P is for Party at Anne Rice's House!

For today's A to Z Blogging Challenge, the letter is P. So I'd like to tell you about a Party I went to in 1991 in New Orleans when I was 3 days away from my 23rd birthday. The party was part of the New Orleans Writers' Conference, and was hosted by Anne Rice at her amazing mansion. It was a black tie affair, so I rented a tux for the evening.

Page 1 of the party's program

One of the cool things about this was that it was shortly after the release of her novel The Witching Hour, which I had read a few months earlier. I enjoyed the novel quite a bit. Anne Rice based the mansion's setting in the novel on her own home, plus in the novel, there were a number of black tie parties (if I remember correctly) so while at the party, it sort of felt like you were part of the novel.

Page 2 of the program

Another neat thing was that Anne had opened her house up completely. You were basically free to roam through her (and husband Stan's) house. It was fun to look through her collection of VCR tapes and check out her writing office. Also, there were Stan's paintings hanging all about, and they were really cool - very vibrant colors, with a very New Orleans' feel.

Page 3 of the program, listing all the caterers and others.

So aside from the main house, there was also an expansive yard, complete with pool and guest house. To give you an idea of how big the whole place was, all those caterers listed above were scattered throughout her yard, serving up free food and drinks. Also, near the pool was a band (The Snapbeans!) while at the same time a piano player played in her house, and a sax player played on one of her balconies.

The food was amazing. I was served turtle soup by Paul Prudhomme. I also had baked Alaska for the first time, and other delicious items. Jimmy Buffet and his daughter were at the party. So were Wendy Wasserstein and Roy Blount, Jr.

As I was leaving to catch the bus back to the conference hotel, Anne and Stan were there to wish us farewell, and as I thanked her for the wonderful evening, she shook my hand and said, "Be careful." I guess I'd had more to drink than I'd thought.

Back of the program

It was a fantastic, memorable evening.

* * * * * 

Visit Joel's Amazon Page!