While I'm out of town, topics to talk about amongst yourself about

I was one of the more unglamorous persons in attendance at d.b.a. last night to celebrate the day of birth of a certain Mr. Alex Day. I'm just keeping it real folks. I'm only a hack writer, I'm definitely no Allen Katz, Charles Vexenat or Johnny Iuzzini.

I found myself noticing the babyfacedness of one attendee in particular. One of the owners of Death and Company, Dave Kaplan, seemed dissatisfied with his newly shaven, so fresh and so clean face. I almost didn't recognize him. Quoth David: "I don't even recognize myself."

Alex Day on the other hand seemed both nervous and proud of his day's worth of facial fuzz. Daniel Eun showed up with a cleanly shaven head and informed me that Don Lee was also sporting a shorn pate.

So for those of you who don't want to be confused as I was or raise an eyebrow when some of your favorite bartenders in the city go from freshly shaven to increasingly shaggy over the next couple of months...it's a Bartender Beard-a-Thon.

Yes, you heard me right the first time. Sunday was the official start of this beard off with participants shaving their faces to even the playing field. I didn't get to ask Daniel to elaborate if the shaved head was more of a show of camaraderie or if shaved heads also count, but all beard-a-thoners will be growing their beards out until the end of the year.

As a facial hair aficionado I'll definitely keep my eye on this because this is quite possibly the awesomest thing I've heard of in a while. I'm tempted to check in on the participants with progress reports.

I'm not exactly sure how this will be judged, though. Like whether it's something along the lines of "Most Improved," or if the shaggiest and most bountifully bearded man wins.

Either way, I'll follow-up with this and more, like the opening of Sasha Petraske's White Star, once I return from Chicago.