Did Part of the Bride Go to College?

You know, I had this planned for today's date long before the horrific events involving rape and diminished capacity became publicized at a fancy college up north.

I photocopied it from a book, but this is originally from The New York Review in 1967.  Brrr, I say, brrr!

Nurse your compassion for the Bride, and all threatened by overweening power, until Friday, when we'll go a little more lighthearted with three more comps of Halloween music.

  

I Won't Live in a World Without Weird!

Scary Books, Kiddies!

Worlds of Weird.  Edited by Stan Margulies.  Third Jove printing, 1978.  Copyright 1965.  Cover art by Virgil Finlay.

 Who’s that girl? Va-va-voom! Who’d’ve thought a batwoman could look so ... alluring?

Ahemm .... the contents are ...

• · “The Forgotten Creator of Weird Tales” · Sam Moskowitz
• · Roads · Seabury Quinn · Weird Tales Jan 1938
• · The Sapphire Goddess · Nictzin Dyalhis · Weird Tales Feb 1934
• · The Valley of the Worm [James Allison] · Robert E. Howard · Weird Tales Feb 1934
• · He That Hath Wings · Edmond Hamilton · Weird Tales Jul 1938
• · Mother of Toads · Clark Ashton Smith · Weird Tales Jul 1938
• · The Thing in the Cellar · David H. Keller, M.D. · Weird Tales Mar 1932
• · Giants in the Sky · Frank Belknap Long · Weird Tales Aug 1939

The first tale, “Roads,” is an unexpected narration of an important event. “He that Hath Wings” is, some might say, a parable about creativity.

Keller’s “The Thing in the Cellar” is a simple, and simply astounding, little tale. It means a lot to me both because, as precocious youngster, I felt ignored and mistreated. Secondly, the house of family friends, the O’Garas, had just an entrance-to-downstairs from their kitchen. After reading this story at about age ten, I could easily locate this scenario at their house, and when visiting for parents’ bridge night, I was definitely uneasy at times.

Typing from memory: “Didn’t you tell me there was nothing there? Down there? In the cellar?”

See you next time, kiddies!
  

FRIGHTFUL FRIDAYS THROUGHOUT OCTOBER!

 Welcome to the wondrous month of October across the Super Blog and the Record Round-Up!

Every Friday we'll share three -- count 'em, THREE!  Halloween comps from yours truly.  A whole bunch of them have never been presented before.  Plus a few old standbys who became orphans when my previous host since 2015 castrated itself.

First up is a compilation of songs you hear all the time on "party records" of Halloween music.  They are FALSE, I say!  They may be songs mentioning an odd thing, but for the sake of the Blob, they DO NOT have the delicious, intentional creepiness of a "true" Halloween song.

MA-231 - Not Halloween: 

01 - Frankenstein - The Edgar Winter Group - 1972  (4:44)

02 - Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon - 1978  (3:25)

03 - Season of the Witch - Donovan - 1966  (4:54)

04 - The Devil Went Down to Georgia - The Charlie Daniels Band - 1979  (3:35)

05 - Witchcraft - Frank Sinatra - 1957  (2:52)

06 - The Witch Queen of New Orleans - Redbone - 1971  (2:44)

07 - Clap for the Wolfman - The Guess Who - 1974  (3:24)

08 - Spooky - Classics IV - 1967  (2:43)

09 - (Don't Fear) The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult - 1976  (5:06)

10 - Devil Woman - Cliff Richard - 1976  (3:31)

11 - Time Warp - Rocky Horror Cast - 1975  (3:16)

12 - Evil Ways - Santana - 1969  (3:57)

13 - Bat Out of Hell - Meat Loaf - 1977  (9:46)

14 - That Old Black Magic - Margaret Whiting - 1943  (2:41)

15 - In the Midnight Hour - Wilson Pickett - 1965  (2:36)

16 - Witchy Woman - Eagles - 1972  (4:11)

17 - Somebody's Watching Me - Rockwell - 1983  (3:33)

18 - Black Magic Woman - Fleetwood Mac - 1968  (2:51)

19 - Hungry Like the Wolf - Duran Duran - 1982  (3:39)

 We real Halloween connoisseurs are sick and tired of hearing these songs played at Halloween parties, or constituting the bulk of a so-labeled “Halloween” CD.  These songs may have scary or weird elements, but they ARE NOT about Halloween!

To express your agreement, download and burn this selection to disc … then shred the disc.

