(The) Rock-it Docket & The Historic Jersey City and Harsimus Cemetery present the Ghost of Uncle Joe’s Halloween Costume Ball & Fundraiser!

What started as a tribute to Uncle Joe’s, a Jersey City bar, this annual event is a rock show in a cemetery with local musicians performing covers of famous bands. There will be delicious food, refreshing beer, prize giveaways for best costumes, and more!

I caught up with the mayor of Jersey City fun (aka Dancing Tony) over the phone to get the scoop and background on this year’s event. If you don’t know Tony, he literally runs fun in Jersey City! All those live music shows around town, he is the brains behind them. He is one of my favorite people in Jersey City, and I respect and love him to the moon and back.

OK, now back to the Ghost of Uncle Joe’s.

So Tony, tell me more about this big halloween party.

The party is an homage to the old bar Uncle Joe’s, which was the spot you ended up at… it was the Jersey City hangout spot. Kind of like what Lucky 7’s is now. They had a Halloween party every year, and it was the only place for live music at the time and competed with Maxwell’s. It closed down in 2005.

On Halloween, local bands would play. So when they closed down, we were like, “what are we doing with Halloween?” So we started doing it at (gallery) 58… we would always get shut down! Anyway, in 2008, a non-profit group took over the The Historic Jersey City and Harsimus Cemetery. I reached out to Eileen Markenstein, who runs the group, and asked her, “Hey, would you allow us to have a Halloween party at the cemetery?” She is a big music fan and she agreed to do it!

The first year, we raised $4,000, and last year we raised $20,000. Hopefully, this year we will raise more.

I am sure people ask, why raise money for a cemetery?

The cemetery went bankrupt and was then abandoned. Because there is no money to take care of it, it is paramount that we raise money for the cemetery for day-to-day operations. What keeps the cemetery going, money that is generated through events…

Tell me about this year’s lineup.

We have an 18 band lineup, 4 will be at LITM and 3 at Porta for the after party.

How are you going to be at all these places at the same time?

It’s going to be a little challenging. We did it last year and it worked out well. We have great bands Mötley Crüe, David Bowie, and the early lineup is family-friendly. The special’s with the modcup guys and Warren from Another Man’s Treasure.

So fun! Do people dress up?

People dress up, and we have about 8 or 9 costume sponsors. We have prizes from Virile, AMT Vintage, Wurstbar (for worst outfit). We’ll also have tickets for Terminal of Terror for the scariest costumes.

Every year, a different local designer designs your flyer… who did this year’s? 

Matt Caputo did a great job this year. Past years, we had Kayt Hester, Robert Piersanti… all local artists.

WHEN: Saturday, October 22nd

TIME: 1pm – 2am

PRICE: $10+ suggested donation

It’s always so much fun, and we’re happy to be a sponsor for this year’s event! Join us, dress up, and enjoy some of Jersey City’s best musicians cover performances.

Lineup

1:00 Jethro Tull

1:50 Elvis Presley

2:40 Janis Joplin

3:30 Guided by Voices

4:20 Bikini Kill

5:10 Alice Cooper

6:00 The Strokes

6:50 The Specials

7:40 The Cars

8:30 Motley Crue

9:20 David Bowie

We’ll also have DJs Daft Punk.

After Parties

LITM

10:30 Elvis Costello

11:20 The Velvet Underground

12:10 The Police

1:00 The Pixie

Please don’t bring your pets or any glass containers to the event.

If you can’t make it, please donate at www.jerseycitycemetery.org.

The rain date for the cemetery show is Sunday, October 23 at the same times. The after parties will be held on Saturday October 22nd regardless.

For more information, check out the event page on Facebook or on the Rock-it Docket site.