by Roky Erickson (1979)

I have the feeling that I am just scratching the surface of the work of cult icon Roky Erickson with this catchy tune.

Night of the Vampire will not only add a much needed shaking up to your normal Halloween party mix, but probably give you some pretty cool street cred as well (depending on the street).

Erickson’s life has been rife with tragedy (and the subject of a pretty depressing documentary called You’re Gonna Miss Me).

This song is fun, lumbering, campy, and though it was originally recorded in 1979, feels like the rocking-est parts of the very early 1990’s.

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Posted on October 29, 2011

Italian Organic

I always thought blood oranges differed from their more common brethren in looks only (silly me) but this Italian Organic bottle of blood orange juice has me rethinking that assumption.

I’m not a huge oj fan but have loved pouring this over seltzer for lunch. It almost tastes like raspberries.

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Posted on October 29, 2011

It’s Alive!

Universal Films classic Frankenstein is still the ultimate adaptation despite many lesser ones throughout the years.

Of course Boris Karloff’s monster is most famous (thanks in part to make up genius Jack Pierce) but let’s not forget Dr. Frankenstein himself!

Colin Clive with his classic, yet severe Hollywood era good looks- strong chin, deep eyes – delivers an imitable performance of madness and obsession.

He dies tragically young of tuberculosis.

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Posted on October 28, 2011

by Doris Lessing (1988)

Devilish children, whether possessed or born evil has been the subject of many a horror book and film (for a couple good ones see The Bad Seed, A Good and Happy Child, and of course, The Exorcist).

Doris Lessing‘s The Fifth Child does something slightly different with the genre. The horror is subtler, the child isn’t even recognized as being anything but spirited and unloved by doctors, and the unease taps more into the guilt and paranoia that comes with parenting rather than fear of a murderous tot a la Damien in The Omen.

It’s far more realistic than many like minded stories and in that way all the more terrifying. Even Lessing found writing it very “upsetting”.

It reminded me of an article I read many years ago about parents with overly aggressive sons whom they feared yet had to take care of. There was nothing they could do about it, and the futility and complete control the situation had over their lives, it stayed with me and scared me.

After all, in our real lives, isn’t it losing our happiness: happy marriages, happy family dynamics, happy sense of peace that is most frightening?

In the novel, that’s exactly whats threatened by Ben, the titular fifth child when he arrives in a bustling, loving family.

With his dead eyes, hobbit like appearance, incredible strength and tendency to kill animals he slowly destroys a happy family.

Lessing’s writing is sharp, like a great wit that never quite has anything nice to say about anybody. I breezed through the book in one day. While it frankly probably would have been a dissappointnent to a young me looking for more outward appearing horrors, it is a page turner for adults, especially parents that hold their small pleasures dear and know what they have to lose.

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Posted on October 25, 2011

Various Artists (1986)

The whole apartment’s been alive with the sounds of third grade as Jim and I been nostalgic for the Stand By Me soundtrack.

I imagine we weren’t the only ones that treasured that well worn cassette tape.

I choreographed a dance to Lollipop and always somewhat dramatically cried during the title track as the thought of River’s bar fight demise was too much for my eight year old heart to bear.

The album steered me towards a 1950’s obsession that lasted a few years – lucky for me I was hosting birthday parties in the age of Fuddruckers.

Now I’m a mom and I’m old and my baby Van is grooving to his favorite track “Get a Job”.

It’s one of the coolest things about parenthood really, that things you loved from your youth get revisited by new eyes and ears and suddenly being eight years old doesn’t seem far away at all.

See more: Albums 1950s 1980s Ballads Pop Soundtracks

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Posted on October 24, 2011