Show #89 ALL KINDSA GHOULS Halloween Special October 27, 2012

All Kindsa GHOULS is dedicated to Bloody Mary!

Bloody Mary- Barrence Whitfield Dig Yourself
It's Almost Halloween- Panic! At The Disco It's Almost Halloween
Saturday Night In The City Of The Dead- Ultravox! Ultravox!
Dracula's Daughters- Redd Kross Researching The Blues
Death Rehearsal- Toy Love Toy Love
Keepin Halloween Alive- Alice Cooper Keepin Halloween Alive
In The Room Where You Sleep- Dead Man's Bones Dead Man's Bones
Final Ride- Deadbeats Kill the Hippies 7"
^Children of the Grave- Black Sabbath Master of Reality
Free All The Monsters- The Bats Free All The Monsters
Back From The Dead- Adverts  Television's Over 7"
Horror Movie- Skyhooks Horror Movie
Human Fly- The Cramps Bad Music For Bad People
Kottage Kountry Killer- Durango 95 Lose Control
*Graveyard Rockin'- The 3-D Invisibles They Won't Stay Dead!
*Back to the Grave- The Dentists Some People Are On The Pitch They Think It's All Over It Is Now
*Grave Diggers- The Creepshow Sell Your Soul
*Graveyard- Dead Moon In The Graveyard
*One Foot In The Grave- Pernice Brothers Yours, Mine and Ours
*Graveyard Rock- The Joneses Somebody Got Their Head Kicked In!
*Graveyard Groove- The Revillos Attack of the Giant Revillos
Slow Death- The Dictators Blood Brothers
The House On Shady Lane- Plain White T's The House On Shady Lane
Horror Business- Misfits Horror Business 7"         >Rockin' In The Graveyard- Jackie Morningstar No Date 7"
The Devil's Bait- The Dead Elvi Graveland
I Don't Wanna Go Down To The Basement- The Ramones Ramones
I Think Of Demons- Roky Erickson and The Aliens The Evil One
Stake Through My Heart- The Fiends Gravedigger 7"
Dance With the Ghoulman- Fleshtones More Than Skin Deep
Bela Lugosi's Dead- Bauhaus Left Of The Dial: Dispatches From The '80s Underground 

^Power Pop Prototype:  #8 Billboard Album Chart

*SacroSet:  GraveSongs

>Power Pop Prototype:  1956 

Woody Allen once said "80% of life is showing up."  I recently lived a great example of this maxim.  (How unfortunate that the word "maxim" now conjures images of douchey "lad mags" featuring young actresses slutting it up in some sort of creepy "post-feminist statement."  I prefer the word's original definition:  "a short, pithy declaration expressing a general truth or rule of conduct."  But I digress....)  Over the summer I was in a Shakespeare stage adaptation called Two Gentlemen of Sonoma with Aidan the Artistic Director of the newly re-named Sonoma Valley Shakespeare Company.  The company was just about to start a residency at Sonoma Valley High School and he asked if I was interested in taking a couple of small parts in Julius Caesar.  There's a lot of live music in their productions so even though the parts weren't very big, I figured I might be able to snag a spot in the "house band."  Another plus is that the school is practically across the street from my house, an easy commute after trekking to Petaluma for Two Gentlemen.

I told Aidan I'd gladly take the parts and didn't see him until the first read-through a few weeks later.  Jaime and I had both been in his previous production, Romeo and Juliet, last fall so it was great to see the returning out of town members of the company.  The read-through went smoothly and I noticed they had yet to cast Decius Brutus, a larger part than the two I would be playing.  I should mention that the whole idea of Julius Caesar was a "punt" for SVSC because they had been planning to do One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest until the play service people screwed them over in some kind of bureaucratic performance rights snafu.  (Ahh, good old public domain Shakespeare...)  Chad the Director then had about ten days to cut Julius Caesar, which has a 2+ hour run time and 30 characters, into the 90 minute 9 actor production we ended up staging.  So, in Chad's cut Decius Brutus had become a bigger role, one I set my sights on after the read-through.  I didn't hear from anyone for a few days, but I knew they were busy rehearsing As You Like It, the first show in their season.  When I did hear back, they said Decius Brutus was looking good for me but I should stay tuned.  A few days later I got an e-mail from Aidan asking if I would be up for an even bigger part-

