GET YOUR FREAK ON
The grooviest Halloween parties haunting your way
May we make a costume suggestion? Prom dress, insane clown makeup, tie-dye tunic and Calvin Klein underwear. We know, it’s a lot. But the outfit will keep you topical at every October costume party. Now get out your calendar: Starting with tonight’s back-in-time Mixtape party and running through Halloween, here are the best and weirdest October events to play dress-up at.
Back to the Mixtape, Thunder Road, tonight: The always awesome Mixtape series returns just in time, with Thick Fringe doing tunes from 1955 and Sean Drinkwater’s Pastel Noir and the Fatal Flaw taking on selections from 1985. DJ Hoverboards will go modern-ish with music from 2015. The best Doc Brown costume wins a DeLorean or the praise of your peers (whichever is cheaper).
Prom Do Over, Once Ballroom, Oct. 19: Best tagline ever: “Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this to happen ... again.” Boston band Future
Teens plays hits from 2004 to 2008 (please, lots of New Pornographers and no “My Humps”). You dress in a powder blue tux and/or sequins and chiffon. Bonus chance to do good: Bring a gently used prom dress for Belle of the Ball, a program that provides gowns to local students who otherwise couldn’t attend prom.
Old School Game Show, the Wilbur, Oct. 26: Old School Game Show is, obviously, a game show. But it’s also a carnival of humor, gore, plaid suits, disco dancers, stand-up comedy, rock ’n’ roll, absurd trivia and over-the-top camp. To match its mad aesthetic, you would have to cast Wink Martindale in “The Rocky Horror Picture” show and have John Waters direct.
OldJack’s Last Saturday, Lizard Lounge, Oct. 31: OldJack as Neil Diamond? Yes, please! If it’s not too late, we’d like to request “Solitary Man,” “I Am ... I Said,” and “Forever in Blue Jeans.” Bonus points: Dee Zaster & The Designated Drivers do Elvis Costello and Cult of Point Break Playtime do the Rolling Stones.
A Jackson Pollock Halloween, Atwood’s, Oct. 31:The folks at
Atwood’s love Halloween. But don’t expect rubber bats or fake cobwebs. This year the bar gets a ceiling-to-floor modern art makeover while local mandolin maestro Jimmy Ryan leads Hayride through some rootsy romps. Get hip to the theme and dress as a mess.
Halloween Clownfest, Once Ballroom, Oct. 31: We used to be afraid of vampires and wolfmen and mummies. Now it’s just clowns (thanks, Stephen King and “The Good Place”). Put on your best Bozo, Krusty or Ronald McDonald get-up and come listen to Driven Sane, Lucretia’s Daggers and Misfits tribute Robot Clean. Of course, there will be candy, balloons and psychic readings.
Night of the Live Dead, the Wilbur and Thunder Road, Oct. 31: Pick your Jerry. The Wilbur hosts Live Dead & Riders ’69 featuring Grateful Dead alum Tom Constanten and a few exmembers of Rat Dog. Over at Thunder Road, Bearly Dead continue their beloved Wednesday night residency.