Wordgrinder

Thank you IRS for being so on top of things...a notice dated May 12: "You can expect to receive your stimulus package on May 9."

I think I could have thrown that bratty kid in Two Thousand Maniacs off the back of a moving vehicle without losing much sleep.

I think the nation as a whole is entirely done with the actual singing part of American Idol. From now on, they should just televise the parts where Simon takes a wrecking ball to people's hopes and dreams.

Does everybody bust into air guitar when the acoustic part of Boston's "Long Time" comes on, or just the guy in the pickup truck behind me?

I'm going to go ahead and delete the Internet now.

to tell you about the awesome trip Angie and I took down to Waxahachie a few weeks ago, when we rooted through antique stores in the historic downtown area, had lunch at the haunted old Catfish Plantation house, and viewed all the eerie antique carnival-freak tapestries hung in the Webb Gallery. I wish I had time to post the picture that I took of Angie in front of the old courthouse so you could see how beautiful she looked, smiling in the sun.

I wish I had time to tell you about my lunch with Dean Andersson where we talked about how cool it was that King Diamond lives here in Frisco, reminisced about the burgeoning years of black metal, discussed his novel I AM DRACULA, and my idea for the essay (which I don't have time to write...yet, damn it, yet) that came out of our conversation.

I wish I had time to tell you about our trip with Kiddo #1 to the Dallas ComicCon and to post the pictures of all the awesome horror novels -- from UK Richard Bachman editions and vintage Ray Garton to first editions of McCammon and Lansdale novels from the 80's in near-fine condition -- that I bought for a dollar each from a guy in the back corner of the con, and to tell you about the Mugatu and the Talosian Keepers, or our later trip down to Mansfield when I found DC Super Friends still on cards and bought four villains for $20.00 in a bargain sale, and how I scored on some sweet metal cassettes that I've been recording to mp3.

I wish I had time to tell you about all the CD's I bought recently, including the new re-issues of Sabbat's "Dreamweaver" and Sacred Reich's "Ignorance," and all the awesome films we've watched since we joined Netflix.

I even wish I had time to rant about my feelings on the polygamist camp raid here in Texas, and my impressions following the Nazi Pope's admonishment of America's 100+ year-old crimes against African-Americans and Native Americans. Alas, the end of semester has arrived, and on top of all the homework and papers I have due and tests and exams coming up in the next few weeks, work has been utter madness, and I'm trying to finish a YA novel that is so close to done I can smell the smoke of the celebratory cigar already. Summer is coming soon. Thank God; I need a break.

A final note....

For those who don't already know, many of Angeline's stories have been released in very inexpensive -- downright cheap! -- eBook editions through Fictionwise. In fact, her short story "The Dreamweaver's Daughter" was #6 on the bestseller list for horror right behind Laurell K. Hamilton, Stephen King, and Scott Smith. This week, her tale "To Save a Dynasty" is at #9. To check out the list of eBooks she has available, including our devilish little novella THEN COMES THE CHILD, click here.

Gabrielle Faust interviewed several members of the DFW HWA at Texas Frightmare Weekend last month. The interviews have been posted at Fear Zone and are now available in all their streaming audial glory for your listening pleasure. To listen to the interview with me, just click the link. The audio begins automatically if you use Internet Explorer, but you will have to click Play if you use Mozilla. (I sound strangely nasally. I'm blaming the electronics.) There's also an interview with my lovely, talented wife and collaborator Angeline Hawkes. Please check them out if you have a chance.

Also posted are interviews with Lee Thomas, Steve Wedel, and some movie folks who were present at the convention. Thanks to Gabrielle and Fear Zone for their coverage of the event!

I've posted the beginning of a huge list of items that we've set aside for spring cleaning. The books include stuff from Bentley Little, Joe Lansdale (signed), lots of Harlan Ellison, some Lovecraftian stuff (Derleth, Ligotti, Smith), and a pile of good kick-around/reading copies. Take a look if you have a moment or two. I'll be posting more items -- a horror lot of books, and a horror lot of VHS, plus more history books and magazine sets -- over the next couple weeks.

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZchfulbright

Thanks for looking!

BOUND FOR EVIL is now shipping. This hardcover collection promises to be one of the nicest books produced by a specialty press in quite some time. I'm proud to announce that my short story "Mechanix" appears along side tales by Ramsey Campbell, Jeffrey Thomas, H.P. Lovecraft, M.R. James, and Angeline Hawkes, among many others.