Julius Caesar

that of Julius Caesar!  Turns out the guy they wanted originally, who in the small world of North Bay Theater had been my director for Two Gentlemen of Sonoma, had union problems.  So, in the space of three weeks, I had gone from playing bit parts to a major role to the dude the play is freakin' named for!  Brutus is clearly the lead and Cassius is up there too, but still I loved having this conversation, as I did many times in October:

Other person:  So, do you have any plays coming up?
Me:  Yes, I have a part in Julius Caesar.
Other person:  Oh, which part?
Me:  Julius Caesar.

Mentally, on my part at least, this is followed by a big high five, flying chest bump, or "what what" roof raising gesture.  Pretty cool.

Chad let me put some of the Caesar lines he had cut back in and I got to work.  Among other things, in my research I learned that Caesar was thought to have epilepsy or migranes or about ten other conditions (referred to as "the falling sickness" in the script) and there is a myth that this is where the modern word "seizure" comes from.  After a couple of times through the script it became clear to me that for all Caesar's faults, Shakespeare cast Cassius and the conspirators as the "bad guys" and Brutus as the tragically flawed hero.  At least that's how I went at the part- as they say, you've always got to find the humanity in your character.

Our costumes were MUCH easier to fight in

One of the coolest things about the show is that Chad the director is also an accomplished fight choreographer- let's just say Caesar did not go down without a battle.  Chad was also open to an idea I had about the order of what we came to call "the stabby stabby."  The script (and the historical record) acknowledge Casca as the first to strike with Brutus stabbing last, from what I think of as a position of weakness.  I had one of those 3am epiphanies during the first week of rehearsals, however, and when I shared it with Chad he put it into the show.  So, our fight started with Caesar deftly repelling blows from Casca, Metellus Cimber and Cassius, essentially kicking their asses.  Then, with a smile of relief, Caesar meets Brutus center stage only to receive the "unkindest cut of all."  

The "Stabby Stabby" (That's me on the floor)

The other conspirators then fall on Caesar like jackals as a horrified Brutus looks on.  (The center stage meeting echoes an earlier scene where Brutus comes to Caesar's house to escort him to the senate.)  It seems so much more Brutus-like that he start "the stabby stabby," and it makes his later statement stronger:  "but as [Caesar] was ambitious, I slew him."  I mean it's not "but as he was ambitious, I watched a bunch of other guys stab him for a while and jumped in at the end when he was pretty much Swiss cheese."

You'd think it would be dull playing a part where you die at the end of Act I but Chad started Act II with a slow motion reenactment of "the stabby stabby" set to music and ending with the always surprising, never predictable bursting blood pack.  (Limiting the blood to Act II cut our laundry by half- even so, by the third week our white shirts all had a pinkish hue.)  Chad's special recipe for "blood" is a tantalizing blend of red food coloring, chocolate syrup and laundry soap.  Over the course of the run it exploded, among other places, on my pants, in my face (tasty!) and all over the stage, causing a safety hazard that needed to be surreptitiously cleaned up later.  Once I even "body swiffered" it myself during the blackout before the funeral scene.  All in all I had to lie on the stage dead for about 20 minutes in Act II and aside from the occasional itchy nose it wasn't too bad.  In fact when Nica's 8th Grade class came on a field trip to one performance the only comment she reported back from her classmates was "your Dad can really lie still for a long time."

