Halloween!

Last night, Halloween, we had our gig in the City. We were stationed outside what was called a "Haunted Garden," and our job was to play taiko while people waited in line to get in. Our setup was kind of cool and had that thrown-together look that somehow always works for Halloween:

And this is what the set looks like when it is actually haunted by a posessed demon drummer:

And yes, her bachi are actually the leg bones of some poor hapless soul. See?:

I have to say that this was probably the most effort I've put into a Halloween costume. It involved sewing, obi-tying, and a first for me--grease paint. That stuff is fun to work with. And with some sort of Clinique miracle remover-in-a-bottle, not so hard to take off. I copied a face I found on the internet. Here is a better view of our pre-sweat makeup jobs:

We got a chance to walk through the haunted garden and it was pretty cool. Every once in a while when we were outside playing, we'd hear the sound of children screaming cutting through all the other noise, which of course, warmed my heart. Tons more pics and scariness than what I'm posting here:
And yes that's Santa Claus. He was funny because he gets the kids on his lap only to ask them to give him some candy with the threat that if they don't he won't come to their house during the holidays. Isn't that hilarious?

And just cause I'm posting pics, here are pics of what happens to your hands when you play like posessed demons:

Blood blisters! Ew! Gross! (Yet I couldn't resist taking a picture of it--and it's not even mine) And I whacked my pinky so hard it turned blue! Isnt' that kind of cool? If it didn't hurt so much I'd whack all my fingers for Halloween. Today it's a little more grey and painful and I can't type with my pinky so now it's not as cool as I thought. Oh well. I had fun!