Style & Culture |

‘It Came from WMEB’ spooks out Blues Cafe

Fifth-year event is station's best-attended concert yet

By Erin McNamara

Posted on Monday, October 23rd, 2006, 12:00 am

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john kastelein

SPOOKY BLUES - Arletta Hayes and Awesome-o the cardboard robot dance to the spinning skills of DJ Clarity at the WMEB Halloween Bash at the Blues Cage on Friday night.

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WMEB kicked off the Halloween season with a bang this year by throwing their biggest party to date at the Blues Cafe on Mill Street.

“It Came from WMEB: Nightmare on Mill St.” began at 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 20, with local black metal band Shadar Logoth. Based out of Bangor, Shadar Logoth is one of the tightest metal acts in the area, thanks in part to drummer Phil Ardroth, a music student here at the University of Maine. They executed their set smoothly, with little pause between songs and natural transitions from one sound to the next. Their set included a range of songs from originals to a classic cover of “Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All),” with which they closed the set.

By the time Shadar Logoth left the stage, the crowd had grown to approximately 100 people. The Blues Cafe was packed when DJ Alien Journalism started spinning his set. During his hour and a half of techno and classic rock mash-ups, attendance continued to grow until it reached an estimated peak of 250 people. Tom Grucza, station director of WMEB, was thrilled with the number of people who came to the show.

“This is probably the best Halloween party we’ve had yet,” he said that night. “It just keeps getting bigger every year. I think people have come to expect us to do something now.”

Grucza also mentioned that he intends to continue the theme of “It Came from WMEB” and come up with a new tagline each year, based on the location and the artists available to work with. In addition to Shadar Logoth, Alien Journalism and DJ Clarity, who spun at the end of the night, guest artist Shine was painting during the performances. By the end of the night she had a canvas covered in free-form artistic interpretations of the music and the crowd atmosphere. The painting will be hung in the WMEB office.

DJ Clarity’s set got most of the crowd up and dancing, and even those who stayed off to the side were obviously enjoying her style, bobbing their heads and bouncing on the balls of their feet in time to music. At one point, Les Rhoda, also known as Alien Journalism, brought his saxophone up to the stage and jammed with her while she spun, incorporating live sounds with the otherwise electronic music.

The crowd itself was enthusiastic and seemed to enjoy the concert. Most of the attendees came in costume, including an appearance by Awesom-O the robot. People started dancing while Alien Journalism was spinning and the group of dancers only grew when DJ Clarity took the stage. The atmosphere was positive; people enjoyed the music and the people around them. Grucza mentioned that the event turned out even better than he had hoped.

“It’s like I’m at a party in someone’s basement,” he said toward the end of the night.