Based on the theme of evil books, BOUND FOR EVIL is a fine piece of work; it is leather bound, gold foil stamped, smythe sewn, and a staggering 800 pages with two dozen interior illustrations by Allen Koszowski. Collectors won't be disappointed with this package, except maybe for my bio, which I probably should have written sober. Click this link to visit the Dead Letter Press blogspot for up-to-date information on this and other DLP titles. Order directly from DLP and receive a free limited-edition chapbook, not offered for individual sale.

I'm supposed to be working, but I've just gotta say something about this movie.

Angie and I sat down and watched DEADWOOD PARK last night. Actually, we watched the end of it, because we'd watched the first half the previous night until the DVD player died. The old DVD player absolutely refused to play past the 59:19 mark. After confirming that the disc was okay, I spent all day yesterday feeling unresolved wondering what the hell was going to happen at the end of this movie. I went to Wal-Mart over lunchtime, bought a new DVD player, and as soon as I got home from class last night, I ripped it out of the box, unloaded and moved the bookcase so I could plug in the new player, reloaded the bookcase, pushed everything back into place and promptly put in DEADWOOD PARK.

A brief synopsis from the website: The small community of Eidolon Crossing once boasted a flourishing economy and great prosperity, fueled by Dogwood Park, an amusement park at the edge of town.

Then the child murders began.

When the first child's corpse was discovered at Dogwood Park, the town knew they had been pulled into a horrible nightmare. As more murdered children were unearthed on the amusement park property, attendance began to decline. Finally, the macabre publicity shut the park down entirely. Dogwood Park was abandoned. The old amusement park became known as "Deadwood Park" by the locals. Eidolon Crossing quickly withered into poverty.

Over the course of 35 years, 26 children disappeared at the hands of the elusive murderer. In 1979, Jake Richardson's little brother Francis was the last of the children to be abducted. Jake and his parents moved away from Eidolon Crossing shortly thereafter. Now an adult, Jake is drawn back to Eidolon Crossing, the town where his brother was taken from him. The spirits of the many murdered children begin to contact Jake. He glimpses them in the shadows of his house. He hears them whisper in the darkness of the surrounding farmland. Jake is led back to abandoned Deadwood Park. Here, somewhere in this decaying amusement park, is the path that leads to the killer's identity. It becomes Jake's mission to solve the mysteries of this sinister, blood-soaked town.

I have to say this is one of the best indie horror movies that I've seen in a long time. While the acting from some of the extras was wooden at times, William Clifton did a great job in the leading role. The story was engaging and literally had me on the edge of my seat wanting to know what came next (hence the mad rush to get a new DVD player!). Director Eric Stanze has done some stunning cinematography work here; the old house, the church, and the amusement park are haunting. For that matter everything about the town of Eidolon Crossing is downright eerie. One thing that struck me as very effective was the use of sound -- you could hear the smallest titter across a wooden floor, the slightest creak of the old house settling into the earth. There were some genuinely scary moments in this film. Thick with atmosphere and suspense, DEADWOOD PARK is an intelligent creepfest sure to please the most hardened horror fan. It was a real pleasure to watch this movie. Kudos to the crew at Wicked Pixel. Well done.

----------------------------------

As a post script, I'd encourage folks to visit the Wicked Pixel Cinema website and click around. Their booth was directly across from ours at Texas Frightmare Weekend. I recognized the name of their site since, back in 1999, they used to publish fiction online at a time when I published primarily in webzines. Small world, eh? Anyway, it was great talking to these guys, and checking out a couple of their movies. They've really come a long way from their 1995 release SAVAGE HARVEST, and I expect there'll be greater things to come.

So, it turns out that Plano, TX has the absolute best stores for both horror movies and death/black metal. I had no idea. I mean, all these years I've been lamenting the disappearance of Forbidden Books & Video in downtown Dallas, because they had the greatest selection of exploitation horror films in town. At least, as far as I knew. Then, one day over lunch break I cruised up to Fry's Electronics to pick up a wireless network adapter and decided I'd slip through the movie section. I was stunned -- they've got just about everything a die-hard B-horror fan could ever want. From Herschell Gordon Lewis films to Something Weird video boxed sets; from Italian horror kings Bava, Argento, and Fulci, to obscure American 80's indie releases. I swear I hit the treasure trove.

