Get Your Zombie On!

Some years it's all angels and fairies. Others, devils and demons. Most recently, costumes have taken on a political attitude with ultra-scary President Bush masks and trick-or-treaters dressed as tortured Iraqi prisoners (or perhaps that was just a bed-sheeted ghost on a dog leash?). But this year is destined for a New Orleans theme. Although no one will probably have the gall to go as Hurricane Katrina (think a giant fan and a fire hose), the McMenamin Brothers (dressed again this year as aging hippies) are tossing a bash to benefit Project HEAL (for Katrina victims), with music from zydeco swingers, Beausoleil.
Sun Oct 30,
Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside, 7:30 pm, $20-25

Meanwhile, hoping to prove that Mardi Gras is a state of mind not dependent on location, The Bourbon Street Bash is another Louisiana benefit and costume show.
Fri Oct 28,
Portland Art Center, 2045 SE Belmont, 9 pm-2 am, free

Benefiting causes closer to home, City Repair are shaking their bones all night long. (City Repair works on building public gathering spaces around town.) Three stages of music include the rollicking MarchFourth Marching Band and an indefatigable lineup of DJs.
Sat Oct 29, Loveland, 320 SE 2nd, 9 pm–6:30 am, $12-15

Still another Halloween party disguised as a fundraiser, Fever Theater is throwing a party for their upcoming play, I Am a Superhero, the story about two superheroes who have had the rights to their life stories sold. With DJ Brokenwindow and DJ Fabulous as well as short performances from the actors.
Sat Oct 29, Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison, 9 pm, $5-10

If spooky stories are more your Halloween style, stop in at Lone Fir Cemetery for a tour of "untimely or unusual deaths" gravesites.
Mon Oct 31, Morrison & SE 21st, 6-10 pm

Or, check out the live-radio performance of The Confessions of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Broadcasting live, the Willamette Radio Workshop provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse as they perform the Victorian classic of dual personalities.
Mon Oct 31, Kennedy School, 5736 NE 33rd, 5 & 7 pm, free

And, not to be left out of the fun, a handful of local bands are dressing up this year as their favorite bands, from an Iggy Pop cover band to members of Fireballs of Freedom pretending to be MC5 for the night.
Fri Oct 28, Liberty Hall, 311 N Ivy, 8 pm–midnight, $4-10
PHIL BUSSE

Haunted House Guide

Fill your scare quota at these haunted houses—if you're too cool to scream, look at them as a study in theater or whatever:

FrightTown—Includes Baron Von Goolo's Museum of Horrors, featuring the "Eight-Piece Bucket of Doom." Also Elshoff Manor, which last year included a rickety elevator, and The Black Box—"a free fall into darkness and terror."
Exhibit Hall below Memorial Coliseum, nightly at 7 pm through Halloween (closes 10 pm Fri-Sat, 11 pm Sun-Thurs), $20 for all three, www.frighttown.com

Haunted Corn Maize—It's peppered with monsters, and takes an hour-plus to navigate.
Hwy 30 West to Sauvie Island Bridge, cross bridge, turn left and loop underneath, drive two miles to the Pumpkin Patch Farm, Fri-Sat through Halloween, 10 am-11 pm, $8

Scream at the Beach—Enjoy "Wraith Manor," the snake-infested "Lost Expedition," the nightmare-inducing "Nightmares," and the apocalyptic "Biohazard."
I-5 North to Exit 308, turn left under freeway to the mall, through Halloween, 7-10 pm (11 pm Fri-Sat), $20 for all four or $8 each, www.screamatthebeach.com

13th Door—15,000 square feet of space in a decrepit movie theater means a pantload of scare.
10125 Washington Square Rd in Tigard, through Halloween (closed Mon the 24th), 7-10 pm (midnight Fri-Sat, 11 pm Halloween), $15, www.hauntingproductions.com
KATIE SHIMER

Rummage Your Heart Out

Looking for a Halloween costume, or maybe a rare strain of the flu? Perhaps you want to learn the best way to rummage through a local celebrity's dumpster in search of incriminating evidence to send to Ann Romano. Lucky you: This week is full of events for junk recyclers and secondhand enthusiasts.

First of all, there's The Portland Dumpster Diving Meet-Up Group, a meeting where diving enthusiasts can find a safe community space to dialogue about the best places to reclaim abandoned junk and food.
Red & Black Cafe, 2138 SE Division, Thurs Oct 27, 6 pm

But that's not all! Two days later, the Hollywood Neighborhood Rummage Sale is taking place in the parking lot of Value Village. The sale is a benefit for Loaves and Fishes, and promises a smorgasbord of leftover furniture, clothes, and knickknacks.
Value Village, 1907 NE 45th at Sandy, Sat Oct 29, 9 am-6 pm

All this week's rummaging is just a warm up for the mother of all rummage sales, the annual Catlin Gabel Rummage Sale, which runs November 3-6, but go early to get the best stuff (warning: opening day there's a 35 percent markup). Hit www.catlin.edu/news/rummage for details.
Portland Expo Center, Halls A & B, 2060 N Marine, Nov 3-6
EVAN JAMES