Here are some songs, all called Runaway and they are all very interesting! As they say on the streets of Bangkok – same same, but different…

Runaway – Plain Sunset

Runaway – Bon Jovi

Runaway – Budak Pantai

Runaway – Electrico

Runaway – Pink

Runaway – The Misfits

Runaway – The Corrs

General mood of the moment… I want to just run away. Whatever happened my swinging a random bag of clothes and making a run for a spontaneous short getaway? Responsibilities is what happened… gah.

Last time I mention Portland Thanksgiving Break, I swear.

But while I was there, we went to Powell’s, this gigantic bookstore (think Amoeba Music but for books instead of CDs and movies), and it was there that I spied this book called The Dylan Dog Case Files.

Now I didn’t know anything about the Dylan Dog comics, I just recognized the art on the cover as Mike Mignola’s handiwork.  Being a huge fan of Mike Mignola’s illustrations and writing (Hellboy ftw I have a Bureau of Paranormal Research & Defense sticker on one of my guitars), I assumed that Dylan Dog was a comic of his that I had somehow never heard of before and I impulsively bought it.

Anyways, it turns out that Dylan Dog is not one of Mignola’s characters, but Mignola just did some cover illustrations for the comic because he’s such a fan.  And it’s easy to see why, Dylan Dog is as witty and courageous as Hellboy, and is also an occult investigator.  But I digress.  The Dylan Dog Case Files is a collection of seven Dylan Dog comics, a popular Italian horror(ish) comic created by Tiziano Sclavi in the mid to late 1980s that started getting reissued in English by Dark Horse Comics, much to our benefit.  I don’t know anything about Sclavi, but does it make me racist if I imagine him to be this Bela Lugosi looking dude who wrote comics?

Yes, yes it does.

No matter.  The collection was 680 pages.  I read it in a matter of hours.  Seriously, it is awesome.  Well, if you like comics that is.  If you don’t already you probably won’t be that into it.  But anyway, the main character, Dylan Dog, is a paranormal investigator who lives in London with his assistant Felix, a Groucho Marx caricature type guy.  Right off the bat, you know that you’re reading a classic character.  Dylan is a former Scotland Yard officer (is that the right term?) who left his respectable gig to start his “horror detective” agency for which he is ridiculed endlessly in the papers, is afraid of flying, is a recovering alcoholic, only wears dark jeans, red shirts and a black suitjacket (and like Doug, he has a closet filled with the same shit), plays the clarinet whenever he thinks, and drives an old Volkswagen Beetle with the plates “DYD 666.″

No context needed.

The stories are pretty old school horror yarns and should be familiar with any casual fan of that stuff, with Dylan fighting off zombies, paranormal murderers, and indestructible Bane-type villains amongst other things/dudes.  And even though Mike Mignola didn’t illustrate them, the art is super awesome anyway and gory enough.  But it’s not a total horror gorefest.  Seeing as it is a comic book, there are some fun cheese elements that are harmless enough and keep things light, and Dylan’s playboy tendencies (he gets with a different woman in every issue.  Those Europeans, ehh?  Whaddyagonnado) is often highlighted to comedic effect.  There’s also a surprising amount of variety in the collection.  You’d think that being a horror comic series, it’d just be a collection of monster stories.

Which would be awesome in itself anyways.

But there’s a story in there about a guy who no one can see that really subverts the whole “invisible man” trope and makes it fresh and is surprisingly well-written, which was a lot of fun to read.  There’s another one that features members of IRA as the protagonists and gets vaguely political/philosophical before taking a turn somewhere and diving into this Wizard of Oz on crack/fantastical and strange territory.  Overall, Dylan Dog is action packed, funny, weird, and drawn very well.  It seems every time I fall out of reading comic books, something like this comes into the picture and makes me want to grab as many comics as I can get my hands on again.

The Misfits – Attitude

Couldn’t resist putting some Misfits on here for this entry. I could definitely hear this song (or really, any song by The Misfits) over the action parts of Dylan Dog, when he’s shooting zombies in the face or punching out someone or whatever.

Spoon – Paper Tiger

More for the slower panels of the story, maybe when he’s walkin alone down a dark and rainy London street. Which he seems to do a lot of. That’s where all the prostitute killing takes place, after all.  Alright that’s it.  PEACE.

I have to say, having a severe case of Upper Respiratory Infection/Sinus Infection is mighty worth it.

Well, you see… I had this cough. A terrible cough that was confused with asthma (which I have) but it was phlegm-y. Walking up and down stairs knocked the wind out of me, along with talking too much and walking long distances.

I don’t regret it, taking nyquil is the best thing to do when you’re sick. Listening to music is the greatest when bed times rolls around.

Just because of this I’ve fallen in love with the following bands:

• Emarosa
• The Clash
• The Cure
• The Misfits

… and just so MUCH MORE.

You learn to appreciate music way more on your way to giving in to The Sandman.

I don’t recommend getting addicted to Nyquil, I’m not an addict to anything.

But, it’s totally worth it.

Yeah.

The Misfits is an interesting motion picture for a number of reasons, the least of which being what occurs on screen. It is a fascinating piece of movie history in that its stars and its director were caught in almost a constant state of turmoil, drunkenness and drug abuse during its filming. That it was made at all should probably be considered a Hollywood miracle.