Then, today, I was feeling kind of under the weather (still recovering from the con crud), but we wanted to get out of the house for a while. Usually we'll head to the big Half Price Bookstore on Northwest Highway, but we discussed the size of our book collection and thought we'd just take a leisurely drive through old town Wylie. Well, next thing you know my intrepid (or is that hapless?) fellow adventurer, the brave Angeline and I are driving down Farm Road 544, only to discover that it becomes Plano Parkway and dumps us off on 75 near Collin Creek Mall. She found a new antique mall on the east side of Central, and I ... heh-heh, well I found my new favorite CD store, CD Warehouse.



Their metal section -- and yes it was an entire section -- had just about everything that I was looking for and was willing to buy in one shot. The haul for today is pictured above. This officially replaces three heavily worn cassettes and adds a couple of discs I hadn't picked up yet. Special thanks to Angie, who made this a guilt-free purchase! (They don't make 'em like her anymore. Sorry fellas, she's all mine.)

I'm very pleased. For anyone out there who's looking for great places in the North Dallas/Richardson/Plano area to buy new horror films or death/black/thrash metal, please support these guys so they keep stocking all this cool shit!

HORROR FILMS
Fry's Electronics
700 E Plano Pkwy
Plano, TX 75074
(214) 291-6000
Get Directions

BLACK/DEATH METAL & CLASSIC THRASH
CD Warehouse
1017 N Central Expy
Plano, TX 75075
(972) 509-9135
Get Directions

Angeline and I attended our first official horror convention this weekend, February 21-24, 2008 in Grapevine, Texas. The organizers of Texas Frightmare Weekend were gracious enough to have local HWA members added to the guest roster, providing some much appreciated exposure for our work. We’ve been to several local sci-fi conventions, but they’ve mostly been literary events, and they in no way prepared us for this. Maybe Horrorfind Weekend is comparable, but since it’s all the way up there in Yankee territory, we’ve never attended. I don’t know how many people showed up for this thing, but they came in droves like the German Wehrmacht; it was a blitzkrieg of horror fandom the likes of which I’m sure hasn’t been seen in our area in a very long time.

We arrived Friday morning around 10 a.m., and shortly met up with Steve Wedel and Lee Thomas. For some reason I had it in my mind that the dealers room was opening at 11 a.m., but it didn’t really open until 5 p.m. Anyway, it worked out okay, since it gave us time to grab some lunch and head over to Grapevine Mills mall, where Angeline wanted to do a bit of shopping. On our way back to the hotel were given the first indication of what was in store for the DFW Hilton Executive Conference Center; a mob of zombies gathering in the parking lot of Saltwater Willy’s, preparing for the Zombie Walk. Folks from all over the nation had shown up to be splashed with blood and walk in a huge mob along Grapevine Mills Drive from the mall to the convention center, chased by zombie hunters in a 4x4 hearse.

Once the vendors room opened up we headed down and took our places. Our table was right next to Bersals Chop of Horrors, and directly across the way from the guys from Wicked Pixel Cinema. I recognized their name because the website they used to run eight or nine years ago used to publish fiction back when I was published mostly in webzines. I had a good conversation with one of their producers, Scott Muck, and director Eric Stanze, and picked up a couple of their flicks to check out, Deadwood Park and Savage Harvest.

There was a pretty steady flow of interested parties checking out our books and asking questions about HWA, writing, and publishing. We met with Joe McKinney, author of Dead City, who came up from San Antonio, and Gabrielle Faust, doing interviews for FearZone. We sold a good number of books and handed out mucho promo materials. I frequently get restless planting my butt at the table, so I intermittently made the rounds to all of the independent filmmaker’s booths, shaking hands and passing out cards and seeing what they had to offer. I learned a few things about the indie movie industry talking to these guys, and discovered that they run up against many of the same problems as do writers in the small press. Granted, the movie audience is much wider, but the nature of people involved is the same. Our panel on Sunday was great -- I admit being a little intimidated having to follow Tom Savini, Ken Foree, and the like in this huge room, but Noel with TFW did a great job helping us get started, and about 30 people attended with questions and comments. I even got a chance to plug the infamous Zombie Moon screenplay, co-written by me and my good friend Matt Owens back in 1999. Sadly, it remains the worst zombie movie (n)ever made. I also got a chance to briefly meet Eve Blaack, of The Hackers Source (who’ll be publishing one of my stories in their next issue, by the way).

