A group of local politicos and city employees wanted to do
something different to celebrate this year’s historic Democratic
victories. Rather than gathering at one of the usual political watering
holes—Collins Pub in Pioneer Square, say, or Kells behind Pike
Place Market—they decided to sing.
Which makes perfect sense, when you think about it. Didn’t you feel
like singing when you learned that Barack and Michelle were heading to
the White House, that Seattle was getting mass transit, and that
two-time Republican loser Dino Rossi was getting shipped back to
the business-school lecture circuit? We did. All the better if we could
also bang on something loud.
So, at this small house in South Seattle—with a torn-up
kitchen, an old upright piano, and a balcony overlooking all of Beacon
Hill—everybody is singing, drinking, and playing instruments
(both actual and improvised: a metal lid, a glass bowl, what looks
like a cheese grater, three guitars, and a couple of
harmonicas).
The songs range from obvious (Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your
Land,” duh) to apolitical but joyous (the Cure’s “Just Like
Heaven”) to defiant and, apparently, obscure (Lucinda Williams’s
“Passionate Kisses,” to which only Party Crasher knew all the words).
As the small crowd gets drunker on red wine and Scotch, the songs grow
more boisterous and the singers more confident.
It’s not the most melodic group you’ve ever heard, but that’s not
the point. The point is that, after eight years of not having very much
to celebrate, it’s nice to have a reason to make merry, holler, and
make a damn fool of yourself in front of a roomful of equally
joyous, like-
minded friends. 
Want The Stranger to play the cheese grater at your
house party? E-mail the date, place, time, and party details to
partycrasher@thestranger.com.