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all photos: Dakota Fine, Mike Danko, Shauna Alexander, Ben Droz & onomonomedia photo booth (see the full set of those on our flickr here)
Dear All,
Last Friday we threw the biggest party (ever? – 3000 people in their festive best stampeded through the Newseum door) and we would like to THANK YOU all for coming. Autorock and Smudge provided some absolutely amazing tunes on the main floor and the silent disco level, respectively (THANK YOU). Dakota Fine (BYT’s chief photog) took all the photos and Erik Loften made the fantastic holiday card animation for the jumbotron installation (THANK YOU). Tad Daly gave a “Christmas at Ground Zero” speech at the Documentary Theater (THANK YOU). Pocket Gays were exemplary naughty elves (THANK YOU). And Legba lorded over them with finesse as Spider-Claus (SPANK YOU). The Onomonomedia photobooth took 285 photos of 1000s of you (THANK YOU). BYT interns worked non-stop to make sure you were checked in, braceleted and ushered into the space (THANK YOU). There was a dance circle and glowstick limbo (THANK YOU). Newseum allowed us to stay open an extra hour to make sure everyone got their party on despite that initial door bumrush (THANK YOU). Vitaminwater kept everyone hydrated and was in charge of the silent disco experience (THANK YOU). Smirnoff kept those cocktails in and out of elevator bars flowing (THANK YOU). By Saturday morning blog posts were trickling in and there were SEVERAL missed connections for people in red tops, green pants etc on craigslist (THANK YOU).
We will hopefully be back at the Newseum in the summer (early check-ins, no coat checks, no funny money, elevator AND balcony bars) BUT IN THE MEANTIME: ENJOY THE 1000S OF PHOTOS our dedicated photo staff took of the night (THANK YOU) and yes, we’re doing a NYE party (casually this time around)
MUCH LOVE FROM BYT.
Lets listen to Duck Sauce’s “Barbra Streisend” while we look at them (a song that spawned a million dance circles)
Dakota:
A little bit of video taken from the night…
Erik Loften (BYT creative director extraordinaire, and creator of the video you saw on the Jumbotron) in 3-D!!!:
Mike Danko:
Photo booth samples: (get your photo here)
Shauna:
Ben Droz:
Holler!
I do have a flickr account, and Svetlana80 is in my Contacts list, but all the photos have been blocked for over a year. Dunno why… it’s not really that important, just pointing it out.
Oops nevermind! I can see them if I tell flickr to stop protecting me from photos that are “unsafe” ha! Thanks and disregard my previous comment.
nice video clip
Enjoy all the boobs
Hey everybody, we appreciate both the positive feedback and constructive criticism.
This event was the first of its kind for the Newseum, and the first time we’ve worked with them. While BYT was not directly in charge of the bars, this was our event and we take full responsibility for all that was both good and bad. We’re sorry for those of you who had to wait in long lines and confusions and we are working with the venue and security to make adjustments for next time. We hope that extending the party for an hour helped make up for any time wasted and that the huge number of entertainment options available kept you happy even if you weren’t wasted. Despite some hiccups, we believe overall there were way more good vibes than bad and we appreciate the continued support.
The only epic thing about this event was the massive lines. Waited 25 min. in line in freezing temperatures only to continue making the massive lines once inside. Line for coat check, line for some ridiculous fake money, line for drinks? Seriously? Having attended other BYT parties, I was expecting more. The weather is cold, people are going to bring coats, have more coat checks, no funny money, why not use the tickets system like the Hirshorn, which makes the process faster. The bar I attempted to use near the silent disco ran out of “fake money” twice before I got to the “cashier” and this was after another 20 min. wait, then another 15 min, to get a drink. Great concept, brilliant venue, poor execution.
Wait – so are Michael and I the only ones that bring a flask to parties? Why complain about the drinks when you can just bring your own? I happened across a 30 year Macallen fine oak, and you just can’t get that type of quality with funny or real money around DC.
@DAKOTA so maybe BYT should recognize the restraints of their staff and budget and not allow an event to reach 3,000 people in attendance. I am assuming the House of Sweden cuts it at 500 for a reason…
@Dakota, MNDC hit the nail on the head. The only crybabies here are BYT and those on the planning committee who failed to make an honest assessment of their capacities in relation to this ongoing attempt to throw huge parties/make money. DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Throwing Newseum under the bus is just a sad attempt to keep jerking yourselves off.
My friends and I had a BLAST….I feel for the ppl that had to wait in lines. We got there right around 8pm so we did not have to deal with that all that crap…Plus upon arrival I bought enuff funny money so as not to run out…but I will say the funny $ was a lil weird hassle…but all in all…This was one of the best BYT parties I had ever attended!!!!
Happy Holidays!!!!
buncha uglies
She’s gonna push you out of the way to get to the drinks – she did it to me at the 2008 election night party.
It’s your party Svet!
This event was fuckin awesome. There will always be a few people that complain. Oh well.
