How many of you remember the "neighborhood haunted house" when you grew up? I remember several popping up in the neighborhood way back when. I think they got so popular at one point, that they took place during the summer, instead of just near Halloween.
Well, I hadn't been to one of these since the 1970s, actually, but I did go to one tonight. It's called "A Haunting at Ridgemoor", and it this is the fourth Halloween it has been held. It was a lot of fun, and the hosts did put a lot of work into it. I have a couple of photos from the outside, before the frightful tour began.
The hostess and host describe the dire situation at this house in the Foxcraft subdivision. At one point, we were informed that the hostess happens to be dead.Dracula takes a load off in front of the house, relaxing in a lawn chair. It is not surprising: this is a very busy time of year for the ol' count, and he does need a break.
Here is my recommended list of Top 10 Halloween Songs.
10. "Triller" by Michael Jackson. Whether or not you liked the actual Jackson song, the makeup and the zombie scenes in the video are great, as is the poem read by Vincent Price. "The funk of 40,000 years..."
7. "Moon Over Bourbon Street" by Sting. Halloween can't be complete withhout vampires, and this is Sting's tribute to the Vampire Lestat.
6. "Frankenstein" by the Edgar Winter Group. The atmosphere of the machinery of Frankenstein's lab replicated by dense heavy electric guitars.
5. Theme from "Halloween". Is really a ripoff of "Tubular Bells" but it has that 1970s movie sound that can bring memories of all those 1970s horror movies into your mind.
4. "Nature Trail to Hell in 3-D". This is that rare Weird Al song with an epic quality.
3. "Spirit Got Lost" by Mental As Anything. Never heard this yet? You should. I have added the video below. It's a spooky and catchy song. "I was lying in bed when I woke up dead. Cool, but not too calm."
"all the people around here are too bony for kissing...."
2. "Monster Mash" by Boris Pickett. But of course.
1. "Tubular Bells" There are many versions, too, including the "Tubular Jugs" version by the Texas Brave Combo
Honorable Mention:
In no particular order, here's 10 more.
"Riders on the Storm". There's a killer on the road. So don't drive after listening to this.
Theme from "Scooby Doo"
"Ghostbusters"
"Addams Family" theme. I'll put the "Munsters" theme on the same line with this one. Play them together.
"Home By the Sea", haunted house song by Genesis
Theme from "X Files" (There is an even creepier version called "Tubular X" from the X Files movie soundtrack, that merges Tubular Bells and the X Files theme).
"Night on Bald Mountain" by Modest Mussoursky. You know, that really scary part of the "Fantasia" cartoon movie.
"Witchy Woman" from The Eagles (and the similar songs "Evil Woman" and "Black Magic Woman")
the actual theme to the Disney Haunted Mansion ride .
"Bigfoot" ("Big Foot's coming Gonna getcha, gonna getcha Big Foot's coming So you better watch out Lock your doors Board your windows....")
Last year, I had these suggestions in the comments: - Rob suggested these additions: "No One Lives Forever" and "Dead Man's Party" (Oingo Boingo), "Devil Woman" (Cliff Richard), "The Visitors" (ABBA), "I Eat Cannibals, Pt. 1" (Total Coelo), and "Halloween" (Aqua). And also the theme songs to "Tales from the Crypt," "Bewitched," and "Casper, the Friendly Ghost"? - Lily suggested Keren Ann's 'Nolita'. - Tara mentioned theme song to "The Shining"? Then there's the theme song to "Poltergeist" and "The Omen". - Michael suggested Iron Maiden's "The Number of the Beast".
A suggestion I would add now is "Baba Yaga" from Modest Mussourgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition". Perhaps, after reading Ananda's latest post, something from "Rocky Horror" belongs here too.
I decided to see Michael Moore's "Capitalism" last night. I got to the movie early, knowing from past experience that free movies can fill up fast there. As the crowd gathered, we were told that due to a technical problem, the previous movie was going to let out late, and the free movie would start late.
