One of the coolest things to come out of this year's Countdown to Halloween is that I discovered the Highbury Cemetery blog. Not only is it a cool blog about making a yard haunt, but I also found out that we live in the same city.
Earlier today I took a visit to Highbury Cemetery and met Highbury and his brother Scrapes. They are a couple of very creative guys that love Halloween and I must say they have done a wonderful job on the yard. Highbury said they expect at least 200 trick-or-treaters tonight. Wow! That's a lot of kids. We had trick-or-treat last night in my area and we only had 32 kids show up. Needless to say I have a lot of left-over candy.
I hope everything goes as planned at the Highbury Cemetery tonight. Those kids are in for a real treat. Thanks again Highbury and Scrapes for letting me visit your haunted yard. I really enjoyed seeing it. I only wish I could've seen it at night with all the lights and fog.
Make sure you visit the Highbury Cemetery blog to see all of the hard work they put into the display. And I'm sure after tonight they will have some new photos up showing everything in action.
A big thank you to Countdown to Halloween for organizing another memorable Halloween season. There were at least 206 blogs participating this year. I haven't had a chance to visit all of them yet, but I hope to check out most of them soon. I made at least one post every day in October. I wasn't sure I was gonna be able to do it, but I did. Thanks again to John Rozum (John Rozum.com), Shawn Robare (Branded in the 80s) and Jon K (Jon's Random Acts of Geekery).
Everyone did a great job on the Countdown this year! Here's a few of my favorite blogs --
Whoops! Wrong holiday. Now how do you turn a Christmas post into a Halloween post? Like this --
Back in September, my wife and I took a weekend trip to Frankenmuth, MI. While there we visited Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland. Bronner's is the world's largest Christmas store where a spectacular Christmas wonderland awaits you the size of one-and-a-half football fields. It's frickin' HUGE!
Besides all of the Christmas stuff, they had a pretty decent Halloween display.
You can even buy ornaments for your Halloween tree.
Click here to see all of the Halloween items available at Bronner's. I don't know for sure, but maybe after Halloween some of this stuff will be discounted. It's never too early to plan for next year.
They also had this cool Santa in a UFO hanging from the ceiling. But it was kinda pricey.
The coolest thing I found there were these Bigfoot ornaments. Aw yeah! Bigfoot! I had to have one. I bought the brown version, but it also came in a white Abominable Snowman version.
A reader over at the Moongem Comics blog is looking for a digital copy of this 1987 cassette tape made by Imagineering. If anyone has this, please let him know. I wouldn't mind having a copy myself.
Dale Kay is a Horror Host on a local public access channel on Amherst City Cable in Ohio. A few weeks ago I watched one of his shows that was streaming on Alternative Realities. The movie he was showing was The Eye Creatures. The movie was really bad, but his show was really fun. I've been "talking" to Dale through email recently. Here's his history cut together from several emails --
"Well....let's start with a brief history...my childhood doesn't sound much different than yours in areas of interest. I used to make clay dinosaurs come to life on my old 8mm and Super 8 cameras that had single frame capabilities and I used them for special classes, but mostly my own enjoyment.
In 1980, The Ghoul announced he would come back to the (then) new channel 61 in Cleveland, which later became the shopping network channel. He was also doing radio on 108 FM on Saturday nights. I sort of "crashed" the radio station with my finance, at the time, and surprised Ron Sweed and his then wife Barbara. Queen Barbara was very gracious and let us come into the production room out back while Ron did his show live. They learned very quickly I had a knack for character voices and timing and I learned to use the recording equipment equally fast. I made some promos with impressions of famous people for Ron's show and we were promptly invited to the TV station, as well where we played Blanche Figmeyer and I was Spike (who rides a bike) as well as other characters.
After about a year of appearing weekly on both shows, I discovered through one of the other characters on the show that one could make pretty good money as a DJ in bars and weddings.....it was like a dream come true for me....to be able to be paid to drink and act like an ass (well....maybe I wasn't acting). I utilized my TV and radio appearances to obtain nightclub work and had a fairly successful run for the next 15 years. As our family began, I gravitated to a more conventional method of earning a living and drifted away from my hobbies and entertainment, except for an occaisional DJ gig.
