Can’t decide where to rock ‘n roll this New Year’s Eve? Then you can toast with the bubbly,throw confetti, and in some cases, dance the night away.  Reserve your spot at one of these local parties:

Diva Lounge, may have the biggest party in town, offering dinner, open bar, dancing, live music after midnight by hip hop masters Sugarhill Gang and festive party favors to make your New Year’s so much fun, that the next day you’ll say it was worth the hangover. General Manager, Erin Taggert, has promised that the Lounge won’t be overcrowded, and they expect the age mix of young and young at heart to keep the fires burnin’ until 4 AM! Before midnight, the three deejays will get you rocking with Old School, Hip-Hop, and Reggaeton. Have dinner & cocktails for $140 beginning at 8pm, or just come  for your favorite drinks at 10:30 pm ($100). Both party packages include premium open bar featuring specialty Diva cocktails and a champagne toast at midnight. All taxes and gratuities included.

Church Street Cafe, will nourish and quench all of you First Nighters with mealtimes complicated by the top entertainment you are dying to see.  Church Street Caf√ɬ©√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s Holiday Festival 2006 includes the following options: the full dinner menu, a special $50 prix-fixe menu, a first brunch from 11:30 pm until 1:30 am, as well as drinks and snacks outside. Upstairs at Church will feature dancing with the Kevin Reilly Quartet from 9:30 p.m. until 1:00 a.m.

Palazzo, has a full wine bar, prix fixe menu and live jazz playing all night until the countdown to 2006. The first seating, 5-7 pm offers a 3 course menu; their second seating, from 8 pm to midnight, offers a 5 course menu, with a complimentary champagne toast.

Round Trip Fare is offering a special menu for New Year’s Eve; celebrate with champagne, wine, beer or whatever strikes your fancy from the bar.

Raymond’s, does not require reservations, and with dinner seatings until midnight, you can still catch both sets of Richie Havens and get a nice meal from their full menu plus specials. BYO, they’ll supply the noisemakers and balloons. Can’t make it that evening?  Visit them for New Year’s Brunch on Dec. 31st and Jan. 1.

Jump and Jive at Just Jake’s, where for a $75 admission you”ll enjoy an outrageous dance band, New Power Soul, a premium open bar, hot appetizers, champagne toast, and party favors,  9:00 pm – 2:30 am.

For more dining options, go here.

30 replies on “If It’s New Year’s Eve, There’s a Party in Baristaville”

  1. Not that anybody cares, but you won’t find me in any of these fine establishments. I shall spend last day of the year looking for a hole to get sick in.

  2. walleroo, if you’re really feeling ill, so be it. Get well soon.
    But if you’re really looking for a hole to get sick IN, then I can suggest many fine north Jersey establishments, all of which require an up to date tetanus shot before you use the rest rooms, and perhaps a rinse with Kwell after you’ve visited them too. Just let me know.

  3. It might also behoove you, walleroo, whatever your physical condition, to simply stop your whimpering about it. You could certainly use a little bit more John Wayne about you, so I’ve noticed.

  4. I just cannot bring myself to watch John Wayne movies. He doesn’t do it for me. (Though if he had landed one of the leading roles in Brokeback Mtn, I might have reconsidered.) Now Clint Eastwood–there’s a role model.

  5. Wallero-what’s up? Is there anything we can do? I personally haven’t had the best of years- presently in the middle of a vicious tax audit, health and family probs but hell man…
    lyrics taken from BIG COUNTRY:
    So take that look out of here it doesn’t fit you
    Because it’s happened doesn’t mean you’ve been discarded
    Pull up your head off the floor? come up screaming
    Cry out for everything you ever might have wanted
    I thought that pain and truth were things that really mattered
    But you can’t stay here with every single hope you had shattered
    I’m not expecting to grow flowers in a desert
    But I can live and breathe
    And see the sun in wintertime
    In a big country dreams stay with you
    Like a lover’s voice fires the mountainside
    Stay alive
    May the New Year bring you all Health,Financial well being, and Happiness.

  6. walleroo, he who rejects the Duke also rejects “The Searchers” at great peril to his immortal soul. There is no greater screen meditation on race relations, and perhaps even on manhood itself (instead of on the self-absorbed moaning that is much of “Brokeback Mountain”, than that John Ford movie offers up. (Save perhaps in “The Unforgiven,” which conveniently is also from an Ala LeMay novel.)

