So it’s the end of October, which means there’s an oh-so short break from politics, lots of bad zombie movies on TV, and only a week from the righteous sales on bulk candy at the supermarket. But every year, my favorite part of the season is FM 88.7's the Good Show Halloween bash at Lola’s 6th Street Saloon.
Parking, even off of 7th proper, is getting to be an issue, and Salsa Limon’s food truck was taking up the parking spaces, but I found space on the sidewalk down the street and made my way inside. The theme for this “Nightmare on 6th Street” was Dead Man’s Island, a kind of pirate-themed happening with skulls and doubloons and other pirate stuff scattered about.
There was a good crowd, and a good selection of costumes already: we had Ash from The Evil Dead, a rather scorched looking Big Tex, ninjas, James Hinkle (I never can tell if he’s in costume or just a blues-man), and pirates. Lots of Pirates. I could tell Dobro Danny Hill was a pirate because of the eye patch (he also looks pretty pirate most of the time), and he had just finished a set out on the back patio.
Inside (where it was warm) Secret Ghost Champion was starting up. The band consists of Ben Hance (guitar, vocals), Roby Scott (guitar), Jody McCauley (drums), David Vaughn (keyboard), and Danny Hance (bass).
This band has kind of a soft-edged psychedelic vibe, with some creative instrumentals and real honest-to-god songwriting skills. This is thoroughly enjoyable headphone music, and I can see listening to it in a more sedate setting – but it was a bit low key with all the distractions around and the music seemed to get lost in the background.
In what seems to be a yearly tradition, a shamble of zombies wandered onto the dance floor and broke into a perfectly choreographed dance number to Michael Jackson's Thriller. They were there courtesy of Hangman’s House of Horrors.
Up next, we had the legendary Denton duo RTB2, which consists of Ryan Thomas Becker and Grady Don Sandlin. Becker sings, contorts, jumps, whoops, and plays guitar, while Grady plays flawless drums. The duo sounds like a much bigger band, and I swear Becker spends more time airborne than on the ground.
Despite the acrobatics, he never misses a note vocally, or on guitar. There is not a more entertaining act in the greater Funkytown area.
Also like the previous year, we had a winner-take-all costume party. Nominated for the contest was the Donnie Darko rabbit, a “TCU D____” (complete with multiple popped collars), Ash (“shop smart, shop S-Mart!”), and Catwoman, to name a handful. The ninjas made an attempt at infiltrating the contest, but their ninja skills must have been rusty and they were ejected. The winner, the rabbit, got a treasure chest of gift certificates and tickets to a horse race.
My weekend at Lola’s didn’t end there, however. After a few hours’ sleep I returned for the Rock ’n’ Roll Rummage Sale. This has become a monthly event where Lola’s opens up at noon and allows local artists and musicians to sell art, jewelry, music gear, and related fare. The space is provided for free, and space is limited, so if you want a space, shoot an email to telllolasallaboutit@gmail.com. Salsa Limon was even on hand to serve their tasty tacos, and Lola’s had the Cowboys game on the big projection screen. For information on the next one, use the above email or hit up Rock ’n’ Roll Rummage Sale on Facebook.
