Chopstork

If I may say so myself, I think our costume this year was my personal best. I say “our” because LauraDan, StephanieTim, Old ManDamian, and IAndy formed Ok Go. Yes, we learned the dance. No, not the treadmill one, the other one. I’ve never prepped for halloween two months in advance, but it was worth it. I think most people “got it,” and I hear a few were all about it (we all zone out during the dance so we can’t really see the crowd’s reaction). Here’s our tour schedule…aaaah, I love how stupid we are:

Friday (happy birthday, Keri)

• Sidewalk in front of Medjool’s
• Medjool’s rooftop (Derek asked the DJ to put the song on inside too but he wouldn’t)
• Sidewalk in front of 12 Galaxies, with an encore performance (they still wouldn’t let us and our friends into the private party)

Saturday

• In front of Bar None (after some flippy cup action inside)
• In front of Mauna Loa (Press photographer took some pictures)
• In bus stop in front of City Tavern (Reno 911 cop danced with us instead of keeping us from getting run over)
• In the back yard(!) at a house party in Cole Valley
• Encore performances with anywhere from one to three band members present, and with a flamingo on my head, in the back yard. I got to wear Matt’s (he lives there) N-Judah costume, which was awesome, but I didn’t think to dance in it—what a lost opportunity.
• Almost forgot—our encore on our way out with Eli filling in for Stephanie, the rest of us barking out the moves to him in real time. He did a swell job for his first performance ever.

Tuesday (actual Halloween), tentative

• Some block party for kids near Buena Vista
• Castro Street

I’m kind of sad it’s over now. No more Ok Go dancing. Thanks to our fans who cheered us on out there. Touring is tough, but we do it for the fans.

Us at Bar None in the Marina:

And as is usually the case, I collected bits of other people’s costumes throughout the night:

More pictures from Emily, Courtney, and Luke

Update: No, we didn’t go out Tuesday, and we didn’t get shot in the Castro.
Update: Here’s a video.

Friends,

I got a very special email this Tuesday. Or rather, my namesake the senior manager in Bethesda, Maryland got it and eventually forwarded it to me. We had been cordially invited to a new event in the festivities of Peterman Going Away Week 2006. It was to be a farewell lunch, and invitees were to dress in Petermanesque attire. I knew right away that this was a big deal. There were going to be prizes, and I HAD TO WIN THEM. But, it wouldn’t be easy. There were going to be dozens of people in that Chipotle dressed like Peterman. Clever, creative people who have so much free time that they mod-out big-wheels and race them around the office. Just think of the competition I would be up against: business-casual Peterman, drunken Peterman, just-got-out-of-bed Peterman, and the biggest threat of all: just-got-out-of-bed-drunken-business-casual Peterman. So, I fretted until Wednesday came. I donned my best Polo shirt. I brushed off my threadbarest khaki’s. I forewent contacts for glasses. I combed my hair forward. I practiced lip-pouting. I may have prepared a speech. I knew I was close, but still, it wasn’t going to be enough. And that’s when I thought of an edge: I would carry a printout of Peterman’s MS Outlook calendar. The Peter-plan. Sheer. Utter. Brilliance.

I don’t want to brag, so let’s just say I smoked the competition.

Yours,
Steve Costansen