Three Horror Movies, including "The Plague of the Zombies", a classic from Hammer Studios

This blog was begun Tuesday Night, October 27 2020 : 

Tonight I watched Roger Corman's "The Wasp Woman"(1959), starring Susan Cabot as the owner of a cosmetics company who, with the help of a Mad Scientist, begins experimenting with an anti-aging extract made from wasp enzymes. When she shows up at the office looking years younger, she announces to her board of directors that they're to start a new marketing campaign with herself as the figurehead. "We're about to revolutionize the industry", she tells them.

Unfortunately (and of course), there are side effects. When the scientist is hospitalised following a traffic accident, Cabot begins injecting herself with the extract in order to speed up her return to youth. All this does is turn her into a Wasp Woman faster than you can say "Jack Robinson", because the movie is only 61 minutes long and Corman has to keep things buzzing. It's not one of his better pictures. I was aware of the movie's poor reputation going in, having read reviews and synopses, but what attracted me was the Blu-ray print on Youtube (and I have since answered my own question from last week : "Yes, they do indeed make Blu-rays from black and white movies").

"The Wasp Woman" has it's moments, particularly at the end, when Cabot turns into a bug-eyed monstrisity with the help of a pull-over mask. It's a cheap "Fly" rip-off, but it's still the kind of thing that would've scared the living bejeezus out of me, had I seen it as a seven year old on late night TV. If that had been the case, I might have considered the movie a horror classic, at least until I saw it again as an adult. Because unlike other "child terrifying" classics like "The Brain That Wouldn't Die", with it's Horrible Potato Head Monster, "The Wasp Woman" would never have stood the test of time nor held up to scrutiny, except perhaps as a commentary on aging. Corman likes to do a bit of social commentary on occasion, via black humor, but it's too obvious here. The fast pacing is a plus, however, as is the competent acting and the manic jazz score.

See "The Wasp Woman" only for the Blu-ray print, and if you are a Corman Completist.

Much better was John Carpenter's "Prince of Darkness"(1987), which I watched a few nights ago while I was still at home. I saw it in the theater when it was released, then I bought the dvd about fifteen years ago. Overall, I'd guess I've seen the movie about six times now, but it wasn't until this most recent screening that it finally hit me, and when it was over I was ready to place it near the top of the Horror Heap as a minor masterpiece.

Do you like John Carpenter? If you're a horror fan, chances are the answer is "yes". Certainly you know "The Thing", his big-budget remake of the seminal 1950s sci-fi classic "The Thing From Another World". And you also know "Halloween", the flick that made "Slasher Movie" a household term. Those are Carpenter's most famous films ("They Live" was a big one, too), but he also has some lesser known works that fall into the "weird" category, like "Into The Mouth of Madness" w/Sam Neill. "Prince of Darkness" is one such film.

An elderly priest dies after serving for many years as the caretaker of an abandoned church on the outskirts of downtown Los Angeles. Upon his death, a key is given to one of his brethren (Donald Pleasence). The key is special; it unlocks a door in the church's basement. Beyond that door is a large room, filled with protective candles, and a large ornate cylinder at the far end. The cylinder is filled with a rotating, glowing green liquid that - as it turns out - is the ancient essence of Satan. A team of parapsychologists is enlisted to study the phenomenon, but it doesn't work out too well for them. Their slow demise is paced by a hypnotic Carpenter score that sets the rhythm for the movie.  /////

This part of the blog was written tonight, Thursday October 29 2020 : 

And last but definitely not least, tonight I finally saw "The Plague of the Zombies" (1966), the legendary Hammer Studios production directed by John Gilling. I first heard of this movie about six or seven years ago. It kept popping up in various recommendations, on Amazon and IMDB. The trouble was, it had gone out of print and the dvd was a collector's item, meaning the few that were available were high priced. Much as I wanted to see it, I wasn't about to shell out 50-75 bucks, but over the years I kept checking. Alas, I never was able to score a copy.........but wait! In 2019, Shout Factory released a Blu-ray of "Plague". Wow! There must've been a lot of fans like me, who were intrigued by the title and the positively gruesome picture on the original dvd box, and who wanted to know more. Shout Factory to the rescue! The only trouble was, they too wanted an arm and a leg for their Blu-ray : 23 smackers, which, when shipping and tax were added on, meant that you were gonna be forking over around 30 bucks for the motion picture. I was tempted when I first heard the news, but then my inner George Bush kicked in, and I thought....."Not gonna do it. Wouldn't be prudent". I mean, I would've gone 20. But 30? No can do.

So I waited some more, and then came Halloween season 2020. I hoped for a sale, but none was in the offing. I am nothing if not dogged in my pursuits, however, and as I continued scanning the web for Horror Movies On Sale, I came across not a discount for the Blu-ray but a used copy on Amazon of the original dvd, the one with the Gruesome Picture Box. The guy only wanted 12 bucks for it, in "like new" condition. I guess he figured that, with the Blu-ray out, no one would want to buy his regular copy, which would have gone for big bucks a couple years earlier.

But he wasn't considering me, who had been tracking "The Plague of the Zombies" for quite some time. I jumped on his offer, bought the dvd, got it in the mail about a week ago, and saved it for tonight so I could watch it close to Halloween. You could say I'm a Horror Fan. 

"But Ad, forget all of that. All we wanna know is 'was it any good' " ?

Well, you know how sometimes you anticipate something, be it a new album by your favorite band, or a trip to a museum exhibit, or a restaurant you've heard was incredible, or whatever? And sometimes you're let down, even just a little bit?

This was not one of those times.

"The Plague of the Zombies" lives up to it's reputation and then some. It's the kind of film Hammer Studios was made for, so full of grim imagery and anti-social thought processes that you're left wondering what the deal is with human beings. This one is right up there with "Blood On Satan's Claw" as far as English countryside horror is concerned, but it's much darker. Sorry to gross you out, but it's about graves and dead people, and it's art directed in a way that only the Brits could pull off. There's something about those folks, the Stiff Upper Lip and all, but nothing seems to phase them. 

The movie is set in Victorian England. Andre Morrell stars as a doctor and medical professor who visits his daughter in a small village outside Coventry. While there, he receives a message from a former pupil. There have been a number of Strange Deaths in the next town over, where the pupil is the physician. Will the professor lend his expert opinion to help solve the mystery?

Meanwhile, a Country Squire, the most powerful man in the region, is conducting Voodoo rituals in his Humongous Mansion, which is set next to an Old Mine. He is a Creep of the first order, he's got a set of voodoo dolls and a death mask, and a team of Hatians to help him. The movie opens with a few of them playing bongo drums, then things go downhill from there.

The horror takes a while to build, but when it does, stand back. The last half hour of this movie is as great as Hammer ever got.

Watch it if you dare. ////

See you in the morning, with much love during the night.  xoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

 

Great Singing, Elizabeth + Songwriting, too

 Elizabeth, great job on the Adele! You have a fantastic voice to begin with, but when you shift gears and get up into the high range, it takes on an extra level of emotion that can raise goosebumps, as I've mentioned. In fact I had just listened again to "The Ocean" this afternoon. That song demonstrates what I am talking about. But yeah.......wow. I didn't know you were an Adele fan, though I suppose everyone is to some extent. It's hard not to be, with songs like "Someone...".

Now, I hate to keep harping on it (actually that's not true, I'd harp on it all the time if I felt I wasn't being annoying), but.......girl, you are not only a wonderful singer, but you can also write. And, you can accompany yourself on guitar. That's all it takes to compose your own ballads and songs in whatever style you choose. I know it's a lot of work, and that it's not always easy to get inspired, especially with the world the way it is, but please keep it in mind that you could do an album of singer/songwriter based music, ala Joni Mitchell, or Adele or anyone you can think of. Even if it took you some time, you could do it.

I happen to know this, because I know music. And I can see what you are capable of, and the thing is, more than anything else - and this is important - you sound like Yourself. That's what I mean when I say that your voice has a certain quality. Elizabeth, not everybody sounds individual, and in fact most don't. Witness all the voice-trained vocal gymnasts who followed in the wake of Beyonce. Lord help us.

Much better to sound like yourself, and you do! And you can write songs, with great lyrics.

So that's all I wanted to say. Please keep it in mind. This pandemic won't last forever, and then you will be back on track doing everything you love to do. You will be making films, of course, and writing music for piano. You will also be taking incredible pictures, but don't forget about the songwriting. You can add it to your musical repertoire, and you could even write piano ballads, too. If they were difficult to sing and play at the same time, you could record the vocal separately.

Well, that's enough jabbering from me. I do think things are about to get better, however. With fingers crossed, we are on the verge of electing a new President, then we will tackle Covid. I say all of this to you because I don't want you to forget that - just two years ago - you had "Elemental" on the Standardvision screen at Staples. So keep thinking ahead, and always remember the power of your intent. //// 

I am back at Pearl's as I think I mentioned. We had fun just a little while ago watching the Dodgers win the World Series. Um..........did I say something recently, about how it wouldn't be that great, and maybe not legitimate, if they won, because it wasn't a full season? Well forget that! (lol) It was awesome, and now we have both the Lakers and Dodgers as champions in this weird altered state of a sports year.

Yeah, "sports" I know (it's only sports)......but having said that : Go Rams! Let's make it a trifecta. ///

I am currently reading Rob Halford's autobiography "Confess", and boy is that an accurate title. It's a great book, but Rob is very frank and even shocking in places. I joked to Grimsley that he could have subtitled his book "T.M.I.", because in some instances, he gives you details you may not have required. All in all though, Rob is indeed The Metal God. He's lived one hell of a life, and Judas Priest has been a life force for many of us over the years. ////

Good Lordy Moses.

See you in the morning. I love you, Elizabeth.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Stephen King's "Rose Red", and Haunted Houses in general

 Over the past two nights I've been watching "Rose Red", a miniseries written by Stephen King that aired on ABC-TV in 2002. I saw it then and always remembered it, so a few months ago I checked to see if it was available on dvd. It was, but it had been out for a while and copies were rare, so the price was high : 55 bucks on Amazon. I kept checking and got lucky, scoring a used copy last week for just twenty dollars.