SVSC Julius Caesar Cast

As I said SVSC shows have a lot of musical cues, so throughout each performance I would have to play a scene change on guitar or plunk out the chiming of a clock on the bass.  After my "death" things really got fun- that's when I got to play the drums.  Despite my deep admiration for the craft and it's practitioners, from Tommy Ramone to Neil Peart, I am in no way a drummer.  But when it's a battle scene and everyone else in the cast is on stage, the "dead guy" gets the sticks.  I made such a racket during the battle they let me play drums during one of the pre-show songs, an instrumental jam of The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army."  I played decently most nights and was feeling pretty good about myself by closing night.  You'd think playing Julius Caesar might have kept me on guard about the dangers of hubris, but sadly no.  We had a good crowd on closing night and I had several friends in the audience.  Going into the first break in

The White Stripes

the song I thought I'd shout out "here we go" to show how cool I am.  Needless to say, I COMPLETELY flubbed up the timing and for an endless, exceedingly painful eight measures Daniel the guitarist, Jordy the bass player and I might as well have been playing free jazz.  It was AWFUL.  Theater is a great metaphor for life though, because "the show must go on."  Immediately afterwards I had to strap on the guitar for the remainder of the pre-show music and immediately after that I had to play the leader of what was then the free world for 90 minutes.  Blessedly it leaves you little time to dwell.  As we were loading out the gear before the play started the only thing said was "wow!"  Wow, indeed.

Shakespeare loves him some ghosts, so even after Caesar died I had one last scene where I go haunt Brutus' tent.  In between Act II musical cues, Sharon, who played Cinna, and Chad got my ghostface on- see the picture at the top of this post.  We were only using white light in the show (except for one red spot during "the stabby stabby") so it was a challenge finding the right "dead" rather than "dead tired" look.  Like the blood splatter, which the night this photo was taken settled in an upstage right direction, Sharon and Chad's makeup was always different- I think this night is my favorite.

The Sonoma Valley Shakespeare Company is an inspiring group- along with Julius Caesar and As You Like It, they also offered an amazing production of Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus.  In less than three months they rehearsed and staged three shows, all with music, performing each about ten times.  During this period they also taught several classes at the high school.  What's more they let me play Julius Caesar and the drums in the same show!  For that I will always be grateful.

 *          *          *

Since this post is for the ALL KINDSA GHOULS halloween show I would be remiss if I didn't include a picture of this year's costume.  I was once again Evel Kneival, as I will be for all future Halloweens, thanks to the awesome suit Jaime gave me last Christmas.  She even got in on the action this year, dressing as Evel's nurse.  Needless to say, our costumes were a hit!

Click the link below to stream this show or to download, right click and "Save Link As:"

ALL KINDSA GHOULS HALLOWEEN SPECIAL #89

Show #67 October 29, 2011 Halloween AFRADIO Show

The Halloween AFRADIO Show is dedicated to Wicked Annabella and The Last Gladiator...Evel Knieval!


Wicked Annabella- The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society
Chain Saw- The Ramones The Ramones
Rendevous With The Devil- The Doits This Is Rocket Science
Skeleton- Elf Power The Winter Is Coming
Devil's Food- Alice Cooper Welcome To My Nightmare
^Eye Of The Zombie- John Fogerty Eye of the Zombie
Little Jack O'Lantern- The Dead Elvi Graveland
Skeletons- The Sound From The Lion's Mouth
Ghost Ride- Nebula Apollo
Black Night- Green on Red Gas, Food, Lodging
Halloween Parade- Lou Reed New York
Graveyard Groove- The Revillos Attack of the Giant Revillos
The Witch- The Sonics Here Are The Sonics
Arthur Is Dead (Let's Rot)- Radio Stars Songs For Swinging Lovers
*Zombie Dance- The Cramps Songs The Lord Taught Us
*Zombie Creeping Flesh- Peter & The Test Tube Babies Zombie Creeping Flesh 7"
*I Walked With A Zombie- Roky Erickson and the Aliens The Evil One
*I Was A Teenage Zombie- Fleshtones I Was A Teenage Zombie Soundtrack
*Zombies Ate Her Brain- The Creepshow Sell Your Soul
Chupacabras- Groovie Ghoulies Go! Stories
The Time Warp- The Rocky Horror Picture Show The Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtrack
Victims of the Vampire- Slaughter and the Dogs Do it Dog Style
Where Evil Grows- Gore Gore Girls Get The Gore
Nightmares- Jay Reatard Blood Visions
Ghosts on the Road- Guadalcanal Diary Walking In The Shadow Of The Big Man
>Rockin' Zombie- Crewnecks Doo Wop Halloween is a Scream
Lucifer Sam- The Three O'Clock Baroque Hoedown
Party in the Woods Tonight- Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers 23 Great Recordings
God Of Thunder- Kiss Destroyer
Attack of the Ghost Riders- The Raveonettes Whip It On
Skulls- The Misfits Walk Among Us
Country Death Song- Violent Femmes Add It Up
Halloween- Dream Syndicate Days of Wine and Roses

^Power Pop Peak: #81 Billboard Hot 100 9/6/86

*SacroSet: Zombies!!!

