July 2- The Check Arrives! And Checking Out Flashback Costumes

Before I go any further- let me announce- my economic stimulus check has arrived! I wrote earlier that I had not received it yet, in spite of having a very low last few digits on my Social Security number. Well, finally- only about a month and a half later than the original plan indicated- it arrived. Hey, I’m not complaining- as long as I got it, I don’t mind the
delay! It’ll be gone in no time, mostly to pay bills, not for the frivolous spending the government had hoped would be its use…
But, now, let’s get back to my tales of last Saturday’s visit to the Flashback Weekend horror convention… we had just bid goodbye to the lovely Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, after our historic on-stage first meeting (and, seriously, I worried about her making it down the stairs off the stage in that confining dress- but, I guess, with her years of negotiating things in it, she’s an expert at it!)-it was time for the annual costume contest.
As always, we started off with the kids category- and I was surprised that this year, we only had TWO entrants! Note to kids and parents- why not suit up next year? You’ve got a good chance of winning! One of the entrants was a little girl who’s had great costumes every year- she was a zombie girl, a wicked axe-wielding little Dorothy from “Wizard of Oz,” Little DEAD Riding Hood, and this year- she was a cool amalgam-
Zombie Alice Cooper in Wonderland! However, she was bested by a young lady who was Tippi Hedren from “the Birds”- complete with black birds all over her coat, some lovely make-up beak and claw marks, etc. The crowd got a real laugh out of that one- almost as big a laugh as when her prize was announced as – “a bag of stuff!”
Then came the adult contest, and it was a cavalcade of great costumes-a couple wordless Jason Voorhees clones, an accurate Barnabas Collins, a towering perfect KISS Gene Simmons, a funny duplicate of the original Svengoolie (the Jerry G. Bishop version) –the Joker-and plenty more, all really impressive (although some one could explain the injured taco guy to me)- our winners- the Red Riding Hood family, with the Hooded one, the grandma wolf, and the heroic woodsman- the Zombie Girl Scout (a huge favorite with the crowd)- and the big winner- a “Planet of the Apes” gorilla warrior who said (and acted like) he was a male stripper!
Flashback is always a great time both for me and all who attend- we WILL be showing highlights on the show in the future-including the Elvira meeting- most likely in September- we’ll warn you about when they’ll appear right here!