Top 5 Shows

1) Are there any Satanists or Wiccans or other general occultists around here who observe Halloween in an actual religious context? The reason I ask is because this year’s H-ween is a “Super Halloween,” one that falls not only on a Saturday, but on a “fall back” Saturday, when most of the nation returns to Central Standard Time, thereby giving bars (and Satanists, Wiccans and other general occultists) an extra hour for partying (or rituals). Obviously, there’s plenty going on all weekend, but I’d like to squeeze in a Thursday (tonight) show in this week’s list because it sounds funny: Wondercrust Movie Watchers Club has rewritten the dialogue and redubbed Rankin/Bass’ Mad Monster Party (a stop-motion movie about Frankenstein from 1967) with their crew’s own voices, renaming it Meth Monster Party, and pairing the doctored children’s flick with a DJ set by DJ Scrawny Parts. The show is free, it starts at 9, and costumes are highly encouraged. If you want a laugh, watch the original film’s trailer, particular for when the mummy goes, “THE MUMMY” – his voice cracks me up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shOt0PEbhKQ

2) The biggest show of the weekend, in terms of lineup up quality and quantity is the opening night of Fort Worth’s newest events space, the Wayside Ballroom. You can read more about the venue in this week’s Hearsay, but the lineup features a dream pop band from Austin called Isaiah the Mosaic and another one from L.A. called Fever the Ghost.

That band plays this highly engaging amalgamation of psychedelic pop, dance, and rock, complemented with these electric suits they wear with LEDs on them or something. For my money though, this video is precisely why you need to see them, because it is DRUGGY AS SHIT:

Super druggy, right? That song is really good, too. But besides the out-of-town bands (which include Austin-based, heavy psych blues trio Amplified Heat, themselves not to be missed), there’s also the return of the Hanna Barbarians filling in the headlining slot at 12:15. Their addition to the bill turned out to be a pretty big announcement for a lot of local music fans, so this show should be packed. Squanto kicks the night off at 7:30, followed by the Fibs, Amplified Heat, Tidals, Fever the Ghost (at 10pm), Isaiah the Mosaic, Diamond Age, and then the Barbs.

3) Lola’s is the scene for the Tejas Voodoo Revue’s Epic Halloween Party. End of the World Parade is at the end of the night, and since they dress up in costumes anyway, this will likely be a spectacle nobody will forget, unless he or she’s been at Lola’s since 8pm, in which case they probably need someone to help them operate the Uber app. You know, because EXTRA HOUR OF DRINKING TIME. Anyway, the highlight for me is Vodeo, formerly Shake the Moon. They sound like funk made for a space station converted into a chic, boutique, zero-gravity hotel (The words “Staycation Station” would probably be in that place’s marketing material), and man, what a wise choice in changing their name into something exponentially better. Songwriter Lindsay Hightower starts the night at 9, with Keegan McInroe costuming his performance with the music of Tom Waits (seen here in this animated interview from 1988). Then Vodeo plays at 11pm, and separating them from the End of the World Parade’s marching-band-on-drugs jambalaya is a costume contest. Check out this other video of Tom Waits – just kidding! I don’t really listen to Tom Waits! The video is actually Toxic Holocaust’s “Acid Fuzz” because I like mega druggy, violent cartoons:

4) Pinkish Black is releasing their new LP, Bottom of the Morning at the Chat Room on Halloween night, along with Curse (from Baltimore) and Dallas synth act Nervous Curtains. Personally, I have been waiting for the right time to give Bottom of the Morning my undivided, couchlocked attention, but reviews I’ve read keep comparing it to Goblin; what better soundtrack to a Halloween night could you ask for than music that is compared to Goblin? Here’s a clip of Goblin playing “Suspiria” in case you need a refresher course:

Fun fact: if I’m not mistaken, this will be the third time Pinkish Black and Curse have played together at the Chat Room for Halloween. Pretty neat (and loud, and scary, and not to be missed).

5) There’s a show on Sunday night at 1912 Club on Hemphill; if that show at the Chat on Saturday night doesn’t liquidize your guts/ears/livers, grab some cash (it’s CASH ONLY THERE, REMEMBER?) for a nice four-band bill, headlined by Dallas-based, synth punk-en-español band Seres and Brooklyn’s Yairms, who sound like a Burger Records Band except interesting. Is it me or do the vocals on this weird, captivating mess of a pop song sound like Bruce Springsteen?!? Maybe it’s my laptop speakers. The show starts at 9pm with two bands from Denton: Snuff, American Style and Thin Skin. Eh, here’s the trailer for Suspiria, because it’s a movie everyone should watch: