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Archive for the ‘Ghosts’ Category

E.G. Swain–“Bone to His Bone” [The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar #23] (1912)

Posted in Canadian Content, Christmas, Coronavirus, Cory Henry, Cory Henry and The Funk Apostles, E. G. Swain, Ghosts, Hingston & Olsen, Quarantine, Short Story, Snarky Puppy, The Short Story Advent Calendar, Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, Tiny Desk Concert on December 23, 2020| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: CORY HENRY: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert #129 (December 21, 2020).

I wondered if there would be a Christmas themed Tiny Desk (Home) Concert.  And here’s one.

Cory Henry was the keyboardist for Snarky Puppy.  He has since gone solo and here he is playing some jazzy songs with just a drummer.

Henry is a renowned composer, producer and musician who rose to fame as a member of Snarky Puppy. In 2018, he visited the actual Tiny Desk for a jubilant performance with his own band, Cory Henry and The Funk Apostles. Just a few weeks ago, he released a holiday album, Christmas With You, a collection of classics and new compositions full of comfort, joy and reflection. For this Tiny Desk (home) concert, Henry and his longtime collaborator, drummer TaRon Lockett, recorded a couple of those songs at the Gold-Diggers studio in Los Angeles.

Henry plays two songs with Lockett.

For the first one, he’s on piano.  “Misty Christmas” is a bouncy fluid piece that sounds like something you might here on a Peanuts special.  There’s some nicely complex and varied drumming to accompany Henry’s jazzy piano.  It runs about 6 minutes and then Henry sends us some nice words.

“May these songs fill you and your family with joy and happiness as we bring in what will be a far better year than the last. Live in love, live in peace, grow in freedom. Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays.”

Watch for his adorable pocket pitbull, Lady Lingus, right before he shifts to the organ with another soulful original, “Christmas With You.”

The second piece starts with the lyrics from “The Most Wonderful Time” of the year, but with a different melody.  Turns out it’s just the introduction to a new pop jazz song.  He’s got a retro sound on his organ and sings softly as he plays, full of smiles for all.  His voice is soft and pleasant.

This is a nice Christmas song although I don’t see it becoming a classic.

[READ: December 23, 2020] “Bone to His Bone”

This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my fifth time reading the Calendar.  I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable.  Here’s what they say this year

You know the drill by now. The 2020 Short Story Advent Calendar is a deluxe box set of individually bound short stories from some of the best writers in North America.

This year’s slipcase is a thing of beauty, too, with electric-yellow lining and spot-glossed lettering. It also comes wrapped in two rubber bands to keep those booklets snug in their beds.

As always, each story is a surprise, so you won’t know what you’re getting until you crack the seal every morning starting December 1. Once you’ve read that day’s story, check back here to read an exclusive interview with the author.

It’s December 23.  E. G. Swain died in 1938 and did not respond to multiple requests for comment. [Click the link to the H&O extras for the story].

I tend to enjoy the older stories in these collections quite a lot.  Not to detract from contemporary writers at all, but I thought it might be fun if H&O made a collection of just later 19th and early 20th century stories that did not have a lot of exposure. (more…)

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Thomas Siddell–Gunnerkrigg Court: Volume 4: Materia (2013)

Posted in Adoption, Adventure, Alternate Reality, Boredom, Canadian Music, Culture Shock, Demons, Elisapie, Fantasy, First Nations, Funny (ha ha), Ghosts, Graphic Novel, Inuit, Lizzo, Magic, Monsters, Myths, Pigeons, Research, Robots, Romance, Science, Set at School, Smarty Pants, Supernatural, Superstitions, Thomas Siddell, Threats, Tiny Desk Concert, Unfinished series, Witches, YA Books, Zombies on March 19, 2020| Leave a Comment »

516ZKjM2CqL._SX351_BO1,204,203,200_ (1) SOUNDTRACK: ELISAPIE-Tiny Desk Concert #948 (February 20, 2020).

downloadElisapie (I have no idea how to pronounce that) is a First Nations singer from Salluit, on the Northern tip of Quebec.

