Happy Halloween!

Hey, Solid State. Happy freakin' Halloween!

This really is my favorite holiday. And since I actually got my act together this year and lined up a sweet costume — Daniel Larusso's shower get-up from The Karate Kid — I've been looking forward to it for weeks. However, through an evil twist of karmic fate, I'm sick as a dog with some unholy combination of congestion and fatigue. Ughhh. I am therefore listing myself as "questionable" for the weekend's festivities. We'll see if an old-fashioned power nap can get the juices flowing again — or at least the mucus . . . ew.

Anyway, in my column this week, I gave a quick run down of some of the cooler Halloween(ish) shows happening about town. With the big night on a Friday this year, there is a ton of stuff going on, so it was certainly not an all-inclusive list. One omission in particular, the Green Door Studio's annual Halloween bash, should be especially spooky.

The good folks at Aether Everywhere are joining forces to provide a live, dark-ambient "soundtrack" to the festivities. Members of Solah, Von Cosel, the le duo, A Snake in the Garden, Skyscraper, Nuda Veritas, Brwn Rcls, Yellowknife and Modern Primate will combine, Voltron-style, for a four-hour improv throwdown. And yes, you read that correctly. Four hours. The epic creep-fest kicks off at 8 p.m. and will be followed by a dance party. Oh, and it's free!

In other news, a good friend of mine phoned me yesterday to ask for Halloween costume suggestions. He's attending a "Dead Rock Stars" party and was having a hard time coming up with a suitable disguise. Knowing him well, I'm guessing he wants to avoid the obvious culprits: Kurt Cobain, Keith Moon, John Lennon, etc. So I've been wracking my brains trying to help him out. Here are my thoughts, but feel free to add your own.

Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes: Not a "rock" star, per se. But my buddy is a scruffy, dark-haired Irish dude and the visual in my head is hysterical.

Amy Winehouse: Too soon?

Layne Staley: Alice In Chains ruled.

Dimebag Darrell: So did Pantera.

Any drummer from Spinal Tap: "He choked to death on someone else's vomit."

Barry White: See "scruffy dark-haired Irish dude" above.

Rick James: Bitch!

Sid Vicious: My friend can't play bass either (just kidding, man).

Michael Hutchence (INXS): Do you know how this guy died? Wow.

Anyway, that's all my cold medicine-addled brain can come up with. Here's hoping everyone has a happy — and safe! — Halloween.