Go-Go To The Graveyard

I bet you thought this blog was dead. Well, it isn't. It's... back from the dead. Bwahahaha.

I know, it's been too long. Anyone that used to read this is probably worm food, by now.  That's okay. I am still alive and kicking. And in honor of Quarantine-o-ween, where a bunch of Halloween freaks decided to parry in the midst of the Coronavirus apocalypse, I decided to... resurrect my little blog.

You ever notice how much Spring feels like Autumn? There are some days in which you can hear summer whispering to you, like it's right on the other side of the door. But other days are like September gold. What's funny is that I have often found little gems for my Halloween playlist for the dead right in the middle of the season when everything is coming back to life.

That's the case of a little song called: Go-Go To The Graveyard; a song my brother introduced me to one warm April day, back in 1999...

Before we even talk about the song and the band behind it, I have to play it for you:

 

Yeah. That's the stuff. Short and sweet. It's got this killer guitar hook with a sweet retro organ driving the melody. The lead singer's voice is harsh enough to fit the genre but holds a tune enough to not be grating. 

The Deadlines were a Tooth and Nail band from 1998-2002. They started off strong with this Horror Punk style. Their other stuff was, unfortunately, a little more Glam than horror. 

When the band was Horror Punk, their stage show was crazy. They lit their gear on fire and juggled swords. Lead singer, Shaun Sundholm (who sometimes went by the name Shaun Coffin) had a manic, crazy energy about him.

What's that? You'd like to see what a live show was like? Okay. Here are a couple of examples:

So, yeah. These guys were crazy good, live.

I dig this song for a couple of reasons.

Number 1: It rocks
Number 2: The organ
Number 3: It is short
Number 4: It is scary

It is a perfect addition to any Halloween playlist and fits right in with The Monster Mash and the Timewarp.

Join us next time as we delve deeper into another ghoulish delight. Until then, stay spooky, my friends.

Fall is Here!

Candy, Halloween, treat, fall

The Stranger Anthology.

Check out an essay I did about Halloween. https://corbeaubooks.com
Go there now!

Making Cookies...

So, I fully understand that some of you nuts out there think these cookies taste like silly putty mixed with playdough. I also stand by the assertion that if you think this, you are nuts.

These are the quintessential store-bougbt Halloween cookies. They are simple, festive, and delicious. I look forward to them every year.

What's not to love about perfect pegs of dough painted with pumpkins?

Just plop the dough onto your cookie sheet and while you wait for them to plump and brown, you can cut out the mask on the back and scare your dogs with it.

These things were made for Halloween. They are insanely addictive. You can't help but eat the entire batch.

And you'd better. Because if they sit for longer than one night, you could use them for hockey - which isn't really a Halloween sport unless you're Canadian.

Anyway, come on over. I'll pour some milk or apple cider and we can sit on the back porch and chow down. 

I'll keep 'em warm and fresh for you.

My Anthology is Now on Amazon

That's right, kiddies, your friendly neighborhood Halloween Haunter has a story coming out in a new anthology. I am pleased to introduce you to: The Stranger.

The Stranger is a horror anthology put out by Corbeau Media. The stories are all Halloween related, so I'm not sure why they didn't call it a "Halloween" anthology, but I guess horror is fresh all year long.

There are 12 stories by different authors. I am D.L. Duncan and you can find me below.

The synopsis is as follows:


Get in the Halloween spirit with twelve new horror novellas from the twisted minds of our favorite authors. With demons, serial killers, cursed objects, fallen angels, and Death himself, there’s a spooky treat for every taste in this delicious mix. Dig in and see what The Stranger has in store for you.

Denise A. Agnew: Peeper. A peeping Tom discovers there’s something more evil than him roaming the neighborhood.

Joan Blackheart: The Factory. When a traveler takes a temp job at a factory in Wales, nothing is scarier than the daily grind.

L. Bowen: Not Yet. G has never mattered before now. But after being pushed too close to the edge, she gets a taste of what it really means to be alive.

Courtney Butler: Mona. In a world abandoned by God, humanity imprisons a fallen angel.

Jessica Cale: Bear River. Death stalks a Minnesota nursing home…until a night nurse stalks him back.

D.L. Duncan: Tough Cookie. Halloween baking gets scarier with a set of cursed cookie cutters.

Sarah Elliot: The Collector. Karma comes for the cruel when the Collector is marked for collection.

Arthur M. Harper: Oceanus. Psychological experiments on a submarine. What could possibly go wrong?

Jennifer Johnson: The Deck. A woman at a crossroads must fight for her life when a man arrives with a special deck of tarot cards.