She sings in Inuktitut (as well as in English and French).  And her voice is absolutely intense.

Her songs are very personal–she sings of

her life as an adopted child and of meeting her biological mother. Now, as a mother herself, she sings about what it must have meant to her own mother to give up her child.

Elisapie left her birth-village, Salluit, as a teenager and headed to Montreal, leaving her community and her sick mom. The songs she sings, here all come from her album, The Ballad of the Runaway Girl and deal with the consequences of her leaving.

These songs are definitely rock, but with a different overall sound.  Jason Sharp’s bass saxophone is fantastic–creating deep low rumbles and otherworldly squawks.

“Arnaq” opens with some chugging guitar riffs (I can’t tell if the guitar is acoustic or electric) from Joe Grass and after a verse or so, some great noisy electric guitars from Josh Toal, who punctuates the song with little solos.  There’s no bass guitar because the bass saxophone covers all of the low ends.

The song, even though it is in Inuktitut is rally catchy with a chorus of “ahhhhhh, I, yi, I” (or something).

The middle section is full of great noises as both guitars and the sax all play some wild solos.

All of this is held together by “the tasteful drumming of Evan Tighe.”

She says the second song, “Una” is the most painful yet the most freeing song.  It is  written to her biological mother.  In Inuktitut the word for mother means “our little bag” because they carried us.

It opens with slow staccato guitar chords and a near a capella vocal before the quiet electric guitar from Josh Toal joins in.  The spareness of the beginning of this song is a great counterpoint to the end of the song when everyone joins in–vocals, guitars, sax and some complex drumming.

Before the final song, she looks around and smiles and says Lizzo was here!  My daughter is very excited.

The final song “Darkness Bring The Light” opens with some great weird sounds from everyone.  Tighe makes scraping metallic sounds as he slides his drum sticks around the cymbals.  Toal plays a synth intro as Grass bows his guitar and Sharp makes waves of gentle sounds to underpin the melody

This one is in English.  She sings a melody that rides over the sounds.  After 2 minutes the drums kick in and after a run through of the chorus, the guitarists join in

Bob Boilen concludes

This is an extraordinary Tiny Desk from an artist with something meaningful to say.

He is absolutely correct.  This set is fantastic.

[READ: March 10, 2020] Gunnerkrigg Court 4 [32-41]

I really enjoyed the first three books of this series and then promptly forgot about it.  I happened to see this book at the library and was excited to see that I hadn’t read it.  Can it really have been three years since I last read about these characters?

Being away for so long made some of this a little confusing.  I will have to read the whole story again some time.

Chapter 32 shows Antimony returning from the forest and there is a warm welcome with Renard. But Katarina’s welcome is cool–“you kinda make it hard to be your friend.” Antimony tries very hard to make Kat like her again…too hard.  She creates scary situations in which she can “save” Kat,  It doesn’t exactly work, although Kat isn’t really mad anymore, just annoyed.  But then a gigantic creepy monster thing comes out of the water.  Kat is impressed by Annie’s conjuring until Annie says she didn’t do it.  They run out.

Only to learn that this is Lindsey–the creature who helped design most of everything at the court–a giant crablike creature.

All this time Kat has been working on the idea of growing a robot.  Well, not exactly, but kind of.  She imagines using a muscular frame to build a robot body around.  Or something.  She is able to use the smarts of one of the existing robots to give her a hand.  The code they provide is actually a small white cube with no writing on it.  Amazingly Kat is able to read parts of it. (more…)

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Charles Beaumont–“The Vanishing American” (published 1955) [Ghost Box III] (2019)

Posted in Charles Beaumont, Dario Argento, Ghosts, Goblin, Halloween, Hingston & Olsen, Invisibility, Luca Guadagnino, Patton Oswalt, Suspiria, The Ghost Box, The Twilight Zone on October 19, 2019| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: GOBLIN-“Suspiria” (1977).

