As we enter October and creep closer to Halloween, the longtime
members of the Alice In Chains road crew know what’s coming, and the newer
people find out quickly.
The age-old tradition of the band buying stupid crap for the
crew to wear is once again in full effect.
It’s not always full-on Halloween costumes either.
Over the years it’s been everything from wigs to shirts to
hats to Mexican wrestling masks.
It started this year with Sean grabbing up some random stuff
at Walmart a couple weeks ago.
This purchase included a giant foam cowboy hat, two enormous
baby masks, a Hillary & Trump mask, and some random wigs.
(Go back to the Charleston write-up and look at the second
picture again.
Did you notice William’s tech in the background wearing a
giant babyhead mask?)
Today in San Diego, Jerry came back from lunch with a bag.
It wasn’t very big, and it wasn’t even really Halloween-y,
but Cantrell loves himself a theme, and suddenly Sunday in San Diego became
bandana day.
Some guys wore them as headbands, other guys wore them as do
rags, a few just wore them as neckerchiefs, and one guy wore his over his face
like an old school train robber.
For some reason Jerry also purchased a bunch of tiny corncob
pipes, so several of us were sporting the newly fashionable pipe & bandana
combo.
It was all fairly tame, but it’s always good for morale to
look around at your co-workers and see them looking stupid.
There was also the added element of danger, because the
majority of the bandanas were blue and red, and no one wanted to venture
outside and accidentally start up a gang war.
Then again, I highly doubt that the area around Copley
Symphony Hall in San Diego is prime turf for gang activity.
Anyway, it turns out that a freshly purchased bandana can be
kind of itchy on a bald head, so mine ended up in my pocket after a while.
A couple of other people made a similar move, which prompted
Professor Cantrell to dive into the internet and research The Hanky Code.
What is the Hanky Code?
Apparently it was a way that gay men used to signal their
sexual preferences to each other back in the day.
According to the website Jerry found, the color of bandana
and the pocket in which it was worn indicated the kind of proclivities a person
was into.
Armed with the knowledge that I now ran the double risk of
either igniting a gang war or unintentionally indicating that I really liked
Latino sailors every time I walked outside, I decided to dump my bandana in my
road case and get on with the day.
We only have a week of shows left.
I can’t wait to see what’s next…
