Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Music For The 4th

If you need some music for your Fourth of July celebration, you can click on the links below to download some of my past patriotic posts.

Independence Day Mix

July 4th With John Williams & The Boston Pops

An American Idea

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Michael Jackson's Least Favorite Hits

To commemorate the one year anniversary of the death of Michael Jackson, I thought I'd put together a compilation of his music. But instead of gathering all of his greatest hits, I decided to find all of his songs that appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 charts but didn't crack the Top 40. I'm only using the Pop Charts and not the R&B Charts. Some of these songs were much bigger hits on the R&B Charts. These tunes feature MJ as a solo artist, with The Jackson 5, The Jacksons and as guest-star on other artists songs. In parenthesis I've listed the artist, the year of release and the peak chart position. Personally, I love the song "Ease On Down The Road" from The Wiz. I've had it on 45 since it was released in 1978.

Track Listing

1. Blame It On The Boogie (The Jacksons 1978 #54)
2. Blood On The Dance Floor (MJ 1997 #42)
3. Body (The Jacksons 1984 #47)
4. Can You Feel It (The Jacksons 1981 #77)
5. Ease On Down The Road (Diana Ross & MJ 1978 #41)
6. Eaten Alive (Diana Ross & MJ 1985 #77)
7. Forever Came Today (The Jackson 5 1975 #60)
8. Get It (Stevie Wonder & MJ 1987 #80)
9. Goin' Places (The Jacksons 1977 #52)
10. One Day In Your Life (MJ 1981 #55)
11. One More Chance (MJ 2003 #83)
12. Save Me (Dave Mason & MJ 1980 #71)
13. State Of Independence (Donna Summer & Friends 1982 #41)
14. Stranger In Moscow (MJ 1996 #91)
15. Walk Right Now (The Jacksons 1981 #73)
16. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008 (MJ with Akon 2008 #81)
17. We're Almost There (MJ 1975 #54)
18. With A Child's Heart (MJ 1973 #50)

Click the link below to download --

--> Michael Jackson's Least Favorite Hits <--

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Monster Bash 2010

Well, boils and ghouls, it's almost time for another Monster Bash. This year's Conference is a 1950s celebration of of Martians, Monsters and Movies! I would love to go this year, but I can't make it. I have a Creature From The Black Lagoon poster signed by Ben Chapman and Ricou Browning that I would love to get signed by Julie Adams.And as I've done for the past few years, here's a compilation of themes and trailers based on this year's guests.

Track Listing

1. 13 Ghosts
2. Beginning of the End
3. Chiller Theatre
4. Earth vs The Spider
5. Ed Wood
6. I Was A Teenage Werewolf (Radio Ad)
7. Night Gallery
8. Night of the Living Dead
9. One Step Beyond
10. The Amazing Colossal Man (Movie Trailer)
11. The Amazing Colossal Man
12. The Blob (Beware of the Blob)
13. The Creature From The Black Lagoon
14. The Cyclops
15. The Day The Earth Stood Still
16. The Fly
17. The Haunted Strangler (Radio Ad)
18. The Three Stooges
19. Tormented
20. Twilight Zone
21. War of the Worlds

