Search Results for: drinking liberally

Join us tonight for a special State of the Union edition of Drinking Liberally! The Seattle chapter meets every Tuesday at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E.; we normally start at 8 pm, but tonight some of us will be gathering a little before 6 pm, to entertain ourselves with real-time commentary, MST3K-style. Perhaps we’ll also play a little drinking game.

As an extra bonus, our host Nick has offered a free beer to anyone showing up wearing Seahawks gear. (I’ll be there wearing Eagles green.) And later tonight, in the 9 pm hour, we plan to record our first weekly podcast… unless we’re all to shit-faced by then.

Not in Seattle? Jimmy tells us that the newly recognized Tri-Cities chapter will gather to watch the SOTU at 5:30 pm, at the Tuscany Lounge, 1515 George Washington Way. And if you’re watching from home, be sure to link on over to WashBlog, where our very own Rep. Jim McDermott will be posting an official response.

[And on an unrelated note, Andrew just posted a diary to Daily Kos, celebrating the one-year anniversary of the NW Portal. Kossaks, please recommend.]

Of course, we all know that they’re constantly drinking liberally at the The Stranger. (I once quipped that I could never work there, because I don’t drink hard liquor.) But there’s also a very nice piece by Cienna Madrid in this week’s paper, revealing to a larger world the sublime pleasures of our weekly gathering of the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally.

My only question for Cienna is: how much did Darryl suck up to you to be the only blogger to finagle a link? (Damn! He just got another one. Clever bastard.)

When I first stumbled into politics with my “Tim Eyman is a horse’s ass” initiative, one of my slogans which really seemed to resonate with supporters was my promise to “put the party back into politics.” I can’t tell you have many contributions and petitions came in with a request for an invitation to the election night party.

The truth is, politics can be godawful boring, and progressive politics doubly so… we’re all just so fucking earnest.

And as important as it is, the tedium of the actual process of party politics can bring on horrifying flashbacks of grinding your way through the worst high school teacher you ever had. It’s heard enough to get the average joe to show up at his legislative district meeting… but it’s nearly impossible to get him to come back.

I’ve always been a big believer in making progressive politics more fun and more social, and to be honest, what first attracted me to Drinking Liberally was simply… the name. The first DL I attended was pretty much me, The Him, Nick, and a couple of Nick’s friends. And the crowd didn’t consistently get much bigger than that for the first couple months.

But with word of mouth and some steady promotion on the blogs, DL has grown into a large crowd of regulars (and a few irregulars) that this week took over half the Montlake Ale House. And for those who can’t attend, next week will mark the release of my first weekly podcast from DL… that is, assuming it doesn’t suck.

No doubt Cienna’s piece will help boost attendance, but DL has already reached the kind of critical mass that ensures its continued growth through word of mouth alone. Chapters are already established in Bellingham and Spokane (which I hear kicks ass), and new chapters recently opened in Olympia and Walla Walla. New chapters are scheduled to open next month in Tacoma and Burien… proudly making Washington one of the most liberally drinking states in the union, third only to New York and Pennsylvania.

Cienna warns that “without some new blood, DL could be dismissed as a good-old-boys club stuffed with bloggers and politicos,” and certainly we need to balance out the gender ratio if DL is to achieve its full potential. But this is one “good-old-boys club” that’s open to all comers, and it is that informal, social aspect that makes DL different from all other political organizations.

We meet every Tuesday, 8:00 pm, at the Montlake Alehouse, 2307 24th Avenue E. Hope to see you there soon.

UPDATE:
Ooops. Jim at McCranium reminds me that I forgot the recently founded Tri-Cities chapter of DL that meets Wednesday nights, 5:30 pm, at the Tuscany Lounge, 1515 George Washington Way, Richland.

The Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight (and every Tuesday), 8PM at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. We are pleased to have Congressman Jay Inslee join us tonight, and I suspect energy policy will be high on his list of topics to talk about.

Also, I received a lot of responses about my plans to produce a weekly podcast from Drinking Liberally. I’d love to discuss this face to face with anybody interested in helping out, so please come on by.