Did you see it when it was first shown? Stephen King was on a roll at the time, having scored big ratings with another miniseries, "Storm Of The Century", that was broadcast in 1999. Both "Storm" and "Rose Red" were directed by a guy named Craig R. Baxley, who did a nice, slick job on each one. Both were written by King exclusively for the small screen and were therefore not adapted from one of his books or short stories.

"Rose Red" is the name of a old mansion in Seattle that belonged to the Rimbauer family, a turn of the century clan with a sordid history. In 2002, only one Rimbauer is left, a great-grandson whose girlfriend is a college professor of parapsychology (Nancy Travis). She is so fascinated with Rose Red, that she's convinced young Rimbauer to open the house up one last time before it's scheduled demolition. Years earlier it had been available to tour groups, but after a series of, um........horrific occurrences, he closed the joint down for good. Until now. Travis has assembled a team of psychics, each with a different ability (automatic writing, pre and post cognition, mindreading and something called "touch/know"). Her secret weapon is an autistic teenager named Annie, whose telekinesis is strong enough to freeze water from a tap, or rain boulders from the sky. Travis's goal is to prove that the paranormal phenomena at Rose Red is real, and by using scientific telemetry to do so, she hopes to win academic acclaim and legitimize her field of study.

It's Stephen King, so needless to say all Hell is gonna break loose. And the characters will be well written.

Once again I won't do a blow-by-blow, especially here because this was a four and a half hour production. The most important thing I can say is that it looks fantastic. I wish it could have been shown in theaters, because it looks like a motion picture rather than a television production. Everything about the set for Rose Red is just incredible. They found a real mega-mansion in Tacoma and used it for some interiors and the main exterior, but then they also built a humongous interior set, and made extensive use of models as well. I rarely watch "making of" bonus features on a dvd, but I made a point to watch this one because the production design is so awesome.

Director Baxley does a great job of keeping the atmosphere stirring while jarring you with the visuals. There's just a ton of stuff going on over the course of 254 minutes, and "Rose Red" will bear repeated viewings. Having said that, it's more like a Disneyland E-Ticket ride of a haunted house movie than it is a quiet spinechiller like "The Innocents" or "The Uninvited". "Rose Red" is big and showy, and in that way, Baxley is like a TV Spielberg, working with King's material. The script could have been tightened here and there, maybe to build tension in places, or to develop the emergence of the phenomena, but all in all, it's damned impressive and a lot of spooky fun. The special effects are a combination of Disney-style animatronics, make-up, and early CGI, and according to the "making of" documentary they spent 40 million bucks on the movie, every dollar of which appears on screen.

"Rose Red" also has a great cast and an eerie score. You won't be able to see it on TV (so far as I know), so try to get hold of a dvd copy like I did, or just come over to The Pad and I'll play it for ya. /////

Because I am off work, I had time to squeeze in another film, an old TV Movie from 1970 called "The House That Would Not Die". Man, that would make a great double bill with "The Brain That Would Not Die". What's the deal with the refusal to die on the part of Houses and Brains? They must be pretty strong willed. Or maybe they're just being stubborn. Really, I think it has to do with the "Would Not" part of the title, and the staccato sound of the syllables when you put the entire phrase together ".......That - Would - Not - Die".

Boom-Boom-Boom-Boom. That.Would.Not.Die. Sorry to harp on it, but I think it's a genius bit of titling, because the writer (or more likely the producer, who wants to put butts in seats) is cognizant of things like the rhythmic sound of a title, as well as - for horror movies - it's bluntness and finality. So, as we talked about the "Don't" motif of the late 70s, and the "It (did this or that)" phenomenon of the 1950s, now we have another Trending Title category, albeit a minor one : the "That Would Not Die" film.

"The House That Would Not Die" was an Aaron Spelling production, before he was super famous, and you might not think of him for horror, but this was one of the scariest TV movies I've seen. It starred Barbara Stanwyck and Kitty Winn as a woman and her niece who move into an old mansion out in the country. Like Rose Red, the place has a past.

Look - I am gonna start a new movie trend, because I can't deal with people continually moving into these joints without considering the consequences. So, I'm forming my own production company. Each movie will be about a haunted house, and each will run about five to ten minutes. A couple, or a family, will show up to look at a house, the realtor will tell them it's history and they'll opt out. The house will sulk, and that will be the end of each movie.

Take that, Haunted Houses!

Well, not really. I love 'em, and you probably do too. It would be fun, though, to make just one of these Anti-Haunted House Movies and sneak it into a theater unsuspected. The audience would get a reverse shock, which might jump start our career.

Make sure to watch "The House That Would Not Die", though. It's really spooky, with a great performance from Kitty Winn, who you remember from her small part in "The Exorcist" and who then, ala Brian DePalma and Genevieve Bujold, disappeared off the face of the Earth. /////

See you in the morning. Dodgers won, whew! (sigh of relief). Eight days to go. Nothing but love.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)   

Don't Cut Your Hair + Me, I Need A Haircut + "Ruby" (1977)

Elizabeth, don't cut your hair, other than to maintain the ends. I mean, obviously it's your decision, but since you asked that's my opinion, and the last I checked, your poll was running 75% to 25% against cutting. You have such beautiful hair, and you've been growing it for a long time. You can always cut it later on, and eventually you could try something different, because you'd look great in all kinds of styles, even if your hair was relatively short. But for now, I say "leave it"!  :)

I'm actually the one who needs a haircut. Man, I wish I had hair of your quality, long and silky. Some guys, like a lot of the ones in metal bands - have what I call "girl hair", meaning that their hair is long and straight, and thick, and never seems to lose quality, even as they age. Me, I used to have great hair, though it was never long and straight. What I had was Big Hair, cause I blow dried it, and it was pretty long at one point, but it was shiny and strong. Then, in my late 30s I cut it short, and it's been short for most of the past 20 years (a few years ago it was a little longer), but now since the pandemic, and with the lady who cuts my hair out of business, I've let it grow, and my hair quality just ain't the same as it was when I was 25. Maybe it's my shampoo, I dunno. But once it gets to shoulder length, it just turns frizzy. Also, at some point my hair started curling up. It's really weird because as a kid my hair was straight, and everyone in my family has (or had) straight hair. But now, mine curls up, and it grows differently on one side from the other, and it's too hard to manage.

So, I wanna get mine cut, but there's nowhere to go. I don't wanna go to a chain salon, and I don't wanna wear a mask cause then they have to cut around it and I'd probably get butchered. I'm tempted to get some of those electric clippers that you can use on yourself, but then I'd have a Total Buzz Job, and I don't want that either, doggonnit.  :)

So for now, I'll wait, and hope my salon opens up again. The same lady has been cutting my hair for ten years and knows how to deal with it's unruliness without giving me a crewcut. The only thing she refuses to do is give me some color. I've asked several times but she won't do it. "Some men look better with grey", she says, but I don't agree. So that's my poll and you can cast your vote : To color or not to color? Because I really don't like the grey, but I don't want the shoe polish look, either. I just want a stylin' haircut, and a nice tint. That can't be too much to ask, right? :)  /////

Well anyhow, tonight I went back to the '70s again with a movie called "Ruby"(1977). Remember "Ruby"? That was another horror flick that we all went and saw. I remembered it as being more trashy that it turned out to be on second viewing, but I was correct in my recollection that it took place mostly at a drive-in theater, and that it starred Piper Laurie. "Ruby" popped into mind when I was looking for another late 70s film, Brian DePalma's "Obsession", which was unavailable on Youtube. I must ask the quick question : Whatever happened to Brian DePalma? He literally vanished from the face of the Earth. But we must move on and get back to "Ruby".

I remembered it as an exploitation horror movie about a psychotic young woman (Janit Baldwin), who is the daughter of Laurie's character. In my memory, Baldwin was "Ruby", and she had telekinetic powers which she used to kill and cause havoc at the drive-in. As it turned out, there was a lot of cinematic mixup involved in my memory. For starters, Piper Laurie had starred in "Carrie" a year earlier, another film with a girl's name for a title. She had a psychotic daughter in that movie too (Sissy Spacek), so that figured into my memory, and then Janit Baldwin resembled another actress with the same initials who also had a first name that was spelled differently than is common : Janus Blythe from "The Hills Have Eyes", which was also released in 1977.

So to sum up, you had the confusion of Janit Baldwin with Janus Blythe, and then you had Piper Laurie starring in two movies with girl's names for their one word titles. So I did get messed up, but as the movie unfolded, I said "aha...........now I remember".

Before I go any farther, however, I do urge you to seek out a copy of DePalma's "Obsession", if you can find one. There doesn't seem to have been a legitimate release, but it's a masterful suspense film, starring Cliff Robertson and Genevieve Bujold, who - like Brian DePalma - has vanished into thin air. 

As for "Ruby", check it out. It's actually filmed quite stylishly by director Curtis Harrington. Piper Laurie is "Ruby", a nightclub singer and gangster's moll who set up her boyfriend thirty years earlier. He was shot to death in a swamp by his turncoat mobsters, but now he's returned from the dead and is out for revenge, using Ruby's mute daughter (Baldwin) as a medium. The film is an amalgam of "Carrie", "The Exorcist" and gauzy thrillers like "Obsession", with a redneck drive-in movie sensibility as it's context. It takes a while to get going, but when it does, the climactic scenes with Janit Baldwin are memorable, as you can tell from the Google-able movie poster. One minor complaint : Piper Laurie has a tendency to chew the scenery, and when she does, especially when she gets loud with that throaty voice of hers, it can be highly annoying (at least for me). She is a good actress, and she was great in "Twin Peaks" and in "Carrie", but here it would have helped if the sound mixer had turned the volume control down in certain scenes. Watch "Ruby" anyway.

Unfortunately, the Youtube print was abysmal, in direct contrast to the Blu-ray quality of the flicks we've been enjoying recently. But watch it anyway. We're trying to capture the '70s horror ethos.  ////

That's all for tonight. Great game for the Dodgers. See you in the morning.

