m.-2 a.m., 4401 Cresson St., 215-508-3000). Or if you'd rather simply laugh off another solo holiday season spent in bitter revelry, there's the final showing of Jeff Goode's The Eight: Reindeer Monologues (pictured) at Society Hill Playhouse ($21, 9:30 p.m., 507 S. Eighth St., 215-923-0210, societyhillplayhouse.com), a black comedy that finds Rudolf's usual company bitching their way through Santa's fur-trimmed bag of booze and leather straps.

Michael T. Regan Dave P.

If you prefer to shake your hips while nursing your moonshine, there are plenty of places to get live and loud. If you're willing to throw down a little bank to make it happen, you could always spend NYE with the Mummers on the Delaware River ($120, 8 p.m.-1 a.m., 1301 Columbus Blvd., 215-669-4398, fancybrigade.com), replete with a classy four-course dinner, five-hour open bar and dancefloor, view of the fireworks and reserved indoor seat at the Convention Center for a Fancy Brigade Finale performance at noon the following day. If you'd rather kick it indie, R5 Productions is getting wild at Transit with an all-night party that goes all out: a six-and-a-half-hour open bar, nine DJs spread across three floors hawking everything from "cocainesexjams" of Dave P. (pictured) to "'60s and '70s white hot manrock," free midnight champagne, fake snow, fog machines, confetti and lasers ($30 pre-Xmas; $40 post-Xmas, 9 p.m.-3:30 a.m., 600 Spring Garden St., r5productions.com). And for the ambitious eighth-graders who wanna get tagged in some NYE club shots for Facebook bragging rights, movers and shakers of all ages are welcome to attend Dracula's Ball at Shampoo Nightclub ($25, 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., 417 N. Eighth St., 215-925-9259, draculasball.com), where alcohol will also be served for those of age alongside the industrial/goth stylings of Bow Ever Down and the Crüxshadows.

If good drinks and good company sound like a fine way to welcome a fresh slate, there are several watering holes ready to accommodate you without splitting your eardrums (or blasting your wallet). The English-styled McGillin's Olde Ale House is "singing in" the New Year with karaoke, party favors and affordable drinks ($5, 9 p.m., 1310 Drury St., 215-735-5562, mcgillins.com). They welcome you back the morning after with an open fire, hot mugs and televised bowl games (check out What's Cooking for more info). Likewise, the warm and witty National Mechanics invites you to enjoy their "gourmet/drunk food," drinks and New Year's/new president celebration (free, 7 p.m., 22 S. Third St., nationalmechanics.com). They're also offering a pretty good deal on a $75-per-person "totally VIP" package that gets you a prime table, open bar from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., and a bottle of Moët and Chandon White Star for your party. 

Not so much in the vein of General Meade's Birthday Celebration and New Year's Toast — which you could hit up at noon for a graveside 21-gun salute and Civil War re-enactment (free, 3822 Ridge Ave., thelaurelhillcemetery.org) — but more along the lines of the Ministry of Secret Jokes' "old-timey radio shenanigans." The illuminati of comedy will be bringing their best stand-up game to a party that also includes time-tested classics such as rap battles, PowerPoint presentations and FDR fireside chats ($10, 9 p.m. to mid., Location TBA, ministryofsecretjokes.com). Or you could channel the majesty of an art form some 4,000 years old and go ice skating at Penn's Landing, where you can enjoy good food and live entertainment before watching the fireworks display ($30 skaters; $20 spectators, 11 p.m. to 1 a.m., Columbus Boulevard and Market Street, riverrink.com). Oh yeah, fireworks — they do that here on New Year's, right?

Souljah On
In the Event That...
Just Do It
Just Do It