***

MA-07 - Howl-oween:

01. Welcome to My Nightmare - Alice Cooper (5:03)

02. Halloween - Sid Frank & James Dukas (0:58)

03. This Is Halloween - Marilyn Manson (3:04)

04. Rock 1 - It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (0:32)

05. Riders in the Sky - Dick Dale (2:07)

06. Halloween - Aqua (3:44)

07. Trick or Treat (1937) - Donald Duck (0:55)

08. Jonny Quest Underscore 1 - Hoyt Curtin (0:31)

09. The Purple People Eater - Sheb Wooley (2:13)

10. Ghouls Glide - Music for Monsters (1:51)

11. Boris the Spider - The Who (2:27)

12. The Raven - Buddy Morrow and His Orchestra   (3:30)

13. Frenzy #1 - CD Creepies (2:15)

14. Rock 2 - It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (0:19)

15. Have a Good Time on Halloween Night - Hap Palmer (1:46)

16. Trick or Treat - Nekromantix (4:10)

17. Jonny Quest Underscore 2 - Hoyt Curtin (0:51)

18. Halloween - Stephen Lynch (2:27)

19. Part One - Spooky Music for Spooky Occasions (1:43)

20. Here Comes the Boogeyman - Henry Hall (2:48)

21. Something Wicked This Way Comes (Main Title) - James Horner (2:00)

22. My Radiation Baby (My Teenage Fallout Queen) - George McKelvey (2:46)

23. Jonny Quest Underscore 3 - Hoyt Curtin (1:05)

24. Hell - Squirrel Nut Zippers (3:03)

25. Five Little Pumpkins - Ukisociety (0:39)

26. Rock 3 - It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (0:11)

27. The Munsters Theme - Jack Marshall (2:10)

28. Part Two - Spooky Music for Spooky Occasions (1:35)

29. Nobody Likes You When You're Dead - Zombina and the Skeletones (2:04)

30. The Twilight Zone '85 Main Title - Grateful Dead & Merl Saunders (0:44)

31. The Haunted House (1929) - Mickey Mouse (3:06)

32. Twilight Tone - Manhattan Transfer (5:51)

33. Skeleton Dance - Music for Monsters (1:18)

34. Space Ghost (Main Title) - Ted Nichols / Richard Olson / Bill Getty (0:54)

35. DOA - Bloodrock (8:21)

MA-07 was my VERY FIRST Halloween comp,  I hope you'll find something worthwhile in its callow youthfulness. 

***

MA-210 - Trick, Treat, Repeat: 

01 - excerpt - Crisis on Infinite Earths Part One - 2024  (0:15)

02 - Halloween Safety 01 - Centron Educational Films - 1977  (0:49)

03 - Rock 'N' Roll Halloween - Bobby Bare, Jr - 2009  (3:51)

04 - Nosferatu - Blue Öyster Cult - 1977  (5:16)

05 - The Spider and the Fly - The Wicked - 1979  (2:05)

06 - The Devil's Twist - Art Killmer and The Up-Town Four - 1964  (2:03)

07 - Incidental Music - The Mad Daddy Shock Theatre & The Great London Ghost Show - 1958  (1:38)

08 - The Moon Does Strange Things to Me - Free Delivery - 1974  (4:02)

09 - The Blob - Joe August - 1958  (2:10)

10 - Twilight Zone - Barry Raye - 1960  (2:35)

11 - The Merry Ghost from Chatham Square - Henri René Musette Orchestra - 1942  (2:34)

12 - Luther the Anthropoid (Ape Man) - The Jimmy Castor Bunch - 1972  (3:10)

13 - Janie Made a Monster - The Fabulous Five - 1959  (2:44)

14 - Have You Checked the Children? - Life in the Fridge Exists - 1980  (3:07)

15 - Surfer Smash - Johnn (Boris) Jones - 1963  (2:01)

16 - Dirty Little Secret - The Lowdowns - 1996  (2:39)

17 - My Son the Folk Monster - Larry Foster - 1962  (3:07)

18 - Funny Monsters - Deep Freeze Mice - 1983  (4:45)

19 - Doin' the Monster Mash - Leonard Jewell - 1963  (2:07)

20 - Trick or Treat - Chuck Berry - 1961  (1:32)

21 - The Creep - Billy & Mickey - 1961  (2:26)

22 - You Are My Girl - 3 Stooges - 1960  (2:27)

23 - Things That Go Bump in the Night - Allstars - 2002  (2:59)

24 - Danse Macabre - The Young Lovers - 1968  (1:39)

25 - Halloween Is Black as Night - Jackson C Frank - 1965  (2:45)

26 - Macabre! - Eureka!- Bones on a String - Fright Break - Michael Cudahy - 2007  (3:09)

27 - Weird Busters (Ray Parker Jr vs Oingo Boingo) - Burt Reynolds - 2021  (3:02)

28 - Halloween Safety 02 - Centron Educational Films - 1977  (0:28)

29 - Happy Halloween (Intro) - Dan Blakeslee - 2003  (0:26)

  

Now, THIS is music that bears a second ring at the doorbell! 

Track 1 is a clip from an otherwise mediocre WB animated release.

Track 24 is a fun bebop version of Saint-Saëns’ “Danse Macabre.”

Track 26 comprises four cues from Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story (2007), music by Michael “The Millionaire” Cudahy.

We hope your Halloween is safe as well as silly and scary!

See you on Monday!

New Fuel from, or for, Fools

Here's an in-depth (for a newspaper) disturbing bit o' news regarding obvious monkey business with evidence in the JFK murder.

This is from the February 16, 1992 OKC Oklahoman.

