cord Shuffle?" asked Scott Goldman, a
32-year-old medical supplies salesman
and part-time magician from Brooklyn.
"It's very easy. All you gotta do is walk
around in circles in the lobby for a few
hours and look at people sitting on the
couches as they look at you. I know it
sounds ridiculous, but that's what people
usually do here. And that's what they are
paying to do."
All one would have to do is seat himself
in the Concord lobby and he would spot
the same people constantly passing by,
he said. Amazingly, the Concord Shuffle
gave many singles a chance to get better
acquainted.
Take the group of boisterous bachelors
who seemed to spend a good part of the
weekend sitting in the lobby drinking
beer from a keg. In between gulps of
brew, they yelled lewd suggestions and
handed out cards with their names and
room numbers to receptive pairs and
trios of females doing the Concord Shuf-
fle.
"It's just another way of having some
fun and meeting people," shrugged
Lainie Goodman, a 22-year-old elementa-
ry school teacher from Holbrook, N.Y., as
she and her friends strolled by men on
couches yelling out their room numbers
and shouts of "Hey, I'm a doctor, bay-
bee."
Later in the evening at a cocktail hour
preceding the Concord dinner-a-thon,
Scott from Brooklyn kvetched about the
hazards of being "a sensitive guy" at a
Concord singles weekend.
"I've probably been to about a hundred
of these weekends and I've really never
met anyone," he said. "I think part of the
problem is the women who come here.
They act like the man has to do every-
thing. Would it hurt if they once in a
while came up to us and started a conver-
sation? I'm shy sometimes. I don't un-
derstand why they think it's up to the
guy to make the first move."
But it's a tough dog-eat-dog singles
world, countered Ilene Hirsch, a 30-year-
old accountant from Plainsboro, N.J.
"I get approached by a lot of nerds,"
she said matter-of-factly. "You come to
these kinds of weekends expecting the
worst in people. I didn't come up here
with the intention of meeting someone.
That way I'm not disappointed. If I don't
want to meet people here, I can just play
tennis "
Ironically, Scott and Ilene met at Sat-
urday afternoon's lunch and spent the
evening dining together and drinking
with a group of friends. They pledged to
keep in touch after the weekend.
"I guess it is possible to meet someone
special here," Scott said. "Who would've
guessed?"
Other singles, however, were destined
to spend the remainder of Saturday night
without a date. Some joined their buddies
at the Nite Owl Lounge for a little late
night disco. Others accompanied friends
to their rooms for a nightcap and to catch
some television.
Ironically, many noted that the only
worthwhile program on the tube was a re-
run of that singles classic "Looking For
Mr. Goodbar."
"After watching that, I was kind of
glad I didn't meet anyone," one single
woman said.
A few singles reported their evening
became even more ominous when one
male attending the weekend, possibly de-
pressed from the movie, started making
obscene phone calls to other rooms in the
hotel.
"A perfect ending to a perfect week-
end," a single woman said sarcastically.
But despite the sporadic complaining
among the singles, most of the people
leaving the hotel after its Sunday after-
noon food-fest said they would probably
return to the Concord. If for no other rea-
son, said an unmarried man, than to
brush up on the Concord Shuffle.
"I wasn't here to meet Miss Right,"
said another single male, Bruce Green-
berg, a 30-year-old orthodontist from
Manhattan. "That would be great if it
had happened, but it wasn't really on the
agenda. I needed a vacation and I wanted
to expand my circle of friends. Being up
here in the beautiful mountains is a scene
that can't be duplicated."
"It's always great to get away from the
city and try to meet predominantly Jew-
ish guys," said Michelle Lupka, 24, a re-
tail saleswoman from Brooklyn. "I'm
sure I'll be back probably doing the same
thing."
Open-mindedness, said Marvin, the
Manhattan systems analyst, is the key to
enjoying a Concord singles weekend and
unmarried life in general.
"You'll be disappointed if your goals
for coming here are sex or meeting the
person you'll marry," he said. "Not that
those things would be horrible, but don't
necessarily expect it. But if you want a
fairly relaxed atmosphere to meet some-
one, this is it." El
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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