10.30.10: Masquerade Macabre Halloween Bash

Brooklyn Textile Arts Center & Brooklyn Lyceum, Park Slope/Gowanus, BK | Event on Facebook

Rubulad and Gemini & Scorpio
cordially request your presence at

Masquerade Macabre

A marvellous and mysterious event...a Halloween celebration of the extravagant and the grotesque...an all-night spectacle of atmosphere, costumery and diverse entertainments...an explosion of live music, dancing, dark arts, fire and late-night revelry, snake-charmed into an absinthe-fueled early-morning speakeasy.

With: Alien monster puppet creature invasion by BIG NAZO with brass accompaniment by Extraordinary Rendition Band members...Exotic Balkan rhythms by Raya Brass Band...Victorian music box mix, toy piano mayhem and Jank! circus techno by Sxip Shirey...Virtuosic human beatboxing by Adam Matta...Two demonic dance floors by DJs Dave the Spazz, Joro Boro, Reaganomics, Blackkat, Shakey & Stylus.

Plus: G. Scopitronic's non-stop classic horror film fest...Fantastical face & body painting by Painteresse Elyzabeth...Mystifying silver film likenesses produced in front your very eyes by Tsirkus Fotografika...Spine-tingling art by Blood Dumpster Collective...Light circus extraordinaire by Norm Francoeur...Frighteningly accurate fortunes told by practitioners of the occult arts...Bone-chilling collections in the cabinet of curiosities.

And for the daring few: Absinthe and other mind-altering potions by The House of St Eve (yes, t.h.o.s.e. cocktails...).

Some reviews of last year's Masquerade Macabre (this year's is bigger and better):

"Late-night absinthe-fueled revelry, with dancing, circus arts, and a Victorian-inspired dress code." - The Village Voice. "Denizens of the night should head to the Masquerade Macabre, put on by baroque party planners Gemini & Scorpio. Down absinthe until the sun rises." - TimeOut New York. "Absinthe-fueled debauchery." - Paper. "Vintage-inspired spectacle." - New York Press. "...collection of artists who revel in all things exotic, sensual and creative." - Examiner.

Costumes required. Inspiration: macabre carnival, aberrations of nature, cabinet of curiosities, dark Victoriana, evil funhouse, steampunk, Jan Svankmaier & Brothers Quay films, Freaks, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Think dark & creepy.

More on our artists:

Wondrous entertainments!

Alien monster puppet invasion: BIG NAZO

BIG NAZO is an international touring group of mutant puppet-creatures and masked musicians who have invaded streets and stages around the world with their odd-looking bodies, hilarious heads and creative minds. BIG NAZO's misfit tribe of trolls, extra-terrestrials and human-animal hybrids combine comedy, live music and visual spectacle with audience-interactive improvisation and a variety of mask, puppet, and performance styles. BIG NAZO has appeared throughout the US & Canada as well as overseas, stretching as far and wide as Singapore, Scotland, Indonesia, Portugal, Japan, Canada, Italy and Holland.

Scorching Balkan brass: Raya Brass Band

Raya Brass Band is the newest fiery Balkan band to come out of the village of Brooklyn, NY. This mighty quintet of tuba, bass drum, accordion, trumpet and clarinet exuberantly delivers the swirling, dynamic music of northern Greece, the southern Balkans and the Romany people. In true village style, Raya Brass Band gives audiences a direct and unmediated earful of sonic energy from the middle of the dance floor. With Greg Squared on clarinet and sax, Ben Syversen on trumpet, Matthew Fass on accordion, Don Godwin on tuba, and EJ Fry on tupan (traditional bass drum).

Curious objects and impossible sounds: Sxip Shirey

Sxip Shirey is a real life circus composer and maestro of Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, The Daredevil Opera Company & gypsy punk ensemble Luminescent Orchestrii. "Haunting" - The New York Times (2008). "Sxip conjures a world of infernal calliopes and cotton candy machetes wielded by Gypsy crones with angel feet" - SF Weekly. "Compelling...ominous original music" - The New York Times (2009). The Halloween set will be a special treat, as the proximity of the party location to the artist's studio will allow him to bring some of his most unusual toys - some never before seen live in concert.

Virtuoso human beatboxing: Adam Matta

Adam Matta is a beatboxer and vocal performance artist. With an arsenal of vocal instrumentals including brass, beats, vocal scratches/turntablism, and mechanical sound effects, Matta references blues, rock, rap, heavy metal, drum-and-bass, freestyle jazz, and Middle Eastern, sometimes all in the same composition. "His ability to remix his own voice is remarkable, at first singing over a synced beat and then slowing it down, speeding it up, dubbing, scratching, even using the layrngeal equivalent of a wah-wah pedal" - Village Voice. "beatbox maestro" - Wired Magazine; "virtuoso" - Flavorpill; "brilliant...like sonic abstract expressionism" - Ithaca Times.

