All Hallows’ eve falls on a Monday this year, but that doesn’t mean the parties are packing it in. Check out this list of haunted houses, masquerade balls, costume contests and Dia de Los Muertos celebrations.

Rockin’ Halloween Parties at The Quarter Note
Oct 27-29
Three nights of wild costumes, live music, dancing and spooky drink specials. Costume Contest with $100 in cash and prizes.
1214 Apollo Way, Sunnyvale

Winchester Mystery House Candlelight Tours
Oct 28-31
New to the Winchester tours are the limited-edition candlelight voyages. These spooky journeys go through 110 rooms of the world-famous—and supposedly haunted—mansion. Nighttime tours are offered only on Friday the 13th and select nights in October. Tickets sell out fast, especially for Halloween.
525 S Winchester Blvd, San Jose

Broofest: A Nightmare on Alma Street
Oct. 28-29
Get freaky at Municipal Stadium this Halloween. Slurp 80-plus sudsy potions from regional breweries, feast on devilish dishes, show off your best scream at the photo booth, dress up for a costume contest, bob for apples, hunt for hidden treats, decorate pumpkins and more.
588 E Alma ave, San Jose

Scene! @ The Ritz featuring Rex Goliath
Oct 28
Show!Time Productions will host their second annual Scene! @ The Ritz Halloween Party. Four local indie bands perform: Containher, Mothers Worry, Silent Pictures, and the indomitable Rex Goliath. Enjoy $1 PBRs till 10pm.
400 S First St, San Jose

Hip Hop Halloween at Back Bar SoFA
Kicking it old school, Back Bar will have Yukmouth from the The Luniz performing the Saturday before Halloween, while the connected Club Miami will feature Fulanito.
418 South Market St, San Jose

Halloween party at The Oxford
Oct. 28, 29 & 31
Celebrate Halloween with live music Friday and Saturday. Specialty cocktails designed to thrill and shock the palate go along with an Instagram contest, where a special prize will be awarded to the most imaginative post using London walls as a backdrop. On Halloween night guests can get select cocktails for half off from 5-10pm.
195 S Murphy Ave, Sunnyvale

Halloween Parties AT Britannia Arms
Oct. 29 & 31
Britannia Arms has two San Jose locations, and they’re throwing multiple parties. On the Saturday before Halloween, Almaden Brit will have a live DJ, drink specials and a costume party with cash prizes. Two nights later, Downtown Brit’s bash will have DJ Raheem on the turntables, drink specials and $500 in costume prizes.
5027 Almaden Expy, San Jose
173 W Santa Clara St, San Jose

Halloween at Woodhams Lounge
Oct 29
Woodhams Sports Lounge gets a spooky makeover just in time for Halloween. There will be a potluck, karaoke, a cash prize costume contest and drink specials including $2 shots. 4475 Stevens Creek Blvd, Santa Clara

Halloween Dance Extravaganza at davids
Oct 29
Burn off those candy calories at David’s Restaurant Halloween Extravaganza. Complimentary appetizers will be served as partiers dance to today’s hits with DJ Rawk. Dress to impress because there will be prizes for the best costumes.
5151 Stars and Stripes Dr, Santa Clara

Halloween Party at Jack Rose
Oct 29
Take a step back in time, dress up and enjoy classic drinks at Jack Rose’s Halloween party. Best costume will win a $300 cash prize and DJ Dinero will spin live all night. $10 cover charge.
18840 Saratoga-Los Gatos Rd, Los Gatos

Halloween Dance Party at Steamer’s Grillhouse
Oct 29
Steamer’s Grillhouse in Los Gatos has held an annual Halloween party 25 years running. Once again the party will provide great drinks, live music and dancing.
31 University Ave, Los Gatos

Drop Dead Sexy at Charley’s LG
Oct 29
Charley’s LG was awarded Best Place to Dance in Silicon Valley for four years running, and this Halloween should be no different. The weekend will be packed with amazing costumes, and a live performance by DJ Jose Melendez of Wild 94.9.
15 N Santa Cruz Ave, Los Gatos

