Parkerfest 2004 is Oct. 1-3 and tickets are on sale now. There is an international interest, with some winging in from the U.K. and Sweden for it. The schedule:
The Dorothy Parker Bathtub Gin Ball & Speakeasy Cruise on Friday, Oct. 1.
We are sailing on The Diplomat. This 135-foot yacht was launched in 1930 for the president of Standard Oil. It was quite the ship back then, even FDR was a passenger. The owners spent a half-million dollars to restore it. All the photos are here.
Featuring live music by Bliss Blood and the Cantonement Jazz Band (listen here). Joining them as special guest will be Cindy Ball, who is the reincarnation of Helen Kane, aka Betty Boop. She will boop-boop-be-do you with a special show.
We are boarding at 7 and sailing at 8 at from Skyport Marina, East 23rd Street and the FDR Drive. (Note: it was previously announced that we’d depart at 9 from Pier 81, this is changed). About 25% of the tickets have been snapped up already, so don’t wait to the last minute to book your passage on the cruise around Manhattan. We dock at 11 pm, a special secret post-party is also planned!
Also, because Parkerfest is the same weekend as the New Yorker Festival and New York is Book Country book fair, we are holding the walking tour on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (noon at the Gonk. If you attend the jazz cruise, the walking tour is only $10). The walking tours begin and end at the Algonquin. We will walk through the Theatre District, Rockefeller Center, Times Square and Hell’s Kitchen.