Grooveyard
Yes, Halloween is over.
Yes, I'm in denial.
I've also had another one of those busy weeks that delayed my posting the final two entries in this year's monster mashup. So please bear with me as I extend Halloween to Halloweek, and take these next few days to complete the quintet.
About this first of the final two posts: I cannot take credit for the title. I owe it to this consummate performer, arguably one of our finest Canuck celebrities:
Rest his soul, Billy Van was responsible for some of my earliest (and most inspirational) childhood media memories, in the form of The Hilarious House of Frightenstein, the trippiest, most wildly imaginative monster variety show I can think of (and honestly, I can't think of any others, so 'nuff said - this was sui generis):
Such an impression it had on me that I scribbled out my own comic-book ripoff called Super Monstrosities, and "hosted" a low-budget, bedroom-floor version of the program with the aid of a Snake Mountain microphone and my sister providing extra voices, particularly that of Grizelda - whom Van, I should mention, played on Frightenstein, along with almost all the other characters:
One of the notable exceptions to Van's one-man-cast was the poetically inclined Vincent Price, who provided the rhyming interstitials between segments as Van presumably changed costumes and personalities into the next character he'd play...
Such as the Wolfman (read: Wolfman Jack), who deejayed a spooky set called The Grooveyard while dancing in front of an oscillating tie-dyed background that'd surely cause intense paranoid experiences if viewed on mushrooms or ganja (and I'm not convinced Van wasn't on either while actually taping these segments - his haphazard, seemingly improvised style suggests assistance from some foreign substance or other).
To bring this meandering preamble as full-circle as I can manage, I've chosen Grooveyard as the title for this post because a huge part of Halloween, for me, is connected to music - and assorted scary sound effects too.
The love of sound effects I owe to a spectacular LP of nightmarish aural environments produced by Disney to accompany its equally excellent Haunted Mansion ride. The latter I had the pleasure of revisiting some years ago as an "adult" and, aside from the cacophony of kids SCREECHING in the elongated elevator as it began its dire descent, it retained a lot of power for me.
I haven't had a chance to revisit the album yet (sadly, there's no record player in my vicinity), but I must thank rreavell of eBay for selling me a copy. I'd lost my original somewhere around becoming a teenager; from then on, its role in mine and my sister's early Halloweens had become mythic. I'm thrilled to have it back!
For more recent haunting soundscapes, I've turned to the truly frightening "music" of Lustmord to accompany my front-yard decoration and front-door dispensal of candy. Turns out this stuff is usually too unnerving to entice children into those makeshift graveyards I've assembled (especially the one erected with an ex who was a fellow ardent perpetrator of All Hallows mischief). If you wanna dip your toe in Lustmord's deep well of horrific noise, I invite you to play this LP somewhere ALONE, with the lights off:
The other iconic collection of terrifying tunes that's been a part of Halloween celebrations for nigh on half my life, is a mixtape put together by my uncle Rod, for his beloved (my uncle Tim), while the two were separated by several states on this, the holiday they now celebrate together every year with yard decoration, nostalgic collectibles, and an assortment of fiendish foods!
Its origins are romantic, then, but its tracks are decidedly dark in tone - and they've scored all my nights roaming the streets of whatever city happened to be nearby in search of the Best-Dressed Halloween House (for which I'd present an award to the unsuspecting, usually hesitant owner) with my car (or van's) stereo cranked to full and blaring black beats from Rod's mix.
I won't post these songs here for your consumption, but I'll include the tracklist in the hopes you try yourself to find at least a few tunes. It's worth the search, and the mood you can establish for your own night of tricks and treats:
1) Everyday is Halloween - Ministry
2) Halloween - Siouxsie and the Banshees
3) Halloween - Japan
4) Bela Lugosi's Dead - Bauhaus
5) Love Like Blood - Killing Joke
6) Blood of Tin - Lydia Lunch
7) Mechanical Flattery - Lydia Lunch
8) Gloomy Sunday - Lydia Lunch
9) Tied & Twist - Lydia Lunch
10) Intro & Main Title from Phantasm
11) Main Title from Night of the Living Dead
12) Fear of Ghosts - The Cure
13) Crucify Me - Moev
14) The Devil Does Drugs - My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult
15) Angels on a Balcony - Blondie
One selection that wasn't included in the above mix but really should have been is a ditty called Be My by St Che. It's a decent early industrial dance record with samples from a very chilling story called The Exquisite Act, read by Sian Phillips for the Royal Shakespeare Company. I would love to track this track down; for now, I'll be content with my tape copy.
