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Fox 5
Venue: H2O
Style inspiration: Cruise ship
Food lowlight: Gummy crab cakes
Token entertainment: Fake Texas hold ’em in the room dubbed the “Fox Caribbean Casino”
Music: Reggae band DKGB
Defining moment: Listening to members of DKGB play “Just the Two of Us” with steel drums
Party favor: Tote bag and floppy hat emblazoned with TV Guide and DirecTV logos
Sierra Club
Venue: Pizzeria Uno, Union Station
Style inspiration: Enviro booth outside a Dixie Chicks show
Food lowlight: $5 beer, which was $2.19 if you sat at Uno’s regular bar
Token entertainment: Laptop displaying scary video on environmental fallout from nukes
Music: The sound of people discussing light rail and Metro
Defining moment: When, upon the arrival of Ward 8 Councilmember-Elect Marion S. Barry, one greenie whispered into Barry’s ear, “Anyone bothers you, let me know”
Party favor: None, unless you won the raffle for a Sierra Club backpack, trial membership to Results, or Sierra Club T-shirt
ROOT Inc. (Reaching Out to Others Together), a nonprofit organization that aids families of homicide victims
Venue: The Ellington, first-floor party room
Style inspiration: Faux art-deco church
Food lowlight: Soggy veggie quesadillas
Token entertainment: Spoken-word performance concerning the aftermath of homicide and culture of street violence
Music: Early on, piped-in smooth jazz and gospel; a few hours in, piped-in oldies but goodies (James Brown, Marvin Gaye)
Defining moment: Ellington developer Chris Donatelli paying his $5 party donation by check
Party favor: Depression
Jews United for Justice
Venue: Columbia Heights group house
Style inspiration: Columbia Heights group house
Food lowlight: Salted peanuts
Token entertainment: Complimentary Jewish speed dating
Music: A disgruntled klezmer duo; later, Toto’s “Africa”
Defining moment: The guy hitting on his friend’s sister
Party favor: Hangover
Downtown Business Improvement District
Venue: Pearl Restaurant and Lounge
Style inspiration: Eurotrash bar, as designed by the E! network
Food lowlight: Orange goop on top of baked brie
Token entertainment: Paid safety-and-maintenance (SAM) workers dressed up in giant furry outfits resembling a snowman, toy soldier, Christmas tree, and gingerbread woman
Music: Eurotrash disco!
Defining moment: When noncostumed SAM workers explained that they were being paid to guard their furry brethren from any would-be attackers—and to make sure they didn’t topple over
Party favor: Sticks from the steak-on-a-stick