Sands’ takes guests back to the ’60s to raise money for AIN
Hunter Sullivan, center, and his seven-piece orchestra will provide the music at The Sands.
The 1920s might have roared, but the 1960s were a gas, babe!
After several years raising money with its Roaring ’20s-themed Great Gatsby party, this year AIDS Interfaith Network is fast-forwarding several decades to the swinging days of The Rat Pack with The Sands, a “retro nightclub fundraising event” set for Saturday, Nov. 5, at the 2616 Commerce Event Center in Deep Ellum.
Hunter Sullivan and his seven-piece orchestra will help evoke the era of Las Vegas’ Sands Night Club, and Vintage Martini, the classic resale shop, will stage a 1960s fashion show. There will also be an open bar, light hors d’oeuvres and complimentary valet parking from 9 p.m.-midnight,
AIN Development Director Nestor Estrada explained that the money raised at the party would help fund programs and services for the agency’s clients. For example, he said, one VIP ticket pays for three weeks of meals and two months of bus passes for one client. Each regular admission ticket pays for a one-month bus pass and a week of meals for a client.
“The more money we raise, the more meals and other services we can provide,” Estrada said.General admission tickets are $75, and VIP tickets are $150. Sponsorships are available, ranging from $2,000 (Emerald) to $5,000 (Diamond).
VIP ticketholders and sponsors have access to a private Amorada Tequila Cocktail reception from 8-9 p.m., and the doors open to general admission ticketholders at 9 p.m.
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PARTY TALK
If you’re gonna party like the Rat Pack at The Sands, you gotta know the lingo. Here’s a list of terms from the special language that Frank, Dean, Sammy, Sal, Peter and Joey created in their hey-day, taken from various sites on the Internet, so you can brush up before you go:
• 18 Karat All the way, full-out: “An 18 karat idiot.”
• Baby: Used as an exclamation as well as a term of endearment.
• Bag: A person’s particular interest; as in “singing’s my bag.”
• Barn Burner: A very stylish, classy woman.
• Beard: A male friend who acts as a “cover,” usually for extramarital affairs.
• Beetle: A girl who dresses in flashy clothes.
• Big-Leaguer: A resourceful man who can handle any situation.
• Big Casino: Death.
• Bird: The male or female genitalia; standard greeting: “How’s your bird?”
• Bombsville: Any kind of failure in life; see “-ville.”
• Broad: Affectionate term for a girl or woman with sex appeal.
• Bum: A person who is despised, most frequently linked to people in the media.
• Bunter: A man who fails in almost everything he does; the opposite of gasser.
• Cash Out: Leave, as in “Cash me out of this party” = “I’m leaving.”
• Charley: What the rat-packers called one another.
• Charlies: Admiring word for a woman’s breasts.
• Chick: A young and invariably pretty girl.
• Clam-Bake: A party or get-together.
• Clyde: A word used to cover a multitude of personal observations; e.g., “I don’t like her clyde” means “I don’t like her voice,” etc.
• Coo-Coo: See “crazy”
• Cool: A term of admiration for a person or place. An alternative word meaning the same thing is “crazy.”
• Crazy… A term of admiration for a personal, place, or thing; similar to “cool.”
• Creep: A man who is disliked for any reason.
• Croaker: A derogatory term for a doctor.
• Crumb: A person it is impossible to respect.
• Dame: A generally derogatory term for a probably unattractive woman.
• Dig: A term of appreciation; e.g., “I dig that broad.”
• Dimmer: Eyes (as in “I gotta see the croaker about my bad dimmers.”)
• “Drop it, Charley” Change the conversation; see “Good night, all.”
• Duke: Tip.
• Dying: An exaggerated term to mean slightly upset; e.g. “I’m dying.”
• End: A word to signify that someone or something is the very best; “the living end.”
• Endsville: Total failure; similar to “bombsville;” see “-ville.”
• Fink: A person who cannot be relied upon or trusted, especially someone in the media; a crumb.
• First Base: The start of something, usually applied in terms of failure when someone has failed to reach it.
• Fracture: To make laugh; as in “That fractures me.”
• Gas: A great situation; as in “That set was a gas.”
• Gasoline: Alcohol
• Gasser: A highly admired person; the end!
• Gofer: Someone who performs menial jobs and tasks; “Go for drinks.”
• Good Night All: A term of invective used to change the subject of conversation.
• Groove: A term of admiration or approval; as in “In the groove.”
• Harvey: A person who acts in a stupid or naive fashion; sometimes shortened to “Harv.”
• Hacked: Angry; as in “He’s hacked off.”
• Hello!: A cry of surprise to no one in particular when a beautiful woman is seen.
• Hey-Hey: Indulging in anything of a sexual nature with a woman.
• Hunker: A jack-of-all-trades; see “gopher.”
• Jokes: An actor’s lines in a screenplay
• Let’s Lose Charley: A term used among intimates who want to get rid of a bore in their company.
• Little Hey-Hey: Romance; a little action with a broad.
• Locked-up: As in “All locked-up,” a term for a forthcoming date or engagement, private or public.
• Loser: Anyone who has made a mess of their life, drinks too much, makes the wrong enemies, etc.
• Mish-Mash: Similar to loser, but refers specifically to a woman who is messed up.
• Mothery: Terrific; wild and wicked.
• Mouse: Usually a small, very feminine girl who invites being cuddled.
• Nowhere: A term of failure, as in “He’s nowhere.”
• Odds: Used in connection with important decisions, as in “The odds aren’t right,” meaning it’s a no-go.
• Original Loser: A person without talent; sometimes more fully expressed as “He is the original Major Bowes Amateur Hour loser.”
• Pallie: Dean Martin’s nickname for everyone, whether a lifelong friend or a bellhop.
• Platinum: Having a big heart, generous: “You’re platinum, pussycat!”
• Player: A man who is a gambler by nature, makes friends easily, and never gives up trying.
• Punks: Any undesirables, in particular criminals, gangsters, or mobsters.
• Rain: As in “I think it’s going to rain,” indicating that it is time to leave a dull gathering or party.
• Ring-a-Ding: A term of approval, as in “What a ring-a-ding broad!”
• Sam: Used in the same way as Charley for a person whose name has been forgotten, most often applied to females.
• Scam: To cheat at gambling, as in “Hey, what’s the scam?”
• Scramsville: To run off.
• Sharp: A person who dresses well and with style.
• Smashed: A word used to describe someone who is drunk. On occasions it has been replaced with “pissed.”
• Solid: Definite, reliable. (Note: This was also used by Linc in The Mod Squad.)
• Square: A person of limited character, not unlike a Harvey.
• Swing: v. To hang out and drink, smoke, sing, generally get real loose.
• Ta-Ta: Goodbye.
• Tomato: As in “a ripe tomato,” a woman ready for seduction or even marriage.
• Twirl: A girl who loves dancing.
• -ville: A suffix used to indicate changes in any given situation; see “endsville,” “splitsville,” etc.
• Witchdoctor: Member of the clergy.
• Wow-ee, Wow-Wow: Figured importantly in the Rat Pack lexicon for a while in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. It was an expression of glee, joyful anticipation and a euphemism for lubricious fun.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition October 28, 2016.