The Deadbanger's Ball @ the House of Blues

One hooded ghoul, one anime samurai, and one guy who passes for a Russian computer programmer—these were the three masqueraders responsible for the music for the Deadbanger's Ball, the House of Blues' yearly Halloween party. This fright fest of dudes and dudettes dressed in their most haunting habits included the music of fig media deejays Tim Musho, our partner/liaison Russell Furman, and yours truly. I have played at different holiday parties, but knowing that this was one of Chicago's most exciting and eclectic party venues, I knew I was going to be in for a treat—not to mention a few tricks.

The festivities took place in the Foundation Room, an elaborate, two-story Indian wonderland of ruddy fabrics and gold Buddha statues. The celebration was for the employees and the members of this intricate interior venue. To accomodate the 200-plus attendees, the party was split into two areas, with a specific menu of music in each: The top floor, which was the lounge/bar area, was going to feature straight rock music, and the downstairs area, which housed the Foundation room's private restaurant, had dance music in store. I was the lucky recipient to host the latter of the two rooms. Wearing my collective costume of anime convention garb—i.e. my yukata (summer kimono), my sandals, and a hat that beared the face of the "Puuchu" from the series Excel Saga—I was ready to play.

Nearly all the guests of the ball were dressed as some kind of person or other, and for the most part, they were quite well done. Among the many duplicates were two Rick Jameses, about four Amy Winehouses (or Amy Wine-hice?), three of the four members of KISS, and a little gaggle of girls going as the "tabloid pack"—Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and the somewhat-beloved Britney Spears. I think I even spotted a Rainbow Brite and a Jessica Rabbit somewhere in the thick of the crowd. My favorite costumes of the night were these two guys dressed up as robots. The construction of their suits were rather excellent, right down to the delightful details of real flashing lights built-in to their boxes. I was quite impressed at the costumes, but additionally touched that people took the time to get dressed and participate. Trés admirable.

From the music list that I received from our venue contact, I was led to believe that I was going to play straight rock music. With much gratitude to the diverse crowd and their diverse requests, I was freed from that confining thought. Cool tracks like Stevie Wonder's "Superstition," Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf," and even Ram Jam's "Black Betty" were well received. Of course, rock staples from AC/DC, Aerosmith, and Motley Crüe were certainly part of this musical trick-or-treat bag. The aforementioned robots loved when I hit Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger," to which they immediately sandwich-danced with a random woman to. Um…maybe I should not have played that. My musical choices were sporadic, but everyone had a great time, all the way to the end of the night. I could not believe that there were still five people in the bottom jamming to the last song I played, Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Something." It is a great feeling having people that are still wired and having a great time. Makes my job more relaxing.

If there were any challenges through the night, one of them was wondering what was going on upstairs. Because I did not have a partner, I could not leave my post. This is why I was super-grateful to have Russell with us during the night, as he would periodically check in with the both of us during the evening. Having him there helped me to get a sense of how my fellow deejay was doing. The really fun thing that kept Tim and I "in touch" is that I would pull CDs from my book and have Russell run them up to him to borrow for the evening. Ironically, I didn't think about playing the songs that Tim was borrowing from me!

The highlight of the night occurred when I fulfilled the request of "The Humpty Dance" for a lovely woman by the name of Erica, donning a darling French maid outfit. About five minutes later, she asked if I would marry her. Yeah, I gasped too. I remember kissing her hand in courteous agreement…and never seeing her again after that. Le bummer. All's fair is love and deejaying, I suppose.

My set ended at 1:30 in the morning. To my surprise, Tim was still spinning tunes to the rather wired crowd. It turns out that his musical choices were just as diverse as mine—and we even played some of the same songs through the night! Very interesting. Tim ended a little after 2am. Exhausted and full of cola and grenadine, we packed up and headed out. In addition to playing a lots of great music, the most enjoyable facet of the Deadbanger's ball was seeing adults—mind you, adults—dressing up, looking great, having fun, and really getting into the Hallowen spirit. This holiday is not everyone's cup of tea…or shot of vodka, for that matter. Despite the challenges, I was able to have a highly enjoyable time. Thank you for putting the "Happy" in my Halloween, House of Blues.

– Brent Rolland, resident fig deejay

(Special thanks to Cindy and her partner for the awesome photos during the night, as well as to Mary, Stacy, Laura, Neil, and everyone at the House of Blues for taking such great care of us and welcoming us at their space. Thank you all for a rockin' night!)