Tons of love.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Three Movies : "The Toolbox Murders", "Arlington Road" & "I Married A Monster From Outer Space"

This blog was begun Monday night, October 19 2020 :

Well, I had to do it, and if you've been paying attention to the list of recent movies, you might've even been expecting it, but yeah : Tonight (Monday) I watched "The Toolbox Murders" (1978), the notoriously bad horror/exploitation shocker that starred Cameron Mitchell and was filmed in Canoga Park. Back in '78, a bunch of us went to see it when it opened, and when it was over, Grimsley drove us to the apartment complex that was the film's main location. Yep - years before the "Seven Seas" building, located at Saticoy and Tampa, was made famous by "The Karate Kid", there was the Camelot Apartments, also on Saticoy, just past DeSoto. As the credits rolled, Grimsley said, "I know where that is", and he drove us there straight away. Within fifteen minutes of the movie ending, we were pulling up at it's main murder site. Oy.

I don't know what it was about the 70s. On the one hand, it was the decade that brought you the Smiley Face, economy cars, ecology and "Happy Days", but on the other hand, it also brought you an endless brigade of sicko serial killers. That was mostly toward the end of the 70s, but anyhow, these weirdos would roam the freeways in their cars and vans, and as their number of victims rose, the newspapers would give them nicknames. There was "The Freeway Killer" and "The Hillside Strangler", and then there was a nutjob named Lawrence Bittaker who was the worst of them all. He and his partner became known as "The Toolbox Killers", for reasons that you can Google if you want to but I suggest you don't. Bittaker was so evil that when he died last year it made the local headlines, forty years after his conviction. His prosecutor called him "worse than Charles Manson", and he is no doubt burning in the fiery flames as we speak.

So of course they made a movie about him, and of course it was a low budget exploitation flick, and of course we went to see it. Hey, we were teenagers and it was the 1970s.

So why would I re-watch it now, over forty years later? Well, for one thing it's Halloween. For another, we kind of got on a roll there, beginning with "Blood On Satan's Claw", where we began watching truly horrific movies (and it's true that the 1970s was the pinnacle of terrifying horror), but then we segued into semi-gruesome stuff like "The Town That Dreaded Sundown", and finally we ended up with "Don't Go In The House" and now "The Toolbox Murders", just because I wanted to watch some of the absolute "best of the worst" exploitative horror movies of the era, to see how they held up (or "held down", as it were), and how I would feel about them now that I am 60. "Toolbox", though it was based on the Bittaker killings, was actually a hybrid. Because they had Cameron Mitchell, a very good actor who starred in "High Chaparral" for many years, the director tried to branch out into "Psycho" territory, only instead of being fixated on his mother, Mitchell's character was focused on his deceased daughter. It's a sick and twisted movie, but it was filmed in Canoga Park, so that saves it, sort of. But to answer my own question, again, it turns out that my opinion of all of these movies hasn't changed one iota. What I thought of them as a teenager, I think of them now. 

Prior to watching "The Toolbox Murders", I tried to find a Youtube copy of "Don't Answer The Phone", but someone still owns the copyright to that one and is paying close attention, cause all you can get are short scenes and trailers. So "Toolbox" it was......  //////

The next part of the blog was begun last night, Tuesday October 20 2020 :

Well anyhow, tonight (Tuesday) Grim came over and we watched a movie called "Arlington Road". Whenever Grim visits, it's because he's brought a movie he wants me to see. I told him I'd already seen "Arlington", sometime around 2003, but because it was so scary and so well made I said I'd watch it again. It stars Jeff Bridges as a college professor who comes to learn that his neighbor (Tim Robbins), a seemingly middle class architect, is in reality a domestic terrorist on the level of Timothy McVeigh. Man oh man will this movie give you The Willies. It was directed by a guy named Mark Pellington, who only made two movies in his career (he was mostly a video director), but both films he made were knocked out of the freakin' park. One was "The Mothman Prophecies", which is certainly among The Scariest Movies Ever Made, and the other is this one, "Arlington Road", which - while technically a thriller - has undertones of latent horror in the machinations of terrorism, and conspiracy, and possible government complicity, and not really knowing who is who. Not since "The Manchurian Candidate" has a film gone so deep into this type of double-crossing stuff, and I think maybe that's why Mr. Pellington hasn't been invited back to make more films. Maybe the two that he's made have struck a little too close to home if you get my drift. I highly recommend "Arlington Road" if you haven't seen it, and of course "Mothman" is a must-see for horror fans. Mark Pellington, where are you? ////

And finally, this part of the blog was written just now. We are back live, in other words :

Tonight I needed something in a pinch. I'm still scouring Youtube cause the libraries are closed (and I've begun watching movies again), so anyway I went back to the old standby search terms from earlier in the year : "black and white sci-fi movies from the 1950s". And, I got lucky because a film came up that I'd been trying to see back in April and May, when the pandemic began and we were pounding old sci-fis. It was called "I Married A Monster From Outer Space"(1958). If you recall, we learned that such "statement" titles, similar to the "Don't" series of the late 70s, but starting in the First Person ("I"), were not necessarily as juvenile as they sounded. Witness "I Was A Teenage Frankenstein" for instance. It sounds like a movie made for kids, and it is, but it's also very well produced and has other, more subtle messages in the script, such as child neglect.

"I Married A Monster From Outer Space" is of the same ilk; cheesy title, serious undercurrent. Or as serious as it's budget and format will allow. It's basically a spin on the "Body Snatchers" motif, except here, what's being stolen is love and the institution of marriage, such as it was in the 1950s, when it was the bedrock of the American family. The movie stars Gail Talbott and Tom Tryon, whose name was bugging me, so when it was over I IMDB-ed him, and sure enough : he is the same Tom Tryon who later went on to become a writer, and as "Thomas Tryon" he wrote the bestselling novel "The Other", which was made into One Of The Scariest Movies Ever Made, and I'm not joking. Watch "The Other" and see for yourself. But in "Monster From Outer Space", his body and soul are taken over by an alien, and his wife (Talbott) spends the movie trying to figure out what's wrong with him, until it's almost too late.

I mentioned above that I'd wanted to see this flick back in the Spring; that's because it kept popping up in my "recommended for you" list on Youtube. But every time I tried to watch it, it was copyright protected. This time, however, the guy who posted it must have snuck it in under the radar, and not only did he post it but it was a Blu-ray, or so he said. Do they Blu-ray black and white movies? Well anyhow, it certainly looked razor sharp, and on that score we've been having good fortune during our run up to Halloween, All of our most recent Horror Shows have been of "picture perfect" quality, quite a blessing indeed.

"I Married A Monster From Outer Space" is a little slow, even at 77 minutes, but it's got excellent cinematography and was partially shot on the Paramount back lot, so it has the look of a studio film rather than the bare bones production values of some of the movies we watched earlier this year. For what it is, it's a serious film. Give it a shot, and watch all the other movies mentioned in this blog, too. After all, it's Halloween!  ////

That's all for tonight. Before I go, a quick message to Dave Roberts (the Dodgers Manager) : Please, Dave, don't outmanage yourself yet again, especially with your pitchers, which you seem to do every year. Please don't keep pitching Dustin May. If a fan such as myself can see he's a disaster, shouldn't you be able to see it?

So please don't pitch him anymore, or you're gonna lose yet another World Series, even though this one is not as real as a normal one in a full 162 game season. But still........please don't screw it up again. Thanks. ////

See you in the morning. Only 12 more days to go. Don't forget to watch the David Lynch weather report and Today's Number. I've finally guessed a correct number, in fact I've guessed three since we last mentioned it.

Tons of love.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox  :):)

Mission Point + "Don't Go In The House" starring Dan Grimaldi

 Today I made it all the way up to Mission Point. I drove up to the DeCampos Trail, which begins off a residential street just west of O'Melveny Park, with the intention of hiking up part way, maybe a half mile or so, just to get my legs in shape. I hadn't been there since 2018 and the trail is pretty steep, 2 1/2 miles to the top of the hill, or Mission Point as it is known. It's the second highest "peak" in the Valley, and though at 2900 feet it's not Mt. Everest, it's still a pretty good climb and you're getting a lot of elevation gain.

So I began by just going up a short way, but then I said "what the heck" and kept going, all the way to the top. You inspired me, Elizabeth, with your 20 mile hike. I've been up to the top of Mission Point about five times now, and it's nice to know I've still got it in me. I'll try to do it once a year, and who knows, maybe I'll still be doing it at 70. It's really weird saying that, because I'm sixty now, and i don't even know what that feels like, to "be" sixty. Inside, as a person I feel like I did when I was in my 30s. Try it out as you age, and you'll see what I mean about how weird it is. When you're young, you have this idea about what "old" is, be it 50, or 60 or whatever, but when you get there, it's a lot different than you thought it was, because you're the same person you always were. You've just been around longer, is all.

Well anyhow, here's to Mission Point and to Mr. DeCampos, who founded the trail. It's an awesome hike, you can see the entire bowl of the San Fernando Valley from the top, and on a clear day you can also see Downtown Los Angeles, 25 miles away.

Tonight's Horror Movie was "Don't Go In The House"(1979), yet another highly notorious and twisted flick from the late 70s. There was a "Don't" fad at the time : "Don't Answer The Phone", "Don't Go In The Basement", "Don't Go In The House". Which means that's exactly where you're gonna go when the movie starts, because the filmmakers are gonna take you there. And when they get you in "The Basement" or in "The House" (or on "The Phone"), they are gonna show you some sick stuff, because they know you are a teenager and you won't be offended. You might think it's gross or horrible, but at the end of the day you bought a ticket in order to be shocked, and the director delivered.

I was nineteen when my friends and I went to see "House" in Westwood of all places, the most genteel of movie settings. You wouldn't think such a film would play there, but it did. The thing is (or was), we were all shocked to the max the first time we saw it, because of one especially graphic scene. This scene was over the top, even for a nineteen year old (but still not as dehumanizing as "Midsommer", man I hate that movie).