  7. First Night Montclair 2006
    Presented by The Township of Montclair in association with
    Arc Properties and JP Morgan Chase Bank
    A Celebration of the New Year with Family and Friends!
    First Night Montclair 2006 will ring in the New Year with an exciting lineup of sophisticated entertainment in an alcohol-free community event. First Night is a unique way for friends, neighbors and families to get together to celebrate the New Year and enjoy an affordable and memorable evening in the heart of Montclair’s bustling downtown. Last year’s revitalized First Night saw over 5000 revelers, and this year’s program promises to be bigger and better than ever.
    Our premier acts for 2006 include music legend Richie Havens, world-renowned mentalist the Amazing Kreskin, Nickelodeon Live! with special guests Dora the Explorer and Diego and Children’s Folk Singer Tom Chapin. Other diverse musical acts, artistic programs and cultural events have been carefully chosen to appeal to many tastes and styles. The event will be held throughout Downtown Montclair. There’s something for everyone to enjoy!
    Richie Havens
    One of the most gifted and recognizable voices in popular music, Richie Havens’ fiery, poignant, soulful singing style has remained unique and ageless since he first emerged from the Greenwich Village folk scene in the early 1960√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s. His is a voice that has inspired and electrified audiences from the Woodstock Music & Arts Fair in 1969 to the present day.
    The Amazing Kreskin
    With a showman’s flair, a comedian’s wit, and capacities that only a bona fide mentalist can posses and profess, The Amazing Kreskin (a Montclair native) has, for over four decades, dramatized the unique facets of the human mind. Kreskin is constantly challenging the impossible with amazing results and his performance will make you a believer. One show only!
    Nickelodeon Live!
    The world’s most popular children’s television network brings action, excitement and yes, slime to First Night Montclair. This interactive performance is built on audience participation and is sure to generate squeals of laughter and plenty of smiles from kids young and old. Please note: seating is limited and the audience will be arranged on a first come, first served basis. Popular characters Dora the Explorer and Diego will make an appearance to delight children of all ages.
    Tom Chapin
    Tom Chapin’s contemporary folk and pop music spans generations and is a joyous look at being a kid. For more than thirty years, Chapin has entertained, amused and enlightened audiences of all ages with life-affirming original songs told in a sophisticated array of musical styles. Tom’s remarkable musicianship, great songwriting and personal warmth shine through each performance.
    Some of the night’s other highlights include:
    √Ǭ∑ Opening Ceremony and Procession – 7 PM – Church Street and Bloomfield Ave
    · The New Jersey Ballet
    √Ǭ∑ Sweet Georgia Brown – Blues by the last of the Red Hot Mamas
    √Ǭ∑ Robin Spielberg – Classical Pianist
    √Ǭ∑ Patience Moore – Children’s folk singer
    √Ǭ∑ Roman Lankios – Strolling musician
    √Ǭ∑ Division East – Skateboard demo
    √Ǭ∑ The Persuasions – Doo Wop
    √Ǭ∑ The Heavenly Angels – Gospel
    √Ǭ∑ Dr. Dubious and the Agnostics – Dixieland music
    · Square Dancing
    √Ǭ∑ Fireworks and Auld Lang Syne with Drums of Thunder – Midnight – Hillside Playground
    Many of Montclair’s businesses will be open until midnight to add to the festive atmosphere and all the events are accessible by foot or through the use of free shuttles available from the Montclair Art Museum and Lackawanna Station/Pathmark
    First Night Montclair is the premier New Year’s Eve celebration in NJ. Montclair’s vibrant downtown, the diversity of entertainment and the tremendous spirit of the evening will provide people from all over the region with a New Year’s Eve to remember. Our continuing mission is to broaden and deepen the public√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s appreciation of the visual and performing arts through an alcohol free evening of sophisticated entertainment for the entire family. In all its activities and services, First Night Montclair promotes community, creativity and cultural diversity.
    Tickets for First Night 2006
    $15 for adults
    $5 for children (under 12)
    Available Online at:
    http://www.firstnightmontclair.com
    And at the following locations:
    Chase Bank
    Upper Montclair – 580 Valley Road
    Watchung – 17 Watchung Plaza
    Downtown – 475 Bloomfield Ave
    Kings Supermarkets
    Upper Montclair – 650 Valley Rd
    West Caldwell – 875 Bloomfield Ave
    Verona – 300 Pompton Ave
    Also
    South End Hardware – 321 Orange Rd
    Montclair Municipal Building – Recreation and Cultural Affairs – 205 Claremont Ave
    Week preceding the event at 544 Bloomfield Ave (former Screening Zone/Halloween Store)
    Information:
    For information call – 973.509.4958
    or
    http://www.firstnightmontclair.com