Rosanna Leo: The Cemetery Guardian. A grieving woman meets a tall, dark stranger at the Toronto Necropolis.

Quenby Olson: With My Own Eyes. A spiritualist comes face to face with a demon in Victorian England.

Justin Thoby: The Last Son. A knight rides down the apocalypse in a violent hellscape of zombies and false idols.

The book comes out on October 2. You can pre-order it, now. Here is the link so you can check it out, yourself.

Office Dry Ice Party!

Wednesday Afternoons are tons more fun with dry ice in the office.

It's always nice to freak out your staff with a little dry ice in the sink. They didn't know what to think.

It felt a bit like October in August and I loved every second of it.

At first, the staff was like, "What?!?" Then they were like, "Oh!" It was a pretty good afternoon.

We finished it up with some Cookies and Screeem M&M's. Good times...

The Monster Mash

Hello Boils and Ghouls. It's time to unpack that perennial favorite - that creepy cool king of Halloween - The Monster Mash.

Arguably the most popular song for Halloween howling, The Monster Mash is the one track that you can expect to appear on every All Hallow's party playlist. In fact, that venerable ghoul, Dr. Demento, called it "The biggest Halloween song of all time."

Catchy, fun, and instantly likable with a 1960's vibe, The Mash fires on all cylinders, and nothing can get you in the spooky mood faster than the opening creek of the castle door, the bubbling cauldron, the rattling chains, and those echoing footsteps...

The song was written in 1962 by Robert George Pickett, also known as Bobby "Boris" Pickett. 

Bobby got the nickname "Boris" because of his spot-on Boris Karloff impersonation.  During the day he was an actor and at night he sang with a Do-Wop group known as:

 One night, Bobby was joking around, and did a Karloff impersonation while performing with the band. One of his band mates, Lenny Capizzi, thought it was awesome and encouraged him to do more. In fact, ol' Bob (as he liked to be called*), did an entire monologue in the Karloff voice.

This led to Pickett and Capizzi to sit down and within about 30 minutes they had written the song. 

 The narrative is one of a mad scientist who brings a Frankenstein monster to life on a stormy night. When the monster gets off the slab, he does a dance, which becomes a "monster" hit across the country. Soon other monsters come to a party where Dracula laments the demise of his "Transylvania Twist"*.

The song was recorded with  a who's who of seasoned professional musicians, and dubbed them: The Crypt-Kicker Five.

Here are the lyrics, in case you missed them:

I was working in the lab late one night
When my eyes beheld an eerie sight
For my monster from his slab began to rise
And suddenly to my surprise

He did the mash
He did the monster mash
The monster mash
It was a graveyard smash
He did the mash
It caught on in a flash
He did the mash
He did the monster mash

From my laboratory in the castle east
To the master bedroom where the vampires feast
The ghouls all came from their humble abodes
To get a jolt from my electrodes

They did the mash
They did the monster mash
The monster mash
It was a graveyard smash
They did the mash
It caught on in a flash
They did the mash
They did the monster mash

The zombies were having fun
The party had just begun
The guests included Wolf Man
Dracula and his son

The scene was rockin', all were digging the sounds
Igor on chains, backed by his baying hounds
The coffin-bangers were about to arrive
With their vocal group, "The Crypt-Kicker Five"

They played the mash
They played the monster mash
The monster mash
It was a graveyard smash
They played the mash
It caught on in a flash
They played the mash
They played the monster mash

Out from his coffin, Drac's voice did ring
Seems he was troubled by just one thing
He opened the lid and shook his fist
And said, "Whatever happened to my Transylvania twist"

It's now the mash
It's now the monster mash
The monster mash
And it's a graveyard smash
It's now the mash
It's caught on in a flash
It's now the mash
It's now the monster mash

Now everything's cool, Drac's a part of the band
And my monster mash is the hit of the land
For you, the living, this mash was meant too
When you get to my door, tell them Boris sent you

Then you can mash
Then you can monster mash
The monster mash
And do my graveyard smash
Then you can mash
You'll catch on in a flash
Then you can mash
Then you can monster mash

The effects were done on the cheap. The castle door creaking was a nail in a board, the cauldron and scientific equipment was blowing through a straw into a glass of water, and the chains were ordinary dog leashes, rattled and tossed about.

The song was immediately successful and cracked the top ten in December of 1962. Bobby was thrilled with the results, but was surprised when there was a revival of the tunes in the 70's. The song hit the Billboard charts again in 1970 and 1973. In fact, Pickett is the only performer whose original recording hit the top 100 three separate times.

