HALLOWEEN PARADE 10-31-03
JEN, RAN-D, my brother BRETT, and I tossed on some cheesy costumes and headed downtown for some Halloween parties and shenanigans. We arrived in Greenwich Village just before the big freak show parade was to start. This parade is crazy, I've actually walked in it a few times, and it's a trip, mainly because the people in NY are friggen nuts and really give love to the people who walk.
But the plan for tonight was for three things to go down.
1) Party overlooking the parade 2) Subway party 3) Subway afterparty.
So first we met up with JOSH CLARK. He and 3 Swedish chicks dressed up together as a unit of Doctor and two "Hot Swedish Nurses." The other Swedish chick was "Hot Swedish Maid" (I don't know how that fits into the whole doctor/nurse scenario, but it was hot regardless). We then met up on the corner there with Zack and Emerson (this corner was a very packed and ill planned meeting spot) and all went together to the party. The host of the party was one of Josh's friends. Her and her 4 female roomates were throwing it at their swanky 6th Avenue pad.
YAY!
The party was in an apartment with roof access that overlooked the parade route on 6th Ave on 11th street with an amazing view. We got to the corner just below the building and ended up watching most of the parade from street level because we found out, Josh had never learned the girl's exact street address. The one guy who knew it was really late in meeting us but was on his way. Meanwhile the clock was ticking, and the longer we stayed there the harder a time we would have trying to get to Harlem in time to catch our train, (more on that in a minute).
Finally, the guy who knew the adress showed up and we got in the door went up the stairs and the place was packed, except for Josh, none of us knew anybody. We were ushered in, and immediately we started looking for the bar. I was dressed as a skull face, similar to the movie -LINKdead presidents, but more skeleton like. $2.98 make-up kit at Walmart. It actually turned out pretty good cause I took my time making it look good and scary. Jen was a cat, I noticed she started making small talk with some girl who was dressed up like that chick in Blade Runner.
Ran-D was a guy with bleeding orifices (he used red from my skull make-up kit because I had no use for it), and Brett was a midget with a giant head. He had this giant white mask (2 1/2 feet) and held it crotch level, he attached fake arms to his pants, wore a shirt that fell to his knees and crouched over when he walked. He had a robe over his real head and back which looked like a turban or headdress on the midget. It was hysterical to see him lumbering down the street, the hands on the ends of the cotton stuffed arms were gloved and were brushing the concrete as he walked. He made this costume in 15 minutes and it looked like he spent weeks on it.
Well, after a few minutes of searching and asking strangers, I found a wall with some bottles on a rack which I assumed was the bar. I pulled a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream off the rack and started to pour it into a plastic cup. It started glopping out like very chunky Ketsup. So I trashed that cup and grabbed another.
I filled the fresh cup with vodka and diet coke due to lack of juice and decent booze. Ran-D and I snagged a few rock solid Jell-O shots from the freezer. We grabbed the rest of the crew and made a climb for the roof.
The roof was accessed only by a Jacob's ladder in the hallway that went up to a perfect square cut in the ceiling. Hard to climb and navigate, especially if you are carrying Jell-O shots and a glass of warm vodka and piss soda.
The Swedish chicks in the short nurse skirts climbed the ladder first, much to the amusement of myself and the other guys. I received an elbow to the side from Jen for pointing it out, which also amused the other guys. (they laugh at my pain)
When we got on the roof it was fantastic. I filmed some, and took some pictures. We were 3 floors up, overlooking the road, right across the street from that --LINKGreenwich Village Clock tower. The parade was still rolling along strong. And the night was just starting to cool down (it was an exceptionally warm day).
The Rocky Horror Picture Show Float stopped just before our street and the entire road started doing the time warp. It was pretty bizarre to see from above.
This roof was dangerous in that it had nothing on the edge that would resemble a ledge or a rail, just a sheer drop, so we kept having to back away from it. Soon we realized the time, and we had to split out for the subway party to catch our train.
The party train.
We said good bye to Josh and the girls, who were going down to the L. E. S. for other parties (I created an animal).
Just another day in the life of an Art Juggernaut.
-Cojo