1988 - I had trepidations about this party from the beginning. It was a Pledge Active: planned, executed and paid for by the pledges - no longer civilians, not yet full fraternity brothers.
Like military recruits, the pledges were (and are) regarded as brain-damaged vermin. Through some strange process of absorption, many otherwise intelligent individuals become blithering idiots under the barrage of abuse that is pledging.
The pledges - as a result of insults, fatigue and fear - become mistrustful. The rationale for the abuse is to break down the individuals into a cohesive unit, and a multiheaded beast is to emerge from this chrysalis of adversity. This same attitudenal alchemy creates mistrust toward outsiders: "How could anyone on the outside understand what we are going through, let alone what it all means?"
If pledging succeeds at nothing else, it succeeds in creating an "us" vs. "them" attitude in the pledges - "them" being everyone else.
I had worked regularly with many fraternities at all the big SoCal campuses and so was regarded as something of an insider by many of the regular members. Therefore, the pledge's business attitude toward me, the DJ, careened between obsequious bootlicking (because I was an insider) and paranoid hucksterphobia (because I wasn't a pledge). To further complicate matters, there wasn't one pledge in charge, which inevitably led to too many chiefs and much spoiled broth.
The pledges wanted a Disco Party (how novel), and they needed a room to have it in in addition to the DJ service - we did that too for some extra cash. Party rooms were running at a premium at that time because my buddies, the frat clowns, kept getting kicked out of places as soon as we could find them.
L.A. is a big town, but the number of available party spaces was finite, especially when the word "fraternity" was involved. The owners of these "spaces" wanted firstborn child-type deposits, and cleaning fees and insurance indemnity and super-double-blood-brother secret promises of good behavior under penalty of early withdrawl, in addition to exorbitant, not to say unconscionable, room rental rates.
I was pondering this and the fact that the pledge class had the ubiquitous "limited budget" when the phone rang. It was Tonto, famous party room scout, with a report from behind the lines.
Article comments
1 - Chris Kent
I'm glad to hear my ex-girlfriend has moved to LA and is hosting Pledge Disco Parties.
Thanks for pissing on her floor......
2 - Dawn
Gosh, I just love this story!!!
3 - Chris Kent
It is an excellent story. The woman was an unforgettable character.....I could identify with the frustrations towards her.....
4 - Eric Olsen
Thanks guys, I appreciate the kind words. Sorry of the images were too vivid, Chris. I know how painful that can be.
5 - Dawn
I posted the whole story on my blog because I love it - I also want feed back. Anyone over here who doesn't take the time to read it and comment on it is a creep.
Eric reads just about everything posted on here and makes a point of commenting, in otherwords, don't make me bitchslap you people.
Chris, you on the other hand RULE!!
6 - Eric Olsen
What Dawn said. Regardless of the merits of the story, this is why when our writers say "the more time and effort I put into a story the less feedback I get," I say "I know."
Not that I'm trying to browbeat anyone or anything.
7 - bhw
I created a bullet-shaped foil sculpture and jammed it into the blackened fuse holder. I said a small silent prayer, plugged the extension chord into the blackened wall socket and pushed the power button on the amp.
This is why I love men. How many women could have come up with the tin foil fuse fixer solution? All men are MacGuyver [or however the hell you spell it] to me.
But the Bitch did some damage to that toe! Yow.
8 - JR
That was a fun read! Excellent!
I'm a little confused on the pronouns around the toe incident: who hurled the willowy offender and whose hand was on your toe?
9 - Shark
Great story, Eric!
When I was in college (71-75), frats were about as popular as Ebola. I always wondered what I missed.
Now, thanks to your efforts, I know.
shudder
10 - Eric Olsen
JR, sorry about that - there was an extra "he" and a "his" in that paragraph. Thanks for the catch!
bhw, thanks! Hey, she has the same first name as you.
Shark, Thanks! when I was DJing at the frats and sororities in the '80s there wre all kinds of changes about how they were allowed to operate, with a lot of new rules about drinking and beating the shit out of pledges and whatnot. By the time I quit doing the schools in '90 it was a very different atmosphere.
11 - bhw
I swear, I've never lived in LA.
12 - Eric Olsen
Besides, that one didn't "have words."
13 - bhw
Or my preference for soft-soled shoes, I gather. 8-)
14 - Eric Olsen
My life would have been very different for the next year if she had!