Despite our pleasure at being guests at such an event, and having so much fun talking to friends new and old, the absolutely best part of the weekend -- my absolutely greatest most bestest and glowingest moment -- was meeting George Romero.

In addition to such guests as Elvira, Malcolm McDowell, and Tom Savini, the entire cast and crew of Night of the Living Dead was present, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the film that started it all. It was cool to see everyone and how they had changed, but there was no question that the only person whose autograph I was willing to pay for was the man himself, George A. Romero. Creepshow and Dawn of the Dead are easily in my top ten favorite horror films of all time, and the impact they made on me was significant. In fact, although I had been writing fantasy and war stories from a very young age, it was only after walking home in the dark, through the darkened back lot of the Circle Super after seeing Creepshow 2 at the tiny local theater, that I was inspired to write my first horror story -- imaginatively entitled The Pit. Okay, so it was a plotless rip-off the The Crate, but it was all for fun back then -- and to gross out my creative writing class when it came my turn to read aloud.

I waited until Sunday morning, thinking the lines would be less imposing. On Saturday, his line wrapped all the way around the convention ballroom, and this place was huge. Since we were guests, I was able to get in line along with all the early admission folks on Sunday. It still took about an hour or so to get through, but certainly few other things are so worth waiting for.

I’d made some idle conversation with the two guys in front of me in line; one of them met Romero at a convention in Canada and had a photograph with them together that he was going to get signed. It turned out that the kid in line in front of me is attending Tom Savini’s special effects school. He gushed to the director about how Dawn of the Dead changed his life, and I had to admire how Mr. Romero reacted. No matter how many times he must have heard this from countless fans, he took it right to heart and seemed genuinely touched. He told the kid if he ever made it up into his neighborhood to let him know. Then he gave the kid his e-mail address and said, “if you give this to anybody, I’ll kill you.”

Once it was my chance to talk to the man, I had him sign a photograph for my sister, my Creepshow mini-poster, and my clamshell cover insert for the 1977 version of Dawn of the Dead. As soon as I laid the clamshell insert in front of him he said, with good-natured disgust (if there is such a thing), “VHS!” We laughed about it, and I proceeded to tell him about my closet full of horror films on VHS, so many of which I can’t find on DVD. We talked about some of the films of the 80’s, and the kids in front of me hung around to join in the conversation and graciously took this picture of me with the man himself. I thanked him heartily for all of his work, and slipped him a copy of Then Comes the Child, with my personal inscription, “For George Romero -- Thanks for all the scares!” I hope he reads it and enjoys, if no other reason than to repay him in some small way for all the hours of enjoyment he’d given me.

When I came back to the table clutching my signed Romero goods, Angie claims I looked like a giddy schoolboy. I admit I couldn’t stop grinning. I was on a high for the rest of the day, absolutely on a cloud. It was a dream come true to be sure. All those years ago, laying on the floor of our old house in Woodland Park, looking up at that grainy VHS picture of gut-munching zombies, I never would have thought it possible to shake hands with the guy who’d been so influential in my teenage years. For me, it’s probably second only to meeting Stephen King, which I guess is unlikely at best.

All in all, this was the best weekend we’ve had in recent memory. Saturday night we met Bill Lindblad, Jen Orosel, and Tom Monteleone for dinner. This is the second time that Angeline and I have met Mr. Monteleone, and I only wish he’d been at a convention that didn’t conflict with TFW so we could have had more chances to talk. I admire him as a long-standing figure in the genre, and can’t help but respect his straightforward style and impressive body of work. We considered going back with them to ConDFW for some parties, but both Angeline and I were wiped out, so we just headed home.

The weekend left me drained. The lack of sleep, lack of food, and excessive handshaking allowed a low-grade bug to catch up with me. Plus, I’d written two final exam essays for history class and crammed algebra homework into every spare moment the previous week. Nevertheless, it was a fantastic experience, and one we look forward to repeating next year. Sincere thanks to Loyd and everyone at Texas Frightmare Weekend for their hard work and for making us feel wanted and at home. I can’t say enough about how appreciative we are for their invitations, and how excited we are to be part of the next event. Based on what we saw this year, Texas Frightmare Weekend has every right to the claim that they are the premier horror convention of the southwest.

Now, back to recovery....