Día de los Muertos at the San Jose Museum of Art
Oct 29
The San Jose Museum of Art celebrates Día de los Muertos with live folkloric dances, cultural arts and crafts and other family friendly activities. There will also be an altar-building demonstration to celebrate the lives of those who’ve passed away. Admission is free and the event runs 11am-5pm.
110 S Market St, San Jose

The Ritz 2nd Annual Halloween Costume Contest
Oct 29
Throw on your best costume for a chance to win $1,000 in prize money. DJ Basura will be hand spinning ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and favorites from today.
400 S First St, San Jose

Scary-oke at Goosetown
Oct 29
Warm up those vocal cords and prepare to karaoke the night away at Goosetown Cocktail Lounge.
1071 Lincoln Ave, San Jose

Halloween Party at Saddle Rack
Oct 29
Live music will be performed by The County Cougars and Diablo Road, and there will be $2,500 offered in cash prizes, so come dressed to impress—scary or cute accepted. The night will also be hosted by KSFO DJ Katie Green.
42011 Boscell Rd, Fremont

Halloween Party at East Coast Alice
Oct 29
A truly spook-tacular Halloween Party features live music by Ric Hines of One Country. Enjoy tasty treats and creepy cocktail specials throughout the night. There will be door prizes and a costume contest. Winner of best costume gets two tickets to see YES perform at City National Civic.
14560 Big Basin Way, Saratoga

Lynda Mortensen’s Bay Area Tributes Halloween Party
Oct 29
Check out live music at Club Fox in Redwood City, featuring Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers, a ZZ Top tribute band and Joyride, a tribute to The Cars. An AC/DC tribute band will also play all the hits.
2209 Broadway St, Redwood City

Trick or Treat Costume Party at The GlassHouse
Oct 29
Spooky appetizers and specialty cocktails will be available at one of San Jose’s premiere event venues.
2 S Market St, San Jose

Halloween Rock ‘n’ Blues Bash
Oct 29
Every year at Blinky’s Can’t Say, costumed partygoers let loose for a night of drinking, dancing and live music. The event includes a costume contest for cash and prizes.
1031 Monroe St, Santa Clara

Halloween Party/Costume Contest at Court’s Lounge
Oct 29 & 31
Two Halloween parties and costume contests will take place, with a $200 costume contest winner named each night at 10pm.
2425 Bascom Ave, Campbell

7th Annual Día de Los Muertos
Oct 29 & Nov 5
One of San Jose’s premier Day of the Dead events, Día de Los Muertos at Calvary Cemetery is a cultural and spiritual celebration that honors deceased ancestors.
2650 Madden Ave, San Jose

La Ultima Parada
Oct 30
La Ultima Parada returns this year with traditional dances and musical performances to honor the living and the dead. There will be a “camposanto,” where visitors can honor iconic Latino artists and entertainers.
1700 Alum Rock Ave, San Jose

Great America Halloween Haunt
California’s Great America transforms into the fright fest Halloween Haunt. In addition to the regular roller coasters and rides, Halloween Haunt features eight horror-filled mazes, three spooky live shows and three “scare zones” between the attractions. It’s a little intense, so Halloween Haunt is not recommended for children under 13 and and the faint of heart.
4701 Great America Pkwy, Santa Clara

Jacobs Farm Pumpkin Patch
Martial Cottle Park will have a pumpkin patch, corn maze and family fun. Open seven days a week, 10am-7pm.
5283 Snell Ave, San Jose

Dead Time Dreams
The Dead Time Dreams haunted house returns with “Grimm Fairy Tales” and “Fear-o-Phobia,” where imagination and fear becomes reality. Open Thursday through Sunday.
2501 Tully Rd, San Jose

The Cardiff Lounge recently underwent a major facelift and is ready to welcome patrons with its new, mid-century-modern look and a focus on higher end drinks.

Cardiff owner Sam Ramirez has brought in new furniture, refurbished the bar and installed new light fixtures that feel both modern and Mad Men. The dancing and house music DJs will remain.

Though their Yelp page says they are still closed, don’t be fooled. Cardiff has been open for business for a few weeks now during it’s soft opening. But the big party is reserved for tomorrow’s grand re-opening on Thursday, Sept. 15.