The Misfits was directed by John Huston, who spent most of filming either gambling or drinking. Word was that he even fell asleep on the set on occasion and that the production company had to cover some of his gambling losses. Such is the trouble with filming in Reno, I suppose. Star Marilyn Monroe was well on her way down, what with her relationship to writer Arthur Miller unravelling and her descent into drugs and alcohol becoming more drastic by the day.

Monroe stars as Roslyn Taber and she’s a divorcee. She’s bunked in with Isabelle Steers (Thelma Ritter), who’s giving her some life advice and acting like a mothering figure. Isabelle and Roslyn come into contact with Guido (Eli Wallach), a tow-truck driver and pilot who wants to show Roslyn the country and a good time. This leads to introductions with Guido’s friend and business partner, the cowboy Gay Langland (Clark Gable).

The film meanders around various misadventures and misunderstandings before it acquires another member to this misfit party in rodeo rider and drifter Perce Howland (Montgomery Clift). This forms somewhat or a romantic square, I suppose, and Roslyn finds herself in the middle of various quandaries before the movie settles on the issue of mustang hunting as the big issue of the day.

The Misfits isn’t a particularly good movie, but as I mentioned before it is a very interesting one. It gains ground in its last third thanks in large part to the mustang hunting sequences. Gable insisted upon doing all of his own stunts, which included being dragged 400 feet across a lakebed. As many know, he suffered a heart attack two days after filming ended on The Misfits and died 10 days later.

Monroe is the real story here, however. Shooting was troublesome for her and for those who had to rely on her, as she often didn’t show up to the set. Huston shut production down in 1960 to send Monroe to a hospital for detox and used soft focus on her close-ups. Amazingly enough, her performance is rather solid and tinged with pieces of sadness that were no doubt in relation to her struggles off-screen.

The Misfits is worth seeing for no other reason than it marks a bit of Hollywood history. It is the last film for both Gable and Monroe, two bona-fide Hollywood legends. Structurally, however, the picture is a bit of a mess. It meanders a lot and can be difficult to get a read on, especially given how Huston covers the romantic angles. Some scenes feel rushed, as though relationships blossom suddenly and without reason.

In the end, The Misfits is a motion picture that certainly lives up to its title. It is a strange movie, filled with heartbreakingly real performances. Watching it can, at times, feel like watching people drowning in their own existences. Knowing Gable and Monroe’s fates, some of the scenes take on an unintentionally bittersweet quality that gives the movie weight that it otherwise may not have had.

6.1/10

Trailer:

The Misfits tear it up at House of Blues in Houston

I hear ringin’ and I don’t think it’s an angel getting its wings.  No, I am pretty sure this particular ringing in my ears is the aftermath of an evening spent with horror-punk progenitors the Misfits.  I had my misgivings about attending this show – 11/28 at Houston’s House of Blues – because the Misfits have only one original member from the band’s heyday in the 1980s.

Bassist Jerry Only is that original member, and I wasn’t quite sure how these boys would sound without the guidance of one Glenn Danzig, the mastermind behind the original Misfits.  But not to worry – only a punk purist would quibble with the current Misfits lineup, which rocked through its catalog with a vengeance.  And did I say they were loud?  Maybe I did, but I just didn’t hear myself say it.  Yeah, they were loud and that stoked the crowd into a frenzy; even the mosh pit on the House of Blues’ concrete floor looked a little more, ah, energetic than usual.

Opening with the ominous plink of “Halloween,” leading into “Earth A.D.,” the Misfits have a rockin’ show that fits the small confines of a place like House of Blues.  Their trademark skull face is everywhere on stage and on t-shirts in the audience: I tried to count the number of different items you could buy with the band’s iconic image and/or logo but lost count at about 25.  On record, the Misfits combine punk frenzy with the melodic high drama of 1950s music but live, they turn the amps up to 11 and let it rock.  Ripping through titles like “Crawling Eye,” “Dig Up Her Bones” and “Die, Die, My Darling” these boys never take the mayhem too seriously, and they even slowed it down with “Saturday Night,” with vocalist Jerry Only hitting some pretty decent notes.  I also liked “Descending Angel,” which Only dedicated to a little girl who was murdered; “May one day God avenge her killing,” he said.

Jerry Only, left, meeting fans in Houston

In addition to Only, the band is made up of drummer Robo and guitarist Dez Cadena, who were both in the seminal American punk group Black Flag.  They played a handful of Black Flag songs with Cadena on vocals, but the only one I can remember the title of is “Rise Above.”  The Misfits also did their two newest songs, which were both great: “Land Of The Dead” and “Twilight Of The Dead.”

And the Misfits got extra points in my book for the end of the show: after the obligatory encore, Only walked to the lip of the stage and tossed some of his wristbands and stuff into the audience, then he immediately jumped down into the pit and started meeting fans.  Even as the crew efficiently broke down the elaborate stage set behind him, Only patiently moved from fan to fan, signing autographs and posing for photos while still in full stage makeup and gear.  My son was excited to get his ticket autographed and a photo with Only.  That’s workin’ for the fans, everybody.

YouTube: “Halloween/Earth A.D.” from earlier this year in Europe

YouTube: “Dig Up Her Bones” music video

The Misfits official website

Yep, regardless of all the other movies he made, he'll always be Rhett Butler to us. Uploaded by assets.nydailynews.com.

