A post of a different color.

So... onward!

During my time on sabbatical from this homely house of Hallowe'en hijinks, I found myself needing quite often to simply relaaaaaax.

Among the various distractions I have been enjoying lately, one of the greatest and most enjoyable has been a rediscovery of one of greatest joys of my young, creative Monsterkid days...

COLORING!

Now, waaaaay back in December 2009, I posted about how spoiled I was as a kid (speaking facetiously -- we were broke!) and in that long post, I mentioned the incredible coloring albums Monster Gallery and Science Fiction Anthology (both Troubadour Press, 1974) and how we adored coloring those books with real markers of a zillion hues, under our artist mother's supervision (which, I hasten to add, was not in any way about how we colored -- we were free to go crazy -- but only about keeping our kid hands, faces and clothes as 'unmarkered' as possible).

Well, sometime last Fall, I was proud and excited to be the recipient of a pristine 1974 edition of Monster Gallery (above). Now, I was never going to color it, to keep it pristine -- this and its twin sister Science Fiction Anthology command high prices nowadays. However... what I didn't know was that all the coloring illustrations in that book (by the marvelous Mark Savee) were reproduced, in fact the entire Monster Gallery book was reprinted/reissued in the early '90s as simply Monsters. And a pristine copy of that book came along with the original book! Surprise!

So I found myself  with a clean original to keep clean... and a real, heavy-card stock over-sized page Monster Gallery -- just under a different title! -- that I could color!!!

I made an excited trip to the craft store for a good set of 'real markers of a zillion hues', just like those we used 35 years ago.

And I began to color, for the first time as a grown up kid, all the pictures I'd never finished or colored all that nicely the first time around.

 I was so happy to finally color the Phantom 

a bit like the cover art -- I was never able to

as a kid, I didn't have the skill yet, and 

certainly didn't have the patience!

And of course, I finally got to really do my best

on one of my all-time favorite movie monsters, the Fly! 

I so enjoyed doing the eyes like I'd wanted so long ago 

but never could accomplish!

About halfway through the process of coloring all of the book -- I relaxed at night, and each picture took about three nights as I took my time to do it as best as I could, as a kind of loyalty to my younger self's wishes from long ago -- I had occasion to visit relatives in Los Angeles, and I took my Monsters book and markers with me, of course.

And my godson, my nephew Young Will, introduced me to a little bit of artistical paradise called brush markers. 

And my life changed.

These little art store treasures act like good watercolor brushes, with either water or alcohol based inks and an ability to blend and... oh! the desire to just work with them became an addiction, so smooth and satisfying did they perform their task!

I began hunting the internet for good monstery, Hallowe'eny coloring pages to print up on card stock and keep using those damned addicting brush markers!

I also discovered that Science Fiction Anthology is nearly impossible to find in clean shape for under $100, but lots of wonderful Monsterkids have posted good resolution coloring pages (again from Mark Savee) from the entire book online, and I've finally been able to color all of that book as well, something I was never able to do as a kid, but so desperately wished I could.

Frank Herbert's Dune, a real treat to color

with good brush markers to blend. Vivid and bold!

H.G. Wells' First Men In The Moon. 

Again, brush markers allow one to really

play with tone and shade.

And my favorite, Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles.

For some reason, this one haunted me as a child, as the book

did then and now. I enjoyed coloring this so much I stretched

it out over a whole week of nights.

Of course, I have certainly found plenty of

other wondrously wicked b/w illustrations to use

as coloring pages, from all over the 'net.

A sampling...

 I do not know the artist of this coloring page, but

I so enjoyed coloring it, I've done it in different 

colors twice since this one was done!

 This Phantom as the Red Death is from a

wonderfully weird coloring book from the UK

in the 1970s, just called Horror.

 This and the next were taken from an awesome, very

collectable coloring album called 

Berni Wrightson's Monsters (Seuling, 1974). 

I never had it as a child, but wanted it then, and

it has been so wonderful to be able to just print them

up and use those amazing brush markers to make

them come to life! Look at the blending and

shading one can accomplish!

So listen, Monsterkids.

Get yourselves a set of brush markers, some card stock, and a good printer, and go online to search 'til your heart's content! 

It has been a true return to something I so dearly loved as a kid and hadn't done in decades.