Metro photographer Greg Ramar got a sneak peek inside the new Cardiff. Check out pictures below.

Photo by Greg Ramar.

Photo by Greg Ramar.

Photo by Greg Ramar.

Photo by Greg Ramar.

Photo by Greg Ramar.

Photo by Greg Ramar.

We walk around with the entire internet in our pockets, calling up ride-sharing services from our mobile devices and perusing menus online whilst en route to our favorite restaurants. The world is at our fingertips and waiting… well, that is so 20th century.

The organizers of the annual SoFa Street Fair certainly have gotten the memo—or email… or, uh… status update? Fans of local art and music won’t have to wait until fall for the return of the SoFA Street Fair, as an abridged installment of the annual festival is slated for this weekend.

The one-day SoFA Street Fair SPRING 16 will feature speakers, bands, DJs, opera, art exhibitions and even a few pile-drivers. And all of it is taking place on South First Street, Sunday, April 24.

With performances at Aura, BackBar SoFa, Café Stritch, The Continental, Haberdasher, Miami Beach Club, The Ritz, SoFA Market and more, there is a whole lot going on in a short amount of time. It’s all free, so the only thing you have to sweat is deciding who to check out. This cheat sheet ought to help with that.

Periscope: progressive, experimental; Heroes Stage, 2pm

Dave Miller & Friends: punk rock; SoFA Market, 2:30pm

No Water After Midnight: R&B, soul covers; San Carlos Stage, 3pm

Andre Hart: local visual artist; Aura Stage, 3:30pm

Julius Papp: house DJ; San Salvador DJ Stage, 4pm

Infinite Sleep: melodic metal, post-hardcore; BackBar Stage, 4:30pm

Jean Jackets: garage rock, indie; Café Stritch, 5pm

Rabbit Quinn: piano-driven, atmospheric indie; SoFA Market Stage, 5:30pm

DJ Dan: breakbeat, funky house; San Salvador DJ Stage, 6pm

Talkie: indie-pop, rock & roll; Aura Stage, 6:30pm

Citabria: progressive, alternative; The Ritz Stage, 7pm

Socorra: mellow indie rock; SoFA Market Stage, 7:30pm

ONOFF: rock & roll; Balanced Breakfast Stage, 8pm

Kwesi Young: alternative hip-hop, trap; Aura Stage, 8:30pm

SoFA Street Fair SPRING 16
Apr 24, 2pm-9pm, Free
SoFA District, San Jose

Cutting against the grain has pretty much always been Rich Quitevis’ thing. The San Francisco-born Quitevis, better known as DJ Qbert, just prefers zagging where others zig. “You ever see schools of fish at the aquarium?” he asks. “They’re all swimming in the same direction but there’s one that’s swimming backwards the other way? That’s kind of who I am.”

It would seem his contrarian strategy has paid off. Over the course of his decades-long career, Q has collected a legion of loyal fans, been praised by fellow DJs, from A-Track to Z-Trip, and proven himself again and again in competitions: he was named the United States’ top DJ at the 1991 DMC World DJ Championship and was voted No. 1 in the America’s Best DJ competition in 2010.

Since he began working the decks in the mid-1980s, Quitevis has sought to push the boundaries of his artform. With his crew, Invisibl Skratch Piklz, he pioneered the art of the turntable ensemble. Working in unison, the Piklz trio painstakingly mixed up drums, bass, guitars and other sounds from a variety of different records to create an entirely new song.

It’s an impressive feat, which clearly required both patience and dedication to the craft of turntablism to perfect. And yet, while one might presume an old-school DJ hero like Qbert to be a staunch traditionalist, Quitevis says he isn’t married to the analog techniques he worked so hard to master. In fact, he seems to welcome the computer-assisted DJ-ing revolution and is currently working with Intel to help DJs shrink their rigs even further by creating a mixer with a built-in computer.

“When we were DJing before, we had to bring a bunch of records and equipment along,” he says, explaining his appreciation of technologically assisted spinning. “Laptops replaced lugging around heavy vinyl.”

The new product Qbert is working on with Intel would allow DJs to ditch their laptops for a microcomputer-powered mixer.

