Radio From Downtown (RFD), the Eastern Shore's take on the classic radio variety show returns to Easton's Avalon Theatre on Halloween night. An RFD taping is sort of Prairie Home meets Marx Bros in a place that, from time to time, still threatens to secede from the rest of Maryland.

The brainchild of NPR's Van Williamson, this latest installment of RFD will feature folk trio Hot Soup; University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science President Don Boesch; the Flamingo Brothers, Phil and Ramone; The Bellows Babes (featuring new Babe, Annie Hagert); and a spoof on The War of the Worlds.

NPR's Carl Kasell and Liane Hansen will also join in the fun, which starts at 8 pm. Doors open at 7. Tickets are $30 and can be bought through Ticketmaster.

After two decades, RFD is still "not that far from art."

[photo: courtesy of Van Williamson]