What are you doing for Halloween? Drinking a little “cider” with your pals like you did last year? Trick-or-treating with your roommate, perhaps?
The Pulse desk decided to veer away from the holiday mundane to see what a few “local celebrities” were planning this year (hmm, do they even need costumes?). We also pestered them for some of their favorite Halloween memories and anecdotes.
Holidays have a way of sneaking up on us, and when the big day arrives, poor planning can result in a less-than-memorable night. For University President Dave Frohnmayer, for instance, an inquiry about Halloween plans may have elicited the same answer he’s been giving for years — his plans include a simple evening of trick-or-treating with his kids. It seems his days of wild costume parties may be behind him.
Crazy antics are not reserved for Halloween for our foul-mouthed guru Don Goldman, although he does have one particularly memorable Halloween anecdote. Goldman, who recently made headlines for his “Fuck You” speeches at the EMU Amphitheater, recalled a party he held in a graveyard with his friends. While the group was telling ghost stories, someone stumbled out of the bushes screaming. Goldman said everyone ran.
“I tripped on a grave and whacked my head,” said Goldman. It’s unknown whether the incident had any long-term effects.
Duck defensive tackle Igor Olshansky, on the other hand, doesn’t have many Halloween stories, given that his prime trick-or-treating years were spent in the Ukraine. Olshansky, 20, moved to the United States in 1989. He seemed more than a bit confused as to why an Emerald reporter would be waiting to interview him after practice to ask him about costumes and candy, rather than bowl games and head-cracking. But he did his best.
“I remember my sister and I went as doctors one year. That’s about it,” Olshansky said.
Reigning SLUG Queen Cynthia Beal — aka Queen Radia — said she plans to celebrate with music.
“Queen Radia’s plans for Halloween are Legion, and slightly Intra-Dimensional this year,” she wrote in a stately e-mail, “involving a trip to the Radiant Edge for a radical concert on the Roots of Things.”
OK, so maybe that answer doesn’t tell us exactly where she’s going or what she’s doing, but it sure sounds more interesting than chewing on an old Tootsie Roll, doesn’t it?
Queen Radia said she enjoys Halloween, “especially because it’s the time when Eugene’s future SLUG Queens are often glimpsed, the first hints of their emerging personae showing through costume and theme.”
Her highness said these “queens” will be out in full force.
“Sightings of future queens are said to be especially auspicious, and (the Queen) encourages all to keep their eyes peeled,” she said.
According to Queen Radia, her most beloved Halloween bygone hasn’t even happened yet.
“Her favorite Halloween memory — just last week, for she time-hops when appropriate — was the Gastropod Ball, held at John Henry’s in 2005,” she wrote, “when everyone dressed as a SLUG Queen, even the Mayor (who actually won the previous year and was truly a Dear Old Queen) and a good time was had by all.”