The seminal ’80s psych-rock gross-out band the Butthole Surfers doesn’t play often, so when their two gigs this weekend were announced - at 10 p.m. Friday at One Eyed Jacks with Dax Riggs, Rotary Downs and MC Trachiotomy, and at 6:30 p.m. Sunday in the Bingo Parlour at the Voodoo Music Experience - fans rejoiced all over the Internet. But the excitement turned to irritation earlier this week, when it was announced on the One Eyed Jacks Web site that the show would now be a private party, closed to the public and hosted by Rolling Stone magazine.

Only days after the announcement, (a rep from One Eyed Jacks told us that the band chafed at the idea of playing a private show for industry insiders) though, the situation about-faced in a way that pleased fans even more - not only is the show now open to the public, it’s also free, courtesy of Rolling Stone. So everybody send your thank-you notes to Jann Wenner, and get there early, ’cause it’s gonna be packed.

Special blogofneworleans.com bonus: yesterday, we recorded a phone conversation between Butthole Surfers frontman Gibby Haynes and local psychedelic oddity MC Trachiotomy, his longtime buddy. Check back on Friday morning to listen to the two musicians discuss things like how to handle taking advantage of Amsterdam’s special offerings while touring with a lot of minors (and their parents), and where to go eat this weekend.

I can’t decide if my favorite part is the rhyme of “V.P.” with “creepy,” or the part when Palin actually puts her hands in the air. Just… OMG. OMG, I say.

You’re probably already planning to spend tomorrow night huddled around the TV, watching Obama and McCain go back and forth about addressing each other by their first names. Why not do it alongside the holder of a much higher office - the Emperor of the Universe? Sure, Ernie K-Doe will only be viewing the broadcast from Hofstra University in effigy, but the debate-watching party at the Mother-in-Law Lounge (1500 N. Claiborne Ave.), featuring a pair of giant TVs and likely Miss Antoinette’s famous red beans and rice, is sure to be one of the liveliest in town.  The debate airs from 8-10 p.m. Central time Wednesday, October 15.  

Yesterday’s issue of the New York Times magazine was devoted to food, and tucked amid the many (now de rigeur for any discussion of eating, I guess) pieces on sustainable farming and local, seasonal eating was an interesting piece of news. The humble catfish - the South’s favorite fried bottom-feeder - is getting a bit of a PR makeover.

In a campaign spearheaded by the Jackson, Mississippi-based Catfish Institute and endorsed by Iron Chef Cat Cora, some of the very best farmed North American catfish (almost all U.S. catfish are farm-raised now, and eat corn and soy while floating in well water, instead of Mississippi mud) will now be referred to as “Delacata.” The article goes on to discuss the finer points of fish-naming and farming, with an interesting focus on a Vietnamese farmed fish, the Pangasius, that for a time threatened the market share of the U.S. whiskered swimmers.

Who’s up for a Delacata plate with fries and coleslaw?

Has there ever been so much multimedia fun to be had with a Presidential election? Really, we think no, indeed - not even the time we found out that Al Gore invented the Internet.Viral attacks, ads and jokes are buzzing through the Interwebs like a swarming infection of political cyberworms in our collective brain. In July, the Republican Party created a fake Facebook page for Barack Obama, mimicking the social networking site’s familiar interface to call attention to connections the Illinois senator has that the GOP considers suspicious; the fake feed on the page has him adding people like Bill Ayers as “friends.” (Although, as the Huffington Post noted, the implications may be lost on the main demographic of Facebook users, and those who will appreciate the joke may not use Facebook.)McCain himself does have a real Facebook page, as does Obama - although folks may remember the Republican governor’s mild snafu in declaring that he does not use the Internet. His webmaster, though, created a hilarious game you can play on the page, called “Pork Invaders” - in a parody of the game “Space Invaders,” players can zap tiny pigs with vetoes to fight McCain’s favorite bogeymen, earmarks and pork-barrel politics. And in a kind of meta-Internet joke, the Onion ran a front-page story last week declaring “Obama deletes another unread email from Moveon.org,” skewering the zealous liberal organizers. (I can feel that - no, Moveon.org, I do not want to host an Obama party at my house, and stop asking me, because I know you’re not buying the beer.)Saving the hilariousest till last - please click here for some cyberwag’s idea of Sarah Palin’s Facebook page. (Gee, I guess MySpace really is over.)

Palin Bingo. Fun for the whole family!

 The countdown to the tenth annual Voodoo Music Experience has begun, and to rev up the excitement, they’ve opened up the vaults that contain a decade’s worth of performance footage. Selections from the creme de la creme of the over 700 acts that Voodoo has hosted over the years are available for viewing here. So relive your favorite show from last year (like the fan movie of Rage Against The Machine above - not an official Voodoo video), revisit the cathartic post-Katrina fest of ‘05 (footage of C. Ray riling up the crowd is available), or go waaay back and check out performances you probably completely forgot about, like a pre-diet Missy Elliott in ‘01 or Dr. John’s haunting rendition of “Indian Red,” from ‘99. Really, like you don’t already spend a bunch of time watching Internet videos at work.

Does anyone else think it’s a bad idea for Sarah Palin to be seen publicly dissing witches so close to Halloween? 

Or would that be mARRRk your calendARRRs? Here’s another early heads-up for Halloween fun: the Pirates vs. Ninjas flash mob event that will occur - briefly - in Jackson Square late in the afternoon of Friday, October 31. (That even leaves time to switch costumes before you head out for the night.) The deal is such: one gang will dress as scurvy sea dogs, the other like silent Asian assassins. They’ll assemble (see map) at prescribed points adjacent to the Square at 4:50 p.m. At 5 p.m., they’ll rumble like the Jets and the Sharks for exactly two minutes - then, at 5:02 p.m., an air horn will sound and all combatants will disperse. Of course, the whole thing will be immortalized on Youtube. Check for details here and here. 

Did you know that over 30% of tourists visiting New Orleans annually are hoping for some sort of paranormal experience? Those are the statistics quoted by the spook scholars of the New Orleans Paraplex - a 14,000-square-foot, “actively haunted” Mid-City mansion that will serve as a round-the-clock paranormal observatory, laboratory and museum when it opens for business in early 2009, according to its website.

In the meantime, the Paraplex is offering a sneak peek at future services, based out of their French Quarter annex at 718 Orleans St., which opened this month. Offerings include abbreviated exhibits which will be expanded once the flagship space opens, plust a host of tours: including a vampire tour created by Anne Rice, an interactive parapsychology tour that lets amateur ghostologists work with real haunt-hunting field equipment, and a nighttime UFO and ghost-hunters’ swamp expedition.

Just in time for Halloween, the Paraplex is also offering a round of Psychic Boot Camp, an intensive daily training session for those seeking to develop their psychic abilities. The camp is conducted by “well-qualified, professional clairvoyants who excel in a minimum of at least three well-defined psychic abilities.” Careful, though - read the fine print in the press release. “The Paraplex instructor reserves the right to refuse admission for participation in a PSYCHIC BOOT CAMP based upon initial clairvoyant
impressions.”