Finally, the previous showing let out. In the middle of the crowed of people leaving was Michael Moore. There was no big todo about it, but a lot of people did quietly crane their necks. A woman next to me asked "Is that Michael Moore?". I told her it was. She then said "Why isn't everyone making a big deal about it?" I told her no one does, he's around here all the time.
Moore quickly crossed the street to the Serenity tea bar building across the street. That's the location of his studio. He was due to go on "Larry King Live" in about 20 minutes. Later, he explained that he made "Capitalism" in the studio, and that this movie is the first Hollywood movie made completely in Michigan. By Hollywood, I think he means major studio (Paramount and the Weinstein brothers), and by "completely made", I think he means the creation, production, and editing of the movie. Many of the scenes were filmed outside of Michigan.
The movie? It is actually the first Michael Moore documentary I've seen. It was, as I have heard before, one-sided (and a large part of it not on my side), well-crafted, and funny. I did noticed several times where he made claims that weren't quite right. But he made a lot of good points along the way. The section in which he bashed Ronald Reagan wasn't as deep (deeply passionate) and well done as other parts. Where the movie did the best, I think, was when he went into great detail the bailout of Autumn 2008 (a year ago). I remember what a rush job this was at the time. So maybe it is about time someone sat back and went into this in detail. It doesn't seem that Congress gave it much attention themselves as they rushed it through, does it? I don't know anyone of any political stripe who agrees with the no-strings-attached bailouts of Goldman-Sachs, AIG, and the other companies.
His main point is that capitalism is evil. It is so bad that it can't be fixed with regulation. It must be replaced, and a good replacement would be democracy.
Well, I don't agree with that. I think the real problem is corruption and morality. Many of the problems Moore showed were the actions of the state (not the free market) and we all know that there can be horrible corruption problems in governments in states where there is little or no capitalism. A couple of times during the movie, he interviewed his friend Wallace Shawn (seen to the right), with questions about capitalism. I found this amusing, since Shawn is best known to me for his work as the Grand Nagus Zek from the "Star Trek" TV shows. The Grand Nagus Zek was the arch-capitalist leader of of the arch-capitalist alien race known as the Ferengi.
Michael Moore talked for quite a while after the movie, and took questions. He expressed displeasure what what he called a fictional character, one made up by opponents such as Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Ron Jolly, and Norm Jones, a character that has little to do with the real Michael Moore. He's proud of his accomplishments with the community.
He mentioned that people often say that they like what he does for the local community, but they can't stand his politics. Someone once walked up to him on the street and said something like that. He then started to list some political views that he and the confronter agreed on (clean air and water, equality for women, and no assault weapons for kids). He used this account to illustrate his point that we are all in this together, we are all American and need to work to solve our problems, and everyone on both (all) political sides really have a lot in common. Someone asked him what he thought of the "tea parties". He said he had no problem with them, and that the protests were open, and that people like him should make their views known and join the protests and present their own (different) views, or have their own protests. One message he emphasized as important was to "get off the couch and participate in democracy".
Below, Moore talks about the grief and vilficiation he puts up with in local media, how "Capitalism" is his last movie, how he is the "face of opposition" to George W. Bush.
Below, he talks about the type of system he would like to live in, and whether or not he would update the movie.
Here he describes his experience putting police tape around the New York Stock Exchange (a scene often seen on TV in the ads for the movie):
Does anyone remember Blacula? I remember hearing about this movie, but I never did see it. Going through some things recently, I found an old action figure for the King of Cartoons from the "Pee-Wee Herman Show". I looked into it and found out that the king was played by William Marshall, the actor best known as Blacula the vampire.
"Dynamic African American leading man and character actor William Marshall trained both in Grand Opera, Broadway and Shakespeare. In films from the 50's and 60's including: Lyndia Baily (1952), Something of Value (1957), To Trap a Spy (1964) and finally known for being in The Boston Strangler (1968) with Tony Curtis (I). Marshall really didn't hit it big until the "blaxplotation" era of the 70's. He starred in the contemporary vampire melodrama Blacula (1972) and its sequel Scream Blacula Scream (1973) and the Exorcist-type film Abby (1974). From the 80's Marshall was seen as the King of Cartoons on the Saturday morning TV kiddie show Pee Wee's PlayHouse, a job that he accepted on behalf of his grandchildren. Marshall has also appeared in Maverick (1994) and Dinosaur Valley Girls (1996). Marshall retired from acting afterwards and died of Alzheimer's disease in June, 2003."
