Santa Rampage

There are two problems with the North Pole: It is too cold, and there is no beer. 8216;8216;Santa likes beer,8217;8217; said the red-sui...

There are two problems with the North Pole: It is too cold, and there is no beer. 8216;8216;Santa likes beer,8217;8217; said the red-suited, black-booted Alex Laham, 32, of Rockville, as he warmed up with a Sam Adams at the Madhatter. Another Santa launched into an unprintable rendition of Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.

This was followed by gut-shaking laughter and applause from about two dozen other people dressed as Santa, plus two elves and a reindeer. The group had taken over the bar. Passersby did double-takes at the roomful of red. It was a Santa Rampage. And in the nation8217;s capital and across the nation, it was just heating up.

8216;8216;Santa needs some sophisticated adult entertainment,8217;8217; one of the Santas said before they stormed a strip club nearby. During 12 hours last weekend, the Santas hit a half-dozen bars, two strip joints and a sex toys shop. They were chased out of an Internet cafe and accosted by cops. One Santa lost his driver8217;s license and his credit cards while barhopping. Another was punched in the face by an angry man. Once you got a critical mass of Santas, anything could happen.

The scene has played out across the country every December since 1994 as hundreds of men and women don their gay apparel for Santa Rampage, also known as Santarchy or Santacon. It started in San Francisco with about 35 Santas as one of the many antics of the Cacophony Society, a loosely organised band of pranksters. Since then, Santas have run amok through the streets of cities from LA to London.

In past years, Santas have sung Christmas carols to police in riot gear in Portland. They have marched down Fifth Avenue in New York chanting 8216;8216;Charge it, charge it, charge it8217;8217; and scaled the Brooklyn Bridge. Most of all, they have gotten drunk.

The point 8212; if there is one 8212; is to 8216;8216;shake people8217;s ideas of Christmas up a little bit,8217;8217; says John Law, 44, a small business owner in San Francisco who was one of the three founders of Santa Rampage. It8217;s about 8216;8216;people getting together and taking back the holiday, taking it back from the commercial, corporate control of this imagery.8217;8217; A noble cause, but one that can get lost after a couple swigs of the holiday spirits.

8216;8216;We8217;re not making a stand or anything,8217;8217; said Matthew Dwyer, 24, a bartender who heads Drunken Santas of New Orleans. 8216;8216;It8217;s just a bunch of idiots in Santa suits.8217;8217; The band roaming Washington8217;s streets illustrated both points, alternately chanting 8216;8216;Shop! Shop! Shop!8217;8217; and drinking Scotch out of a Listerine bottle.

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They hauled sacks of goodies for people of all ages: from candy canes for wide-eyed children to Trojan Ultra Pleasure condoms for snickering adults. Then, as reindeer were in short supply, they mounted the horses on the carousal for a free ride. But soon they grew weary and hit the bars.

Past midnight, the local Santas were ruddy and rumpled and fading fast. They resumed their normal lives the next day. They took home a couple of laughs and some off-colour stories to recount at cocktail parties. Anything more? Patrick Gray, who was dining at the Madhatter when the Santas showed up, would explain: 8216;8216;They8217;re not mature. The Rampage is in its own childish realm. I think that8217;s where people want Christmas to stay.8217;8217; LATWP