Don’t look at me, I’m hideous. I’m in the midst of my third layover en route to Melbourne, Australia, where I’ve been sent by Sprudge.com to attend the hottest coffee party in the world: Natvia’s Sweet Fantasy Carnivale, happening Sunday, May 26th. Thankfully, my wage slave editors at Sprudge gave me a little wiggle room in the budget this time, so I’m posted up at the Virgin Loft at LAX, sipping a Virgintini, and dictating this whole article to my personal assistant, Shey.

Where did we last leave off? Where have I been since? I’m a jet-setter, through and through, and a party afficiando - just look at all the wild party features I’ve written for Sprudge in the last, oh gee, has it really been three years? Time flies when you can’t remember it.  I’ve seen it all: Tiki Raves in Fuji, Ice Cave Jungle Circuit parties in Cancun, First Class karaoke cabarets on Air Cathay. But there’s no party, and girl, I mean no party I await more eagerly than the Natvia Sweet Fantasy Party.

Oh, there’s something in the air at those Natvia parties, that magical je ne sais quoi you get when you squeeze all of the hottest international barista champions into one warehouse, fill them to the gills with a feast of foods from faraway lands, and simmer them in a sticky sweet sauce of cocktails. Throw in a couple of fashionistas, a deranged clown figure, an eight foot tall two-headed belly dancer, a tequila soaked photo booth, and a beautiful young European DJ, set it on “pulse”, blend for five hours, and by the end of the night you’re swept up in a monsoon of shouts, chanting, cheers, and revelry. The whole thing is positively droll.

These are truly nights to remember, and if it hadn’t been for a certain so-and-so barista champion slipping something in my Mango Mojito last year in Vienna, I would remember a lot more. There are moments where I have visions – glimpses of a night lost – flashing in my mind’s eye as if a projector were beaming slides from some long forgotten summer vacation…

There’s me sitting upon the lap of J.H., smoking a tiny Canadian menthol cigarette from J.B…

There’s me and Raul, dancing together under the haze of the fog machine…

There’s C.B. in the full flower of his wild abandon, dancing shirtless on the dance floor to the pulsing beat of a thousand fireflies…

And then, in an instant, the visions disappear, and I’m back in the present day. Sometimes the funniest joke is found in the tedium of life. Between then and now I’ve gone through my cycles of juice cleanses, pilates groupons, and sensory deprivation tank treatments. I’m ready for round three. Sign Randy up, get me a ticket, because I’m coming to the hottest party in the coffee world.

This year, Natvia is trying something new and outlandish, with an outrageous carnival theme. If this promotional picture is enough to go by, I know that I’ll be willing to bring out my inner circus freak:

Where was I? Here’s some outrageous information from Natvia themselves:

This party could not have even been dreamt up without the assistance of those wild DaVinci Gourmet folks, those fabulous fellows at Swiss Water, Genovese, Patron XO Café, Momos Coffee, Seven Seeds, and Clark Street Roasters. I just can’t get enough of all of them. All of them. All at once. Carnivale.

Bring it on, Natvia – I’m ready for anything.

Randall H. Bodum is now in his third season as Sprudge.com’s international party correspondent. Read more Randy here.

Natvia’s Carnivale happens Sunday, May 26th in Melbourne. Tickets available for purchase via EventBrite.

The post Randy Bodum Warms To Natvia’s Carnivale (May 26th) appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Randal H. Bodom is our international party circuit correspondent, with a long, wild history of covering Natvia events.

Hi gang, it’s me again, your old pal Randy Bodom, and I’m positively wiggling with excitement over this brand new party announcement for USBC Boston. The folks at Natvia go all out, and these parties have a tendency to get a little wild – costumes, mysteries, shirtless dancing, unspoken moments between strangers – and it seems to be that Sweet Fantasy Boston has all the right moves to get nasty as she wanna be.

The party goes down Sunday, April 14th from the 7pm til who-knows, and who-cares. You might be saying, “well Randy, if it’s on a Sunday, won’t I already be exhausted? Won’t I be heading out of town?” Not if you’re not a muffinhead you won’t. This party needs to be built into your plans, man. Stay the last night in town, and be whisked away to a land of wonder and sweet, sweet fantasy alongside all your previously respectable peers.

Some spirits, elixirs, and poppers from those sneaky old speakeasy days.

And the party itself? It’s roaring 20s themed, full of costumed guests, rip roaring dances, and speakeasy cocktails from a local still. Flapper girls and dapper gents, all breaking society’s rules and morays together in one night of unbridled passion and flowing Gibsons. It’s enough to make a man thirsty and the party won’t happen for another 76 days, so you know ol’ Randy will be there, losing my mind and finding again to bring you wild event coverage.