I’m interested in recording a 1-hour, weekly podcast from Drinking Liberally… unfortunately, I don’t have any audio equipment, or in fact, any experience at all creating podcasts.

If one or more of my loyal readers would like to volunteer to serve as a producer and get this project rolling, I’d love to hear from you; please leave a comment or send me any email if you are interested. Or, if you think this is a really stupid idea, let me know that too.

And FYI… this coming Tuesday, Rep. Jay Inslee will be stopping by Drinking Liberally. Should be some good conversation.

The Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight (and every Tuesday), 8PM at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E.

Michael Hood of blatherWatch will be bringing along his new best friend, longtime talk radio host Allan Prell. After a brief tenure in the morning slot on 710-KIRO, Prell was suddenly fired, much to the dismay of his growing audience. Back when Prell was substituting for Dave Ross during the summer of 2004, I had the pleasure of debating Tim Eyman on his show, and man did he stick it to Timmy for not answering the questions. It was loads of fun.

I’ll be bringing a special guest too, who insists on making an early evening of it (out by 9 PM,) so I hope Prell shows up in a timely fashion.

The Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight (and every Tuesday), 8PM at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. A couple of special guests are scheduled to stop by tonight: 8th Congressional District candidate Darcy Burner, and King County Bar Association President Roger Goodman.

Darcy, of course, is the woman who’s going to kick Dave Reichert’s sorry ass next November, and Nick’s email describes Roger as “a strong advocate of drug enforcement reform.” I think that means legalization. So come on down, get a few drinks into you, and then argue with Roger about the dangers of legalizing intoxicating substances.

The Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight (and every Tuesday), 8PM at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E.

Please join me for some good beer and conversation.

Settled into those post-Christmukkah, pre-New Years doldrums? The Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight (and every Tuesday), 8PM at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E.

I’ll bring a menorah, we’ll all say the barucha, and then we’ll unwrap a pitcher of Manny’s.

The Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight (and every Tuesday), 8PM at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E.

In honor of tonight’s one-year anniversary of the Seattle chapter, and as a tribute to the NSA’s monitoring of our phone calls, emails and blogs, our fearless leader Nick has declared this “Tin Foil Hat Night.” The first beer is free for anyone who shows up wearing a tinfoil hat. That’s great news for me, considering I rarely leave the lead-lined safe room in my basement without one.

The Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight (and every Tuesday), 8PM at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E.

Be there or be thirsty. (I’ll be there.)

The Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight (and every Tuesday), 8PM at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Tonight is “Smoke ’em if you got ’em” Night, in honor of Initiative 901, which goes into effect on Thursday. (The Ale House is smoke free until 9PM.)

I don’t believe I’ll be smoking, but I’ll definitely be there enjoying some fine ale.

The Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight (and every Tuesday), 8PM at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E.

In honor of Lori Sotelo, I plan to be there tonight, challenging the drivers licenses of all those who attempt to order alcohol. I’m hoping maybe Andrew shows up, so that I can achieve as high a disqualification rate as she did.

Ooops… almost forgot. The Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight (and every Tuesday), 8PM at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E.

But I’m on the other coast, so I won’t be there.

I’ll be joining Lynn of Evergreen Politics and Andrew of Northwest Progressive Institute in a panel discussion on blogging at this evening’s meeting of the 43rd District Democrats. The meeting starts at 7:30pm, University Baptist Church, 4554 12th Ave. NE. The discussion will be moderated by N in Seattle; more details on his blog, Peace Tree Farm.

Afterwards, a bunch of us plan on heading over to the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally, which meets tonight (and every Tuesday), 8PM at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. We’ll be a little late at DL, but all the more thirsty.

All are welcome at both events, so please join me for a fascinating discussion on the growing influence of the progressive blogosphere, followed by some more post-election gloating and an icy-cold pint of Manny’s Pale Ale.

Yes, even on election night, the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight (and every Tuesday), 8PM at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E.

I’m going to be doing a little election night party hopping, but I’ll be stopping by DL either early, or late… or both. The Montlake Ale House has free wireless internet access, so I may post some election night updates from the festivities. Hope to see you all there… in a celebratory mood.