On my way...

The ghoul is heading west, yet again.

Off to fly the spooky skies.

Hold down the pub while I'm away.

I'll write very soon-

DUMDUMSHREKPEEPS!

Ghost of the Ghoul Goes West, pt. 8

Well..

He's on his way.

Edward Van Bone is in a big ol' mannequin box (41"x14"x16") and on his way to creepy ol' Burbank, CA.

I can only hope -- pray! -- that his ride is safe, smooth and uneventful.

Otherwise... well, we won't tempt the Fates by pondering any other 'wises.

Now it's time for me to pack myself up.

Leaving in a few days.

Updates coming... and that radio's still hummin'. 

Hhmmmm...

DUMDUMSHREKPEEPS!

Fools.

Aren't we all, at some point?

Sometimes, I feel like the king of the whole lot of 'em...

I suppose there are worse things to be than Fool Nobility. Being such a lordly fool, I am quite versed in spotting the foolishness in others. One might think this would help me avoid being fooled, but all it really does is help me make more friends and we can all sit around and enjoy our foolishness.

I think few changes of season bring about more lovely, blessed foolishness as does Spring; that the first of April is celebrated as a Fool's Day comes, then, as no surprise.

April awakens, arouses, and then perfectly befuddles the senses, so that perfectly sane people become insane with love, virile and passionate, in a dainty, pastel-colored madness to celebrate new life and the warmth of Spring.

And I love every bit of it.

How can I not?

So, new life and new music for a new month, fool that I am.

First up on the ol' player to the upper right over there, is a traditional S&P April offering, the classic ballad from Simon & Garfunkel, April, Come She Will, from their 1966 masterpiece album The Sounds of Silence. It isn't necessarily a happy first tune, but it's a good one.

Then, because I will be traveling soon, and because it means much to me to feel devoted to my love, I thought Joni Mitchell's All I Want (from her iconic 1971 album Blue) would be a nice dulcimer and voice addition to the player.

I wanna shampoo you, I wanna renew you again and again. Yep.

Next, from last year's April jukebox I give you the Paul Weston Orchestra's gorgeous, jazzy When April Comes Again, from his lush 1950 album Music For The Fireside. So pretty. So glad April comes again, every year.

Then I thought a little tribute to the sun rising on a warmer, livelier season was in order. Norah Jones' 2004 ditty Sunrise is a fitting tale of loving the lazy day with your lover, feeling the sun melt you together.

Of course, April is a month of changes, and it's not all sunlight and butterflies. From his gorgeous 1994 outing Bluesette comes the harmonica master Toots Theilmanns on the standard Here's That Rainy Day. "It's funny how love becomes a cold, rainy day," the song says. April can hurt, too.

Finally, I found a fun, flippant little waltz called simply Spring Waltz. I haven't any kind of information on this recording, save that it was part of a package of stock music from the '70s. It sure sounds like the '70s, with its electric piano, flute lead and three quarter wistfulness. I have always suspected it may be a Joe Raposo composition (he of so much wonderful music from Sesame Street and The Electric Company in the 1970's and early '80s) but I have no way of really knowing at the moment. All I know is that it just feels like a beautiful Spring day.

Well, we are halfway 'round the year from Hallowe'en, dear S&P-brains. And whether we are fools or not, we all need to celebrate and honor the renewal of life and love that Spring seemingly brings to all of Nature.

Blessed foolishness, indeed.

Monsterpalooza comes very soon. I'll keep you up to date.

Until then -- wait... the radio's crackling again...

DUMDUMSHREKPEEPS!

Ghost of the Ghoul Goes West, pt. 8

Hello, hello one and all.

Things have been remarkably busy for your humble pubkeep lately, and will only continue to be busy for some time to come.

There are much worse problems to have, no doubt. I'd rather be busy than broke and bored any day (or long, long night).

One of the funnest busy-things I've been trying (trying!) to get finished is Mr. Edward Van Bone, of course.