You can learn more about the Sweet Spot Party Speakeasy on their brand new website, and follow the party on Facebook for lots more details. Old Randy managed to pull a few strings and made sure these tickets are free! But remember, stay in town on Sunday night, because you don’t want to miss the party you won’t be able to forget.

Little old me trying out my outfit for the Sweet Spot Speakeasy party!

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Hi gang, it’s me again, Randy Bodom, writing to you tonight from somewhere over the big blue Pacific. For the last few years I’ve been pitching in on Sprudge.com’s wild and reviled international party coverage, sometimes going off the deep end in the process. So far I’ve taken you on a wild ride to parties in Maastricht, Vienna, and Bogota, and right now I’m en route to Seoul, South Korea, to get down at Natvia’s Sweet Spot Latte-High Reunion gala circuit soiree. The event is sponsored by those bunch of party-down nutburgers at Natvia, alongside Grand Marnier (ooh) and the cruel, heartless taskmasters at Sprudge.com.

The party is happening sooner than my little fluttering heart can handle, beginning at 8pm on Sunday, November 4th (Korean standard time). It’s got a wild high school theme, and if it turns out anything like the K-Pop DJ sets my friend Kyong spins in Majorca, everyone’s gonna need a new t-shirt by the end of the night. Randy’s been dry for the last few months, but I’m going to need a little coffee in good spirits to get me through this one:

High school was a dark, difficult time for Randy, so I suppose the best way to deal with the demons I harbor is to face them head on. Once upon a time I was a promising student, with an A+ average and a can-do attitude. Then I transferred schools and fell in with the wrong crowd. Soon I was huffing bath salts underneath the bleachers, getting thrown out of study hall, and being reprimanded for my single, dangling earring. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, and I fear it may all come rushing back to me in the high school hallways of Natvia’s Latte-High boom-boom room.

Will I survive the re-telling of my high school woes? Will I be driven into a frenzy? Or will I be home just fine by next Tuesday, calmly baking sugar-free Natvia brownies for my sweetheart and enjoying a nice glass of Concord grape juice? I don’t know. I just don’t know. Will it be madness? Or will old Randy be just fine? Any will I be able to turn my party recap in to Sprudge on time? Only time will tell. See you Sunday night in South Korea!

The post Seoul To Squeeze: Randall H. Bodom At Natvia’s Latte-High Soiree appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Against better judgment and all decency, our special correspondent Randy Bodom was yet-again budgeted in to bring his unique style of coverage to our recap of Natvia’s “Sweet Fantasy” WBC after-party. Last year’s financing purchased us this howling dispatch from Sweet Fantasy Maastricht, a document soaked in Drambuie and shame. Will Randy’s expense report for Vienna 2012 be topped by a week at Passages? Read on.

I’ve never experienced anything like the Sweet Fantasy “One Night In Bangkok” Party Brought To You By Natvia. Oh, sure, I’ve been on the Thai raves circuit. There I was, budding young teenage Randy lost in Bangkok, falling in and out of narrow, twisting alleyways, stumbling down the lesser esplanades of Banglamphu, thousands of buzzing motorscooters whizzing right beside me, whispering in my ears.

No, Sweet Fantasy wasn’t quite like that…

This photo was taken the moment I walked in the door, right after someone in a ripped Brewers Cup shirt and cut-offs (cropped tight) handed me a smoking hot glass of cascara. They said, “Pass it around, Randy. Don’t be shy.” At first I tasted cotton candy and sweet cacao mucilage, giving way to a parched, sticky mouth feel, coating my tongue and lips. But soon these notes melted into feelings of fear, and terror.

I needed a drink, but the line to the bottom’s bar was pulsating and undulating to the rhythm of Top 40 sugar beats. I knew there had to be more alcohol upstairs, and could smell the sickly sweet scent of coconut hovering above me, so I left the grinding dance floor worker bees to tend to their sweltering honey hive.

I danced my way up the stairway, and then I did it again, and again, and again, lost in a sweaty spiral of euphoric madness. Through the fog, I could make out the barista champions all around me. They were tamping, grinding, and wiggling up next to each other, some were even shape-shifting into mythical creatures. Surely my impending doom was coming down upon me, and I experienced feelings of darkness. One mystical barista demon lured me into the booth with DJ J’Aime Julien, where I was captured on CCTV deep in the throes of my cascara frenzy…

While the party throbbed on all around me, I felt myself leave my physical body and float over the warehouse. First I smelled spring rolls, but then more hallucinations hit me. I was visited by the spiritual essences of the WBC stars: Raul Rodas force-fed me yellow cherries against my will; Spain’s Jordi Mestre popped balloon after balloon of sniffing gas next to my face. I felt like I was in some kind of institution, or insane asylum basically.