A lot of the music I listen to is weird and probably creepy to other people, but I don’t necessarily think of songs as appropriate for Halloween or not.  So for this year’s Ghost Box stories, I consulted an “expert”: The Esquire list of Halloween songs you’ll play all year long.  The list has 45 songs–most of which I do not like.  So I picked 11 of them to post about.

I had never heard of Goblin, an Italian prog rock band.  They are primarily known for their soundtrack work.

This song is from the 1977 Italian supernatural horror film Suspiria directed by Dario Argento, which served as the inspiration for the 2018 film Suspiria, directed by Luca Guadagnino.

The song starts out quietly with bells and a twinkling piano–signalling either a children’s song or a demonic score.  The song reveals it full demonic side with some eerily strummed mandolin and then, creepiest of all a whispered voice singing “La La La La La La La” along with the melody.

This continues for about 2 and a half minutes before a spacey synth and a rumbling bass and drum jolt the song forward.  There’s more whispered words and some keyboard stabs.  This resolves into a fast keyboard version of the initial bells motif.

After two minutes of this the original music returns now with an echoing drum and a much clearer somehow creepier “La La La.”

I have never seen this movie, but if the soundtrack is an indication, it’s must be super creepy.

[READ: October 18, 2019] “The Vanishing American”

Just in time for Halloween, from the people who brought me The Short Story Advent Calendar and The Ghost Box. and Ghost Box II. comes Ghost Box III.

This is once again a nifty little box (with a magnetic opening and a ribbon) which contains 11 stories for Halloween.  It is lovingly described thusly:

Oh god, it’s right behind me, isn’t it? There’s no use trying to run from Ghost Box III, the terrifying conclusion to our series of limited-edition horror box sets edited and introduced by Patton Oswalt.

There is no explicit “order” to these books; however, I’m going to read in the order they were stacked.

This story isn’t scary.  It’s more thought provoking.  And, in fact, it has one of the most positive endings in a story that I’ve read in a long time. (more…)

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David Rabe–“Uncle Jim Called” (New Yorker, July 8 & 15, 2019)

Posted in American Football, Children's Chorus of Washington, David Rabe, Ghosts, Huh?, Humiliation, New Yorker, NPR/PRI/PBS, Pink Floyd, Pure Bathing Culture, Short Story, The Weakerthans, Tiny Desk Concert on July 8, 2019| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: AMERICAN FOOTBALL-Tiny Desk Concert #865 (July 8, 2019).

It’s common, at least for me, to dislike a band because of their name.  Sometimes I get over it and sometimes I have no reason to get over it.

I thought the name American Football was really dumb, so I never listened to the band (because I don’t like football).  I also didn’t know they’d broken up or that they’d reunited.

But here they are with a Tiny Desk Concert.

Twenty years after a self-titled debut that featured one heartbroken mixtape-worthy song after another, American Football is writing some of the best music of its career right now. Once an emo trio from Central Illinois, American Football brought its expanded band to the Tiny Desk, including a vibraphonist, backing singer and, yes, six children from a D.C. choir.

They play three songs from LP3, as it’s colloquially known, (they have put out 2 self-titled records in the last three years).  For an indie rock band, they get a really long Tiny Desk, as well.  None of this under ten minute stuff for American Football, this set stretches to 18 minutes because each song runs about 6 minutes.

The first third of which is taken up with the first song “Every Wave To Ever Rise.”  It’s a slow, expansive song with singer Matt Kinsella singing gently.  But to me the most exciting thing about the song is Cory Bracken on vibraphone.  He makes some awesome echoing vibes sounds that sound otherworldly.  And at three minutes, he takes out a violin bow and bows ones of the keys.  So cool.

I really enjoy the music of the songs.  The guitar melody that Kinsella plays around two minutes is fantastic, but I find the song a little dull.  There’s a really nice guitar solo at the end while Steve Holmes plays a pretty picked melody.