And when you're finished, you will have some works of spooky, monstery art of which you can be quite proud.

In fact, I think I need to print something up for tonight...

It's nice to be back, dear S&Pbrains. Thank you for hanging in there with me, and for coming back to the ol' pub.

I promise to bring it back to life.

DDSPrismacolor!

Monsterpaloozin' my mind: The Ghoul Goes Western Electric, pt. 2

Oh, my dear, beleaguered, patient S&Pbrains, I have finally found a moment to pop in and give a few nods to the people and the moments which made this past weekend's Monsterpalooza so fun.

First, let me introduce you to the Raybot, the Body Electric, ol' Botbury himself, my animatronic Ray Bradbury...

In his element, his workdesk loaded with toys, books, robots, dinosaurs, more books, skulls and pumpkins.

He would have loved this ol' pub, I think.

He worked, and worked well, all weekend long. People took pictures, stood awed, a lot actually shed tears for the remembrance of their love of this giant of fantasy and inspiration. I will post video of him when I get home (we're still traveling back from the convention). Quite the display.

Now, ol' Edward Van Bone, a returning champion from last year, didn't fare as well.

Oh, he looked sensationally sick and decrepit, thanks to the hard work of Henchman Henner, my niece Mad Miranda and my wife, the Lovely V. 

And for all of Friday night, he worked beautifully.

But Saturday morning, as he was warming up, he stopped talking. I found the minor problem right away, and fixed it... but not before somehow stepping on the notebook computer controlling him and his audio, and causing the hard drive to stop working entirely. No replacement was at hand, and even had one been, a complete installation and reprogramming would have been too prohibitively long a process. So, we just lit and posed him to beckon folks inside. Worked like a charm, actually.

He'll be back. 

Onward...

This is the fun, fanatical, sexy shaper of stoneware and prestidigitator of pumpkiny pottery, the delightful Shelley from one of the S&P's greatest friend-blogs, Shellhawk's Nest. Here she is with Raybot and the famous -- so famous I am breathless at having the honor of posting it here at this humble little pub -- Chris Aype!

Great to see you again, Shell and Ape!

My friend and make-up artist extraordinaire Casey Wong built a stunning full scale Phantom of the Opera piece, with Erik, Christine, and a beautiful old organ built from scratch (more pics later). It's always so good to see him and his ever-impressive monster creations. And "hi" to Mama Rhonda! Mahalo!

Of course, no Monsterpalooza is complete without a visit with one of my best bloggin' buddies and uniquely visionary artist Bob Lizarraga. His work just stuns me. I am happy and proud to say I own some of his works, a few gifts from a very cool Bob himself. Never get enough time, sir. 

Here's my nephew, my Godson, Young Will (you remember him, don't you?) with my friend, artist, puppeteer and producer Bill Diamond, discussing the finer points of inking in shades. Two peas, these guys, though three-thousand miles and a generation apart. Love it.

More motley monstergeekery in the form of some pretty outstanding and wonderful folks. From L to R, the actor, teacher and event moderator Perry Shields; mask maker, artist/designer Kim Reynolds; sketch artist and movie producer/director Frank Deitz; and long-time genre writer and opiner David Schow.

And finally, for the moment, my brother-in-Monsterdom, actor Daniel Roebuck, with my wife, the Lovely V.

There is much more to show you, and I will have it after our return to the Skull & Pumpkin this weekend.

For now, sleep is calling. So are the truckers outside -- cheap motels, I gotta tell you.

Until again, 

DDSP!

Happy 203rd, Mr. Poe.

Oh yes, pubgoers, one of our most celebrated icons, most beloved literary, horrorary and Hallowe'enary icons is having a birthday!

(source)

Sure, he's not necessarily 'around' to see it, but Edgar Allan Poe's spirit is alive and well -- well, okay, gloomy and brooding -- even 203 years after his birth in 1809.

A remarkable man was Poe. He is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the detective story. He is considered America's first true regularly published (and scathing!) literary critic. He wrote books of poetry before he left grade school. His works have been in print, continuously, since 1827. Ponder that a moment.

I have always enjoyed his works, even when I was too young to grasp the language or even the concept (in some cases) of much of it when I first attempted to read him seriously. Hell, even now I have to admit he's not an easy read.

But the great, dark magic that is a Poe work is a thing of beauty.