All I could do was flee, past the thousands of dancing, vibrating humanoids still packed inside the warehouse. Some kind of horrible beast creature stopped me in my tracks as I tried to make my escape, and thrusted more cascara in my face, but I believe it was laced with bath salts. I was in a dark place and I needed to go back to my loft, hide out from the world, and maybe eat some of that Ben and Jerry’s Frozen Greek Yogurt in the banana and peanut butter swirl flavor…

36 hours later, I came to from my frenzy feeling clearheaded and ready to greet the day. To celebrate, I baked myself a sheet of Natvia Mud Cake, then I flew home to Las Vegas and my new lease on life. When the editors of Sprudge called to check in on this assignment, I was afraid it would bring back those evil memories. But then I said, “Come on, Randy – the people wanna read about Sweet Fantasy, and they need you to take them there, bath salts and all!”

It’s better to light a candle than fear the darkness.

Further Reading:

Barista Magazine’s Sweet Fantasy write-up.

Natvia’s Sweet Fantasy photo archive on Facebook.

The post Sweet Fantasy 2012: Memoirs Of An Imperfect Randy appeared first on Sprudge.com.

The big strong top winners for Natvia’s Send Me To Vienna 2012 are in like Momotaro denim. This coffee competition social media event features a grand prize booty bump of an all-expense-paid vacation to the fabulous and mysterious Vienna, where chosen selected members of the glitterati will attend the Wonderful World of Coffee Event Programming and the unforgettable (trust me, I tried) Sweet Fantasy after party.

First grand prize went to quite the CAFE OWNER:

Look everyone, it’s Yuan Ying, from Beijing. Unlike a lot of the SM2V contestants, Yuan Ying placed high without the help of Facebook, because Facebook is absolutely illegal in China. He’s been making coffee since he was a child! I peered into my Miss Cleo Brand Crystal Ball and can now reveal that Yuan Ying will walk the WCE red carpet in an Alan Jeffries gentleman’s cape, Shape-Ups by Sketchers, and a vintage chenille veil. Work!

Hold on, I’ve got to update my current status: Randy Bodum is confidentially devastated that Gustavo Martin of Venezuela didn’t win. Maybe next year? Randy’s got a little time between Sweet Fantasy and my next cruise ship gig, so maybe I’ll just scoot over to Caracas?

Second grand prize went to the TOP GROUPIE:

Ooh, what a category. The drama. The intrigue. The lead changes. But now that the smoke has cleared and the dust has settled, the winner is Jim Connolly, a machine handyman and post-modern promotions artist from Providence, Rhode Island – “The Land of Rhody Fresh!”. Jim Connolly’s SM2V profile clearly states that she’s just “some dude”, but evidently she’s some dude that’s more than willing to give a little claw scratch in direction of that ginger dream bro Brian W. Jones! Meow! Ladies, there’s plenty of spa time for us all. I’ll provided the cucumber slices!

Third grand prize goes to this TOP ROASTER:

Perhaps a little TMI, but I must confess – before bed every night, I would light a candle before an InkJet digital print-out of sChristopher Noseworthy, and ask my magic 8 Ball if she was going to win. Apparently I should have lit two candles, because the winning roaster is Wen Yong Huang from Wo De Cafe, a shop and roastery in the Southwest China city of Chongqing. Wikipedia says there are seven million people there and its sweeping landscape looks like something Oscar winning cinematographer Wally Pfister dreamed up on a soundstage in London. Wen Yong Huang, a sincere congratulations. We’ll see you and your +1 on the dance floor in Vienna.

And your fourth grand prize goes to this TOP BARISTA:

I am barely containing myself. I feel like I could scream, cry, break things, and bake a cake all at once. Why? Because the winning barista is Kyle Wilson, of Toronto’s Te Aro Coffee Roasters. Kyle certainly seems to have his priorities in order. According to Kyle’s profile, “work is 90% of my daytime activities, with the other 10% going to running, eating, and making origami.” The result is a lithe, lissome, supple runner’s body; he’s like Louis William Tomlinson’s Canadian older brother (with Harry Edward Styles’ lips), and Randy just can’t get enough. Look at Kyle lick up at that coffee! Oof, is it time for Vienna yet?

So whether you’re a first place finisher, or a tearful runner up, we think it’s FABULOUS that you all submitted yourself to Natvia’s promotional whims. Congratulations to the winners, and get ready to party your buns off in Vienna at the ONE NIGHT IN BANGKOK bizarro soiree! Someone call me a cab!

PS: Follow me on Twitter @therealrandy69. You know I’ll follow back!

