Every time theatrical glam-prog rockers Apes and Androids take the stage, it feels like Halloween. You can always count on a Busby Berkeley-size supporting cast of costumed dancers, massive paper mache demon heads, neon boats sailing through the crowd, stilt-walkers, confetti, balloons and vast mountains of glitter. And their shows that actually coincide with Halloween—in '06 at The Annex when they recreated Michael Jackson's Thriller in 3D, and last year at an obscure Williamsburg loft—have......

While the police said rumors of gang-related Halloween slashings were unfounded, last night did have its share of fatal violence. The Daily News reports that two men died and others were injured from three shootings and four stabbings around the city. A 22-year-old man was leaving his aunt's house on Tapscott Street in Brownsville at 9 p.m. when he was "fatally stabbed twice in the groin." Tyreik Davis, a FedEx employee, had just finished dinner;......

Whether they were flocking to the Village Halloween Parade, a party or a zombie crawl, New Yorkers were dressed to the nines and tens in terrific costumes. Here are just a few photographs of the evening--and hope you had a fun and safe Halloween!......

Following yesterday's alert about an increase in gang activity last night and tonight, one reader writes in saying that "the faces of three Brooklyn women have been slashed ... The Bloods are out all day and tonight working on their initiations. Supposedly they have to slice 31 people to get initiated into the gang?" And another reader writes, "I have a friend at a hospital uptown, and she said word is that a few victims......

NKOTBack! If you happened to see any middle aged women wandering around the West 30s Monday night with GIANT novelty pins not featuring either presidential candidate, there was a (relatively) good reason. The reunited New Kids on the Block were back at MSG for the first time in nearly two decades this week. The grown-ups remarkably still were able to fill the arena with a mix of actual hardcore fans, along with those just trying......

Birds by Pabo76 on Flickr From a forecasting perspective this has been a rare week where the weather has behaved as expected. The good behavior shows no sign of stopping and there's no reason to believe it will start acting erratically over the weekend. In addition to not pulling any tricks, it looks like ok Mother Nature will give us a fall treat. There's a big high sitting over the Carolinas, another over Winnipeg......

In what has become an annual tradition, the Today show hosts (and newsreader--of all four hours!) dressed in elaborate Halloween costumes. This year, the theme was a storybook Halloween: Matt Lauer was Humpty Dumpty, Al Roker was the Gingerbread Man (with a suggestively placed... decoration), Meredith Vieira was Pinocchio (she said was "high" from the glue on her nose prosthetic), Ann Curry was Cinderella ("an ethnic J-Lo Cinderella"), Kathie Lee Gifford was the Big Bad......

Bruce Springsteen has doled out his Halloween treat before the sun has even gone down. The Boss posted a song called "A Night with the Jersey Devil," and a video in which he is the infamous hooved and bat winged creature (though a much more dapper interpretation). He left a note for his fans as well, saying: "If you grew up in central or south Jersey you grew up with the Jersey Devil. Here's a......

NYC the Blog learned that an after school program in East Harlem canceled today's programs "due to advice from the NYPD and school officials." The 25th Precinct "has been receiving leads them to believe their will be heightened gang activity by the Bloods Gang today in East Harlem, between the hours of 3-5pm." And over in Brooklyn, GerritsenBeach is calling tomorrow "D-Day", remembering the mischief on Halloween 2007: "A large crowd of teens pelted vehicles......

Photo of a Hugh McMahon-carved pumpkin at Chelsea Market last year via mdpny's flickr. Throughout the rest of the week and weekend there's likely to be a lot of Halloween themed events going on around town. If you don't have prior engagements at the big parade, here are a few of our picks for the big night (earlier this week we suggested where you dine on some ghoulish grub). COMEDY: Zombies invade the UCB......

Photograph by Squid Ink on Flickr So, do you think they hand out good Halloween candy here?......

You didn't think you'd get out of here without some more ADOWABLE doggy costume photos to brighten up this nasty rainy day, did you? These heartwarming shots were taken by Katie Sokoler on Sunday at the McGorlick Park dog costume parade. It would be just too much cute to publish all the photos here—we do have some restraint—so feel free to overindulge at her flickr set. And for the Halloween dog completist, here are our......

Besides the sickening amount of mass-produced prole candy available this time of year, there's also an abundance of higher grade Halloween eating and drinking options. And so it begins; the long, downward holiday flab spiral that reaches its nadir around the first week of January when you have to start leaving the top button of your pants undone. Oh well, no use fighting it; here are some consumption opportunities we've been able to scare up:Through......

Yesterday afternoon, dog-owners and dog-lovers gathered in Fort Greene Park for the 10th Annual Great PUPkin Dog Costume Contest. Over 50 dogs entered the competition (yes, each pup got to walk around to show off their costumes), those gathered got to "ooh" and "aww" over the cute canines. In this election year, first prize went to "Joe the Plumber." He was definitely the crowd favorite as he walked around squirting water out of a pipe......

Today was the sort of day rain dates were made for. After getting washed out yesterday, Tompkins Square Park had plenty of autumn sunshine for what is claimed to be the country's largest dog costume parade. Thousands of dollars in prizes including six iPods were given away to the owners of the winning dogs. If all of this adorability overload has you itching to see some puppet-like pups in person, there's still time for The......

It's haunted house season, and Theatreworks' high-tech haunted hotel, the Gravesend Inn (located at 186 Jay Street in Brooklyn), has returned. The creepy, creative project is produced by City Tech's resident theatrical troupe (part of the CUNY school's Department of Entertainment and Technology) and they claim to be a "theme-park-quality Halloween attraction." We went over to check it out for ourselves, and here are some sneak peeks. Before you check in though, you should (suspend......