Click the link below to download --

--> Monster Bash 2010 <--

This year's guest include --

Jimmy Hunt The little red-headed kid is back! Jimmy Hunt heads for Monster Bash to stomp out the last of those pesky Martians with his government issued ray-blaster! Jimmy appeared in INVADERS FROM MARS (1953 & its remake in 1986), CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN (1950), THE ALL-AMERICAN with Tony Curtis and more.
Ann Robinson The ever lovely Ann Robinson who lived the Martian invasion of 1953 with co-star Gene Barry and director George Pal in THE WAR OF THE WORLDS!
Billy Gray The warning from space came and Billy Gray was there on THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951). Later he would flicker across America as "Bud" in Father Knows Best on TV.
Julie Adams Julie Adams hung out in the Creature Cave in the classic CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954). She also found herself wandering in Rod Serling's Night Gallery. We're happy to have Julie back - Monster Bash alumni!
Bert I. Gordon Forrest J Ackerman called him "Mr. Big" for good reason. Bert directed and brought us giant monsters and bugs...from BEGINNING OF THE END (giant grasshoppers), THE CYCLOPS, EARTH VS, THE SPIDER, VILLAGE OF THE GIANTS, THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN, WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST, ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE, TORMENTED and much more! Get his new book - THE AMAZING COLOSSAL WORLDS OF BERT I. GORDON autographed at this year's BASH!
Richard Gordon The super horror-fan and producer of films like FIEND WITHOUT A FACE (the flying brains that attacked us in 1958), ISLAND OF TERROR, THE HAUNTED STRANGLER, CORRIDORS OF BLOOD and much more. He worked with Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and many more!
Susan Gordon Susan graced the silver screen with ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE, made friends with an alien in THE TWILIGHT ZONE, met up with a ghost in TORMENTED, fell into a world of madness in PICTURE MOMMY DEAD, starred in the early TV 1950s version of MIRACLE on 34th STREET, hung out with Charles Herbert in THE BOY AND THE PIRATES and much more!
George "The Animal" Steele The big man from Tim Burton's ED WOOD film who portrayed Tor Johnson of PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE fame! George re-enacted scenes from the most beloved bad movies of the 1950s - PLAN 9, BRIDE OF THE MONSTER and NIGHT OF THE GHOULS. George is the former WWF wrestler that sold out Main Events at Madison Square Garden, The Boston Gardens, The Philly Spectrum, New Jersey Meadowlands and near the home of Monster Bash - The Pittsburgh Civic Arena. One of the most outrageous wrestlers of all-time was a real-life teacher for 25 years.
"Chilly Billy" Cardille The host of Pittsburgh's Chiller Theatre from the 1950s through the 1980s on Channel 11, Pittsburgh, PA. This is the man who brought you spooky movies and made pizza parties a way of life on Saturday nights for the city of Pittsburgh for three decades.
Stan Gordon A real look into aliens. Reports from the 1940s-1960s gave the public a new perspective on UFOs, flying saucers and the existence of beings from other worlds that have visited this planet. World famous researcher Stan Gordon visits MONSTER BASH 2010 with unbelievable footage and information that will have you taking a new look at reports of close encounters and phenomenon from around the country and documentation from right here in Pennsylvania. Stan will give a talk, take questions and have an unforgettable presentation for fans. Stan is best known for being the authority on the second most documented UFO crash (next to Roswell) - The Kecksburg Incident from 1965. Stan has TWO new books coming out by Bash time!
Charles Herbert Charles was one of the premier kid actors from the 1950s and early 1960s! He was the lead in the original 13 GHOSTS, he was in THE FLY with Vincent Price, THE BOY AND THE PIRATES, THE COLOSSUS OF NEW YORK, THE TWILIGHT ZONE, SCIENCE FICTION THEATRE, ONE STEP BEYOND, MY THREE SONS, THE DONNA REED SHOW, THE PATTY DUKE SHOW pilot and much, much more. He has great stories of working with Cary Grant, Vincent Price, William Castle, Ross Martin, Donna Reed, Sophia Loren, Doris Day and more!
Kenny Miller From ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE to I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF....fan favorite Kenny Miller is back at BASH! Kenny also was in Orson Welles A TOUCH OF EVIL.
Mr. Lobo We're happy to welcome, host of Cinema Insomnia, Mr. Lobo to Monster Bash 2010. One of the most talked about Contemporary Horror Hosts on the Shock Scene!
Wes Shank & The Blob, himself! A man-eating cosmic monster, no not Wes Shank - THE BLOB! Wes is the owner of The Blob used in the original movie. It creeps! Wes has a new book out on The Blob. It's fantastic. Interesting, full of behind-the-scenes information and history. Plus, lots of photos from the set. Wes will have a stack of the book for sale at Bash! And, of course, Wes will be bringing the actual Blob to Bash too. Get your picture taken with it, or it will absorb you.