(source)

In honor of his birthday, the Skull & Pumpkin will be celebrating all day and night with Poe goodies -- fireside readings of his works in our library, absinthe and bourbon and cognac at the bar -- and I hope you will join us in our celebration wherever you are, if you cannot get to the S&P in person.

I'd like to think we are all here in spirit.

As a treat, do this: go here, and download/print/cutout/assemble this awesome paper Edgar Allan Poe from the cool folks at Toy A Day.

 Sweet!

And then another treat: give a listen to the jukebox to the right. I've added two delightful tracks of Poe's genius recorded in the early 1960's, and sure to bring a smile to any Monster Kid who ordered things from the Captain Company in Famous Monsters magazine, and in fact any genre magazine from the '60s to at least the early '80s -- Richard Taylor reading The Tell-Tale Heart and The Masque of the Red Death!

Oh but I must comment briefly, here. You see, I don't know who Richard Taylor was, or is. I am certain (as you will be after hearing him) that he loved doing these things, and his heart is easily in the rightest of right places.  Heck, the back of the album says he's fast becoming the Crown Prince of Terror:

See?

But when you get around to actually listening to it, Taylor's narration seems less "sinister", "mystifying" and "full of suspense", and more like the kid who played Fat Sam in Bugsy Malone reading Poe over the telephone in 1960. Amazing we haven't heard from him since.

And I love it. LOVE it. It works (especially with that cool jazz guitar back), and it's fun, and it's goofy, and it's timeless to us Monster Kids who pored over magazine ads like this:

Ah!

It's the perfect stuff to listen to while making a paper Edgar Allan Poe doll.

Have a wonderful Poe Birthday, good Autumn Folk.

(source)

And happy birthday, Mr. Poe. A toast...

DUMDUMSHREKPOE!

Before we get to November...

Well, November's already here, yes.

But before I get to any new jukebox tunage or waxing poetic about the end of Autumn and all that, I wanted to pass around a few pics of our 2011 yardhaunt, the 'Greatest Hits' display I was able to put together.

Yes, I was going to do a big tribute to the anti-genius of Edward D. Wood, Jr. But time... time not only slipped away, it was fairly torn from my daily schedule with alarming regularity all through September and October.

No complaints. I love working.

But I decided I had backlogged so many great props, figures, routines, music and decor that a greatest hits display would be perfect -- a kind of Hallowe'en version of a cheap TV clip show.

It worked just fine.

Now don't get up, I'll just pass a few around:

 Our 'graveyard' just before adding the animatronic characters.

 The lovely 'V' helping set up 'Boo Corner' (for littler spooks and scared grown-ups!).

 'Uncle Bill' setting up the stupendous 'De Witch Woman' display he built 

last year in honor of the family-favorite James Lewicki illustration 

(story and pictures from this post and this post, remember?)

Our cat Hallowe'en ('Halli') always helps us move the leaves around.

 She also spent a lot of time hanging out with Cap'n Lantern an Ficketts.

 The graveyard ready to go, seen through the web of a spider

that decided she had to set up shop here. 

(Sorry Frog Queen!)

 An angle I only get to see once a year: the business end of my

graveyard attraction.

 Cap'n Lantern, First Mate Ficketts, a tombstone-perched raven named Nevermore...

 ... and the Lean Bros & Ghoul, ready for spooky swingin' songs!

My one and only Ed Wood tribute piece.

 The completed Boo Corner...

... and guests.

'De Witch Woman' took the place of the usual Treat Room we have on

that side of the porch. That foot pumped, that spindle spun, and de ol' witch woman

sang  (in my Aunt Gail's voice) 'Turn an' spin, come off skin!' all night long.

The decade-old Great Pumpkin animatronic character, in his perfectly

glowy, perfectly plasticky pumpkin patch!

A blurry but colorful shot of the display from across the street. 

Of course, the Skull & Pumpkin has always been a Post-Hallowe'en Blues-Free Zone, as you well know. There is nothing about cleanup that saddens me -- not really -- and in fact it has grown to become a rather Zen-like ritual, at once cleansing and inspiring.

Besides, there simply isn't a reason for sadness.

For one, we had a grand time.

For another, it's still Autumn. I mean, look at the view I get to and from work every day...

Still very, very Fall.

I'll be back soon with new musical diversions for a new month.

