MONSTERS IN WICKER BASKETS! GREEN BOOBS! BEEF JERKY SHAPED LIKE BODY PARTS!TREE RATS! & MORE!
Our trip to L.A. to Saturday's WEEKEND OF HORRORS CONVENTION was a hoot! We made it there early and spent most of the day there. It was my first time driving to L.A. so I was a little nervous about it all(I hate driving on freeways!), but we made it in one piece and without getting lost! I'm not a horrible driver, I'm one of those who doesn't trust anyone on the road, so I'm leery of any vehicle within' 100 yards. People driving behind me hate me for that. I find a lane and stick to it. There's no goofing around. So it was a quiet early morning hands tightly gripped on the steering wheel and teeth clenched all the way there, but we made it! After using the jaws of life to peel my fingers off of the steering wheel , I smoked a cigarette and relaxed for a day of fun filled b-movie fun!
Let's get it on!
We walked into the convention with Sid Haig( Capt.Spaulding to all the kids)following behind us. Booths filled with toys, comics, t-shirts, and all the nerdgasm stuff we live for screamed out to us to buy them. Hear we go!!
I passed out some artwork samples (in hopes that maybe someday one of these b-movie fans or makers will someday want to hire me for some artwork)and took a look at what other artists were doing at an excellent Art Ghoulery . Some really cool stuff in the lowbrow/outsider style of artwork on display. I'm hoping maybe I can get some of my stuff displayed and up for sale in upcoming Art Ghouleries! Lots of cool art!
Of course there was tons of nifty stuff to buy, and I easily threw down the bills for things I can't find at the sucky ass Walmart/Target video sections or lowsy chain bookstores. I nabbed the complete SPACE GIANTS Japanese TV series on DVD, some old WEIRD comic magazines and a FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND issue. And then, there's the meeting of the b-movie stars and creators. Some of them I've met before, but these three were the highlight for me-
FRED "THE HAMMER" WILLIAMSON
Action star from all those great blaxploitation films from the 70's such as BLACK CAESAR & HAMMER and the Tarantino flick FROM DUSK TIL DAWN. He's as super cool in person as he is in his movies!
Here's Fred & I, sealin' the deal!
FRANK HENENLOTTER
Those who know me well, know that one of my fave movies of all time is BASKET CASE and Frank Henenlotter is the writer and director of it. He's also the man behind FRANKENHOOKER & BRAIN DAMAGE. It was a pure thrill to meet him and get a pic with him. He's a fun guy!
LEWIS JACKSON
My fave Christmas move(and one that I watch every X-Mas holiday season) is the classic CHRISTMAS EVIL directed by Lewis Jackson. I didn't know he was gonna be at the convention. I literally stumbled upon his table in the midst of the crowd. There, before me, was a stack of CHRISTMAS EVIL dvd's and a guy sitting behind the table. Since I didn't recognize him( I had no idea what the director of this movie looked like and I didn't recognize him as any of the cast), I asked him who he was. He told me he was the director of the movie and we hit up a pretty good conversation. I told him many great memories of the flick, such as how we all cheered at the ending the first time my friends and I watched it on vhs all those many years ago at a tv party. I told him how I watch it every X-Mas season and he said he gets that alot, tho when the first time the movie was screened at the infamous 42nd Street theater in New York, people threw things at the screen because they hated the ending. I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it, but the ending is one of the greatest surprise endings in movie history.
(Also, a little known fact to those who don't usually watch these things-the main character, a Christmas obsessed serial killer is played by actor Brandon Maggart, who's daughter is singer Fiona Apple!) It's been recently re-released on DVD with commentary by John Waters! Check it out!
Also there was Sid Haig, Sybil Danning, Ken Foree, Laurene Landon(of Hundra and othe cheesy 80's flicks),and others. It's a thrill meeting these people. Where most people get all starstruck over the Tom Cruises and Angelina Jolie's of the world,I could care less. The stars and creators of these cult classics have had a huge influence on me as an artist and creative type and I love meeting them and hearing their stories about the films and the process of creating them!
After walking around and buying things for hours we took a break and sat in the movie screening room for to rest our cloven hoofs and watched an interesting tv pilot that never aired called "MR. PARACELSUS WHO ARE YOU?". It starred Michael Rennie & Dean Stockwell, and it was really cool. It's based on an H.G.Wells story and it had some cool steampunkish contraptions in it and great performances by Rennie & Stockwell. I had never heard of it before, and I guess, few have, cuz there isn't much stuff on the interwebz I could dig up on it.
Then, we caught the costume contest, which was fun and then the main event of the evening-
BRUCE CAMPBELL. The star of all the EVIL DEAD flicks gave us a good hour of entertainment as he answered questions in his signature snarly style. He's hilarious!
Someone secretly videotaped it and thru it up on youtube if your interested in checking them out-
After that it was time to head out to Burbank, where we met up with some ol' friends that live out there. We had a great time hanging with them, staying up late,sitting on a patio,smoking and drinking and surrounded by the sounds of drizzle(rain, that is) and tree rats and yapping about the pros & cons of TWILIGHT movies, SHARKTOPUSES & everything else in-between. That's my fave thing in the whole world to do-hanging with friends and yapping . I have no desire to go out dancing in loud ass nightclubs getting drunk on overpriced booze. This is my idea of a fun time(well, that and watching bad movies). Plus our hosts gave us a place to crash for the night so I didn't have to find our way back home in the dark! Thanx! Good times!