Admit it. When you hear “Clark Gable,” you think “Rhett Butler.” Gable was an excellent actor who appeared in many movies and won lots of acclaim, but he’ll always be Rhett Butler to us.

Most actors have a career role, but seldom has there been a man so prominent in a movie as successful as Gone With the Wind. Gable had already won the Oscar for Best Actor in It Happened One Night (1934), in which he and Claudette Colbert made a delightful team. And he received another Best Actor nomination for Mutiny on the Bounty (1935). So he already was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars when GWTW came along. But as great as those performances were, Clark Gable is Rhett Butler.

Uploaded by z.hubpages.com.

Gable’s career actually began in silent movies and lasted until 1961’s The Misfits, in which he co-starred with Marilyn Monroe in her final film. He worked opposite Joan Crawford eight times, Myrna Loy seven times, and Jean Harlow six times. But it’s that one movie opposite Vivien Leigh that has stayed with us.

He appeared in 81 movies in all, and you really can’t say he had a huge hit after 1939. Maybe he just became a bad judge of scripts. Maybe he just had bad luck. Or maybe it’s that even Hollywood producers always saw him as…you know.

Doris Day summed up Clark Gable this way: “He was as masculine as any man I’ve ever known, and as much a little boy as a grown man could be – it was this combination that had such a devastating effect on women.”

Una vez más el proyecto Noctambulante presenta un maratón de cine. Esta vez la temática es sobre historias de bandas que dejaron una gran influencia musical.

El próximo viernes 27 de noviembre se realizará este maratón a partir de las 20:00 y hasta el amanecer.

Durante la velada los asistentes podrán ver la siguiente selección de películas que encajan perfectamente con el tema.

- ‘Dun Echoes’, de Bruno Natal. Un documental sobre los orígenes de la música dub en Jamaica y cómo influenció en el desarrollo de la electrónica y el hip hop.

-‘The Future in Unwritten: Joe Strummer’, de Julien Temple. Documental que abarca la vida de Joe Strummer, antes, durante y después de estar en la banda The Clash.

- ‘American Hardcore’,de Paul Raciman. Documental que retrata el movimiento punk e inlcuye a bandas como Circle Jerks, The Misfits y Suicidal Tendencies.

- ‘Ex Drummer’, de Koen Mortier. Una cinta sobre un grupo de amigos que deciden hacer una banda de punk-rock, aunque cada uno de ellos debe enfrentarse a sus propias limitantes y problemas.

-‘Los Vaqueros Lennigrado’, de Aki Kaurismaki. Película sobre una banda originaria de Finlandia que traspasa las barreras del idioma para llevar su música por todas partes. Está grabada tipo road movie en tono de farsa.

- ‘Joy Division’, de Grant Gee. Documental que retrata la historia de Joy Division.

La sede de este maratón será enel Centro de Capacitación de Audio, Síntesis y Música DB Trainning, ubicado en Ohio 11, col. Nápoles (cerca de Av Insurgentes y el Metrobús La Piedad).

El costo de la entrada es de $65 pesos. Si eres estudiante pagas $50 pesos.

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1960, Reno, Nevada -- The cast, writer, and director of The Misfits. Montgomery Clift as Perce Howland, Eli Wallach as Guido, screenwriter Arthur Miller, director John Huston, Clark Gable as Gay Langland, and Marilyn Monroe as Roslyn Taber (and who had recently divorced Miller) -- Image by © Underwood & Underwood

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There are certain films of the 1950s-60s that capture what I love best– Hollywood icons clad in cool denim.  The Wild One… Rebel Without a Cause… and the list goes on.  Wild, rebellious, good-looking misfits wreaking havoc on the mainstream squares– and doing it wearing denim all the while.  Yes.

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Marilyn Monroe (in her Lee Storm Rider jacket) & Monty Clift (who wore Lee Riders jeans) in John Huston's 1961 film The Misfits.

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Marilyn Monroe wore her fair share of denim back in the day– both onscreen and off.  In The Misfits, alongside costar Montgomery Clift, you see great Lee icons of denim history well worn by Hollywood’s finest. It’s an added bonus for a film that’s a true classic, and full of real-life  irony, sadness and loss of epic proportion– which just serves to add to my sentimental yearnings for this bygone Hollywood era.

The idea for the film was born back when Arthur Miller was in Reno divorcing his first wife, and stayed at the Pyramid Lake Guest Ranch– a popular “divorce ranch” back in Reno’s booming 1960s divorce trade (Miller then married Marilyn Monroe just three weeks later).  His brush with local “misfit” cowboys & wild horses during that time inspired a short story that appeared in the October 1957 issue of Esquire magazine, and later spawned the screenplay account of the end of the cowboy era in the great American West.

Luckily, the making of The Misfits was documented by nine photographers from the renowned agency Magnum Photos, including such acclaimed artists as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Inge Morath and Eve Arnold.

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Classic shot of Marilyn Monroe (in her Lee Storm Rider denim jacket) seemingly oblivious to the world on the set of The Misfits -- image by photojournalist Eve Arnold.

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The filming of John Huston’s 1961 epic on the Wild West’s fading glory, The Misfits, was fraught with tension and troubles right from the beginning, and soon became the most expensive black-and-white ever film made in it’s day.  The story-line about cowboys rounding-up wild horses to sell off to the dog food companies also raised quite a stir at the time– it was recently referenced on Mad Men as Don Draper and crew are hired to stop the bleeding caused by the negative press the film brings upon the pet food industry. When you watch the film through the filter of 1961 society, you realize it was a little bizarre to say the least.

