A year ago today, Gawker Media launched Idolator, much to the chagrin of Zune’s marketing team, music bloggers, Village Voice Media mucky-mucks, and a lot of other people, no doubt; since then, I (along with Brian Raftery, Jess Harvell, and a host of amazing contributors and guest bloggers) have been on a 12-month ride of waking up at the crack of dawn, scouring RSS readers, and making jokes at the expense of art directors everywhere. But I’m not here to sentimentalize, baby-boomer-style–instead, I want you to know that we’re having a first-anniversary party on Sept. 24, and you’re invited. Invite (courtesy of our in-house MS Paint auteur) after the jump.

So, the party. It’s set for Sept. 24–a week from Monday–and it’ll be at the New York City Knitting Factory’s Tap Bar, with sets by Baltimore’s Monarch and Brooklyn’s My Teenage Stride. (There will probably be a DJ of some sort, too.) There’s no cover, and it starts at 9 p.m.; if you’d like to meet Jess and me while we’re still somewhat coherent, I’d recommend arriving on the early side.