“It’s an annual Halloween tradition to freak out the customers by dressing up the Amoeba staff in khaki pants and white polo shirts. Just kidding, but that would probably be pretty scary, huh?”

We’ve featured Amoeba Music honcho Mary Patton’s Halloween desserts on CreepyLA. If you’ve seen them, you know this is a woman with a deep appreciation for the holiday and its attending festivities. So we asked her…

Being from the Windy City, which is scarier for Halloween, Chicago or Los Angeles?

There was once a time when I was sure no city could rival Chicago …until I moved to LA. The entertainment community here gets to apply their craft and unabashedly indulge in a fantasy world one night a year without restraint, and the result is spine-tingling and spectacular. I appreciate the attention to detail.

Keep in mind, you’re asking a girl who grew up with the nick-name, “Scary Mary,” and who once lived in a mortuary al a Six Feet Under. My step-dad was a mortician. I even used to keep caskets in my home long after I moved out of the funeral home and used them as functional home furnishings.

Give me an example.

They’re a wonderful place to store your vinyl LPs.

What does Amoeba have planned for Halloween this year?

Every year, the Amoeba staff compete in a costume contest, parading their costume creations across the Amoeba stage, and inviting the customers to choose the winners through wails and screams. Tricks and treats abound and candy is dispersed while an ear-bleeding musical massacre is pumped through the sound system.