I have finally been able to make some shoes and pants for him, so he's not just some floating half-thing on the stage.

I had originally made some shoe forms out of Model Magic -- I posted briefly about them here -- but when I left them out on my front porch to dry, they simply disappeared! I don't know if one of the neighborhood dogs or cats thought they were some sort of food or toy, or if they just walked off by themselves, but they were nowhere in sight.

So...

Grab some insulating foam, razor blades, thin foam sheeting, gold wire and black paint and just make them:

I know, Skinny McSkinnyton. It's perfectly cartooned and crazy. 

So... I think I may actually be -- dare I say it? 

No, not just yet. I will say I am very, very close to being finished.

Whew!

O'ZOM-beeee!

For Shellhawk.

Because she's an artist.

My best to Ape.

O'ZOM-beeee!

Ghost of the Ghoul Goes West, pt. 7

Hey St. Paddy's revelers, I don't want to interrupt your green gathering but I do want to show you just a hint of the programming work I had time to accomplish today.

As promised, a little video of one Edward Van Bone, now using my own voice (trying to do my best Van Sloan, honest!) in order to make his dialogue a bit more specific to Monsterpalooza. In this clip, he is welcoming museum-goers and admonishing them to keep their grubby hands to them-grubby-selves...

YEAH, I know, it's dark. But I don't have a good low-light camera. Given all my dark projects, I should probably invest in one.

If you've been paying any kind of attention, you may notice that I have re-mounted his head and neck, to have it a little hunched, a little jutting out, to add some character and feeling. His earlier straightened look was just too stiff and lifeless. When I started programming yesterday, I kept wondering why nothing was looking right, and I realized that his head was just all wrong. Too normal.

These are the kinds of terrifying lessons one has to learn in this hobby: instead of programming yesterday, I somehow found the brass cajones to take him all apart, redesign and rebuild him. So glad I did, because it thoroughly improved his look -- oddly angled, cartoonish -- and now he's just about right.

Fear faced down, problem solved for the better.

I think I may actually get this done, and shipped, and set up and -- well, I don't want to jinx it.

I even shot this in green light for the occasion. I guess the luck o' the Irish is in me t'dee.

As ye were, one an' all.

SLAINTE'!

O'ZOM-beee!

Slainte'!

Welcome, welcome, pubbies!

A fine Saint Patrick's Day to one and all.

Yes, our beloved Hallowe'en Pub is still a pub, and I'm still Scots-Irish, so we celebrate Saint Patrick's day right and proper!

I am still having difficulties with the hosting site for our radio and jukebox, but I have been able to get the radio updated with some St. Patrickey goodness for us...

First, The Wakeful Ghost, an episode of the CBS Radio Mystery Theatre first broadcast in March of 1975.

It is the odd tale of an American visiting relatives in Ireland who enlists the help of an ancestor's ghost (how Irish!) and the ghost's partner-in-misdeeds, a leprechaun (how IRISH!), to help him snag the woman of his dreams.

Then, a fun and freakish little story of an Irish lad who runs afoul of some very insistent Little People who charge him with a very ghoulish burden late one foggy night...

Tighe O Cathain (or Tadg O Cathan OR Tige O'Kane) & the Corpse is a creepy little drama first broadcast in 1982 on the excellent CBC series Nightfall. Worth every minute of listening, trust me.

Alas, I could not really edit the jukebox much, but I did add one piece, an excerpt from the late, great composer Paul Weston's 1974 suite Memories of Ireland. I call this movement Irish Origins -- I don't really know why.

Who knows how the Irish mind works?

I hope you all enjoy a wonderful St. Paddy's Day and Night, talking, loving, drinking, singing, eating, and remembering that Hallowe'en owes so much to Ireland.

I also want to wish my sister Julie a very happy birthday! May it be filled with fun and fortune!

A toast...

... and

DUMDUMSHREKPOP!

O'ZOM-beeee!