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 Brian Parton and the
Nashville
Rebels.
TOM GILBERT /
Tulsa
World
Below: (top to bottom) Vastu, Upside, ZEN HIPSTER.
Tulsa
World file and courtesy photos
Venerable Freakers Ball resurrected
with 17 band blow-out
The year was 1974. President Richard Nixon resigned, KISS released its first album, disco hustled onto the
national music scene and streaking mania hit the country.
In
Tulsa
, locals donned freaky Halloween costumes and proceeded to rock at
the inaugural Freakers Ball
at the
Tulsa
State
Fairgrounds.
The event's co-founder
Jeff Nix described it thus: "Gross, sick, demented, twisted, perverted,
filthy and creative."
Nix and his partner
Robert C. Bradley dubbed the event Freakers Ball as an homage to poet Shel
Silverstein's "Freakin' at the Freakers Ball," which was recorded by
Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show.
The song invites the
listener to shake their mojos, bang their gongs and "roll up somethin' to
take along."
When Nix and Bradley
later bought the Cain's, the Freakers Ball went with them.
In '99, the Halloween
costume contest/rock concert, celebrated its 25th anniversary at the Cain's
Ballroom.
Then, it vanished like
Jimmy Hoffa did the year of its inception.
In the mean time,
local promoter Davit Souders, who has been involved with the Freakers Ball for
more than a decade, thought about hosting the ball at other venues, but he
couldn't.
"It just didn't
feel right to take it anywhere else other than the Cain's," Souders said.
Now, some three
Halloweens later, the Freakers Ball has emerged from oblivion.
To celebrate its
resurrection in the newly-restored Cain's Ballroom, the Freakers Ball won't
just have two stages featuring an array of local artists. It'll have three.
By the end of the
night, 17 bands -- ranging from the power-pop group Johnny Reliable to the
heavy metal band Down for Five -- will have performed.
With so many bands,
Souders has devised a way to pack them all in.
When a band finishes
on the Cain's main stage, the band playing on the second stage -- to the left
or right of the main stage -- will immediately begin.
A total of seven acts
will play back-to-back in Bob's, the new bar adjoining the Cain's.
The Freakers stage
setup has changed over the years, but one thing has remained the same, the
outrageous costume contest.
"Everyone does
costume contests around town, but I don't think anyone can top this,"
Souders said. "It's unbelievable what you see there."
Nix not-so-fondly
remembered one of the Freakers attendees, who wore a raincoat and -- ahem -- a
prosthetic phallus.
"That was one of
the more tame costumes," Nix said.
Larry Shaeffer, who
carried on the Freakers Ball after Nix and Bradley, jokingly said he did it for
 "the
naked girls who showed up, buddy. It was a strip show."
In the mid-'80s, a
white limousine pulled up to the Cain's. Its occupants made a grand entrance,
Shaeffer said.
"These two
magnificently-dressed ladies got out wearing nothing but heels, hose and garter
belts," he said. "They weren't trash. They looked like
Las Vegas
showgirls."
The lovely ladies made
one complete circle through the ballroom full of wide-eyed Tulsans, then they
stepped back into the limo, which promptly drove away.
Those who wore
clothing to the balls, Shaeffer remembered, took great care in preparing their
costumes.
"Most of them
were hand-made," he said. "There was a lot of time invested in them.
People would spend weeks on their costumes. Nothing was off the rack.
"It really wasn't
a music show, it was a costume show."
So take Silverstein's
advice:
Come on, baby, grease
your lips
Put on your hat, and shake your hips.
And don't forget to bring your ships.
We're goin' to the Freakers Ball.
Freaker's Ball
Who: New Science, Upside, DDS, Brian Parton and the Nashville Rebels, ZEN HIPSTER,
Philmore, Bageyes, Spank, Gutwrench, TRB, Ziff, Johnny Reliable, Jazzcow, Down
for Five, HotrodboB, Urban Tribe, Vastu
When: 7: 30 p.m. Friday
Where: Cain's Ballroom, 423 N. Main St.
Admission: $7 at the door
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