(Not satisfied to supply the holiday tunes, the Brandes siblings come through with a swingin’ Halloween photo gallery for recovering SD scenesters! Claudia Brandes provides the back story.)
These photos were taken at the Halloween party that Zoe and I threw at her loft downtown in 1984. Zoe and I were great friends at the time, and we talked all year about wanting to have a huge Halloween party. She was the only person I had ever met, besides Kristen Schwartz, who loved Halloween as much as I did.
Kristen, in one image, is a “jigsaw puzzle,” and Zoe is George Washington. It was a great costume, and she was quite convincing! I was Peter Pan, which allowed me to wear my Beatle boots and a short skirt and still look cool. One photo has a very handsome young Peter Miesner dancing with Zoe.
We spent a lot of time initially looking for a place — then it dawned on us she had the best place! After her mom said yes (not your typical mom … She was WAY hip and extremely artistic), she also let us use mannequins and fabric and crates and all kinds of stuff from her studio, which occupied the other half of this huge space.
As the band set up, we were still putting cobwebs on the mics. … We used dry ice and red,
orange and black lights. We made the doorway look like a cave with stuffed paper bags made to look like boulders, spray-painted black. We spent a lot of time on the decorating and displays.
The posed photos were taken by vignette areas scattered through this huge empty loft space, and it was empty because we had to have the regular living furniture moved out to the other half of the studio. We made a fair amount of flyers but didn’t set our expectations too high. To our surprise, word really got around, and the thing was mobbed.
Can’t remember if it was broken up by police or what, just remember it was a blast. Of course finding a band was never too difficult for us as everyone we knew (dated);
“hung with”; or were related to was in one. The Tell-Tale Hearts were an easy ‘get’ for me! … And somehow I am sure they don’t remember getting paid, either.
I had a series of Halloween parties over the next few years. In ’85 & ’86, Kristen and I planned them with the help of David Peck’s mom’s neighborhood community center. (What neighborhood I cannot remember, I only know he was extremely helpful and motivated that we should do well.) The last one was at another community center. (Not sure who hooked us up.)
Keith Fisher had an interesting costume at this party. Didn’t he shave half his head??? I recall going to this party with Tom Ward. This was downtown pre-condo, and before it became a developer’s wet dream to tear everything down and build, build, build.
Tony sanchez is classic as Pinnochio!
Oct. 31, 1984, was a crazy-busy night! Besides this party, we were running simultaneous Halloween concerts at Greenwich Village West and Studio 517.
Damn kids! Keep the noise down. 🙂
That was an interesting evening. There was a liquor store (Gaslamp Liquor) by Zoe’s that sold to minors and I was on a Super Schnapps kick (100 proof). I was awfully drunk that night and kept dropping my pick as I was playing. Luckily I had a pocketful of them as I couldn’t see them on the floor in my state. They just disappeared. After we played I took my guitar off, leaned on the wall behind the stage and slid down. Next to me Pat Works was sitting and handed me a funny cigarette. I awoke the early morning in the same position at the same time as Lou Damien who had also passed out, in front of the stage.
I remember the first thing I noticed was the small mountain of picks on the stage…
What are people doing to celebrate the 24th anniversary of Halloween 1984?
My family has carried the SF tradition of elaborate H’ween decorating with us to NJ — including a lot of stuff build from old toys and clothers from Goodwill. I just finished tricking out our front lawn with a zombie graveyard, tree full o’ ghouls and haunted pumpkin patch, complete with a five-foot-tall wooden coffin. Gotta test the lights as soon as it gets dark.
Our village shuts down the main drag for a couple of hours on Halloween, and all the kids trick or treat all the vendors. Plus there’s a costume contest (which we’ve also been working hard on).
Forget partying all night … I’m ready for a nap NOW!
So young! and so thin! ah…life before babies. I miss flat stomach. I remember that I had a “Dunhill” brand cigarette holder at that party. Very chic.
My son Elijah and I are both pirates today. This morning his preschool had a costume parade through the wards of Children’s Hospital. I’ve decorated my house with all my old Halloween cards I got in the 60’s and 70’s -I’ll try and scan one later! They’re neat!
Matthew: I’m with you on the nap agenda. No partying for me either.
I cashed in all my drink tickets a long time ago.
