Good story John. Sounds like a good time was had by all. I liked the food parts -- I usually gain several pounds this time of year lol.

On to the questions.

1. If you walk away from music the last thing you'll hear is base, and whales use base and sub-bass over many miles as mentioned above.

2. It depends on the crowd of course, but I think sinbad probably nailed it. People love to talk it seems.

The only thing I can think of that you might try is a small speaker, used as a personal monitor, and sat up on a stand close to you. To avoid problems, have a mike feeding your monitor and nothing else. That would be easy enough to check out at least.

Edit: These things are high priced, but this would be ideal for what I was talking about. They'll mount on a stand and would be easy to set up as you can run the mike straight to it.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SRM150