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1989: Dangerous Liaisons Our first official year as Guavaweenies. In the year of Dangerous Liaisons we made our appearance in eighteenth century extravaganza. It seemed appropriate for the bicentennial of the storming of the Bastille... On the left is Nick and me, on the right I am with my sister Leesachicken.
In 1990 we chose to do detective drag. It was Sherlock Holmes, Watson, and Lisa as the nemesis Irene Adler.
How exactly we wound up in this I cannot remember, but we all decided to do aliens from Trek, and as it turned out, they were all female. The title actually came afterwards. This was a highly attended year for our little clan--I went as Dr. Selar, Nick was Counselor Troi, Leesachicken was Guinan. Joining were Lisa's friend Allison as a Romulan extra, and Lisa and Catherine as the Klingon you-know-whats, Lursa and Bet'or... Below is another picture taken a few days later on Hallowe'en, when I, being silly, misplaced my ears and so became Guinan that night instead. Again in this photo are Nick, Lisa and Catherine, plus some other chap who just ambled up in a Trek outfit. (Have a peek at some of the gang dressed as normal people... Well, dressed as normally as anyone in the eighties.
After I lost my newer costumes in a fire in 1992, we returned to the old standard of French pre-revolutionary aristocracy. Both fun and impressive, like gymnastics, but with more clothes on. My friend Linda joined us, with Lisa above left; Nick and I on the right; below Linda with me; Lisa and Nick
When we decided to do Greek Myths and it was suggested that Lisa could be Medusa, I never realized what I was signing myself up for. Seventy five snakes made by hand and affixed to a home made prosthetic do not attach themselves overnight. Or even over six weeks. It took three months! I think it was worth it, even if she took all the attention once again. I was Hermes (better known to Guavans as "the FTD guy), Nick was Pan, and Tina was a Fury (Eumenidae). Again my friend Linda joined us, as Artemis (Diana).
Naturally, when we couldn't decide on a theme for the next year, we fell back on the relative security of Star Trek. We created a sample of Star Trek aliens from the Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. Below are Tina as a Romulan, Nick as Q, I as a Klingon, Linda as Vedek Wyn the Bajoran, and Lisa as a Borg.
The next year, traumatic for the Guava group as Nick and Tina had moved to Ohio, was a late decision to do Anne Rice characters. Lisa went as (NO, she's not Claudia) Gabrielle, I was Lestat, and an extra as Louis. The costumes were atrocious, the night was weird, the results, shocking. Our hearts were just not in it without the rest of the gang.
With the triumphant return of Nick and Tina to the Guava scene (and to the South in general) we did Dune. Lisa was the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohaiam, her friend the Reverend Mother Blatthilda, Nick was Paul Atreides, Tina as Chani, and I as Feyd Rautha Harkonnen. To the left is one that actually predates the Great Guava, but it's another Dune costume I made, Paul Atreides in 1986. So it gets to pretend it belongs with these other Dune pix. The real weirdness is in comparing it to the one below it, taken in 1996-after a decade I am still standing in the same position. Ahem.
Perhaps the most involved and annoying to construct costumes to date (except for that Medusa head!), Babylon 5 was suggested by someone and off we went, pasting and cutting and sewing and generally making a mess. We then discovered that even the Medusa head couldn't compete with the Vorlon costume for sheer unmaneuverability, and we trailed little alien pieces where ever we went. Still, we were by far the most fabulous since no one else had thought to even wash their jeans that year, so all was not lost-only the spirit of Guavaween to everyone but us. It was Nick as Kosh, Sam as Sheridan, Tina as Ivanova, Leesachicken as Delenn, and Sasha as G'kar.
The Addams Family turned out to be a lark for everyone. With my bf Sam as Gomez and my roomie as Pugsley, the whole clan turned out. It was Lisa as Morticia, Nick as Fester, Tina as Wednesday and I was Lurch.
Again. Of course, on our tenth anniversary, we had to return to the first theme and now the most oft repeated, 18th century aristocracy. By this time we had honed our costuming skills somewhat, and not only did we make an impression, we were somehow transformed into walking Franco-magnets. For an entire evening in Tampa, we could take no more than three steps before another waylaid étrangère would approach and announce her or his general Frenchness. We let them eat crow.
Then it all got a little weird. We decided to bring in the millenniween with Austin Powers villains, and I got the bright idea of doing Fat Bastard. If I would have known what the costume would be and how it would wear, I probably would have just gorged myself and gained three hundred pounds to save the trouble. Even so, the recognisability of these costumes was an all-time high, French people were back in hiding, and Lisa looked fabu in a home-made fun-fur coat. Tina was disturbing as Frau Farbissina, Nick was clever as always as Dr. Evil, and Tina's friend Cinnamon [she's famous--there's a bun named after her] was even more disturbing as Unibrow.
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