Eh?

If you're reading this, you can comment here. Hey, post a reply! Want to know more about YOU out there! And what strange blogs and sites you recommend!

Max the e-cho

All Hallow's Eve in March!

It was suggested by Harvey Midnight at the "Scar Stuff" blog that bloggers celebrate "Halloween in March" by offering spooky sharity. So I'm adding to the doings with some of my favorite numbers suitable for Halloween parties. First, one of my favorite numbers by a Finnish band, The Coffin Shakers. (This comes from a past freebie download at the Coffin Shakers website, as I recall. Their website, www.coffinshakers.com, has the lyrics to all their great songs!)

Halloween--The Coffin Shakers

Here's another favorite musical oddity-- a nutty (1960s?) rock version of Edvard Grieg's In The Hall Of The Mountain King:

The Jungle

Finally, a neato-coolio '60s song about King Kong, by horror hostess Tarantula Ghoul:

King Kong

Happy Halloween!

BUY cool horror and punk music at
Reanimator Records

Off we go-go!

Hello out there! Sorry not to have posted anything for several days. I've had a rough time at work lately. (Yes, the severed head works! At least, when the boss is around, anyway.) After being asked to be an "idea man" at a staff meeting this week, my co-workers kicked some of my ideas around-- while they were still formulating in my brain! But, I'm not complaining. Conference room soccer can be fun! I just wish I'd remember to bring my helmet to the damn meetings!

The Voodoo Queen and I are going on a road trip, so today's offerings will have to suffice for several more days, I'm afraid.


Looking forward to hitting the road. As you can see, Jane and enjoy driving convertibles. When we're in this particular beater of ours, you can get an idea of how happy we are by counting the number of bugs on our teeth!

We'll be visiting family. Here's me and a brother:

I think he regards me more as an item of decor than as a sibling.

Another brother has an item that has always fascinated me: a paper mache wall-hanging in the shape of a face. It was made for my brother when he was a child by an adult friend of my grandparents. I don't think it was meant to be creepy-looking, but I've always thought it was:


We'll also be visiting my sister:


Quite an assortment of characters, my family.

Something "to soothe a savage breast"!

No, I don't mean the giant marauding tit of Woody Allen's "Everything You Wanted To Know About Sex". I mean the heart of my friend Richard Olson, a bosom buddy. Richard, a giant of a man and big fan of classic monster movies, is the co-pilot of this blog. If you've clicked on the link to his blog DULUTH ROO, you know he's been in a funk lately.

For him, (and other fans of cool novelty rock and roll), I'm sharing two songs by 1960s singer Monica Kirby: "Johnny Trouble" and the flip side "Scary Movies", from a 45 in my collection of records.

"Johnny Trouble"

"Scary Movies"


Want to sing along with "Scary Movies"? The lyrics can be found here:

http://www.cod.edu/people/faculty/pruter/Horror/scarymovies.htm

Rondo run run run, da doo run run

The Rondo award, a prize to recognize achievements in classic horror and fantasy, was the subject of some argument and controversy recently. The first declared winner of the Best Writer of the Year award, Sam Borowski, won the award not by publishing an acclaimed book, article or script in 2006, but by questionable means.

The Rondo awards, in most categories, are determined by a vote.

Finally, he did the right and courageous thing and gave back the award, allowing the ethically rightful winner, Tim Lucas, (a novelist and noted film critic) to be named "Writer Of The Year".

I've been calling Sam "Sam O. Borowski". I'm glad he relented on embodying the initials!

Here's a link to an Answers.com entry on Tim Lucas:
http://www.answers.com/topic/tim-lucas

Since I could find no picture of Tim Lucas, the author, I include a picture of Tim Lucas the salesman of Bobcat equipment in Knoxville, TN. He watches movies, too.

Reactions to Freddie Francis' death, and interviews

Some of Mr. Francis' work (such as in THE SKULL and THE ELEPHANT MAN) have affected the look and content of my nightmares. I am still rather saddened to know Mr. Francis is gone.

If there is an afterlife, I sure would like to know what Karl Freund and Freddie Francis discuss!

Here are some quotable and/or interesting reactions on the web to Freddie Francis' passing:

"Francis takes a lot of cinema history with him... but luckily he left a hell of a lot of it behind."
--Richard Harland Smith, at the Classic Horror Film Board and moviemorlocks.com site

[To Mr. Francis] " God bless you.

"And thank you for guiding our eyes and our senses...through the most
dire of circumstances.