Anyway, the moral of the story is "Don't See The Movie". We're re-booting the "Don't" theme, and we're doing it to spare you the gawdawful sickness of "Donald", the film's main character (played by the legendary Dan Grimaldi). For extreme shock value, "House" is every bit as vile as I remembered it. But, it was also a little slow. For a DIY production, however, it did have some creative touches that I'd long forgotten, such as a critical disco scene (very hip for 1979), and most importantly, a subtheme of child abuse, which gives the film a redeeming quality, messagewise.

The corpses in the picture are well done, on the same level as those in last night's far superior "Deranged". They are state of the art, and I forgot to note that "Deranged" was co-directed by Allan Ormsby, who created the original state-of the-art Zombies for his masterful "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things", which we reviewed some time ago. So anyway, yeah - the art direction in "Don't Go In The House" is a partial saving grace. The "House" itself is an Old Decaying Mansion in Noo Joysey, and "Donald" fills it up with dead bodies, ala Ed Gein.

But Grimaldi, good as he is, is no Roberts Blossom, and though "House" is better than average creatively speaking, it's still Way Too Sick To See, unless you are one of The Few, The Hardcore Horror Fans who can deal with such stuff in an objective way. I am currently running through several of the Old Favorites, fright flicks I thought were badass when I was young, just to see if they hold up.

So far, they've been exactly what I thought they were the first time, i.e. "pretty good" or "totally scary" or "truly sick".

I'm watching them again so you don't have to. You can thank me later. ///

In other news, how 'bout them Dodgers? Not too shabby to come from a 3-1 deficit to eliminate the Braves and advance to the World Series once again. I must admit though, that I have to take this Series, in 2020, with a grain of salt. The reason being - and I hate to be a spoilsport - that Major League Baseball only had a 60 game season due to the pandemic. That's less than half a regular season, so a World Series win, if the Dodgers get it, will feel diluted. Very diluted, really. And not quite real, to be honest.

So let's win this election, get this MF outta there, then let's destroy the coronavirus so we can Live Life Again, and get away from all this B.S. of the last four years. Then let's have a real baseball season, and everything else too. See you in the morning.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)  love, love and more love.

Mary Trump's Book + Eyelashes + "Deranged" starring Roberts Blossom

 I'm reading Mary Trump's book "Too Much and Never Enough", the bestseller about how her family, especially her grandfather Fred Trump, shaped the personality of her uncle Donald, whom she refers to in the book's subtitle as "The World's Most Dangerous Man". You may have seen Mary Trump speaking recently on MSNBC or one of the other news channels. I did, which was why I ordered the book from the Libe. This was back in late August/early September. By the time the book arrived a couple days ago, I wasn't sure I still wanted to read it. I mean, we're all sick of this guy, right? (I see you nodding in agreement). But at the time, as I mentioned, I had nothing to read. I was without a book, so I said "what the heck" and started in on the prologue. I'm now halfway done. It's a short book, only 200 pages, but I'm glad I started reading it, and if you really want to understand what has happened here, and what is really going on with Donald Trump and the Trump family, I highly recommend you read it too.

Mary Trump is the daughter of Fred Trump Jr., Donald's older brother who died from complications of alcoholism in 1981, when he was only 43. As the eldest son in an old-school wealthy family, Fred Jr. was expected by his father to follow in his footsteps, to eventually take over the family business. But real estate developing was not in his blood. He wanted to become an airline pilot, and he did, flying the brand new 707 for TWA in the early 1960s. For most parents, having a top pilot for a son would be a source of pride. But for Fred Trump, it was an embarassment, a letdown and - worse - a betrayal by his son, whom he then vilified at every turn thereafter. Fred Jr. began to drink, then became an alcoholic, eventually lost his job with TWA, went back to work for his Dad, and died at age 43. Mary Trump was a teenager at the time. She says Donald helped their father pile on the humiliation on his older brother, so that he could become the favorite son, and she offers example after example of the Trump penchant for cruelty. If you've ever wondered how a man could set a policy that puts children in cages, this is where it all comes from. Mary Trump will describe it for you.

It's a brutal story - and sad, on the part of her father Fred Jr. - but it lays bare the myth of the phony Trump success story. The whole thing is a fake, and who better to tell it than the ultimate insider, Mary Trump. Her Dad was more or less driven to his grave with the father Fred Sr. and Donald riding on his back.

I thought to myself, while reading tonight, "this book will be Donald Trump's epitaph as an "American Icon", and as President. This book is his tombstone. I truly don't believe he can win again, the karma against him is overwhelming, and he may actually have to leave the country as he yesterday threatened to do, so exposed is he now by the facts of his charade. Mary Trump will go down as a hero, in my book anyway, so make sure and read hers. It must have been horrible to come from that family.  //////

Switching gears, I must say Elizabeth, that while I don't know anything about mascara or makeup, your eyelashes look beautiful with or without. I hope I am not out of line with such a comment, but it's true. Remember, it was your eyes that first got me, in the "Autre Temps" video. Also, if I may say so, you have nice eyebrows, too. So to recap - eyes, eyelashes & eyebrows, all working together to marvelous effect. :):)

And while I know nothing of mascara, the only thing I can think of for "loss of lash" is that it may clog the hair follicle? That's my only guess. I've had problems over the years with certain shampoos that cause more hair to wind up in the drain, and cause itchy scalp, so I am always looking for non-allergenic products in that regard. ////

My movie tonight was another notorious classic : "Deranged"(1974), starring Roberts Blossom in an outstanding but highly disturbing performance of a character based on Ed Gein. I first saw "Deranged" at the Winnetka Drive-In in 1976, on a double bill with the equally twisted "Manson Massacre" (don't ask, but look it up if you want to). The very fact that they would show such movies, even at the drive-in, demonstrates how different, and wide open, pop culture was at that time. I must add that in actual fact, a modern horror film like the execrable "Midsommer" is - to my mind - far more offensive than something like "Deranged", but that is from an emotional standpoint. I think that the modern form of extreme horror debases human feeling and the idea of humanity altogether. It's nihilistic and I despise it. On the other hand, a film like "Deranged" - as sick as it is (and it is sick, make no mistake) does not present a detached look at such a character. Nor does it use it's horror solely for shock value. While the imagery in "Deranged" is extreme to the extreme, everything that is shown is in servitude of the lead character, "Ezra Cobb".

Having said all of this, it's not only not for the squeamish (which even the narrator advises), but I'll go one step farther and recommend you not watch it at all, not because it isn't a good movie - it's in fact a classic - but because 99 out of 100 people wouldn't be able to handle it. It's pretty gruesome.  /////

That is all I know for this evening. Go Dodgers! Coming back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the series. Can they win Game Seven tomorrow?

I sure hope so, for Clayton Kershaw's sake.

See you in the morning. Much love all night.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Two Horror Classics (plus Porcupine)

I am back with two movies, one from last night, the other this evening. For this Halloween season I am trying to watch some classic horror flicks that I haven't seen in a while, so here we go. 

Last night I watched the notorious and terrifying "Blood On Satan's Claw"(1971), notorious because of a scene in the middle that I shant describe, except to say that it was definitely over the top for 1971 and remains so even in today's climate of extreme horror. It''s something you probably shouldn't see if you are the least bit squeamish. The film terrified me the first time I saw it, during a sleepover at the late Mike B's house when I was twelve years old. The notorious scene was cut out for television, but even so, the movie scared The Bejeezus out of me and Mike. We never forgot it, and in later years ranked it up there with "Burn Witch Burn" and "Quatermass and the Pit" as one of the scariest horror films ever made. I'm trying to do only The Scariest of The Scary for Halloween this year, just because it seems appropriate for 2020, and it also helps take my mind off the election (just in case they pull the rug out). Once again I'll only give a synopsis (not ready for full length reviews just yet), but the movie opens in the English countryside. The time period is unspecified but looks to be in the early 1700s. A young man is plowing a field, and he uncovers some bones, including the remains of a hand with clawlike nails, and also part of a deformed skull, with tufts of fur attached and one eye remaining in it's socket.

Being superstitious, he runs to tell the village official, a Judge who oversees all criminal inquiries. The young man babbles about witchcraft and claims he's dug up a "fiend", but the Judge - a city man, well educated and modern - puts paid to all that nonsense. "There's no such thing as witchcraft", he tells the farmhand. "It's all been proven false".

Well, suffice it to say that the Judge will come to have second thoughts about his pronouncement, and in fact he will ultimately go the young plowman one better : "No, Ralph", he explains later, "it's not witchcraft but far worse".

"Blood On Satan's Claw" was directed by a guy named Piers Haggard, and he achieved a horror masterpiece by taking the material seriously, hiring capable actors, keeping them and the entire production "in the period" (it is a period piece, after all, and the costuming and sets are just right), and finally, using the English countryside to great effect. The photography is superb and reminiscent of an art film, and a spooky soundtrack adds to the eerie outdoorsiness. 

The print on Youtube was perfect, and I was surprised to find it. I put in in the search box just for the heck of it, and lo and behold, there it was. They really should do a Blu-ray of it, but for now, watch the Youtube print, but only if you are a hardcore horror fan. This film doesn't mess around. ///

Our second feature is also a legend of sorts : "The Town That Dreaded Sundown"(1976), a title that was guaranteed to put teenagers in the seats, and it was a minor hit upon it's release. My friends and I saw it in the theater, likely on the first weekend, and in my memory all these years later I recalled it as being one of the scariest movies ever made. "Town" is the true story of a Zodiac-type killer who operated in Texarkana, which spans the Texas/Arkansas border, in 1946. Like the Zodiac, "The Phantom" (as he is called) was never caught. The movie has gone on to become a cult classic, and has even merited a Blu-ray restoration from Scream Factory. This must have been the print I saw on Youtube, because it looked fantastic.

