Midnight Sun Mixer: the morning after

This is today's first post. No, it's not the mixer's fault, like some of you guessed. Not entirely anyway.

Despite two beers, two shots of mysterious components, and a pickle back, I still made it early to work this morning.

But all day I've been finishing up a story for Sunday's paper about Lower Dens, Future Islands, Weekends and other young Baltimore bands.

I definitely needed more coffee than usual this morning, but I had worse hangovers in grade school.

I got to Don't Know a little bit after seven last night. Evan, of The City that Breeds, and Jason Zink were already there drinking with Sessa. I checked into foursquare, and from then on, I must have gotten drunker, or just really enjoyed the conversation, because it was my last check-in of the night on any social media.

By the time I had swapped my Blue Moon for a Loose Cannon, Ryan, of Quarterlifeparty, had shown up. So had Alexander D. Mitchell IV (whose pictures you see above), Cyclops' Andy Rubin (pictured on the right), friend and coworker June Torbati and Angela Devoti, formerly of Atlas bar, sporting a leopard-print trench. Tif Saleem showed up later, with his wife Micki. At some point Evan iced Sessa in revenge.

There were about 20 people in all (maybe more?); it was hard to tell who was there for our shindig or to hang out. Idea for next time? Name tags. Also: snacks.

Thanks to everyone else who came. If I didn't say hello, it's because, unless I'm knocking on your door looking for a quote, I'm usually pretty shy.

The night at the tavern ended around 10:30, from what I remember, with some very minty shots. From there, Devoti, Evan and Ryan took me to Idle Hour to try my first pickle back. The place is classier than Bryan Ferry . I'll come back soon for the Chartreuse.

Having survived my first mixer, I have only one lingering question: when's the next one?

Photos by Alexander D. Mitchell IV