“Some people like to bring a gang of equipment,” he laughs. “I just need a mixer and computer and I’m happy. Now, everything is literally on one screen on top of your mixer. It helps me keep a sort of Zen mentality.”

In addition to the Intel project, Quitevis is also preparing a new release with his avant-garde collective, Invisibl Skratch Piklz. The current incarnation of the crew features the San Francisco-based DJ Shortkut and one-time San Jose resident, D-Styles. The new record, 13th Floor, is due out this year.

“It was an experience,” he says of the album, recorded during a marathon session at the Red Bull Music Academy’s studios in Tokyo. “Those guys choose the illest sounds and that’s why we all vibe as a crew.” Specifically, Q notes, the process of tracking 13th Floor was a learning experience, which is something he is always happy to encounter.

“I learned a lot while making the new album,” he says. “I’m learning as I’m speaking to you right now. Learning is never ending. There’s all this knowledge from music theory that all these geniuses came up with hundreds of years ago that we’re just starting to apply to what we’re doing. … There’s so much more we can do.”

Qbert says he looks forward to showing San Jose what he’s learned how to do recently at The Ritz this weekend. Presented by Needle to the Groove as part of their “Cosmic Slap” series, the show will also feature live performances by San Francisco future-funk producer and turntablist, Teeko, as well as producer Diamond Ortiz. Local rap hero Rey Resurreccion will host the evening—adding a special live set with Squareweezy from San Jose-based DJ and production crew, The Bangerz.

“I can tell you that I’ll be playing heavy, abstract tracks,” he says. “It’ll be interesting. I practice all kinds of scratches and have lots of new tricks. I love performing, especially when I catch a vibe; it feels like meditation.”

Nick Veronin contributed to this story.

DJ Qbert plays on Mar 26, 8pm, $25-$30 at The Ritz, San Jose.

San Jose Jazz Winter Fest is bringing 24 live performances from veteran and emerging jazz acts, as well as student groups. Here is a selection of some of the most interesting musicians playing at this year’s gathering.

Marquis Hill
Cafe Stritch; Thu, 7pm, $15-$25

Known for his technical but elegant sound, trumpeter and composer, Marquis Hill is quickly becoming recognized as one of the most imminent trumpet practitioners of his generation. Hill has had a long history in jazz with a resume to prove it. Since the age of twelve, Hill has performed in countless ensembles, earning a MA in Jazz Pedagogy from DePaul University from which he began leadership of his long running ensemble, the Blacktet. With four albums under the belt, Hill’s innovative composition and performance was awarded with the 2012 International Trumpet Guild Jazz Competition and the 2014 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Trumpet Competition. Hill is also a noted musical educator, with past teaching positions at University of Illinois, Chicago and the NIU Summer Jazz Camp. Marquis Hill and the Blacktet, which includes Christopher McBride on alto sax, Justin Thomas on vibraphone, Joshua Ramos playing bass, and Makaya McCraven on drums will be performing for one night only at Cafe Stritch. (TM)

Nicholas Payton Trio
Jade Leaf Lounge;Fri, 8pm, $25-$35

San Jose Jazz has a built reputation for consistently exhibiting exciting and imaginative musicians. With their upcoming presentation of the Nicholas Payton Trio, the company is ramping up its renown. Two decades ago he was hailed as one of the jazz’s most promising trumpeters. The Grammy-award winner has collaborated with everyone from Ray Charles to Herbie Hancock, and a revolutionary style, Nicholas Payton is considered one of the most important and distinct boundary pushers in jazz. This innovation extends to the use of other instruments such as keyboards and organs, which further extend Payton’s tantalizing but ethereal soundscapes. Much of this is a showcased on the Nicolas Payton Trio’s 2015 double album Letters, which they will be performing along with songs from Numbers  at the Jade Leaf Lounge. Payton’s trio also includes bassist Gerald Cannon and drummer Joe Dyson. (TM)

Nosotras
MACLA; Fri, 8pm, Free

In 2007, an 8.0 earthquake struck Peru. It lasted for three minutes and killed 519 people—including 17 attending mass in a church in Ica. More than 1,000 people were injured and 50,000-plus houses were destroyed. The destruction still affects daily life. Nosotras formed to raise money for the survivors. Composed of female performers, the renowned collective has toured South America, hoping to inspire and stress the crucial role women play in the arts. The quartet plays modern jazz, spiced up by percussive dancing by Gabriela Shiroma and conga and cajon slapping by Peta Robles. (JF)