And you may notice an appearance in the above tracklist by the most important band of my adolescence, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult. Last year around this time I put together a megamix of their campy, creepy late 80s/early 90s period, which was a soundtrack not only for Halloween but also many an angst-filled night during my regular teenaged life. I did up this mix for my buddy Dave, a fellow fan. We once waited 'til two in the morning in downtown Toronto for the band and its blasphemous concert paraphernalia (e.g. t-shirts we'd happily buy before soundcheck) to clear customs and reach the venue where they were scheduled to play that evening. Unfortunately, we were too young to drive cars and had to leave before Groovie Mann and Buzz McCoy took to the stage - the final 2 AM TTC bus was our only way home.
Speaking of taking to the stage, one of my favorite horror comedies has made its way to Broadway, complete with musical (and sung vocal!) accompaniment. I couldn't be more pleased, and really hope it travels to a town where I can easily see it (if not sit in the first few rows to be drenched with spurts of fake blood - the over-the-top gore so endemic to this most revered of cult classics, I hear, remains fully intact in the stage version). Ladies and gentleman, I give you Evil Dead: The Musical.
I think that about covers it for this year's Grooveyard, but I've got one more post to make in the Halloween cycle that I'll hint at by saying its inspiration can be found within this post, and its dedication will be to this good fellow and his work:
After that's here, I'll reluctantly give up the ghost(s) and put away the pumpkins...
For now.
Yes, I'm in denial.
I've also had another one of those busy weeks that delayed my posting the final two entries in this year's monster mashup. So please bear with me as I extend Halloween to Halloweek, and take these next few days to complete the quintet.
About this first of the final two posts: I cannot take credit for the title. I owe it to this consummate performer, arguably one of our finest Canuck celebrities:
Rest his soul, Billy Van was responsible for some of my earliest (and most inspirational) childhood media memories, in the form of The Hilarious House of Frightenstein, the trippiest, most wildly imaginative monster variety show I can think of (and honestly, I can't think of any others, so 'nuff said - this was sui generis):
Such an impression it had on me that I scribbled out my own comic-book ripoff called Super Monstrosities, and "hosted" a low-budget, bedroom-floor version of the program with the aid of a Snake Mountain microphone and my sister providing extra voices, particularly that of Grizelda - whom Van, I should mention, played on Frightenstein, along with almost all the other characters:
One of the notable exceptions to Van's one-man-cast was the poetically inclined Vincent Price, who provided the rhyming interstitials between segments as Van presumably changed costumes and personalities into the next character he'd play...
Such as the Wolfman (read: Wolfman Jack), who deejayed a spooky set called The Grooveyard while dancing in front of an oscillating tie-dyed background that'd surely cause intense paranoid experiences if viewed on mushrooms or ganja (and I'm not convinced Van wasn't on either while actually taping these segments - his haphazard, seemingly improvised style suggests assistance from some foreign substance or other).
To bring this meandering preamble as full-circle as I can manage, I've chosen Grooveyard as the title for this post because a huge part of Halloween, for me, is connected to music - and assorted scary sound effects too.
The love of sound effects I owe to a spectacular LP of nightmarish aural environments produced by Disney to accompany its equally excellent Haunted Mansion ride. The latter I had the pleasure of revisiting some years ago as an "adult" and, aside from the cacophony of kids SCREECHING in the elongated elevator as it began its dire descent, it retained a lot of power for me.
