UPDATE 8:38 PM: Alidad informed Bwog that he received a text message that he lost. However, Krebs has not received a text informing him that he won. Stand by.

Just over 45 minutes ago, voting ended for the 2008 CCSC Elections. Ballots were cast, the gauntlet was thrown. While the CC listserv won't receive an email announcing the winners til much later tonight, candidates are expected to receive a phone call around 9 PM with the results.

Bwog is going to embed itself with Experience Columbia and Connect Columbia, livebwogging all tension, awkwardness, and bravado of this very special night. Krebs and company will be gathered in Krebs' room in Watt, while Team Damooei is going to be holding a summit at the West End. Check back on this post for updates from both camps and around 9 PM for an announcement with the results. But no matter what happens tonight, I think we can all agree that the real winner is democracy.

On Februrary 17th, 2006, we had a giant party at Mona to celebrate the launch of BW's quirky younger brother, the Bwog. You, at least, are still reading our little foray into new media, so you might as well help us celebrate our survival one year later. We were going to have it at Mona again, until the state Marshals foiled that plan. But never fear! We've teamed up with the Varsity Show's preview party in the back room at the West End, so you don't even have to freeze your snot on the walk down to 109th--and happy hour lasts until 1:00 AM ($3 drafts and $5 wells). So, your Saturday night itinerary:

8:00 PM: B-Dubbers get to the Stend, start drinking.
9:00 PM: First V-Show preview show
10:00 PM: Drinking continues.
11:00 PM: Second preview
Midnight: something exciting?

We can't promise another life size cutout of J. Sachs, but there will be cake, and everyone who's anyone--which means you. Incessant reminders to follow.

We got an inside sneak peak of the West End's newly Cubanized interior earlier tonight when it opened its doors for the now-annual celebration of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and other Columbia-affiliated Beats, culminating in an enthusiastic reading of Ginsberg's Howl. For an event devoted to subversive young artists, the 'Stend's new digs, not to mention the sumptuous banquet with all-you-can-drink wine and beer, were a bit incongruously swank.

Still, several of the bar's former mainstays, among them Kerouac's former lover Joyce Johnson, evoked memories of the old West End, one going so far as to suggest that the renovation brought back the spirit of the bar of years ago. What's old is new again? Maybe we'll figure it out when all the orange paint is finally dry.

-CJS

Carly Hoogendyk sends in these photos of the recent West End (er...whoops, "Havana Central at the West End") facade unveiling with extreme consternation. "It was just too visceral an experience seeing it for the first time that...oh god," she writes. "Just bring back the scaffolding."

Bwog is all for the colorful vibrancy of Cuba and its culture, but we have somewhat of a reticence to embrace such, uh, radical changes. Perhaps all we can do at this point is hope that the rest of the revolu, no, renovation proceeds without the sudden appearance of stuffed parrots- or references to "Margaritaville". Or that this is all just an elaborate Halloween prank?

-CJS

The NYT has jumped on the West End lamentation boat and is riding it out to sea.

Unrelated but also in today's Times: Morningside Park inhabited by feral turkey.

Bwog has received a tip regarding the West End's upcoming transformation from quasi-literary drunk freshman hotspot into Cuban pleasure palace. The official name of the new establishment will be:

(drumroll!)

Havana Central at West End

Also, the official menu changeover will start this Friday night, which means that you are just two days away from delicious Cuban food. And, um, alcohol.

Revised sexual misconduct policy is passed, as Bollinger hits Asia.

Adam Goldberg: ESC Freedom Fighter.

And despite hopes that it was all an April Fool's joke (or a drunken hallucination), the West End will indeed be going Cuban.

Girls. They like food. It makes them happy.

Attendees of Culture Shock find themselves Culture Satisfied.

Wow. Apparently last weekend's brawl was the last straw. Spec reports that the West End is being shuttered and will be converted to Havana Central, a chain of Cuban restaurants with locations in Times Square and Union Square. While this may be the biggest thing to happen to local dining since, um, Sushi Tokyo Pop, Bwog must bow its head and bid farewell to a local landmark. And though the bar's owner claims that "no matter who runs it, in the end, the ghosts will rise," Bwog is unsure whether the sound of ghosts will be audible over the excited yells of freshmen clamoring for 2-for-1 mojitos. Tear.

NY Daily News is calling Friday night's West End extravaganza a frat brawl. And reports that the Aerosoles window got smashed with a bottle of Hennessy.

Hennessy, people, Hennessy. That means that just hours prior to that you could have actually ordered cognac at the West End.

The Bwog has been spending the weekend trying to figure out what happened at the 'Stend Friday. A handful of people saw the fights outside but no one seems to know what went on inside. So far all we've got is this:

I was at the 'stend from 1130-1215 last night. The doors to the back room were closed, and there was some sort of party being planned back there. At around midnight, a friend tried to get in, but was told there was a ten dollar cover (at the Stend!). The crowd that was at the bar -- which included barely any Columbia students -- were all wearing some t-shirt for something, I'm not exactly sure what.

Got anything to add?

5:10 pm


Columbia students, repeat after me: Neither the West End nor Broadway between 113th and 114th are my personal playplaces. I will refrain from fighting in the streets and from setting off fire alarms. Or, at the very least least, I'll try not to do both in the same day.

Last night apparently wasn't the night to go to the West End.

This morning the Spec reported on 3 am street fights which occured when about 200 people came spilling out of the 'Stend.

Of course, the Bwog has known about this since last night when it woke up to, say, COPS FIRING SHOTS INTO THE AIR.

And the Columbia administration gives a huge sigh of relief that this wasn't during Days on Campus.

Update: Gothamist is on it. And wants to know if we're on it. And now we're just going in circles.

See Clown's sign. Then see Playboy touting the 'Stend as the center of the universe.

Update (1:45 pm): When this Bwog correspondent showed up at the 'Stend to take some Beer Carnival pictures, she was quickly informed by the Manager that, this being a Saturday, everything was running a bit behind schedule and to come back in a few hours when things would, she assured me, be hopping. Sneaking a quick peak at the untouched buffet on the way out, this correspondent couldn't help but noticed that the few attendees milling around didn't even have beers in hand.

CU Snacks is kind of like that spaghetti pot they sell on TV with the drainer built into the lid: it's a good idea but it solves a problem you never really had. Plus you're pretty sure only White trash orders it.

Don't believe us? Fresh baked cookies delivered to the West End. Kind of makes sense... until it doesn't.

From CU Snacks' (bi-)weekly email:

Also new this week; Snacks @ the 'Stend. No one likes to put the
party on hold because of hunger, neither do we. Now you can get
delicious snacks like Smucker's Uncrustables PB&J, Ben and Jerry's
ice cream, fresh baked cookies, and 5 cheese grilled cheese
sandwiches delivered to you at The West End. Just deposit munch
money before you go out, then call 212-853-FOOD from The West End,
and we'll deliver. It's the most convenient way to snack at a
party.