The Ghost of Halloweens Past

Here's a photo from last Halloween. Remember? We rented out the banquet room at the World War II Club in Northampton. It was School for the Dead, Haunt, and The Novels.

I tried to rent out that room again this year but it was almost twice as much money as last year and last year, after renting a PA and paying for the room and the door person, we broke even exactly.

So, I'm afraid we are not hosting a concert this year. We are however playing as part of a Halloween Party that is hosted by a band called Alottle. (I love that name). Well, it's not School for the Dead proper that is playing this show, it is the Rub Wrongways Records Caravan of Stars Super Group.

It's at the VFW in Florence, MA, right in the center of town. It starts at 8:00, I believe it is all-ages, and it promises to be a cool D.I.Y. Rock Party. It's five dollars to get in, or four dollars with a costume.

We had a practice the other night and we've planned out a seven song set. We molded it, thanks to Brian's suggestion, into a one-long dance-party piece. Each song will connect to the rest with a never ending beat. We're also throwing in an extra cool and spooky cover song. It's a surprise, but I will tell you that the title starts with an adjective and ends with a woman's name.

At practice we also discussed costumes. Brian and Ryan had selected theirs already. Jason was on the verge of an idea. Lesa, Max, and I were still up in the air about it. Speaking of Ryan, (Ryan Quinn that is of Los Hijos Unicos, The Salvation Alley String Band, and Jason Bourgeois Band), I believe last year's Halloween in a way welcomed him into the Rub Wrongways fold as he jumped on stage with Haunt to play Matt Hebert's iPhone theramin.

Here's a snippet from my post last year about the show:

"So, yes, Jose and I took to the stage to hand out prizes. These were the costumes that won: "The Lady Who Can't Wait For Christmas", Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, The Alien Babe With The Exoskeleton, The Two Fancy Geisha-like Ladies, Juno, The Young Tina Turner. Nice job everyone. Here are some other costumes that I can recall from the evening: Prom Queen, A couple scary clowns, Alligator Head, Foxy Brown, Fancy Ladies, Skeleton Twins, A Couple Unidentifiable Crazy Things, 60's Swingers, and more I can't think of at the moment.

After the incredibly valuable prizes were given out, Haunt took the stage. They were all dressed as witch/wizards. They were all identical and they were all hilarious. Especially hilarious was these identical witch-like wizards up there in the flashing lights and smoke play Matthew Hebert's mostly serious and heavy heartfelt songs. I love a little Halloween dichotomy don't you? There was even a last minute bonus wizard in Ryan from Los Hijos Unicos who took to the stage with a theramin app on an iPhone. It was all beautifully sublime.

Thank you to everyone who came out to the party. I hope you had fun. See you next time."

Good times. Anyway. There is also a chance that School for the Dead will be playing a bonus show on Saturday afternoon in Florence at the huge Florence Halloween Parade. We've been asked to play outside at the event and we decided that if the weather permits it, we would love to. So, cross your fingers for nice weather. Right now it looks like a chance of rain and a high of 62. Yesterday it said 68. The day before it said 54. So, we'll just have to see. If it does happen, it'll be at 5:00 in the center of Florence somewhere. Just follow the sounds of School for the Dead and you'll find us.