ARE THEY NOT MEN?: Ho-Ag as Devo might look like this "artist's rendering"

Imagine the Pixies, Devo, Rocket from the Crypt, and the Cure all on one bill. That’s sort of the idea this Halloween downstairs at the Middle East, where TAXPAYER will be the Pixies, HO-AG will handle Devo, the APPRECIATION POST will mutate into Rocket from the Crypt, and CHAINLETTER will do their best to pass for the Cure. And there’s more. Before that show gets going at 9 pm, HONAH LEE’S LADIES NIGHTMARE will feature Honah and a “surprise back-up band” at 6, as well as the KEYHOLE BURLESQUE, VAGIANT as Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and SUNSHINE WARD as Exene. And you can stay the whole night for the bargain price of $15.

Halloween is also the release date for the MYSTERY TRAMPS’ new Cure for the Common Misconception. The North Shore quartet recently put out an advance single, “You’re So Alone,” and they’re playing the International Pop Overthrow Festival, a nine-city event featuring hundreds of bands. In Boston, it’s at the Paradise Lounge on November 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6: eight bands, starting at 7:30 or 8, with each band playing a half-hour. The BRETT ROSENBERG PROBLEM, STATIC OF THE GODS, ANDY PRATT, and DAVE AARONOFF are all on the bill. As it turns out, the MYSTERY TRAMPS — mere teenagers! — have to stay up late the last night of the festival, playing at 11. By the way, the Tramps singer, Adam Amoroso, is the son of former Cars right-hand man Gene Amoroso.

Veteran publicist/manager Michael Pagnotta (Depeche Mode, the Cure, the B-52’s) has signed on to manage the local girl group GIRL AUTHORITY, nine ladies between the ages of 8 and 14. Their debut, Girls Just Want To Have Fun (Zoë/Rounder), came out back in April, and they were just in Q Division to begin work on disc two.

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Jim Sullivan: jimsullivanink@verizon.net