Lori Shouldice looks byoootiful!!!! What a hot Robin Hood to make the men merry!
Kristen: I think that’s Claudia as Peter Pan, n’est-ce pas? (I’m sure Lori would be a fetching Robin Hood, though!)
The toilet in the background is a nice touch, too.
That is Claudia looking cute as ever! I loved this party!! It was great! I do not recall what I dressed up to be “Edie” jkg. Zoes house was cool there weren’t any walls and the toilet was in the middle of the room. I remember one Halloween I was “I dream of Jeannie” the sister with the dark hair. I think that must have been 1985. Anyway this was a great party and it was also great going to Gaslamp Liquor and getting whatever you wanted even though the guys that hung out at the liquor store were creepy. Everyone looked great at this party, this was one of the better parties!
I think I went with Denise. By the way hey, Eric!:) Whats up?
CLAUDIA looks beautiful. what a hot peter pan to make the lost boys…er…”lost”?
My favorite high-school Halloween costume was Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: I wore a smock and beret, carried a paint palette, and sewed winos to my knees.
When I worked at MacWEEK, I crafted an excellent Mac SE costume out of foam rubber. I exhumed it a few years ago to kick it old-school at our Halloween street thingy … And won a $50 prize!
Kristen: How about, “Never mind Wendy! A Peter Pan that smokin’ couldn’t lose the boys if she tried?” 🙂
Claudia, thank you for posting these pix. I have like three pictures of me between 82-85. I can put this in the album to show my kids.
Meanwhile, poor Mike Stax seems to be having the devil’s own time with those cobwebs tangling his bass!
(We should have a thread for “Weird onstage shit that got in the way of playing.” LOL)
And look at Tom , he’s dressed up as . . . wait he’s dressed up as himself !
Matthew, I think I remember a halloween party (I cant remember who’s house it was at) where you were scrambled eggs… with pieces of yellow foam rubber stuck to you. Does that sound right? what year was that?
Tom is dressed up as Lou Reed, Mike.
This was a great series of Halloween parties Claudia and Zoe hosted. At the ’84 party, John Vedder was the Old Spice man. I love the picture of Bill, trying to look tough but standing next to Pinocchio. I’m pretty sure Keith went as a mummy--that’s him next to Carl Rusk as Groucho Marx. (I remember his costume consisted of a couple of rolls of toilet paper.) The following year Terri Friedman went dressed as John Hanrattie! The Hearts played again, and Mike Stax went in a Nazi uniform, Bill Calhoun was an Arab sheik, I was a flamenco dancer, and Eric Bacher was a cigarette. My favorite costume that year: Tony Sanchez as the Gingerbread Man! Tony, if you are reading this, you had gigantic balls to do that!
Kristen--YOU look beautiful here. It’s pretty clear from this picture why so many guys were in love with you.
Ray: p-shaw!
Love the costume I was wearing, another score from Charlene at Life’s Little Pleasures. It reminds me of “Bonnie and Clyde”.
I recall Eric B. being wasted. I wonder if people messed with him after he was passed out. They used to do cruel stuff. I remember a few folks who woke up with girly makeup or cigarette butts up the nose or even duct taped to the floor! Total numbskull fraternity prank shit.
I always wanted to help them but I didn’t have the gingerbread below the belt like Tony did.
>>Matthew, I think I remember a halloween party … where you were scrambled eggs… with pieces of yellow foam rubber stuck to you.
Dave Ellison: ZAP! You reactivated brain circuits that have been dormant for 23 years. You’re right — I did dress like breakfast, and it musta been Halloween ’85. That’s when I was working at the Encinitas Pannikin … The costume was an homage to the chain’s signature brekky: eggs scrambled with steam from the espresso machine. I think I fashioned a big plate sort of chest piece with the eggs and toast and parsley garnish and all the other trimmings.
(Come to think of it, those Pannikin steamed eggs were a pretty bizarre recipe I haven’t seen elsewhere. Thrusting the steam nozzle into the eggs entailed a lot of yolky bits blowing every which way and gumming up the works — kind of unsightly, really … In fact, having seen the process up close, I don’t think I ever ate it. Does the Pannikin still practice this ovarian B&D, or have we learned that this practice spreads salmonella or chlamydia or something?)