Just a reminder that Texas Frightmare Weekend is this weekend. Angie and I will be there as guests with some fellow scribes from HWA and FearZone. For more information, click the banner. Hope to see you there!

Time for the mush. Some of you are really going to hate this. I don't much care. This is, after all, the Innernetz, and you have the option to look away at any time.

I love my wife. In fact, I have never been so in love with a person as I am with her. Dare I say that she is the wind beneath my wings, and use every cliche' in the book to describe the way that she inspires and energizes me and shines light into all the dark corners of my life? Cliche's are not enough. Without Angeline, I would be nothing. Once, it was my only desire to be a successful writer of fiction, and only that -- I was convinced -- would bring me joy. But the day we were married, all of that seemed virtually unimportant. It became secondary to being in love, to taking care of her, to being all that I could in the way of provider, lover, and friend. Funny how the one thing that carried me through the darkest times in my life was suddenly revealed as nothing more than a life preserver, something that merely kept me afloat until God aligned our destinies and I awoke to what life was really about.

Everyday, I count myself fortunate to have this, something some people never experience in a lifetime. A sweeping powerful love that is loyal, kind, and generous. A love that overcomes strife, pushes through the pain, and carries us each day to the height of human experience. I have never been so happy. I love her more each day. Every day is Valentine's Day for us; we don't need some greeting card holiday to remind us how to treat each other. I wish everyone could have what we have. The world would certainly be a better place.

The photo above is one that Rhonda Eudaly took of us at the FenCon party just a few weeks ago. Just seeing her smile like that warms my heart, because I have seen her pain, and that's sometimes too much to bear. But today is a good day, because we're on the road to getting her the right treatments; the new medications that Dr. Sparks prescribed have so far (two days now) have given her some much-needed respite. Thankfully, the pain meds for the day are not narcotics, but anti-imflammatories, the pure form of the stuff that they use to make Aleve, so she doesn't have to endure the drug-induced haze which she hates. We're hoping that this is the solution. Yesterday, she said she felt like she was in somebody else's body she felt so good, so perhaps someone up there is not only hearing, but -- in part -- answering my prayers.

So, here's to my wife, the greatest love of my life. I love you, bebe, and happy Valentine's Day. I can't wait for our night out on the town! :-)

Some good news: Canadian publisher Lachesis Publishing has accepted my novel OF WOLF AND MAN for re-release. I've been searching long and hard for a publisher to bring my werewolven child back to the masses in its improved and expanded form. I'm happy to be working with them, especially since I read and enjoyed Michael Louis Calvillo's I WILL RISE, which Lachesis released last year. It's nice to be in good company. Some of their authors have had success getting books into Barnes and Noble stores, so I have high hopes for greater distribution than I've been able to attain in the past. More details forthcoming in March.

Interview Posted

I'm featured this month on Heidi Rudy Miller's "Pick Six," where authors pick six questions to answer from a list of fifteen. Please feel free to comment, throw tomatoes, or whatever. Click here to check it out!

Members of the North Texas Chapter of the Horror Writers Association will be appearing as guests at Texas Frightmare Weekend Feb. 21-24, 2008 in Grapevine, Texas. Horror mavens won't want to miss this -- the premier horror convention of the Southwest!

Film and television guests scheduled to appear include George A. Romero, Malcolm McDowell, Cassandra "Elvira" Peterson, Tom Savini, John Russo, and a host of others. Local and independent filmmakers join horror celebrities in this four-day event with vendor rooms, celebrity parties, screenings, panels, and the Zombiewalk! The DFW HWA roster on-hand will include authors Charlee Jacob, C. Dean Andersson, Angeline Hawkes, Christopher Fulbright, Steven Wedel, Deborah Leblanc, and Lee Thomas.

For more information about Texas Frightmare Weekend, please visit: http://www.texasfrightmareweekend.com

For more information about DFW HWA, please visit: http://www.horror.org/dfw

We went to see Cloverfield last night. I had mixed feelings because I'm a fan of B-rate horror that sometimes doesn't make sense, but ultimately I have to summarize my thoughts on this one by saying it was a bust. It could have been good; it could have been awesome. In fact, it had some awesome moments -- alas, they were not enough to pull it out for me. The primary problem: the entire movie is supposedly a video found by the military after a giant monster attacks Manhattan. Remember Blair Witch? Remember how it made you ill and gave you a headache? Okay, now take that and mutliply it times ten. That's how I felt walking out of the theater -- sick for the next two hours. There is never a moment in the entire movie, not in one and half hours, when that damned camera holds still. Angie had to keep closing her eyes to keep from vomiting.