Incendio
Jade Leaf Lounge; Fri, 10pm, $15-$25

Before J.K. Rowling borrowed the word to christen flaming spells, Incendio served as a fitting moniker for this energetic group. Meaning “fire” in both Italian and Spanish, the band plays “Latin guitar world fusion,” which means they lay down some truly blistering acoustic and electric licks over a eclectic array of clean, invigorating rhythms. Since 2000, they’ve averaged more than 150 shows a year, hitting venues like the Sundance Film Festival, the California World Festival and the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. They’ve released nine studio albums—their seventh, “The Shape of Dreams,” sat atop the Amazon Flamenco charts for the better part of 2013. (JF)

Bria Skonberg
Cafe Stritch; Sat, 6pm, $20-$30

Bria Skonberg lives as testament to how full of crap dumb blonde jokes are. The award-winning trumpeter, vocalist and composer stands out among modern musicians for her roots in classical jazz, but explorations that fold in influences from soul music, world percussion and New Orleans blues. After two heavily praised albums, So Is the Day and Into Your Own, her third album will be executive produced by San Jose Jazz Festival—the venture funded by an anonymous donor. She runs the New York Hot Jazz Camp and Festival, and still somehow finds time to volunteer at the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Corona, Queens. (JF)

Bill Doggett
Jade Leaf Lounge; Sat, 8pm, $20-$30

Titanic R&B organist Bill Doggett is turning 100. The legendary centurion and former child prodigy formed his first collective at the ripe age of 15. He worked with and arranged compositions for Ella Fitzgerald. He toured with her as well as with Johnny Otis, Wynonie Harris and Lionel Hampton. He’s known for singles, “Hippie Dippie,” “Slow Walk” and his signature hit, “Honky Tonk.” The shimmering instrumental strolls along a loping bassline, giving time for his accomplices to rip solos on the guitar and saxophone before Doggett brings things home with a rollicking organ riff where his fingers zip, slide and pounce on the keys with holy exuberance. (JF)

J.C. Smith Blues Guitar Slingers
Cafe Stritch; Sat, 9pm, $20-$30

The Bay’s own J.C. Smith cracked into music as a drummer for the Back to Back Blues Band. Then, he traded in the sticks for an axe—a Gibson 335 to be precise—and started hacking new paths through the genre. His latest release, “Defining Cool,” stuck on the Roots Music Report for 20 straight weeks. He assists the Silicon Valley Blues Society and appears on KKUP-FM as “Johnnie Cozmik.” Rounding his lineup of slingers: Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Alvon Johnson, Jimi Hendrix tribute artist Pistol Pete, and Swiss import Aart de Geus, who creates his distinct sound by pumping his guitar through antique amps. (JF)

Some day, Kevin Wick hopes to play video games in his own video game bar. That day, he tells me on the back patio, will be “The day I can sleep more than five hours a night.”

The 24 year-old co-owner of the new AFK Gamer Lounge has lost sleep for months preparing for this weekend’s grand opening, making it difficult to tell whether rumpled and deadpan is his usual persona, or whether I’m speaking to a barely caffeinated husk of his former self. A few skillful straight-faced jokes make me think the former though, as he shuffles me around the new restaurant dressed in jeans, flip-flops and an SJSU Spartan’s sweatshirt. The décor in the 18,000 square foot space (formerly Los Gatos Brewery) is mostly complete, though still necessitating various ladders scattered around the dining room. The design and color scheme approximates what might happen if someone installed a nightclub inside a giant Xbox.

It’s Monday and AFK is closed for the day, but as we pass through the ground floor from the patio, the staff is undergoing a training regimen consisting of not only restaurant service strategies, but also introductions to video games, specifically League of Legends, a premiere eSports title that has already drawn crowds to AFK to watch big matches. Once the 65 PC basement LAN center is complete, which it should by the grand opening, ‘League’ will be drawing the hardcore gamers as well.

