SOUNDTRACK: PHISH-“Martian Monster” (MGM Grand Garden Arena, Friday 10, 31, 2014).
In honor of Halloween, these Ghost Box stories will be attached to a recent Phish Halloween show [with quoted material from various reviews].
Known for dawning musical costumes to celebrate [Halloween], Phish broke with tradition last year to offer a set of original music. The Phish Bill read that Phish’s musical costume would be a 1964 Disney album of sound effects – Chilling, Thrilling Sounds Of The Haunted House. But it wasn’t a cover set. Phish played original music set amongst an incredibly psychedelic, theatrical graveyard stage accentuated by zombie dancers and a ghoulish MC. At the start of the set, the stage was cleared before a graveyard came to the foreground. Smoke filled the air, zombie dancers appeared, and music filled the venue. A haunted house was brought to the front of the stage, which eventually exploded, and all four-band members appeared, dressed in white like zombies.
“Martian Monster” is the final song in the Phish Halloween set. It’s a funky clavinet-fueled rocker and the longest track at 14 plus minutes. Page is having a lot of fun on this song, both playing the riffs and sampling portions of the narration.
The song is meant to be a trip to Mars. Because of the speed of your rocket, your trip is short. It as described as
a filthy, original Phish groove mixed with spoken word quotes, sound effects and vocal warbles as actors performed zombie-fied dances in the space surrounding the haunted house. McConnell’s funky clavinet leads were at the forefront of the deliciously weird “Martian Monster.”
There are dozens of samples of “your trip is short.” By the middle of the song, Trey starts reciting “your trip is short” which is getting manipulated crazily. They are processed and robotic as we hear the Martian chewing and chewing (chewing you, obviously).
The song builds and builds and builds to a big blast off climax and then it returns to the funky keys and lots of “your trip is short.”
It’s a great ending to this surprising original set.
[READ: October 25, 2017] “Shadetree”
Just in time for Halloween. from the people who brought me The Short Story Advent Calendar comes The Ghost Box.
This is a nifty little box (with a magnetic opening) that contains 11 stories for Halloween. Lovingly described thusly:
A collection of chilly, spooky, hair-raising-y stories to get you in that Hallowe’en spirit, edited and introduced by comedian and horror aficionado Patton Oswalt.
There is no “order” to these books, so I’m reading them in what I think was the order they were boxed (or at least the order I last put them back in the box).
This is the final book in the box and it’s a doozy.
There was a lot of this story that made me really angry and I’m trying to decide if it’s a misogynist story or just a powerful story where a woman is the victim (subtle distinction, I know).
The story is about a girl named Colly Sue and a boy named Shadetree. They enjoyed listening to the stories that Shadetree’s great-uncle would tell. They were spooky supernatural stories about ghosts, witches and haunts. He had a dry whispery voice and it made the stories seem very real. Colly Sue was frightened but never stopped coming to hear. Shadetree enjoyed spooking Colly Sue. He would grab her during the story or claim that he was a spook or a haunt. One day he told Colly Sue that he was a swapchild–a small haunt that was exchanged for a human being. And Colly Sue didn’t doubt it. Shadetree asserted, “I’d never hurt you, Colly Sue.” (more…)
I Just Read About That... 