Doctor Gasp, AKA Dan Blakeslee, will perform at CitySpace’s Blue Room at Old Town Hall on Friday, Oct. 17 at 7:30 p.m.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Doctor Gasp / Dan Blakeslee
EASTHAMPTON — Ghastly grooves and dream-fueled theatrics await inside of CitySpace as on Friday, Oct. 17 at 7:30 p.m., the Blue Room at Old Town Hall will be transformed to host Doctor Gasp and his ghoulishly delightful night of spooky melodies and theatrical trickery.
Doctor Gasp is New England folk stalwart Dan Blakeslee, whose annual Halloween alter ego returns for another October performance. Each year, Doctor Gasp emerges from the crypt with his trusted acoustic guitar and a macabre musical mission to thrill audiences of all ages with songs that drip with vampire bite and a playful sense of fright.
A favorite across the Northeast, Doctor Gasp offers up a cauldron of creepy characters and vintage horror, drawing inspiration from legends like Bobby “Boris” Pickett, John Zacherle, Alfred Hitchcock, and the ghostly pipes of Paul Frees.
“The Halloween season is always a fun time to bring people together. I feel like this area especially, Western Mass. and New England, the fall energy is really felt everywhere. It’s so beautiful visually, so why shouldn’t it be beautiful musically as well,” said CitySpace Arts Programming and Venue Manager Zoë Fieldman. “Any excuse to gather people in any sort of celebration is really exciting and this is just another example of that.
Fieldman said attendees can expect toe-tapping terror and laughter lurking in every chorus as this is Halloween fun with a folk twist. Fieldman discovered the talents of Doctor Gasp as a student at Mount Holyoke College when Blakeslee was invited to do a show at the school.
“He said yes, and I think he thought he was agreeing to a formal show, and it was actually just like 10 college students in a common room watching,” said Fieldman with a laugh. “But he gave it his absolute all. He was performing like he was in front of a crowd of 100 with his own little PA system, and props and costume, and it was just an amazing time.”
Fieldman added, students were able to secure Doctor Gasp for a return show the following year and this time the show was sponsored by the college and provided him with a more proper venue setting.
“He performed amazing then too, so, I’ve kind of had him in the back burner of my brain since then just because it was so fun to see someone do something original. I feel like it’s very hard to find original Halloween things. I feel like a lot of stuff out there is reproduced, or it’s the same movies or music, but there’s not really a genre of Halloween themed things still coming out. So, it’s also just really refreshing seeing someone do something original in this category,” added Fieldman.
Gasp also hand carves his album covers, posters and sells his work and merchandise on his website. For more information on Doctor Gasp and his work, visit doctorgasp.com.
Tender Spot will open the show, a group that weaves mythology, magic and punk rock, along with Witchpunk the Musical. Narrated by Morpheus, God of dreams, Witchpunk the Musical is a two-act journey through the world of shapeshifting and lucid dreaming.
“Tender Spot is a previous Pay It Forward recipient from last year’s Pay It Forward cohort,” said Fieldman. “They make similarly original, witchy, spooky, spiritual music and theater, kind of really blurring the lines between music, theater, performance, art, costume, storytelling … that’s who is going to be kicking off the show.”
The Pay It Forward program provides complimentary venue access to CitySpace’s Blue Room, offering performers of all kinds a venue to incubate, create, present and perform. The short-term residencies include financial support and venue access for public performances and events, as well as further one-on-one coaching and peer-to-peer learning to help deepen practices and build new skills and relationships.
Tickets are available at cityspaceeasthampton.org/all-events/#/events. Fieldman added general admission tickets are offered on a sliding scale of $10, $15 or $20, to encourage folks to purchase the ticket that most aligns with their financial situation.
Fieldman said having a performer like Doctor Gasp come to CitySpace continues their mission of unity and creating a space that people in the area and beyond feel welcomed to.
“I think this show is an example of a lot of the unique programming that we do, and a lot of the very diverse programming that we do. Something that we’ve been talking about as we develop more of our programming since opening the Blue Room in 2022, is what does a CitySpace show mean? Because we operate both as a rental facility and doing our own programming,” said Fieldman. “The niche is really just making a space that is welcoming and that is emergent. Whether that means you come to see an artist that you love, or you come to see an artist that you’ve never heard of that sounds cool and now is your favorite artist. And creating that space also for artists to connect with new community and new audiences as well, so that’s a good question I think, what does a CitySpace show really mean? And I think its that it’s really just a place for art and community to meet each other and creating an openness for that to look many, many different ways.”
Fieldman added she hopes for a great turnout for a night of spooky fun with Doctor Gasp.
“I think sometimes Halloween events can feel a little high commitment like do you have to have a costume, do you have to feel prepared to be in the Halloween spirit? I think that this is a celebration of all things fall, spooky, fun and joyful, and it is Halloween themed in a broader sense, but it’s also just a fun music performance that will get audiences to laugh, dance and sip some good beer, and mostly just have a good time while watching people who are performing because they love to do it.”
