The Christmas that Wasn't
Cygnus
Christmas 2004 was a sad, tragic time for many involved with CyberNET. Barton ended his life after a tortured night of self examination. Barton's family dealt with the loss and grief of his suicide. The CyberNET "mahogany Row" cabal sweated the fact of an ongoing criminal investigation. CyberNET's employees were summarily fired; jobless just in time for the holidays.
But what if the raid hadn't happened? One thing that would have been different is that the lavish CyberNET Christmas party would have taken place. Barton had never skimped on Christmas parties for his employees. It was the perfect opportunity for him to hold court and be the center of attention. He planned these events carefully and enjoyed them them greatly even if all of his employees did not. For the Christmas 2004 party he had rented out the restaurant Cygnus located at the top of the Amway Grand Hotel. The invitations had gone out, the menu and wine list had been planned. It never happened.
I had the pleasure of eating there last weekend. The restaurant was dramatically lit and beautifully decorated for Christmas. The view at night was spectacular, although the absence of other tall buildings and the low, grid-like street layout lacked the makings of a world-class view as one would have in Chicago or New York. The quality of the meal did not match the setting. Far better food is to be found at the 1913 Room at the Amway Grand Hotel, the setting of Barton's theatrical proposal to Krista 14 years earlier.
http://www.amwaygrand.com/cygnus.html
posted by Jim Cameron at
9:39 AM
3 Comments:
funny that both the restaurant and the lessor both offer lots of window dressing but very little substance!
I'm sure that given enough time I could remember more, but here are a few memories.
When I worked at CNE, Christmas parties were nice but there was always this underlying tone of dread. Employees were "expected" to attend. We were subjected to at least an hour of pontificating by Barton, followed by comments from various other managers about how great everything was. Mostly the employees got a chance to get a good laugh at the expense of the "higher ups" putting on aires. Then there was the passing out of the CNE gifts (that took the place of a monetary bonus), which was a nice piece of crystal, or an eleborate handpainted japanese scroll with the Cybernet logo embroidered on it. Then, the presentation of our the gift for Barton and Krista, that in my opinion never seemed to be enough(in their eyes) to express our gratitude for working there. One of the best parties was held at the CyberNet building a couple months before we moved in. It was not all finished or furnished, but we held it there so that everyone could have a look at what we were "moving up" to(from the cramped offices in Cascade off 28th street). The food was good, the booze flowed and River City Jazz band played for our entertainment.
One year our party was at English Hills Country Club. Barton had just had his stomach stapling surgery (he had ulcers - go figure) and showed up wrapped in some sort of girdle type thing and all doped up on pain pills. He stayed long enough to get some sympathy and complain about the poor accomodations and food. Junior Valentine played and people danced. It was a fun time.
One year I was stupid enough to get involved in the planning of the party held at Meijer Gardens. The back and forth between Krista and Barton was riduclous! The arguing over how much to spend on the event, the menu, the wine (Barton referrred to as swill, and wanted his own on his table), the ice sculpture for Krista, carriage rides, the harpist, the blaming of ineffenciency on the "planning committee" for not snapping to their demands fast enough, the constant changing and calling the caterers, etc, etc. It was a HUGE amount of stress that reduced several people to tears before it was all settled! That particular party ended with not enough deserts to go around, and very little thanks to us. At least we got some amusement, as Barton wore some kind of Japanese pajama garment while everyone else was expected to dress semi formal and pass through a greeting line of the top managers and officers of the company, all to impress his guests and future business partners from Australia and China - It was as if you were meeting the Queen for gosh sakes!
Still- at every party, everyone got drunk and had a good time, and looked forward to the gossip that followed.
oops - sorry about the lousy spelling....
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