>Power Pop Prototype: 1961

I put two shows together while I was in the hospital, but with Halloween fast approaching I realized I had to get going on a third. Since I was still rehabbing and had the time, I also thought it might be cool to find a few Night Of The Living Dead quotes to use in the SacroSet which shouldn't be hard since the film is in the public domain. In fact a few years back my friend Joe and I hosted the first "Sonoma Drive-In" show on the local cable station screening George Romero's classic:

Next time you've got a couple of hours on your hands, you should check it out. Bob Taylor did a great job putting the program together.

Anyway, a quick web search revealed not only Night Of The Living Dead audio but clips from hundreds of other films. So, along with great music, the Halloween AFRADIO Show includes audio from my favorite horror films, including the obscure (2000 Maniacs) popular (Nightmare On Elm Street) and just plain nasty (Candyman).

In my opinion, vampires (especially the modern broody, perfectly coiffed versions) have nothing on zombies. I've been a zombie fan from the first time I saw Night Of The Living Dead at a midnight show when I was in junior high school. On top of the success of the brilliant TV show The Walking Dead (which calls them "walkers"), zombies were the obvious choice for tonight's features. And I'm talking flesh eaters only- no metaphorical zombies allowed. I mean, c'mon its Halloween!

I had a pretty bad head cold when I recorded this show and was surfing a wave of Dayquil. My insane alter ego "Dick Hate" was supposed to sound menacing, but came off more like Droopy Dog. My friend Jim from Japan commented that "Dick Hate" sounded "very, very, very gay." In any case, I had fun doing the show as somebody else- especially telling the "poop hand" Halloween story in the second hour.

As for my Halloween, Jaime and I had rehearsal for Romeo & Juliet that night but I still got in 90 minutes of Trick or Treating with Nica and her friends. I think you'll agree- I looked awesome!! Jaime got me the Evel suit for Christmas last year and I have to say it is one of the best presents I've ever been given. I was still using a cane at the time, which made it even more authentically "Evel." (My goal for next year is to get the helmet.)

Along with the suit, Jaime gave me the Evel Knieval stunt cycle I had loved as a boy but lost somewhere along the way. If I may say so myself, the resemblance is uncanny:
I loved Evel Knieval when I was growing up. I wasn't a big sports fan, but I would sit through 90 minutes of ABC's Wide World of Sports to see Evel's jumps on TV (which always seemed to run in the last 15 minutes of the show). Leading up to the jump they would show his most heinous crashes, especially Caesar's Palace (12/31/67) and the Cow Palace, San Francisco (3/3/72) so by the time he was ready to go my head was about to explode in anticipation. I have to say I was rooting FOR Evel, not hoping he would crash- to me he was an American Hero. To this day it blows me away that he would go back to jumping after a crash- the guy had balls of steel, no doubt.

My father was beside me on the couch for most of those Wide World Of Sports broadcasts. Dad would poke fun at my love of Evel, but I could tell he had a grudging respect for the man. One of the things I love about my dad was that he would take the time to find out what I was into. So, without my even having to ask, he bought us tickets to see Evel jump at Fitton Field at Holy Cross University in Worcester, Mass on October 9th, 1976.

I just about had a heart attack when the jump was rained out, but thankfully it was re-scheduled for Monday the 11th, which was Columbus Day, so I was already out of school. The pre-show was great- a maniac in a monster truck crushed a bunch of cars demolition derby style and 14 year old Robbie Knieval jumped four U-Haul vans in what I just learned was the start of his illustrious career as a daredevil. Evel came out like a rock star with his cape and cane, did some amazing trick riding and told us some cool stories about his past. He started with a jump of four U-Haul vans, then seven and finished with a smooth as silk jump over ten of them. What an amazing day! Dad and I had a great time and I felt like I was seeing history being made. In a sense I was. Evel only jumped three more times after Worcester; two in Seattle and the infamous aborted "Shark Jump" in Chicago (1/31/77- he crashed on a practice jump over a tank filled with 13 sharks broke both arms again and retired for good).

