MY OTHER CAR IS A BROOMSTICK!

Happy Fall to you!

It’s getting dark a lot earlier, something I’m not entirely fond of, but as the year winds down, there are still plenty of things that make me happy. Aside from the shorter days, I love fall…even though I live in Hollywood, California, it’s harvest time.

At my house, that means my pumpkin patch is in full swing. Fat and orange with giant, prehistoric-looking leaves, they have taken over my entire yard! My kitties are growing their winter coats and look all round and cuddly.

October also means Halloween, which is always fun. But it’s also a different sort of holiday for performers, who dress in costumes on a regular basis. At the risk of sounding like a crabapple, I’m just gonna come right out and say it: sometimes I dread Halloween because of the amount of calls I get in the weeks leading up to it from everyone I know who feels entitled to raid my closet.

This entry below is a re-post from Halloween 2010- but I had to put it up again, because it still applies- and always will! So here’s the original post.

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It’s just a couple of weeks until Halloween, which has always been my favorite holiday ever.

If you are like me- and if you’re reading this, I’m sure you are- you are already aware that this is the time of year when everyone you know hits you up about borrowing or even renting your stage costumes. Call me selfish, call me witchy, or just call me a “Hallo-weenie”… but I NEVER rent or lend my costumes out for Halloween (or Burning Man, for that matter) unless I know it’s something I know I could easily part with.

The stage costumes I own, not to mention my crazy collection of circus outfits, pirate hats, robot suits, saloon girl headdresses, clown outfits, feather fans, vintage corsets, kitty ears, rhinestone studded masquerade masks, wigs, super-hero boots, vampire capes, real and fake fur coats- need I go on? They are the "tricks“ of my trade, not a “treat“ for someone who won't respect them! They took a long time and a lot of money for me to collect, not to mention maintain.

My costume collection could probably have it’s own episode on the show “Hoarders”, but there’s a reason I have all this stuff around: it’s my livelihood! These pieces are my work tools, my office supplies, and in most cases, very expensive. But whether it’s an Egyptian belly dance costume I paid $700.00 for, or pair of character shoes I embellished myself, they are professional accoutrements that I can’t do my job properly without.


Oh, I used to be very generous about lending out costumes and costume pieces for non-dancers to use at Halloween parties, but it always ended badly. Things would come back to me (usually months later) ripped, stained, with burn-holes from cigarettes or wax from candles, or just covered in cheap drugstore make-up or greasepaint from The Spirit Store. And some things never came back at all!

Would you lend someone your laptop if you knew they were going to use it-and maybe accidentally leave it- at a club? Would you let a friend borrow an expensive camera to bring to a party where all the guests were going to be falling-down drunk? I thought not!

I think the reason most “civilians” want to borrow costumes is simply because they want to look good… and they also have nothing but the best intentions in borrowing these things. But the average person doesn’t realize that for their seasonal party-needs, a $20.00 costume from the toy store would be fine.

Want some help with your Halloween make-up? I’d be happy to assist you.

But don’t even think about asking to borrow my costumes… cause you’ll have to pry them out of my cold, dead hands!