THE SIGNAL from David Katznelson
“Maturity is the ability to sort the portions of truth from the accepted lies and self-deceptions that you have grown up with.”― Alexei Panshin
It is Friday the 13th; there is nothing like Friday the 13th. There is no better way to celebrate the witch’s eve than by watching a good, bloody, thrilling horror film. And while most horror movies these days are mere formulaic bits of cheap-scare nonsense (sorry to say), there was a time that you could not blink without a killer gory mess oozing out of the big screen. And the magazine that brilliantly covered every last dripping severed head was Fangoria. They are slowly making digitally available issues from their early days and they are loaded with goodness for the avid horror movie fan (and they go down the sci-fy world pretty deeply as well).
The early Fangoria days were the days of George Romero, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Phantasm and Jason. The rag gave voice to true champions of the genre like Forrest Ackerman, probably the biggest collector of Horror memorabilia and myths. The stories are deep, with a deep sense and knowledge of horror history and style. The magazine’s covers are just classic spookville with huge demented stills from the latest exploitations luring you in—from the creepy cover to the end page they truly celebrated all that was/is great in horror films and the people who made them. You can check out the digital magazines here…and get ready for a good rabbit hole of fear followed by a google search trying to find all the films you have never heard of but sound oh so good. Find them, and have your own Friday night Creature Feature.
Richmond festival celebrates 100th Birthday of late blues musician Jimmy McCracklin
He played that piano harder, his songs were faster, he had a style all his own and defined the West Coast Blues R&B sound….and he lived long enough to allow people like myself, active into his early 90s. Jimmy McCracklin was always the showman, always the original. In honor of his 100th birthday, his family are putting together a two day party starting today. And if you cannot make it, you can jam to the hits that defined him here.
The best art books for summer—as recommended by curators, directors and dealers
OK—there are more novels being discussed than pure art books…but this is a great list nonetheless. I mean…they are books about art in every case, some of which I had never heard of before and now need to get my hands on.
John Steinbeck Wrote A Werewolf Novel His Agents Don't Want You To Read
Nine years before John Steinbeck published his Pulitzer Prize-winning historical masterpiece, “The Grapes of Wrath,” he was working on a lighthearted detective novel featuring a werewolf. The manuscript, “Murder at Full Moon,” was completed in 1930 but was never published. A single copy has been sitting, mostly forgotten, in an archive in Texas since 1969. It includes drawings by Steinbeck himself….
The other moral in Frankenstein and how to apply it to human brains and reanimated pigs
“Some neurology experiments — such as growing miniature human brains and reanimating the brains of dead pigs — are getting weird. It's time to discuss ethics…”
FRIDAY THE 13th LISTEN: The Black Album by The Damned
Forget just the 13th….this record was my favorite record for much of high school into college, but yeah it is dark, creepy…beautiful…veering on perfect. The band was in its third incarnation with Paul Grey when this record was made, and he helped usher in a new sound for the band with slower songs like History Of The World and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde showcasing brilliant new musical depth. And then of course there is one of my favorite rock n roll songs opening on any LP, Wait For The Blackout. This spotify version features the true original version that had an extra LP with the side-long epic dark-night yarn of Curtain Call and a side of live Damned in all of their punk-rock glory.
The Season of Phantasmal Peace
By: Derek Walcott
Then all the nations of birds lifted together
the huge net of the shadows of this earth
in multitudinous dialects, twittering tongues,
stitching and crossing it. They lifted up
the shadows of long pines down trackless slopes,
the shadows of glass-faced towers down evening streets,
the shadow of a frail plant on a city sill-
the net rising soundless at night, the birds' cries soundless, until
there was no longer dusk, or season, decline, or weather,
only this passage of phantasmal light
that not the narrowest shadow dared to sever.
And men could not see, looking up, what the wild geese drew,
what the ospreys trailed behind them in silvery ropes
that flashed in the icy sunlight; they could not hear
battalions of starlings waging peaceful cries,
bearing the net higher, covering this world
like the vines of an orchard, or a mother drawing
the trembling gauze over the trembling eyes
of a child fluttering to sleep;
it was the light
that you will see at evening on the side of a hill
in yellow October, and no one hearing knew
what change had brought into the raven's cawing,
the killdeer's screech, the ember-circling chough
such an immense, soundless, and high concern
for the fields and cities where the birds belong,
except it was their seasonal passing, Love,
made seasonless, or, from the high privilege of their birth,
something brighter than pity for the wingless ones
below them who shared dark holes in windows and in houses,
and higher they lifted the net with soundless voices
above all change, betrayals of falling suns,
and this season lasted one moment, like the pause
between dusk and darkness, between fury and peace,
but, for such as our earth is now, it lasted long.
Kaya’s 10 Favorite Horror Movies
The Others
The Shining
Poltergeist
Psycho
House On Haunted Hill (the original)
The Birds
The Haunting
White Zombie
Dracula
Love And Monsters