“Ahhhhh Halloween .... The horror fans holiday. It just doesn't get any better than the month
of Oct; haunted houses and pumpkin.... well pumpkin EVERYTHING! Going to CVS,
or any store and seeing monsters and creatures cute and scary next to cheap
crap make up and Scream masks. The billboards off the highway of all the haunts
and hayrides makes you wish it was all year round.
In my youth I'd start building my costume at the end of
August cuz, like most New Englanders, we were broke !! But that's fine. Having financial limitations can bring out a
creative side you might not have known you even had. As a young boy I'd try to
put together at least two costumes so I could hit my neighborhood twice and get
double the candy. If our parents were up
for it, and usually they were, they'd take us to the nicer neighborhoods where
they'd dish out the FULL sized candy bars and not the "fun sized"
ones most houses had (and what's with the term fun sized? Why does that mean
tiny??) As I got older the costumes got more advanced, the girls outfits got
skimpier (international allowed to dress like a slut day as some call it), and
house parties and cemetery parties replaced trick or treating.
In my late teens I was lucky enough to play music professionally,
which took me around the world more than a few times and allowed me to
experience Hallows Eve MANY diff places. Almost booking our tours around the 31st
and making sure we were some place spooky for that amazing day.... like seeing
the Cramps in Austin. Or how about the Michael Graves era Misfits in New
Orleans? Or even better Paris France one year for Samhain. But no
matter where it was around the globe, the best place in the WORLD for Halloween
is only 30 mins away in Salem, Mass. For the entire month of Oct, Salem embraces
the evil "witchery " that took place in the fall of 1692 where over
30 young women (and a few men) met their fate by hanging, being burned alive, or
being pressed (held under rocks until it crushed all your organs and you bled
to death internally). But now on Halloween
it is just a GIANT party. The
cobblestone streets are blocked off from traffic and thousands from all over
come in costume to drink and be merry and have fun. And then the weekend before Halloween is Rock
n Shock. It’s my favorite horror
convention in North America because they combine my two fave things, horror
films/culture and punk/hardcore/metal music ! At the Palladium, bands are
playing from late afternoon into the wee
hours of night and at the DCU center horror vendors and celebs mingle with fans
of the macabre ! If you've never been, it's a sight to behold.
I get asked a lot if, since I play monsters year round and
spend countless hours in the make-up chair, why would I want to do that to
myself on my days off? Why??? F@$king why??? Because I LIVE for this stuff !!!
The entire reason I do what I do is because I'm STILL the lil kid planning his
costume in August. I STILL want be someone else for a night I
LOVE a great costume that you can stand in front of someone you've known your
whole life and they can't recognize you ! You aren't who you were on Oct 29th. You're whoever you want to be. It's a silly
reference, but I remember an old episode of Beauty and the Beast (with Ron
pearlman and linda Hamilton ) where the only night out of the year that the
beast could walk freely in the streets was Halloween. All he would hear back instead of screams was
"cool costume." And maybe deep down that's how I feel, cuz any other
night I'm considered a freak. But on Oct
31, I just have a cool costume and it's the freaks night to be themselves. So
here's to all the freaks..... Have a great Halloween.”
1 more day 'til Halloween, Halloween, Halloween. 1 more day 'til Halloween. Silver Shamrock!
1 comment:
This was aa lovely blog post
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