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John Huston, Marilyn Monroe, and Arthur Miller on the set of The Misfits -- Image by © Bettmann

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You had the rebellious, hard-living director John “The Monster” Huston as ringleader– and by all accounts Huston’s most pressing concern while filming was drinking heavily and getting to the local Nevada casinos as quickly as possible every night.  Legend has it he ran up a sizable gambling debt that the studio stepped in and picked up.  The tales of Huston’s ability to blow through $50,000 in about an hour’s time back then are still talked about today.

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Can you feel the tension? Ugh.

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Writer Arthur Miller was on set with wife Marilyn Monroe throughout the filming of The Misfits– a vehicle he wrote to show off her acting range.  Their marriage was in shambles– she was having an affair with Yves Montand, had filed for divorce and kicked him out of their digs while shooting the film. It made things a little uneasy as you can imagine– Miller could do nothing to stop it, felt totally emasculated, and was often off sulking in the shadows.

Marilyn’s star was fading, and she was also deep in the grips of excessive drinking and popping prescription pills.  Things were so bad, filming had to be stopped early on so she could detox, get back on track, and hopefully finish-up the making of The Misfits. When things did resume she crippled production with her chronic tardiness, if she bothered to show up that day at all.  This would turn out to be Marilyn’s last completed onscreen work before her tragic and mysterious death in 1962.

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September 27th, 1960, Reno -- Arthur Miller talks with Clark Gable on the set of The Misfits, a film of a screenplay written by Miller for his soon-to-be ex-wife Marilyn Monroe, also in the film. -- Image by © Bettmann. That is some combo miller is sportin'-- straw cowboy hat, black socks, and white Jack Purcells.

November 1960, Reno, Nevada — Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable bid goodbye (left) to each other as they completed filming of United Artists’  The  Misfits, written by Marilyn’s husband, Arthur Miller. The mark on Gable’s cheek is makeup used to simulate blood for a movie scene. A few days later Gable suffered a coronary attack. It was announced Nov. 11, that Marilyn and her husband have separated and the actress would file for a divorce. — Image by © Bettmann

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Another Hollywood legend, Clark Gable, also saw his limelight dimming as his years of being the sexy, pompous, lothario leading man were well in the past.  But Gable wasn’t going down without a fight– he scrambled to slim down from 235 lbs for the role by taking insane amounts of Dexedrine (read: speed), which surely wasn’t good for his already weakened heart.  According to some, Gable also insisted on doing his own stunts for The Misfits– which included him being brutally dragged across a dry lakebed at a pretty fair clip.  The cocktail of diet pills, stress and physical toil are thought to have put more stress on Gable than he was able to handle.  Sadly, this would also turn out to be Gable’s last work– he passed away just 12 days after final filming of The Misfits was completed.

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Montgomery (Monty) Clift in a Wrangler 11MJ denim jacket.

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Montgomery Clift was a sexy & sensitive Hollywood heart-throb during the 1950s in classic films like– A Place in the Sun, From Here to Eternity, & The Young Lions. Clift and fellow contemporary, Marlon Brando were both fast-rising movie stars back then and highly competitive with one another.  When James Dean blew onto the scene stealing their heat, he would proudly refer to his own acting style as a complex melding of both Brando and Clift– combining Brando’s macho “F-You” attitude with Clift’s softer “help me” appeal.  Jimmy openly idolized both Brando and Clift, and took every opportunity to be in their presence, and in the case of Clift he would sometimes call Monty just to hear his voice.  Though he’s not talked about much these days, Montgomery Clift was a definitely the golden boy back in his prime, which made his fall from grace all the more painful.

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Original caption from 1956-- Actor Seriously Injured in Crash. West Los Angeles, California: A policeman examines the wreckage of actor Montgomery Clift's car after it crashed into a power pole following a dinner party at the home of Michael Wilding and Elizabeth Taylor. Clift suffered serious head injuries and was taken to Cedars of Lebanon hospital. --- Image by © Bettmann

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In 1956, Montgomery Clift was leaving a party at the Beverly Hills home of close friend Elizabeth Taylor when he violently smashed his car head-on into a utility pole.  Taylor was quickly alerted of the accident by a friend who had witnessed it happen– she immediately raced to Clift’s side, where Taylor bravely pulled his tongue out of his throat to keep him from choking to death, and stoicly stayed by his side to comfort him.  Clift was a real mess– suffering a broken jaw and nose, a fractured sinus, and multiple facial lacerations which would require plastic surgery.  He would never look the same again– but that was not the worst of it.

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After a long recovery, he returned to the set to finish filming Raintree Country with co-star Elizabeth Taylor. The studio execs worried that the film would prove to be a flop, but Clift instinctively knew that diehard fans and curious movie-goers would flock to the film if only to see the difference in his looks before and after the horrible, and well-publicized, crash. The pain of the accident led Clift to find comfort in alcohol and prescription pills– which only further added to the erosion of his physical health and famous looks.   By the time he signed on in 1960 for The Misfits, Marilyn Monroe, who had her own troubles at the time, famously described Monty Clift as “The only person I know who is in worse shape than I am.”  Clift continued to act after The Misfits, but it was painfully obvious that he would never again be anything close to his former self.  His health continued to spiral, as did his drug and alcohol abuse.

