Last Night was Trick-Or-Treat night in our neighborhood, and we had a refreshing rennaisance. In the last couple years, we were lucky if we got twenty kids, and if we had three houses on the block with lights on.
Last Night 59 kids stopped at our door, and looking down the street I saw lights at five other houses. That's still a far cry from the 120 kids we had eight years ago, and when you consider that there are 26 houses on my block, only 6 participating houses is still rather lame.

We had Whoppers and Kit-Kats, and those new Butterfinger Crisp wafer things. I also had set aside some promotional items from the theater; Mini-Posters for "Thunderbirds" and Yu-Gi-Oh promo cards. We got rid of it all, save for about a dozen Butterfingers, and what's left of those will be in my Coat Pockets as i judge our Halloween Parade tomorrow.

I try and be there for the neighborhood kids when it comes to Halloween, if only because I took so much candy out of this neighborhood when I was little. These poor kids today, who came by door with their half-filled bags, would freak out if they saw the neighborhood in the Early 70s, when we'd have to map out a route that brought us back to Homebase halfway through the evening. That pit stop was needed, to dump our full pillowcase of candy, and get another empty for the rest of the neighborhood. (...and maybe to stick a spare mask in a coat pocket, so we could re-visit the house that had the full-size candy bars.)

It wasn't just Halloween when I was little. In the Summer, The mailman usually had a bag of taffys in his truck each day when he came around. If we missed the mailman on his rounds, we could usualy round up a couple deposit bottles, and take them back to the corner gas station, get a dime, and buy an ice cream bar. Now as Parents, my generation recycles everything, and we rob the kids of that little lesson in industriousness.

What I'd like to do for the town at Halloween is DJ on the Square downtown right before the Parade gets there. I certainly have more than enough Halloween-Themed Rock&Roll songs to fill a few hours, and that would be without using most of the obscure songs. Maybe Tomorrow as I'm Judging the parade, I can put a bee in somebody's bonnet for next year.

Speaking of Music, I got up early this morning and went to an auction, where I scored a whole boxful of 50s and 60s Lounge/exotica/easy listening records -about 70 albums and a couple promotional acetates, all in near-mint condition. For a whole $2.00! Perry Como, Doris Day, Engelbert, Dick Hyman, Andre Kostelanetz, Boston Pops, Nat King Cole, Maurice Chevalier, Sophie Tucker, Mother Maybelle Carter, Jimmy Durante, Paul Weston, Johnny Mathis, Art Mooney, Les Elgart, and more! Sure, If I came across this stuff at the thrift store, I'd pass most of it up, but I figure I got much more than my Money's worth on the Jimmy Durante and Maybelle Carter records alone! There are a few weirdos in the group, and you'll seen them soon at http://bentrecords.blogspot.com