La Dia Antes Dia de los Muertos: Halloween 2008

So we figured your elbows may get sore rubbing on all those Sarah Palin-decked out socialites at La Griglia's Annual Halloween Bash (aka Gratuitous Skin Gate 2008) this year, so we've taken it upon ourselves to find you a few maverick alternatives.

And kids, make sure and check the candy for razor blades, mmmkay?

13 on the 31st
13 Celsius | 3000 Caroline
7:30 pm to 1 am

Admission: $31 at the door and $5 discount if you bring a photo.

13 Celsius will once again be creating the altar of 'things come and gone'. Bring a photo for the altar that we will be building in the courtyard. Serving food from "My beautiful Huetamo" the taqueria on wheels. Quesadillas al pastor lovingly topped off w/ sour cream, avocado and cilantro w/ a foil pouch full of radishes and marinated onions. Music from Miguel "Mano" Grillo, Esteban Torres & DJ Pooks. Video imagery will include larger than life surreal, cultural and iconic imagery projected on the multistory building next door.
*Admission includes 13's famous Sangria and Michelada's Spanish Red and White

Boo! EL & 002 Magazine Halloween Party at the Alden Hotel
Alden Hotel Houston, a+ | 1117 Prarie
8 pm - 2 am
FREE

Join the Emerging Leaders and 002 Magazine at a+ bar. No tricks, just treats for the best dressed. Costume contest judging at 10 pm. No cover, cash bar and bites available in the Alden Lobby. The Alden Hotel is calling all goblins and ghouls for an 8 p.m. scary soiree that starts on their ah-mazing veranda and creeps down to a+ bar late night. Get in for free by donning a costume, catch classic horrors on the big screen and nab a best-dressed prize. You can extend the mayhem by booking a room for a special $155 rate.

Steel Lounge Underground
Contemporary Arts Museum | 5216 Montrose
8-11pm
FREE

Josh Zulu & DJ Pooks present the next edition of "Steel Lounge Underground" Halloween Night at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston! This will be the last Steel Lounge Underground for 2008. Fat Tony, Kam Franklin feat. members of Free Radicals, Seth Jones, "Little" Martin.

Spirits & Skeletons
The Houston Museum of Natural Science | One Hermann Circle Drive
8pm-12am
$13 members, $15 non-members
HMNS is pleased to bring you Spirits & Skeletons, the best Halloween party in town! This year, check out the raddest “Supergroup of the 21st Century” – The Chromatics – as they perform some of the most awesome songs of the 80s. While you are there, make sure to enter the Most Triumphant Costume Contest, chill out in the IMAX®, indulge in the most delectable sweets, and bust a move on the dance floor! World-renowned illusionist Steven Wallach, Fatima and her team of psychics, Bug Chef David Temple, Etoile Arabesque Belly Dance Troupe, hors d’oeuvres, cash bar, and IMAX films. As tradition would have it, we’re going to be having a costume contest as well - so dream up your best outfit for your chance to win our huge grand prize!

Halloween w/ Listen Listen, BooTown, and Scatter!
Caroline Collective | 4820 Caroline
6pm
$5 admission at the door

Let Caroline help you start your Halloween night off right with improv, scary stories, and local music. The October installment of Caroline Collective's Final Fridays series will be an early Halloween party featuring a set by Houston band Listen Listen, Scary Storytime with BooTown, and a costume contest with improv group Scatter! Doors open at 6pm, and the Improv and Costume Contest set begins at 7. The show is open to all ages, and admission is $5. There will be free St. Arnold's at the event for those 21+, as well as soda and water. The event ends at 9:45pm so that we will all have time to experience the other great events that Houston has to offer on Halloween night. www.carolinecollective.cc

Westheimer Halloween Pub Crawl
Brasil, Poison Girl , Boondocks, Etro Lounge, Catbirds, Slick Willie’s
starts at Brasil at 6:30pm
FREE

Ditch reality & join the 2nd Annual Montrose Crawl this Halloween Night, October 31st. First get your costume on, then get your drink on as The Crawl starts at Brasil and then goes from bar to bar between Dunlavy & Montrose on Westheimer. No covers, no tickets, plus drink specials all night long. And prizes will be awarded for the best outfits, so get into the spirit before you get into the spirits.
More info: www.montrosecrawl.com

Vampire Ball 2008
The Mezzanine Lounge | 2200 SW Freeway
FREE

$200 costume prize. Drinks $3.50 all night long. Music by DJ Robic.