The post SM2V 2012 Winners: Randy Handles All Four appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Good morning, readers of the world, wherever you are. My name’s Randall Bodum, and I am brimming with enthusiasm over all the Vienna 2012 party coverage we’ve got planned for you next month. You no doubt remember my by-line from such other Sprudge party features as “Better Late Than Randy: Sweet Fantasy Party Recap From The 2011 SCAE” and “Report From Bogota: Randal H. Bodom, Lost In The K-Cup K-Hole. ”

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

HIIIIIIIIIIII! Randy here. OH MY GOD, I’m exhausted! I just drew the shades from my rented flat and ugh! The moon is so bright! Oh, wait. It’s 3:30PM. Where am I? Brussels???? Where did all these Euros come from? Sigh. Anyhoozle, I’m flipping through my snaps from last night (or was it a couple of nights ago?), and here’s a few of the best paparazzi snapshots from Natvia’s Sweet Fantasy Party:

The one thing this party had the most of: lots of booze. It was a Drambuie bonanza. Randy loves it. What’s the other thing this party had lots of?

Hunks. Hello, bartender! What’s your name?

YIKES, it’s a lion! I literally screamed.

Listen, sexy, I paid a lot of money for those knock-offs, so give me my sunglasses back!

omg omg omg – LEAVE ME OUT OF YOUR DUNGEON, MR. MAN!

Look at these cutie pies. I just love all that stubble.  Maybe you boys want to come to Vegas some time and work for Randy? You’ll make more money in a weekend than you can even DREAM…I’m just sayin’…

Well, those are my faves! I have NO clue how I’m supposed to get back home, but I’m sure I can hit up Sprudge for some more “travel expenses”. I’ll take a slow boat if I have to. LIFE IS HARD SOMETIMES! Wish me luck! You can check out all the rest of the clickity clicks by pointing your little mousy right here. SEE YA!

The post Better Late Than Randy: Sweet Fantasy Party Recap From SCAE 2011 appeared first on Sprudge.com.

Hiiiiiiiiii! Randy here, dusting off the debris from last night’s all-nighter here in Bogota…or was it the night before? I completely lost track of time down here. I mean, I guess that’s what happens when you go ALL NIGHT LONG for 3 nights straight, and wind up in a bottomless K-hole…and by K-hole, I mean K-Cups. I meant to take more HunkShots, and there’s been plenty of hunks, trust me, but honestly at this point they’re all blurring together into some kind of hunky nightmare, the kind that won’t go away when I open my eyes. I really need to get it together. In the meantime, this sprightly South American leprechaun fellow has been haunting my dreams, following my every leer, dancing behind my eyelids whenever I try to get some rest…

What I really need is a tall, cool glass of agua to set me straight. And I guess I’d better call Delta, have them re-book me my business class row of seats for the next flight back to Vegas. I just can’t wait to be home, on the 30th floor of the Palms, halfway through a 2 hour deluxe spa treatment with my cell phone set to BUZZ. But yeah, Bogota was faboo, I’m sure I’ll see you at the next SuperParty. Do me a favor and let me know who won, okay?

The post Report From Bogota: Randal H. Bodom, Lost In The K-Cup K-Hole… appeared first on Sprudge.com.

First up, we have that extra Handsome Coffee Roaster Tyler Wells. Here’s a real shaved ginger sig drink, amiright? Tyler made sure to pour this trad-capp extra hot for Randy. Did I love it? Adored it! Next!

Well, hello there! I only caught this gentleman’s first name. Gabriel from Daterra in Brazil. He gave me a wink and I returned it with a snap! Hollister? Holler! Work it, Gabriel, and we’ll see you later!

Well, well, well. What do we have here? These three stopped me in my tracks right around the time all that E kicked in… and by “E” I mean espresso. Outta my way, “los tres Senors“, I gotta get some agua. DE-HY-DRATED!

Well, I guess Randy can wait for a shot from Hakon. Ooh, just sweet enough with a soft, gentle body. Randy, pull yourself together, you’ve got someone else to see…

Señor Alejandro Mendez! Fresh from his jaw-dropping performance, I caught this HunkShot backstage – where the real action is. But by then I was all flustered and could only really muster a simple demure “Hola, Alejandro”. Maybe I’ll think of something more clever to say at one of tonight’s many fabulous after parties. Time to spritz some toner on my face and get ready for Day Two! Randy out!

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Scandinavian short-shorts! Those gams! Wait, what competitor is up? Does it matter? Oh! Hey! It’s me! Randy Bodom! I’m here at the WBC reporting on the hunks of Bogota, and let me tell you, it’s not an easy job. Oh, wait, yes it is. The WBC is a regular HUNKFEST. – RB

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