After stepping in the front door of the Acoustic Café Saturday night, patrons were escorted into a world populated by semi-nude cheerleaders, Captain Jack Sparrow, Rainbow Brite and BeetleJuice.
On October 28th, the Acoustic Café held their seventh annual Halloween party. The room was decorated with spider webs, skeletons, pumpkins and ghouls and over seventy five percent of the crowd was in costume, making sure to make the most out of a fifty dollar outfit which will never be worn again. At least not next year; people would remember!
The main theme for the party was “BeetleJuice” and streaming through the speakers were various songs from the film. As the night had just begun, not many people were adhering to the command, “Shake, shake, shake, senora,” since only minor amounts of alcohol had been consumed, but people were slightly bopping from side to side.
Following with the “BeetleJuice” theme, the first band, “Larissa DeLorenzo and the Button Down Mafia,” dressed up as various characters from the film. Lead singer and acoustic guitarist Larissa DeLorenzo had, in everyone’s opinion, the best costume of the night as the dead Brazilian Beauty Queen from Purgatory. Bassist Brendan Muldowney was Adam, drummer Larry Rodriquez was BeetleJuice himself and hysterically electric guitarist Will Vega was Barbara, curtain print dress and curly ’80s hair and all.
Larissa and the Mafia performed several original tunes, including crowd favorites “Ratford” and “Hold On,” but also energetic and inventive covers of three songs including “The Toadies'” “Possum Kingdom.” Larissa has a strong, crisp voice and everyone in the band plays their instruments with intense skill.
After Larissa and crew, and an hour or so of drinking warmed up the crowd, local Latin Rock group “Cosmic Jibaros” took to the stage. The band is composed of Tony Cintron who played timbales and percussion; Darian Cunning who is the lead guitarist and a vocalist; Johnny Durkin playing the congas; Ricardo Reyes playing rhythm guitar and leading the vocals; Tony Senes playing keyboard and accordion as well as singing; Christopher Stanley playing drums; and Juan Carlos Vega on bass guitar.
Immediately upon striking the first note, tables near the stage were pushed aside as the eighty or more people in the room clamored to the front, ready to shake their hips to the pulsating rhythms of Latin music. The ladies weren’t the only ones dancing either; maybe it was the never ending procession of beer, but the men were dancing with as much abandon as the senoritas.
When the music ended, the crowd stayed until 2 am, drinking, talking, laughing and posing for photos they might now regret. “I’ve waited for this party since last Halloween,” exclaimed attendee Cristyn Martino of Bridgeport. “I’m just disappointed I have to wait another whole year until the next one.”
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