Terrible Teddy’s! Lee Howard’s “Quiet Room Bears” a Screaming Sensation!

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As mentioned in our first ROCK N SHOCK story,  the best items for sale in the dealer’s room this year were custom made. Of all these wonderful creations, none showed the shear genius and warped creativity of QuiET RoOM BeARs! Children afraid of the dark or the monster in their closets will have to seek alternative forms of comfort aside from clutching their Teddy Bears so far as Lee Howard is concerned. The Canadian artist not only came up with his own line of horror Teddy Bears, he’s managed to make each and every one completely unique and individually numbered….

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Meeting Svengoolie at Ultra Foods is at the Top of Every Horror Host Fans Shopping List!

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I had just seen Svengoolie the night before at Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo (see story HERE) but couldn’t pass up another chance to do so the next day at a local grocery store called Ultra Foods. My reasoning was simple; this past month I’d put in a lot of mileage to see the national host at various locations throughout the Chicagoland (and beyond) area. How could I NOT see him when he was appearing ten minutes from where I live? So, despite the fact that my Facebook friends are starting to accuse me of stalking the poor fellow, off I went!

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Ormon Grimsby’s House of Halloween Hullabaloo

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By Richard Church~

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Please grade on a curve, as I am writing this at 3AM (and I’ve been up since 6AM, yesterday), and these accounts may or may not be completely fabricated!

I’m always going to remember this week for two reasons; 1) I was somehow able to have an accident in a rental car halfway across the country and 2) I met Ormon FREAKIN’ Grimsby! I’m happy to say that latter went a long way in easing the pain of the former!

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Meeting Robert Englund was anything but a Nightmare

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ROCK N SHOCK 2011 brought together various cast members from the 80’s slasher franchise A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. The most noteworthy of these was Robert Englund who has appeared many times in my native Chicago at the FLASHBACK WEEKEND conventions. Despite this fact, I had never formally met him. I’m not exactly sure why that was, but I suppose it might have been that I was never a huge fan of those films. I know this is probably coming across as horror blasphemy right now but, “back in the day,” I preferred my horror deadly serious and didn’t care for the clever puns and humorous turn the series would end up taking.

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Lions, Tigers, & Scares…Oh my! Visitors go Wild for Zoo Halloween attractions!

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This past week, I had the unique opportunity to experience two zoo Halloween attractions located over a thousand miles from each other. Both Daves are volunteer docents (from the Greek word “to teach”) at their respective zoos and enjoy sharing their important conservation messages with thier guests. I have been affiliated with Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo for over 13 years (both as employee and volunteer) and David Albaugh joined his zoo (Roger Williams Park in Rhode Island) earlier this year. Before I continue, let me state that this is NOT a compare/contrast piece. Each year, numerous guests at the zoo will say things to me like, “Your zoo is better than mine,” “My zoo is better than yours,” etc. The truth is, all Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) accredited zoos are not in competition with one another. In fact, it is quite the contrary. These non-profit organizations all work together for the singular purpose of doing important conservation research around the world (which most of the public is unaware of ) while also educating and connecting their visitors with nature during their recreational visits.

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