It was a great time, and nice to get out of the cramped little corner of the house we live in and stretch out with some monsterrific stars, cool art & good friends!
Next up-Long Beach ComicCon at the end of the month!
Let's get it on!
We walked into the convention with Sid Haig( Capt.Spaulding to all the kids)following behind us. Booths filled with toys, comics, t-shirts, and all the nerdgasm stuff we live for screamed out to us to buy them. Hear we go!!
I passed out some artwork samples (in hopes that maybe someday one of these b-movie fans or makers will someday want to hire me for some artwork)and took a look at what other artists were doing at an excellent Art Ghoulery . Some really cool stuff in the lowbrow/outsider style of artwork on display. I'm hoping maybe I can get some of my stuff displayed and up for sale in upcoming Art Ghouleries! Lots of cool art!
Of course there was tons of nifty stuff to buy, and I easily threw down the bills for things I can't find at the sucky ass Walmart/Target video sections or lowsy chain bookstores. I nabbed the complete SPACE GIANTS Japanese TV series on DVD, some old WEIRD comic magazines and a FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND issue. And then, there's the meeting of the b-movie stars and creators. Some of them I've met before, but these three were the highlight for me-
FRED "THE HAMMER" WILLIAMSON
Action star from all those great blaxploitation films from the 70's such as BLACK CAESAR & HAMMER and the Tarantino flick FROM DUSK TIL DAWN. He's as super cool in person as he is in his movies!
Here's Fred & I, sealin' the deal!
FRANK HENENLOTTER
Those who know me well, know that one of my fave movies of all time is BASKET CASE and Frank Henenlotter is the writer and director of it. He's also the man behind FRANKENHOOKER & BRAIN DAMAGE. It was a pure thrill to meet him and get a pic with him. He's a fun guy!
LEWIS JACKSON
My fave Christmas move(and one that I watch every X-Mas holiday season) is the classic CHRISTMAS EVIL directed by Lewis Jackson. I didn't know he was gonna be at the convention. I literally stumbled upon his table in the midst of the crowd. There, before me, was a stack of CHRISTMAS EVIL dvd's and a guy sitting behind the table. Since I didn't recognize him( I had no idea what the director of this movie looked like and I didn't recognize him as any of the cast), I asked him who he was. He told me he was the director of the movie and we hit up a pretty good conversation. I told him many great memories of the flick, such as how we all cheered at the ending the first time my friends and I watched it on vhs all those many years ago at a tv party. I told him how I watch it every X-Mas season and he said he gets that alot, tho when the first time the movie was screened at the infamous 42nd Street theater in New York, people threw things at the screen because they hated the ending. I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it, but the ending is one of the greatest surprise endings in movie history.
(Also, a little known fact to those who don't usually watch these things-the main character, a Christmas obsessed serial killer is played by actor Brandon Maggart, who's daughter is singer Fiona Apple!) It's been recently re-released on DVD with commentary by John Waters! Check it out!
Also there was Sid Haig, Sybil Danning, Ken Foree, Laurene Landon(of Hundra and othe cheesy 80's flicks),and others. It's a thrill meeting these people. Where most people get all starstruck over the Tom Cruises and Angelina Jolie's of the world,I could care less. The stars and creators of these cult classics have had a huge influence on me as an artist and creative type and I love meeting them and hearing their stories about the films and the process of creating them!
After walking around and buying things for hours we took a break and sat in the movie screening room for to rest our cloven hoofs and watched an interesting tv pilot that never aired called "MR. PARACELSUS WHO ARE YOU?". It starred Michael Rennie & Dean Stockwell, and it was really cool. It's based on an H.G.Wells story and it had some cool steampunkish contraptions in it and great performances by Rennie & Stockwell. I had never heard of it before, and I guess, few have, cuz there isn't much stuff on the interwebz I could dig up on it.
Then, we caught the costume contest, which was fun and then the main event of the evening-
BRUCE CAMPBELL. The star of all the EVIL DEAD flicks gave us a good hour of entertainment as he answered questions in his signature snarly style. He's hilarious!
Someone secretly videotaped it and thru it up on youtube if your interested in checking them out-
Click to viewAfter that it was time to head out to Burbank, where we met up with some ol' friends that live out there. We had a great time hanging with them, staying up late,sitting on a patio,smoking and drinking and surrounded by the sounds of drizzle(rain, that is) and tree rats and yapping about the pros & cons of TWILIGHT movies, SHARKTOPUSES & everything else in-between. That's my fave thing in the whole world to do-hanging with friends and yapping . I have no desire to go out dancing in loud ass nightclubs getting drunk on overpriced booze. This is my idea of a fun time(well, that and watching bad movies). Plus our hosts gave us a place to crash for the night so I didn't have to find our way back home in the dark! Thanx! Good times!
It was a great time, and nice to get out of the cramped little corner of the house we live in and stretch out with some monsterrific stars, cool art & good friends!
Next up-Long Beach ComicCon at the end of the month!