On July 22, 1966, Clift spent most of the day holed-up in bed at his New York City townhouse.  His live-in personal secretary, Lorenzo James, went up to say goodnight. Ironically,  The Misfits was on TV that evening, and Lorenzo asked Clift if he would like to watch it. “Absolutely NOT!” was the reply. This turned out to be the last known time that Montgomery Clift spoke to anyone. The next morning he found Clift dead from an apparent heart attack.

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Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift on the set of "A Place in the Sun" -- ca. 1951. -- Image by © Sunset Boulevard

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March 1954, Hollywood — Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster and Frank Sinatra. All three were nominated for Academy Awards for their performances in From Here to Eternity.  Sinatra won as Best Supporting Actor, in his first non-singing role. — Image by © Bettmann

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1960, Reno, Nevada -- The cast, writer, and director of The Misfits. Montgomery Clift as Perce Howland, Eli Wallach as Guido, screenwriter Arthur Miller, director John Huston, Clark Gable as Gay Langland, and Marilyn Monroe as Roslyn Taber (and who had recently divorced Miller).

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Marilyn Monroe, on the set of The Misfits, wearing costar Monty Clift's Lee Storm Rider denim jacket, ca. 1960.

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“I love Marilyn Monroe,” said designer Tommy Hilfiger, explaining why he splurged on the jeans she wore in 1954’s River of No Return and the cowboy boots she donned in ’61’s The Misfits. Besides, he added, “I’m going to use them as inspiration for my collections. I may put my name on them—I’m known to do that.”  Tommy later gifted the “River of No Return” jeans to none other than– Britney Spears.  How deep is your love again, Tommy?  Idiot.

THREE PAIRS OF JEANS $42,550

BOOTS $85,000

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In a 2007 interview with W magazine Tommy clearly had a change of heart in regard to Britney–

W: Were there images you couldn’t get that you wanted?
GL: Levi Strauss jeans. I talked to everyone in the company and they said, ‘No. Tommy is a competitor.’ After 30 phone calls you give up. I had to go directly to [Radio City overlords] the Dolans to get an image of the Rockettes, because everyone below them said no.
W: There are very few images of current celebrities. Britney Spears and Paris Hilton aren’t in the book.
GL: That was on purpose.
TH: They’re fleeting. Muhammad Ali, Marilyn Monroe and James Dean are forever. With a couple of exceptions, the celebrities now are not.

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Marilyn Monroe in her famous "River of No Return" Jeans being manhandled by Robert Mitchum.

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An early shot of Marilyn Monroe in selvedge denim jeans

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Early picture of Marilyn Monroe in jeans-- check the odd belt loop placement on wearer's right.

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Great old picture of Marilyn Monroe in selvedge denim jeans.

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Old picture of Marilyn Monroe in selvedge denim jeans and jacket.

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]]> http://monikawk.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/liverpool-i-left-you/ Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:25:56 +0000 monikawk http://monikawk.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/liverpool-i-left-you/

Ringo Starr is always a good breath of fresh air!

“Liverpool, I left you. But I never let you down.”

Don’t get me wrong, these guys are too!!

So today, it felt like I missed a lot out of school.

Because of walking at the zoo yesterday- Both ankels knockout and both legs have pulled muscles. Gag me.

I was in driver’s ed and I was supposed to go into the simulators and today I went in there. This other car I had to use decided ‘Hey, I’m gonna turn off so Monika thinks she’s gonna fail this.’
Well it did. And I got mad! But it worked out cause I got an 82. THANKS YOU STUPID SIMULATOR!

Now I’m listening to The Misfits, but only for a second. Teenagers from Mars and we don’t careeeeeeee!
That’s true.

Other than that, it was like every other day. Finally it’s the weekend.

Dad is out with his friends for NASCAR.

According to UrbanDictionary.com it’s-
Non-Athletic Sport Centered Around Rednecks

That person who came up with that must have had a TON of time on their hands.

I was wrong. I’m not going to the game this Saturday against the Dallas Stars. Ahhh Booo.

We need to win. We need to stop the empty net cards. We need to not wait until the last final minutes to start playing fast and well.

It’s been ten years since The Misfits released new original material (the did release a cover album in 2003, Project 1950). 1999s Famous Monsters with Micheal Graves singing…

In 2009 The Misfits are made up of Robo on drums, Dez Cadena on guitar and Jerry Only on bass and vocals.

This two track Single  is a great taster for (hopefully) a new full length studio album. The line up works well with each other and Only is a surprisingly good vocalist.

Both tracks have a nice punk feel to them. Fast power chords on the guitar and thumpy drums… what more did you expect.

The only downside is that the two tracks take up a mere five minutes, but as you can download the single for the small sum of £1.20, it isn’t really much of a problem.

In all, a great release. Easy on the wallet and the ears… now we need to let them know we want a full album!!!

