Category: Creative Juices

This Halloween, I did something I’ve never done before.  I attended an 80s/Halloween Dance Party, also reggae/rock concert, at Baltimore Soundstage hosted by Baltimore’s own punk rock group Ballyhoo.

Courtesy of HFS 104.9 Alternative Rock and CBS Radio, I experienced my first rock concert and 80s Dance Party, all in one night. How great was it that the stars of the evening are from Harford County, Maryland, just a jump, hop, and a skip from Baltimore city.

My natural high from the evening’s festivities started when I heard about Chipotle Mexican Grill’s yearly Halloween special, three dollar meals for anyone dressed in costume. Of course, since I was working for HFS 104.9, I wasn’t dressed to walk in Chipotle to get some grub. But please believe, I worked out some magic and found an Annabelle (view preview for film) mask in the CBS company vehicle to take up on the offer. I was hungry and determined. I was not going to wait until next year to get some $3 Chipotle.

I knew I was going to have a good night. Halloween’s so weird. People are so happy to impersonate others. They find anything to dress up as. At the party I’ve seen all types of costumes. From 80s hipsters to zombie princesses, people were creative in creating their costume for this annual bash. It was HFS 104.9’s duty to grant prizes to those party goers who were best dressed while they signed up to win tickets in our station’s contest for a future concert.

See more pictures of people’s Halloween costumes on HFS 104.9 Website

It definitely was different from what I’m use to. I’m always attending hip-hop showcases and shows. It was like breath of fresh air to be taken out of what I’m use to and see how another audience, or group of music lovers, listen to what they enjoy.

I haven’t listened to punk rock, or basically any music genre other that hip-hop, pop & R&B, in a while. When growing up, I had a rock music phase in the 10th grade, simply jamming to a range of rock music from indie rock, alternative, and heavy metal. It was a period when Sony MP3 players were popular, and I had the classics from Fallout Boy, Bullet From My Valentine, Paramore, and Killswitch Engage on a playlist. I don’t know whatever happened to me keeping up with my collection of music. But that breath of fresh air was amazing.

Tribal Seeds was the opening act for Ballyhoo. They’re a reggae band from San Diego, California. The lead singer of the group sounds similar to the Marleys. So it was cool to hear the sounds he contributed for my ears that night. I’m not use to listening to too much reggae. But it was enough for everyone to get their hips swaying and head bobbing for the night. All I needed was some rum punch to set it off. Too bad I was working.

Ballyhoo rocked out something simply awesome. They played out the rest of the night quite well. The crowd suddenly gotten fuller and became ALIVE. I’m sure by this point, majority of the audience might have been drunk after going to Baltimore Soundstage’s bar multiple times.There were 2 extra bars created to serve the growing crowd. So it was “TURNT,” for real!

See more pictures from the event at HFS 104.9 Website

Ballyhoo turned up during mid-party as a reminder that Halloween night was just beginning. There will be plenty of time to spare once the concert was over for many people who’d participate in the Fells Point and Federal Hill Halloween tradition. But for that moment, Ballyhoo had everyone’s attention. The venue’s ora completely changed, and I was enjoying feeling like I was partying during the wee hours of the morning when in actuality, they hopped on stage at 10:30 pm. My favorite memory of the night was when the bass player started playing the bass and my butt was jiggling on my seat. It was so loud and funny. My coworker and I were laughing so hysterically about that. Of course, I’m simple for getting enjoyment from that. Haha.

The crowd was really into their performance; waving lighters, singing along to the music, and dancing. I could tell people really were enjoying themselves. For Ballyhoo, this was another successful Halloween showdown and a night well spent in their hometown.

I’d love to have the chance to work at another rock concert. Better yet, I would love to be invited to an indie rock concert outside of CBS. I’m very active in the hip-hop scene but I wouldn’t mind dabbling in the festivities of other genres of music. I’m not aware of many venues that host these concerts or many of the Baltimore indie bands. (If you know of any, please be sure to list them in the comments below so I may invest some of my time getting to know some of the Baltimore indie bands.)

I also met a friendly hip-hop artist while working at Ballyhoo’s concert. We talked for 15 minutes exchanging music and I made sure to get his contact information because the songs he let me hear were awesome! Anything that sounds better than a rapper on a trap beat is going to catch my attention and his sound is far from trap music, maybe a little dubstep is what I’ll call it. Below, is a song from Duck Meyer’s Soundcloud. Please take the moment to listen to his track and leave some feedback in the comments below.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/158314849″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

Would you like to see more indie bands on Doc’s Castle Media? Send me links, submit some of indie bands from the DMV that you like. Doc’s Castle Media welcomes all!

Are you a frequent visitor of local clubs and restaurants in Baltimore? Make sure to read Doc’s Venue Review for Club 347 on Doc’s Castle Media.