Nightmare on Alabama Street
West Alabama Ice House | 1919 W. Alabama
6pm-2am
FREE

A costume contest, live music by Human and Runaway Sun, and more than 50 lit pumpkins handcrafted by visitors the night before in a pumpkin-carving contest.

Skankin Monsters and Rocking Bones
Fitzgerald’s | 2706 White Oak
Doors at 8pm
$10 Cover, all ages

Music by Los Skarnales and more. Info: http://www.fitzlive.com/

Monster Show 3
Domy Books | 1709 Westheimer
7-9pm
FREE

Domy Books, in association with Halloween, is pleased to present, Monster Show 3
another year, another halloween, another compendium of awesome monster drawings. Show runs through December 5th.

DISCOWEEN with Disco Espressions
The Continental Club
8pm-2am

Molly and the Ringwalds goes on at 8pm and Disco Expressions takes the stage around 10:15 and plays all night. Come on down and shake your groovy costumed thing. See you there. http://www.discoexpressions.com | http://www.myspace.com/discoexpressions

A Live Video Halloween Performance : Potter-Belmar Labs presents “Fortune” | Texas-Focus
Aurora Picture Show |800 Aurora Street
8pm
$6 admission

Come in costume and witness San Antonio duo Potter-Belmar Labs present a special Halloween-themed live video performance. PBL are conductors of cinema, live-mixing audio and video, weaving sampled media and original work, cut-up and stitched back together, on the fly. Fans of live cinema, experimental film, participation theater, and new media art will enjoy "Fortune" by Potter-Belmar Labs! Running Time: 1 hour

Soooo Sexy It’s Scary Halloween Bash
Gigi’s Asian Bistro & Dumpling Bar | 5085 Westheimer
8pm-2am

The always hip Gigi’s Asian Bistro and Dumpling Bar is promising a night that’s so sexy it’s scary. Calling all super heroes and villains! 8pm on the Patio, 10pm in the CB Den, Midnight “Hell’s Kitchen” serving complimentary Dim Sum and then Sum! Make it an all nighter with a $99 special room rate next door at the Westin Oaks Hotel. The Super Heroes and Villains bash begins at 8 p.m. on the patio with free dim sum. The cherry blossom room will become the dancefloor and VIP tables with bottle service are available by reservation.

Le Freak @ Sammy’s
Sammy’s | 2016 Main
9pm-2am
$10 Cover

"Aaahh Freak Out! Le Freak, C'est Chic" Join GSG, Lisa Gochman & Chris Beverly for the 3rd Annual Halloween Party featuring The Greatest Disco Band In The World! Costumes Encouraged! See You On The Dance Floor! gochgazette.com | lefreakband.com | sammysat2016main.com

Scream on the Green
Discovery Green Park | Downtown
6 - 11 pm
FREE

Anheuser-Busch Stage, Fondren Performance Space and Waterside Landing . Activities include: dog adoptions, face painters, larger than life puppets, trick or treating and costume contests from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Amazing prizes provided by Capital One Bank for all ages, from babies to adults and best male/female and group! www.discoverygreen.com

Les Chansons Macabres
Avant Garden | 411 Westheimer
9pm
Suggested donation: $10

Start your Halloween at AvantGarden with Opera Vista's Les Chansons Macabres with special
guest actor Mischa Hutchings from Nova Arts Project. Come listen to a night of fantastical
tales and howling arias. The "night wind" will howl as we "bewitch, bother, and bewilder"
you with arias by Menotti, Rogers, and Sondheim, to name a few. Opera Vista performers
will include Joe Carl White, Shelley Auer, John Weinel, Kinga Skretkowicz, Michael Walsh,
and Misha Penton, with Roger Keele accompanying. Come dressed up: prizes will be
awarded for the best costume!

Earl Gilliam Birthday + Halloween Bash
The Big Easy | 5731 Kirby Drive Houston
8pm
$5 Cover

The band features Texas Blues piano/organ legend Earl Gilliam (78 years old) and veteran Blues guitarist I.J. Gosey (71 years old). For over 60 years, Earl has played out front with his own band and with such Blues greats as Sam Lightnin' Hopkins, Joe Guitar Hughes, Johnny Clyde Copeland, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, and T-Bone Walker, to name only a few. In 1955, Earl was one of only two Black artists to record on Sarg Records (Willie Nelson and Doug Sahm's first label). I.J. comes with his own Blues pedigree, having been a session player for the historic Duke-Peacock Records in Houston back in the 50's and 60's. Backed by the amazing rhythm section of Fred Arceneaux and Jackie Gray, the band still smokes the house with their jazzy Blues riffs, Gulf Coast Shuffles and Texas Swing with a little classic R&B and Zydeco thrown into the mix.