HALLOWEEN AND BIRTHDAY FUN AT THE BARBECUE JOINT

Bonfires burning bright
Pumpkin faces in the night
I remember Halloween!

"Halloween"-the Misfits

Signs of my favorite time of year are popping up all over the place, including this fantastic display across the street from the barbecue joint provided by Jerry, a local artist who specializes in paintings and huge graffiti stickers like this portrait of Bela Lugosi. Just the thing to get my work day off to the right start!

This past Friday night at the barbecue joint we held a combination Halloween shindig and birthday party for Tracey the waitress goddess, and lemme tell ya that the joint was jumping! We even had people from as far away as Massachusetts and Pennsylvania grace us with their costumed presence, all ready to party and pay tribute to the birthday gal. And we even had seasonal libations served in plastic skulls to make things that much more festive.

As the evening proceeded, costumed revelers came out of the woodwork, many of them couples out sharing a night of disguised lunacy.

Our most badassed bartender , Will, represented as Mister T and the weird thing about that was that it didn't seem to be that much of a stretch.

John, one of our regulars, showed up as Clark Kent, but as the alcohol worked its way through him he shed the suit and kicked back in the height of Kryptonian sartorial elegance.

The Harry Potter contingent was embodied by Remus Lupin and the lovely Tonks.

These two lovely ladies both showed up as Velma from SCOOBY-DOO, but somehow a doppelganger cat fight was avoided. And I swear to the gods that I want to take a bite out of the zaftig one with the long hair! I mean, just look at those eyes and that smile...Damn!!!

One of my favorite regulars, Marius, showed up as Captain America's arch-nemesis, that asshole the Red Skull, taking the prize for best comics geek outfit.

My old pal Amanda Conner showed up with her boyfriend, Jimmy Palmiotti, in tow, and held court with a she-demon and Tonks.

Here we have Medusa in mortal combat with the birthday girl as Beowulf, ever cautious against staring the Gorgon in the face lest she turn to stone (much like the below-the-belt bits of several men in attendance once they got a look at Tracey in full-blown barbaric masturbation fantasy splendor).

And here's yours truly as Tim the Enchanter from MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, surmounted by a delicious display of lovely titties and my kitchenmate, Scott, as seventies supercop Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson.

I had a terrific time, and I intend to get as much mileage out of the Tim outfit as I can on Halloween itself. We have another Halloween party at the barbecue joint tomorrow night and I intend to drop by, so stay tuned!