One week to go!

Since serious planning for this event started in February, it's gratifying and exciting to realize that it's less than 170 hours away - and with winery and vineyard making their own demands, not to mention family, friends and fans, the additional time and thought required to deal with unassembled dancing cages, efficient wine dispensing equipment, radical venue decoration, colorful handouts, security considerations, and shuffling Elvis impersonators and other (dare I say real? - no, I don't) rock stars amongst hotel rooms, I think I'll sit down for a minute and write a blog post. Wasn't that fun?

Wet Zeppelin Video

Courtesy of the mighty Tortelvis, twenty seconds

of the finest Cayucos wine and cheese!

Musicans at Wet Zeppelin!

With the perhaps timely demise of the Flying Mambos (surfers put guitars down, pick up bongs and fly to Sumatra) we can breathe slightly easier . . . we have a wealth of incredibly talented musicians, and only one party to feature them at! That means that everyone else can do one more song. We also have the awesome Taco Temple as our protein concessionaire, serving from 6ish until the food runs out . . .

Where the party is, where to stay. Questions?

WET ZEPPELIN IS A SCHOLARSHIP BENEFIT!

Our last three wild winery events have been birthday parties limited to a couple of hundred invitees, but now it's time to go big. As there's a burgeoning Wine and Viticulture major at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, we thought that we would make our next event a scholarship benefit for deserving students, to be selected by Stillman in consultation with faculty. Please donate generously, or at least as much as you would spend if you had to pay for the wine that you'll drink! We're also looking for volunteers to help with checking people in, designing and building sets and decorations, and helping Stillman manage the musicians. Well, maybe not the last one.

To offer help or find out more, email StillmanB@aol.com or call him at 805-550-6492. Thanks!

A Brief History of A Dozen Years of Partying, part 1

This is what started it all. Possibly worth re-reading, even if you were a recipient . . .

April 21, 1997

Stillman Brown

Your Name
Somewhere Out There
Our Mailing List

Dear Friend, (insert actual name here if person is really important)

We know you get a lot of mail from wineries and wine-related businesses, and most of it is junk. So many points, so little wine, so give us your credit card number. Well, this would have been one of those letters, if only we had any sense . . . the wineries and wine shops that do that sort of thing seem to make money at it. But who needs money?

This is an exclusive invitation to attend a major historical event. In the tradition of the humane, selfless aristocrats of the European Renaissance, men and women of honor who, inspired by their holy faith, bequeathed subsequent generations of humanity some of the greatest works of art the world has ever beheld, we have commissioned a painting. The artist is a heretofore unknown genius; and the subject is the defining cultural and religious event of the twentieth century, which was not fully recognized until recently.

At 6 P.M. on Friday, May 2, 1997, at the London Wine Bar at 415 Sansome Street in downtown San Francisco, California, we will unveil for the first time a painting by Robert Cochran, “The Death Of Elvis Presley.” We hope that you will be able to attend.

Yours,

(sign here if hand is steady enough)

Stillman Brown
Jory Winery

WET ZEPPELIN band lineup expands!

As you can plainly see from our poster above (once your eyes adjust to the flames) we have recruited several more phenomenal musical acts for Wet Zeppelin. We're also seeking set designers, who will doubtless tell us that our idea for launching the Cayucos Veterans Hall into the Pacific Ocean at the end of the party is perhaps overly ambitious. Fine - what's YOUR idea?!?