By Dr. Gangrene…
The 8th annual Dr. Gangrene’s Horror Hootenanny was held Saturday October 8th 2011 at THE MUSE in Nashville, TN. This year’s event was a huge success, and a ton of fun. The Daves asked me to give a report on this year’s event, which I was happy to do!
By Richard Church~
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!
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.
I have been a huge fan of Halloween since I was a kid and it is one of those things that I never grew out of. I have always made it a habit of visiting all of the local Halloween haunts and corn mazes as well as having my own yard haunt. Surprisingly though, I had never been to the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular at Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, RI. This year, thanks to me becoming a docent at the zoo this past April, I was guaranteed to not only be seeing the event but also working it for most of the month. I had always heard great things about the event but had no idea that I would be totally blown away by it!
Welcome back! This is part 3 of my series of blogs on Halloween novelty songs. If you missed part 1 click here or if you missed part 2 click here. What originally started out to be a 2-part blog ended up being in three parts because of all of the great stuff I have found (and to be honest, I could probably do a part 4)! Hopefully these cd recommendations will help rock your Halloween party or add just a little bit of fun to your yard haunt this October 31st! So…for this edition…I will be covering horror host Zacherley, some great imports and a recently discovered (by me anyway) rarity box set that is a must have for any monster music cd collection!
Recently, I joked with friends that this Halloween season I’d be like a Grateful Dead “Deadhead” or Jimmy Buffett “Parrot head” and follow the Horror Host Svengoolie around wherever he goes. Throughout this latest Svengoolie “tour,” I’ve made it as far north as J.J. Blinkers near the Wisconsin border and all the way out to The Amhurst Asylum in Valparaiso, Indiana with the month not even half over. I do have to say that of all these wonderful venues, NONE were as beautiful as Long Grove, Illinois where Sven appeared last Saturday at a new 365 day Halloween store – “Harper’s Hollow!”
Terror from Beyond the Dave 