Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
One Wild Weekend
Thursday
October 31, 2002
"It's all your fault
I screen my phone calls"
-No Doubt "Spiderwebs"
"Answer the phone
I know that you're home"
-Sugar Ray "Answer The Phone"
Happy Halloween. Before I begin with the story, let me tell you what a love/hate relationship I have with Caller ID. It's great for me, letting me weed out the telemarketers and the like. But it's frustrating when I spend the week having too many conversations with girls' answering machines. Why give someone your number if you're not gonna be around to talk?
And another thing, this morning was great fun being in costume on This Morning Around the Bay. Good times.
This past weekend was Guavaween 2002, where the greater Tampa area (and beyond) converges on Ybor City for a Saturday night of live music, costumed revelry, and the kind of behavior usuaully reserved for Bourbon Street. This was my second Guavaween. Guavaween 2001 was an insanely good time, but I wrote sparingly about it on here (plausable deniability). I'd hoped that my friend Richard Karg would be able to join me again this year, but he was unable to get a standby flight through US Airways (he can fly through them thanks to his dad working for the company). When I found that out, I was rather disappointed. I figured at that point there was no way this year's Guavaween could match last year (Empire craziness, playing real-life Frogger getting home, the search for Slick, the 5 AM call from the police, etc.) I had no idea how wrong I was.
Friday night I met up with James and his wife Kim. Ended up at a party at the Florida Aquarium. Only time in my life I've felt out of place because I didn't have a costume on. But it was fun, between getting to see the aquarium and hanging out with James and seeing some of the more interesting costumes.
Later that night I ended up meeting up with Riley and Todd down at Market on 7th. Alcohol + pizza, that place reminds me of a larger version of The Slice in Evansville. Only 7th doesn't have that delicious potato pizza that The Slice has (mmmmm). But 7th has Bass beer on tap, so advantage: push.
There's just something strange about meeting a girl at a bar and her showing you pictures of her kids. A "When Worlds Collide" scenario that I doubt I'll ever get used to.
Saturday was recovery and then more revelry. Much more. James came by around 5:30, and the party was on. Hollering at girls on the other side of the apartment complex, shooting tequilla, watching Kentucky/Georgia and Penn State/Ohio State, good times. We saw some of the Tennessee/Alabama game (so much for that $10 bet on UT winning the national title) and the beginning of the World Series game 6. Then it was time to go.
My costume was interesting. I bought a Pimp outfit at Party City (or whatever the place on Dale Mabry is called). Only they didn't called it a Pimp outfit, it was "Big Daddy" (funny in correlation with Friday night now that I think about it). But I wanted more than that, so I bought a Howard Stern wig to go with it. Which is a good thing, because I ended up seeing a half-dozen other guys with that "Big Daddy" outfit out at Guavaween. But mine was unique with the wig. Plus with my big head, that pimp hat wasn't going to fit anyway.
James went as Kid Rock (easy enough costume to make there). We made our way through the crowd down toward the 98 Rock stage. We stopped by the 97X party at Frankie's Patio (I thought that place shut down?!?) and got our wristbands for entrance and VIP. James gets more comps than anyone I know.
Over to the stage finally, we made it there just as Sevendust began. Crowd was PACKED. But James lead the way and we fought our way to the front. Crazy mosh pitters ended up literally knocking my margarita out of my hand. But unlike last Guavaween, where I lost track of Matt and Slick, this year I was hanging with 6'6" James, who's easy to spot in a crowd. And I'm 6'2", so with a big wig I stood out, too.
It's amazing what behavior a camcorder can inspire. It's also amazing how close we made it to stage. Can't wait to see the video of the concert. What a fun time... for free! When the show closed, then the nighttime craziness was really on.
I saw some crazy costumes and some amazing scenes (like the girl who had this unexpected strength and ended up physically picking me up and hitting my head against the catwalk at Empire in the process). Just believe me, it was one of those wild, crazy nights.
So that's the story. It was the most fun I've had in a weekend this year. If you ever make it to Tampa on the last weekend of October, well you've gotta check it out. You really owe it to yourself, it's one of those crazy, mini-Mardi Gras type scenes...
| 