9/10

MISFITS. Jerry Only, Dez Cadena and Robo. Punk Rock royalty. Horror Punk Royalty. Yup, I am a fan, excuse me if you please. I bought the brand spanking new… Land Of The Dead maxi single off of itunes on Halloween. I deliberately waited to buy these two new songs on Halloween too… it is only fitting and it has served me right. The two new Misfits songs are: Land Of The Dead and Twilight Of The Dead, both songs paying tribute to the Geoege A. Romero – Living Dead movie series. Land Of The Dead clocks in at 2:13 and Twilight Of The Dead clocks in at 2:45. I will take this five minutes of new Misifts Horror Punk and thank my damn lucky dark skies, that this legendary band still Rocks in 2009. Jerry Only has taken his Misfits and Horror Punk into a fourth decade, recruiting new generations of fiends along the way.

Yes, the lyrics are Horror themed… blood runs cold… ’nuff said. Yes, Jerry Only sounds outrageously great on lead vocals and bass. Yes, Dez Cadena delivers the licks as profusely solid as ever. Yes, Robo is on drums and hits the skins with vintage Punk beats. In comparison to past Misfits sound, both new songs follow in the Misfits Punk footsteps of their Project 1950 album. The Horror Punk and Roll of Misfits is alive and well in 2009. I am so gloriously thrilled to have these two new Misfits songs in my personal collection. You too can serve yourself right this Halloween weekend by snagging these two new Misfits songs off of itunes – they are only 99 cents each!!!! Hell, that is way less expensive than a damn large fry, burger and milk shake from a plastic fast food chain! Plus these Misfits songs are not a detriment to your health either! Make your life that much better and GET THESE NEW MISFITS SONGS TODAY! I’m not bashful about any of my recommendations, obviously. Happy Halloween Weekend – fellow Fiends.

For those who are new to Misfits and need to know more about their spooky background, check out their MySpace Music page http://www.myspace.com/themisfits

i met him fifteen years ago. i was told there was nothing left, no conscience, no reason, no understanding, in even the most rudimentary sense, of life or death or right or wrong. i met this six-year-old boy with a blank, cold emotionless face and the blackest of eyes, the devil’s eyes. i spent eight years trying to reach him and another seven trying to keep him locked away when i realized what was living behind that boy’s eyes was purely, simply evil…

happy halloween fuckers.

• the mountain goats: michael myers resplendent
• the cramps: zombie dance
• john carpenter: halloween theme
• sonic youth: halloween
• the frantics: werewolf
• daniel johnston: casper
• the shaggs: it’s halloween 
• the misfits: ghouls night out
• scratch acid: monsters
• dead kennedys: halloween

Free MP3  – Download Here!!!

I’m not a huge fan of Halloween, but I am a big fan of songs about satan, witches, werewolves, mummies, and other spooky things.

WARNING: This Playlist may make you want to creep around in the dark and participate in general tomfoolery.  Now give me some candy!

of death, dying and the evil of all hallow’s eve… that probably just about says it all for you… The mix starts out innocuous enough and dissipates into some brutal listens that should really shake your spine and leave you quaking in your boots. Sadly, some band’s could be a complete catalog without much effort, making cutting it down to a track an artist interesting. Spook you if you don’t agree… feel free to add in the comments your faves for the list

“Black Sabbath” Black Sabbath from Black Sabbath
“Welcome To My Nightmare” Alice Cooper from Welcome to my Nightmare
“God Of Thunder” KISS
“Highway to Hell” AC/DC from Highway to Hell
“Halloween” The Misfits from ‘Halloween’ single
“Knife in your Guts” Gwar
“Dragula” Rob Zombie from Hellbilly Deluxe
“Nightmare Be Thy Name” Mercyful Fate
“Halloween” Helloween from Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt. One
“Dungeons are Calling” Savatage
“Devils Child” by Judas Priest from Screaming for Vengance
“Halloween” King Diamond from Fatal Portrait
“Pure Evil” Iced Earth from Days of Purgatory
“The Haunting” Testament from the Legacy
“Am I Evil?” Metallica from Garage Days
“Belly of the Beast” Anthrax from the Persistence of Time
“Dead Skin Mask” Slayer from Seasons in the Abyss
“Scream Bloody Gore” Death from Scream Bloody Gore
“Death Certificate” Carcass from Heartwork
“Slaughter of the Soul” At the Gates from Slaughter the Soul
“Diva Satinaca” Arch Enemy from Dead Eyes See No Future
“a Devil in God’s Country” Lamb of God from as the Palaces Burn
“Bloodletting” the Haunted from One Kill Wonder
“the Devil has Risen” Unearth from III: in the Eyes of Fire
“No Sympathy (for the Devil)” Skinlab from Disembody: The New Flesh
“Like this with the Devil” by Entombed from To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth
“Blessed Black Wings” High on Fire from Blessed Black Wings
“Her Ghost in the Fog” Cradle of Filth
“Progenies of the Great Apocalypse” Dimmu Borgir from Death Cult Armageddon
“Demon of the Fall” Opeth from My Arms, Your Herse
“My Hope, the Destroyer” My Dying Bride from the Dreadful Hours
“You were but a Ghost in my Arms” Agalloch from the Mantle
“Fear of the Dark” Iron Maiden from Fear of the Dark
“Black Number One (the Little Miss Scare All)” Type O Negative from Bloody Kisses

and, although Diecide is WAY out of my listening, I’ll include the reference to them, if for no other reason than frontman Glen Benton might be a direct descendant of satan.

Did I miss anyone?

Everyone has been really excited that Saturn has finally gone into Libra, and it is kind of an exciting thing, really, considering that Saturn is exalted in Libra. I’ve been reading a lot about finding balance in relationships, rediscovering the importance of fairness, taking beauty seriously- all very good stuff. It’s sweet but not too sweet, like salty caramel.