In watching it a second time, after 44 years, I must revise my opinion, but only to a degree. You see, I'd forgotten all about the movie's style. It was written and directed by a guy named Charles B. Pierce, who was sort of an auteur of southern fried independent films. He made a name for himself in the early 70s with a picture called "The Legend of Boggy Creek" (which I have yet to see). That film earned him some dough, and a reputation, and in short, he was a talented filmmaker. All one has to do is watch the first ten minutes of "The Town That Dreaded Sundown" to see that he could create period imagery (1946 America) with the best of them. This film has the look of an A-list director. He also created a Psycho Killer that preceded and may have influenced all the slasher horror biggies to come. "The Phantom" wears a hood (called a "mask" in the movie), therefore all future movie killers wore masks (Jason Vorhees, Michael Myers, et al). So Charles Pierce was ahead of the curve on that score, and indeed - the scenes with The Phantom doing his thing, operating at night out in the woods where young lovers park their cars, are some of the most frightening in horror history. But I'd forgotten that the film was also in large part about the investigation, and that Pierce had inserted himself into the movie, as an actor in a role of comic relief. So there are a lot of scenes featuring his character "Sparkplug" (a nerdy police officer) that play like they are from a Burt Reynolds chase movie.

In total, this makes the movie somewhat of a hybrid, rather than a 100% start-to-finish Horror Film like "Blood On Satan's Claw". Actually, I'd call it a true crime film with comedic overtones and horrific scenes (decidedly not for the squeamish), but then you have the top-notch production design and art direction, and the superb wide screen photography and color coordination, and I guess that makes it a one of a kind classic. Just call it a Charles B. Pierce film.

I remember that my friends and I made a note of his name, and wondered once in a while what became of him. After watching tonight, I looked him up on IMDB, and he's passed away now, but it said that he went on to work as a writer, and he met Clint Eastwood, who gave him a job on "Sudden Impact". And it said that Charles B. Pierce was the guy who came up with the line uttered by Dirty Harry : "Go ahead.....make my day". Of course, that line went on into the lore of Hollywood, but it was also repeated by The President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, in 1985.

So that was Charles B. Pierce. He could make a low budget moneymaker like "Boggy Creek" (which I will make a point to see), or he could make a weird, high production value, scary but comedic horror hybrid like "Town That Dreaded Sundown", or he could write a line for Dirty Harry that made it's way to the President.

And, he was a funny character in this movie.

So to sum up, "The Town That Dreaded Sundown" was not one of the scariest movies of all time, as I had remembered it to be, but it does indeed have some of the scariest scenes ever, and one of the most frightening slasher-style killers (and the original one). It also looks great, and is a must-see for all the above reasons. ///

We will continue our Halloween Horror-Thon, so stay tuned..........

Elizabeth, that was another great picture today, which must be from Porcupine Mountains, right? The sky was so blue, and it looked like a lovely day as I mentioned in my comment. What a great vantage point, to be up above the water and the trees, from where you took the photograph. I love the rocks, too.  :):) 

See you in the morning, with much love sent all night.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox  :):)

What A Hike! (for Elizabeth) + Finally A Movie + How Could You Be Undecided?

 Elizabeth, those were some really great clips you posted from Porcupine Mountains. Such beautiful Fall colors, I loved the forest with the yellow leaves. Now, when you say you hiked 20 miles, is that all on a trail? Like ten miles out and back? I'm only asking for safety's sake, cause I saw (and you probably did too) that guy's encounter with the cougar. But, I know you are no doubt super careful. Anyway......wow! That is what I call A Major League Hike. :) My longest one was 8 1/2 miles, at Rocky Peak in 2018, and I thought that was a big deal. But twenty? Man oh man. I suppose I could probably do it, but as you say, my feet (and knees) would not be happy with me the next day, lol.  :)

Those clips were beautiful though, and I know how much you love that park. What a wonderful place. I'm glad you had a great time and that you were able to get back out there.  :):)

I am off work as of yesterday, so I will be getting back out there, too. Today I spent time cleaning my decidedly dusty apartment, much needed after three weeks away, but tomorrow I will head out on the trail myself, and hopefully get a picture or two. Believe it or not, it's still 100 degrees here. 103 this afternoon.

I actually watched a movie tonight, also for the first time in three weeks. I figured that it's Halloweentime, so I better start catching up on my horror movies, and I found a really good one that I'd never seen : "The Masque of the Red Death"(1964), starring Vincent Price and Jane Asher (Paul McCartney's girlfriend at the time), and directed by none other than our pal Roger Corman. This was one of Corman's Edgar Allen Poe films, for which he had a bigger budget and access to a proper studio, and to an actor like Price, who plays the evil Prince Prospero from Poe's story with grim dedication. I won't go into a long review, because I am out of practice, but the movie looks fantastic - incredible sets and color. Corman always made the most of whatever money was allotted, and the results here look like a top flight Hammer Studios production. The adaptation is good, so is the acting all around. It's a little slow in places, but still merits Two Big Thumbs Up.

With less than three weeks to go until the election, I'm cautiously optimistic, though I should add that we thought it was in the bag in 2016, with Hillary way ahead in the polls, and we all know how that turned out. This time, though, it feels different, because Americans (and Amuricans), have now had four years of experience with Trump, and while nothing will sway his base (he's their Fuhrer), the rest of us have either had our fill (the Democrats) or at the very least are wary of electing him again (the Independents and "Undecideds"). The latter of those two groups live in the Swing States and love the power they derive from being able to decide an election every four years. They love being "undecided", because the focus is all on them : "what will the Undecideds do"? (hand wringing in the news media, etc.)

So that's all that is : being Undecided is a power trip, because - let's look at real life now - how in the Bejeezus could you be "undecided" about Donald Trump? The man is a Polarizer if there ever was one. Even he would agree with me. "How can you be undecided about me? Am I not the world's biggest a-hole? There's none bigger"! So that's the gist of it, and I bring it up because it's about time someone mentioned the power trip that the voters in these swing states are on. They get a thrill every four years about choosing our President, which is why we've gotta get rid of the Electoral College. Right now, the majority of voters doesn't matter, or Hillary Clinton would be President. 

But still, l think that Trump has worn us out to a degree (abetted by the media) that even the folks on the boundary of the Trump Cult, those who are not fully saturated with the Kool Aid, have had enough. So my fingers are crossed for a win. If the Presidency and the news media go hand in hand in the modern age, then Joe Biden is exactly the candidate we need right now. An older gentleman, smart, sincere, but slightly boring, who by his presence will send the extremists on both sides back to their hiding places. And - the news media having nothing shocking to cover - things will calm down. "Proud Boys", Antifa.......all of it dies without constant news coverage, just like a band whose records don't get played, or even a mosquito bite if you stop scratching it. 

That's all for tonight. See you tomorrow morning.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Random Thoughts (books, cars...)

 I'm just writing to say hi. Gotta keep the blog alive, even though I have nothing to report. I'm even without a book at the moment (good grief, Ad!). It happens so rarely that I can't remember the last time I had nothing to read. What happened was, I was right in the middle of the new Stephen King ("If It Bleeds"). I'd finished two of the four stories, but the book was due. I tried to renew it but no dice - someone had it on hold. So now I've gotta wait for it to be available again so I can finish the other two stories. In the meantime, I'm still waiting on Rob Halford's autobiography ("Confess"), which The Libe has on order. And I have yet another JFK book at home (this has been a big JFK year for me) : "The Man Who Knew Too Much" by Dick Russell. It's a major league tome, over 700 pages, and I was really looking forward to it, but it was written in the early 1990s, and after scanning it I realise I already know much of the information. So I'm in Book Limbo - I'm twiddling my thumbs! I'm a bookworm of the first order, I've gotta have something to read. I'll pick out a title tomorrow, even if it's not that interesting.

This is a Random Thoughts blog. When I was a kid, I was into cars for a couple of years. I still appreciate them (who doesn't), but I'm not a fanatic. For a while, though, when I was 9 or 10, I was way into muscle cars, and drag racing. Indy Cars too. I built models for a while, and a Camaro I glued together and spray painted candy apple red, was selected in a contest to hang in the 7/11 at Plummer and Reseda, just a block away from where I now live. This was in 1970, fifty years ago (good lordy moses), and also in 1970 I had a subscription to Hot Rod magazine, which was a big deal back then. Is Hot Rod still even in print? (I just Googled it and see that it is.........yesss!)

The point of this, is that when I take Pearl on our neighborhood walks, I've been noticing a car down the street. A lot of cars nowdays look the same, and this one does too, sort of. But the lines stood out on this one, and it was a muscle car, painted black, and it just looked really cool. We went past it a few times during my latest work cycle, and I found myself thinking about it. When was the last time a car caught your fancy? Maybe yesterday, if you are a car person. Me, I used to be.......a long long time ago. But I think I may be one again, because of this car, and I should add that I've also seen another one, parked up near my pad in Northridge. That one is dark green.

The car is a 2020 Dodge Charger, and man........it just looks badass. It doesn't exude horsepower, though it obviously has that, and it's not showy (no tailfins or extraneous attachments), but the design is near perfect. It has been compacted from the Chargers of old, to fit into the Mustang/Camaro "weightclass" so to speak, and to my eyes, it just looks perfect. Even the fact that it caught my eye says a lot, because I haven't thought much about cars for a long time, other than as machines to get me from place to place.

When I was 9 and Chris was 5, we had a slot car race track that we got for a Christmas present. The track was an oval. There was a transformer to power the cars, and handgrips to control their speeds. The box came with two cars, a Mustang and a Camaro. I was the Mustang, Chris was the Camaro. Each of us won at various times, and we also did all the Addams Family derailing of each others cars, and all that fun stuff. We had a blast with that track, and now, the new Dodge Charger has got me thinking about all of these things again. Boy would I love to own one........or at least drive one.  :)

Elizabeth, I hope all is well. I'm just asking because you haven't posted much of late. I know there's not a lot to get inspired about in this crummy year, and come to think of it I don't post much myself, other than David Lynch weather reports, but I hope you are doing okay. I know there's a Covid spike in your state, so stay safe, even though I know you already know that. I'm thinking about you, as always.  :):)

Well, that's all I know for tonight. Tomorrow I will be back home and off work for a couple weeks.