I'd also overlooked that he was in the first "Star Trek" series, appearing as Dr. Richard Daystrom in the "The Ultimate Computer" episode (1968, seen to the right). He was also Juggernaut in a Spiderman TV series.
Blacula has previously showed up in an old post of mine on old-school vampires. You will see him in the cover scan, in the background. I did not mention the actor in the previous post.
Here is an old clip of Williams as Blacula, a movie trailer steeped in the language of both classic horror and blaxploitation:
Yes, from the king of the undead to king of cartoons. What a career.
Here's another installment of "Sailor Tom" by Patrick S. O'Neil (reprinted with permission). It is from "KIDS Magazine" issue #9, from 1971. It is continued from issue #8, which I do not have. featured this in an earlier post, but it was presented in an incomplete fashion.
"KIDS Magazine" was billed as "the magazine for kids, by kids". Among the 38 young creators given a photo and description in a credit section of the magazine is O'Neil, who was an Ananda boy at the time.The two-page comic strip below had some influence in some comic strips of my own I drew years later, which involved at times tunnel adventures and polluting supervillains.
I haven't done a "Postcard of the Day" entry for a while, so here is one of a giant Indian statue. I have a few cards of this statue, actually. Built 40 years ago, this 25' tall statue of Hiawatha is made of concrete and steel, and took three years to complete.Now the statue needs some major maintenance. Here is an article [Newspaper Rock] about the controversy over whether to fix it or get rid of it. It's not the only concrete boondoggle in the area. A year ago, the concrete Steamboat Wilkie that wouldn't float, just upriver in Winona, Minnesota, was demolished. There's an article here, and some photos here.
The postcard above is probably from 20 to 30 years ago, published by Dexter. Photo by Tom Czaplinski.
I keep finding these old photos! This ancient photo is of the Leeton Band (probably Missouri). I already mentioned that I recently found out that my grandfather was a policeman. In this photo, I find out that he was also the bass drummer (left of the drum) for the Leeton Band. Seems like he did many things.
Since Halloween is approaching, I figured I would mention one of Leeton's claims to fame: the famous glowing tombstone. This one is not a postcard, but it is a little larger. I have found some more postcards of relatives, however.
This week's "Saturday Scavenger Hunt" word was chosen by Ananda Girl, and it is Honored. I only checked to see what the word was, early this morning, so I didn't do any photo-gathering this week (sorry, Ananda). However, I did happen to have taken an honorable snapshot earlier in the week. It is a picture of the ever-mouldering "Question Mark Building" in downtown Honor, Michigan. Now, isn't it high time someone honored this place with a paint job?
Postcard Friendship Friday always seems to start on Thursday, but I am not sure which time. So here is my early entry. It is a Ckyo brand "Real Photo" postcard. Cyko postcards were printed from 1904 into the 1920s. This photo is from around 1925. It shows my grandfather on a small-town police force. Until now, I did not know he was a policeman. But I did know he had a lot of different jobs.
It is actually a national park, but it is officially called a "National Lakeshore", which I think has been a mistake, as those interested in national parks end up forgetting that Sleeping Bear and the other National Lakeshores even exist.
This morning, Ron Jolly did his "Northern Michigan Trivia" contest at about 8:17, as he always does. This time, he played an audio clue, which was a short segment from the "Dune" movie trailer below, which only had the woman talking about the future year and the spice Melange. As soon as I heard it, I figured that the answer was Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes. However, I could not get through on the phone. The two contestants who did get through were not science fiction fans of any kind, and they could not guess it. Ron Jolly has frequently said that he is no kind of science-fiction fan either, so I was surprised he used this clue.
