The B-Masters Cabal

First, the details. Then, the waxing poetic.

NYCWhisky.com, Teleport City, and Ward III, with oversight from the Japan Society, are holding

A DRAM FOR JAPAN
A whisky tasting and auction for Japanese quake and tsunami relief

April 2, 2011, 5pm – 8pm
Ward III in Tribeca, NYC (111 Reade Street)

Tickets are $30, available through EventBrite: http://nycwhisky-japanbenefit.eventbrite.com/
Even if you can’t make it, you can still donate through that link.

100% of the money we collect goes to the Japan Society’s relief fund.

The event includes food, cocktails created specifically for the event, whisky tastings, and an auction of whisky, artwork, and other collectibles.

Updates on who’s pouring and what’s up for auction are here:
http://teleport-city.com/wordpress/?page_id=20342

If you can’t make it or don’t have the spare cash for a donation, no worries. You can still help out by spreading the word among friends and colleagues. Please circulate the teleport-city.com/wordpress/?page_id=20342 link as much as you want.

We also have a QR Code that points to the ticket and donation page, because sometimes technology is awesome. Folks can scan it with their phone and get pointed in the right direction without having to write down URLs and event details.

So I doubt I need to explain to anyone here how huge a role Japan and Japanese pop culture plays in the lives of us Teleport City lads. When the quake and tsunami hit, I was in Austin (Stomp Tokyo says hi, by the way) with a group of friends who’d just flown in from Japan that same day. I may be a cynic — at this point, make that nihilist — about American politics and politicians, but in regards to almost all other things, I am still a fervent idealist. Within hours of the news breaking, people mobilized via Skype, Twitter, Facebook, and various other methods to track down friends and loved ones, gather and disseminate news, and begin collecting money for relief effort. By the next morning, the Japan Nite contingent and SXSW organizers had a website, booth, and online donation mechanism in full swing.

An it struck me how quick, smart, and passionate us film nerds, music nerds, tech nerds, and assorted other freaks and geeks can be. Teleport City is no juggernaut of pop culture, but we have our friends. And I am a big believer in the notion that what we’re doing here, as curators of thoughts regarding strange and sometimes baffling films from all over the world, is a lot more than just goofing off. I also believe that this amazing network of fans of cult films, anime, weird music, travel, whiskey, toys, technology, what have you can mobilize and make a difference, if you’ll pardon the cliche.

This is the first time Teleport City has had the capacity and the professional network of friends to host an event like this, so we are admittedly rough around the edges and stumbling our way through. Japan’s Society’s willingness to vouch for us (after we signed some legal forms, of course) means a lot, and in general, the fact that we have so many friends in Japan affected directly by the disaster is going to make me feel totally cool with being a bit pushy when it comes to promoting this event.

So that’s that. Sorry if it’s rambling. I had a wisdom tooth pulled today, and for the first time in my life, I am on a prescription medicine.

If you want to do me  big favor, spread the word.