"Enjoy your train ride with the pleasant Dr. Shrek... paradise awaits."
--Prof. Anton Griffin (J. Fotinos) at the Universal Monster Army

"One of the few DPs for me whose name in the credits meant a careful viewing. Some of his images in THE INNOCENTS give me goosebumps just sitting here thinking about them."
--Mike O'Connor, at the CHFB

Interviews with Freddie Francis can be found here:

www.geocities.com/phase2productions/freddiefrancisinterview.html

www.mjsimpson.co.uk/interviews/freddiefrancis.html

Requiescat in pace, Freddie Francis (1917--2007)

Freddie Francis, director and Oscar-winning cinematographer, has died this week.

From 1960's "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" to 1989's "Glory", he created the unique look of many films, including many in the horror genre.

He will be missed.

Alas, no more Fux

Sadly, the drunken severed head has learned that an unsung but talented character actor, Austrian Herbert Fux, has died. He appeared in films like LADY DRACULA, LADY FRANKENSTEIN, THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM, MARK OF THE DEVIL, Jess Franco's JACK THE RIPPER, and Bergman's THE SERPENT'S EGG.

I think he looked like Boris Karloff and Al Pacino rolled into one person.

A nice tribute to Fux can be found at the Movie Morlocks website:

http://tinyurl.com/yuskbu

Thankfully, we still have baseball player Russell "Rusty" Kuntz and real estate attorney Lawrence Suchs with us. But the star of THE GHOST SHIP, actor Richard Dix, is long gone.

The "LOST" Remco monster toy!

I don't know how many of you monster toy experts are aware of the 4th Addams Family member in the Remco figure series from the 60s. No, it wasn't Gomez. Along with Morticia, Lurch, and Uncle Fester, there was also 2nd Cousin MAX, the Drunken Severed Head. Unfortunatly, society in the 60s was not ready for such a ghastly looking toy and the loveable inebriate never made it past the prototype stage (he was also dumped off of the TV show pilot- after he was caught using Cousin It to mop up the booze he spilled).

Happily, the Remco prototype still exists! So now ~ for your viewing pleasure~ seen here for the 1st time, I present the "lost" Remco figure of MAX !!!

By the way, as noted on the box, Max sticks to the dashboard.

Monster Hugs! -------------Richard Olson

Rondo for fun and profit :)

Monster hugs! --------------Richard

Too much partying lately, and it's not even the weekend yet.




I posed for this sign before the accident that made me the severed head I am today. I was in the shadows when I posed, so you can't make out my features too well.

I'm sorry!

Here you are, and I haven't offered you a drink. Well, I can't make one for you, but here, try this out:

http://tinyurl.com/ynwcaa

You readers under 21 will be happy to know I have a concoction I can foist off on you without all that bad old booze:

http://tinyurl.com/ynvf7b

But don't imbibe in copious quantities, or YOU may wind up like the people seen here:

http://www.canmag.com/news/4/23/507

(Hic!)

Take a ride in the dark

When I was small, my seven-years-older brother would ride me around through my grandparents' woodsy back yard in a wheelbarrow. In a spooky voice, he'd describe a carnival "dark ride" we'd pretend to take. Other times, we'd collaborate on drawing designs of a fantasy "dark ride" we would want to go through. My brother was a great companion to go through childhood with.

Recently, via the informative text and numerous photos by blogger Kirk D. at the Secret Fun Blog, a virtual tour of a classic dark ride was posted online. Sadly, the ride (called "Phantasmagoria"), is now shuttered, along with the rest of the Tulsa attraction it was a part of, Bell's Amusement Park. (However, it appears the theme park will reopen at a new location, featuring a rather different dark ride, also called "Phantasmagoria".)

So go on this ride via your monitor. SEE hidden doors used by security! SEE the creatures that haunted it, up close and in the light! SEE lots of Day-Glo spray paint! You'll have a blast!

http://secretfunspot.blogspot.com/search/label/Phantasmagoria

The face behind the Rondos

Here's an advertisement for the drunken severed head's favorite brewski, featuring the central organizer of the Rondo awards, indefatigable David Colton.

("Bloodweiser: We're A-Positive You'll Love It!")

Grab your favorite inebriant and join me in a toast to a tireless Monster Kid! (I hate to drink alone!)

My thanks to Jim Bertges for finding this ad in HEMOPHILE MONTHLY and forwarding it to me.

The President is the great-grandson of the Phantom of the Opera?