Perhaps Evel Knieval's greatest success was that he beat death for 69 years, passing away on November 30, 2007 of pulmonary disease. There will never be another like him.

Click the links below to download this week's show (right click and "Save Target As"):
Hour 1
Hour 2

Show #44 October 30, 2010 HALLOWEEN SPECTACULAR!

Dead-icated to Vampira...



Vampira- Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen Flying Dreams
Halloween (She's Coming)- The Dead Elvi Graveland
Flying Saucer Attack- The Rezillos Can't Stand The Rezillos
Dig It Up- Hoodoo Gurus Stoneage Romeos
The Ballad Of Dwight Fry- Alice Cooper Love It To Death
Skeleton Man- Frank Black & the Catholics Pistolero
When I Was Dead- Rudi Big Time
Jack The Ripper- John Cale Happy Halloween! All Haunted Hits!
^The Ghost In You- The Psychedelic Furs Mirror Moves
She's A Monster- The Stems Violets Are Blue
Halloween Girl- Blue Ash Around Again
Graveyard Rock- The Joneses Someone Got Their Head Kicked In
Where The Wolfbane Blooms- The Nomads Outburst
Haunted House- Sam The Sham & The Pharoahs Greatest Hits
*The Dog- The Damned Strawberries
*Do the Vampire- Superdrag Head Trip In Every Key
*Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)- Concrete Blonde Bloodletting
*Night Of The Vampire- Roky Erickson and the Aliens The Evil One
Dead Rock and Rollers- Detention Dead Rock and Rollers 7''
Sweet Death- The Monochrome Set The Independent Singles Collection
The Ripper- The Headboys The Headboys
An Ugly Death- Jay Reatard Matador Singles '08
She's Dead- Tuff Darts Tuff Darts
Monster Island- The 3-D Invisibles Love On Mars 7"
>Teenage Head- The Flamin' Groovies Groovies Greatest Grooves
Kill It (Before It Multiplies)- The Panics The Panics 7"
I Saw My Death In A Dream Last Night- The Barracudas Drop Out
Frankenstein- New York Dolls New York Dolls
Halloween- Dream Syndicate Days of Wine and Roses

^Power Pop Peak: #59 Billboard Hot 100 5/12/84

*SacroSet: Vampiresongs

>Power Pop Prototype: 1971

Halloween has always been a big night in the Love household, both the one I grew up in and the one I live in now. One of my earliest Halloween memories was an Indian costume my mother put together for me when I was five or six. My "war paint" consisted of magic marker my dad drew on my face. We later found out that magic marker on skin was toxic, but I thought it was really cool at the time. Even so, I was a shy kid and still very nervous about going to the party at Kennedy Elementary School that night. Then, when I was anxiously looking at myself in the mirror I started to think about my new hero, Chief Jay Strongbow. Cousin Rich introduced me to wrestling earlier that year and Chief Jay was my favorite. I was already glued to the TV screen for several hours of Saturday morning cartoons, so it wasn't a big deal to stay through the afternoon for wrestling. Andre the Giant and Haystack Calhoun were a little scary but something about Chief Jay spoke to me. Anyway, thinking of myself as Chief Jay Strongbow rather than a generic "Indian" gave me the confidence to go to the Halloween Party and even participate in the costume parade. I think that's when I first started to love Halloween.

Over the years, I had used Halloween as a "Girlfriend Litmus Test," much the way Steve Guttenberg's fiancee in Diner had to pass a Baltimore Colts trivia challenge for the marriage to proceed. If the girl didn't like Halloween or would only dress in some lame dignity-saving costume (like the perennially boring "Black Cat") she'd be gone by Thanksgiving. So, when I invited Jaime to a Halloween Party at my house in Brookline, MA shortly after we started dating, I doubt she had any idea how much was at stake. This was the second of third Halloween party my roomates and I had thrown and we were starting to get a reputation. One year I came as Jesus, complete with a six foot cross that I kept accidentally bumping into people saying "I forgive you" each time. Anyway, Jaime passed with flying colors- she came as Laura Palmer (sheer skin tone pajamas, soaked prom-style hairdo, deathly pallor make-up with blue lips, wrapped head to toe in a huge sheet of plastic) as in "Who Killed Laura Palmer?" from Twin Peaks which was my favorite TV show that fall. How awesome is that?!?