Below are some old postcards of the Sleeping Bear Dunes. All are from before the area was a national park... er... national lakeshore. The first shows the actual partially-forested dune called Sleeping Bear. According to the Chippewa (Ojibwa) legend, this dune represents a mother bear. It was mailed in 1941.
This "Dune Study" postcard is also from the mid 20th century.This one shows storm clouds over the dunes.
Also check out the "Anishinaabekwe" blog, which is from the Sleeping Bear area. There's a nice photo at the top of the page, and posts with nice photos such as this one.
I spotted this balloon over the abandoned asylum this morning, and could not help but follow it a bit and see it come in for a landing. Click to play the video.
Welcome to another "Postcard Friendship Friday" entry. This time, I have a fresh haunted asylum postcard advertising the "Grimfell Asylum" haunted attraction. It is located in Traverse City, Michigan, adjacent to the Halloween Superstore. I hope to go to see this in the next few days. It is probably full of slasher and zombies.
I've been seeing the reports about the drifting flying-saucer shaped balloon (an experimental aircraft that looks like a flying saucer) in Colorado. This seemed kind of familiar in a way. Just a few days ago, I was talking to a sibling about the wild plans of childhood. One of which included this sibling and his best friend planning to order weather balloons, create hydrogen gas in the garage, and then build an airship and fly over the city. Real "Mad Scientists Club" type stuff.
Kind of dangerous, really, when you think about. Especially the part of the plan that involved creating and storing large amounts of hydrogen gas in the garage. And we never ended up producing any more flammable gas than boys ordinarily do.
Nothing ever came of this. We didn't even get as far as ordering the weather balloons from the Edmund's Scientific Catalog. You can probably tell that nothing ever became of this and similar projects, because I am alive to tell about it.
The airship looks a little like the Jupiter II, doesn't it? At the time I am writing this, they have no information on the whereabouts of the little boy who might have been riding in the saucer. I hope he turns up somewhere safe and sound.
I saw this job application kiosk at a Walmart yesterday. The big blank screen is below the heading "These are the Jobs Most Frequently Filled". The lady to the left of the big blank area looks pretty happy. Why wouldn't she be? She has a job.
I saw this at a gas station near Mesick, Michigan today. I was pumping gas, and figured I'd look to see if there was a big misspelled sign on the pump. Sure enough, I saw the one below. When I was a kid, I was told the tale of how Mesick got its name. After the town was founded, an Indian returned to his homeland and saw what the white man had done to it. He looked around in disgust and said "Me sick!". Well, not only does this have nothing to do with history, it also plays into the stereotype of Indians all talking like Tonto.
Mesick is a pretty good place if you like mushrooms. They have a Morel mushroom festival every year. And yes, it is pronounced like "Me sick" but with the accent on the "me".
Full moon this morning. This one is designated "Full Harvest Moon".
According to a list of folk names for the moon, this is the "Blood Moon": " a time to recall the blessings of former loves and prepare for winter loving; a time to renew one's commitment to a lover"
The Ojibwe (Chippewa) Indians have designated this the "Falling Leaves Moon" .
Below is a Youtube clip of Neil Young playing his song "Harvest Moon". It is the title track of the album of the same name. "Harvest Moon". The album "Harvest Moon" was a sequel to the album "Harvest".
This clip is kind of a live, "Unplugged"-style version, with a rich clear intimate sound to it.
I snapped this picture this morning of a Federal armored car wrapped in caution tape outside of Michael Moore's State Theatre, which is showing his new movie "Capitalism: A Love Story". The movie did not premiere at the State, and the area premiere had taken place days earlier in Bellaire in Antrim County, 30 or 40 miles away.
I like the State Theatre, and without the free market and capitalism, it would not exist. It exists as it does now due to the hard work of invidual volunteers, and the voluntary financial donations of privately-run organizations and also from weathy individual benefactors. There might be some government grants involved (non-capitalist), but I don't think they made a lot of difference to the project.
Dracula takes a load off in front of the house, relaxing in a lawn chair. It is not surprising: this is a very busy time of year for the ol' count, and he does need a break.
This "Dune Study" postcard is also from the mid 20th century.
This one shows storm clouds over the dunes.