Late in 2006, my son and I were collecting soundtracks for horror and sci-fi movies. As I searched more and more online, I discovered a website hosted by Doktor Goulfinger (Michael Monohan) that was dedicated to horror hosts across the country which got the horror host bug to bite me on the heiny. The site also explored the old Spook shows or Ghost shows that were popular in the 40s and 50s in movie theaters. It was then, that Dale Kay's Spookshow was......hatched? I approached our local cable station who at first seemed very interested in the project and the local office manager said "go ahead and film it with the cameraman". In 48 hours, an entire show which includes a cartoon, movie (with comic sound bytes inserted), original comedy skits and hosted studio segments was completed save for editing. The finished product was presented to the "big shots" at the cable company who informed me they don't do public access.
I was given a copy of that "pilot" show and went next to Amherst City Cable at the suggestion of the cameraman, Bob Schlenbaker. He said Amherst is always looking for new shows. From there we've been doing one show a month during the school year, typically, with 28 shows completed. Issue 29 is in post-production, now slowed by a heavy sports schedule there. Spookshow is family-friendly and my own two children Mike and Rachael co-write and co-produce some of the skits, at times.
We've been regular guests at Ghoulardifest...they usually show an Issue of Spookshow and in 2008 I was asked to be on a panel with other hosts and local celebs to discuss the genre. We post the best skits on YouTube....www.youtube.com/dkspookshow.
I get a lot of positive feedback. I'm also hoping to host for 100ymm.com (for one hundred years of monster movies if you accept Edison's 1910 Frankenstein as a first). A company called Fearwerx in NY created a website and every Friday night a different horror host is featured hosting two cheesy horror flicks on a webcast....complete with a chat. Dozens of horror hosts across the country...some well known in the genre and some "newbies" like myself join in the chat.....it's almost like an expanded version of Mystery Science Theater 3000, in a way. I get to use more of my adult humor....A nice outlet for a former nightclub DJ!!
As far as my character....not too far from my DJ persona, which isn't a far cry from the real me. I used my last initial when I started as a DJ and people got to thinking "Kay" was my last name, so I used it, since my real name is a bit ethnic...ski. The best compliment I received so far, was someone who said.....gosh....it's SO much like Big Chuck and The Ghoul without copying either. I tend to be a wise guy and my kids are equally sarcastic, picking at my age and weight while I bust on them to do chores or be respectful. I like to say Spookshow is a cross between the Addams Family and Married With Children....but not really, yet....it's a direction we want to head in.
The first Spookshow aired Apr 15, 2007. We get some interesting guests...the most well known is Uncle Vic from old G98, who is a good friend of mine.
Dale Kay's Radio Spookshow will be on Sat Oct 30 from 7-9 pm on Kool Kat Oldies 1380 AM in Oberlin and then it's over to the Oberlin Inn's bar, Brewster's, for a live Halloween DJ Show."
Thanks for the info Dale. If anyone is in the area, be sure to check out his show. For more info, click on the links below.
I finally finished my 2010 Halloween mix compilation. It doesn't have a name, but I like to refer to it as The Black and Orange Album (a special thanks to my co-worker Bill for the suggestion). As I was combing through the hundreds of Halloween tracks I have saved on my computer, it seems that I gravitated towards a lot of "oldies". Plus I threw in a few radio spots for good measure.
Akron Film Presents the Third Annual FREAKISHLY SHORT ANIMATION FESTIVAL at the Akron Art Museum.
A wide variety of styles and techniques will be on display in this years festival
Entering its third year, Akron Film’s hit Halloween event, THE FREAKISHLY SHORT ANIMATION FESTIVAL RIDES AGAIN, comes to the Akron Art Museum on October 28, 2010 at 7 p.m. After two years of overflowing crowds, this year’s event promises to show some of the best animation from Ohio and beyond.
