Hi folks, now that my Parties conversations thread has gone off the radar, I'm going to take my query a step further.

For my episode of my Musical Therapy radio program, tentatively entitled "Parties and Social Events: What We Most Want, I want to to be able talk about some of the different 'goals' we have for social conversations----the play songs related to it.

So I've done much of the musical part (although certainly feel free to suggest other songs).

But now I want to focus on the following question:

Why do we engage in social interactions via parties, dinners, etc?

It's clear why we do it when we're single (as per the Waltz of The Wallflowers),,,,since it's part of that 'finding a special person' ritual.    It's also clear why we have social interactions when we're working together on a special project.

But......once we're 'settled', mature, etc. many of us still go to parties, dinner engagements, social get-togethers, etc.   Why?   What is it we want from them, and what is the criteria for a successful one?

People will talk about great food, great music, etc. as being the criteria for a fun get-together.   But what kind of social interactions make the difference between a dismal one and a great one?

It used to be for me that I really needed 'inspiration'. Something to really resonate for me----and I'd feel so frustrated because it rarely happened. Now? I rarely go......and when I do, I've learned to be more content with 'small talk', chatter, etc. (although I can still enjoy really good gossip....but it seems rare for that to even happen).

And the rare time something significant is talked about-----the other day, for instance, 3 of us were talking about mortality and how questioned whether or not all anxiety is triggered by the recognition of our eventual end.   

But you rarely get talk like that at parties.

What conversations would interest you in a relatively unstructured social event?

-Larry

P.S. Thanks to those of you who contributed song ideas in my "music" thread----Anglogeezer, Jaze, Howard Kaplan, Guest, Vic Smith, Joe Offer, Peter Mork, Mike in Brunswick, and Phil Cooper.