Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary was a tech geek from early on, and he was online before there was a World Wide Web. He's the one who introduced me to the Digital Tradition, back when you could get it on 5-1/4 floppy disks. In 1995, he wrote a song called VIRTUAL PARTY (See_You@Party.Net). It's on the Peter, Paul & Mary Lifelines (Live) album:

VIRTUAL PARTY (See_You@Party.Net)
Noel Paul Stookey, Elizabeth B. Stookey, Dave Tkachuk
©1995 Neworld Media Music Publishing

It's 11 o'clock in the evening - I'm barefoot -
And I'm logged-on to the INTERNET.
I usually pickup my e-mail in the afternoon
But on weekends sometimes I forget...
I yell down the hall to the bedroom, "Honey, I'll be right there..."
She says "that's ok, dear, I got a brand new book here and
I'm not going anywhere".

A funny thing about a couple when a couple of years've gone by.
You don't talk; you think you know each other so well you don't have to try...
you take for granted what you used to call enchanted just a while ago...
ah..when does a mystery turn into history?
I don't know...

Anyway, I got another meg of data coming down the line;
A Wall Street profile...spreadsheet from a friend of mine...
Up on the screen pops a little green box says 'click on me'.
Somewhere I swear Alice in Wonderland's callin'...

I look up at the clock (not as late as I thought: only quarter to one).
Download's finished, I could take five minutes and have me some fun.
The invitation's from a web location in Hong Kong.
It's already started, this virtual party runs all night long!
I say all night?

We're invited to a virtual party tonight...(you try it)
You're invited to a virtual party tonight...

There's computers in the microwave, computers in the automobile, computers in the phone.
Oh and even my wife who used to tell me to 'get a life'
has got a computer of her own.
I spend so much time saving time I can't find any time to spend ...
I've taped sixteen episodes of "Star Trek" but when am I gonna show them?!

It's un-believable, must be sixty, seventy people here at the party site.
Icons, Avatars, Images of Movie Stars surfing tonight...
Well I'm looking for a chat when I get a note that
says 'ya wanna go...to a place more private? I kinda think you'll like it...'
I say 'I...yi...'

She says her name is 'Mata Hari' and that she's particularly fond of older men...
Well maybe so, maybe not, maybe she's a guy that's got this urge to pretend...
And then it occurs to me, I don't need this fantasy...
after all, everything I'd be looking for, I've got and even more,
sleeping at the end of the hall...

I shut down the box, still it's three o'clock by the time I get to bed...
I lift up the covers; snuggle next to my lover; find a note there instead...
it says "the book was dumb, logged on, found a message from Hong Kong...
for a virtual party (I'm goin' as 'mata hari') may be all night long..."
I say all night?

Oh, Oh, you're invited to a virtual party tonight...
(what did you say now...?)
Oh, Oh, you're invited to a virtual party tonight...
(one more time now)
Oh, Oh, you're invited to a virtual party tonight...
(one more one more one more)
Ready or not here comes the 21st century
You're invited to a virtual party tonight...