photos by Amanda Hatfield

"What's happened to Halloween? The celebration of all things sugary has turned sour: dentists are colluding to pay kids for their candy. GreatSchools, an education website, has gone so far as to proclaim trick-or-treating booty an "unmitigated disaster for parents trying to protect their children from OD'ing" on sugar, and offers parents tricks for handling the "upcoming tsunami of sucrose."

In online forums, moms trade tips for keeping sweets away from kids without their cluing in. One mom says she partners with neighbors to supply trick-or-treaters with only pre-approved (read: yucky) treats. Other parents are more openly Scroogey: one mom torments her kids by forcing them to hand out the candy they collected earlier in the evening to trick-or-treaters who show up later on their doorstep. Yet another mother invokes the "Great Pumpkin," who swoops down tooth-fairy-style, removing Milk Duds and leaving toys and books in their stead.

I'm unclear what's so great about this. My kids, at least, have no shortage of toys or books; they do have a dearth of candy, though, which is precisely why Halloween is so great. It's specifically because we don't let them gorge on Twix bars the rest of the year that their spooky stash is so special." [TIME]

Continue reading "more NY Village Halloween Parade photos"

photos by Chris La Putt

The streets crawled with spooky sights, from floating eyeballs and skeletons to Occupy Wall Street protesters dressed as budget axes, for the annual Halloween parade Monday.

As in years past, current events made their presence felt, as a contingent of about 200 anti-Wall Street demonstrators joined the 39th annual Village Halloween Parade wearing costumes that reflected their protest against economic inequality. Zombies and pink slips were some of their other themes. They carried signs that said "stop the vampire economy" and "foreclosure is scary." [CBS]

Continue reading "2011 NYC Village Halloween Parade pictures"

photos by Amanda Hatfield

hipsters & Die Antwoord in the Village Halloween Parade

"President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama opened up the White House doors to the local children and military families to the North Portico of the White House [on Halloween]. Always willing to open the doors to the White House the first family had some trick or treaters getting their candy game on track.

Michelle Obama didn't dress up this year, last year she went as a p*ssy cat, this year she kept it simple and rocked an orange sweater with black trousers. The President was on hand taking in all the festivities cheering on the little trick or treaters and hugging it out with Abraham Lincoln." [Peace FM]

Back to Sunday: you already saw ONE, TWO, THREE sets of NYC Halloween Parade pictures. A fourth set continues, ending with a grand finale video, below...

Continue reading "one more set of Halloween Parade photos (and a video)"

photos by Benjamin Lozovsky

"The Greenwich Village Halloween Parade is the largest and most elaborate public Halloween celebration in the entire United States. Over 60,000 outrageously costumed people participated and over 2 million people watched the colorful parade that stretched over a mile in Greenwich Village. This year's parade route, however, was a little shorter than usual as organizers were forced to cut down the route in an effort to save the city money on security.

The Parade included circus performances, dancers, dozens of floats, live bands, jugglers, stilt-walkers, performing acts, huge puppets, ghosts, ghouls and even some truly scary costumes like that of "Snooki" and "The Situation" from the Jersey Shore! Eeek!" [CNN]

Continue reading "a 3rd set of pictures from the Halloween Parade "

photos by Jessica Amaya, photos by Greg Cristman

F U (photo by Jessica Amaya)

Halloween revelers ignored the cold weather, a shorter route and a scaled down production to celebrate the holiday in their best costumes for the 38th Annual Greenwich Village Halloween Parade Sunday.

Thousands of New Yorkers turned out to watch or march in the parade wearing costumes ranging from news-based themes like rescued Chilean miner outfits to classic monsters like vampires, zombies and mummies.

"I rise from the sea to celebrate All Hallows Eve," said George Roman, 31, who dressed for the occasion as a pirate zombie.
Roman staked out his viewing spot on the corner of Sixth Avenue and West Fourth Street three hours before the start of the parade. "Halloween is my Christmas," said Roman, who has attended the parade every year since he can remember.

Temperatures Sunday night dipped into the low 40s, making things tough on some of the skimpier costumes. "It's a little chilly," said Colin Hanns, 17, an FIT freshman who made his sailor costume out of vintage fabric. "But it's so worth it." [DNAInfo]

Continue reading "more Village Halloween Parade pictures "

photos by Chris La Putt

Many more pictures from the 38th Annual Village Halloween Parade HERE and HERE, and below...