Maybe I’d just prefer this song as an instrumental.

The blurb says that “these spacious songs act as revelatory meditations on what it means to grow older in love and relationships, with lovers and family.”  I wonder if that means they sound different on record–faster maybe?

“Uncomfortably Numb” references Pink Floyd not only in the title, but also in the way the chorus also includes an “ahhhhh” before the line “I have become uncomfortably numb.”  Although the song sounds nothing like the Pink Floyd song.

Indeed, it opens with drummer Steve Lamos playing a slow trumpet piece–for two minutes.  After a short pause the song starts with harmonics from guitarist Steve Holmes.  Pure Bathing Culture’s Sarah Versprille takes a verse on the song (and sing backing vocals on the other songs).

I enjoy the wordplay in this song for sure.

I blamed my father in my youth
Now as a father, I blame the booze

I used to struggle in my youth
Now I’m used to struggling for two

Versprille’s backing vocals add a lot to the song and it’s interesting to have her sing a verse–it changes the dynamic of the song.  (And those vibes are excellent of course).

It’s the final track, “Heir Apparent” that features the children.

For “Heir Apparent,” we reached out to members of the Children’s Chorus of Washington to sing the coda’s quiet mantra. When the 12-to-14-year olds asked frontman Mike Kinsella what the song meant, in order to capture the right emotion, he told them, in so many words, that it was a sad song, but that he’d like them to wear paper crowns while singing it. Just a touch of Kinsella irony, as he grinned ear-to-ear and they sang, “Heir apparent to the throne / The king of all alone.”

The Chorus inlcudes: Mallory Valmon, Amelia Lashway, Jenna Loescher-Clark, Marika Clark, Taylor Bowen-Longino and William Ekrem.

The song opens with some echoing guitars as Kinsella sings.  There’s some gorgeous vibraphone playing and Mike Garzon plays a melodica.  I really like the high bass line from Nate Kinsella. in the middle of the song.  In fact, once again, the music in the song is really terrific.

With about two minutes left, the kids walk out, dressed in red with crowns on.  The sound beautiful and it’s a very nice ending to the song.

The songs remind me a bit of Weakerthans, which means I should like them more than I do.  Maybe I just need to spend more time with them and I can learn to like them despite their name.

[READ: July 2, 2019] “Uncle Jim Called”

A week ago Thursday, Glenn’s Uncle Jim called him.  He sounded familiar but Glenn didn’t recognize him immediately.  When Uncle Jim said who he was, Glenn was confused because “I thought Uncle Jim was dead.”

This whole story is trippy and weird but amazingly, despite its length, it manages to makes this fairly simple premise work.

Uncle Jim was with his brother Hank (also dead).  They were calling Glenn to ask for Glenn’s mother (their sister) Margie.  Margie was also dead, he thought.

Glenn is uncertain about nearly everything.  He shouts “She’d dead!  You’re all dead!”

Their reply: “So?” (more…)

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Drew Weing–The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo: The Monster Mall [#2] (2018)

Posted in Children's Books, Drew Weing, First Second :01, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Gaelynn Lea, Ghosts, Goblins, Graphic Novel, Monsters, Supernatural, SXSW, Tiny Desk Family Hour, Trolls, Unfinished series, Vampires on March 15, 2019| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: GAELYNN LEA-“I Wait” Tiny Desk Family Hour (March 12, 2019).

These next few shows were recorded at NPR’s SXSW Showcase.

The SXSW Music Festival is pleased to announce the first-ever Tiny Desk Family Hour showcase, an evening of music by artists who have played NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert, at Central Presbyterian Church on Tuesday, March 12 from 8-11pm.

If you’re going to put together the first-ever Tiny Desk Family Hour — an epic night of Tiny Desk-style concerts, held at the wonderful Central Presbyterian Church in Austin during SXSW Tuesday night — you might as well kick things off with a core member of the Tiny Desk Family. Gaelynn Lea won 2016’s second annual Tiny Desk Contest with the barest of ingredients: a few swooping violin strokes, a loop pedal and her fragile-but-forceful voice.

