The crunkest of Halloweens....

My, my...what a Halloween this year. The past few years my Halloweens have been a little subdued, so I was pretty much determined to have some fun this time. When the offer came along to dj the VIP lounge at the Forum for the Grizzlies' opening game, I knew I would at least have somewhere to be, but I had no idea if there would be fun involved. After all, the lounge is for long time ticket holders. Do the math - this means they are either old or they are at least rich. Whatever they are, it's NOT generally a twenty-something hipster, so I was a little intimidated. What do these folks want blaring at them as they eat free chicken wings before the game? Then it dawned on me that, with it being Halloween, I should dig up all the nifty Halloween themed mashups and remixes I could find. You would be surprised how many there are out there!
Let me also say that I did not have a single rubber bat stolen this year (I have vented about the bums snagging my bats in prior posts) and my decorations looked pretty cool. I did not pull of any super-neat pumpkins this year, but the ones I did were pretty cool...

Anyway, I got to the Fedex Forum on Halloween, trunk fulla dj gear, having been told I was on the list and all was well. I pulled up the entrance and a platoon of 4 or 5 60-something year old security guards approached me. They had no idea who i was or what i was talking about, but they said they had clearance for an unspecified "crew member" and that I might as well be it. Wonderful. Top notch security there! After a few delays (lets just say that they take parking pretty seriously at the Forum) I got set up and ready to rock this thang...

A good sign that your dj'ing skills are on-point: the nearest big-booty (and I say that with affection) black girl is snapping her fingers and dancing to herself, while the nearest 50 year old white lady is shuffling around, concerned that its just too loud and motioning for you to turn it down. More. Just a little more. OK, that's good. No - just a bit more. Greeeeeat. At this point I was basically playing the music through my headphones, but at least I was having fun.
I had been told that my pay for the evening would largely consist of tickets for the game. This did not come as overly exciting news at first as I can pretty much schmooze my way into any given Grizz game anyway. But then I got to my seats! I was 3 rows back from the floor, and if you look to the bottom right, in the black suit, you'll see King Willie himself. What can I say? A pimp eat steak. And I love the girl who comes dancing by - she is obviously working that thang and it seems to catch Willie's attention...

As I settled in and realized how many people I recognized in my immediate vicinity (cool because I suppose they were all power players of sorts to be sitting so well, and I was one of them, but uncool because I disliked the majority of them - what can i say?), I came to realize that these guys had quite a show taking place. Opening night, Halloween, the return of our long absent mascot after a cancer battle - all this added up to festivity on the making. Tricky tricks and musicky music, so to speak. And I must say, the Forum & the Grizz did not disappoint. Flames, stilt walkers, and even Saliva (who I will give a Free Pass on the shitty sarcasm here just to be nice) - the mood was set. But it was the triumphant return of the Grizz that had to be the highlight. In a very David Lee Roth-ish move, he flew down from the tippitty top of the Forum to the sounds of Foreigner. Nice.

In the longrun, the Grizz won in what had to be the most suspenseful, miraculous and - what the hell - fun that I have EVER had at a Grizz game. Easily. It was like the crowd was into it in a big way - much like the vibe at Tigers games. That feeling of "if we all want it bad enough and we cheer hard enough our wish will come true". And damn if it didn't come true! With 2 seconds left, they threw it in and Mike Conley snatched it from a guy twice as tall as himself and called a timeout. With one second left, we threw it in to eaxactly who needed it (Rudy Gay - duh) and he made one of those highlight reel three pointers at the buzzer and won the game. Streamers fell. The Star Wars theme played. High fives went around. Little kids laughed and played. It was awesome.

In the aftermath, I stuck around and pillaged the staff Halloween party (fun) then went to rescue my boss and his family who were swamped in the parking lot of the New Daisy. I thought I was going to get to host a mini Halloween party once I scooped them up, but we wound up playing drunken "wedge out of the parking place without damaging the truck or that garbage dumpster over there" game. It took ten minutes, but thankfully we won!
Upon returning to my place, I was met by my favorite bum, Carl, more commonly known as "Der-dr-drrr". Maybe you know him - he roams downtown and greets people with an odd growl-ish "Brrrrrddddrrrraaa!" Its kind of like Tigger's growl, but with crack. He also wears a toboggan in summer. Anyway, he approached me wanting food or some such foolishness. I was much too drunk for sandwich making, so I gave him an old handle of coconut rum instead. He looked like a little kid who gets all thats left in the candy bowl because the homeowners are about to call it a night and go to bed. It was tricks and treats all around...here's hoping the Great Pumpkin will be as generous next year!