Continue reading "2010 NYC Halloween Parade photos "

today in NYC
* the Halloween parade
* Justin Bond @ Joe's Pub
* tribute bands @ Union Pool
* Sun Ra Arkestra @ Sullivan Hall
* The Dresden Dolls @ Irving Plaza
* The Black Crowes @ Best Buy Theater
* The Old Ceremony, Mascott @ The Rock Shop
* Rocky Horror Picture Show Anniversary Party @ Le Poisson Rouge
* World/Inferno Friendship Society (Hallowmas 2010) @ Brooklyn Bowl
* The Felice Brothers, Adam Haworth Stephens @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
* Robbers On High Street (as ELO), Black Dragon, Blue Album Group @ Mercury Lounge
* Delicate Steve, Golden Ages, Crinkles, Lawrence Welks and Our Bear To Cross @ Cake Shop
* Das Racist, Keepaway, Pictureplane, The Intelligence, The Beets, Cassie Ramone & Justin from The Babies as The White Stripes, Janka Nabay, Blissed Out @ Ridgewood Temple (Todd P's Halloween Party)

This year is the 38th Annual Village Halloween Parade.
This year's theme: "Memento Mori"

Twenty years ago the iconic Day of the Dead puppets first appeared in the Village Halloween Parade, our festival of All Souls to ritual traditions worldwide -the Guede in Port-au-Prince, the Skull and Bones Gang of New Orleans, in the calaveras of Oaxaca, the Midnight Robbers of Trinidad, and beyond. Often it is in the places where tragedy is more ubiquitous and everyday existence can be more of a struggle, that expressions of the Dead are the most exuberant, a reminder that life itself, despite itshardships, is a gift. The Dead - as they return to drink coffee, play checkers, watch TV,but above all, to dance - offer us a mirror to see with fresh eyes the everyday things in our lives, rendered invisible by routine. Every sound, action, and motion we take for granted, they rejoice in - on the one night they can. So each year, when the skeletons take their place at the head of the Halloween Parade, they are not grim expressions of the morbid but rather joyful reminders of all that is vital.

As the beloved dancing skeletons enter their third decade in the Village Halloween Parade, we seek to honor them - and in doing so, to honor all those who have walked in their footsteps. Official Parade puppeteers Superior Concept Monsters, Master Puppeteer Basil Twist and Haitian Artist Didier Civil plan to work with the Mexican, Haitian and arts communities to make and remake, create and re-create, re-envision and resurrect the entire Day of the Dead section, calling forth not only the spirits of the Dead, but many of the puppets of past VHP artists that had long been absent from the streets of Greenwich Village. Drawing on traditional forms from Trinidad to Tibet, Haiti to Mexico, new 12'-foot tall skeletal puppets will add new life to the VHP's jubilant underworld - a cortege drawn by galloping night-Mares, an illuminated Ghost Train, and a dozen brand-new dancing Calaveras skeletons and who knows what else to join their brethren at the head of the Parade.

As the perennial community of Halloween volunteers gathers again this year to build and rehearse our memento mori ("Remembrance of Death") we'll look back on 37 years of Halloween in NY with another Latin adage: "Vita Brevis Ars Longa" : life is short, but art endures.

The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black was supposed to play Santos Party House, but the venue is closed.

Did you catch Legendary Pink Dots at Le Poisson Rouge the other night? Since their tour was announced, they were also added as opener for tonight's Dresden Dolls show at Irving Plaza.

That Dresden Dolls show also promises "special guests, rare performances, and a cacophony of Brechtian entertainment." AND: "This triumphant return will be documented by the Dresden Dolls fan base in a project spearheaded by This One Is On Us. Fans from all over the world will record, edit, design, and promote to produce a DVD of the evening for all the world to cherish and enjoy. This project aims to blur the link between author and reader even further - until both are one and the same."

Tonight's show at Union Pool show:

HALLOWEEN
8PM $5
DAMN! a Halloween tribute to WHAM!
(Max and Kev from Pizza Party on EVR)
THE CURE(Warm Ghost)
VIOLENT FEMMES(McDonald's)
ELO(Members of The Mad Scene and The Flaming Fire)
DANZIG/MISFITS(Members of Love as Laughter, Children, and Violent Bullshit

Check out Howlies' new Halloween-friendly video for "Zombie Girl" below...

What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Sunday? (Halloween) "

photos by Chris La Putt

Blackwolf the Dragonmaster

"In a Halloween prank turned tragic, an MTA bus driver struck and killed a Bronx man who had just thrown a heavy object at the vehicle, shattering part of the front window,police said.

