What are you doing New Year’s Eve?
I don’t usually do much of anything on New Year’s Eve, although I tend to always try to watch the ball go down on TV. Staying up late is no problem for me, since I’m a night owl and always have been.
This year I’m going to continue my tradition and not do much of anything, and this year I bet a lot more people than usual will be doing the same. I will drink a tiny toast to the end of 2020, the year that I’m pretty sure most people are not going to look back at with fondness.
But even when young, I had an aversion to New Year’s Eve. The idea of a night when you were supposed to have fun or else. The reminder of the speedy passage of time. The drinking. The obligatory midnight kiss, which wasn’t a fun moment if you didn’t like your date.
Once or twice I went to Times Square to see the ball go down in person. Curiously, those were some of my better New Year’s Eves. Maybe it was the people I was with those nights. We ate at Tad’s Steaks, just for laughs, but Tad’s wasn’t bad at all.
And a year ago the very last Tad’s in New York City closed down. I had no idea any of them had lasted that long.
So let’s drink to Tad’s:
The cafeteria-style chophouse is known for hawking inexpensive meat-and-potato dinners on red trays — meals that cost little more than $1 each when the first one opened in 1957. A steak lunch today can be had for as little as $9.
At its height, Tad’s had eight New York locations out of 28 nationwide. But come Jan. 5, 2020, the red neon sign in the window advertising “broiled” steaks at 761 Seventh Ave. will go dark — as will the vast grill that played host to smoky “steak shows,” where dozens of cuts could be grilled at once during the thick of lunch hour.
Happy New Year, everyone! Here’s to a wonderful 2021, full of love, joy, and good health!
[NOTE: Some of this appeared in a previous post.]
Going to a dive bar in Venice, Nebraska to hear the up-and-coming country music star Jenny Tolman.
Other than praying for our country, not a damn thing.
I’m not optimistic about the prospect that 2021 will be better than 2020. In fact, I think it probable that, for the country as a whole, it will be worse.
Call me Cassandra or if a more modern vernacular is preferable, Eeyore or Debbie Downer will do.
Watching a movie and going to bed by the usual 11pm time.
I agree GB, it’s going to be worse!
Happy New Year, Neo!
Can’t stay up that late. Besides, tomorrow is my husband’s birthday, so I have to roast a leg of lamb.
Happy New Year!
My recommendation is “Comedy tonight!” Three Smart Girls Grow Up with Deanna Durbin. What’s Up Doc with Barbara Streisand. Our favorite is Pocketful of Miracles with Bette Davis – a sweet little comedy introducing Ann Margaret. Then there’s Robin and the 7 Hoods – an all male musical with Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Sammy Davis Jr, Peter Falk, Dean Martin. Happy New Year!
Thank you for the well-wishes Neo. We will do the usual, prepare a nice dinner and enjoy it with a movie by a fire. Tomorrow we leave for Carmel to visit with our kids and grands. The ones coming from the East Bay had to tell the little hotel in town where we stayed after Thanksgiving that they were coming in to look at purchasing a home in order to be able to book a room. Life in a state where the Leftists are in charge during the “pandemic”. Wishing everyone a wonderful 2021. I believe in miracles and choose to hope.
I’ve become more of a night-owl this year, so I’ll actually be up. Got a ticket to watch Hiromi’s “Save Live Music” benefit performance for the Blue Note New York. She is a fabulous jazz pianist, and utterly frenetic in live performance, so this should be interesting.
Back in the 80’s when I worked in SF we used to go to Tad’s for lunch. It was near the cable car turnaround on Powell. You got in line, ordered your burger and fries, paid at the end, and in minutes you were at your table.
It was apparently the last of the Tad’s to close. But I just looked it up, and it has reopened around the corner at Union Square.
I haven’t thought of that place for years.
New Year’s Eve? It’s my least favorite of the ‘Holidays’. Just never could get into jumping around and making noise over the passing of midnight. I’ll take Thanksgiving.
Staying home with the hubby instead of our usual (very early) dinner somewhere nice. Wouldn’t catch me in downtown PDX anytime now (and of course restaurants aren’t open anyway).
So, grilling our own ribeye steak, drinking a couple glasses of wine and watching the rest of season 3 of Yellowstone, probably!
Happy New Year, everyone.
Babysitting grandsons 2 and 5 , cleaning and checking firearms, bed by 10.
