Halloween Party

Elvis will not be leaving the building Saturday. Nor will any of the other contestants in Elvis' Birthday Fight Club, a combination battle-to-the-finish boxing grudge match and burlesque show where past champions have included a chicken and a vibrating robot. "We like to think of ourselves as either burlesque-plus or theater-minus," explains Elvis' Birthday Fight Club (we'll go by EBFC from here on) founder-promoter-participant Jared Davis, who is bringing his creation to Highlandtown's Creative Alliance at the Patterson for the second straight year.

Those of us over 40 remember Kukla, Fran and Ollie, or Howdy Doody, Mr. Bluster and that incredibly strange creature known as Flubadub, and we laughed at the endless arguments and fights between Punch and Judy.All kids love puppet shows. Unfortunately, such shows have nearly become a thing of the past, replaced by endless, often mindless, cartoon shows on television.Only the late Jim Henson's Muppet characters retain some of that old puppet magic, but even they must depend on high-tech television techniques.

In cubicles and on laptops, a group of Johns Hopkins University students is quietly protesting on its own - on Facebook.com. Ever since a Sigma Chi fraternity invitation for a Halloween weekend party prompted charges of racial insensitivity, heated - sometimes hateful - words have been exchanged in a variety of online groups that have formed. There's "That Halloween Party Was SO NOT Racist" with 399 members. Its discussion threads include 74 posts on "BSU Demands," referring to the Black Student Union, and less popular threads on "Free to be Offended, Free to Offend," and `The BSU is RACIST.

South County center sets Halloween party South County Senior Center will offer these activities: Today, 12:30 p.m., Halloween party and Monster Mash. Bring grandchildren for trick-or-treating. Tomorrow, the county Health Department will offer flu shots. Donation of $20, or bring Medicare Part B card. Tuesday, 9:30 a.m., Advisory Council meeting. Tuesday, 1 p.m., New Kids on the Block club meets. Tuesday, 10 a.m., Garden Club meets. Growing herbs is the topic. Nov. 2, 1 p.m., Baltimore Ballet Theatre performs at the center.

SPRINGFIELD HOSPITAL CENTER continues its celebration of its centennial year with a beautification project.The new central corridor of the hospital property in Sykesville will be enhanced with 16 oak trees and 20 disease-resistant elms. They will be planted along Fourth Street. As the hospital has changed in recent years, this street has become the new center of the campus.County Commissioner W. Benjamin Brown and members of the hospital's Centennial Committee will attend the planting JTC ceremony at 11 a.m. tomorrow.

There's just nine more days to enjoy this time of year, when you can throw on a mask and some fake blood, act a little nuts and still get in pretty much any place you want. If haunted houses aren't your style, there are plenty of other Halloween happenings to choose from in the days ahead. Here's a list to make sure your calendar is full this weekend and beyond: Oct. 27 Poe and Pipes -- What could be better than brown-bagging with Edgar Allan Poe? At noon, the University of Maryland School of Law's "Lunch Under the Pipes" series of performances at historic Westminster Hall invites you to take your lunch, meet at Poe's Grave for a tour of Westminster Catacombs, then enjoy an organ medley and a theatrical presentation of Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart by longtime Poe impersonator David Keltz.

NEW BEGINNINGS are usually thought to come with the spring. But ever since kindergarten, almost all of my new beginnings have occurred in the fall. So it seems fitting to start my first east Columbia column on a beautiful autumn day. Exactly 15 years ago, on a crisp fall day like this one, I had another new beginning: my very first day in the newsroom of a daily newspaper. The endless rows of creamy gray computers were dizzying and intimidating to a young college graduate who could type about 11 words per minute.

So, who are you going to be for Halloween?Prime-time tonight offers plenty of suggestions."Wings" (8 p.m.-8: 30 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11) -- Desperate to attend the big Halloween party, Joe convinces his only passenger to fly another time. Which is not a good thing, since the passenger was a courier delivering a human heart to a mainland hospital. Can the gang (all of whom are dressed in their Halloween finery) find him in time to get the heart delivered? NBC."The Nanny" (8 p.m.-8: 30 p.m., WJZ, Channel 13)

You felt awkward walking to last year's Halloween party in your bunny outfit? Thought driving in your mummy costume was tricky? Try running nearly four miles dressed as a sumo wrestler. Dan Parry can tell you - from personal experience during yesterday's XTERRA Gwynns Falls Trail Run - it isn't easy. Parry, a 46-year-old computer specialist, couldn't put down his arms because of the inflatable layer of skin. And after finishing the 6K, Parry said, "It was pretty hot, too." But he and others - including a Batman and Catwoman, a Green Giant and a skeleton - said the Halloween apparel added an element of silliness to the race, a fundraiser for the Gwynns Falls Trail Council.