In a computer folder that my bitter half, Jane, had created, I found this picture:

I was struck by the fact that RON CHANEY, descendant of Larry Talbot and great-grandson to the Man Of A Thousand Faces, resembles George W. Bush.

If only I could see the current Chief Executive turn into The Wolfman during a press conference....I could die knowing I had lived a full life! ("I'm the decider, and when...when I...grrrr....ARRROOOO!!!!")

Congratulations, Raymond!

My friend Ray Castile, the uberfan of vintage monster toys and Coffin Joe movies, won the Rondo award in the Monster Kid Of The Year cateGORY! HooRAY!!

The severed head knew all along he would win.

Last 30 hours to vote!

If you've postponed voting in the RONDO awards process, please do so ASAP. You
have less than 31 hours left to do so.

http://classichorrorfilmboard.com/rondos/rondos.html

Remember, you do not have to vote in every category if you do not wish
to. This is promising to be one of the closest votes in years in some
categories, so vote!

Again, to vote: Type your picks on an email, or simply cut-and-paste the ballot onto an email and put an X by your choices. Email your vote to taraco@aol.com by midnight EST March 10, 2007.

Interviews I conducted with three of the filmmakers nominated for BEST INDEPENDENT FILM can be found here:

Ted Newsom of THE NAKED MONSTER:
http://www.box.net/public/q0nzc5qzgl

Conor Timmis of KREATING KARLOFF:
http://www.box.net/public/lvtr462vh7

Don Glut of I WAS A TEENAGE MOVIE MAKER:
http://www.box.net/public/1079u47xhl

(I regret I did not have time to interview Sue Svelha of TERROR IN THE TROPICS, Mark Redfield of THE DEATH OF POE, Cortlandt Hull of THE WITCH'S DUNGEON: 40 YEARS OF CHILLS, or Paul Davids of THE SCI-FI BOYS.)

I urge anyone still voting to vote for Raymond Castile for Monster Kid Of The Year, for reasons that can be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/278yhl

Max

"Judy in disguise..."

Well, not Judy, but Jane, my bride. Some of you blog readers have sent mail demanding to see a photo of my wife, not believing anyone would marry me.

I told Jane that morbid fans of the DSH wanted to gaze upon the kisser of the woman that wedded yours truly, and she reluctantly chose a photograph. Here's the only picture my Jane would allow for dissemination (oooh, that word sounds scientifically dirty, like someone at a clinic being made pregnant without respect):

"...and the horse you rode in on!"

Here's a picture from that calendar of another lovely monster, a "centaurine" (as this fantasy creature is identified at the bottom of the page).

Lust for Lucy Fir!

As Forrest Ackerman is in therapy right now, recuperating from a hip replacement, I thought I'd send the old boy scans of art from "Girls Of Fantasy", a calendar that I believe was printed in the 1950s. (A few years ago I found the illustration pages, minus the calendar section, at an estate sale.)

Here's a section of one of those illustrations, one that I hope raises Forry's temperature and his spirits!

"...Meet The (Cereal) Killer, Boris Karloff"

From the 2005 Monster Bash, a painting that made me laugh when I saw it:


I talked with the artist, who told me that Sara Karloff was amused by it. Sadly, I can't remember the artist's name, though from the painting his last name is obviously (and appropriately, given the colors here) "Pinkney".

Here's a photo of the artist:

If anyone knows this talented painter with a great sense of humor, please tell him to contact me! I want to see more of his work!

Update: The artist's name is Dwayne Pinkney, and I expect we'll be seeing many more examples of his talent for genre portraiture.

Speaking of 4E Ackerman

Here's a photo of yours grue-ly with famous monster uber-fan FJA and the amazing artist Basil Gogos, taken at last year's Monster Bash:

Guardian of the Ackermansion

We all have the capacity to fetishize, to endow with magic some object that captures our interest. Some keep close some trinket and believe it a good luck charm, and others collect things that fascinate-- coins, rocks, old toys, ex-wives-- whatever.

For me, it's Frankenstein stuff. So I was delighted to get a vintage photo from author/filmmaker Don Glut of a silver Monster mask that watched over the bookshelves of monster movie uber-fan Forrest Ackerman.

Doesn't Frankie appear to peer around the corner? He looks like me when the wife puts me on the shelf for some infraction. Like getting underfoot ("Have a nice trip?"), eating both halves of the pan of brownies left to cool, just existing when she's in a bad mood-- things like that.