New Years Day is family gun day, we shoot everything we own. The kids really love the the black powder. Maybe make some petards. Guns, dogs, kids , hotdogs on a bonfire. Probably all be illegal next year.
Happy New Year Neo. We are home with our dogs, We always stay home on New Year’s Eve and enjoy a toast for a Happy Healthy 2021…….though I think we are in for a bumpy ride!
Right now, drinking mediocre beer, listening to one of Chanticleer’s Christmas albums, looking at the Christmas tree. Good enough. May or may not be tipsy and/or awake at midnight. Hope you all have a good year coming.
It sounds like a number of you folks are having fun! I’m glad.
I’m having some wine, a Garnacha from Spain; may switch to whiskey later. (I found this cute little liquor store in a nice little town near here, where there was a bottle of this whiskey from Fredericksburg. I never drink whiskey, but had been thinking about it, so I bought it for the historical resonance, and it has been pretty good.) Rachmaninov Preludes.
I found out where the gnats were coming from, by the way; I had some gardening soil stored up in the closet in the hallway, and they managed to get into that. So I moved it outside into the cold and they’re probably pretty uncomfortable/dead by now.
Happy New Year, all! Happy birthday, husband of Kate!
One night like any other only with a calendar change.
But may we all have a happier New Year.
I’ve always stayed home on New Year’s Eve ever since a friend’s husband who was a state trooper (retired now) told me that 1 out of every 3 drivers on CT roads is over the legal blood alcohol level on New Year’s Eve (as well as on other holidays). I bought some upscale sliced turkey breast at the deli this morning to give the cats a little treat (they love turkey and the vet said it’s good for them) and have a sandwich with cranberry sauce on the side for myself. The Christmas lights in the window are turned on, and I plan to use at least some time to catch up on e-mails to friends.
Two short music videos for Neo and her readers: 1) The version of “Auld Lang Syne” that I grew up with– performed by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adwni-Jt8qQ&ab_channel=Josephmiller
In the 1950s, the cameras in NYC used to cut back and forth between Lombardo’s orchestra and Times Square as the clock ticked down to midnight.
2) The “Radetzky Marsch,” composed by Johann Strauss Sr. in 1848 to celebrate Field Marshal Radetzky’s victory over the Piedmontese during the First Italian War of Independence. When Strauss first played the march in front of some Austrian officers, they were so delighted that they spontaneously clapped and stamped their feet, and the piece became an unofficial Austrian national anthem. The “Radetzky Marsch” is the traditional finale of the Vienna Philharmonic’s annual New Year’s concert, and the audience is invited to continue the tradition of clapping softly the first time the melody is played, with thunderous clapping on the repeat. Here is the 2020 finale, with Andris Nelsons conducting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCILGz9The8&ab_channel=Vlado
I can’t find the comment, but in another thread, Geoffrey or Cicero or somebody else brainstormed how a breakup of the Union might pan out and mentioned Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota being attached to Canada. To close out the year, I’m going to say I don’t think we should let those states go because (1) we need the Iron Range, (2) control over the Great Lakes, and (3) I don’t want to surrender my home state. Also (4) Fascists/Marxists/whatever-the-heck-else can’t be allowed to contaminate the U. P. with their filthy feet. Ever. And furthermore, (5) why would you want to give up Hillsdale College?
A bit off subject, but would like to thank Neo for creating a place where we can go and, contrary to how CNN would characterize the denizens of Neo’s site, find people with similar views whose idea of discussion is not to call each other stupid. You’re more valuable than you may know, Neo.
Saw the New York Knicks beat the Baltimore Bullets New Year’s Eve 1968, and went to Times Square after the game. That was my biggest New Year’s celebration. Every one after that was confined to watching the ball drop. Clean, but dull.
…And New Year’s Eve hasn’t been the same without Guy Lombardo.
We’re in Montanita Ecuador, watching the hot-air balloons and fireworks ascend, while enjoying a nearly-deserted beach during the daytime. Thanks, Covid nannies!
Big night. We ordered pick up from Outback Steakhouse. I have not eaten a steak in years, but what the hell?
Tried to watch the east coast NY celebration in Times Square, but could not figure out what they were doing.
Closed 2020 by fishing in Newport Bay and caught a Spotted Bay Bass that equaled in size my best ever. Some aspects of life are good. Got home, went on line, and found a $1.2k gift from Pelosi and Trump in our checking account. How stupid. It will not effect our lives, but we can pass it on to the next generation to apply to their tax burden.
