"Hey Fred, what are you doing next Friday?"
"Nothing."
"I got a table at this fundraiser if you want to go. It's called 'Night Of 100 Elvises'. You interested?"
"You had me at 'Elvis'. I didn't even really need the other 99. I would have said yes to just one Elvis."
So tomorrow night I am going to the Lithuanian Hall for what looks like a rip-roaring good time. I don't have time to explain the whole thing to you, but here is the web site: http://www.nightof100elvises.com/. Let's just say that it is a whole lot of Elvis, a whole lot of free Heavy Seas beer, and fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches for dessert. Now I have never seen an Elvis impersonator live. On TV? Sure. Posing for pictures with tourists in Vegas? Yeah. But multiple Elvis impersonators on multiple stages on different floors all at one--and no songs are duplicated--well, this I have to see. I don't know what we're raising money for, and I don't really care*. This is going to be a trip. Apparently this thing has been a home-run here in Baltimore for twenty years, and I can't wait to check it out.
In other, non-Elvis-related news, today is the 80th anniversary of the actual repeal of Prohibition. And we have Utah to thank for it. That's right, by being the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, Utah provided the final state needed to provide the two-thirds majority to pass the amendment. Pretty cool info. Didn't think you'd learn anything today did you? Did you know that Mississippi chose to maintain Prohibition until 1966. We already had people going into outer space and coming back alive, but you could not get a legal drink in Mississippi. Crazy.
So be sure to raise a toast to Utah today at 5:32 pm EST, wherever you are. And then raise one to every brave soul who lived in Mississippi from 1933 to 1966. What were they thinking? Pack up and move people! Maybe that's why there is so much poverty in that state. Anyone with the means to do it packed up and split so they could get a cold beer without breaking the law.
And while you're doing all of this toasting, raise one to the 1.78 million people that are employed in the brewing industry in this country alone. I'll drink to that. Have a great weekend everyone.
PS-- Fun Fact: Maryland was the only state to not pass a law enacting Prohibition. Once the federal law was enacted, there was nothing they could do about it though.
*The money goes to Johns Hopkins Children's Center, and I do care about that.