PS: Looks like the Pannikin’s still blowing chunks at breakfast! I didn’t know Bob and Gay Sinclair had sold the chain. That man was a vision in turquoise!
Hallowe’en today…er yesterday.
My recipe for fun with the kiddies…
We went with the traditional “what the hell can we find at a thrift store to make a costume out of?” approach.
Izzy was a knight. Start with an armor breastplate that cost 35c. Rip up some curtains and make a tunic and cape. We bought a sword (ninja style but what’s a 5 year old know about the history of armament?) for a couple bucks and this really freaky mask/hood/thing that he called his “helmet”.
Aliana was a cat. Get one pair black tights. Fill with cotton stuffing. Turn one leg inside the other. Now you have a cat tail. Get one black fake fur coat. Wear it backward. Get the seat from the tights, make a couple of felt ears. Put this on your head (tease child for wearing a cat’s ass for a hat) and now you’re a cat.
Elizabeth was a fairy. She’s 3 years old so this is a natural. Also you can actually go to the thrift store at the right time of year and find a selection of fairy cosumes for sale. Weird. It’s like they have a whole factory somewhere churning these things out. A very surreal picture of a sweatshop in vietnam comes to mind…anyhow…pick your fairy costume and plunk down your five bucks. Wrap kid in costume. You’re done.
All three costumes cost us about twenty bucks. Pretty good.
Robin and I went as hipster parents. Go to closet. Get dressed. Favor anything black. Assume bored look. Grab flashlights and head to rich neighborhood where they give away entire candy bars to the kids.
Now to do this right you really have to get the last part right:
Steal candy from kids at random points through the night. Steal candy from kids while they sleep. Deny stealing candy when they wake up. Blame black kitten we just got and make up lame story about black cats eating hallowe’en candy ’cause they’re black cats. Eat candy when kids are out playing.
This recipe serves two adults.
See my blog at patrickworksphotography.blogspot.com for pictures of the finished costumes.
Trick or freakin’ treat everyone.
Patrick
My younger daughter is the cupcake on the right!
WOW! Ran into Tom Ward at the flea market the other day and he hipped me to the site…CRAZY! Seems like everybody’s memory is much better than mine, but what a night! I’ll have to dig around for some of my old sh#*%? and figure out to post it. Really cool to see all the old faces!
Yeah Dylan, they played that and it sucked! My friend Brendan yelled out “don’t try that one again!” when they finished it, haha. But overall they were great. Little Steven only noodled on a couple songs but it seemed like forever. The Sonics were better in New York at Cavestomp (which I also saw) but I’m still glad I saw them in Seattle.
The Cloud Room closed in 2003 when the Camlin hotel was purchased.
WELCOME Zoe!
Dean, wish I could have gone to the Sonics show, even with Werewolves of London on the set list.
Why no love for the werewolves? Is it just that the song doesn’t suit the band? I’d love to hear the Sonics some day, but I like Warren Zevon, too, and am glad I got to see him before he died (on his Mutineer tour). It was Brendan back in San Diego who tipped me off to check out Warren Zevon (remember “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner?”) beyond the over-exposed Werewolves (although I still love the line, His hair was PERFECT!”), and I came to adore the way he turned the wet self-involvement of California soft-rock singer-songwriterism completely inside-out--like a funnier Randy Newman or something… Good Halloween music, too (getting back on topic)!
Simon: The Warren Zevon version is OK by me (except I’ve heard it too many times) but not by The Sonics, when they could have done another one of their own songs. Plus, they played it awfully badly.
I like Warren Zevon, too.
I am sorry I missed the Sonics. When I was living in Seattle, I had the opportunity to catch them several times, and they rocked! How were Girl Trouble? They are good friends of mine, and this had to be one of their biggest shows ever.
James, my friend, you must be confusing them with some other band. The Sonics haven’t played in Seattle since the 70s (I think their last regular show anywhere was in 1968, and they did a single reunion gig in Seattle in the early 70s). They reformed with 3 original members (keyboardist/singer, guitarist, sax player) in 2007 to play the Cavestomp in NY (2 great performances), then played earlier this year at Le Beat Bespoke in London, followed by several shows in Europe, then this one.
I completely missed Girl Trouble because I was chatting with friends in the lobby.
ZOE!!
It’s about time! How the hell are you? I’ve missed you over the years.