Everybody looks like somebody, and it ups the ante when its Halloween:
— There were some people out last weekend who were in “costume,” but accidentally, since they looked the part just by being themselves, and going as themselves. There was the woman from the coroner’s office at the CSI television show, complete with the dark makeup and hair and Gothic looks, but wait, that’s the way this patron looks in real life. The same was true of a couple of everyday Elvira lookalikes on the dance floor, and guy decked out in his usual manner to look like Bumblebee from the Transformers movies, and another “leading man,” if I can use that term, from the movie “She’s Outta My League,” which had aired on TV earlier that afternoon. Lastly, patron Shane pulled a superhero trick by wearing his Superman shirt for the second year in a row, and a hottie similarly rocked the house by sporting high heels with corn-like tassels covering the heel.
— A clerk at Holiday, sporting colored hair and piercings, said he was really into working in the last few weeks while the continuous strains of Halloween-style music played in the background, courtesy of a set of pre-programming. He added that his enthusiasm might wane when the overlong two months of Christmas music takes over once November comes.
— An area store loaded with Halloween gear advertised its wares by having a guy dressed as a skeleton dancing out front while holding a sign. He was doing the moves from Saturday Night Fever. Does this mean that John Travolta is undead? Or coming back to life?
— A bartender friend says she is wholly into Halloween, to the point that in her family, someone once gave birth then a day later went trick-or-treating with the newborn in a stroller, and both were in costume.
— Moving on to football, a big guy at the Village Inn in North Hudson, who was wearing a referee jersey, fittingly made it known by waving his hands above his head that the home team should accept a penalty. Add to that the sheer size of his large jersey, and you have a spectacle in the midst of a packed house.
— Across the street at the Freedom Value Center, a cashier had on accidental Green and Gold, in the form of her sweatshirt. When asked if this wardrobe choice was intentional, considering that it was game night, she was surprised, noting that the shirt’s logo said San Francisco. I said I’ve had the same experience when scores of people always ask me about (1) a Colorado Bulldogs sweatshirt from my sister-in-law, about which team many seem to think I’m a fan and (2) an old Mr. T’s Bar T-shirt from back in the day when I played on their softball squad, which still is amazingly intact (the shirt not the team).
— The Dahmer fans/critics/jokesters are out in force, and considering that its Halloween … Many people have told me that I resemble old Jeffrey, and part of the joke is that my friend Tom looks like Michael Moore, and that I just might come back from the dead to restart my evil deeds, and have Tom make a documentary film about it! But recently, there were four Dahmer “sightings” that he could put in his report. A woman whom I did not recognize said to the cute shot-girl at The Smilin’ Moose, as I stood near them waiting for the bathroom to open up, “there’s Dahmer behind you!” After a moment, I stepped forward two strides and said sarcastically “I heard that.” There was a similar remark made about me the next night, at the other end of the bar, far, far away, thinking I would not hear. Then the night after that, friend Rich regaled me with a Dahmer comparison, then did it one better, pretending to introduce me to someone at the bar who also has a look-alike: “Jeffrey, meet Alan Harper.” But where is Charlie Sheen! Add to that the teasing Jeff Loven gave me after calling me up to sing (death metal?) in the midst of this time period, and you have to wonder if all these commentators are “dead-on?” Or this should, someday, by put on MY tombstone?
— If you venture into Pudge’s these days, because of ongoing renovation, you can’t use the off-sale back door. So to invoke a World Series reference made Midwest topical because of Brewer announcer Bob Uecker, you “must be in the front row” and use the front door next to the sidewalk. Unless a zombie intercepts you en route.
— A few more late breaking tidbits from the “candy-like” grab-bag. Both Green Mill and the Village Inn have police do-not-cross lines in places where you would normally want to “go.” One is on the rest room doors and the other on the door to the beer cooler, so someone definitely had a sense of humor. At Green Mill, that tops the sign on either side of the front door, one referencing the entryway to the establishment, the other exiting with a drawing of a trick-or-treater’s bag getting a gaping hole and spilling all the loot. What might you want more than such candy, and still be in fitting with Halloween? How about the Surly Darkness Day that was hawked on a sign in front of the Nova, or the duo at Dick’s over the weekend that has them dressed up as Devo?