Last evening I had the incredibly good fortune of attending the Christmas party at The Belcourt. If you don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t regularly follow this blog or happen to live in Nashville you might not know that The Belcourt is the loveliest place in all of Nashville to see a film. From Bela Tarr?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s rarely screened ?¢‚Ǩ?ìSatantango?¢‚Ǩ¬ù to the Gilliam and Monty Python retrospective that will be screening to coincide with the release of Gilliam?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s new film ?¢‚Ǩ?ìTideland?¢‚Ǩ¬ù Toby Leonard (himself an occasional contributor to our growing more magical by the moment family of bloggers) and the rest of the team at The Belcourt make showing great films an absolute labor of love and their Christmas party was assembled with just as much love and care.

I arrived at the festivities with my wingman (wingwoman? Wingperson?) our own Roxanne Benjamin and as we entered we were greeted with a wonderful sight, a table full of fine holiday eats placed right in front of the tiny theatre?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s largest screen, onto which ?¢‚Ǩ?ìNational Lampoon?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s Christmas Vacation?¢‚Ǩ¬ù was being projected. This struck me as a mighty fine way to kick things off. But the fun didn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t stop there, soon ?¢‚Ǩ?ìThe Party Bus?¢‚Ǩ¬ù arrived and Christmas spirits and blood alcohol levels alike soared to staggering heights. For those of you unfamiliar with the ?¢‚Ǩ?ìParty Bus?¢‚Ǩ¬ù phenomenon I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ll take a moment to try and explain. ?¢‚Ǩ?ìThe Party Bus?¢‚Ǩ¬ù is a former school bus that?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s been equipped with bench seating, a steady stream of adult beverages, a dance floor (a light-up Saturday Night Fever style dance floor at that) and an on board DJ whose name escapes me but who was responsible for playing both Salt and Pepa?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s ?¢‚Ǩ?ìPush It?¢‚Ǩ¬ù and The Weather Girl?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s ?¢‚Ǩ?ìIt?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s Raining Men?¢‚Ǩ¬ù at least two times each and at decibel levels far louder than I ever thought I would hear either.

After a brief explanation of the rules of the Party Bus?¢‚Ǩ‚Äùwhich range from the fairly obvious, no narcotics or homemade shivs to the slightly more bizarre explanation of the bus?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ ?¢‚Ǩ?ìblack boxes?¢‚Ǩ¬ù. I won?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t go into too much detail but I will say that these ?¢‚Ǩ?ìblack boxes?¢‚Ǩ¬ù are much different than the type you might find on an airplane. They are constructed out of plywood and are meant to act as the bus?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ line of defense against any passenger who may suddenly find him or herself unable to hold their nog in any longer. Luckily, for the entire duration of our Party Bus experience the boxes remained unused but I did allow myself to briefly wonder what sort of horrors these ?¢‚Ǩ?ìblack boxes?¢‚Ǩ¬ù had seen during their tours of duty.

I didn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t entertain such dark notions for very long though, as my attention couldn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t help but be pulled in the direction of the dance floor where Belcourt Manager Elise Tyler and a slew of others proved without a shadow of a doubt that ?¢‚Ǩ?ìcrunk?¢‚Ǩ¬ù is not a racially exclusive term (those crazy kids have some moves on ?¢‚ǨÀúem). Also in attendance were brothers Jake and Jamin Orrall the masterminds behind Infinity Cat (a very cool local record label) and one of Nashville?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s best bands, Jeff. Not to mention one of my favorite Nashville people and a bit of an East Nashville icon Manda Hackney who busted a number of dance floor moves herself and was kind enough to show me the exact spot where she encountered the ghost of the supposedly haunted Belcourt. So I thank each and every one of the good folks of The Belcourt for a rather festive holiday memory and also proof filled pudding that cinephiles know how to throw down with the best of them. I never thought i’d say this but…ahem…God bless us everyone.