The great thing about fundraising parties is that you get a
smorgasbord of partyers. The young and the beautiful are here, but
they’re quietly sucking down drinks. The folks with gray hair are on
the dance floor, grinding thighs into crotches to the tunes of
funk/soul statesmen Funklove, and generally showing the whippersnappers
how to have a good time.
I step out onto the porch to discuss the fundraising with Dr. D. The
doctor has been dividing his time between Seattle and Madagascar, and
the cash raised from this celebration will go toward much-needed
supplies for Andranomadio Hospital. The doctor answers the obvious
question—why Madagascar?—with the most sincere statement that will ever
be printed in this column: “You just have to pick a spot and say ‘This
is it; this is where I’m going to improve things,’ and then you do it.
That’s how families are made.”
Inside, people are getting delightfully wobbly on the free champagne
and rum balls. The police show up on a noise complaint, but they leave,
chastened, when they learn that it’s for charity. Over in the corner, a
woman is capturing the mood of the party in a painting. I ask her what
she’s going to do with the painting when it’s complete. “It’ll be in a
gallery show I have coming up,” she says, just as one of the hostesses
announces over a loudspeaker that the painting will be raffled off and
given away at the end of the evening. She looks wistfully back at her
artwork. “Oh well,” she sighs. “It’s for a good cause, right?”
Want to inform The Stranger that interested parties can
get more details about the Madagascar project and donate cash and
supplies at www.givebackseattle.com at your house party? E-mail the date, place, time, and party details
to partycrasher@thestranger.com.