In the meantime, I'll gather up the pictures and let you all get back to whatever you were doing. I hope you're all discussing your own amazing Hallowe'en 2011 stories!

Until next time!

DDSP!

The Big Night.

It just keeps creeping closer... closer... closer...



DDSusPense!

Four Hundred.

#400.

Unreal.

This is the Skull & Pumpkin's 400TH POST.

Twice two hundred.

CD (could be CCCC as well, but that looks too Soviet-ish, and this is a politics-free zone).

In honor of this almost relevant, not quite important, nearly meaningful milestone, and in honor of Black Cat Appreciation Day, I offer our own dear Hallowe'en, or 'Hallie'...

She is very nice. Because she's a black cat and all black cats are nice.

And she's cute. Because all black cats are awfully cute.

Aw, li'l Hallie.

Still... at a Hallowe'en pub, every day is black cat appreciation day, so I don't want to linger too long on this one. Suffice to say I will always be happy she came to stay with us.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few posts back, I made mention of our fears and the events or images that trigger them, and asked you for some of yours -- this is a public house concerning itself with all things spooky -- and I've received a number of replies.

Some can be read in the comments of said post, but I thought I'd highlight them, and a few others who wrote via email rather than commenting.

First up, our own dear Chris, Her Majesty The Frog Queen, admits to her own fear of Lady Elaine Fairchild, the creepiest resident of the Land of Make Believe (creepier than Prince Tuesday or Bob Dog, by multiples). But then, of course, comes dear Chris's pet neurosis:

"I remember the time I leaned against a post in the barn of an old house we lived in and several baby black widow spiders came crawling down my head and all over me. Definitely the reason that I am afraid of spiders today."

Shiver!

The Frog Queen also admits, 

"Going to catholic school and seeing The Exorcist as a kid was the earliest and so far the last time I was really frightened by something that is made up."

Me too, your Highness. Me too...

Jules opened up and let us all in on some of her most memorable, lingering, illogical fears; fears with which I can readily sympathize:

"Things that were in my dreams AND in real life: Carol Channing (or does that fall into the "clowns and spiders" category?)." 

It does, but in the right way. She proceeds to mention, among other things,

"... the "bingbong" of "It's 10 o'clock, do you know where your child is?" I obviously was at home, watching that, but I shivered every time -- up too late, and what if I WAS out in the scary post-curfew timezone?"

 Oh yes.

I get it. And I remember it very well.

Best of all, she finishes,

"... but my scariest, periodically in my nightmares thing was/is a dead body made to look as if it's moving. Like propped up, dancing, like a puppet. Sometimes with the eyes opened. Not a zombie, but a delusional maniac animating a dead person (usually someone they killed) to make them "alive" again...something between Norman Bates' Mother idea, and Debbie Reynolds in What's the Matter With Helen?(SHUDDER!)"

Oh my. Total shudder, indeed. I'd nearly forgotten about this movie. Yikes!

Baron No One informs us via email that he "used to run behind his mother's rocker and hide every time the theme for The Outer Limits came on the TV! I didn't mind most of the aliens and scary stuff, it was the damn song that did it..."

 "... I still get a chill every time I hear it -- on the DVD set I watch almost every day!"

Yep! Who ever said Autumn People don't love to scare themselves silly? Keep it up Baron (and whaddayaknow, a Queen and a Baron -- the ol' S&P's attracting royalty and nobility!).

I think the most chilling admission (so far, keep 'em coming!) of an untraceable, unexplainable childhood fear that can still manage to disturb has to come from loyal S&Pbrain Kent Mason, who simply writes:

"... I used to see people coming in and out my bedroom door as I slept. They did nothing to me, just moved through as if heading elsewhere, not making a sound. All in black, like dead shadows, featureless, and the only noise they really made was a kind of squeaking whisper. By morning they were gone, but I have that dream every so often even now at 26."

Kent, I have to say I didn't even go scouring for an image to go with that. Total nightmare!

Well, there you have some of them, good S&Pers. I really enjoy reading and sharing them at the bar, passing around the stories and letting our common passions and understanding laughter calm our nerves, exorcise (sorry Chris!) a few fears, and remind us how far we've come since our childhood nights...

... but those creepy dark figures moving through the door... I'm going to lock up early tonight!

DDShadowPeople!