fire ball

i played a flaming fireman

gabriel on fire

hot bearded men: danny & javier

marky mark's post troll getup

imagine a sleepy vermont town on a cold late october night. parking lots empty, street lamps buzzing. and then, slowly but steadily a small crowd of costumed kids, adults and a few dogs begin to mingle outside a renovated industrial building. suddenly there are electric butterflies floating above the crowd and a small band of drummers roll out african rhythms. and then the crowd surges onto main street waking up the sleepy town with revelry, hooting and music. a few stops along the way pick up more paraders and some candy throws. not much more than fifteen minutes after the parade starts it ends in the riverside backyard of another restored building. there's a barrel of wood to warm, a fire organ, a fire eater and a monster petting zoo. inside, a party and book signing. one by one paraders make their way back to where they started—to the first renovated industrial building—for a dance party, the "fire ball." hand-painted oversized cartoon posters cover the floor to ceiling glass, sarah, the deejay, spins out a dancable mix that keeps the energy high and the groove pulsing five hours and most everyone light on their feet the whole time.

this was the scene of our fourth white river junction (rio blanco) halloween parade and dance party last night.

i had a great time. i dressed as a flaming fireman and used pretty much just stuff laying around the studio—old clothes, left over glow wire from the butterflies, left over insulation from my yoga studio, a lot of staples, some hot glue and a bit of thread. i was going to play my djembe with steve ferraris and his rhythm crew but i ended up playing a remo tennis-racket-like paddle drum because i couldn't very well run the parade, keep my flames flickering—this required my left hand to flip a small toggle switch constantly—and play a djembe all at the same time.

roger and danny paraded with knavin, their three-legged yellow lab. roger is one of the smoothest dancers i've ever known—i don't know how he does it. i caught danny and javier together in a snapshot. bearded men are hot. gabriel's costume was, as always, incredible, indescribable and imaginative, a confluence of styles and themes that shocked, delighted and horrified. he lit many a cigarette with his flaming cone-tits. mark, in the footsteps of his last year's troll-under-the-bridge, invented a new character, ziggy star troll, that i hope someone recorded in decent photos. it was a sight to behold. towards the end of the party, kim, angela and i placed some objects and orange tape bits on the floor and payed homage to the ensemble as if it were a deity with our writhing and play. angela and i taped our feet to the floor and learned how much the world expands with limitation.

almost everyone came in costume which creates a special energy. people come out of their shells, play alter-egos, engage each other through the transformation of their mask. the theme of the party was "fire ball," but the deeper theme was creativity, inspiration, expression and transformation.