Tom Savini Local monster, done good! Tom Savini, horror renaissance man. He's dome it all - breakthrough special effects master, actor, director, artist, sculptor and teacher. See Tom back at BASH!
Bill Hinzman A zombie that's a SMASHING success! Bill was the graveyard zombie from the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.
Kyra Schon The little girl zombie from NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is all grown-up and ready to MONSTER BASH!
John Russo NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD screenwriter, zombie, author, film director, and film instructor.
George Kosana NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD actor - The Sheriff! "They're dead....they're all messed-up!"
Moe, Larry, and Curly Too! See the tribute to The Three Stooges parading around Monster Bash this year! Funny bits, all your favorite routines....we're keeping them away from the hotel's plumbing....but, watch out for those pies! These guys have appeared at the Three Stooges Museum - the Stoogeum and are true fans. See them on stage with Son of Ghoul for our Stooge Matinee and roaming the halls at Monster Bash!
Kevin Slick Keyboardist and life-long silent film fan, Kevin Slick! Kevin will perform at this year's MONSTER BASH! Don't miss out on this live event.
Don Reese Monster Bash stand-up comedy Saturday Night with Don Reese. Catch the man from Iowa at Bash and around the country through the year....check out his schedule on his web site....he might be near your area soon! RUN!
Ghoul A Go-Go See you're favorite TV show personalities at Monster Bash! It's Vlad and Creighton from the Ghoul A Go-Go show. A twisted twisting monster -craze for kids of all ages. A retro kid's show that is a combination of Dick Clark's American Bandstand and The Addams Family.
Cortlandt Hull Cortlandt Hull is the nephew of Henry Hull (the WEREWOLF OF LONDON) and Josephine Hull (ARSENIC AND OLD LACE). Cortlandt, in his own right, is a sculptor and artist, heading The Witch's Dungeon in Connecticut. On display you'll see some of Cortlandt's life-size wax classic monsters!
Movie Monster Museum Dennis Phelp's Movie Monster Museum will be at Monster Bash! The room across from the Movie Room will be filled with props and rare classic monster items. The Movie Monster Museum sports items from the estates of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Vincent Price, and make-up man Harry Thomas. Some items will be for sale. It will be a real terror treat...don't miss it.
Bill Diamond Bill Diamond, who worked with Jim Henson's Muppets, now runs MONSTER TV on the Internet! Plus, he's be having his "Gorgo" introduce The Witch's Dungeon new documentary on Aurora Monsters at Monster Bash!
Son of Ghoul The horror host that rocks Cleveland through to its bones! Son of Ghoul will be back to put the scare on you. Make sure to visit him at Bash and if you're in Ohio, check your local listings for that SOG listing! Son of Ghoul will host Saturday Stooge Matinee at Bash.
Richard Sheffield Friend of Bela Lugosi during Bela's last years. Richard also co-wrote the book BELA LUGOSI - DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES with Gary Don Rhodes. A wealth of knowledge and stories from Lugosi to Lon Chaney Jr.
Arthur Lennig Friend of Bela Lugosi and author of THE IMMORTAL COUNT book about Lugosi.
Penny Dreadful's Shilling Shockers Back at Bash, it's Penny and the crew, including Garou. This Boston area TV creepy crew will be bringing their unique brand of horror and humor to Monster Bash. Plus, check out all the cool goodies they'll have at their table, including DVDs of their TV shows and scary movies! Kids, don't worry, Garou the werewolf doesn't bite, but he slobbers a whole lot.
Tom Weaver Noted author of many, many books on the genre. Host of the Bash Braintwister Quiz live at Bash.
Richard Scrivani Noted author of the book "Good Night, Whatever You Are!" An expert on the Universal horror films. He's also the host of the Forgotten Film Series at Monster Bash.
Lorraine Bush Classic Monster portrait artist. She's also a cover artist for Monster Bash Magazine.
Robert Michael Cotter Author Bob Cotter will be set up at Bash signing books and hanging with the Monster Bashers. Bob's books for McFarland include A HISTORY OF DOC SAVAGE, THE GREAT MONSTER MAGAZINES, THE MEXICAN MASKED WRESTLER & MONSTER FILMOGRAPHY, and a forthcoming book on Hammer actress Ingrd Pitt! Also, don't miss him introducing our Mexican Movie Night at Monster Bash!
The Patient Creatures Spooky personalities, the Patient Creatures will be roaming the Monster Bash halls in search of a home....perhaps, yours! Our friends from the Netherworld will treat the kiddies to spooky stories too!
....and David "The Rock" Nelson The indescribable David "The Rock" Nelson. But, we'll try! No budget film-maker from the Chicago area. An inspiration to some, a nuisance to others. But, undeniably a unique personality that can't be duplicated or cloned. Fueled on coffee and monster movies, and video taping everything for stock footage in his movies. If you see people running down the hallway and a guy wearing a suit and a rubber creature mask and dripping wet from going in the swimming pool, you've found The Rock!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Muppet Beach Party

