Jersey's scariest Halloween parties and shows

Along with being a game-changing musical icon, the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia had impeccable taste in movies.

For proof, look no further than his love of what may be the greatest horror-comedy of all time, “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.” (For the uninitiated, the classic has the legendary comedy duo of Asbury Park’s Bud Abbott and Paterson’s Lou Costello facing off against Bela Lugosi’s Dracula, Lon Chaney Jr.’s Wolf Man, Glenn Strange’s Frankenstein’s Monster and even Vincent Price’s Invisible Man.

“This was a juicy cast, and it was the last time these characters had dignity. ... These things are all icons in my life, they’re personal icons. (For) a lot of people, they have tremendous power,” Garcia said in an interview that aired on AMC’s “The Movie That Changed My Life” in 1995.

Something tells us Garcia, Universal Monsters lover that he was, would get a kick out of Grateful Dead tribute act Dead On Live saluting his work on Mischief Night, Oct. 30, at the historic Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank.

Under the direction of multi-instrumentalist Marc Muller, DOL pays note-accurate tribute to the Grateful Dead’s sound, and Friday night they will be debuting a two-set production: “Dead On Live with Strings” followed by “Jerry Garcia Band, Capitol Theater, Passaic NJ Circa 76.”

The first set will find the group joined by members of the Monmouth Symphony Orchestra for renditions of Dead material including the “Terrapin Station” (1977) title suite, while the second set will re-visit Garcia and his solo band’s sound from their mid-'70s stands here in Jersey.

Dead On Live, 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30, Count Basie Theatre, 99 Monmouth St., Red Bank. $20 to $39, 732-842-9000, www.countbasietheatre.org.

The more the scarier!

Hell in Paradise

They call it Hell in Paradise, but we’ll call it one heck of a Halloween party, especially if you like to dress up.

The Paradise nightclub in Asbury Park if offering $3,000 in cash prizes for multiple costume categories, including best drag, best couple, best camp and best scary leather as part of it’s 17th annual Halloween Ball and Costume Pageant on Saturday, Oct. 31.

Why isn’t there a category for fabulous leather?

Anyway, DJ Carl Michaels will be spinning the beats and the club stays open an extra hour as the clocks go back at the stroke of midnight.

Hell in Paradise 17th annual Halloween Ball and Costume Pageant, 10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, Paradise, 101 Asbury Ave., Asbury Park. www.paradisenj.com.

Devil’s Theater in Rahway

Recent accounts have circulated about moved furniture, ashes in the restroom sinks, and the sounds of children singing deep below the stage at the Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway. We won’t even talk about the six people who have mysteriously vanished from the theater — hey, we’re just reporting what the theater says. It’s the Devil’s Theater interactive tour at the arts center and there are shows through Sunday, Nov. 1.

Mind you, it’s not recommended for children under 9. Too high-scare and high-startle, they say.

Devil’s Theater, 7:30 to 11:30 Friday, Oct., 30 and Saturday, Oct. 31, and 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1. Union County Performing Arts Center, 1601 Irving St., Rahway. $25 to $35. www.devilstheater.com.

Cover crazy in New Brunswick

The hocus focus of original music bands going cover crazy on Halloween is pretty widespread these days. In Jersey, it started at the Court Tavern in New Brunswick when the guys in the band Dibs dressed like Alvin and the Chipmunks for the big night about a decade ago.

This Halloween, the Court keeps the spirit going with its annual Halloween Cover Show on Friday, Oct. 30. Members of the Airacuda will play the Red Hot Chili Peppers; the Dark Matters will be Incubus; Crime Alert becomes Fall Out Boy; the Enemy Is You is My Chemical Romance, and members of the Paper Jets and Small Planet Radio play the Replacements.

Interestingly, the Replacements never played the Court Tavern, but the guys did film a news segment for MTV at the Court in the ‘80s. The guys drank a ton of alcohol at the shoot, former owner Bob Albert said.

In that case, bottoms up.

Court Tavern annual Halloween Cover Show, 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30; Court Tavern, 124 Church St., New Brunswick. $8. www.facebook.com/CourtTavern

Convention Hell in Asbury Park

Last year’s Local Legends Halloween Bash at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park drew a packed house.

Now, the party moves across the street for “Convention Hell” at Convention Hall on Saturday, Oct. 31. Screaming Females (what an appropriate name for Halloween!) will play an original set, plus covers from the band X; members of the Parlor Mob and the Bouncing Souls will perform as Hall & Oates; Ether Sunday and Yawn Mower will be Nirvana; Dentist is Green Day; Des & The Swagmatics play Stevie Wonder songs; Lost in Society are the Clash, and DJs Mike Merrell and Mischief Knight will spin between sets and after the bands.

Speaking of the Clash, they famously played Convention Hall in 1982. May the spirit of Joe Strummer guide us all.

Convention Hell, 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, Convention Hall, 1300 Ocean Ave, Asbury Park. $18 in advance/$22 at the door. www.apboardwalk.com.

Cypress Hill at the Stone Pony

Sure, Norman Bates famously said that we all go a little mad sometimes … but how often does one get the chance to go “Insane in the Membrane”? The opportunity will present itself Saturday night when West Coast hip-hop crew Cypress Hill hit the Stone Pony in Asbury Park. B-Real and company will be marking the 20th anniversary of the group’s platinum-selling “Temples of Boom” album at the show.

Cypress Hill, 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, Stone Pony, 913 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park. $29.50 in advance, $35 at the door. 732-502-0600, http://stoneponyonline.com/

Bewitched Broadway at Mayo PAC

Morristown becomes a witch’s paradise on Friday when a quartet of performers from the Broadway hit “Wicked” — Kate Reinders, Mandy Gonzalez, Jenna Leigh Green and Kristoffer Cusick — take the stage at the Mayo Performing Arts Center to perform numbers from the hit musical and other fan-favorite Broadway shows.

Bewitched Broadway, 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30, Mayo Performing Arts Center, 100 South St., Morristown. $29 to $59, 973-539-8008, www.mayoarts.org.

Remember Jones at the Strand

Local soul and R&B show-stopper Remember Jones is making a name for himself in the tribute game, having in recent months mounted spectacular salutes to iconic singers Amy Winehouse and Joe Cocker, ably backed by an orchestra of 20 or so top-shelf players.

On Halloween, things are set to get gloriously weird as Jones and company present R. Kelly’s epic, cult classic hip-hop opera “Trapped in the Closet” in its entirely at the historic Strand Center for the Arts in Lakewood, where Jones was recently named the producing artistic director.

“That’s everything I want to do for that venue, right in that announcement," Jones said of the "Trapped in the Closet" news earlier this year. "It’s never been done before, there’s an audience for it that would never have come to the Strand (otherwise), and there’s an audience that’s going to see me and my community of people that I’ve worked with for the first time.”

Remember Jones in R. Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet,” 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, at the Strand Center for the Arts, 400 Clifton Ave., Lakewood, $20, 732-367-7789, www.strand.org.