At the Tiny Desk Family Hour, Lea performed in that same spare configuration. She closed with a powerful song called “I Wait,” which addresses the way people with disabilities — Lea herself has brittle bone disease, and works as a motivational speaker and teacher as well as a musician — are frequently left out of social justice movements. It’s Lea at her best, as her warm, intense, hauntingly beautiful voice is shot through with a clear sense of purpose.

This song is wonderful.  The looping is simple but effective–the notes are menacing and effective, while the unlooped pizzicato notes add just the right amount of rhythm to this otherwise sparse song.  For this song is all about the lyrics.  Lea details what it’s like to be handicapped–not in the world at large, but within protest movements which supposedly have her best intentions at heart.

So when you hear them
Make claims of progress
Take a good look
And see who isn’t there
We need a seat now
At the table
So please invite us
Or don’t pretend to care.

When Lea brought “I’ll Wait” to an abrupt close, the audience’s soft collective gasp gave way to the night’s first standing ovation.

It’s a stunning ending.

[READ: February 12, 2019] The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo #2

I really enjoyed the first book in this series and I’m happy to see the follow-up.

It opens with a recap from Charles Thompson, a future reporter (who uses a tiny reporter’s pad to write down his thoughts).  He talks about how he met Margo Maloo, the “Monster Mediator” and how with her help, he was able to locate and deal with a troll in his house.  And by “deal with” he means befriend.  For although Margo is a mediator between monsters and humans, she is mostly interested in the safety of the monsters.

Thompson has dozens of readers, he thinks, and maybe this is why Margo wants his help.

She will not be getting any help from Charles’ friend Kevin, who wants nothing to do with any monsters (unless they come in toy-form, like the Battle Beanz). (more…)

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Doretta Lau–“Every One of My Answers was a Disappointment” [The 2018 Short Story Advent Calendar #13] (2018)

Posted in Artists, Barenaked Ladies, Canadian Content, Chanukah Album, Christmas Album, Death, Doretta Lau, Feminism, Ghosts, Hingston & Olsen, Marriage Trouble, Michael Bublé, Religion, Sex, Sexism, Short Story, The Short Story Advent Calendar, Theodore Wan on December 13, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BARENAKED LADIES-Barenaked for the Holidays (2004).

Barenaked for the Holidays is one of my favorite Christmas albums of all time.  It is by turns silly, serious, religious (Jewish and Christian) and secular.  It is pro Christmas and anti Christmas and many things in between.  There are cheesy instrumentals, impressive a capella rounds and even a Batman joke.  It’s everything people love (hate) about BNL.

The disc opens with Jingle Bells.  It opens quietly with a somber piano as Steven Page sings the lyrics.  It’s quite lovely.  After a minute and a half, insanity sets in with a wild continuation, as Steven goes bananas.  There’s a drum-only verse and even a verse of Jungle Bells Batman Smells.  It encapsulates all of Christmas in just a few minutes.

“Green Christmas” is a poppy, funny anti-Christmas song that’s super catchy.  It’s sung by Ed Robertson and is one of his latter style concoctions.  I have several versions of this song om various releases.  This is my favorite because when the carolers sing and he shuts the door on them you can hear their voices change.

“I Saw Three Ships” is done on a mandolin and sung first by Kevin Hearn.  Then a rotating cast of the band joins in.

“Hanukkah Blessing” is a wonderful original song by Steven.  It’s incredibly catchy with a nice telling of the Hanukkah story.  It even has a verse in Hebrew.

“O Holy Night” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” are done in a kind of ice rink keyboard–cheesey but a lot of fun cheesey.

I sort of like “Elf’s Lament” because it’s pretty funny, but it’s really rather dark–maybe too dark?   I don’t think I ever realized that the voice I don’t recognize i Michael Bublé, which is pretty insane.