So crowded I didn’t even see Paloma : /
All of the problems cited above would have been completely alleviated had people arrived earlier. My friends and I showed up at 8:10 and there was plenty of room to look around, get drink tickets, and get drinks. By the time the place was jammed with people I had a good buzz and a central spot with my friends, dancing and enjoying the crowd. Partygoers should realize that big public events like this do not go late and if you want to enjoy them to the fullest you need to get in while the getting is good. There is nothing “fashionable” about being late to this kind of party. Next time, cut your pregame and amp up your A-GAME, bitches!
@straight torquer
simply telling everyone to show up early only makes the issue of poor planning apparent…earlier.
I was there at 8:30, and still had to deal with a bunch of the aforementioned BS. I am glad some of you had a good time though.
This looked like a killer party! Thanks for posting these photos. My husband and I own a photo booth company in Kansas City and we’re always looking for fun new party and event ideas.
the photobooth photo set is set to “public” but it is possible you have to be a flickr user to see them. (let me check on that). alternatively-i’ll do a post with every single one of them later today
When I go to the flickr page, all the photos are blocked… is there any other way to see all the photobooth stuff?
yep, you have to have a flckr account (free or paid) to see any of our photos cause we forgot to tag a nip slip as unsafe one time.
Please play Duck Sauce at every event ever.
I had a great time, my only real complaint was that the event ended too early. And that getting my ID back after the silent disco was the most complicated ordeal I’ve ever endured.
I understand having to work within a venues regulations and limitations but there is no excuse for the poor event planning that took place for this event, as well as your other larger events. Its sad really, that you have such a great audience for events like these and access to such great venues but no forethought to basic event planning principles. Signs: All people needed were signs. You managed to basically create a circus of performances and activities, but you had no signs informing people of WTF was going on.
Oh and p.s. it’s not that people were trying to get wasted. It’s that we wanted to be informed about what was going on. I hope that this feedback will make future events better.
this event was supremely AMAZINGGGGG!!! thank you byt and newseum for hosting such a fabulous holiday bash!!!
I made the cut ! This event ROCKED. Loved the Silent DJ
Photos…great. Event organization…definitely not! Next time, forget the “funny money” and the ridiculous lines and just sell drink tickets at check in. It would take 30 seconds to sell four drink tickets at the door (or just include a couple in the ticket price), rather than the 30 minutes (no joke!) I spent in line waiting to buy the funny money. For an event that large, this was an amateur drink/bar plan.
I had such a fantastic, great time at this event. I was panicked when I showed up and saw a block of 2,000 people two blocks long. But, within 10 minutes your volunteers managed to get us all inside (great, since it was effin cold). The Newseum’s funny money policy wasn’t prepared for a crowd that size, but thanks for entertaining us while we waited. The elevator bars WERE OUTSTANDING! I think we just hung out in one elevator for a half our riding up and down. A treat. My girlfriend getting harassed by that elf was the highlight of the night.
@pocketgays are the hottest elves!!!
shut it down! noone told me rachael zoe was there!
Agree w NSP.. the “funny money” was just a terrible idea. You prob lost more money through drinks not purchased than you would have by bartender theft. I for one was not willing to wait in line for 30 minutes to buy a bunch of fake money in order to wait in another line for 20 more minutes for a drink, and then at the end wind up with a wasted $20 of fake money I didn’t use.
I will think twice about attending another BYT event unless it is clear this system will not be used. DJ was awesome though.
I’m pretty sure that funny money was a Newseum construct/policy. I’ve seen it used there before. I agree though. But, awesome party.
So much promise – such terrible execution. Come on BYT…hipsters can do a better job of planning events than this! The drink situation was just absolutely terrible. By the time I got into the newseum, lined up for the funny money, and then lined up again for a drink it was too late to really enjoy any of the cool stuff like the silent disco, photo booths or exhibitions! I brought a ton of people to this event and everyone was hugely disappointed. Agree with the previous comments… I too will seriously think twice about attending another BYT event.
yeah guys, the funny money is something stipulated in the gallery liquor permit for DC, its supposed to curtail excessive boozing in non-traditional spaces SUCH AS A MUSEUM, so thats why you couldn’t get as shit faced as you usually do at Lima.
SIDE NOTE: did anyone catch the facebook info of the blonde to my right in Droz’ pic? we had plans to meet up in Vegas when im there.
this makes me happy
Nice effort, but again BYT failed to deliver on organizing a large event. I should have known better after the NYE party (total disaster), but was lured in by the glittery promise of fun. Once there however, it was apparent that this was just another BYT letdown. No direction whatsoever, no one even checking tickets or ID’s, had no clue what the deal was with drinks or even where the bars were located (on my planet we call that signs, the first move in party planning). The only way to find anything out was by asking other super annoyed party goers. You guys just cannot seem to get it right with these big events, and I am done wasting my time and money with it.
Gan!
I have to second Lecram above. As a veteran of too many events in the city, I’d say the organization here ranked among the worst. Great venue, great crowd, terrible hassle getting in and getting a drink. I’d suggest you take notes from the crew at the House of Sweden; that’s the varsity team. BYT was JV on Friday.
bringpaoapepvef