Friday, October 31, 2014

Witch’s Cauldron


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
This is going to be Chicago’s coldest Halloween in quite some time, so aside from a few brave kids trick-or-treating, most of the seasonal activities will be going on inside. Here are a few suggestions for where to find some spirited fun.

The Double Door club, at 1572 N. Milwaukee Avenue, will be holding its 18th Annual Halloween Bash tonight. This year’s event features Rebel Rebels performing as David Bowie; AM Taxi as The Kinks; The Noise FM as The Police; Blackbox as Oasis; and Hessler as Guns N’ Roses. Judging from the Double Door website, there might be more bands involved. The doors open at 7:30 PM. General Admission is $10, VIP Admission is $20.

The Chicago-based psychedelic band The Red Plastic Buddha has recorded a fun video for the song “She’s An Alien” from their mind-bending new album Songs For Mara. The clip was directed by Henrique Cirne-Lima, and features burlesque dancer Red Rum in alien makeup menacing singer-bassist Tim Ferguson and other members of the band.

The second half of Halloweekend: The Return takes place tonight at Wall To Wall Recording at 676 N. LaSalle, at the corner of LaSalle and Huron in Chicago. There will be five bands on hand, each performing as a famous rock act. The music starts at 9:00 PM. There is nothing on the building to indicate that Wall To Wall Recording is located there, but there will be a sign by the door directing people to the entrance to Halloweekend.

I was there last night. The live performance space has the ambience of being in someone’s basement, and there’s no seating. But it became a bona fide party once the bands started performing. John Aselin and Phil Angotti, portraying Morrissey and Johnny Marr respectively, fronted a Johnny And The Creeps’ set of music by The Smiths. Their rendition of “How Soon Is Now” was one of the evening’s highlights. Tonight’s lineup is Chris Dorf And Friends as The Cars; Phil Angotti as Tom Petty; Metropolly as Blondie; Falldown as Uncle Tupelo; and The Bon Mots as Bob Seger. Admission is $10. 

No need for Stephen King. If those frigid winds just make you want to stay inside and curl up with a cup of tea and a scary novel, a few members of the writers coven I belong to can make that happen. Cherie Colyer has two entries in her supernatural Embrace series—Embrace and Hold Tight—and then there’s her more diabolical Challenging Destiny. Kym Brunner spins a chilling and funny tale of two teens caught up with the spirits of Bonnie And Clyde in Wanted: Dead Or In Love; and Susan Kaye Quinn delves into a futuristic society where just about everyone has the ability to read minds in her Mindjack sci-fi thriller trilogy.

On a related note, congratulations to Katie Sparks from our writers group on the publication of her first YA novel Reality Natalie. It’s not spooky, but its fun. 

Martyrs’ has assembled four bands to celebrate Halloween tonight. New World Ancients will be in costumes, performing the music of The B-52’s, and Terrible Spaceship, an eight-member band whose Facebook page lists its genre as ambient synthetic horror pop, will be performing songs from its Zontar, the Thing From Venus album. The Need And The Night and Funky Hot Grits will also be on hand.

People partying in colorful garments that arent costumes. There’s nothing Halloween-related in Rick Hromadka’s video for “Dreams Of A Hippie Summer (unless you think Twiggy is scary) but it is a fun look back at the carefree 1960s, set to a breezy arrangement. The song is taken from the Maple Mars singer-guitarists solo debut Trippin’ Dinosaurs, which was favorably reviewed here on BHT earlier this October.

On a theatrical note, The Mammals will offer an evening of female-created horror with its All Girl Edgar Allan Poe revue tonight at Zoo Studios. The show features pieces adapted from The RavenThe Tell-Tale HeartThe Black CatThe Pit And The PendulumThe Imp Of The Perverse, and The Masque Of Red DeathAll Girl Edgar Allan Poe runs on Friday and Saturday nights through 8th.

Jeff Kelley and David Metzger created the Zombie Grandma series, a mashup of zombie films and Leave It To Beaver, for Elgin’s annual Nightmare On Chicago Street celebration, but you can now watch three episodes on YouTube. I’ve created comedy bits for Kelley’s Coffee With Jeff internet series in the past, and I play a dimwitted FBI agent in Episode 3 of Zombie Grandma

1 comment:

Cherie Colyer said...

It definitely was a chilly Halloween. Thanks for sharing all the fun things to do in and around Chicago. And thanks for the shout out!

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