Among the endless swag and paraphernalia accumulated over XXX years of The AI, the annual poster has provided minutes of enjoyment. Sprung from the addled mind of the Tournament Director and designed with the help of Doug Shearer, Edie and that other AI, the posters have endured hundreds of months laying fallow in the attics & garages in Orlando and lately Highlands, only to emerge once a year to provide clutter and a tripping hazard.
Now let us join Edie as she takes The Stans on a nostalgic trip down memory lane with an historical and occasionally hysterical look at the The AI through its annual posters.
It's been about a month since the Stans of AI-XXX returned to their natural habitats in Orlando, LA & Sarasota while AI-HQ returned to its non-AI condition, sans posters, pillow cases, door mats, rings, hats, bag tags, etc. Thus the AI-Nostalgia Committee thought it an appropriate time to provide a brief review of the proceedings.
AI-XXX, dubbed The Intimate AI, saw more attrition than any previous AI. We rued the absences of Kate & Jim, Rich, Tony, Emma & Kevin & Wally (again). But, we persisted.
FOOD: opening night pizzas from The BD & Papa Nick, Friday night fried chicken from Chef Will, marvelous manicotti with meatballs & sausages from The BD on Italian Night, capped off with another Banquet bacchanal featuring roast prime filet with other good stuff. And...multiple meals of Mac and cheese, peanut butter toast and bowls of Cheerios for AriStan.
DRINK: 35 bottles of fine wine, a dozen or so Stanhattans and several cases of Spindrift flavored carbonated water
GOLF: The 18 holes played over the 4 days was ample demonstration of how golf has lost its place at the center of The AI. Gordon & The TD played 9 each day and were joined by The BD on day 1. More incredible, there were no scorecards, statistics, trophies or belts. Alas, poor Yorick....
GAMES: There were games. Well, actually one game that lasted 4 days; no, not cricket but something called Phase 10: "a rummy-type card game with an exciting twist!" We imagine someone won
LIP SYNC: oops, we did it again. Despite a late lobbying effort from Papa Nick, the show went on and it was, once again, something to behold. Exactly what remains unclear. The performances were scintillating. Highlights included duets from The BD & Sean and Paul & Marilyn and a somersalt from Kaz that miraculously did not result in a trip to the ER.
REMINISCING: We took one more look at the goings on at AI-XXIX with the help of our Official AI Editor, Nick
Well, that's it for now. A Save the date for AI-XXXI will be sent out prior to the invitations which will be before the event. So start practicing your lip sync and be careful when you open your front door....
We have passed the halfway point between AI-XXIX and the highly anticipated AI-XXX, making this post only six and a half months later than planned. From AI-HQ, much has happened—little of it worth recounting. There’s been golf, mahjong, cards, dinner parties, dog walking/ball playing, TV, cooking, eating, drinking, and hanging out at AI-HQ Highlands, followed by golf, mahjong, cards, dinner parties, dog walking/ball playing, TV, cooking, eating, drinking, and hanging out at AI-HQ West Glendale.
We are sure that AI-XXIX provided moments that will live forever in AI lore, and had we posted the intended recap immediately afterward, we would be happy to share them. Instead, we turn to the wisdom of the great Jimmy Breslin: “reminiscences are to be enjoyed, not authenticated.”
Who was there? Stalwart Stans Jim, Kate the Elder (KTE), Gordon, Rich, Sean, Nick, Emma, Nora (back after a year’s sabbatical), Edie, and Kate the Younger (KTY), The BD and The TD. The youngest Stan, Ari, made his second appearance. Emma’s beau, Kevin, made his inaugural pilgrimage. Neighbors Paul and Marilyn made their first appearance as invitees, after crashing lip sync the previous year. Wally was MIA.
Some traditions gained traction, many held strong, one is barely holding on. Cards, scribbage, and other games were ascendant, led by game mavens Edie, KTE, and Emma. Lip-sync performances dazzled with unbridled talent fueled by liquid courage. The BD and staff produced unending culinary masterpieces throughout the weekend. Meals stretched long into the night; glasses were rarely empty, vision blurred, conversation opaque. Meanwhile, golf—the erstwhile centerpiece of The AI—continued its relentless slide into irrelevance, accompanied by its historical incompetence.
And now we turn our lonely eyes to AI-XXX. Who woulda thunk it? From four guys in a hot tub to a toddler in a golf cart. From a “golf tournament” to a weekend bacchanal. From MetroWest to Palm Lake to Wildcat Cliffs. From idea to institution. From here to there. From here to eternity. From THE AI to that other AI. The bar we’ve set is high (and always open), the expectations incongruous, the reality warped. The arc of The AI is long, but it bends toward inertia.
OK, on to the point—if there is one. When? Where? And, if so, why?
Day 3 of AI-XXIX, aka Italian Night followed by Lip Sync, was an epic affair that stretched into the wee hours of Sunday morning. Showing questionable judgment, neighbors Paul & Marilyn joined The AI Stans for the festivities. Things kicked off with an order for 7 Stanhattans which were mixed all at once in the world’s largest cocktail shaker provided to The AI several years ago by the erstwhile Baroness von Sidecar. The BD’s annual tour de force was eagerly devoured by the faithful whose ravenous behavior perfectly encapsulated what was possibly The BD’s best effort in Italian Night history….and that’s saying something. Something. Dinner was washed down with copious bottles of wine and capped off with a scrumptious peach cobbler courtesy of Official AI Pastry Chef, Sean.
Stans were having so much fun chatting, drinking & eating that The BD had her hands full getting them to move inside for Lip Sync. But, in they went and the performances will be remembered (?) as the greatest in Lip Sync’s XI years. There were disco lights, not one, but two gimbals, setting a new AI record & possibly world record for most gimbals used at a lip sync party.
Nick: The Godfather
Paul: You Can’t Do That
The BD: Big Yellow Taxi
Sean: Let’s Go Crazy
Emma: Pink Pony Girl
Marilyn: He’ll Come Again
Rich: Along Comes Mary
Reef: Here Comes My Baby
Mitch: Mama Told Me Not To Come
Nora: Devil Is A Friend of Mine
Kaz: I Want It That Way
Mitch & Jim on tape lip syncing themselves with Do You Wanna Dance
The performances were over but no one wanted the party to stop. And it didn't. A couple of oldie but goodies from The AI Production archives followed by a handful of classic music videos that had the Stans rocking and rolling and still drinking.
It’s Flag Day at AI-XXIX and the Stans are gradually assembling at AI-HQ for day 3 of action and somnambulance. By 7 pm on Day 1 everyone had made their way here and the frivolity commenced in earnest as well as in Highlands. The BD & Papa Nick feted the assemblage with one phenomenal pizza after another. Stans got caught up with another’s comings & going since the last AI ensued fueled by several (sic) bottles of wine and a few Stanhattans.
Day 2 was marked by the occasional rain shower, games of spades, scribbage, blockhead, 9 holes of golf and repeated trips for Ari in his now favorite mode of transportation the “golf cart.”
The BD came through on schedule as she always does with a feast of pigs in blankets, tater tots, mustard slaw, piles of fried chicken and banana pudding. The evening was kind of quiet, at least by AI standards, but things picked up to the sound of shattering glassware. This seemed to energize the group. The party moved inside and a duel for attention and volume began between the OG Stans (Rich, Gordon, Jim & the TD) who were playing YouTube videos (again) and the young Stans who were seated around the dining room table trying to play a game amid the din. Despite their proximity conversation was impossible so, in what will be remembered as a sea change in hierarchy at The AI, Nick was drafted to ask the OG’s to turn it down, which he bravely did.