“Snowman” is an original song about how much of a bummer it is being a snowman.

“Do They Know Its Christmas?” I hate the original of this song but I do like this version which takes some of the schmaltz and cheese out of it.  I also like that they mock “thank god it’s them instead do of you!”

“Hanukkah o Hanukkah”  Accordion and guitar play this wonderfully traditional song.

“God rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings” was recorded in 1996 with Sarah McLachlan.  It’s quite nice but feels out of place–like they should have re-recorded it.

“Carol of the Bells” is a trippy synth version with lots of voice-sounds from Steven.

“Footprints” is a slower Ed song–pretty and kind of somber.

“Deck the Stills” is just a genius version of “Deck the Halls.”   How did they every figure out that you could perfectly fit the words “Crosby Stills Nash and Young” into that musical pattern?  I’d love to hear the process for making this one.

“Christmas Time (Oh Yeah)” This is a Kevin song which means its sweet and kind of quiet, but there’s also some wonderful backing vocals (oooohhh yeah).

“Sleigh Ride” is zany scatting version that lasts less than a minute.

“Christmas Pics” is a Jim song with lots of upright bass.  It’s a typically funny and sweet song by Jim.

“I Have a Little Dreidel” is a little goofy sounding on banjo–it seems more hoe-down than Jewish.  But it’s a hoot.

“Wonderful Christmastime” is an instrumental with drum machine and keys but a very funny wah-wah type of keyboard sound that sort of mocks the original.  It ends with them singing happy birthday to Jesus.

“Auld Lang Syne: ends the disc.  It’s a beautiful version with great harmonies, really showcasing that this is a great band who likes to have fun too.

[READ: December 13, 2018] “Every One of My Answers was a Disappointment”

Once again, I have ordered The Short Story Advent Calendar.  This is my third time reading the Calendar (thanks S.).  I never knew about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh).  Here’s what they say this year

Fourth time’s the charm.

After a restful spring, rowdy summer, and pretty reasonable fall, we are officially back at it again with another deluxe box set of 24 individually bound short stories to get you into the yuletide spirit.

The fourth annual Short Story Advent Calendar might be our most ambitious yet, with a range of stories hailing from eight different countries and three different originating languages (don’t worry, we got the English versions). This year’s edition features a special diecut lid and textured case. We also set a new personal best for material that has never before appeared in print.

Want a copy?  Order one here.

Like last year I’m pairing each story with a holiday disc from our personal collection.

This is the story of an artist, Amelia, who has flown from Vancouver to Toronto to live for a few months.  She was almost forty, recently separated and had just had a major art showing (she sold everything and was basically set for a long time).  She sublets a place from her younger brother’s best friend Sab–neither her brother nor Sab knew about the separation. (more…)

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Julius Long–“The Pale Man” (published 1934) [Ghost Box II] (2018)

Posted in Canadian Content, Death, Fears, Ghosts, Halloween, Halloween, Hingston & Olsen, Hotels, John Carpenter, Julius Long, Patton Oswalt, Short Story, The Ghost Box on October 31, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: JOHN CARPENTER-“Halloween-Main Title” (1979).

This song is so wonderfully creepy.  Even some 40 years after it was made, it still can give you shivers.

It opens with that piano melody in 10/8 time.  It adds minor key synth chords.  And it keeps going–morphing, changing slowly but never straying far from the original.  It adds intense strings as it progresses.  And all along it has this ticking metronome that is going very fast–much faster than anything else in the song, like a ticking time bomb.

Somewhere in the middle of the song a drum beat is added.  But it’s not so much a drum beat as it is a footstep.  It’s subtle at first–you kind of feel it in there.  You don’t really notice it.  But when the music all drops away at 2:30 to just the piano and the ticking, that footstep is there with you.

Don’t settle for covers or samples.  Don’t accept the version that has the thumping drum right from the start.

