Hey Frog Queen...

Hello gang!

Don't mind me -- continue with your drinks and chatter, I'm just displaying a picture for a certain Frog Queen.

Yesterday she posted some fun images on her wonderful and much-followed blog, Frog On The Pumpkin. 

They reminded me of one of the denizens of the grounds right here at our own S&P...

'Course, it's not pumpkin vines (those are some yards away beyond that tree), it's a nice little bed of Virginia Creeper. And he's still sporting what remains of the tattered rags he was wearing when he first arrived at our Hallowe'en door as an undead pirate.

But apparently, dear Frog Queen, brilliantly ill minds think alike!

Just a lark for Monday. As you were.

DDSP!

Wow. I mean, really?

... wow.

Just noticed that the Skull & Pumpkin has just recently entertained its 20,000th guest.

Okay, in actuality I'm not entirely sure how the tally is, um -- tallied -- so it's more like we've been visited 20k times, not by 20k unique visitors... but I like the first thought so I'm leavin' it!

Still...

TWENTY.

And then THOUSAND.

100,000 - 80,000.

10,000 x 2.

A million divided by fifty.


This requires a special toast, everyone!

DUMDUMSHREKPOP!

Old tubes, part five.

Everyone enjoying themselves?

I sure hope so. Can't have a good pub without good guests having a good time.

Another question -- did you all notice the ol' Hallowe'enith radio crackling last night? That thing's possessed, I'm tellin' you! Something in those tubes...

  Knew it!

That's right, another bit of vintage spooky radio wonderfulness has somehow found its way into the dusty, waxy inner workings of the old console.

The S&P's current focus on Edgar Allan Poe must be influencing the ancient airwaves that occasionally waft through the radio's coils, for tonight we have another Poe tale adapted to the medium of sound... this time starring none other than the King of Movie Monsters himself, Boris Karloff!

The Tell-Tale Heart was adapted as an episode of the legendary series Inner Sanctum, and was first broadcast in 1941.

Mind, it's a rather loose take on the original short story, but it still has creepy eyes, beating hearts and floorboards, and a possibly mad narrator with a guilty conscience (unlike your current narrator, who doesn't have a guilty conscience, but might well be mad).

Enjoy.



DDSPoe!

Selective elective invective.

I know I have in the past quoted the beloved humanitarian and great Hallowe'en philosopher Linus Van Pelt.

I mean, I live my entire life according to his teachings.

And I know that one of those quotes was this brilliant insight uttered in the midst of writing a special letter to a beloved icon:

"There are three things I've learned never to discuss with people -- religion, politics and the Great Pumpkin!"

At the risk of repeating myself, I will say that while the discussion of religion and politics at the S&P is verboten, the Great Pumpkin is pretty much a nightly topic... Linus, you can discuss it with the right people!

But tonight I wish to make just a brief mention of political responsibility. Not even politics in general (and surely never party politics, which serves only to incur my wrath, whereupon I knock all self-important sidetakers on their collective ass and out of the bar).

I just want to mention our obligation to simply vote.

I hope you did.

Can't applaud or complain about things if you don't vote.

(I love that the flash wiped out the ' I ', which is just exactly how Frankie would say it!)

You have to vote, especially in your local elections.

Even if you only vote the same as your friends or family and never really vote your conscience, just going along with the most popular reactionary slogan of the day, you should still vote.

It's not about feeling like you're right, or that anyone else is wrong, or that you've won.

It's about obligation, and the opportunity that we are afforded a few times a year -- the chance to exercise our American right, our human privilege to speak our minds and hearts with a ballot, a touchscreen, a punchcard, a pen -- so we will never really lose.

Now, that might feel like a blanket statement... 

 ... but as we all know, those were the only kind Linus ever made.

DDSPelt!

Summer's end?

 Oh... no. Not hardly.

There is still plenty of Summer to go, especially for those of us living in the hot, humid midsection of this fine country of our'n (yes, it'll be hot on the southern coasts too, but it's always hot there and anyway, those places have beaches, waves and breezes to make up for it -- see above). 

But August just always feels like the burning out end of the Hot Months. 

I'm sure it's just wishful thinking on my part. Well, not wishful, really -- I'm not a fan of constant cold either, and goodness knows I don't want the year to whiz by any faster than it has -- but I would love a shift from the face-melting heat, breath-taking mugginess, and ear-splitting bug-screechery.

Oh well. Regardless of how many more weeks I must contend with the HEAT, I know that August is quite truthfully the last honest month of Summer. After August come the 'Embers and the cooler days and nights (okay, OctOber's not an 'Ember but I love the idea and my niece Livy so 'Embers it is).

Aaaaahhhhh...

So I have done what I do at the beginning of every month. A little jukebox change-up is good for the soul.

In honor of the Summer we've been enjoying (and the one holding on for just a wee bit longer), I've added the classic 1964 anthem from the ultimate boys of Summer -- The Beach Boys' All Summer Long.

