Bash Compactor: Fight Makes Right

On Thursday night, while the rest of the world watched Sarah Palin and Joe Biden duke it out in the VP debate, Saint Ann’s Warehouse in Dumbo provided a venue for a more harmonious— if still unusual— combination: Folk dancing and amateur boxing, with a little jazz thrown in for good measure.

All proceeds from the night’s fundraiser—tickets cost $75—went to the restoration of the Manhattan Bridge Archway on Water Street, a project that the nabe’s Business Improvement District has been working on for the past two years.

“Fight Night truly encompasses all that our community has to offer,” said Kate Kerrigan, executive director of the BID. “Great talent and good company, all dedicated to reclaiming a neighborhood gem.” That’s lovely, but free beer and pushcarts full of snacks, both of which were a highlight of the evening, shouldn’t be overlooked as selling points either.

One of the area’s biggest boosters, Jed Walentas, who, along with his patrician papa, owns most of the neighborhood, watched over the event with a gimlet eye. Hoping the young millionaire might pay us to stop talking, we peppered him with questions, asking him if he’d ever been in a fight. “Not really,” he said. “Not a real one.” Hmmm. Only wussy ones with lots of scratching and hair pulling? He laughed at us and went back to a conversation about the off-season moves of the SF Giants, a team he’s a shareholder in. The evening’s entertainment began with the sumptuous sounds of the Dreamland Orchestra, resident artists at the newly opened Galapagos Art Space. Director Robert Elmes, who we can’t imagine ever throwing a punch, crowed that the orchestra, which plays 1920s jazz music, was the obvious choice to introduce Galapagos to the community. “We wanted to put our best foot forward,” he said. The only thing missing—in our increasingly alcohol- and testosterone-fueled opinion—was a bikini-clad model strutting through the ring. With any luck, though, Palin—whose debate appearance was broadcast on a big screen in the front of the room— will be available for that role next year.