Happy Halloween

Halloween in New York City is a funny thing - you have to be really careful about complimenting people on their costumes. That might just be the way they dress. Hell, depending on the crowd you run with, pirate hats can be a viable fashion accessory…

Halloween has always had a special place in my heart. Perhaps it’s just my inner child (Peggy would say that it’s really my outer child, but I digress…) gleefuly anticipating costumes and candy, tricking and treating. But actualy, my fondness for Halloween springs from more mature (perhaps that’s the wrong word) experiences.

First, the parties. The college costume parties at our house, Falconhurst. Then, living in Kings Park with Jungle Jim (that’s another journal entry right there), we would throw some pretty crankin’ Halloween parties. Our house would be packed with costumed revelers. It was a blast. So much of a blast that in more recent times, it took a while for me to believe that anyone could throw a Halloween party worthy of attention (a rather condescending attitude, I admit).

But then came the “Party House” in Huntington Village, with their Halloween blowouts with over 700 people: my band playing, the bonfires, the food, the drink, the police… ah, memories.

Then, there was the time I performed with Jahn Kefa (or, at that time Joshua Jahn) at the Theatre for the New City’s Halloween festival, right out on 10th street. That was fun.

And, Escape Velocity did some Halloween shows as well. Biker bar Halloweens can be pretty entertaining, I must say.

Most dear to me were the Zappa Halloween concerts. First, at the Palladium. Then, after the Downtown-Julie-Brown-ification of the Palladium (even better - now it’s a fucking dormatory!), at the Felt Forum (or, for people without a knowledge of history, the Theater at Madison Square Garden). FZ shows were always a wonderful, mind-blowing experience, but those shows at the end of October were always more special.

Why? Perhaps that, for some of us, Halloween is the perfect excuse to act more like the way we would prefer, instead of acting the way we must, if we wish to get by in the “real world” (read: The Corporate Republic of America). It’s the day where it’s acceptable to bend some rules (or, to put a finer point on it, to bend more rules than usual). When things are allowed to go bump in the night - or during the day, for that matter. Those FZ shows were truly a celebration of the “Hey! It’s the twentieth century… Whatever you can do to have a good time, let’s get on with it, So long as it doesn’t cause a murder…” mindset.

I will close with a few words from brother Al Jourgensen of Ministry:

well I let their teeny minds think

that they’re dealing with someone who is over the brink

and I dress this way just to keep them at bay

cos halloween is everyday

it’s everyday o, why can’t I live a life for me?

why should I take the abuse that’s served?

why can’t they see they’re just like me

i’m not the one that’s so absurd