(source)

Skeleton surfers. What a thought.

This one's not just a skeleton but Death itself. The Big Kaput-a.

(source)

 Those girls in their bikinis are definitely a reminder that August is the last chance to really party it up. Of course, in their case, it's more like a shindig. And with the skeletal countenance of Death in their number, it's nothing less than a Monster Shindig.

So comes our next tune... Hanna-Barbera released the very fun Monster Shindig in 1966, which features rocker Danny Hutton, later of Three Dog Night fame. It's a perfectly '60s rock tune with a very catchy melody and a clever lyric concerning a particular shindig I'd really love to have attended!

As Summer begins to wind down, days are long, wistful, and warm noons get lazier and lazier. As a nod to the dreaming afternoons of late Summer youth, I have selected an odd and endearing Sammy Fain/Bob Hilliard tune from Disney's animated 1951 classic Alice In Wonderland.

In A World Of My Own, Alice spends a moment daydreaming about how things might be in some fantastic far off realm of her creation.

Oh, plus my granddaughter Kiara wanted this on the jukebox.Y'know how it is.

The last 'new' song to the jukebox this time around is not necessarily a happy one. Neither is it necessarily sad. But August eventually means the last days of vacation friendships, summertime romances, nighttime neighborhood games of tag -- nights when so many of us felt like the rest of the world had gone home too early, when we lingered on the corner under the streetlight, not wanting to go home yet, not wanting to stick around. Just not wanting it to end.

For the closing song on her 1979 multi-award-winning debut album, Rickie Lee Jones, Rickie sings of the bittersweet end of those magic nights in After Hours. Various sources suggest a subtitle of either 'Twelve Bars Past Midnight' or 'Twelve Bars Past Goodnight'. I can't find out who's right, and Jones' own site doesn't even mention any extra title so I'll leave it to you. All I do know is that it speaks of that sort of moment with her trademark perfect ease.

Nothing else to add but this: the next time I rearrange the jukebox, we'll be in those 'Embers.

I say bring 'em on... just not too quickly. A few more lingering streetlamp nights would be fine.

A toast to Summer.


DDSP!

The last day of July for us...

... the First Day of Life for a few others.

Autumn People are readers, and our libraries tend to be weighty in the dark, mysterious fantasy categories. Our library here at the Skull & Pumpkin is well-stocked with such things.

And, any Hallowe'en, fantasy and magic lover is not only familiar (get it?) with the Harry Potter books and films, but is likely an admiring fan (if not an obsessed devotee). One doesn't, however, have to be a big fan to agree (because there's really no debating the matter) that Rowling's creations have permanently impacted the publishing, literary and fantasy worlds, and forever affected the way kids (and plenty of grown-ups!) read and look at the world around them.

Today, we're going to be raising a glass to the birthday of not one, but of the two most important figures in the Potter universe.

J. K. Rowling is celebrating her 45th birthday.

A remarkably quiet, kind, funny and imaginative person who, whether by sheer luck or her own utterly unique magic, became the Tolkien of the 21st Century.

I'm fairly certain it was a perfect blend of both.

And, probably because she enjoyed July 31st all her life (or simply because the idea was a fun one), she bestowed the same birthday upon her main literary creation.

Harry James Potter was born on July 31st, 1980 to Lily (nee Evans) and James Potter.

Yes, that makes him 30 years old today. You know, if he was real.

Regardless, we raise a glass to them both, for bringing us such great adventures, philosophy lessons, and ultimately just pure, simple joy.

DDSP 2 J.K. N' H.P.!!!

Old tubes, part four.

Funny... last night I was listening to our old radio while dusting off a few of the counters and shelves, and while I was dusting off the radio itself I heard some crackling and a brief moment of total silence... and then all was as before.

I knew the old Hallowe'enith console had pulled from without (or within) some radio tale new to our ears.

And lo! this morning I hear a tale from none other than the Author of the Hour here at the ol' S&P.

From the CBS Radio Mystery Theatre comes the Edgar Allan Poe classic, The Fall of the House of Usher!

 Harry Clarke (1889 - 1931)

Now, to be sure, the CBS Radio Mystery Theatre is not necessarily very old. With producer/director and radio pioneer Himan Brown at the helm, and the inimitable E.G. Marshall performing hosting duty, the series ran from 1974 until 1982 -- not as old as the other programs heard here at the S&P, but surely a longer run than most of those series, and every bit as dramatic, involving, enthralling, and ultimately satisfying.

The Fall of the House of Usher stars horror and sci-fi film stalwart Kevin McCarthy. It's a rich and filling 41 minutes long, and first aired in March, 1974. 

Old... but not very old. Almost as old as your pubkeeper -- but not quite.

Enjoy the Poe tale, good guests of the Skull & Pumpkin.

DDSP!