Take that late-1970s recording, that old quality, the weird drum footstep sound, it’s all perfect.

It’s the original or nothing.

[READ: October 31, 2018] “The Pale Man”

Just in time for Halloween, from the people who brought me The Short Story Advent Calendar and The Ghost Box. comes Ghost Box II.

This is once again a nifty little box (with a magnetic opening and a ribbon) which contains 11 stories for Halloween.  It is lovingly described thusly:

The Ghost Box returns, like a mummy or a batman, to once again make your pupils dilate and the hair on your arms stand straight up—it’s another collection of individually bound scary stories, edited and introduced by comedian and spooky specialist Patton Oswalt.

There is no explicit “order” to these books; however, Patton Oswalt will be reviewing a book a day on his Facebook page.

Much respect to Oswalt, but I will not be following his order.  So there. (more…)

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Michael Shea–“Uncle Tuggs” (published 1987) [Ghost Box II] (2018)

Posted in Bauhaus, Beer, Bela Lugosi, Canadian Content, Death, Drinking, Drugs, Funny (ha ha), Ghosts, Halloween, Hingston & Olsen, Michael Shea, Patton Oswalt, Revenge, Short Story, Supernatural, The Ghost Box, Violence, Yuck! on October 30, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BAUHAUS-“Bela Lugosi’s Dead” (1979).

This was Bauhaus’ first single–a nine minute ode to being undead.  It’s considered the foundation of Goth music.

“Bela Lugosi’s Dead” starts with noises and feedback–echoing guitar scratches and atmospherics.

After about a minute and a half the simple three note bass line begins–slow and menacing.

Another minute later the vocals begin–Peter Murphy’s low voice reciting the lyrics.

White on white translucent black capes
Back on the rack
Bela Lugosi’s dead
The bats have left the bell tower
The victims have been bled
Red velvet lines the black box
Bela Lugosi’s dead
Undead undead undead

The guitars are primarily high notes as the chords change and for a brief moment in the chorus, the three-note melody goes up in stead of down.

The remainder of the lyrics:

The virginal brides file past his tomb
Strewn with time’s dead flowers
Bereft in deathly bloom
Alone in a darkened room
The count
Bela Lugosi’s dead
Undead undead undead

Around five-minutes the song quiets down to just drums and echoing scratched guitars.  Around seven minutes, Murphy starts wailing “Bela’s undead.”  The last minute or so returns to the beginning with echoed guitars sounds and scratches.

Lo-fi creepiness.

[READ: October 29, 2018] “Uncle Tuggs”

Just in time for Halloween, from the people who brought me The Short Story Advent Calendar and The Ghost Box. comes Ghost Box II.

This is once again a nifty little box (with a magnetic opening and a ribbon) which contains 11 stories for Halloween.  It is lovingly described thusly:

The Ghost Box returns, like a mummy or a batman, to once again make your pupils dilate and the hair on your arms stand straight up—it’s another collection of individually bound scary stories, edited and introduced by comedian and spooky specialist Patton Oswalt.

There is no explicit “order” to these books; however, Patton Oswalt will be reviewing a book a day on his Facebook page.

Much respect to Oswalt, but I will not be following his order.  So there. (more…)

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Stephen King–“Gray Matter” (published 1973) [Ghost Box II] (2018)

Posted in Beer, Canadian Content, Death, Drinking, Fears, Ghosts, Guns, Halloween, Hingston & Olsen, Maine, Patton Oswalt, Rheostatics, Short Story, Snow, Stephen King, The Ghost Box, Yuck! on October 28, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS “Halloween Eyes” (?).

This song is somewhat legendary among Rheostatics stories.  I’m not really sure when they wrote it (a long time ago).  I’m not even sure if there’s more to it than this verse.  Every time I’ve heard it played it has lasted about a minute.