HOWEVER. The Sun and Mercury are still in Scorpio and in a wide-ish sextile with Pluto. And the Moon and Mars are currently in a fire trine. And tomorrow is Halloween for God’s sake, you guys! Come on! Saturn will be in Libra for a LONG time. Let’s enjoy some dark and scary and definitely NOT pretty while it’s traditionally appropriate.

Here are some treats:

I will be back later this week with a meaningful post on Saturn in Libra, because believe it or not, I have quite a bit to say about it. All is not quiet on the Saturn front lately.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Throwing a Halloween party this year or just want to get pumped before walking to Franklin Street? This playlist will get you in a frenzied, frightful mood.

1. Rob Zombie: Dragula
2. Gnarls Barkley: The Boogie Monster
3. Iron Maiden: The Number of the Beast
4. Michael Jackson: Thriller
5. Iron Maiden: Fear of the Dark
6. The Misfits: Astro Zombies
7. Meat Loaf: Bat Out of Hell
8. Radiohead: Creep
9. Puddle of Mudd: Psycho
10. Korn: Freak on a Leash

-MaryAnn Barone

Tessa and I are going to see The Get Up Kids tomorrow and rock out and have lots of candy and in general, have an awesome Halloween.  I didn’t think it could possibly get better than last year when we saw Bruce “aka Jesus” Campbell live as he introduced My Name Is Bruce at a screening, but I think this will top that.

On the work end, progress is slow but steady on The Underground, I think Mike Howell’s gonna have some promo art for me to show you in the near future.  I just submitted my contribution to another project a week or so ago that I’m excited about, and Tess and I want to start something in the near future together that’s also starting to come together nicely.

Hope everyone else is having a safe and awesome Samhain!

Roll down the window

to air out the car. But the

smell’s coming from outside!

'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'

Al Pacino stands at the top of a staircase, machine-gunning the army of hired killers that has overwhelmed the defences of his mansion. With scant regard for his own safety, he wanders to and fro, loosing off insults and volleys of bullets in the direction of the intruders below. Eventually, inevitably, he is shot; not once, not twice, but many, many times. As his shirt turns tomato-ketchup-red, he fights back, killing and maiming as many of his persecutors as he can, before collapsing into a water feature, a bloody, lifeless mess.    

But that’s OK, because it’s only a movie. Whatever we think of Tony Montana, we can rest easy that some day soon Al Pacino will be back, pouting and strutting around our screens as if none of this ever happened.

You see, in the movies there’s death and there’s Death. The former is something that we’re very comfortable with. It’s Martin Sheen being pushed off a rooftop in The Departed; it’s Ali MacGraw slowly slipping away in Love Story; it’s Guerrilla Number 7 having his neck snapped by an angry Rambo. Death with a capital D is very different. When a Heath Ledger or a River Phoenix or a Marilyn Monroe dies – I mean really dies – between films, we find ourselves cheated and curious, and left with a whole new kind of relationship with the images they left behind. 

Last year we were offered Heath Ledger’s tour de force, a manic, final performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight. And now – hang on! – here comes another final performance, in the shape of his curtailed scenes as Tony in Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

In truth, it’s all but impossible to see either performance in any kind of an objective light. In Parnassus, a messy film to begin with, the scenes that Ledger was shooting just before he died are intercut with scenes where three of his Hollywood buddies – Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrell – give their own interpretations of the role. And in The Dark Knight, Ledger’s performance, while certainly impressive, was overshadowed by all of the expectations placed on it in hindsight. Was this the second or third great performance from an actor who would have gone on to better things? Or was it an amusing, well-crafted one-off, magnified out of all proportion by his untimely death?

What Death with a capital D does is focus our attention on the actor himself, and on what we know of his life story, when we should probably being paying attention to the film. Even the most high-minded of viewers will find themselves thinking occasionally during Parnassus, ‘I wonder if this is the last thing he shot’ or ‘Oh dear, he doesn’t look too well there.’ Big screen death makes ghouls of us all.

How else could you explain the phenomenal success of 1994’s The Crow? Well, OK, you could say that teenage Goths will always be suckers for a slick, dark comic book adaptation. But still, it was the death of Brandon Lee during the shoot that gave the film its initial notoriety and that has contributed much to its cult status since.

Clift, Monroe and Gable in 'The Misfits'

Sometimes, of course, death lends a rare poignancy and degree of feeling to a film. Would The Misfits be half the movie it is if we didn’t know that it was both Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe’s last, and that Montgomery Clift would be dead within five years of making it? That’s not to say that we look back at all dead movie stars in the same way (everybody dies after all), but that when the young and the beautiful pop their clogs the images that they leave behind affect us in ways that we don’t always fully understand. If their beauty can be taken away in an instant, then so can ours. It is our own mortality that is up there on the screen, and the way that the stars react to it teaches us important lessons about how we live our lives. So we can choose to cock a snook or two like James Dean, or flutter through life like Marilyn, or build a tower to our torment like Clift. Meanwhile, on the screen, the actors themselves march towards their doom, unaware of whatever fate posterity has in store for them.

At the other end of the scale, old actors die too, and sometimes this holds an equal fascination. In Sunset Boulevard, a grizzled Buster Keaton plays poker and a dignified Erich von Stroheim plays butler, the glory days of silent actor and director long behind them.

