Grinchfest

Every year, on the first Saturday in December there was Grinchfest - a party that me and my friends hosted since college days. The party grew pretty big with a bit of a cult following. You see, Grinchfest was about creating things that symbolized what Dr. Seuss's "How The Grinch Stole Christmas!" meant to people. It wasn't as much a contest as it was a gathering of like minds to see, share and experience original creations of Grinchy wonder. If you're not following me, don't worry, it took people some time to get the concept, but usually, once they did, they were hooked and became lifelong "Grinchfesters".

At Grinchfest, people would create sculptures, drawings, paintings, photographs, poems, songs, videos, sketches, dances, food creations and just about anything else imaginable to express what the Grinch meant to them. The party went pretty much the same every year in that people would show up, bring tons of food, drink - the usual festive stuff. But they'd also have their creations, they'd set them up and once ready everyone would kind of do a "gallery" style show and tell. Then people would vote for their favorite and the Grinchmaster would bestow awards (these grew quite elaborate with the years) on the crowd's favorites. Then came the obligatory watching of the Grinch. Followed by lots of dancing and guitar playing until the wee hours of the morning.

Of course, the Grinch "song" reminds me of Grinchfest, but there's definitely another song that sparks a special Grinchfest memory (of which there were many). It was ten years ago almost to the day that a buddy of mine from Michigan - let's call him Art - decided he wanted to come to Grinchfest after hearing about it for so many years. Plus, this was during the heydays of the Pleasure Dome (referenced in earlier post "Redemption Dome"), so Grinchfest was a huge event back then.

I explained the Grinch challenge and he assured me he had a project already in the works. Sure enough he did. In 1997 (the year of this memory) making, editing and sharing a digital video wasn't nearly as easy as it is today, but Art somehow made this great video of the Grinch digitally cut and pasted into a variety of compromising situations with pornographic photographs. He put the Grinch in some very creative poses. The song that played during his video was Aerosmith's "Pink" from their '97 release "Nine Lives".

Poor Art thought the crowd was a bunch of meatheads just out to party - little did he know that this crowd looked to the Grinch with reverence and even piety. So when he played his video, the party went silent. There was whispering "who is this guy?" and "why is he Porn-a-fying the Grinch"? The video ended. And there in that apartment was a silence, much like that old Grinch wished for himself when he sat back atop Mt. Crumpet with all the toys and presents stolen from Whoville down below. But you know, there finally came a sound. It was like that oh so familiar scene from TV and the movies where the guy who bucks the system gives his speech hoping to rally people behind him - at first silence; then a clap, then another; a few more; then everyone launched into applause.

Art became a legend that night in Grinchfest lore, but he sure came close to infamy. When I hear Aerosmith's "Pink" I feel warm and happy remembering nearly 15 years of Grinchfests. And I'm reminded that to really change things, you're taking a big risk that no one will clap. But if they do, you'll have done something...and maybe even something worth remembering.