“Every year, this is my favorite Akron Film event,” said Steve Felix, co-executive director of Akron Film. “It's a rush seeing how animators keep finding fresh techniques and visions. They are virtuosic.”
Among the festival highlights is Barbara Benas’ Always, Only, Ever. CARTOON BREW says of Benas’ animation: “There’s so much to like about the film including Benas’s expert handling of color, design, and storytelling, but what stood out above all else was the quality of her animation, both technically and emotionally.” Barbera Benas created the film while attending the Columbus College of Art and Design.
Another highlight of this years festival will be Adrien Merigeau’s Old Fangs, an official Sundance 2010 selection.
The Freakishly Short Animation Festival Rides Again is free and open to the public. It will take place in the Akron Art Museum’s Charles and Jane Lehner Auditorium. Parking for the event is free after 6 p.m. in the High Street municipal garage directly across the street from the entrance of the Akron Art Museum. Galleries are open until 9 p.m. Admission fees apply to the galleries. The film program is free, but seating is limited and will be available on a first-come-first-serve basis. Arriving early is advised. The program is not recommended for young children.
For more information please contact festival co-director Rob Lucas at (330) 618-4405 or co-director
Steve Felix at 330-603-1520. Akron Film can be contacted by email at info@akronfilm.com. http://www.akronfilm.com/
Esposito is mostly known for all the great work that he did with his longtime friend, the late, great Ross Andru, but he worked on a number of other comic books over the years. He was John Romita’s primary inker on most of Romita’s run on Amazing Spider-Man, he inked Bob Brown on the Avengers and he inked on a number of Archie comics well into the late 1990s!
He left behind an impressive comic book legacy and he will be greatly missed.
(The Frankenstein Monster #15 - cover art by Gil Kane and Mike Esposito)
Here's an odd record I found at a thrift store this past summer. It's from 1973 and is called American Society For the Occult Sciences. It's a spoken word record and each side is one long track --
Side A - How to Develop Your ESP
Side B - The Facts About Witchcraft
A Google search didn't turn up much info about this record. But, during the recording the narrator mentions a couple of books he wrote. The Handbook of Parapsychology and The New Pagans. After another Google search, I found out that these two books were written by Hans Holzer in 1972. My guess is that he's the narrator of this album. The record came in a plain white album jacket.
Do you remember all of the cool make-up products made by Imagineering in the 70s and 80s? Things like Evil Teeth, Vampire Blood and Scar Stuff. I had tons of this stuff when I was a kid. Here's a tribute to Imagineering originally posted at The Universal Monster Army forums by actor Dan Roebuck.
"Well....let's start with a brief history...my childhood doesn't sound much different than yours in areas of interest. I used to make clay dinosaurs come to life on my old 8mm and Super 8 cameras that had single frame capabilities and I used them for special classes, but mostly my own enjoyment.
In 1980, The Ghoul announced he would come back to the (then) new channel 61 in Cleveland, which later became the shopping network channel. He was also doing radio on 108 FM on Saturday nights. I sort of "crashed" the radio station with my finance, at the time, and surprised Ron Sweed and his then wife Barbara. Queen Barbara was very gracious and let us come into the production room out back while Ron did his show live. They learned very quickly I had a knack for character voices and timing and I learned to use the recording equipment equally fast. I made some promos with impressions of famous people for Ron's show and we were promptly invited to the TV station, as well where we played Blanche Figmeyer and I was Spike (who rides a bike) as well as other characters. 
After about a year of appearing weekly on both shows, I discovered through one of the other characters on the show that one could make pretty good money as a DJ in bars and weddings.....it was like a dream come true for me....to be able to be paid to drink and act like an ass (well....maybe I wasn't acting). I utilized my TV and radio appearances to obtain nightclub work and had a fairly successful run for the next 15 years. As our family began, I gravitated to a more conventional method of earning a living and drifted away from my hobbies and entertainment, except for an occaisional DJ gig.