Psychedelic funk: The Stepkids

The Stepkids is the newest addition to Stones Throw Records - a three piece outfit with three lead vocalists, soaring harmonies, trippy textures and a sound that is undeniably funky. Live, kaleidoscopic projections consume the stage with light for a multi-sensory experience. Of their debút album - to be released in March 2011 - the New Haven Advocate says: "this is some real psychedelic soul, futuristic electro-rock, a wall of sound wrought of Technicolor bricks of harmony and counterpoint, painstakingly arranged, played and sung expertly and with commendable confidence."

Demonic dance floor!

Irresistible ethno-mesh: Joro Boro

Former resident of the legendary Mehanata Bulgarian Bar in New York, Joro-Boro plays and promotes etnoteck - the dirty and uninhibited side of globalization as a forced feed back into a party without borders, a three-day Balkan wedding in a post-national state where noise, bass and desire detonate the conglomerate monoculture. He is a monthly host of MoGlo (Modern Global) on Radio New York, has toured with Balkan Beat Box, and has performed with artists ranging from Bassnectar to Tinariwen.

Irresistible ethno-mesh: DJ Reaganomics

DJ Reaganomics is resident of the famously variety-obsessed Rubulad parties, and never fails to deliver bangers from all over the world: kuduro, juke, batucada, cumbia, bhangra and other examples of regional underground shake appeal.

Wild mix: DJ Jason Blackkat

Jason Blackkat's first show was with the midwest punk band Aborted Babies in 1986. He has DJed in dozens of countries on four continents since 1995, founded Blackkat in 1996, and now organizes the Summer Camp events with Miss Elixir. Jason spins any and all styles of dirty underground beats and sounds, on vinyl, CD, and data.

Jazz swingin' beats: DJ Shakey

DJ Shakey, aka Julie Covello, has been a professional nightclub / mobile disc jockey / wedding dj for over 14 years. She is also a record collector, music consultant, and veteran of the music video industry. She specializes in diverse music, music in media, dance parties, and special concepts. Her music collection includes over 9000 vinyl recordings and cds. She is a party co-ordinator, promoter, experienced host, and has performed on radio, internet, and television broadcasts.

Exciting eclecticism: DJ Stylus

DJ Stylus has DJ'd at numerous bars, clubs, and parties around NYC. In 2007 he started the Brooklyn Wonderland underground loft-party series, to showcase DJs, MCs, live music, performance, and video installation, not as separate performers but as an integrated and spectacular whole. These parties quickly gained a devoted following and inspired dance-floor frenzies.

Exciting diversions!

Fantastical face painting: Painteresse Elyzabeth

Painteresse Elyzabeth will be offering her exquisite freehand Face & Body Artistry. From small sexy embellishments to ornate masks, from tribal to victorian, in black and white or vivid color, with glittery tattoos and special long-lasting phosphorescent Glowing makeup. Dare to become Illuminated...(You can reach the fabulous Elyzabeth at Painteresse*at*yahoo.com)

Silver film magic: Tsirkus Fotografika

RA Friedman's Tsirkus Fotografika is art, fantasy, time travel and alchemical wizardry. Tsirkus reinvents the modern portrait invoking the spirit of the itinerant tintype artists of old while mixing in retro-futurism a la Jules Verne and a bit of Dr. Caligari-esque mystery. It's instant art made on real silver film, an experience of collaborative creation, an encounter with the dark and perilous science of photography, and a chance to swim in the fiery waters of mad genius...All this is topped off by a sitting fee that belongs in the 19th century. "Steampunk Photography!" - Egophobia Magazine, Romania. "Friedman's frozen photos have the look of splashy oxidation - sometimes sexy and wasted, sometimes gloriously wretched, always stately." - Philadelphia City Paper

Spine-tingling art: Blood Dumpster Collective

The Blood Dumpster is an art collective based out of New York City, with members from across the country. Our exhibitions generally lean towards the darker side, and often with a touch of humor. The Blood Dumpster was founded in 2007 and has since been continually creating art events that connect artists with the public, and develop fresh conversations in the realms of aesthetics, expression, and conceptual thought. It is our aim to consistently create interesting and engaging art events to create a community for artists to interact, share and inspire.