Photo of Ernest Hemingway dog via eatsdirt's flickr. The best part of Halloween is unequivocally being able to dress your pets up in costumes without being dubbed "crazy." This weekend some totally normal humans will be showing off their costumed canines in Brooklyn's Fort Greene Park at the 10th annual Great Pupkin Dog Costume Contest. Get there at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday if you want to register your pup, and shortly after if you......

Awww, are you ready to have your heart warmed up by 100 zillion watts of pure canine cuteness? While the furry masses crowded Times Square Sunday for the Fourth Annual Dog Day Masquerade, the city's well-heeled hounds opted for a more refined day of dress-up at Carl Schurz Park on the Upper East Side, where the annual Halloween Howl was as pup-ular as ever. Flickr aficionado "istolethetv" was all over it like Scooby on snacks.......

Halloween is right around the corner, and while everyone's getting their best Sarah Palin costume together, others are adorning their houses with creepy crawlers and such. NYMag takes a look at one UES residence that AMNY recently posted some shots of, saying the haunted townhouse belongs to independent financial adviser Richard Medley, his wife, and teenage kids. The tradition has been going on for four years, and they say they get mixed reactions from neighbors......

Ricky's, the beauty emporium that also stocks tons of Halloween Costumes, is offering Client #9 and Emperors Club VIP costumes, a salute to the Spitzergate scandal. The men's costume is $40 while the women's is $30. Of course, the budget way to go about costumes would be: For Eliot Spitzer, wear a suit and tie and scrunch your mouth into a line (bonus points for male pattern baldness and black socks). Maybe carry a......

Two white Staten Island cops were indicted today for an incident last Halloween in which they allegedly handcuffed a black egg-throwing teen and drove him to a dark, secluded marshland he was stranded (the handcuffs were taken off). Initially, the cops were also accused of stripping him down to his shorts and kicking him. The officers, Thomas Elliassen and Richard Danese, who are pleading not guilty, said they just wanted to "scare him" and later......

Okay, maybe pets aren't so into the holidays, except when it comes to scraps that fall to the floor or the prospect of a new chew toy. But that doesn't mean that pet owners aren't enthusiastic about projecting the spirit of the season onto Fido and Fluffy. Clockwise, from the top left, we have: Delco the West Brighton wanna-be (and possibly reluctant) reindeer, photograph by walkwpack, a reader on SILive.com; a cute Christmas tree......

On Friday Gothamist visited the set of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Undead, a bizarre little indie shooting in the East Village. The movie is a sequel of sorts to Tom Stoppard’s hilarious existential comedy Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, but with “sexy vampires, the Holy Grail and Hamlet.” Jake Hoffman (son of Dustin), who appeared on some Arrested Development episodes, is a broke, frustrated ladies man who jumps at the chance to direct an......

Peter Braunstein really loves the New York Post. The fashion industry reporter-turned-prison inmate, after being recently convicted of the kidnapping, sex assault, armed robbery and burglary of a former co-worker on Halloween in 2005, gives his first interview since being locked up this past summer to the tabloid. He gives a number of choice quotes to the Post, who calls him "still-crazy." And how! Not only does he regret not killing his ex-girlfriend Jane......

The Loch Ness monster, who has been tagging the city, has been in a marsh in Brooklyn for over a month. A note to New York's mythical creature coterie, you only have through December 31st to catch Nessie so close to home. The serpent has made the salt marsh off of Marine Park homebase ever since Ridgewood artist Cameron Gainer placed his creation there at the end of October. Using boats and divers at high......

What can you say about the Vernon NJ Police Department except that they like Hanna-Barbera? Because they created a "WANTED" poster with Yogi Bear's likeness, after discovering a black bear had stolen a minivan. Well, maybe "stolen" is overreaching, but Patrolman David Dehardt noticed that a Mazda minivan was parked in an odd spot, and when he approached the car, it had the classic signs of bear presence: "mashed window, paw prints, smudge marks on......

Photo of by Tomoharu Mizuno (snowman) djwerdna on flickr; Mizuno finished in 6:25:34 The marathon is the city's most lucrative single-day sporting event; this year, the marathon will bring in an estimated $220 million to city businesses. Blind marathoner Henry Wanyoike ran the course in 2 hours, 52 minutes, and 18 seconds. The NY Sun reports that Wanyoike, who is blind from a stroke, runs " tethered by a rope to his partner, Joseph......

With Craigslist becoming ever-increasingly creepy, this smitten young man has gone and purchased his own URL to find the girl he ogled on the subway last night. NYGirlOfMyDreams.com has a simple mission, it's "skinny, tall, not insane" creator would like to meet the the "fancy-braided, rosy-cheeked, journal writing" girl he saw on the the 5 train at 9:30pm last night. And if it doesn't work out, we're sure he has that URL for at......

Last week marked the five year anniversary of the murder of Jam Master Jay, who was shot and killed at his studio in Queens the night before Halloween 2002. The slaying was one of many that went unspoken about by witnesses, all of whom follow the "no snitching" rule. However, The Daily News has just talked to someone who is breaking this absurd code of silence.Randy Allen, the iconic turntablist's longtime business partner, told the......

Last night, during the Brian Williams-hosted and Feist-soundtracked Saturday Night Live, the show opened with a scene from Chappaqua, New York. All of the Democrats were there to celebrate Halloween, and who was under the Barack Obama mask... ...but Barack himself! The rest of the democrats were all played by SNL cast members, though it would have been interesting to have seen them all playing themselves. As a sidenote: Brian Williams did a pretty good......