So it’s that spooky time of year again, and here on the nerd farm, that means it’s also time for our annual Halloween mixtape. Or a virtual version thereof… Last year, we had fun with a bunch of rockabilly tunes from the Monster Kid era. So this year, I thought we’d take it in a more serious direction, with a collection of 13 songs filled with murder, betrayal, and macabre desire. I’m calling it EVIL NIGHT. Here’s your cover: And here are the songs. Hope you [...]
Not much to say about tonight’s entry in the Halloween mixtape. It’s a song about death. Stirring lyrics. Macabre and downbeat, yet kind of uplifting in its own strange way. And most important of all, it sounds like Halloween. So I hope you enjoy the musical stylings of Mister Tom Waits, with “Dirt in the [...]
As has become our habit, we’re taking a quick break from the Halloween mixtape tonight to review a Halloweenie funnybook. And this week, it’s finally time to review something I’ve been saving for the Halloween season: Through the Woods by Emily Carroll This book actually came out last fall, but I didn’t stumble across it til the summer. I almost wrote about it then, but decided that, since it’s been out so long anyway, it could wait til now. Carroll’s been [...]
Continuing our Halloween mixtape, we come to my favorite Halloweenie musician (hell, my favorite musician period): Mr. Tom Waits, and his album Bone Machine. Waits has said that he thinks of Bone Machine as a Halloween sort of album. And considering how very many Halloween-worthy tunes he’s turned out over the years, that’s really saying something. It’s true, though. Even more than most Waits albums, Bone Machine is packed to the gills with apocalyptic songs of death, [...]
Last night’s Tom Waits post got me to thinking more about the great man’s body of work, most specifically The Black Rider. I shared two songs from it last time: the title track, and the nighmarish “Oily Night.” But the story behind the songs is interesting (and Halloweenie) enough that it begs more attention. Waits released the album in 1993, but the music on it was written a few years earlier for a 1990 stage production, a comic opera collaboration between Waits, [...]
Have you ever heard a song that you immediately loved? Not just something with a catchy tune, but a song that you connected with on some deep level you’d have trouble explaining? A song that sounded like it could have come out of your own head, if you only had the talent to draw it forth? Have you been that lucky? If so, then you know how I felt the first time I heard this: That, as I’m sure you’ve already surmised, is “Earth Died Screaming,” by one of the Dork [...]
Earlier this month, I called Tom Waits the poet laureate of Halloween. That’s not a title I bestow lightly… …so tonight, I thought I’d get on the stick… …and give you a whole raft of spooky-ass Tom Waits songs, just to demonstrate how Halloweenie he really is. I mean, with the things that come out of this man’s head… …you’d think he was the Devil himself. Our first song comes from the album Rain Dogs, and warms things up with [...]
For the lucky 13th day of Halloween, we thought we’d take a break from our virtual Halloween mix tape to bring you… our real Halloween mix tape! This is an annual tradition here on the nerd farm, a little something we put together every holiday season to give the nerd wranglers something to listen to while they sincere the punkin patches up. This year, we decided to put together a mix based around the theme of Halloween Love Songs. Love comes in all shapes and sizes, after all, [...]
Continuing on from last night’s tribute to lovely dead things, we have this detail from a publicity still from the sadly-lost horror classic London After Midnight… …and this prettily-dreadful little ditty from the poet laureate of Halloween, Mr. Tom [...]
Y’know, I was gonna do a post about a whole bunch of dorky things to be thankful for tonight (and I may yet still before Thanksgiving weekend is over). But then I discovered that it’s Terry Gilliam’s 71st birthday, and that is worth being thankful for all by itself. So happy birthday, Mr. Gilliam! And now… Enjoy a brief gallery of pictures from Gilliam’s storied career… Known primarily as a member of Monty Python, and the director of numerous cult films, [...]
Dork Forty! 