Sexy was out at the costume parties at nightclubs last weekend, mostly because it was downright frigid outside.
With little opportunity to show skin, what took over was not BEING IN costume, but BEING YOUR costume. In other words, using your get-up to be totally in character and making your mark on the downtown scene that way.
– The best example of the previous trend was the tall elf-like guy who was displaying the sign Gnomes Against Gardens, then breaking into a speech to whoever would listen about how gnomes are people too (well sort of), and are much more than a decoration amidst the flowers.
– There was one other prime example of the trend, if it wasn’t so creepy. OK, that was the point. This guy in a bathrobe, who was about the age and clothing style of Hugh Hefner, would amble up to groups of women, lean forward and stick his somewhat balding head into the midst of their conversation. He was a hoot! Although he stayed in character so well that one has to wonder if he is really that way. (He did apparently parlay that into a date, as he was out on the dance floor later with a young lovely).
– And then there were the two golden painted pros, from head to foot, who were carrying a like-colored baseball bat and tennis racquet and went as a couple. Meanwhile, at the bar, Harry Potter was wielding his own weapon, tapping his wand on Batman’s nose. I don’t know how that would fit in with a bouncer friend’s rule, concerning if you can bring in a fake gun or say a Viking ax as a prop, that hey, if you wouldn’t want to be bopped on the noggin with it, leave it at home.
– Down the aisle was a big Play Dough container, with a woman inside, who was in a costume complete with an almost three-foot-wide lid balanced on her head.
– The main exception to the non-sexy rule was a woman who dressed up as Miss Murica on Friday night, being ready for the swimsuit competition, and a mermaid on Saturday night, complete with a long tail that made it hard to walk — and little else.
– Don’t forget that other woman, with a Twister board game propped on her hip and a costume where she was being grabbed all over by a number of little ghouls.
– As part of her costume, a bartender at Pudge’s wore some very big black boots. She even thrust one leg up on the bar counter to show just how large they are. How long would she have the foot stamina to keep them on? Apparently there was an online debate. Meanwhile, across the way, her vampire co-worker was showing patrons something else, that one of her pointed teeth has fallen out.
– In an odd case of synergy, two different bartenders on the same shift at the Smilin’ Moose were wearing corsets as part of their costumes. Inquiring minds want to know if they called each other beforehand to check what the other was wearing.
– Inquiring minds also might want to know how far this was taken: A vampire on the dance floor was twirling her more-than-foot-long whip, (Was DEVO being played by the DJ?), and occasionally giving a back a light slap.
– Ginger update! Ginger update! As was first reported here, and nowhere else, one of the Two Gingers that are displayed to push Irish Whiskey via a bathroom sign, had freckles drawn on her and a few days later was cleaned up. However, just in time for Halloween, the prankster was back, drawing dots on the faces of both women!
– Just how Wisconsin savvy are you? The DJ at the Smilin’ Moose said repeatedly, with the onset of the Daylight Savings Time change, that hey know how to do it up right on this side of the river. He added, also repeatedly, that here rather than in Minnesota, the bars get to stay open another hour because of the switch. However, he said, that makes for a 3 a.m. closing. Hey, wouldn’t that be three-thirty, since this is a weekend? Or do they have so many patrons, they have to push people out the doors early?
– Lastly, Prince was on Saturday Night Live, with a record eight-minute performance, sporting a huge afro that could only be matched in size by the one seen at Dick’s Bar and Grill that was a big as a beach ball, and this all happened before Halloween. And again for Terry at Dick’s, you were noticeable by your absence of a Prince costume at Friday night’s party.