I understand why they did it. They wanted immediacy. They wanted you there in the action. They wanted it to feel real. It worked to a degree, but in the end, it was more irritating than engaging. Get this: when I go to see a movie, I actually want to *see* the movie, not be frustrated the entire time because nothing is clear and I can't really see what's going on. We did get one still shot of the monster at the end (think Predator meets the Rancor). The monster and its baby spider face-hugger things were cool, no doubt about that, and I admit having days when I feel the way that monster probably felt when it destroyed the city. Additionally, this was probably about as close as Hollywood has gotten to a realistic portrayal of how it would be to have a giant monster stomping through your city. Still, the motion sickness made me angry, frankly. The film makers had a lot of great stuff going on there. They could have stablized the camera a bit after the first 15 or 20 minutes of the movie and let me see some of it.

Add to all of that the fact that this film is virtually plotless, without even the slightest attempt to explain what happened or why. Not even a final newscast at the end. Nothing. Why I'm surprised at this I don't know. This is J.J. Abrams after all. The guy who did Lost -- remember that meandering string-you-along TV show that never reached any sort of satisfying conclusion? Yup. Same thing here. I'm sure teenagers will love it. Maybe that's who the film is made for, because there's very little profanity, very little gore, and nothing but implied sex. Just a bunch of explosions, and a big (albeit cool) monster smashing things.

If you go to see this film, don't expect much. And be sure to take your Dramamine.

"Think about what you know, forget about what you're told...."

It's cold, gray, and raining outside my office window. We live on the edge of a new neighborhood in the middle of nowhere, so just beyond the edge of my block is an undeveloped field. Beyond that are several large pieces of property with lake houses on them. From my window I can see across the brown grasses of the field, wet from overnight showers, through the bare trees to the edge of the lake. Across the water, fog hangs low in the sky, thinner near the surface. I can barely see the distant shore, a ghostly island of shadow. Everything's wet and gray, but my computer says it's 39 degrees so there's no danger of ice. It looks forboding and chilly, but we will not be stopped from going to after-Christmas sales today. It's my last day of vacation before going back to work Thursday and Friday; it's been a good break. Not nearly long enough, but that's always the way.

Happy Holidays to everyone. We had our big day with the kids yesterday, so today consists of sitting around listening to new music, new movies, eating Christmas candy, drinking coffee, and new books.

I'm upstairs right now, rocking out to the The Hookers Casting the Runes: From the Battle of Contlarf to the Gates of Valhalla 2 disc set, and I'm thinking that The Hookers were quite frankly better than 90% of the bands playing rock and metal during their time in the scene. Just as good as The Hellacopters, Turbonegro, Gluecifer, and gang. They were laughably better than anything that ever got played on the radio -- but yes, you can argue that's a different audience. We're not talking about the mindless deluded masses who rely on radio to bring them the best music available, or who just don't care. Anyway, I'm biased toward The Hookers because I've hung out with them and seen them live enough times to blame them for part of my hearing loss, and they were very cool dudes very dedicated to rock. So, long live The Hookers. The legacy of this band can continue if you help spread the word, so .... word! \m/

Anyway, onto the new stack of tunes, I had to chuckle yesterday as I was sitting up here during a break from festivities listening to Mayhem's De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. It was another black metal Christmas; last year for Christmas, Angie got me a book called Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground. The book chronicles the notorious antics of a few black metal bands in Norway in the early 90's.

The young men in these bands took their subject matter much more serious than genre predecessors. They practiced a mix of Satanism and neo-pagnism, some of their philosophies more reasoned than others. Organized groups of these black metallers are responsible for burning a bunch of historic Norwegian churches. A few of these guys went on to kill people (one killed a gay man in a park in the middle of the night, another stabbed a bandmate in the skull), or kill themselves. Reading about them sent me on a pilgrimage to listen to the bands and see how their philosophies translated to the music, if it did it at all. I listened to it to try and get a feel for if they were for real, or if they were just putting on a show and a handful of unbalanced individuals went a little too far. Even after reading the book and listening to the music, the division between showmanship and reality is still not so clear cut for a handful of them.