It’s a simple guitar riff with some quite ridiculous lyrics

Don’t look at me with your Halloween eyes Awhoooo
Don’t hit me with your pumpkin pies Awhoooo
Devil’s got horns, devil’s got a tail–666, gonna fuck you up
Some people say that he got scales—666, you’re a sitting duck
Awhooo Awhoo etc etc.

They play it live from time to time (as recently as 2017) and each time they play it they seem to add to the mythology

“These guys really were stoned when they wrote that.”

Is it scary?  Nope.  Is it safe to add to a party playlist?  Nope.  Is it dumb?  Yup.  Do they know that?  Yup.  Is it fun anyway?  Yup.  Sounds like Halloween to me.

[READ: October 20, 2018] “Gray Matter”

Just in time for Halloween, from the people who brought me The Short Story Advent Calendar and The Ghost Box. comes Ghost Box II.

This is once again a nifty little box (with a magnetic opening and a ribbon) which contains 11 stories for Halloween.  It is lovingly described thusly:

The Ghost Box returns, like a mummy or a batman, to once again make your pupils dilate and the hair on your arms stand straight up—it’s another collection of individually bound scary stories, edited and introduced by comedian and spooky specialist Patton Oswalt.

There is no explicit “order” to these books; however, Patton Oswalt will be reviewing a book a day on his Facebook page.

Much respect to Oswalt, but I will not be following his order.  So there. (more…)

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Harlan Ellison–“From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet” (published 1976) [Ghost Box II] (2018)

Posted in AtoZ, Canadian Content, Danny Elfman, Death, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Ghosts, Halloween, Harlan Ellison, Hingston & Olsen, Horror, Louisa Baldwin, Mudhoney, Patton Oswalt, Philip K. Dick, Religion, Sci-fi, Short Story, Sonic Youth, Supernatural, Surreal, The Ghost Box, Yuck! on October 25, 2018| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MUDHONEY-“Halloween” (1988).

Mudhoney recorded a cover of Sonic Youth’s “Halloween” just two years after the original was released.

Mudhoney, a deliberately noisy and abrasive band recorded a deliberately noisy and abrasive version of this song.  And yet at the same time, it doesn’t hold a candle to Sonic Youth;s version for deliberate noise and chaos.

On the other hand, in many respects the Mudhoney version is better.  It feels more like a “real song” with the guitar, bass and drums all playing along fairly conventionally.  It follows the same musical patterns as the original, with that same cool riff, but it just feels…more.

Mark Arm sing/speaks the lyrics more aggressively and less sensuously than Kim Gordon did.  In some way it helps to understand the original song a little more, as if they translated it from Sonic Youth-land into a somewhat more mainstream version.  Although it is hardly mainstream what with the noise and fuzz, the cursing and the fact that it lasts 6 minutes.

It feels like Mark emphasizes these lyrics more than the others although it may just be that the songs builds more naturally to them:

And you’re fucking me
Yeah, you’re fucking with me
You’re fucking with me
As you slither up, slither up to me
Your lips are slipping, twisting up my insides
Sing along and just a swinging man
Singing your song
Now I don’t know what you want
But you’re looking at me
And you’re falling on the ground
And you’re twisting around
Fucking with my, my mind
And I don’t know what’s going on

Happy Halloween

[READ: October 24, 2018] “From A to Z, in the Chocolate Alphabet”

Just in time for Halloween, from the people who brought me The Short Story Advent Calendar and The Ghost Box. comes Ghost Box II.

This is once again a nifty little box (with a magnetic opening and a ribbon) which contains 11 stories for Halloween.  It is lovingly described thusly:

The Ghost Box returns, like a mummy or a batman, to once again make your pupils dilate and the hair on your arms stand straight up—it’s another collection of individually bound scary stories, edited and introduced by comedian and spooky specialist Patton Oswalt.

There is no explicit “order” to these books; however, Patton Oswalt will be reviewing a book a day on his Facebook page.

Much respect to Oswalt, but I will not be following his order.  So there. (more…)

Read Full Post »

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