To show you how much times have changed, the song was banned in Great Britain in 1962, for being too morbid... 

BTW, did you know that Pickett's original backup band was a group of young unknown guys called: "The Beach Boys"? 

There are lots of other interesting facts about Pickett and the song. The truth is out there... if you look for it.

Pickett kept performing the song live and fully embraced it until his death from leukemia in 2007. Here is a video of one of the live performances. It's really great to see him on stage with the "Ghoul of Cool", Zacherley. We'll talk more about him on another post.

Zacherley is a late-night talk show host, who made his own albums and was featured by Rob Zombie on his Halloween Hootenanny album. He recorded a ton of horror songs and is a must for any fear aficionado. 

It was so successful that it spawned two sequels: Monster Holiday and Monster Rap. Neither could reach the success of the Mash.

 

In the end, the song has become a staple of spookiness. Various books have illustrated its story and there even was a movie made, starring Pickett. It says it was written by the co-writers of Toy Story.

It has Candace Cameron as one of the main stars. In fact, I demand you watch it, right now:

The Monster Mash has been covered by over 100 groups. Here is a small sampling...

First up, is a Metallica rip-off, heavy metal Monster Mash version:

Next we have the delightfully punky version as recorded by The Misfits:

Here is a folksy acoustic version that I kinda dig:

Last, but definitely not least, is one of my favorites. We have the Master of Horror, Vincent Price, serenading some ghouls:

So there you have it. Everything you never wanted to know about The Monster Mash. Go get the album and rock it, hard!

*nobody ever called him that, to my knowledge. 
** which was also Pickett, doing his best Lugosi impersonation. 

M&M's Cookies and Screeem

Some days start off rough and tumbly and then you walk into your favorite store and find something new and suddenly, everything seems right and good in the world. 

Such is the case, today...

Introducing M&M's Cookies and Screeem!

Now, I know these are all over the web, but they aren't out at most stores. They were out at my local Target, so I felt the need to review them. 

First, why is it that I never realized that it's not M&Ms, rather it is M&M's? I never noticed the apostrophe. I did not realize that M&M's were possessive. Now you could call me a bad consumer, and I certainly wouldn't with you on that note. But I have to ask, how many of you noticed the apostrophe?

It turns out that Forrest Mars (of Mars bars fame) made a plan with William Murrie, the then president of a little company called Hershey. He wanted to make a candy-coated chocolate and needed Hershey's to provide the goods. Thus, M&M's stands for Mars and Murrie's. The exact title is M&M's chocolate candies.

Why didn't they use Mars' own recipe for chocolate? Simple. He didn't have one. He was inspired by a British candy called Smarties that are candy coated chocolate discs.

But what about these M&M's?

Right away, you know you are getting something special. The moment you open the bag, your nose screams OREOS! 

No, these aren't Oreo flavored, they are cookie and cream. But,  everyone knows that cookies and cream means Oreo.  Nobody looks at a gallon of cookies and cream ice cream and thinks, "Hey, this must be Hydrox* flavored.

The candies that come out of the bag look kind of like old malted milk balls that might have been sucked on a bit. They almost resemble moldy chocolates. 

Once you bite into them, they are nice mixture of candy shell, a dark chocolate layer, and then the creme from the cookies. The taste is generic cookies and cream, but there is something compelling about them. Let's just say that my bag is currently half-full**.

The flavor is yummy. The smell is divine. And this is a fabulous new addition to Halloween 2017.

*You can find out all about Hydrox, here.
**What can I say, I'm an optimist. 

Monster Bop

So when I first heard the name of this album, I actually thought it was Monster Hop. Since that was the first song from the collection that I listened to, it made sense. I remember it like it was five years ago*. 

I was listening to Pandora and found a station that was all Halloween. The moment I heard The Monster Hop, which we covered in quite a bit of detail below, I wanted to know where the song had come from. I saw that it was off this collection. So, I headed off to Amazon, and purchased it.


Now this is a collection!  

Check out this tracklist:

You want a Halloween primer, this is it! There are so many good tracks on this disc that I insist you run off to your favorite online retailer and purchase this disc right now. 

Go on.

I'll wait...

There. Did you do it?

Don't you feel better? You know hold a very special disc in your hands. Take this, burn the mp3's and then make a playlist. Add the Halloween theme, the Monster Mash, Werewolves of London, Crazy Little Demon, and the Purple People Eater, and you've got yourself a nice little mix that will bring the undead out in any party you're at.

You're Welcome. 


*That's because it was five years ago.

A Little Playlist Wallpaper

Here is the background of this blog, in full...