Over the next year, I developed an affinity for the music of a few of these second-wave black metallers. I listened to Venom and Bathory and Hellhammer long before there were many labels for sub-generes of metal. As a fan of those bands, who were later considered the founders of Black Metal, I already had an idea of what I liked about it. The Swedish and Norwegian black metal bands had certainly advanced the sub-genre well beyond the point I thought possible; particularly in the hands of the bands Immortal and Enslaved. Dark Throne is okay. Burzum is interesting to listen to, but did not warrant repeated listenings for me. Dissection's Storm of the Light's Bane was an excellent contribution for that period, and Emperor's In the Nightside Eclipse is a contemporary black metal classic. While I had listened to a couple of tracks off of it, I had not yet obtained a copy of Mayhem's De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, so I placed it on my Amazon wishlist, where it was found this season by my lovely Angie, who kindly purchased it as one of my Christmas gifts. And so, yet another holiday comes 'round to find me hanging out in front of the computer listening to the most Satanic music I can find this side of Mercyful Fate.

Regarding this album -- the main reason that Mayhem stayed so long on my wish list was I had heard a few samples from the album and was not overly impressed. It seemed, from the few songs that I'd heard, Mayhem's black metal musicianship did not exceed their notoriety. I think there are some very good black metal tunes here, "Funeral Fog," "Freezing Moon," and "Buried by Time and Dust" are all solid pieces of work, maybe on par with some of Emperor's stuff at the time. But ultimately, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas is of greater value to a collection for its historical value than for any sort of genre-bending musical merit. The vocals seem too disparate and out of sorts. The music is inconsistent in quality, and half the time not particularly compelling. (Granted, one must find themselves in a particular mood to find black metal compelling.) Still, there is an art to it, and Mayhem has the tools, they're just applied with varying degrees of skill on this album. That said, I have no doubt that the band's main songwriter Euronymous would have honed his skill, if only he'd lived long enough to make another album.

Euronymous, born as Oystein Aarseth, was a magnet for mayhem, indeed. He ran a record shop called Helvete, where many participants of the early church burnings were said to have congregated. Tragedy struck early in the career of Aarseth's band Mayhem when their lead singer, ironically named Dead, killed himself with a shotgun blast to the head. When pal Aarseth found Dead's corpse, he reportedly climbed into the room and took pieces of the singer's brain and skull to make a necklace before calling the authorities to report the death. Later on, Aarseth's decision to have Varg Vikarnes (Burzum) join Mayhem, and to later release some of Burzum's music, would end up in a fatal conflict between the two when Vikarnes, according to one account, paid a visit to collect unpaid royalties. Vikarnes stabbed Aarseth in the head and killed him in a fight in the stairwell of his apartment building. Miraculously, and seemingly beyond the reach of cosmic justice, both Mayhem and Burzum still produce records that sell. Primarily due to all of the hub-bub, no doubt.

Okay, enough grim talk. It's Christmas after all. I did get a few other CD's. It's not all devil music. I mean, I got Celtic Frost's Morbid Tales remastered on disc, Destruction's Sentence of Death and Infernal Overkill, yes, but I also got Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Home, and a 1991 H.C. Robbins Landons's interpretation of Mozart's Requiem, conducted by Sir Georg Solti. I got a copy of John Jakes's "The Bastard," some horror novels and DVD's, some cologne, and gift certificates (thank you, family!). So, you see, I am not hopelessly immersed in darkness and evil. I got some other cool, normal stuff, too. Really.

Anyway, I just wanted to sign on and post to everyone for the holdays. Merry Christmas! I'm going back down for coffee and some of that Christmas chocolate.

I'd just like to go on record as saying that I think We've Come for You All is Anthrax's best album ever. I enjoyed their music in the 80's, but had a hard time with Belladonna's voice. Ironically, I felt exactly the opposite whenever I listened to Armored Saint; I always dug the vocals, but thought the music lacked power and inspiration. Ergo, the best possible solution presented itself when Bush went to sing for Anthrax. I know folks with disagree with me -- all those purists out there -- but so be it. Before Sound of White Noise came out, Fistful of Metal was always my favorite. But this We've Come for You All album is the best. They're at the top of their game. I hope they can settle their differences and have Bush come back to sing with them on future albums.

I know I keep changing my LiveJournal "skin" thing ... I just discovered they've got a whole bunch of new ones and I can't find one that really works all the way for me without some kind of customization. I looked at the WordPress site the other day and was impressed. They have some very nice blogs compared to these. I just don't want to start over somewhere else. Maybe if I wait it out, LiveJournal will have some more options in time.

