Halloween Vinyl

I always enjoyed trick or treating as a kid on Halloween, but my favorite part about the day now is seeing my kids get excited about it and socializing with the neighbors (Although dealing with the costuming is a real pain -- try doing it for SIX children!). Seriously, next to shoveling snow at the same time, Halloween may be the only time you actually get to talk to some of these people (I don't mean the people right next door who hopefully you're on good terms with -- more like the ones down the street). For a self-proclaimed introvert, I really like to meet and greet sometimes.

Ever had the experience where you bought candy and almost no one came to the door? -- It's such a downer. It's like if no one shows up you've been rejected somehow. So, I feel it's my civic duty to help those people not go to bed disappointed. Usually they're just so happy to see the kids dressed up too. Oh, I like the candy also, but only if it's primarily plain M&M's or Special Dark miniatures. Fortunately, my children always give me a generous offering of my favorites. My wife usually gets "the bad" candy, so we won't be too tempted to eat it if we're left with a lot -- this year the kids requested "good" candy and she actually acquiesced (M&Ms, Skittles, Snickers, Twix). I guess the kids didn't want to be embarrassed in front of their friends.

This year my wife and I are actually invited to a costume party Saturday night (no kids). I have no idea what we'll wear, but I always enjoy seeing her dressed up! I was thinking I could be Logan-5 and she could be my female pair-up, but I doubt we could pull that together in such a short amount of time. Most likely, I'll be Bruce banner in ripped purple pants (which I dyed a few years ago) and a ripped shirt -- usually no one gets it though. That's the other hopeful aspect of Halloween -- will people appreciate or even recognize what you dressed up as? The kids really agonize over getting the "right" outfit.

Then there are the school activities. This year, my son who is a tuba player in the middle school band, will be marching and playing tunes while a local elementary school goes on their Halloween parade march. It should be awesome -- the band will be playing "Don't Stop Believing", "Gonna Fly Now", and "Sweet Caroline" -- good tunes all!

Do to unfortunate scheduling conflicts (re:other Halloween parade and preschool pick up) I missed the full set (very upset about that) and only got to hear two songs, but they were really good. Eric is dressed as The Doctor

In getting ready for this Halloween-eve post, I was thinking about my old Power Records "The Curse of the Werewolf!" comic. I used to get these at the school book fairs back in the mid-to-late 70's. In hindsight, this book seems to be a little violent for a first-grader, but I've always enjoyed it. The Mike Ploog art is phenomenal. I listened to it this past week and despite a few skips, the music and narration really took me back.

The cover is by Neal Adams, I believe (cover clipped at bottom).

Just check out this incredible transformation scene.

Whenever you see the really large text, it means it's been edited from the original story. Turns out (now that I have the Tomb of Dracula omnibus 1 and 2), this isn't just a sole reprinting of Marvel Spotlight #2. After this scene at the mid-point of the book, it goes into Werewolf by Night #15 (to show how the curse began in his family) before finishing up with a few pages of Tomb of Dracula #18 (which preceded the WbN story) and ends in the middle of a fight between Drac and Jack. The closing dialog is totally new, but it flows pretty well I think.

But why take my word for it when you can download the issue itself and the soundtrack. Thanks to the good folks at Power Records Plaza, who saved me the trouble of making a recording myself. As an extra bonus, I can now listen and read the comics I never managed to get before (Good thing I didn't purchase those Planet of the Apes ones off of ebay last week).

I also wanted to share the ultimate Halloween vinyl album, Disneyland's "Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House". I especially like the water torture track. It's actually too creepy for some of my kids to listen too -- I certainly don't want them having nightmares. I remember my brother playing this a lot. I found a site devoted to this classic audio recording, but you'll have to go to iTunes or somewhere else to actually listen to it.

While I don't consider this a "real" holiday, I do hope y'all have a safe rejection-free Halloween!