The World's Scariest Halloween Happenings
By: Adam Bunch
To be perfectly honest, I've never really been a very big fan of Halloween. I think it can be traced back to a childhood fear of masks and costumes. I was afraid of clowns. I was afraid of mascots. I had to leave the room every time Mr. Dressup opened the Tickle Trunk. So for me, Halloween tends to be a chance to spend a quiet evening in, watching whatever non-scary movie they had left on the shelf at the video store. But that's not to say that you shouldn't get out there and have some fun. Dress up. Put on a wig. Get drunk and make some new friends who'll seem much less attractive in the morning when all that cheap, party store make-up comes off.
Better yet, being the Halloween-loving music fan that you are, why not take SoundProof up on our suggestions for the world's scariest music-related Halloween happenings:
Hang Out At the Dakota - New York City, United States
The Dakota, a swanky apartment building at 72nd Street and Central Park West in New York City, has played host to a number of famous musicians over the years. Everyone from Roberta Flack to Leonard Bernstein to some guy from Foreigner have called it home since it was built in late 1800s. (Gene Simmons and Billy Joel, on the other hand, both applied for residency and were rejected.)
Of course its most famous tenants were John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and it was on the sidewalk outside the building that Lennon was fatally shot in 1980. That's what brings us to Halloween: Some people believe that the Beatle still haunts the area around the undertakers gate - and he's not even first ghost the Dakota's had. Two spirits, one a young boy and the other a little girl, were spotted by workers during renovations in the '60s. And as if that weren't enough, the Dakota also served as the setting for Roman Polanski's horror classic, Rosemary's Baby. Plus, Boris Karloff used to live there, too.
Oh, and Steve Guttenberg. Spooooooooky.
Unfortunately, as far as we know there are actually no official events planned for Halloween at the Dakota. So the best thing we can suggest is that you hang around on the sidewalk outside smoking pot and freaking yourself out. Either that or you can see if Steve Guttenberg is free and wants to do something.
We're guessing he does.
See The Shining at the Timberline Lodge - Oregon, United States
The Dakota's not the only building with a spooky history that you can visit this October the 31st. If you're a little closer to Oregon than New York, you might want to head on over to the Timberline Lodge, better known as the Outlook Hotel from The Shining. Don't let the fact that there's no hedge maze or that the interior shots of the movie were filmed on a soundstage in England stop you, it's the best excuse you'll ever have to slowly go crazy while working on your novel before trying to hack your family into small pieces with an axe.
Plus, Halloween night you'll get to help recreate the ghostly 1920s ball that Jack Nicholson's character dreamed, or hallucinated, or saw in a vision or whatever and was somehow at even though he couldn't possibly have been there, because it happened like 40 years earlier and he would have been really young then, so it doesn't make sense, but then how the hell did he get in that photograph at the end?
There will also be a screening of the movie, and live music will be provided by the Stolen Sweets, who seem to be a tribute band to some obscure '30s jazz act.
And all for only $200 US!
Attend the UKeurovision Schlager Party Halloween Special - London, England
Wikipedia defines Schlager as "a style of popular music that is prevalent in Central and Northern Europe . . . [typically] either sweet, highly sentimental ballads with a simple, catchy melody or light pop tunes [with] some similarities to other styles like Easy Listening-Music. The style has been frequently represented at the Eurovision Song Contest."
In other words, it sounds like Abba. And frankly, while the Scandanavian dancing queens may have had their moments, we couldn't think of any more frightening thing to do this Halloween than to dress up, head on down to the Enclave in London, and hang out with a bunch of people who love this kind of music so much that they host monthly parties in order to celebrate it (while mixing in a few other Eurovision classics for good measure).
John Lennon's ghost can't hold a candle to that kind of fear.
Board the Yamanote Halloween Train - Tokyo, Japan
In recent years, Tokyo has developed a new Halloween tradition. A bunch of foreigners, plus a few locals, dress up in costumes and board the Yamanote subway train at Shibuya Station. Then they ride it around in circles while getting drunk, singing songs, and filming grainy videos that they later post on YouTube. After that, some of them head to parties at clubs, like this year's DJed event at AgeHa, which will be free for people in costume.
Does it seem Halloweeny? Yes. Scary? No. At least, not until you hear about the outrage the display of public intoxication and rowdiness has provoked in Tokyo's general population. This year, in anticipation, local policemen have been swarming all over the underground at the first sign of anything party-like beginning to take shape (the specific date and time of the event is usually kept quiet until the last possible moment). And websites and blogs posting related information have been inundated in recent weeks with threatening, xenophobic messages in Japanese. Some folks are even claiming that they'll be attending the event, knife in hand, ready to stab any drunken foreigner who crosses their path.
All those who like to risk of getting stabbed to death by a crazed manic in a foreign land while dressed as a Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtle should meet at Shibuya Station, Hachiko entrance, at 9:30pm.
All others are welcome to come over and watch a video with me.
Video: The Yamanote Halloween Train, 2006
