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Curse Block Party is set for 5:30-8 p.m. Thursday, July 16 on downtown Huntsville's South Side Square. (Courtesy image)

It was originally conceived as a dinner for Curse Inc.'s employees, family and colleagues, and eventually mushroomed into something much, much bigger. Live local-music bigger. Seven local food vendors bigger. And vintage arcade games on the sidewalk bigger.

The Curse Block Party involves of all of the above and goes down 5:30-8 p.m. Thursday, July 16 on downtown Huntsville's South Side Square. The event, a collaboration with Downtown Huntsville Inc., is free to attend. Curse Inc. is locally based videogame information company. Asked how an employee dinner swells into such larger scale, Natalie Carroll, who does talent branding for Curse Inc., says, "The Huntsville community itself plays a huge role. So, we thought a block party would be a cool way to invite everyone."

Food vendors set for the Curse Block Party include Huntsville celebrity chef James Boyce's Boyce Concepts catering, Cotton Row Restaurant and Commerce Kitchen, as well as Papou's Greek Cuisine, Fire & Spice, Earth and Stone Wood Fired Pizza (mobile-cuisine.com's 2014 Pizza Food Truck Of The Year) Suzy's Pops, and Sugar Belle.

Weather permitting, arcade games will line the South Side Square. These will include "Donkey Kong," "Ms. Pac-Man," "Galaga" and - to celebrate the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team's big win earlier this month - a "World Cup Soccer" pinball machine. Pints and Pixels, an arcade bar planning a downtown Huntsville location, is supplying the arcade games. "When news of the Block Party started to spread, Richard (Moss, CTO at Huntsville-based website DealNews) reached out with a brilliant idea to bring in arcade games," Carroll says. "It's no secret that Curse loves games - and beer - so we couldn't say no. We're excited to work with Pints and Pixels now and in the future."

[Incidentally, sidewalk gaming continues 6-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, as Downtown Huntsville Inc.'s Pop-Up Pinball enters its second weekend. Pop-Up involves free play and nightly tournaments for both "beginners" and "serious" players, and takes place outside DHI headquarters at 111 Washington St. S.E., near the Holmes Avenue intersection. Prizes for high-scores include a $100 gift certificate to Sam & Greg's Pizzeria Gelateria.]

Here's how the beer will work at the Curse Block Party. Visit at the Curse table at the event, present your valid ID and receive a drink ticket redeemable for beer at participating locations, which include Cotton Row (100 South Side Square), Commerce (300 Franklin St. S.E.) and Papou's (110 South Side Square). "We've tentatively planned on around 700 tickets, but we're prepared for a bit more if the crowd blows us away," Carroll says.

Carroll says Boyce is still planning the Curse Block Party Beer selection but it will include New Belgium's summer beer, Skinny Dip. And probably at least one selection from Huntsville brewery Straight to Ale.

Development nonprofit Downtown Huntsville Inc. is dovetailing its monthly Jam Session on the Square outdoor mini-concert - held 5-8 p.m. the second Thursday of the month through August - into the block party. Acoustic duo Rob Aldridge and Rob Malone are this Thursday's Jam Session performers. Malone is a former member of Drive-By Truckers, appearing on the respected indie-band's notable "Southern Rock Opera" album, after which he performed with Muscle Shoals combo The Fiddleworms. A local singer/songwriter, Aldridge is prepping his as-yet-untitled debut album, which features Malone's guitar work.

The Aldridge LP contains clever, rootsy material including the red-clay story-song "Doomsday Prepper," vintage-R&B ballad "Lie" and horn-lifted track "Frankenstein's New Girl." Dave Anderson, guitarist with Atlanta Rhythm Section and a longtime Huntsville music pillar, produced the record. The LP was cut at Nashville studio Welcome to 1979 and Muscle Shoals' iconic Fame Studios. "Finishing the album at Fame definitely added a new dimension to it I had not previously envisioned," Aldridge says. "There's an undeniable aura to the studios at Fame." In addition to Aldridge's tunes, in a live context the Aldridge-Malone duo performs Malone's song "428," written during his Truckers stint but released on a later Fiddleworms disc. "The great thing about working with and writing with Rob Malone is that we both pull our inspiration from a wide spectrum of genres," Aldridge says. "'428' really showcases that." The duo's live set is also peppered with Wilco, Steely Dan, Ryan Adams and Beatles covers.

Curse Inc. moved its headquarters from San Francisco to Huntsville in 2013. The company's current marquee projects include Curse Voice, a VoIP (voice over internet protocol) platform allowing gamers worldwide to communicate securely while playing. Curse also hosts community sites, tools, databases and guides as well as a YouTube partnership program, Union For Gamers.

"This is actually our first Curse-hosted event where we've 'taken over' a section of downtown Huntsville, but it certainly won't be the last," Carroll says.

curseinc.com, facebook.com/curseinc, downtownhuntsville.org