Scary Halloweens

Hello!! I hope everyone had a great Halloween. It was everything I expected it to be in Hot Springs. How I spent my Halloween...

Let's see - I woke up about 10 a.m. (didn't get home until 2:30 that morning), went to deposit my check at the bank, & had lunch at Ryan's Cafe. During this time, it clouds up & starts raining heavy. Good thing - my yard desperately needed it! I went to Kroger & chatted with my boss for a few minutes before buying some "marked down" Halloween candy. I bought 5 bags of candy, then went home. I prepared for the kids to come over, & I also did some house cleaning before they came by. Most importantly, I musically set the mood for Halloween. Aah, the sweet, smooth, soothing sounds of... OZZY! BLACK SABBATH! SLAYER! ARTHUR BROWN! Aah, yes. I also put on the edited version of "Tubular Bells" (of course, everyone knows this from "The Exorcist").

However, I stumbled upon another CD that I had forgotten about. All it said was "Halloween Mix" on it. I popped the CD in, and first song was "Paint It Black" by the Stones. Then it had the original version of "I Put a Spell on You" by Screaming Jay Hawkins. It also had the theme from "Psycho", which still scares me 25 years after first viewing the movie as a pre-teen (oh, let's get one thing clear right now: the original Hitchcock version of "Psycho" was scary; the remake in the late 90s was just plain stupid). It had some songs that I had never heard before, & after playing the CD, along with candles burning in the house & rain continuing to fall outside, I just felt a real eerie feeling. Things are not what they seem... In trance comes close to describing the feeling. Put into perspective every twist my life has taken in the last year, & it was pretty scary.

I tried to remember who burned this CD for me, & it hit me - one of my ex-workers burned this for me about 2 years ago. So, Sean, thanks for the CD, & extra kudos to you for putting Tom Waits' "Earth Died Screaming" on the CD (Waits is pretty cool, shot voice and all).

Kids came to the house, & I handed out lots of candy. There was one cool part about the kids - there were 8 kids at the front door at one time - four teenagers & four pre-teens. The music was blaring from the stereo. "Psycho" music was playing. I got all the kids silent for just a second. I told them, "Listen..." When it got real silent, those sharp violins played (you know the part where Janet Leigh gets stabbed... yeah, that part). I thought 8 kids were going to wet their costumes! Yes, I know, I am a sick man...

After the kids went to their respective houses, I made dinner & watched "Final Destination 2" on USA network. No, this movie was not about Arkansas, so don't even ask!

Anyway, "I Put a Spell on You" is another song that needs a killer karaoke treatment. I'll do it & dedicate it to my friend Nettiemac! Kudos to you, sweets!!

Dat's it for dis one! More to come...

~Bolivar "I am the god of hellfire, and I bring you..." Shagnasty