Devil's Night

Last year, my Hallowe'en was completely ruined by the onset of what I assume was food poisoning about an hour before I was supposed to head out of the house. When I tell people that my Hallowe'en last year sucked because I got sick, most assume that I just got wasted, when the fact of the matter is that before I even got a chance to put on my costume I was puking my guts out. This continued at least once every hour until about 6am. I have never felt so awful.

This year's Hallowe'en is already off to a much better start, as I just got back from a really nice show over at the lovely Flood Haus.

There were some great costumes...

Ryley as a marine iguana (in love?)

Travis is Steve, Steve is Travis!

Uh, please trust me that this is hilarious!

(and sort of brings up conflicting feelings in me!)

Beyon is a jackalope.

Not pictured: adorable fluffy tail.

Also not pictured is my last minute costume idea of being a "fuckin' hippie". I essentially just wore everything I've ever purchased at the Black Market, dumped a bunch of patchouli on my dreads, and made a few festival wristbands out of paper (Evolve, Burning Man, Shambhala). I also carried around my hula hoop, which was a little annoying. (true to the spirit of my costume, I guess). Blessings!

Everyone who played was super great, and super attractive.

Here's the proof:

Taylor (as John Lennon)

Taylor has a really beautiful heart (and I'm not just saying this because I'm wearing a hemp skirt and a bunch of Tibetan jewelry and smell like I did when I was 16) and it really shows through his music. I love it when people are able to write powerful lyrics and have technically impressive music to back it up. Tay gets really nervous when he plays, but he'd better get over it because he's amazing and I know he's got a lot of shows in his future.

Travesty (as Steve Believe)

I love this boy to death. Best banjo player I know, and he's so passionate about music. He's also one of my favorite people to photograph, partly because he's adorable/has a great aesthetic, and partly because of how much he emotes when he's playing music. He plays a lot of sad songs, but they're so so beautiful.

Whimsy & Spite.

Kelly (as a GNARwhal)

Sunny (as Hunter S. Thompson)

Steve Believe (as Travesty International)

Sorry for the blurry photos. It's bound to happen if I'm taking pictures of people moving quickly in a dimly lit room with my shitty camera. Oh well?

Kelly and Sunny are my room mates, which rules because it means I get to hear Kelly practicing all the time, and I'm usually one of the first people to hear her new songs. Her music is usually cute, and bittersweet. She uses really silly imagery to get across pretty important subjects like sexism, loneliness, death, etc. Hamsters and ducks, whales and chickens, broken hearts and polluted harbours. She used to have a cello accompany her, but I like this new line up a lot as well. (I wish I had better pictures of Sunny's costume, it was so perfect! Also Kelly's which was mostly a trucker hat that said "GNAR" on it, with a giant white tusk sticking off of it)

Steve Believe & the Emotionally Crippled Narcissists

Jawsh (as Mark David Chapman)

Matt (as Ash/Bruce Campbell)

and also Tay is in there playing bass somewhere

Steve claims to hate folk punk, but you know what? He still plays the acoustic guitar and hitchhikes and has a dreaded rat tail. I haven't heard any nineties emo songs about any of that!

But seriously, Steve is awesome. His songs are super raw and come straight from his gut to kick you straight in yours. He usually plays solo, but I can only imagine how great it must feel to have all your best friends help you bare your soul to a room half filled with strangers (not that the room was half-full, but that at least half the people there were also friends with Steve. It's kind of hard not to be friends with Steve, he's a sweetheart.)

Snail Party

Mogli (as a unicorn)

Beyon (jackalope)

Ryley (marine iguana)

Will (beer sloth)

Feather (fox)

Caitlin (Hammerhead shark)

The ever-amazing Snail Party finished off the night. Always a good time! They played a couple covers, some really gorgeous originals, and ended up showering the crowd in tiny chocolate bars. This band has such great chemistry! Mogli and Beyon have such powerful voices, and they blend together so well. Apparently these folks are saving up to buy a van, so if you don't live in Halifax then get ready to check them out when they tour near you.

Now I'm fucking exhausted, mostly because this internet connection is so slow that it's taken hours to upload all these pictures. Auggh. Tomorrow means pancakes at Food Not Bombs and handing out candy at night with Ryley.