The incident raised the alarm of transit employees who were already on watch against increasingly violent pranksters on Halloween. Earlier in the day, a windshield on another Bronx bus was shattered after it was allegedly struck with a bullet from a BB gun." [AMNY]

Continue reading "another set of photos from the 2009 Halloween Parade"

photos by Vincent Cornelli & Chloe Rice

photo by Vincent

An armed suspect dressed as an oversized purple Teletubby is wanted by police in London, Ont. in connection with a robbery on Halloween.

A woman reports she was walking home alone just after midnight, when she was approached by a man dressed as a Teletubby, carrying a handgun.

Police say he demanded money from the victim, then fled on foot with an amount of cash.

No injuries are reported.

The suspect is described as a 6 ft. 2 in. man weighing 200 to 240 pounds, with short dark hair, clean shaven, and a muscular build. [The Globe and Mail]

Continue reading "more pictures from the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade"

photos by Bao Nguyen

It was fright night in Greenwich Village Saturday as thousands of Halloween revelers paraded up Sixth Avenue dressed to thrill.

Creepy ghouls, spooky ghosts and a multitude of Michael Jackson-lookalikes came out of the shadows under the cover of darkness, and even the pouring rain couldn't dampen their spirits.

"I think tonight is one of the best nights ever," said Angel Estrella, 38, from Bedford Park, in the Bronx, who was dressed as the Wizard of Oz's wicked witch of the West.

"I don't think it's been this packed, despite the weather.

"I'm soaked but I feel great."

Several groups of up to 50 people performed dance routines from Michael Jackson's Thriller and Beat It videos in tribute to the King of Pop. [Daily News]

Continue reading "Thriller & stuff @ the 2009 NYC Halloween Parade - pics "

photos by Tim Griffin and John S. Ra

Soya Milk & Latte (by Tim Griffin)

A brilliant Halloween swept away the gloom from a city that desperately needed some good tidings. I left my home late Friday afternoon in my old, fat Elvis costume, and the streets of Nolita were packed with children dressed as skunks, pixies, angels, and such. I had to stop to watch this mini-parade of cuteness. Store owners filled the little tykes' pumpkins and bags from their own pumpkins and bags with the requisite sweet stuff. I grabbed a cab to take me to a production meeting over at Webster Hall, where I was to be a judge at the $5,000 costume contest. Adults and teenagers in clown suits and monster masks strolled past at lights, and I asked my Pakistani driver what he thought of Halloween. He told me that he never understood it: "Americans are usually so brash and poorly dressed despite the great wealth of the country. But on this day they go crazy and are suddenly creative and very nice." He concluded that it gave him "a great feeling of optimism about us." [Steve Lewis]

Continue reading "more pictures from the 2008 Village Halloween Parade"

Michael Jackson Thriler, Greenwich Village, Oct 31, 2008 (by editrrix)

More pictures HERE, HERE, and HERE.

And check out these pics of Zombiecon/Zombiecrawl HERE.

Video of the Thriller part (as seen in the above photo) of the parade below...

Continue reading "2008 NYC Halloween Parade photos & (Thriller) video"

DOWNLOAD: Atlas Sound - Two Halloween Dances (Mediafire link) (via)

Blake & Amy Winehouse (more)

Halloween is Friday! NYC shows this year include Apes & Androids @ (le) poisson rouge, Ryan Adams @ the Apollo, World/Inferno Friendship Society @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple, Matt & Kim/Ponytail/etc @ Danbro, Danielson @ Knitting Factory, the Misfits @ BB King's, Cafe Tacuba @ Terminal 5, the Black Crowes @ Hammerstein, Phil Lesh @ Nokia, MGMT/Amazing Baby/Violens @ MHOW, and Voodoo Culture Clash @ Spiegelworld

Then of course there's the parade.

New York's Village Halloween Parade. The 95th Annual!

Friday, October 31, 2008 Starting at 7 p.m.
This year's theme is Ghost. This year's Parade is dedicated to Rudie Berkhout --Merrymaker, Genius, Creator, Humanist, Lover, Composer, Artist, Holographer, Mentor,Explorer, Visionary, Mystic, Instigator, Teacher.
We truly miss him.

What else is happening that you recommend? Please post-anything going on Halloween-related in the comments.

Bradford Cox made some Halloween songs. Get them at the top of this post. Dancin Kim teaches you to do the Thriller....in the video below...

Continue reading "What are you doing on Halloween?"

More pics like the 4 above @ othergroundnyc's Flickr. More good ones HERE & HERE.

I didn't see many Amy Winehouses.