Fast forward several years to Sonoma where our annual Halloween Party for our friends and their kids is a must-attend event. This is mostly because we rock, but also because we've always lived in perfect Halloween neighborhoods- high density housing, away from busy through streets. My son Jack was the kind of kid that started planning his Halloween costume in January (one of my favorite pictures of him is in his high chair as "Count Jackula" in vampire makeup and cape). This year three-year old Jack was a Wild Thing from the Sendak book and he and his friend Mason were on a rampage through the neighborhood. After managing to wrangle all the kids together for the fourth of fifth time, we were heading for home and came to a house with the light on and the door open. Jack and Mason were in a hurry so they went right up the front steps and into the house before Jaime and I could stop them. Our neighbor had left her post for a minute to re-stock her candy bowl and these two little boys walk through her living room and right into the kitchen, followed by their horrified parents spouting apologies. She was a good sport about it though so the story has become Halloween folklore.

When the kids got older they didn't want to have the party anymore, so we started trick or treating like everybody else. This is the first year Jack didn't go with us, choosing instead to hang out a friend's house (closely supervised). My daughter Nica and her friend Anne even got to go out in the immediate neighborhood by themselves this year. This left Jaime and I at home handing out candy (our neighborhood still attracts hundreds of trick or treaters). I still try to keep it interesting though by showing a movie with my LCD projecter and putting speakers in the front windows. Since we have lots of young kids coming, I try to not get too intense and screen a black and white classic. Last year it was Carnival of Souls, this year Romero's classic Night of The Living Dead. So, never fear, or better yet, fear, because Halloween still lives at the Love's House!

Here are download links (Right click and "Save Target As") for the ALL KINDSA GIRLS HALLOWEEN SPECTACULAR!
Hour 1
Hour 2

Show #20 October 31, 2009 HALLOWEEN!

Tonight it's All Kindsa Ghouls and dedicated to Ethyls cold and otherwise....

Cold Ethyl- Alice Cooper Welcome To My Nightmare

Date With A Vampyre- Screaming Tribesman High Time
Godzilla- Blue Oyster Cult Spectres
Science Gone To Far!- The Dictators Manifest Destiny
Death Ship- Hoodoo Gurus Stoneage Romeos
The Brain That Refused To Die- The Slickee Boys The Brain That Refused To Die 7"
She's Fallen In Love With A Monster Man- The Revillos She's Fallen In Love With A Monster Man 7"
Lost In The Night- Secret Affair Business As Usual
^I Don't Like Mondays- The Boomtown Rats The Fine Art Of Surfacing
Goo Goo Muck- The Cramps Bad Music For Bad People
Invasion Of The Gamma Men- Shake Invasion Of The Gamma Men 7"
Screamin' Skull- The Fleshtones Hexbreaker
Halloween- Siouxsie & The Banshees Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Halloween
My Body's A Zombie For You- Dead Man's Bones Dead Man's Bones
*The Witch- Pointed Sticks Part Of The Noise
*Meet The Witch- Big Dipper Supercluster: The Big Dipper Anthology
*Hunting For Witches- Bloc Party A Weekend In The City
*You Must Be A Witch- The Lollipop Shoppe Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era
Grimly Fiendish- The Damned Grimly Fiendish 12"
Dead Rock'n Rollers- Detention Dead Rock ' N Rollers 7"
Ghost On The Highway- The Gun Club Fire Of Love
Creature With The Atom Brain- Roky Erickson & The Aliens Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Halloween
Robots- Flight Of The Conchords Flight Of The Conchords
Night Of The Living Dead- The Misfits Walk Among Us
>Timothy- The Bouys Timothy
Deviltown- Groovie Ghoulies Monster Club
The Creature From The Black Lagoon- Dave Edmunds Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Halloween
Devil In My Car- The B-52's Wild Planet
Bewarewolf- Rudi Big Time
Me & My Mummy- Bobby "Boris" Pickett & The Crypt Kickers The Original Monster Mash
Graveyard Rockin'- The 3-D Invisibles They Won't Stay Dead!
Night Creatures- The Flys See For Miles (1978-1980)
At The Frankenstein Place-Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtrack

^Power Pop Peak: #73 Billboard Hot 100 2/2/80

*SacroSet: For All Da Wee-yotchs

>Power Pop Prototype: 1971

It's ALL KINDSA GHOULS with your host DICK HATE! A Halloween special has always been part of the plan, so it's very cool that my regularly scheduled show happened to fall on October 31st. I've been making Halloween mixes for people for years, so the challenge wasn't finding songs to play but rather limiting it to thirty or so choices. (In fact, next year's show is pretty much good to go.)

The album pictured above was one of the first I ever bought. I remember hearing "The Monster Mash" for the first time while driving at night with my dad in the early 70's. He turned up the radio, singing along in a passable Karloff imitation and my mind was blown. A song about vampires, the wolfman, Igor? This was right up my alley and my dad loved the song too. Turns out "The Monster Mash" had been a huge hit when it was first released in 1962, so he knew ALL the words. A day or two later I got him to drive me to the record store at the Westgate Mall in Brockton, Mass. I was intending to shell out 85 cents for the single, but the album caught my eye and I was hooked. The Original Monster Mash became a year-round favorite. In 1973 Cousin Rich had yet to teach me proper album care and storage so the record isn't as well preserved as others in my collection, but it is no less loved. What's more, I consider the scratchy "Me & My Mummy" on tonight's playlist to be a crucial part of the show.

One postscript to this Monster Mash story is that in the late 80's I got to meet singer Bobby 'Boris' Pickett. He was living in Scituate, Mass. (or maybe Cohasset, another one of those names we kept to rub it in after we stole the Indians' land) and came in to WMJX, where I was working at the time. Our sister station, WMEX, was hosting a charity fun run called "The Wimex Bash" and Bob Spicer, the production director, had written new verses for Bobby 'Boris' to sing to "The Monster Mash" tune. He was a great sport about the whole thing and what's even cooler is that my future wife Jaime got to sing the "Wimex Bash" background vocals.

Bobby 'Boris' Pickett died at the age of 69 on April 25, 2007 in Los Angeles. Aside from "Monster's Holiday," a Christmas knockoff from December of 1962, "The Monster Mash" was his only Top 40 hit. But what a hit it was; #1 in 1962, #91 in 1970 and #10 in 1973 (when I finally caught on). I thought a lot about Bobby 'Boris' when reading Nick Hornby's About A Boy. Will Freeman (who was played by Hugh Grant in the movie) feels the Christmas novelty hit "Santa's Super Sleigh" ruined his life because his father's inability to write any other hit songs destroyed the family. In the short time we were together, I didn't get any of that from Bobby 'Boris' Pickett. He seemed happy people still loved "The Monster Mash" and was very patient with a young assistant music director's many questions about The Original Monster Mash album.

Needless to say, it was fun putting this show together. I debated on "I Don't Like Mondays" but it's so creepy I couldn't pass it up. I did pass on songs about John Wayne Gacy, Son Of Sam and the Violent Femmes "Country Death Song" where a guy kills his daughter, so you see I do have standards. "Timothy" was a great find- a catchy, upbeat song that hit #17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and happens to be about CANNIBALISM! Songwriter Rupert Holmes' other great contribution is "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" so the guy clearly has some kind of oral fixation. Finally, big ups for Lux Interior of The Cramps who died on February 4th of this year. Halloween just doesn't seem as spooky without him...

You can download Hour 1 of the Halloween Show here (right click and "Save Target As"):
http://thmm.com/ksvy/showarchive/public/2009-10-31__20_59_57.mp3

and here's Hour 2:
http://thmm.com/ksvy/showarchive/public/2009-10-31__21_59_57.mp3