  8. Hello up there! Can anybody see me beneath this freaking pile of press release gibberish? Jeezus, save it for the Watercooler, puh-leeze!
    cstarling, your expressions of concern are deeply appreciated. However, I’m all right. A little battered, a little broken, but don’t worry, it’s only a flesh wound.
    I haven’t seen The Searchers, cathar, but I’ll have you know that I’ve just put it at the top of my Netflix queue.
    Miss Martta: you go, girl!
    And to everyone: every good wish for the new year.

  9. wallero-just checking:)
    Miss Martha what a great way to approach the New Year-Running-ENJOY
    Cathar you keep me challenged!
    May the rain hold out–Be Safe!

  10. My own true challenge as I’ve already passed a long skein of New Year’s Eves, clarice, is styaing awake till, say, 1AM. The year has passed in more than once in the last 10-15 years through my snoozing. Why, I’ve even fallen asleep during John Wayne movies, to my eternal shame.
    But I too could have done without the press release above, for which this is hardly the proper venue. Press releases like this one are simply so much determinedly upbeat persiflage.
    Nonetheless, to all (the word “all” is somewhat easier to type of late, if never a breeze to my partisan fingers) who come here, a grand, happy, continued verbally contentious and edifying 2006.

  11. I’ll be spending New Year’s Eve with friends in Bloomfield (house party). New Year’s Day with my wife at home, and a few lobsters and bottles of champagne. Life is good.

  12. I installed software on my computer which allows me to dictate without typing. Kinda cool, but kinda creepy, too.
    Anyhoo, meeting up with some friends tonight at Egan’s around 6-ish.

  13. Actuslly, Iceman, it also means raillery or idle, hollow chatter, which seems to sum up so many press releases.
    And I was expecting readers here to know the word. Do you mean to tell me that the same posters who can so readily divine the mind of President Bush, who can sum up our Iraq policy with a few obscenities, who are so bold as to take on Plofker and Mayor Remsen here, wouldn’t know the definition of a word applicable to various political gasbags? Nah, it couldn’t be.
    Happy 2006 anyway.

  14. (sounds)
    My favorite (recording is a little hot, keep the volume low)
    for Walleroo (can you guess who that was? a hint)
    for cathar
    So, tak a cup o’kindness yet and have a happy new year.
    p.s. My favorite verse is the last one. (lest there be any doubt of the song’s Scottish origin)

  15. will it be possible to get into the kweskin,,or richie havens concerts in all reality?..or will the waiting hipsters make it a bit impossible…?

  16. will it be possible to get into the kweskin,,or richie havens concerts in all reality?..or will the waiting hipsters make it a bit impossible…?

  17. Very cute there, ROC, cute and funny!
    In the original version of “The Four Feathers” (not the ghastly “updating” that had Heath Ledger pouting over Goldie Hawn’s equally frivolous offspring), the band at the pier in fact plays ‘Auld Lang Syne” as the British Army sails off to fight in the Sudan against the Mahdi. And there’s quite a bit of relevance now in that scene to our own battles against Islamofascist “insurgents.”

  18. SENORITA’S MEXICAN GRILL is having their first annual “Mexican Blitz” New Year’s Celebration. For $65.00 fix price they will have an open bar, buffet with your favorite Mexican dishes and Italian dishes(it’s Bloomfield after all) DJ,dance, party favors etc. Starting at 8:30p.m. until the cerveza runs out!!!

  19. Aw, gee, thanks, ROC. Hadn’t heard that one. Almost as good as “You Know My Name, Look Up My Number.”

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