The KJHK/RockKansas Halloween Party:
Hear it Now, Hear it Here

By: Meredith Vacek (Lawrencerock.com Editor)

Monday, Oct. 29th, KJHK, KU’s radio station, and RockKansas.com, a resource for music in Kansas, put on a bumpin’ Halloween party. Held at Abe and Jake’s, a venue/bar right on the river in Lawrence, the event included a DJ battle between ten area DJs, a costume contest hosted by Queer Radio’s Buck and Brad, three local bands, and a separate techno dance room. The crowd that showed up, which probably wasn’t quite as large as expected but would have jam-packed a smaller venue like the Bottleneck, was as diverse as the events of the night. There were hiphop fans, raver-types, frat and sorority members, indie kids, students, non-students, etc. etc. The attitude was a positive one of fun, merriment, and Halloween-fueled ghoulishness. There was an abundance of imaginative costumes, music for anyone’s tastes, and alcohol.

After hours of preparation, the celebration kicked off with the first round of the DJ battle, MCed excellently by KJHK’s smooth C.J., a hiphop DJ. DJs from Topeka, Lawrence, and Kansas City impressed their audience with their talents at spinning music as varied as rap, hiphop, techno, country, and oldies, with the occasional DJ throwing in a little Halloween-related treat, like a quote from the wicked witch of Oz talking about her flying monkeys.

After the first round, local rock band Ghosty took the stage dressed as Alvin and the Chipmunks. Introducing themselves as such, they kicked off their set with the song “Happiness,” featuring Andrew, the singer, using effects to make his voice high-pitched like Alvin’s. This led to laughs and a good response from the crowd, and resuming to regular voices, the band played with smiles for the duration of their set, sounding better than most of their fans had ever heard with Abe and Jake’s high-quality P.A.

The next round of the DJ battle followed Ghosty, narrowing the competing DJs to smaller and smaller numbers. Each was given five minutes a round to do his thing and impress the audience, and as soon as he was done, the next was geared up and ready to go. DJ Proof and DJ Sincere stood out to this reviewer in disc jockeying skill. By this point in the evening, the crowd was large and enthusiastic. An impromptu round was added by the MC, moving the night’s schedule back thirty or so minutes, but the party-goers were enjoying themselves, so though it was a school night, few seemed to mind.

Mi6 took the stage next. They started their repertoire of catchy and fast-paced pop punk tunes full of energy and maintained it through their whole performance. They covered music from their early days up to their most recent album, “Lunchbox.”

Mi6 was followed by the final DJ battle. The final two contestants were DJ Sku and DJ That Guy Downstairs. Their respective final five minutes were quite intense, DJ Sku showing off his skill at working clever sayings into his music, and DJ That Guy Downstairs moving the crowd to dance to his heavy, enticing beats. The winner, announced after the costume contest, and judged both by pre-selected judges and audience response, was DJ Sku, who took home the two hundred dollar prize.

The costume contest followed the final DJ battle. Judged by Brad and Buck, the hosts of the popular Queer Radio show on KJHK, the best male and best female costumes were chosen. A little girl dressed in a Winnie the Pooh outfit won the girls contest, surprising some by beating a young woman dressed as the robot from the Get Up Kids album. A guy dressed as an indie rocker complete with a full-sized cardboard guitar won the male prize, coming out ahead of a guy dressed only in a diaper, and Death himself.

By the time the contest was over, it was getting late, and the crowd was beginning to think about unfinished homework, school or work the next morning, and their beds. Fortunately, most of the people still there were avid fans of the final act, Ultimate Fakebook, and wouldn’t leave without hearing them play. Their loyal fans pressed close to the stage cheering and singing along to their favorite songs. Just days off of their U.S. tour, the band still managed to put their heart into the show and give their home town a show worth waiting ‘til that late hour. They pounded and strummed the hell out of their instruments playing their energy- and fun-filled poppy rock songs. Their performance was marked by lots of jumping around and splay-legged stances. When they wound up their set sometime after one a.m., the weary partiers were hurriedly ushered out by Abe and Jake’s staff, and finally trudged home to bed, secure in the knowledge that they unarguably got more entertainment than they paid for.