During the day, we had a totally wholesome and honestly pretty rad family-friendly Halloween party. Both Dennis and Sam were there to pop balloons and eat candy (oh yeah, and to take photos).

At night, the vibe changed as the grownups got ready for their own party. Read on for the debauchery…
Once again, we set up a photobooth for attendees to strike a pose and show off their costume. Check out the results!

Then, of course, there was the party. Again we had some incredible cover bands: Darien Brahms as The Velvet Underground (way to rock it as both Lou Reed and Nico!), The Rattlesnakes teamed up with David Pence as The Fall, the Portland supergroup The Blood Capsules (members of Cult Maze, Ye, APSL and the Hatreds) as The Cramps and The Misfits, Phantom Buffalo with Crank Sturgeon as DEVO, and BAM BAM Djing. Amazing.

Check out more photos from this party by Jon Donnell and by Sam Cousins.

I wonder what will happen next year…

Crank Sturgeon began the night on Thursday, July 24th by leading the crowd outside and blowing up a gigantic plastic rendition of the Statue Of Liberty. This was, of course, because he intended to honor (and “give something back to”) Vialka, the French band playing on the bill. Friends and a backing band assisted in the gesture, which was interrupted by a (quite late) motorcycle gang of fashion photographers. There was a scuffle, a wardrobe malfunction, and lots of antics with tighty whiteys. Yup, you read that right.

Once he took the show inside, Crank Sturgeon’s musical performance was a frantic but focused assault of skronk and jazz and all-around explosive fun, though a bit “stripped-down.”

Always the gentleman, our good friend Crank introduced his pals Vialka, whose blistering drum/guitar/howl made for a compelling followup, certainly worthy of all the buildup. It was the last show in about 6 months of touring, and the band seemed happy to be heading home after so long on the road.

Following Vialka’s set was Bad Bus, which is an impossible to describe loose collective of varying and rotating membership and participation. I would have taken photos, but I was preoccupied with screaming my head off (in a highly inspired and musical fashion, of course) into a microphone that I’d taped to a kazoo. Anyone out there take some?

Check out a few more photos here.