See you then.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

"The Life of Chuck" by Stephen King, and "The Inheritance" by Christopher Fulton (plus 1989)

 In a recent blog I mentioned some great horror novels, including a couple that were collections of short stories. I went on to say that I love short stories, and mentioned one in particular that I was reading (re-reading, actually) called "Iverson's Pits" by Dan Simmons. It is a gruesome and ghostly account of a skirmish at Gettysburg, but it's also poetic. It's so well written that it leaves an indelible mark, which is why it's drawn me back over the years, to read it again and again.

Well, today I have a new story to recommend, both to you and myself, because I'm sure I'll be re-reading it several times in the years to come. It's one of four stories in Stephen King's new book "If It Bleeds", and it has a rather bland title by King standards : "The Life of Chuck". It runs about 50 pages.

"The Life of Chuck" is both simple and weird, but in the end, as you let it sink in, it's almost impossibly profound on the subject of living one's life. It was especially poignant to read this week (you know why), but in this case, the fictional Chuck is not a famous person but just an average Joe. And still, his life is huge. You'll have to read it to see why, but it's worth doing because it's some of King's most nuanced writing ever, even beyond the greatness of "The Body", which became the movie "Stand By Me". As great as King is, he's outdone himself with this story, and it's not just because of the things that happen, but his sentences and use of words. So that's my short story pick for today, and for a long, long time. 

And wow and Holy Smokes, folks! After finishing "The Life of Chuck" this afternoon, I was thinking, "they've gotta make a movie out of this". Of course, they make movies out of everything SK ever wrote. Some are good, a few are great, but a lot are sub-par. However, if the recent trend is any indication, with the awesome "It" movies, and "Doctor Sleep", there has been an upswing in trying to do his stories justice. And now.......(drum roll please).....I have just this moment Googled "The Life of Chuck" and I see that it's been optioned by Darren Aronofsky. Wow! Now, I must add that this could either be really good news, or a total disaster. I don't know if you saw "Mother" by Aronofsky, but.........yikes. Still, he can be great when he wants to, or when he's not out of his mind. So it's great news that "The Life of Chuck" will hit the silver screen! But it's even better, or best, just as words on the page. I really can't recommend it enough. ////

I have also just tonight finished "The Inheritance" by Christopher Fulton. It's the story of how Fulton came to possess a key piece of evidence in the JFK assassination, and what happened to his life as a result, at the hands of Federal prosecutors. It's a real life horror story, and it reminded me in one aspect of my own story, of What Happened In Northridge, as I call it. For years, I have been exceptionally frustrated that not one single person has ever stepped forward to say anything about what they know happened to me, and to all of us who were present in September 1989. during those events, which "seem like a dream" as Dennis once put it, but which were 100% real.

They weren't a dream, Dennis. They were real.

Not one single person has ever said a word on my behalf, in the 26 years I've been talking and writing about it. The late David Friedman once told me, to my face, "if you keep talking about this, I won't be your friend anymore". I had brought it up several times in 1998, when I began writing about it, and I had directly accused him of having direct knowledge of some of the events, as well as participating in one. He first tried telling me I was crazy, but that tactic was useless by then. Everyone else had tried it, too, and I withstood all the slurs because I knew what had happened was real. But when I asked him why he was so afraid to talk about it, his response always stuck with me, because of the way he worded it. I always remembered his words.

One night I asked him "why won't you talk about it".

His answer : "Because if I talk about it, I'll become part of it".

"I'll become part of it"................"if I talk about it".

"If I talk about it".

There are secrets the Federal government keeps under the heading of National Security. I have Glomar responses from the CIA to prove it. For years and years, it was hard for me to understand the sheer vehemence of the response from my friends, and others, when I'd ask them about 1989.

More recently, I'd come to understand it a little better. They were afraid. But in reading Christopher Fulton's book, I now truly understand.

That's all I will say, but I urge you to read "The Inheritance" if you had anything to to with 1989.

I urge you.  ///////

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Eddie, part two

The news of John Lennon's murder caused me to temporarily forget all about my purchase of the Marshall half stack. Like everyone else, I was glued to the tv for the rest of the evening, stunned and numb. At around midnight, when the horrible truth began to sink in, a few friends and I went to an all-night diner to drink coffee and talk. No one could sleep nor eat. It took a long time to get over our loss (the world's loss), but of course life didn't come to a standstill. I'm sure I tried out my Marshall the next day. And three weeks later, on New Year's Eve, I moved it into a newly rented rehearsal studio. My band and I - Disturbing The Peace - moved in on December 31, 1980. Now I didn't even need the special low volume switch on the amp head. I could play as loud as I wanted, at any time.

But I kept Jose Arredondo in mind, and one day a few months later, I found myself in need of his services. The kid in Beverly Hills had told me : "If you ever need it fixed, make sure you take it to Jose. He knows what he's doing and he won't rip you off". I don't remember if I'd blown out the transformer or if I just needed some new tubes, and I also don't recall if the kid had given me Jose's address or if I found him in the phone book. But, one day in March 1981, I drove down to North Hollywood, the Marshall in tow, to bring it to Jose for repair. He noticed the pull-out switch right away. "Ahh, this is one I already work on". He was a small, balding middle aged man, possibly of Cuban or Spanish descent, and totally unassuming.

"You know what I try for with this switch"?, he asked me. It was a rhetorical question that he proceeded to answer himself. "I wanted to give low volume option but also keep distortion, keep warmth. You know Eddie Van Halen sound"? I said yes. "That's what I try for with this switch. Give option for low volume but keep sound big". Ed's sound would come to be known as The Brown Sound for it's warmth, I think Ted Templeman coined it, but I hadn't heard that term yet. Maybe Jose didn't either. But he continued : "You like Eddie Van Halen? I do all his amps, boost wattage, special transformer, custom tubes and Celestions. That's where his big sound come from"! He stated this with pride, and well he should've. Then he filled out a repair order and told me to come back in a few days to pick up my amp. "It will sound even better than before", he promised.

When I returned, I paid the bill and was getting ready to load my amp for the trip back to our studio, when Jose hit me with a surprise. "Listen" he said, almost conspiratorially, "You like Eddie Van Halen, so I tell you this special. But please, to keep it quiet, not spread around, o.k."? I nodded, eager to know what it was.

"He is getting married soon. Wedding is invitation only, but I know address of the church. You want it? I give it to you, maybe you can sneak in". He was already writing it down before I could answer. I thanked him profusely and left. The church was located in Westwood. He'd also written down the date : April 11, a Saturday.

And that's how I found myself at Edward Van Halen's wedding, five days before my 21st birthday, thanks to the kid from Beverly Hills, who told me about Jose Arredondo, who gave me the address to the church.

I went down there with Ono (better known as Pat in real life). We never tried to sneak in, but it was beyond cool just to be standing there in front of the church doors as the wedding was taking place. Then suddenly it was over and people were coming out. I remember seeing Nicolette Larson, who sang during the ceremony. She'd had a big hit with "Lotta Love" just a year or two before, and was temporarily a star. Unfortunately, her life was short, as are so many in the entertainment industries.

But then.......all of a sudden and Holy Smokes : here came Edward and Valerie. They came right down the church walkway, right past us, close enough to shake hands. Ed wore a white tux, Valerie no doubt had on a beautiful wedding dress. I was focused on Ed, so I didn't notice. They got into a waiting limousine, and that was it. They drove off.

But I was at their wedding, even if I was only standing out front. Later, early in my relationship with Lillian, she one day handed me a gift, of an envelope containing 8x10 glossy black and white photos of EVH and Val, taken at their newly constructed home in Coldwater Canyon. As Chris mentioned this morning on Facebook, our friend's Dad was the framing contractor who built their house, and 5150 (at least he built the frames). And Lillian's family home was just off Coldwater, so there were a lot of connections. At any rate, she'd found the Van Halen address, gone up there, and had removed the envelope from the mailbox.

She was only 16. It's the kind of thing we did in those days. When I was 14, me and Mike B. went through Alice Cooper's mailbox, and he drove up while we were doing it! And he didn't even get mad. But yeah, and with Lilly, she had done it for me, to get me a souvenir. The envelope also contained a letter from Warner Brothers, talking about business matters. All I remember about the letter is that it mentioned a million dollar figure for what Van Halen the band had earned in album sales for a certain period.

I was stoked to have those photos, and to know that they'd come directly from the Van Halen mailbox. I was only 21, and when you're young you think of things differently, even if you know something isn't entirely kosher. 

I kept that envelope, and those photos and the business letter, for 16 years. It survived the Northridge Earthquake, and the resulting move from the legendary Rathburn house to my Dad's apartment in 1995. It further survived another move, to the also legendary Burton Street house six months later. But sometime in 1997, when my life was getting very real, I got it in my head that I needed to fix anything that wasn't 100% karmatically cool. And because Edward Van Halen had remained for all those years at the top of the heap in my book, I announced to Mr. D (who was also the Burton Street proprieter) that we needed to take a drive.

We needed to drive up to Coldwater Canyon, about 15 miles away, up near Mulholland Drive where the house and recording studio were located. "I've gotta return these pictures", I told him. It was not just the right thing to do, but was necessary for karma's sake. That's the way I was in 1997, in the most mindboggling year of my life.

So we drove up there, following the address on the envelope. Before we left, I'd written a Note of Apology, explaining how I'd come to possess the envelope (without naming names), and why I'd held on to it for all those years. I don't recall my exact rationale, but my note was a full page, and I closed out by stating my devotion as a fan. "Van Halen Forever"! was how I signed off.

Dave and I drove up to Eddie's house that day, and I got out and stuck the envelope in the mailbox, which - it seems likely - would have been the same mailbox from which Lilly took it 16 years earlier. The property is expansive, so there's a gate in front, and a lot of trees and a driveway. It's also on a hillside, so you can't really see much from the mailbox. But when we got back home to Burton Street in Reseda, later that night I was wondering to myself. I wondered, "did anyone get the mail"? By chance, did Eddie get it? Only he and Valerie lived there. And Wolfie, who would've been about seven.

I always hoped he got the envelope back, even though I was thrilled to get it as an illicit gift in 1981, and even though I kept it for a very long time. And if he got it back, I always hoped he read my note.

It would have meant a lot to me. /////

So that's one of my Eddie Van Halen stories.