Summer is officialy here! Time for some beach music. This CD was released in 1993 and is kinda hard to find. Also included in the download are scans of the entire booklet.

Click the link below to download --

--> Muppet Beach Party <--

Have a happy summer!

Monday, June 14, 2010

Al Williamson, R.I.P.

I met Al Williamson several years ago at the Pittsburgh Comicon and got these Star Wars Galaxy trading cards signed by him. I loved his Star Wars art. R.I.P. Mr. Williamson.

From Comic Book Resources --

Although there's no official confirmation, reports are widely circulating online that renowned artist Al Williamson passed away on Sunday at age 79.

Born on March 21, 1931, in New York City, Williamson took art classes in the mid-'40s with legendary Tarzan artist Burne Hogarth and, later, at Hogarth's Cartoonists and Illustrators School in New York City. He assisted Hogarth on some Tarzan Sunday pages and, at age 17, made his professional debut working on series like Eastern Color's Famous Funnies and Standard Comics' Wonder Comics.

In 1952, Williamson began working for EC Comics, where he was the youngest member, and "kid brother," of the "EC Family." He primarily contributed to the company's science fiction titles like Weird Science and Weird Fantasy, often collaborating with Frank Frazetta, Roy Krenkel and Angelo Torres. In the mid- to late '50s, he produced hundreds of pages of short stories -- Westerns, mostly -- for Atlas Comics. By the next decade, Williamson was assisting John Prentice on the Rip Kirby comic strip before helping Warren Publishing to launch its Creepy and Eerie horror magazines and contributing to Blazing Combat.

With writer Archie Goodwin, he also took over the Alex Raymond-created Secret Agent X-9 comic strip, which was renamed Secret Agent Corrigan. He remained on the strip from 1967 to 1980.

In the early to mid-1980s, Williamson illustrated high-profile movie adaptations like The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and Blade Runner for Marvel and Flash Gordon for Western Publishing, as well as the Star Wars newspaper strip. During the latter part of the decade, he became almost exclusively an inker, working with artists like Curt Swan, John Romita Jr., Rick Leonardi and Mike Mignola.

Williamson remained active throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s, inking adaptations of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and A New Hope for Dark Horse, collaborating with Mark Schultz on a Flash Gordon miniseries for Marvel and, more recently, inking Spider-Girl and Spider-Man 2099 for Marvel.

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Mego Meet 2010 and Micronauts

If your looking for something to do this weekend, you could go to the Mego Meet. Unfortunately, I can't go, but I sure would love to.

"MegoMeet is a chance for the Mego toy collectors community, (people interested in the great things put out by the toy company Mego) to get together in person to trade and buy parts and action figures, sit in on sessions designed to educate and answer questions about Mego Corporation and the Toys they made, but more than anything a chance to hook up with friends and fellow collectors live and in person, instead of over the internet.

The 2010 MegoMeet will once again be at The Kruger Street Toy & Train Museum in Wheeling, West Virginia, dates for 2010 are June 11 & 12."

The Museum also has this special event going on --

  • April 3 to July 7, 2010: "Micronauts!" - we'll take a look at those classic eighties robot toys from Mego, with a walk through the incredible collection of Ray Miller!
I think of the Micronauts as more of a 70s thing, but I guess they continued into the 80s. Here's photos of some of the display --
Man, that looks awesome! I would love to see this.

Sunday, June 06, 2010

Evil Meatball vs. Cat!

I've seen this website mentioned on a couple of other blogs and thought I'd give my two cents about it. Evil Meatball vs. Cat features vintage toys that could have been. I had a blast going through their archives. Here's some toys that I wish were in my collecction --


Download This...

Download these files before they're gone!

Danny Boy Super Mega Post
Christmas With Garth Brooks
The 10 Best Halloween Songs
Christmas With Bing Crosby
A Merry Geoffrey Christmas

Friday, June 04, 2010

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Chris Haney, Co-Creator of Trivial Pursuit, R.I.P.

Trivial Pursuit is greatest board game ever invented! Me, my brother and friends played it all the time in the 80s. We even played with our parents. I probably have around 30 editions of the game. Thank you Mr. Haney for all of the fun times.

From AOL News --

Chris Haney, a former journalist who became the co-creator of the Trivial Pursuit board game, died Monday in Toronto at age 59.

Haney worked for The Canadian Press and the Montreal Gazette as a photo editor before creating the popular game with sports journalist Scott Abbott.

"He was at least as impactful on my life as anybody, including my parents, my wife and son," Abbott told The Canadian Press. "We did a lot together."

The pair met in 1975 after they arrived in Montreal to coordinate photo coverage for the 1976 Summer Olympics for The Canadian Press. Haney had worked for the news agency in various cities, and Abbott was a Canadian Press sports reporter.

They played a game of Scrabble one night and got to talking about ideas for their own game, The Canadian Press reported. At the end of the night, they had the idea for Trivial Pursuit.

They invented the game in 1979, when Haney was working for the Montreal newspaper, and it was released in 1982, taking off after a slow start. They sold the rights to the game to Hasbro in 2008 for $80 million.

Haney had a "blind faith" that their game would be successful, Abbott said, but they had no idea how big the game would become.

"We didn't realize it would transcend games players and become, with the Cabbage Patch Kids, what Time magazine in 1984 called an American social phenomenon," Abbott said.

Abbott said Haney, born in Welland, Ontario, was a voracious newspaper reader.

"He was not a scholar in the conventional sense," Abbott told The Canadian Press. "He had no use for the classroom. He always said, 'I quit school in grade 12. It was the biggest mistake I ever made. I should have done it in grade 10.'''

Abbott added, "That being said, he was one of the most knowledgeable, widely read people I've encountered. You could always discuss the affairs of the day

ESB Coloring Book - Part 3