With the loss of the nationally-recognized Shocktober haunted house, Leesburg lost a Halloween landmark and the Arc of Loudoun lost its signature fundraiser. But Shocktober will return—now with a musical performance by a household name, the band They Might Be Giants, at one of the largest venues in Loudoun.
“The owners of Paxton Campus, who have donated use of the property to The Arc of Loudoun since 2008, have plans to bring multiple nonprofit organizations that serve children onto the campus,” Arc of Loudoun CEO Lisa Kimball said. “As a result, Carlheim Manor is no longer available for The Arc’s use, leaving us without a place to hold our award-winning Haunted House, Shocktober.”
She said the loss of Shocktober left the Arc, which offers a wide range of programs serving both children and adults with autism and disabilities, with a projected half-million dollar net loss for the year. The nonprofit explored several possible new locations for the haunted house but found none suitable.
“Because the need for advocacy, education, therapy, and support for people with disabilities and their families in our region continues to grow exponentially, we needed to find a creative way to raise funds without our beloved Haunted House,” she said. And they did—the new Shocktober Haunt Party and Concert at Ion International Training Center on Saturday, Oct. 8.
The connection to They Might Be Giants, a band that has recorded more 23 studio albums, one certified platinum, sold more than 4 million records and won two Grammys, began with theCoderSchool, a Silicon-Valley based children’s coding and programming afterschool program with a branch in Ashburn. After hearing that the Arc of Loudoun would no longer have access to the haunted house, Chad Hamel, the owner of theCoderSchool’s locations in McLean and Ashburn, suggested a concert instead.
Hamel and his wife Ellen have long supported The Arc by providing coding classes for people with disabilities, along with other volunteering. Chad Hamel also serves on the organization’s development committee.
He also suggested the band, because he happened to have an inside track.
“The bass player for They Might Be Giants just happens to be my brother-in-law, so when I heard that The Arc had lost this venue and potentially the ability to hold one of its largest fundraisers, I just had to help,” Hamel said. “The band was happy to lend their talent to the fundraiser and the concert came together.”
Resilience and adaptability are themes of Saturday’s show for both the Arc and the band.
They Might Be Giants, founded in 1982 by John Linnell and John Flansburgh, are musician’s musicians, with an eclectic range of styles and work. Their own hits range from “Birdhouse in Your Soul” which hit #3 on the U.S. Modern Rock charts, to “Boss of Me” which was both the theme of the sitcom Malcolm in the Middle and won the band its first Grammy, to children’s albums, to music for movies and “SpongeBob Squarepant: the Broadway Musical” which netted them a Tony nomination. They are credited with the rise of the DIY music scene in Brooklyn, launched one of the first artist-owned online music stores, created incidental music for shows like The Daily Show and Flansburgh created and hosted Now Hear This, a radio show on WNYC of music criticism and artist interviews.
Saturday’s show is also part of a triumphant return to touring after the band’s first try at a post-COVID comeback was interrupted. Co-founded John Flansburgh was taking an Uber back from one of their first shows back when a reckless driver hit the car, breaking several of his ribs and putting him in the hospital for a week.
“It was a long recovery for me, but I’m happy to be doing shows again, and so far, so good,” he said. “It’s been a lot, it was very strange, but there’s something very life-affirming about almost dying.”
Catching up on performances after COVID-19 cancelled so many plans has been a challenge for artists at every level—even They Might Be Giants. But the band is doing their best not to let down their fans.
“We’ve got a lot of shows to make up for. We had months of shows booked when COVID hit, and we’ve really just been struggling to keep them all on the books and not let people down,” Flansburgh said.
The band currently has shows booked through May of 2023, and with only a handful of exceptions—including Leesburg—they are all sold out.
“Everyone’s been through the ringer with COVID, but just the circumstance that we found ourselves in was so odd, because we literally had months of sold-out shows ahead of us in 2020, and then all of a sudden the plug was pulled on everything,” he said.
Cancelling a show can be a huge setback for any band—promotors and fans don’t want to see a band that has let them down before. Flansburgh recalled a show in Nashville that was cancelled because the day before, all their equipment was stolen. But after that, he said, they were starting over from the bottom rung of small venues in town.
“If somebody buys a ticket for a show that doesn’t happen, that’s an experience that they don’t want to have again,” he said.
But COVID was also a special case. Many people learned about the difficulties of working in entertainment, hospitality and other industries that were hit hard. Venues were more willing to re-book a band that had a sold-out show on the schedule. And some things about the music industry have changed for a band that’s been playing since the 1980s.
“In the era we live in, nobody says anything nice about social media, but one thing that is nice about social media is you have a chance to communicate directly with people and tell people where things go sideways and what your intentions were,” he said. “It does allow a certain level of clarity.”
Kimball said the Hamels’ ongoing support of The Arc has earned them the title of “Arc Angels.”
“When we first learned that Carlheim Manor, where we’ve held our haunted house fundraiser for the past 12 years, was no longer going to be available to us, we were looking at a giant hole in our budget,” she said. “Thankfully, the Hamels came through with the suggestion of a haunt party and concert. With committed community partners such as Chad and his wife Ellen and the Giants, The Arc will be able to continue doing the amazing work we do, day in and day out, for decades to come.”