It’s Halloween weekend, and music lovers have a trick-or-treat choice: Partying with rising local bands or rocking with your established classics.
On Saturday night, you can attend the annual Moonfest party in the 500 block of Clematis Street in West Palm Beach, right where Respectable Street and O’Shea’s create the street’s westernmost outpost of cool. There will be local bands aplenty — Big Bang Radio, Nothing Rhymes With Orange, Astari Night, the Miami via Bogota band Old Wives Tale, etc.
And there’s also a chance to see the much talked-about Surfer Blood, the West Palm Beach group that has been touring the national indie circuit and getting good buzz from music Web sites such as Pitchfork for its upcoming debut album, Astro Coast.
The band is described by Pitchfork as an intriguing mix of Brian Wilson and Weezer, which sounds good to us.
There’s also all the usual Moonfest madness — questionable adult costumes, rides, games, a haunted house, prizes, etc. It should be going on late just in case you first want to…
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Cross the Styx in an REO speedwagon: Yes, you can forgo the trick-or-treating and hit the Can’t Stop Rockin’ Tour: REO Speedwagon, Styx and “special guest” Night Ranger, which is an appropriate name for a band playing on Halloween. Expect the crowd to be costumed even more than usual. And, oh yeah, don’t stop believin’. The show begins at 7 p.m. Saturday at Cruzan Amphitheater, West Palm Beach. Information: (800) 745-3000.
Meanwhile, in downtown Lake Worth: Propaganda gets props for the best title for a Halloween concert: A Nightmare on J Street. It features bands Zombies! Organize!!, The Freakin’ Hott and Bonnie Riot, which I really hope is a play on Bonnie Raitt. That’s probably showing my age, though. More information at: thehoneycomb.com
And what would Halloween be without Michael Jackson? After you’ve checked out the This Is It documentary, you could go tonight to Classic Album Live’s complete performance of MJ’s Thriller. This group has done everything from the Beatles to Led Zep to Pink Floyd, but it might be a challenge to re-create the awesome grooves of Thriller, much less the creepy tones of Vincent Price. Only one way to find out: 8 p.m., at the Duncan Theatre at Palm Beach Community College in suburban Lake Worth. Information: (561) 868-3309.
See Peter sing ‘Puff’: Here’s a rare kind of event: A musical book signing. Peter Yarrow, of the classic folk group Peter, Paul and Mary, will be at the Jensen Beach branch of Barnes & Noble on Monday night at 7 to sign copies of his children’s book, Day Is Done. He’ll also sing folk favorites for 45 minutes, and publicists promise one of the songs is Puff The Magic Dragon. Yeah, we miss Mary, too.
A sophisticated Halloween alternative: They call him the “Crown Prince of New York Cabaret.” He’s considered the last of the great Manhattan piano men. Steve Ross, who has been acclaimed on earlier trips down South, performs tonight and Saturday at the Royal Room in Palm Beach. The Colony Hotel, 155 Hammon Ave., Palm Beach. Information: (561) 655-5430.
Quick hits: Sesame Street Live (hey, you know Elmo is going to sing) is at the Kravis Center tonight through Sunday. And the Palm Beach Pops kicks off its season Friday with A New York Night. Information: (561) 832-7469; Jewel plays Miami’s Fillmore on Tuesday; David Foster and Friends soft-rock the Hard Rock Live on Sunday; Boys Like Girls plays Revolution Live on Thursday. Information: (800) 745-3000.
