With the possible exception of New Year's Eve, Halloween is the holy grail of the concert season, where bands are just as likely to show up dancing around dressed in drag as they are to play their instruments.

Whenever Mara Berg has a fashion emergency the first place she heads is Newbury Street. The College of Communication freshman said she could spend a whole day perusing the glitzy Boston street's many different boutiques.

Hayley Williams lost her voice to laryngitis around the same time she went blonde, but from Paramore's performance at the House of Blues on Monday, no one could really say either one had to do with the other, contrary to conspiracy theories.

Not quite bluegrass, jam band or rock 'n' roll.' Railroad Earth dips and dodges the listener's innate desire to cloister a group's sound within the rigid boundaries of a definable genre. The group, who takes its name from Jack Kerouac's short story 'October in the Railroad Earth,' boasts both a violin and a mandolin player, yet unlike traditional bluegrass music, the band plugs into amps and drums lay down the beat.

Despite the dramatic change in the style of his music to something that sounds highly professional on his latest album, Is and Always Was, Daniel Johnston's fans keep coming back.' The new style, which is a decided step away from the lo-fi songs he is known and loved for, may have come as a surprise, but Daniel Johnston hasn't isolated any fans.

From Monday to Saturday, the parking lot at 540 Harrison Ave. in the South End is no different from any other lot in Boston. Rows of cars rest idle, encircled by low-lying historic brick buildings.

Pepsi changed their logo and label design in the past year, making the new symbol less symmetric and their labels less cluttered with font. The move was made to help Pepsi connect with a new generation of consumers, including college students according to a Pepsi spokeswoman.

Miley and GaGa might have the U.S. charts on lockdown, but considering one is underage and the other a bu-bu-butter face, isn't it time for a legal, hot and talented songstress to dominate the charts?

Bringing the full force of an electric band with just four string instruments, Yonder is able to whip audiences into a frenzy with their feverish and skillful musicianship, whether it be from Adam Ajiala's guitar, Ben Chambers' bass, Jeff Austin's mandolin, Dave Johnston's banjo or the combined force of all four of their voices singing.

It's the perfect setting for a ghost story. The moon, a yellow orb, rises over the burial grounds at the Boston Common and the sound of rats scratching through the gravestones is audible from the sidewalk on Boylston Street.

Matt Hires is the same on stage at Caf'eacute; 939 as he was earlier in the evening' when The MUSE sat down to talk with him - a quiet, regular guy. His acoustic set lasts about 20 minutes, playing songs from his album Take Us to the Start, opening with 'Your Are My Sunshine,' as he does every show.

Their music has been featured in Coca-Cola commercials, they've remixed the likes of N.E.R.D. and Justin Timberlake and they've worked with everyone from Yoko Ono to Kelis to Dizzee Rascal.