I will see you in the morning. Love, love and more love until then.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)  

Eddie

I don't even know what to say tonight. I was tempted to say nothing, just because it seems like today, everyone has an Eddie story and most of 'em are being told by folks who actually knew him, fellow musicians and such. I am just a fan - there are thousands like me - and even though I have my Eddie stories, too, I've already told 'em a  lot of times. But I can't just say nothing, because I loved the guy. We all did, we fans, and with Edward, we didn't just love him for his music, but because he felt like a friend, and a good one, a best friend really. I think it was due to that smile of his, which rarely left his face during a concert. He expressed so much joy onstage, running around, doing his leg kicks and knee slides, and it was like he was sharing it all with you, along with his amazing musical ability. It was like he was saying, "isn't this cool"?, but saying it in a way totally devoid of ego. There was no conceit with EVH (and not even with Roth, who was "in on his own joke"). I tried to describe this feeling the other night when I was writing about Van Halen's power as a live band. A huge part of it was their friendliness, their onstage exuberance, even as they were showing off and blowing everyone away.

Yeah, I loved the guy. We all did. And that's why everyone is telling their Eddie stories today, so I might as well tell mine, even though you've probably heard it before.

I started playing guitar when I was 19, a late start for sure, but I'd always wanted to play, ever since I was seven, and I had to wait until I had my own money to buy one, cause Dad wasn't exactly a rock fan. But when I was 18 and ten months, I got my job at MGM Metrocolor, and the first thing I did was save for a guitar. I bought a Les Paul "The Paul" model (now a collectors item), and I bought a Roland Jazz Chorus amp to go with it. I wish I still had that amp, too, as it's also hard to find (and worth a lot of dough). But as I was learning to play, I realised I would need something with a beefier sound if I was going to be able to replicate Judas Priest songs, or early Rush.

Van Halen? Not a chance, lol. Maybe guys who had some playing experience could chance it, but I wasn't gonna try and learn any VH tunes just yet. Still, as great an amp as the Roland was, it was a clean amp, and I needed something heavy, and in 1980, that meant only one name : Marshall.

And so it was that on the evening of December 8th, 1980, I drove down to Beverly Hills, cash in wallet, to buy a Marshall half-stack from some guy who'd placed an ad in the Recycler, a local classified rag. The late, great Dave Small accompanied me that night. The guy lived in the heart of 90210, in a big house, but he was just a hard rockin' dude like me, and he got right down to the business of selling me his amp, a 100 watt Marshall head with a single cabinet (what did I pay, about 600 bucks? I can't remember). He especially wanted to show me a special feature on the volume knob - it could be pulled out, which created an entirely different setting, one that not only added sustain and distortion, but lowered the volume to a level suitable for practicing in one's bedroom, as he had been doing. With his own guitar, he demonstrated the low-volume feature with a few swift licks.

"This switch is cool", he told me, "because you get the same sound you'd get at full volume, but it's low enough so you don't bother your parents". He further explained : "It's not a standard feature. I had it put in by a guy named Jose Arredondo. Ever heard of him"? I replied that I hadn't.

"He does all the modifications for Eddie Van Halen's amps", said the kid from Beverly Hills.

I was pretty much intent on buying the Marshall before I even got to his house, but when he mentioned the connection to EVH, I was counting out the money then and there. Dave helped me load the amp and cabinet into my car, and we proceeded to drive back to Northridge, to the legendary address of 9032 Rathburn Avenue, where the first thing I wanted to do was put the amp in my bedroom, plug it in, and try out that special switch for myself.

But of course, something had happened that night. The moment we walked in the door, lugging the heavy cabinet between us, Mom announced that John Lennon was dead. Howard Cosell had just broken the news on Monday Night Football. I'd been so focused on my newly acquired Marshall (the Rolls Royce of amps), and it's connection to Eddie Freakin' Van Halen, that all I could say in reaction to Mom's statement, was "huh"? And me and Dave kept walking, as you do when carrying something heavy. We took the amp into my bedroom, set it down and came back out.

Then it hit me. I looked at Mom. "What did you say"?  /////

I'm gonna have to leave it there for tonight, as it's late and I'm still at Pearl's, so I've gotta get my sleep. But we'll continue tomorrow, as we say farewell to a musical giant and a very nice guy. My hero.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):) 

Vote by Dropbox + Another Live Album

 So we were talkin' Classic Live Albums, and where did we leave off the other night? Ahh yes, with Judas Priest "Unleashed In The East". Did you listen to "Exciter" like I suggested? How'd ya like the way Rob Halford keeps raising the vocal line at the very end of the song? "Staaaaaand by for Exciter! Staaaaand by for Exciter! Staaaaaaand by for Exciter!! STAAAAAAND BY FOR EXCITER!!!!!!!"

He sings the last one in his highest register, an ear piercing scream, which is immediately followed by KK and Glenn riffing their butts off for about five seconds to bring the song to a smashing conclusion. Talk about an Opening Statement. Even if the album consisted of only that one song and nothing else, it would still be one of the greatest live albums of all time.

So that gives us four for our list. "Made In Japan" (Deep Purple), "Strangers In The Night" (UFO), "Live Dates" (Wishbone Ash) and "Unleashed".

Our next choice may seem unusual, following the hard rockin' albums that preceded it, but "Roxy & Elsewhere" by Frank Zappa & The Mothers is indeed one of the greatest live albums ever made, featuring not only the prodigious talents of Frank's most supple lineup, featuring Don Preston from the original Mothers of Invention (keyboards), George Duke (more keys), Napoleon Murphy Brock (sax, flute and outrageously funny comedy vocals), Ruth Underwood (xylophone), the Fowler Brothers, (Bruce and Tom), on trombone and bass respectively, and drummer extraordinaire Chester Thompson. What's really cool about this live album, which was mostly recorded at The Roxy in Hollywood in 1973 (the year it opened), is that most of the music is brand new, which is to say that it isn't on any of FZ's previous studio albums, so it's like you're getting a live album with a new album in the bargain. Plus, you get to hear Frank as the host. He's a laugh riot all by himself, in a droll sort of way. But once the music starts, it's no laughing matter. This is Frank Zappa at his progressive best. It's no coincidence that he recorded his best studio album ("One Size Fits All") not long afterwards, with much of the same lineup.

That now gives us five classic live albums, and we shall continue. It's also interesting to consider some of the bands that never released a classic live album, though you'd have expected them to. What about Van Halen? Surely they should've had one of the most electrifying live LPs of all time. But as we know, they're a weird and fragile entity, as great as they are, so it never happened. Ditto Black Sabbath. Shouldn't they have put out a bone crusher of a live album? I don't mean some bootleg. There are dozens of those. I mean an official release, one that was properly recorded, where the band was on fire like UFO on "Strangers In The Night". Why did neither Van Halen nor Sabbath, both of whom were jaw dropping in concert, ever record a proper live album?

Well anyhow, back to the present (and who wants to go there, right?) : 

I voted today, not by mail but by dropbox. Los Angeles County has placed them all over the joint, as a means to bypass Mr. DeJoy, the Trump appointed A-Hole who removed all the mail sorting machines. He's got just the right name, because he's trying to take all the joy out of the election, to "de-joy" it. Removal seems to be his thing, whether it be joy or the sorting machines. In response, the honchos in L.A. put up the drop-boxes, so you don't even have to use the mail. Ha ha!! Take that, DeJoy! Looks like we out de-joyed him at his own game. Anyway, it's the first time I've ever voted early, and not at my polling place. The primary elections in March disabused me of trying that again, at least until Trump is gone. Our local dropbox is right in front of Northridge Libe, which is extra cool because that's one of my favorite places.

Don't worry, we're gonna get rid of this S.O.B. very soon. Biden now has a fourteen point lead in the latest polls, and he's been giving some excellent speeches in  battleground states, like today in Florida. Whoever was trying to paint him as senile made a big mistake. He talks like a populist, like an old fashioned politician, and that's exactly what we need right now, someone to calm things down. 

Things are gonna get better.

See you in the morning.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)

Hank Knows Cute + The Greatest Live Albums of All Time

Elizabeth, that's a classic shot of Hank! His little sleep-smile, and the way he's got one paw tucked under the other. Too cute! He's turning into a great subject for you, and I bet he's a cool guy to hang out with also. Our three kitties would like him. He could join the Lunch Club at Pearl's house, though he'd certainly be The Kid of the group.

I hope all is well with you and that you're hangin' in there as we get closer to the finish line of both the Trump Era and The Worst Year In Recent Memory. We're still doing the Hundred Degree Thing here in The Valley; today was 102 and soupy, down from 106 yesterday. Even I - the Heat King - am growing a little weary of it, though I suppose it beats the alternative.......The Dreaded L.A. Cold. That will be upon us soon enough (omg!), so for now, let it roast.  :)

I haven't much to write about, so let's stick with lists for now. The world is so crazy, we need something boring. Lists fill the bill in that regard, but they're also kinda fun, in a disposable way. Besides, I'm trying to keep the blog going, so Lists It Is, at least for now. 

Tonight. let's do The Greatest Live Albums of All Time. I came up with the idea this afternoon, while listening to "Playing The Fool" by Gentle Giant. It's the band's very own official live album, 77 minutes in length on CD, which means that when it was released in 1977 it must have been a double album. (and I wonder if 77 was a symbolic factor?) At any rate, it's freakin' phenomenal. It's funny to consider GG a high energy live band, but they certainly were, as their concert videos attest, and "Playing The Fool" takes the already stellar musicianship from their studio albums to another level, like out into the stratosphere. I'm at the point with Gentle Giant where I'm almost ready to declare them the greatest band of rock instrumentalists there ever was. Of course, it's hard to flat out say that, because Yes and King Crimson and especially ELP get in the way, but holy smokes......just listen to the ensemble playing of these guys on this record. Who could ever conceive of such music, let alone play it live?

