I had probably the best NYE ever this past weekend and I thought I’d share some very funny photos featuring my favorite OD yoyo, the nickel-plated Dang. ;D
Background:
A friend’s family has a house in Aspen and his parents were kind/brave enough to allow 20 or so 20-somethings to converge there over the weekend for new years. For NYE, we were originally planning to outfit the back of a truck with a sound system to create a mobile dance party but someone had the bright idea to try sourcing a wagon instead, so we wouldn’t have to worry about the logistics of driving/following a car (DD, police, etc.). We couldn’t find a wagon, but we were able to dig out an old baby stroller and managed to outfit it with an amp+speaker. We christened our creation the “Womp Baby”, made a sign, and lit it up. After putting on the most outlandish costumes we could manage, our 20-strong gang attacked the town around 10:30, blasting great music, dancing, and stopping to create impromptu dance floors.
We didn’t know what to expect, but it ended up being a success! We were never stopped by cops, we had 50 people following us at one point, ran the party for 5.5 hours, and the reactions of the predominantly ritzy populace was overwhelmingly positive. It was really funny seeing the contrast of our group of crazily dressed, wildly dancing, Burning Man-esque (read: weird) kids against the backdrop of fur coats, evening dresses, tuxedos, and fancy shops. The only people that were unhappy were the owners of some of the upscale bars/clubs/restaurants that we stopped in front of since oftentimes people would leave their establishment to join us. Favorite line from a new groupie: “OMG, this is sooooo much fun!! And it’s free!!! No covercharge!”
Here are some photos I took during the pre-party before we set out:
A video a passerby posted on Youtube:
PS: It really is true - non-yoyoers are easily impressed! When I busted out the Dang during the pre-party, people were in awe just at the fact that it’s unresponsive and spins for so long. They were amazed with silly bind returns, and jaws dropped to the floor after a plastic whip+gyroscropic flop. They even loved the humble picture tricks!