Thriller Nights

by LUKE BAUMGARTEN & r & & r & & lt;span class= & quot;dropcap & quot; & I & lt;/span & f there's one thing you need to know about the upcoming week in music, it's this. Eighty percent of the bars advertising a "Halloween Party" are just going to be booking the same cover bands they always book, stringing up those fake-ass little cobwebs, and dressing their servers like slutty nurses, schoolgirls bunnies.





That said, there are dope parties that bear mentioning.





OCT 25, 26, 29, 31


My Fatal Mistake and the Back Row Kings; Seven Cycles; The Merrick Diaries et al; Dead Ones USA at Empyrean


Pushing the bounds of absurdity, Empyrean will have no less than four Halloween parties this week. No solid specifics on any of the parties (most seem like straight-ahead shows), but both Missing Piece Tattoo and Bulletproof Tattoo, are really working the promotion angles for their respective parties. Assorted times/prices.





OCT 26


Disco Party with James Pants at Raw


Originally circulated the scene as a private party with a super-strict dress code (no cane, no chain, no soul train). Invitations are still in effect, but Ben Cater told me Monday that if the place ain't packed, they'll be letting people in costume (needn't be disco either) join the jam. 10 pm. Free.





OCT 26, 27


92.9 ZZU Boogieman's Ball; Wired 96.9's Heaven and Hell Masquerade at Big Easy


DJs Mayhem, Graphix, a party band called Stripped and a $20 cover one night, DJ Mayhem, a $500 first-place costume party and $10 cover the next. Get on your grind. 8 pm and 11 pm respectively.





OCT 27


The Blowouts, Yokohama Hooks, Gorilla and Rabbit, Legacy of Brutality at the Zombie Room


This one isn't being advertised as a Halloween party, but at least two dudes persons of completely ambiguous sex will be dressed up onstage. For the event, everyone's favorite furries, Gorilla and Rabbit, will be playing their costumed brand of nearly unlistenable noise. More important, there's a pressing rumor that this will be the Yokohama Hooks' last show. We hope to God this is wrong, but prepare yourselves accordingly. 9 pm. $5.





OCT 31


Talapia as Bob Marley and the Wailers, Melody Moore as Janice Joplin, Save Lefty as Wayne and Garth at Raw


The hands-down winner of the creativity in Halloween binge drinking Raw follows up the disco party with a bunch of talented-in-their-own-right local artists covering mostly dead titans of music. Plus Save Lefty doing, you know, that thing they do. 9:30 pm. Free.





For a (near) complete list of Halloween parties, see Sound Advice. Look for the adorable little Jack-o'-lanterns.