Ray Schulman and Kerry Minnear are musical geniuses. They are the bass player and keyboard player respectively, but each guy plays other instruments and plays them at a top level. Ray Schulman, besides being - in my recently formed opinion - one of the very, very greatest bassists in the history of rock (just listen to him and see), also plays violin and guitar, both expertly. Kerry Minnear, besides being a totally original keyboardist, also shreds on xylophone and plays the freakin' cello. Between the two of them, they write almost all of GG's music, but then they are lucky to have Gary Green on guitar, a guy who could give Robert Fripp a run for his money. Listen and see. It's a crime he is not as equally renowned. 

But the thing is, it's good music. Really good. And it rocks. And it's not just complicated for the sake of being complicated. It's extremely musical, and catchy, and that's what you notice while you're tapping your feet.

I didn't mean to turn this into a Gentle Giant tirade, but every time I listen to them now, I think : "man, how did they escape me all these years"? 

Well anyhow, with no further ado, let's do some All Time Great Live Albums. For me, there is a Holy Trinity, one or more of which many fans would agree with. They are :

"Made In Japan" by Deep Purple

"Strangers In The Night" by UFO

"Live Dates" by Wishbone Ash

To me, those are the three greatest live albums of all time. The only question is : which is Number One? If I was forced to choose, I'd pick "Made In Japan", simply because it captures the raw, loud and incredibly powerful sound of Deep Purple in all their improvisational glory, with no added overdubs in the studio or anything to patch it up. Almost no live albums that came afterward were unadulterated. If you wanna hear what a DP concert experience was like, this is it, including Ritchie Blackmore's patented Strat sound, played through boosted Marshall amps, without a doubt the most electrifying live guitar sound ever produced. Now mind you, this was DP in the Ian Gillan years (which most fans think was the ultimate incarnation of the band), but I saw them at California Jam on the "Burn" tour, with the Coverdale/Hughes lineup, and that version, at that concert, smoked even the "Made In Japan" recording. Watch the Deep Purple California Jam performance in full, if you ever have the time. It took place only 3 1/2 years after Jimi Hendrix died. Ritchie was the true successor to Hendrix as a live performer and innovator, and really, because of his advanced guitar technique, he was poised to pave the way into the future of hard rock.  

After that it's a toss up between "Live Dates" and "Strangers", two entirely different sounding records. Wishbone Ash were a unique band, who combined one of the first uses of twin lead guitars with almost folk music lead vocals, backed by a driving rhythm section that provided steady backup for the extended harmonic excursions of Andy Powell and Ted Turner. How to classify Wishbone Ash? Blues rock? Check. English Folk? Check. The founders of shredding Twin Leads (before Judas Priest or Iron Maiden)? Check.

They never sounded like anyone else, and that is true of almost any band you care to name from that time.

The same is true of UFO, and in the case of "Strangers In The Night", the hard rock energy jumps out of the speakers at you and never lets up from start to finish. Straightforward hard rock was an interesting genre - there weren't many bands pursuing it, and most that did sounded generic. Not so UFO, who had songcraft to spare, and who also had the genius of Michael Schenker and his precisely written guitar riffs. They had in addition an underrated vocalist and lyricist, Phil Mogg, without whom all their great songs would never have had the same effect. I had the pleasure to see them live several times, including on the "Lights Out" tour during which this album was recorded. I've just finished reading Pete Way's autobiography (which I highly recommend), and he describes this period in the band's history in great detail. For me, Michael Schenker was the guitarist who bridged the gap between Ritchie Blackmore and Edward Van Halen, which is not to say he was a marker or a stop gap. He was incredible, but he kind of got lost in the shuffle, because then EVH came along and redefined the game. But if you watch the UFO concert videos available from 1978, Michael Schenker is absolutely shredding beyond any reasonable doubt, and his musicality was up in the handful of great lead players. Being musical is all important, and he was that in spades. And the band, and their songs, were killer. Even more than that, they are songs you can hum and remember to this day, note for note. And the energy, the songs, and the musicality on "Strangers In The Night" is unmatched for a hard rock live album. For many fans, it's #1.

We'll do some more live albums soon. Another one that I'd mention for now would be "Unleashed In The East" by Judas Priest. That album will flatten you. Just listen to the opening track, "Exciter", for proof. If you recall the old Maxell ad, with the guy's hair being blown back as he listens on headphones, that's "Unleashed". The only thing that must be mentioned is that - supposedly - there were quite a few overdubs made in the studio afterwards. But even if true, it's a small deduction, because this is an accurate representation of Priest at the time : an unstoppable musical force that left the audience in awe.

That's all for tonight. See you in the morning. I love you.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):) 

Believe in The United States of America + Halloween & Horror Novels

This blog was begun Tuesday night, September 29th 2020 :

 As you know I don't usually mention politics, but tonight I'll make a brief comment to say that despite the chaotic debacle that passed for a debate, I thought Joe Biden did well. First of all, he dispelled any notion that he is senile. His answers - when he was allowed to speak uninterrupted, which wasn't often - were concise and informative. He didn't ramble and was actually pretty quick-witted for a 77 year old. I've been watching the post-debate coverage and I wish that more of the analysts had pointed those things out. All I kept hearing was how the debate itself was a fiasco, as if Biden had contributed to that result. No one actually said that; the blame was laid squarely at the feet of Trump and poor Chris Matthews (who did his best, I thought, in a no-win situation). But the press coverage reminded me of that old statement attributed to parents and schoolteachers who come upon a children's fight : "I don't care who started it, you're both in trouble"!

To me, that's the lazy way out. And calling the debate a fiasco without explicitly stating why, and without specifically calling out the one man who was responsible, is equally lazy in my opinion.

Yes, the debate was a total meltdown. But it was entirely because of Donald Trump. Joe Biden had nothing to do with it - he actually remained calm for the most part - and he turned in a surprisingly good performance. I just wish the pundits had emphasized that, instead of lumping the whole thing together as a "s***show", in CNN's words. 

Having said all of that, I think Trump just pounded the final nail into his own coffin. He spent the whole 90 minutes ranting and raving, and talking over Biden at every opportunity, as we all saw. And while nothing can sway his base (he's right when he says he could shoot someone on 5th avenue and they'd still vote for him), I think enough independent voters were turned off by what they saw to solidify Biden's lead in the crucial swing states (Pennsylvania, Florida, 'Sconsin, et al) past the point of no return. Trump's implosion on national television just finished off his political career, and with any luck, he will be sent to prison after leaving office, hopefully for the remainder of his miserable life, and with a little bit more luck, the arch-criminal William Barr will be sent away with him, never to be heard from again.

And having said all of that, I really don't talk much about politics, for good reason.  :)  /////

Now it's Thursday October 1st, late night, and the debate is old news because it's just come over the airwaves that Trump has Covid-19. I must say that I hope he doesn't get sick (and I would say that anyway, much as I despise the man) because I don't want it to become an election issue, or worse, interfere with the election. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we want it over and done with, especially since we're now in position for a big Biden win.  /////

Elizabeth, that was an excellent response this morning to whoever the idiot was who made that racist post. I did see a name at the bottom of it, and I was surprised because it was under the heading of a person's photography studio. You don't usually expect that from a fashion photographer, but I guess racists come in all shapes and sizes. What's more amazing is that the person was willing to risk destroying their business and career by voicing their repugnant views. As we see with that heavy metal promoter, once such views are made known, you're toast (in his case I don't actually know what he said). I don't know what the issue was with the photographer, either, but it was clear she was insinuating something, and it was clear it was racially motivated. Trump has emboldened such people, but my guess is that in her case, it will be to her professional detriment. And good riddance, too. Anyhow, I hope all is well with you. Don't let the world get you down; things are gonna get better in every way, even if it takes a little time.  :):)

It's now October, which means Halloweentime, and we're gonna have an awesome Halloween, covid or no covid. Y'know how "neither rain, nor sleet, nor dark of night can stop The Postman from his appointed rounds"? The same is true of Halloween. Nothing's gonna stop it, even if we can't go trick or treating. We've got two Full Moons this month; one was tonight, the other is on October 31st, so that's pretty cool right there. And, we can still put up decorations, carve pumpkins, etc.

Let's start October with a quick list of Ten Excellent Horror Novels That Are Not By Stephen King.

Here we go, in no particular order :

"City Infernal" by Edward Lee

"Weaveworld" by Clive Barker

"Boy's Life" by Robert R. McCammon

"The Count of Eleven" by Ramsey Campbell

"The Lost" by Jack Ketchum

"A Head Full of Ghosts" by Paul Tremblay

"The Orchard" by Charles L. Grant

"Odd Thomas" by Dean Koontz

"Toybox" by Al Sarrantonio (short stories)

"Prayers To Broken Stones" by Dan Simmons (short stories)

I love short stories (just like I love short movies!) and have recently begun Stephen King's latest collection, "If It Bleeds". I have also just yesterday received the Dan Simmons book from the Libe, and this is a unique case with this book, because I've checked it out several times over the years, beginning in the late 90s. I don't usually re-read a lot of stuff, with the exception of some SK classics, but with the Simmons book, there is a story inside called "Iverson's Pits", about a gruesome civil war battle, replete with ghosts, and it's so doggone scary and unforgettable that I am compelled to re-read it every five years or so. This will be about my fourth go-round, haha.

So yeah, read some horror fiction if you dare. Ed Lee is fantastic; another of his best is "The Black Train". Paul Tremblay, for me, is the best horror writer since King. He's just getting started, but has five horror novels out, one of them - "Growing Things" - features some of the most creative short stories you will ever read. I found myself thinking "how could anyone come up with this stuff"? So that's Tremblay for ya.

Charles Grant is another big favorite of mine. He will creep you out in a quiet way. He's what I'd call subliminal horror. I was just tonight checking Amazon for the availability of his older books, many are collector's items now.

Well, that's all for tonight. We are a month away from the election. Trump will soon be in our rearview mirror, and in the years to come he will be a distant memory, as will all his followers. There will always be racists, but without a cheerleader president they will fade back into the shadows, and with William Barr gone (or hopefully in prison), we will have an FBI and Justice Department that will keep a strong watch on militias and other lowlifes. So don't worry, and believe in The United States of America.

Stay Well and Stay Strong. I love you and will see you in the morning.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)