This weekend, Friday night, in fact, The Civilians held their third annual, and to date most successful benefit, Grand Harmonious Vaudeville. I am still on a bit of a high from it all. We raised more money than our conservative goals, but that’s very lucky for us since the company has unexpectedly gotten invited to perform for one month in London at The Gate Theatre. We can give our performers compensation to make the run more of a joy, rather than a burden.

I have fallen in love, okay, in deep like (my heart is Luke’s), with three individuals who made the whole event fantastic. Vincent Yuk, a manager at the Grand Harmony restaurant, Bayne Gibby, who performed her own distinctive comic songs, and Karen Ziemba, who performed an original piece by the Civilians’ musical director Michael Friedman.

Vincent is the man you want at your next event, whether it be just dinner, or a benefit attended by over 300 hungry, heavy-drinking, happy-seeking people. He had an answer for everything, I don’t think there was a single situation that stumped him. Ice Sculpture provided by Grey Goose, one of our major drink sponsors? Sure, we can provide a table to display it. Models bearing mini-martinis need trays to serve the drinks? Sure, we can provide trays. Need a knife and cutting board for slicing lemons and limes? Sure, we’ll make sure the bar is well-equipped with what you need. Do we want the red backdrop with golden dragon and phoenix? No, we want a plain backdrop during the show and to unveil the dragon and phoenix for the DJ afterparty with dancing, smoke machines, and open bar. Oh, and as soon as the show ends we need to clear all the tables from the dance floor. Sure, Sure and No problem.

He was the world’s easiest man to work with and made all of us feel confident and sure that we were in the hands of an experienced, unflappable professional.

At the event itself, we had two guest hosts, Bayne Gibby and Karen Ziemba. I was a little tongue-tied around Karen. I saw her in Contact at Lincoln Center several years ago and was thrilled she won the Tony for her exuberant, soul-stirring performance of a repressed housewife whose imagination soars into joyful, expressive dancing whenever her angry buffoon of a husband leaves the table to load his plate up at the buffet. Apparently unable to hold a conversation with her, all I managed to do was offer to get her a Grey Goose (sponsor product plug!) martini after she sang. I hope she noticed that the proffered martini was laden with all my expressions of deep awe and admiration for her talent!

I also got a bottle of Original Sin (sponsor product plug!) hard cider for Bayne Gibby after her performance, when she sang about her jealous thoughts while she stood in line for the showers at her gym, staring at the woman with a peaches-and-cream ass who was in line ahead of her. “Tiny Heinie Girl” nearly made me fall off my chair, I was laughing so hard. I hear the men in the audience could relate more to “Dating a Divorced Dude,” Bayne’s song about dating a rich, indulgent man twice her age (she doesn’t have a daddy complex, but look, he bought her a pony!).

Once the show ended and we cleared the dance floor, turned on the smoke machines, and started dancing to DJ Kozmik, I finally relaxed. The benefit was a success! Everyone enjoyed the show, we raised the money we needed, and we had impressed many by pulling off a professional event with minimal mishaps. So many people thanked me for my contribution, but I really had to hand all the credit to Vincent. With him in charge, there was so little for me to do. But I did take credit, finally, for finding him and the Grand Harmony. A more perfect venue for our third and best benefit could not have existed.

I was telling all of this to Luke’s grandmother, who generously sent a donation to The Civilians, although she couldn’t attend. She told me that maybe I should consider a future in benefit planning and I told her that I have often thought of leading tours and advising people who are visiting New York City on how to best enjoy their stay. People call me all the time to ask about restaurant and bar suggestions. Hmmm. There might be something to this that I should think further about. I really do enjoy planning and providing entertainment for people. Hosting, guiding, that sort of thing. Is there a career there for me?