OBBIV

Another OBB has now come and gone.
This was the fourth annual Owens Backyard Bash (OBB).

For those of you that don't know, we started this tradition as a “wouldn’t it be fun to have a party with all our friends” before the kids return to college.

That first year it actually became Tommy & Becky’s wedding celebration.

It was quite the surprise when they said, “all our friends have RSVP’d that they are coming for the OBB, so we were thinking it would be a good time to get married.”
That was just two weeks before the first OBB and let me tell you that that was a pretty BUSY two weeks!
Tommy finally had to write on the e-vite that “NO Becky is not pregnant!” because they got asked so many times if that was the reason for the quick wedding.
The real reason was that they were buying a new house and had been engaged for almost a year and were just READY!
All the numerous details involved with weddings were quickly whittled down to bare necessities and the wedding and OBB wedding celebration turned out great!
As someone said, and I agree, “If you have one year to get ready for a wedding, it takes one year…if you have 2 weeks for a wedding, it takes 2 weeks!”

We have continued the OBB tradition because everyone seems to really have a good time getting together, drinking, and enjoying the music.

Now out of those reasons, my favorite is always the music (since most of the music is my boys!)and getting to see everyone.

Being the “I know someone who died like that “ kind of person, I always worry about the drinking part. Fortunately, most of the guests try to abide by the drinking rules: No drinking and driving. A lot of the guests do sleepover and that really is one of the fun parts of the OBB.

People always ask if we are going to do the OBB next year, and the answer to that is always conditional on the outcome of each party. If there is a “drinking problem”, that would be one way to cancel future OBB’s in my mind. I guess that means that future OBB’s are dependent on the current guests.

I was a little nervous this year because of our short visit last year from the city police. They had a complaint about “loud noise and band.” The funny part about that visit was that they had a little trouble finding a parking spot out front due to all the parked cars. By the time they found a parking spot and located the “responsible party” (that would be my husband and I), the band had already broken down. They were very nice and didn’t stay but about 5 minutes. Some of the party guests didn’t even know they were present. They left stating that if they got another complaint, we would have to move indoors but both officers indicated that they did not see any problems. We didn’t have any visits from the “city’s finest” this year, so I would mark OBBIV as a success.

I understand that the tentative OBBV is already scheduled for Aug. 4, 2007. Check out Jerry’s blog with the official OBBV countdown. Jerry’s parents were saying that he rated the OBB right up there with Christmas and Thanksgiving and that he definitely would not want to miss it.

This year the OBBIV started out pretty quiet. We have discussed moving the start time later since the 11:59 AM time makes for a long day. The majority of partygoers usually come around 4:00-5:00. I really enjoyed the quiet start this year and the early start allows the band members get a chance to eat before they perform. The time detail will be discussed prior to OBBV evites going out.

This year I thought the music was very eclectic and, for the most part, pretty good.
When I say “ for the most part”, I mean that there always are those request songs that the band hasn’t really practiced much. I am always amazed that the band can perform those requests “off the top of their head” and still sound reasonable. Phish, Alison Krauss, Indigo girls, Dave Mathews, Justin songs, Johnny Cash, “the Boss”, the Beatles and many more were all represented musically. (Gee Justin…that’s a pretty good group to be listed with….)

The OBB is always a time for many performers to join the OBros and this year was no exception.

We didn’t get a performance with Uncle Gary this year on the drums and I’m not sure how that happened. Uncle Gary was the first drummer to ever play with the boys, many years ago.

I personally always love the Fri night before the OBB, because that is “Practice night”. It is always a blast to see all the Owens family, (Dad & uncle included) playing music together in the basement.

I said a couple of times during the OBBIV, “OH, I have to listen to this song…this is one of my favorites”.
One of the partygoers said to me later in the night, “I have heard you say that more than once today.” I guess most of the songs the boys play would be “my favorites!”

OBBIV was a record breaking moment….It was Michal’s debut singing venue. That was pretty fun to see him joining in the vocals and it looked like he had a great time!

The weather this year could not have been more perfect!! It was much better than the 90+humidity that we had last year.

The OBBIV had the traditional flip cup game and the traditional “WVa hot dog” fixings. Pretty soon we may have a lot more converts to the WVa way to make a hot dog. (This is a hot dog with homemade chili and topped with cole slaw. )

Finally, my 80+ year old neighbor that I traditionally take cookies to after the OBB for tolerating the OBB once a year, said she enjoyed watching the action from the comfort of her home. She is pretty cute with her comments.
One year she asked “what the kids were doing around the tables?…it looked like they were playing a game.” I then had to explain flip cup to her…that was kind of surreal to be explaining a drinking game to your 80+neighbor!
She said that she could remember when her parents were not too thrilled with the jitterbug and “new music.” This year she commented that it looked like the kids were growing up…more babies present…slightly less wildness.

It is always a lot of hard work both before and after the OBB. It was a couple of days off work that involved yard work, food shopping, and house cleaning. The poor lady that kept trying to shop around me and my flat dolly at Price Club definitely didn't like the OBB preparations. The day after is always a pretty long day cleaning up after all the "Fun." Fortunately, the boys and Becky help with the clean up. I missed getting a picture of the "morning after shot" and the husband in the kitchen...that was a lot of cups, bowls, etc to wash!

But the OBBIV= 102+guests, 8 kids, 4 dogs, 96 hotdogs, 40 hamburgers, 2 loins of barbecue, 2 lbs macaroni, 2 lbs potato salad, 6 dozen cookies, 2 batches of brownies, rice krispie treats, 3 kegs of beer, 1 bottle of tequila, 0 police.....All in all: PRICELESS!