2011-10-28: Creaking Planks at Velowe’en

Another fantastic free Hallowe’en show for Critical Mass patrons ($10 for everyone else, still a steal at that price!) the Revelry Society reunites the Creaking Planks with the Balkan hurricane Mezamazing at the Grandview Legion (2205 Commercial Drive) from 9 pm ’til late for the 3rd annual Witches and Warlocks Masquerade Ball! Let’s see if we can sell out the house’s supply of drinks in the first 45 minutes again! The line-up also includes a set by the Funk Hunters and a DJ set from Nils Von Hahn of Beats Without Borders.

2010-10-29: Creaking Planks play at Witches and Warlocks Critical Mass afterparty

What are you doing after this?

How about this?

Witches, warlocks and other Hallowe’en creatures that bump in the night, lend me your ear(wig)s! Our night to celebrate the powers of light and (mostly) the dark is nigh upon us! The cursedly Creaking Planks will begin the evening, after which Little Woo will alter the fabric of the space-time continuum, transporting us to “The Silent Kingdom” with shades of puppets.

The heresy of the Blackberry Woods will lead us into a Bacchanalian trance of dance madness, and the wizard known only as Timothy Wisdom will weave enchantments of endless motion until the late hours. Potions will be drunk and demon’s gate spells will be cast.

The party rolls at the Grandview Legion Hall upstairs at 2205 Commercial Drive; admission is $10, or $8 if you arrive as part of Critical Mass. The carriages turn back into pumpkins at 2 am.

2009-10-30: Velowe’en on Devil’s Night!

As ancient lore tells it, Veloween is an age-old festival where for one day of the year old, dead, abandoned, dismembered and forgotten bicycles awaken to roll amongst the well-oiled and able-framed. We will celebrate together in copious ritualistic beer drinking and dance, possessed by the rhythms of the Creaking Planks, the Fur Bearing Animals and DJ Steamboat Fatty. A practice known to raise the dead follows, the eldritch Jackson Zombie Dance Off. Offerings to the shadow world will be made by Little Woo and her shadow puppet fairytale.

The best dressed bicycle competition commences the moment Critical Mass arrives at the Anza Hall (3 W. 8th Avenue at Ontario); the rider of the best-dressed bicycle wins never-ending pints all night.

At the strike of one am — for those who are most fearless amongst us — we will ride naked in circles around our celebration (did we mention that the event is a fundraiser for the 2010 World Naked Bike Ride?) to chase the bikes of the dead back to the underworld!

8 pm – 2 am; $10 / $5 if in costume with Critical Mass

2008-10-31: Creaking Planks at “Veloween” Critical Mass afterparty

What with our tremendous success last time around we figured that we’d be a shoe-in for next year’s (May) Pirate Critical Mass afterparty and that we’d be hearing back from the (pedal-)powers that be at that point.  Perhaps remembering our Zombiewalk introduction into Vancouver, they’ve seen fit, however, to invite us back to join them for the Velofusion party this month on Hallowe’en!  (We are the Jug Band of the Damned, after all.  We’re humbled and flattered, but I hope they don’t think that this Squeezebeard is just a costume merkin!)  Things get underway around 8 pm, with admission stated as $10 or $5 if you arrive with the Critical Mass in costume!

Other performances slated for the evening include our hornier separated-at-birth pseudo-sibling band Blackberry Wood, the Balkan marching band the Orkestar Slivovica, Miss Titty Kitty (come now, that name speaks for itself — but let’s not forget just how many titties kitties have!), a final performance from the full slate of Inject before percussionist Amrit parts ways to tour around India… and, rumour has it, a host of ghostly folks who really know how to dance along to Thriller.  (A further rumour, depending on weather conditions and the wonderful impaired judgment of the mob mentality, has proposed a late-night naked costume bicycle ride.  One thing we don’t have, folks, is boring gigs.)

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Also, we had a great time at the Parade of Lost Souls Saturday then also at Montmartre Sunday night with Petunia (and then another great time in Strathcona with Alison and a hot bowl of her bors… I mean, blood soup.) We should be back there soon, and I don’t just mean for our Thundering Word feature spot November 30th!

Next up — Zawa’s on Tuesday Nov 4th with Sister DJ’s Radio Band, but more about that later!