I haven't had a chance to revisit the album yet (sadly, there's no record player in my vicinity), but I must thank rreavell of eBay for selling me a copy. I'd lost my original somewhere around becoming a teenager; from then on, its role in mine and my sister's early Halloweens had become mythic. I'm thrilled to have it back!
For more recent haunting soundscapes, I've turned to the truly frightening "music" of Lustmord to accompany my front-yard decoration and front-door dispensal of candy. Turns out this stuff is usually too unnerving to entice children into those makeshift graveyards I've assembled (especially the one erected with an ex who was a fellow ardent perpetrator of All Hallows mischief). If you wanna dip your toe in Lustmord's deep well of horrific noise, I invite you to play this LP somewhere ALONE, with the lights off:
The other iconic collection of terrifying tunes that's been a part of Halloween celebrations for nigh on half my life, is a mixtape put together by my uncle Rod, for his beloved (my uncle Tim), while the two were separated by several states on this, the holiday they now celebrate together every year with yard decoration, nostalgic collectibles, and an assortment of fiendish foods!
Its origins are romantic, then, but its tracks are decidedly dark in tone - and they've scored all my nights roaming the streets of whatever city happened to be nearby in search of the Best-Dressed Halloween House (for which I'd present an award to the unsuspecting, usually hesitant owner) with my car (or van's) stereo cranked to full and blaring black beats from Rod's mix.
I won't post these songs here for your consumption, but I'll include the tracklist in the hopes you try yourself to find at least a few tunes. It's worth the search, and the mood you can establish for your own night of tricks and treats:
1) Everyday is Halloween - Ministry
2) Halloween - Siouxsie and the Banshees
3) Halloween - Japan
4) Bela Lugosi's Dead - Bauhaus
5) Love Like Blood - Killing Joke
6) Blood of Tin - Lydia Lunch
7) Mechanical Flattery - Lydia Lunch
8) Gloomy Sunday - Lydia Lunch
9) Tied & Twist - Lydia Lunch
10) Intro & Main Title from Phantasm
11) Main Title from Night of the Living Dead
12) Fear of Ghosts - The Cure
13) Crucify Me - Moev
14) The Devil Does Drugs - My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult
15) Angels on a Balcony - Blondie
One selection that wasn't included in the above mix but really should have been is a ditty called Be My by St Che. It's a decent early industrial dance record with samples from a very chilling story called The Exquisite Act, read by Sian Phillips for the Royal Shakespeare Company. I would love to track this track down; for now, I'll be content with my tape copy.
And you may notice an appearance in the above tracklist by the most important band of my adolescence, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult. Last year around this time I put together a megamix of their campy, creepy late 80s/early 90s period, which was a soundtrack not only for Halloween but also many an angst-filled night during my regular teenaged life. I did up this mix for my buddy Dave, a fellow fan. We once waited 'til two in the morning in downtown Toronto for the band and its blasphemous concert paraphernalia (e.g. t-shirts we'd happily buy before soundcheck) to clear customs and reach the venue where they were scheduled to play that evening. Unfortunately, we were too young to drive cars and had to leave before Groovie Mann and Buzz McCoy took to the stage - the final 2 AM TTC bus was our only way home.
Speaking of taking to the stage, one of my favorite horror comedies has made its way to Broadway, complete with musical (and sung vocal!) accompaniment. I couldn't be more pleased, and really hope it travels to a town where I can easily see it (if not sit in the first few rows to be drenched with spurts of fake blood - the over-the-top gore so endemic to this most revered of cult classics, I hear, remains fully intact in the stage version). Ladies and gentleman, I give you Evil Dead: The Musical.
I think that about covers it for this year's Grooveyard, but I've got one more post to make in the Halloween cycle that I'll hint at by saying its inspiration can be found within this post, and its dedication will be to this good fellow and his work:
After that's here, I'll reluctantly give up the ghost(s) and put away the pumpkins...
For now.
posted by Stephen Reese at
12:50 AM
1 Comments:
Nice post. I live and learn.
By
cube, at 09 November, 2006
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