Since I'm here and talking music, I should mention that I've been jamming to some Dixie Witch the past few days. I saw that they were on tour with Bible of the Devil, playing a date down in Austin, TX on New Year's Eve. Now, Bible of the Devil is a very good band, probably a little cursed by their name ("it's a euphemism for rock and roll!" heh), and I'd love to see them live. I might have a hard time convincing Angie that driving down to Austin to see Dixie Witch and Bible of the Devil on New Year's Eve is a good idea.

Anyway, about the band -- I downloaded their album Smoke and Mirrors off Amazon.com and really dug it. On the whole, it's a fun, classic Southern rock meets Kiss and Motorhead sort of groove. The first four songs of the album really kick out the jams. "Set the Speed", "Shoot the Moon," "S.O.L.", and "Out in the Cold" (with a borrowed Black Crowes chorus) will light-up the control panel of your rock detector. Great for driving fast on freeways and kicking back at home writing blogs in your sweats. Other reviews of this album universally sang the praises of the fifth track "Ballinger's Cross." It's pretty good, I guess. It's very slow, "stoner rock" or whatever, but it just never hits the right chord with me. "Last Call" is nice, but very familiar. It seems like half the time Dixie Witch wants to play old classic rock songs by just addding a few chords of their own to the traditional mix. They mix up a handful of rhythms in ways that don't seem to fully mesh. I guess that's the best way I can characterize how the latter half of the album didn't really impress me as much as the first. That said, I really did enjoy listening to Smoke & Mirrors and those first songs really stuck in my head and warranted repeated listenings. I even bought a few more tracks off some earlier albums and listened to those. After all, they're from Texas, where all the cool stuff and the hot chicks are, so it stands that we have some of the best rock and roll, too. I predict that if these guys stick around a few more years, they'll produce a grade "A" rock album that cannot be denied. The best is yet to come from Dixie Witch.

I actually wrote a big blog entry about some books and movies, too, but I went off to do other things and never finished it. Maybe I'll post what I've got later.

Wow, this no work and no school thing is awesome! (Incidentally, I checked my grades online for this semester and I got A's in all three classes. Even my English instructor, who I thought sure would give me a B, gave me an A. More cause for celebration!)

I am so glad I don't have to go back to work on Monday. Christmas is going to be awesome. Happy holidays to everyone on LiveJournal. I hope everyone gets cool stuff and spreads some lurv. I wrote a new short story today. That was fun. We drove around and did stuff earlier. Now we're going to sit around the house, start a fire, and watch an episode of the Outer Limits from the Season I DVD I got for Xmas. Life is good. Internet is boring.

Some disappointing news from the UFC last week -- Matt Serra has withdrawn from the UFC 79 fight card due to a herniated disc in his back. Bad news, indeed. I know that I, and everybody else who's been suffering through this season of The Ultimate Fighter, was really looking forward to seeing Serra and Hughes settle their differences in the Octagon. Granted, we all know it'll happen eventually, the question now is when. While I'm leaning toward Hughes to win, I wouldn't bet the bank on it. I am 75% sure that Hughes will win. That's pretty sure.

Angie and I have debated getting the UFC 79 PPV and ordering some pizza for our New Years celebration, but since Serra is out, we may just go into Dallas and watch it downtown. We'll see, I guess. Liddel still fights Wanderlei Silva, so there'll be at least one good contest. (I'm 100% sure that Hughes will demolish Georges St-Pierre.)

In other UFC news, Angie and I rented UFC 1 and UFC 2 this past weekend and had a lot of fun watching how it all began. We knew it was going to be fun the moment Sumo wrestler Teila Tuli got his teeth kicked out by Gerard Gordeau in the first 30 seconds of round one. It was sure a lot different from the way it is today -- style vs. style; karate vs. jiu jitsu, or shootfighter vs. boxer, etc. But, man, those fights were quick. That's the thing about discipline vs. discipline: the stronger of the two works in his element to dominate the opponent. These were the days when Royce Gracie was king, and you can see why. He just didn't have any kind of real competition back then. It was cool to see Ken Shamrock in his early days, and everybody's favorite UFC ref Big John McCarthy.

Someday we'll go to Vegas and see one of these in person. Maybe I'll get some tickets for our anniversary next year. UFC live -- better than diamond earrings.