E-Mail This Article to a Friend Damned spooky 'Castle of the Damned' is open through October 30, plus American Music Club reunited and more

Next week

You can find plenty of haunted-castle-type Halloween attractions, but there’s only one we know of that takes place in an actual castle. Built in the mid 1920s by an eccentric inventor nicknamed "the father of remote control," Gloucester’s Hammond Castle was constructed in a mediæval style to showcase John Hays Hammond Jr.’s collection of Renaissance art. Even in mid summer, it’s one of the gothest hangouts in New England, but each Halloween, the Hammond dresses up as a "Castle of the Damned" — perhaps the spookiest joint in Massachusetts now that SpookyWorld is dead. The Hammond goes haunted again beginning October 15 and continuing weekends through October 30, each night from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. That’s at 80 Hesperus Avenue in Gloucester, and admission is $10; call (781) 853-0583.

Next month

Earlier this year, Mark Eitzel re-formed American Music Club, bringing to a close the decade-long hiatus that he’d used to cultivate his visionary-asshole persona on a series of acclaimed solo albums. A short tour sprang up last winter; now, AMC are hitting the road again, this time with a new studio album — Love Songs for Patriots (Merge) — and a new best-of collection, 1984–1995, that’s being sold only through their Web site and at shows. They’ll arrive at the Middle East, 480 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square, on November 7; call (617) 864-EAST.

And beyond

Although he’s still facing more than a dozen charges of child pornography, a judge has cleared R. Kelly for takeoff, and Kelly has tagged Jay-Z to promote their two collaborative albums — The Best of Both Worlds and its follow-up, Unifinished Business — with a tour that hits the FleetCenter on November 14. Tickets are $39.50 to $75; call (617) 931-2000.

Leaks of the week

"What You Waiting For?", the first single from Gwen Stefani’s solo debut, Love Angel Music Baby (out November 23), broke last week, and it’s everything we’d been hoping for in a Gwen song: an Elton John–ish piano intro gives way to Kylie-on-speed electro handclaps, new-wave trills, Trent Reznor–ish sampled guitars, and a massive dose of self-doubt — is there anyone else in pop who could make a hook out of the phrase "Take a chance, you stupid ho"? Directed at herself? More self-loathing abounds in the second song to be recorded by the reunited Pixies, a cover slated for the upcoming Warren Zevon tribute album Enjoy Every Sandwich (Artemis). As cloudy and feral as "Bam Thwok" was kiddish and fun, it could just as easily have been written by Frank Black and Kim Deal in 1992. "Well I seen everything that there is to see, and I heard everything that they had to say," Frank growls, "and I done everything that I wanted to do/Yeah I done that too. And it ain’t that pretty at all." The album’s out October 19; the Pixies are at Tsongas Arena in Lowell on December 1 and 2. Jimmy Eat World’s Futures (Universal) is also due October 19, but it’s already on its way to downloading platinum on file-sharing sites. And though "Pain" is a certified modern-rock hit, we’re partial to "Work," a curious title for a power ballad that’s sure to double as a prom-night aphrodisiac for shy emo kids. Harking back to their previous album’s "Sweetness," Jim Adkins goes for broke: "All the best DJs are saving their slowest song for last/When the dance is through, it’s just me and you/Come on, would it really be so bad?" The band come to Avalon, 15 Lansdowne Street in Boston, on November 6; call (617) 931-2000.