'Catastrophe'

John Gielgud spent much of the nineties playing dying men on TV and in film, and in his last performance in 2000 was reduced almost to the status of a corpse. In David Mamet’s six-minute adaptation of Samuel Beckett’s Catastrophe, Gielgud stands speechless and almost motionless on a stage while a director and his assistant consider how to position him for a spectacle, and which parts of his body to ‘whiten’.

For most of the piece, Gielgud stands with his head bowed. Only in the film’s last shot does he raise it slightly, allowing us a glimpse of those aged, watery eyes. And what do we see in them? A man on the brink of this world and the next? A time-torn thespian shuffling off this mortal coil? Or was the old actor simply thinking of another day’s work done, and wondering what to have for his dinner?

Hillary Clinton giving it to the Pakistanis

The past year or two I’ve had my views on marriage challenged and don’t really know what to think. Dan Savage doesn’t think monogamy is realistic.

I’m applying to PhD programs but sometimes I wonder why: The PhD problem.

Drug expiration dates don’t appear to mean much after all.

Chuck Biscuits, drummer for the Misfits, Social Distortion, Circle Jerks and Black Flag passed away this past week.

Greetings ladies and germs, I hope everyone is ready for Halloween! I am almost ready to leave town on Friday for New Orleans — for work, but I am hoping to spend a few hours out Halloween night!!

I’ve got some good grabs and stabs to share, so let’s get to the listing of things.

Grabby:

• First, get schooled on Halloween via Wikipedia.

• Slutty Halloween Girls save a life. (work safe)

• A different sort of costume…for the boudoir (wink!!), from Dollhouse Bettie. (thanks Kelly!)

• Alkaline Trio’s cover of The Misfits Halloween…with a crazy stick man “video”. Perhaps ignore the video and just enjoy the music, mmmkay?

• Boots. I am still thinking about them. A lot.

• Cupcakes. These are really good. Make them and share.

• Russell Brand interviews Dita Von Teese, and it’s just kind of cute. Surprisingly, he actually doesn’t say anything that off color to her.

• New Raveonettes album. Pretty good stuff. Wacky video. Ricky be warned, there are birds — but it’s worth it.

• Sarah Haskins reports why women love vampires.

Stabby:

• The vampire/Twilight obsession extends to adult women stealing life size cut outs of Twilight star Robert Pattinson from Nordstrom, where the cut outs promote a line of Twilight clothing. Yeah…something is sucking the life out of me, and I think it’s all the hype over Twilight.

• Parking tickets.

• My Macbook Pro speakers randomly switching to headphone mode while I am sitting here writing this. Yay.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Halloween!

It’s nearly my favourite time of year so I thought I’d post up the video for ‘Scream’ by the Misfits (directed by zombie king George Romero) to get you all in the mood. I forgot just how SWEET Michael Graves’ ‘do was….

Anyway, this song was orginally written for Wes Craven’s comeback film film Scream fact fans.

Its the Halloween show this Wednesday from 8 to 10 pm on Radioloveless at KRUI 89.7fm or listen online here.

1. Suicide, The Second Album (1980) + The First Rehearsal Tapes (rereleased 1998), Creature Feature

2. R.E.M., Dead Letter Office (1987), Burning Hell
3. The Clash, Combat Rock (1982), Straight to Hell
4. Fugazi, 13 Songs (1989), Burning
5. The Misfits, Collection II (1995), Halloween II
6. The Misfits, Collection (1986), Night of the Living Dead
7. Archers of Loaf, Vee Vee (1995), Death in the Park
8. Siouxsie and the Banshees, JuJu (1981), Halloween
9. Joy Division, Still (1981), Dead Souls
10. Beat Happening, Black Candy (1989), Gravedigger Blues
11. The Velvet Underground, Peel Slowly and See (Box Set), The Gift
It’s found originally on White Light/White Heat (1968). The lyrics are written by Lou Reed and recited by John Cale, and the track is mixed in such a way that a short story can be heard in the left speaker while a rock instrumental is heard on the right. Also, the story is creepy as hell and perfect for Halloween.
12. Guided by Voices, Under the Bushes Under the Stars (1996 on Matador), Cut-Out Witch
13. Blue Oyster Cult, Agents of Fortune (1976), (Don’t Fear) The Reaper
14. The Cure, Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me (1987), Tortue
15. Bauhaus, Bela Lugosi’s Dead-single (1979), Bela Lugosi’s Dead
16. Echo and the Bunnymen, Ocean Rain (1984), The Killing Moon

17. Concrete Blonde, Bloodletting (1990), Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)
18. This Mortal Coil, Filigree and Shadow (1986), The Horizon Bleeds and Sucks its Thumb

19. The Murder City Devils, Empty Bottles Broken Hearts (1998), Cradle to the Grave
20. The Birthday Party, Junkyard (1982), Release the Bats
21. Tom Waits, Blue Valentine (1978), Wistlin’ Past the Graveyard

22. The Germs, M.I.A. The Complete Germs (1993), Lexicon Devil
The 7″ of Lexicon Devil was originally released in 1978.
23. Pixies, Come on Pilgrim (1987 off of 4AD), Ed is Dead
24. Sonic Youth, Evol (1986), Expressway to Yr. Skull
25. David Bowie, Scary Monsters (1980), Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)