2007 Cru Dinner - as of March 15, 2007

Hello Cru!

March 22 - last update @ 7:30 pm EDT: updated attendee list

** We will be in the Conference Center 2 on the Lower Lobby Level **

See you all tomorrow night!!

March 12 update @ 7:40 pm EDT:

• Start time: 5:30 pm
• End time (tentative): 7:45 pm (to be confirmed by the hotel)

• Staggered seating is no longer necessary (so I removed times from the attendee list below)

• It is confirmed that there will be a bar set up in the room, with both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks available
• There will be a mixture of tables for 8 and tables for 10

See below for updates/additions to the attendee list.
Click here to go right to the menu

March 11 update @ 2:35 pm EDT: Thank you all for the overwhelmingly positive response so far -- we've even got a couple of new additions to the attendee list! I've started updating the list below - cancellations are in grey, confirmations are in green, and those in blue remain to be heard from. Some of you have asked about whether we need to stick with the staggered seatings -- I will be talking with the hotel guy on Monday, and I hope to confirm confirm that we don't need to do staggered seating within a couple of days.

March 9 update: There is much news about the 8th Cru Dinner, scheduled for March 23rd at the Stamford Marriott.

PLEASE READ THIS ALL THE WAY THROUGH and EMAIL ME to let me know if you (and the guests that you RSVP'd for) are still going to be attending the "revised" Cru Dinner as described here. I need to give the hotel a rough count by the middle of next week, so please let me know by Wednesday, March 14th.

As attendees from the last couple of years know, the staff at Allie's (the Marriott restaurant) has been struggling to handle the influx of tournament attendees and service at the last couple of Cru dinners has been less than perfect. Still, we were going to do the dinner in the restaurant because it was the easiest way to do it. In late January, Michael Goodman started talking with the restaurant management about there being 60 or more of us, and until Wednesday night, we were assured that we had a reservation at Allie's for our group. Michael had some early discussions with the hotel's banquet managers about possibly having a private function room for dinner, but the price was in the $50 per person range and so those discussions went no further.

This past Wednesday, the restaurant manager called Michael and advised him that the hotel management had decided that they would not take ANY reservations for the restaurant for the evenings of March 23rd and 24th. Instead they are offering a first-come, first-served flat price buffet, starting at 5 pm. Apparently, they are expecting approximately 700 attendees for the tournament and are concerned about how they will get everyone fed.

At that point, Michael let me know that he was out and was ready to email everyone to let them know the Cru Dinner was off. I didn't want to see that happen so I called the hotel and have been working with them over the past 2 days to come to a mutually agreeable solution that would allow us to have our Cru Dinner at the Marriott. While they still won't give us a reservation in the restaurant, they have agreed to make some major concessions pricewise and have agreed to provide us with a private room and the exact same buffet that they'll be serving in the restaurant at the exact same price.

Here is the buffet menu and pricing info that was provided to me earlier today by the hotel:

With tax and tip included, the cost per person will be just about $29.00. I believe that this will be collected at the door. There will of course be an option to charge it to your room. They will set up a bar in the room, and non-alcoholic beverages will be available, though personally, I'm going for the booze and lots of it!

I know this is not exactly what we were planning on, but if we are going to have a Cru Dinner this year, this is it unless someone else steps up to make alternate arrangements. The hotel is willing to accomodate us even if the group shrinks by one-half, and I have agreed that if there are empty seats in our room, and they are full in the restaurant, they can send some of the the overflow to share the room with us.

I really hope that everyone will still attend, but I will certainly understand if some of you decide to make other plans. All I ask is that you let me know, one way or another, if you will still be attending by Wednesday, March 14th. I really won't have time to track people down to ask if they are coming. Again, here is the link to email me.

I'm sorry that I don't have the time and bandwidth to send everyone an individual email on this - I hope you'll understand.

See you in 2 weeks!

Chris

PS - if there's anyone who hasn't reserved and wants to attend, let me know...we've got more room!

Res No......Name ..........................

1 .......Chris Aldrich
2 ........Michael Goodman
3 .......Harris Ruben
4 .......Laurie Ruben
5 .......Dan Chall

6 .......Marty Howard
7 ........Alison Howard .....
8 .......Dave Sullivan
9 .......Vic Fleming
10 ......Linda Murray

11 ......Susan Hargrove
12 ......Fred Morris
13 ......Fred Jarmuz
14 ......Lanie Cantor
15 ......Paul Bayer

16 ......Douglas Fink ................
17 ......Barry Spiegel
18 ......Phil Spiegel
19 ......Marilynn Huret.........
20 ......J!m Jen!sta

21 ......Carole Brand
22 ......Darlene Sneden
23 ......Ken Sneden
24 ......Eric Helmuth ................
25 ......Ed Rush

26 ......Dave Mackey
27 ......Tracy Meyer
28 ......Robert Mackey
29 ......Verna Suit
30 ......Leslie Billig

31 ......Ben Tausig .................
32 ......Bonnie Gentry
33 ......Howard Barkin
34 ......Patrick Jordan
35 ......Judy Pozar

36 ......Janet Siefert
37 ......Ellen Ripstein
38 ......Ann Marie McNamara
39 ......Susie Glenn
40 ......Camilla Bergeron

41 ......Fay Eastwood
42 ......Lynn DelVecchio .
43 ......Ellen Harland
44 ......Jack Aubert
45 ......Kate Aubert

46 ......Mike Alpern
47 ......Will Johnston
48 ......John Gehrlein
49 ......Len Elliott
50 ......Linda Elliott

51 ......Amy Reynaldo
52 ......Sarah Keller
53 ......Jay Keller
54 ......Cathy Millhauser
55 ......Terry Hackett

56 ......Janice Nichols .............
57 ......Byron Walden
58 ......Maureen Hathaway....
59 ......Michael Sharp
60 ......Vicki Eastus

61 .......Maxine Bleiweiss
62 ......Pamela Feiring
63 ......Zulema Seligsohn
64 ......Ann Smolin
65 ......Marcia Friedman

66 ......Joe Cabrera
67 ......Rob Richardson
68 ......Nancy Shack
69 ......Bruce Morton
70 ......Michele Hays

71 ......Janie Smulyan
72 ......Alan Arbesfeld
73 ......Susan Hoffman
74 ......Nancy Taubenslag
75 ......Richard Kalustian

76 ......Jeff Schwartz
77 ......Al Sanders
78 ......Barry Weprin
79 ......Stefanie Galey
80 ......Eric LeVasseur

81 ......Rocky Schwarz
82 ......Kari Knutson
83 ......Phoebe McBee
84 ......Paula Hewitson
85 ......Judy Pinder

86 ......Janet Bradlow
87 ......Bob Klahn
88 ......Pete Muller ......