Wick brings me down to the basement, fully stocked with slick black PC towers and custom green and black faux-leather chairs. In a Reddit thread six months back, Wick estimated that all the outlay for these renovations and equipment runs into the “multi-hundred-thousands” of dollars. He is resolutely vague on the exact numbers at the request of his investor, who is also resolutely anonymous. I caught myself wondering how some long-haired jeans-and-flip flop guy my own age got someone to stake him a “multi-hundred-thousand” dollars for a business unproven at this scale, but then I remembered where exactly I lived and that most people here spend their time doing things other than surfing, smoking weed and writing for the alt weekly. (Maybe I chose the wrong “career” path? Nah. But I digress.)

A screenshot of League of Legends, a very popular e-Sports title.

AFK had a soft open at the end of March, so I showed up on a recent Friday with a couple of nerd friends in tow, to find a line for the host stand and the bodies two deep at the bar. Our enthusiastic pony-tailed host explained how things worked, with any food or drink purchase coming with two hours of game time on an open console, something hard to find on a Friday night. We got a table towards the back windows of the restaurant, looking on to a patio full of people who showed no signs of leaving during our visit. Surprisingly, the ratio of men to women was pretty good, which for nightlife in San Jose means about 10 to 1. Fantastic.

Our server was a pro, writing nothing down and getting everything exactly right, though it took about 20 minutes for the drinks and another 15 or so for the food. But really, if you go to a yet-to-be-opened restaurant at 7pm on a Friday and expect the best service of your life, you should be shot in the street and charged an automatic 25 percent gratuity on the cost of the bullet. (I’m not at all bitter about my time in the restaurant industry, no way pal).

To drink we ordered various game themed cocktails: the Companion Cube ($12), a gin, raspberry and egg white mixture served in a fancy little coupe glass; the Whispy Woods ($9) featuring bourbon and apple juice (the best of the bunch); and Tortimer’s Mai Tai ($11), made with Don Q and Ron Zacapa rums.

“At first I wanted crazy gamer cocktails,” Wick tells me later, bright neon concoctions reminiscent of gamers’ energy drinks, but David Nepov, president of the United States Bartenders’ Guild and creator of AFK’s bar program, steered him in a more craft cocktail direction. Wick says singlebarrel is his favorite bar in San Jose, so he was happy to go that way, but although most of the cocktails float around the singlebarrel pricepoint, they didn’t measure up to singlebarrel quality. They certainly get points for daring ingredients though: Walnut bitters? Hell yeah.

The food was similarly above the average bar fare, but maybe a bit pricey for the quality: we got the buffalo wings ($12), the mac and cheese ($7), the chicken walnut salad ($14), and some french fries ($3). We joked they should have added gourmet bagel bites to the menu, and apparently that idea was indeed floated during the menu planning stages, though scrapped due to the high heat of the woodfired pizza oven AFK inherited when it moved into the former home of the Los Gatos Brewing Company.

Of course we wanted to jump on a few games during our stay, but the consoles were definitely in high demand, especially those playing Super Smash Bros., one of which sat next to our table. Memorably, we watched intense and repeated matches between players named “Hodor,” “Poop,” “D” and “Nojohns.” The story behind the lack of johns was never discovered, but we did manage to snag a Super Nintendo for a round of Super Mario Kart, which, compared to Mario Kart 64, is really goddamn hard. A staff member walked by, telling us “I’m gonna put Streetfighter in when you guys are done.”

Falcon Punch! Get’s ‘em every time.

Downtown restaurant spaces this big haven’t had the best run recently, with Los Gatos Brewing Company leaving, plus P.F. Chang’s going out of business and its replacement M Lounge already struggling with accusations of wage theft. But AFK has something else going for it.

Originally, Wick tells me me, the idea for AFK was “A culmination of a lot of things, including living in the dorms, especially having the community of gamers who would take over the common room and just LAN up and hang out. Even though we could do the same exact thing together with the same people from our rooms, we’d all rather go into the main room and play side by side.” If AFK can give gamers a real life manifestation of the community they already have online, then they’re not going anywhere any time soon.

For tickets to the AFK Gamer Lounge’s grand opening party, click here.