Socko whips up Bluebird crowd

Megaman never stopped dancing, and twister wouldn't leave the club.\nDespite being eliminated early from the costume contest, the pair made up for what was lacking in fashion sense with enthusiasm. They danced, jumped and screamed in support of ska band Johnny Socko, a local favorite.\nSocko, who played a great show Halloween night at the Bluebird, was celebrating its 10th anniversary as a band, although drummer Dylan Wissing is the only remaining member of the original band. "Halloween 1990, it was a house party on University Street," reminisced Josh Silbert, dressed as Ozzy Osborne. Silbert had played for the opening band on that fateful night.\nThe evening began with opening band You, who played both original and cover music, pulling off an impressive cover of "Thriller" by Michael Jackson. That's why lead singer Nick Niespodziani loves playing on Halloween, when they get to "do great stuff like that" and can "haunt the night."\nWhile You played well, getting people to dance, the crowd saved their energy for Socko.\nThe 'Night of the living bird' costume contest then took over the stage, with the crowd judging though their screams and clapping. There was tough competition between Curious George and Captain Hellmann's M#ayonnaise for third place, but Curious George won out. "Miss 4-H runner-up" grabbed second place, while the crowd deemed "Louis the self-proclaimed dork" champion of the night.\nWhile engaged in judging, by the sixth round of the contest, the crowd was shouting, "We want the show."\nThe crowd's eagerness to hear Socko flared up again -- shouts and cheers broke out once the band tuned up. When Socko finally got on stage at about 1 a.m., people threw up their arms to Silbert's prodding. They opened with a Black Sabbath song and encouraged the audience to join in to their songs and covers throughout the night.\nSocko also did shout-outs to the likes of Megaman, made jokes and even pulled an audience member out to join Ozzy onstage during one of his tangents when he broke into rap. The participation and pandering to the audience really made this a much better show than previous times Socko has played at the Bird, especially on a Tuesday night.\nWhile the Sabbath starter got the crowd going, an original song from their fourth album had them not only dancing, but jumping.\n"We came here to play rock and roll and jump around," said trumpeter Demian Hostettler, imploring everyone to "jump around."\nIt was amazing to see so many people up and active, not only the ones on the dance floor, but also those crammed up by the bars. Socko's energy reverberated throughout the room, and the volume kept increasing as each song topped the last in terms of vigor.\nSocko's intensity died down a bit when Ozzy broke into more metal and Black Sabbath and the crowd thinned around 2 a.m. Still, there were plenty of people left, and Socko reclaimed its dominance with "B!*th stole my hat" from their album, Oh, I DO Hope It's Roast Beef!\nWissing said he is looking forward to another 10 years of this silliness.