As 2020 closes, there are some things to be thankful for. At 85, I am still able to function independently. Every day is a surprise. Donald Trump kicked over the DC apple cart, and it will take some effort to get it back to the status quo antebellum.
The government/private sector collaborated to produce vaccines that will hopefully change the dynamic. Despite all of the turmoil my modest investment portfolio more than survived; it prospered a bit (Progressives would never acknowledge how important that may be to ordinary folk who are trying hard to ensure the independence of future widows.)
Hope to be asleep before the New Year arrives in Newsom’s fiefdom.
Finally, there are sites, such as Neo’s, where sanity prevails. These are therapeutic. Thank you Neo; and thank you all who contribute. God Bless.
Here in Neverland, watching old episodes of NYPD Blue while mourning the lost city and cuddling my goofy new puppy.
Happy New Year Neo and all you guys.
Philip Sells,
Twas not I. Given the threat from China, secession would prove to be suicidal.
After spending all day doing the final cleaning at a Son’s house (they moved just before Christmas), I spent the night recuperating and catching up on the news and Neo’s blog. Heard a few sporadic fireworks at midnight, but it’s too cold here to celebrate outside.
Happy New Year one and all.
“The vast grill that played host to smoky “steak shows,” where dozens of cuts could be grilled at once during the thick of lunch hour.”
There was a shop on the main drag in Austin, circa 1974, that cooked that way. I don’t think it was called Tad’s, but they obviously had the same business plan.
The wide metal grill moved left to right on some roller mechanism, like an auto production line, and was inclined over the bed of “coals” (gas burners?).
If you wanted rare steak, your cut was placed at the top, and well-done at the bottom, and both reached the finish line at the same time.
I was much impressed with the efficiency of the system, and ate there whenever I could afford it on my Teaching Assistant’s “salary.”
Which wasn’t often.
This is my “New Year’s Eve” card – may the coming year see us breaking out of the Venn Diagram of Dystopias!
https://i1.wp.com/www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2020/12/image051.jpg?w=557&ssl=1
NYE is a strange secular holiday that I never cared much for. Lately it’s just seen as an excuse for me to make and consume various finger food as I watch has-been stars and modern pop stars perform on stage.
With that said, Happy New Year.
I slept through it, as I normally do.
I haven’t stayed up for a “Happy News Year’s Eve” since 2000. For which, I remember getting home right at 6:00 and turning on the TV news which was showing the fireworks shooting off the Eiffel Tower and thought it just might be worth staying up for. it was. But, then the following years I fell back into my old habit of sleeping through the “festivities.” I don’t feel like I am missing anything.
Wishing Neo and all who come here a Happy, and healthy, New Year!
When you get to a certain age staying up to celebrate the beginning of the new year is a pipe dream. Three couples consumed a tasting menu with appropriate libations at our new favorite restaurant, with tables separated to such an extent that one would need opera glasses to spot your neighboring table, and after a half hour drive in horrible weather, we were home to greet the pup by 8:30PM.
Spent the day sorting and packing for the Calexit. Sold the house, got a 3-month rent-back. The lefties finally got to us. The last horse died and we are too old to get more, and acreage is harder to maintain than appears from a distance. Heading for the lower taxes and utility fees of the SW Utah desert. Its amazing how much stuff you accumulate over a few decades.
The evening was dinner for two at home and a couple episodes of The Crown. Sporadic distant gunfire at midnight…
Thanks, Neo, for the calm, informative island of calm.
“Its amazing how much stuff you accumulate over a few decades.” – Another Mike
It doesn’t take even take that long when you start inheriting things, not only from parents and older relatives who pass away, but when your kids move too!
Our son drove one big U-Haul to Texas before Christmas, came back this week and packed a pod for the movers to take down, filled a junk truck for hauling off, and there was still enough left in the house yesterday for us to make a run to the dump, one to the Goodwill, and go home with 3 cars full of things to find new homes for.
And he was only there 8 years, with 2 kids!
I slept late this morning.
Happy New Year and all the best for Happiness, Prosperity, Health, and Sound Government in 2021, and I might settle for 3 out of 4.
We loaded up the dogs and drove for an hour to meet family, congratulate a newly engaged nephew, get to know future inlaws, and celebrate with a nice Cajun meal. Then we bade everyone H.N.Y. and drove back, observing fireworks here and there along the way.
Happy 2021~!
Was at a Bourban and Whisky tasting party.