Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Halloween

Halloween Playlist Poe and Pumpkin Doughnuts

The day began with a pumpkin doughnut, and now I am pondering weak and weary over what to add to my Halloween playlist. Universal monster classics vie with lurid Hammer horror, devil operas, and macabre comedies.

Readings from Poe have punctuated the season. I lay down last night with Fortunato being led into the catacombs to test a pipe of Amontillado and recalled how much fun I had reading this story for the first time as a kid.

I do miss being able to share some of my Halloween favorites with you as part of a live air shift. My impulse is to lend to the savor of the day by mixing the familiar and the unusual. Frederic Curzon’s “Dance of an Ostracised Imp” or Thomas S. Allen’s “Dance of the Lunatics” always put me in a proper trick-or-treat mood. So much “Halloween” music for all occasions and from all eras, and so little of it ever played. Quoth the Raven, “Nevermore.”

Well, at least I can still record.

How about you? Any good reading, listening, or viewing planned for the day? Any excuse to array yourself in widow’s weeds or motley?

Whatever your pleasure, I wish you a Happy Halloween!

PHOTO: The author, Poe-faced

October 31, 2023
Fright Night Dodgeball & Poe A Halloween Crossover

Last night on Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner, the unlikely convergence of Hippie Roy, Fran and Peter La Fleur from “Dodgeball,” and Edgar Allan Poe resulted in a spirited conversation about “Fright Night” (1985).

Okay, so it’s not exactly Steve Allen.

Thanks to Mike and Marybeth from SciFi Distilled for joining us for this fourth-annual Halloween crossover celebration. It’s been archived here.

This month turned out to be a crazy one, full of cancellations and postponements, so that none of the October shows wound up airing during our usual Friday night time slot, but instead got pushed back to Sundays. I guess we needed the added protection of the Sabbath.

One of the weekends had to be cancelled altogether, so we’ll be playing catch-up next week with a 50th anniversary discussion of “The Exorcist” (1973). That will be on Friday evening, November 3, at 7:00 EDT. With the protection of All Saints, will we finally shake the Exorcist Curse?

I realize I’ve been pretty lax about follow-up posts this month, so here are links to this year’s other Halloween-oriented episodes:

“Burnt Offerings” (10/1)

“An American Werewolf in London” (10/15)

M&M’s “SciFi Distilled,” ordinarily seen on Wednesdays, will present a special episode this Tuesday, Halloween night, at 7:00 EDT.

https://www.facebook.com/distilled

Of course, Roy and I hope to see you in the comments section for “The Exorcist.” Have your Ouija boards on hand, when we livestream on Facebook, YouTube, etc., this Friday evening at 7:00 EDT!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

October 30, 2023
Exorcist Postponed Fright Night Next

The gap to Pazuzu remains unbridgeable! I am sorry to announce that once again we have to postpone our discussion of “The Exorcist.” And since next Sunday is our annual Halloween crossover celebration with Mike and Marybeth of SciFi Distilled (during which we’ll talk about the 1985 film “Fright Night”), the postponement is indefinite. We will cover “The Exorcist” at some point in the near future. Perhaps I’ll try to convince Roy to make it our Christmas movie! In the meantime, if you’re desperate for a taste of tie-dye, you can scroll through our archived shows at Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. Keep the holy water handy. We hope to see you for “Fright Night,” next Sunday evening at 7:00 EDT!

October 22, 2023
Charles Ives Halloween Music Birthday Tribute

For Charles Ives’ birthday, here are two Halloween-related pieces. And you can listen to them both in just over three minutes.

First, my favorite recording of “Hallowe’en” (1907), in its original version for string quartet and piano, since it actually includes the bass drum. Ives later orchestrated the work, but it just ain’t the same. The composer wrote, “It’s a take-off of a Halloween party and bonfire – the elfishness of the little boys throwing wood on the fire, etc., etc… it is a joke even Herbert Hoover could get.”

And then this wisp of a song, “Slugging a Vampire” (1902). The music was originally composed to Rudyard Kipling’s poem “Tarrant Moss,” but permission to use Kipling’s text had not been obtained by the time Ives’ “114 Songs” were to go to press. So Ives just included the first few words and left the rest of the voice-part blank.

“114 Songs” went through two editions and was reprinted in 1975, all without Kipling. When the composer later published “Nineteen Songs” in 1935, he decided to reuse the music, but this time he made up his own text. The result is like having consumed tainted Smartees from your trick-or-treat loot before your parents had a chance to check your candy.

This is a guy who really understood Halloween. Happy birthday, Charles Ives!

October 20, 2023
Halloween Tricks Treats at Captain Phil’s WUSB

I’ve been invited to beam down to Captain Phil’s Planet (of the Vampires) this afternoon to be his guest on WUSB, the radio station of Stony Brook University. Therefore, I’ve been hastily compiling sound files of some Halloween tricks and treats. Nobody told me there would be costumes! Join us today for an engaging and amusing mix of music and conversation, as we sip our elderberry wine and arsenic, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. EDT!

https://www.wusb.fm/

October 19, 2023

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