Monster's Ball returns October 24

Live at 3.30. Hope you're having a great Friday so far. And we are previewing a big spooky season event right here. Talking about the Monsters Ball. That is coming up very shortly. And we have a special treat because we have DJ Hart Mondo joining us now live via Zoom. Hart Mondo, if I can hit the right button and get you here. One second. There we go. Now we see you learning a new system here. But good to see you. Thanks for joining us. Yes, thank you. I appreciate you having me on, Aaron. Thank you. So, certainly an exciting time. Halloween, one of the favorite times of the year, and we know that the Monsters Ball is extremely popular. But for those who don't know about it, tell us a little more about what goes on. Yeah, the Monsters Ball has been going on for quite a few years now in a few different venues, but as of recent years, we've landed at the Russell Industrial Center for the last, I want to say, five to six years. Russell is going to be right near the downtown area, right off of 94 and Clay Street. But it's going to be over 2,000 people. Ghouls, goblins, and you name it are going to be coming out. This event's hosted by Detroit Social Events, Social Connection Events, Enchantress Productions. Ghostbound Productions is going to be there with all their amazing dancers and performers. And E-Live Media Entertainment with Rick Pink, he's also one of our main hosts as well. And so as you're seeing here, this is one of my highlight reels from 2024. I'm actually the DJ who's closed out the event the last five years in a row. So from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m., this is what you can expect from me. But again, we've got DJ Blondie actually playing right before me. We've got DJ Q as well, DJ Melky. We've got VIP rooms. I mean, you name it, a vampire lair with sexy vampire mistresses, burlesque shows, scary roller girls, unicyclists, spellbinding stilt walkers, and aerialists. There's going to be a lot going on. I look at it as like if all the freaks come out at night, but it's not as freaky as you would expect. It's a very good vibe party. People are having a good time, and the venue's so big with over 2,000 people, you don't feel like you're on top of each other. I highly recommend VIP tickets so you can access the entire venue and experience the entire Monsters Ball. And we should note that it is coming up on October 24th. That is a week from Saturday. Tell us a little bit more about those VIP rooms, what people can expect in those. absolutely so uh the vip djs are going to be Jude Harris, A-Coop, we've got DJ Lesko Wiz, Tommy Holiday, I believe my boy Evan George is going to be there as well uh but like for instance in the in this special vampire lair that they're going to have they're going to have special performances by Nathan McScary uh Rufus the Rufus and the Fire Skunk um you know we got sword swallowers, contortionists i mean the sword swallower also does a lot of other things you name there's a lot of piercing things going on again um if you're looking for something very unique and more than just your average dance party this is what we'd be bringing um there's also going to be again you know like i said roller girls you need unicyclists all throughout the venue um and all the costumes that i see every single year they get better and better um people go all out they design their own costumes i saw a guy last year with a blockbuster cart he literally looked like he was a blockbuster worker with every little nick and knack that you can imagine it was really cool and nostalgic of course um so yeah there's a lot to expect here and i was about ready to ask you that leads me to my next question what has been your favorite costume that you've seen over the years the nostalgia play there with that blockbuster card is fantastic yeah it's actually hard to really pinpoint which costume is one of my favorites um again i really can't tell you i know myself i go between different decades i've gone 70s 80s 90s you name it um you know i've been batman up there i've been uh you know bowser from mario brothers as well i gotta have dj friendly costumes so it all depends on on how much uh i guess performance i'm going to be doing but this crowd can always expect me to come out at one point during my set i like to do a special performance where i'm you know potentially singing dancing and getting out in front of the crowd greeting everybody uh because again this is just not your average show where we just play music and people dance we want to include everybody um and again it's a very unique experience that When people leave, they're going to be like, I want to go back to Monsters Ball. And it sounds like people are going to have that unique experience there. So again, a week from Saturday at the Russell Events Center. Tell us a little bit more about cost and how much tickets are and VIP tickets as well. Yeah, so it's going to range on what you're looking to do at the show. I think right now general admission is hovering anywhere between $25 and $35, $40, depending on where you're getting them from. but I do have a ticket link on my Instagram page, Hartmando underscore, which is H-A-R-T-M-A-N-D-O underscore on Instagram. But you can go on there. We've got a lot of discounted links there. But on VIP, I think it's in the upwards or closer to the $100. I'm not sure. I want to say there might be drink tickets, but I don't know if there's drink tickets with that. But you've got to click on there to find out that's included with it. But again, that would give you access to the entire venue it is multiple levels uh in multiple rooms like i said so multiple levels meaning you can actually get behind the stage up behind the stage up along the rails overlooking the entire venue so you can see the dance floor of over a thousand people so again you can kind of get away enjoy the party from up away as well as get into the middle of the pit and be all involved with everybody well we're looking forward to uh seeing it hopefully it goes off well sounds like it's going to i know it's obviously a hugely popular event Art Mondo we really appreciate you taking the time and joining us today absolutely Aaron i look forward to seeing you hopefully there one day as well buddy i've got a conflict that day but hopefully i'll be able to get there sometime it looks like a really good time all right we won't hold you to it all right you as well we've got a lot more coming up here on Fox 2 Detroit live at 3 30. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.