Top 5 best things about Halloween in Atlanta

[Above: Jay Reatard, shown here on the cover of his record Blood Visions, plays this Friday night at the Variety Playhouse.]

As an Atlanta native, I've celebrated a lot of Oct. 31sts here. Accordingly, I find that there are certain things I look forward to every year that say as much about the city as they do the holiday itself. Here, in order, are the top five reasons I can't wait for Halloween to hit Atlanta this year. What are yours?

5. The costume section at Junkman's Daughter.
Every year, the crowds at this Little Five Points shop reach a serious breaking point right about now. With its off-beat wares and friendly staff (of which you can ask questions like, "Where do you keep your whips?"-- no seriously, I did that last year and was shown directly to them), last-minute shoppers threaten to pop the place during the last week in October.(Junkman's is open until 8 p.m. on Halloween night, by the way.) From pirate hats to Devo goggles, rest assured, Junkman's probably has it.

Their spooky experience even comes complete with a kitschy, locally-made commercial. Check it out, and look out for those oversized mallets-- they'll get you every time:

Junkman's Halloween Spot 2008 from Barbara Hays on Vimeo.

4. The multi-day muscle burn felt after trick-or-treating up all the Atlanta hills.
We're not the only city with sprawling, rolling neighborhoods around which small children are asked to tote bulging bags of candy, but geez, what a workout! By the end of the night, those plastic pumpkin-shaped buckets feel more like lead weights. But at least all the in-town mountaineering burns off some of the calories accumulated from stuffing their (our?) faces full of candy.

3. Deerhunter, Pylon, Jay Reatard and Times New Viking at the Variety Playhouse, immediately followed by The Spooks, Cola Freaks, Mourdella, Coffin Bound and Predator at the Star Bar.
Not that walking around Little Five Points on Halloween isn't memorable enough already, but this show is poised to make the night truly unforgettable. Rather than compete for the same time slot, The Spooks' LP release show is designed as an after party for the earlier, Deerhunter-headlined extravaganza at the Variety. Both promise to be pretty spectacular, especially as certain bands involved are known for their, um, showmanship. (And not just Deerhunter: Mourdella, for one, boasts the leadership of the infamous Jessica Juggz, renowned for shooting fire out of an unmentionable place.) None of that float your boat? Check out Informer:Atlanta for more musical mischief happening in the city on Halloween night.

2. The sheer atmospheric suspense.
Every year, it's a guessing game as to what the weather will bring on All Hallow's Eve. For a city capable of 70s in December, Atlanta's temperature at the end of October could be anything from absolutely frigid to unreasonably toasty. This year, forecasts call for Halloween night lows in the 30s, unfortunately the type of chilly that prompts people to cover up well-crafted costumes with sweaters, ruining all effect. (Hey, you try pulling on a cardigan over the purple balloon body-suite of a bunch-of-grapes costume, even after your stupid friends have been popping them with lit cigarettes all night.) Where's that unseasonable warmth when we really need it, Gulf Stream?!

1. The start of the holiday season.
We'd be lying if we said we hold off until after Thanksgiving to put up all those twinkle lights and yard ornaments. Have you walked into a department store lately? It's been Christmas in there for weeks! (And Hanukkah-- the electric menorahs are out, too.) We shouldn't feel ashamed to strike our inflatable haunted house or front-yard hearse and immediately replace them with yards and yards of colored string lights and bauble-bedecked, decapitated shrubberies. If we no longer put stock in the superstition that it's bad luck to keep holiday decorations up after New Years, then leaving the month of November at the mercy of autumnal leaf arrangements and gourd art is a certainly an injustice when so much more colorful adornments are just around the corner. Maybe Decemberween is the way to go.