Frankenstein

In fifth grade I dressed up as Frankenstein for Halloween. I remember this specific Halloween because I was in costume-- green greasepaint, neck bolts and a paper mache' head piece while every other kid was in a t-shirt and store-bought mask. Those kids were amazed that I'd gone to so much trouble. I was completely embarrassed, maybe even mortified, but also kinda proud.

Here's a great blog post about the book-- Movie Monsters, I read so many times, I had it memorized-- that had the costume instructions.

http://wonderfulwonderblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/movie-monsters.html


And here's me as Frankenstein, circa 1978. I'm trying to hold my hands like the Frankenstein illustration. Whenever I do monster/zombie/vampire hands now, I still hold 'em that way.

Thirty years later, I'm turning 40, itching to get a new tattoo, but having trouble pinpointing the right image. I'd recently been through a particularly rough break-up, did some work getting my head screwed back on straight, and was feeling a bit renewed, greater than the sum of my parts/past, downright Frankenstein-esque. I think you can guess where this is going.

That's the right side of my torso, hipbone to armpit. Yes, I'm hirsute. Five one-hour sessions with Sam Parker at Memorial Tattoo and now I have the instructions on how to make a Frankenstein mask with me... all the time.

Here's me as Frankenstein in 2008.
It turned out a little Fresh Prince hi-fade, but gets better every year. So, yes, I'm another Frankenstein-obsessed monster kid.

Here's my 2010 edition:






Oh, yeah, Garage Rock! Here's a mix I made of 21 songs about Frankenstein for Halloween. Download and enjoy!

http://rapidshare.com/files/299699135/Frankenstein_Halloween_09.zip

Happy Halloween! Er, Happy New Year!

Where are they now? 2010

Approaching the 6 year anniversary of the shooting of Stomp! Shout! Scream!, some folks might be asking-- Hey, what happened to all those great actors?


That's Cynthia Evans and Claire Bronson, Jody Viola and Theodora Viola respectively, on the same episode of Drop Dead Diva on Lifetime (Episode 109, "Last Year's Model"). Cynthia plays a housewife who wants a refund on her mortgage because her house is haunted. Claire plays a courtroom by-stander who gets called to the stand. And they're both awesome, of course.

[The crappy pictures were taken with an iPhone from a projected TV.]

SSS poster in Halloween 2

Mad Tea Party

Caught Mad Tea Party-- a one-man-band-ukulele duo-- in Asheville last weekend at Bele Chere.  Their smiling, energetic, catchy fuzz-country-blues songs were an early-afternoon surprise in an otherwise bland afternoon of music (granted, we only stayed a few hours, it was 100fuckingdegrees).  We did catch Southern Culture on the Skids Friday night who were great, as always.  Their new songs sounded good to me, looking forward to their new record.

So Mad Tea Party comes highly recommended, especially live.  This 7" naturally caught my attention.

I didn't want to carry it around all day so I settled on a Zombie Boogie t-shirt and their latest CD.  But it's available as a easy-as-pie download with bonus song.  Maybe I'm just a sucker for anything Halloween-ish, but it's my favorite of what I've heard so far.

And here's a music video by my friend Skizz!



And here's a link to the fairer half's blog about her awesome skeleton-Uke tattoo.