Those matte elements for making fake Oswald-in-the-backyard are very suspicious.  Some trickery like what's described in the article is, IMO, surely what produced those pix.  However, what bunch of stupid ne'er-do-well spies would leave the evidence behind?  And leave it at the home of the guy they were framing?

All of us cynical types have always suspected that the "three tramps" were probably spooks, or even real bums who were paid to wander around the railroad area, so as to draw attention and resources from the actual crime, its perpetrator(s) onsite, and its cleanup.

What do YOU think, fellow truthseekers?

PS see you on Thursday for the commencement of this year's BLOG-O-WEEN!

  

Book Unreview: HEADLIGHTS by CJ Leede

I had my doubts about this book from the first few pages.  Another emotionally damaged first-person narrator, yawn!  It might be a generational thing, but I am very tired of this device.

The narrator is a war veteran who has also been an FBI agent.  He’s one day away from returning to active duty when he is sought out by a former FBI colleague and beseeched to return to a never-solved investigation.

Read the book flap.  My disbelief started there.  Reading inside, I learned that the amnesic people wandered FOR MILES before being found with that human hair tied around their tongue.

Oh, come on!  That’s so patently improbable!  Think about it, dear reader.  Haven’t YOU ever found yourself with a hair caught in your mouth?  Maybe off a brush or your hand or a towel or something?  Tell me:  are you likely to go around for hours with that thing in your mouth driving you crazy?  NO! 

Much less somebody drugged or incoherent!  The first thing they would do upon regaining control of their body would be to get that irritating thing out of their mouth!

Another thing that rings my improbability bell is the oh-so-disturbed narrator, who is described on nearly every page as having interruptions in his reality and being unable to distinguish memories from present-day life.

This person—THIS person, I say—is going to be accepted into active military duty, or allowed to pack heat for the FBI?  Even AFTER evidence of such dislocation from reality is displayed to other characters?  UHH-UHH.

I paid this book the ultimate insult of not finishing it.  I only read as far as I did because it was the only book with me at the time.

See you Monday!

   

Book Review: Colin Wilson's THE OUTSIDER

             My first encounters with Wilson the writer came about in relation to good ole Aich Pee-Ell; Wilson’s "The Return of the Lloigor" was in an anthology of Cthulhu Mythos tales.

            After that, I encountered Wilson’s three novels The Philosopher’s Stone, The Space Vampires, and The Mind Parasites.  Especially the last, these books contained impassioned explications of the notion that mankind’s will, properly focused, could achieve staggering things, thing that might be considered supernatural by the poor average human.    

     Then I came across references to a non-fiction book by Wilson.  That book was called The Outsider, and it surveyed significant people who did indeed feel or act as “outsiders” of common behavior and practice.

            In the Outsider’s eyes, common man and women live enslaved to custom.  They’re limited in their intellectual and moral visions by the blinders of accepted behavior and too-strong ties to the material world.  Often the Outsider has a sudden revelation that “other people” are wandering through life like sleepwalkers, concerned only with the having and getting of things.

            Meanwhile, the Outsider sees numinous significance in nearly everything, and is frustrated by the tedious humanity around him.

            Outsiders have been artistic types like van Gogh or Blake, or others who come to a sudden break with reality (or appear to have always been able to see things askew).  Other examples are TE Lawrence, Nijinsky, or various prophets.  As Wilson writes:

            ---- If we tried to express the prophet’s purpose in its simplest graspable form, we could say that it was a desire to shout “Wake up!” in everybody’s ear. ----

            I’ve felt that way sometimes, haven’t you?

Usually the Outsider comes to a bad end, dashing himself against the “normal” practices of society or accepted behavior.  Often she or he becomes bitter or withdrawn, even choosing self-death as an end to the struggle.

            Occasionally the Outsider finds some gratification or success, like England’s religious visionary George Fox.  But often any acceptance is limited to a few followers or fellow free-thinkers. 

            I read a physical copy through ILL (interlibrary loan). 

            The particular volume I received was a rebound copy of the first edition.  According to the library stamp, the copy was acquired in November 1956.  Look in the right-hand corner.  It’s likewise interesting that when the book was entered into the OSU (Oklahoma State University) library, the school went by the name of Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College.

            I was intrigued to come across some proofing errors.  Once “beetle” is spelled “bettle;” five times, the name Steppenwolf is spelled “Steppanwolf.”  And on a few pages here and there, the indentations around block quotations don’t return to full text width.

            If you know how picky librarians can be, you might be as bemused as I was to see the copious underlining – above is an example, seen through mostly the front half of the book.

            And for you children unfamiliar with the concept of re-binding a book, look in the middle seam of these two pages.  Those are the threads holding the pages together.

            When a book get overworn, or a cover or page comes loose, and the book otherwise has some life in it, the library sent it to a place which removed the covers, sliced the glue and/or threads from the bound pages (thereby shrinking the inner margins), and re-bound the pages with generic cloth-covered cardboard.  On the new spine were the title and author, almost in a typewriter-style lettering, usually gold in color.

Since the earliest date on this checkout slip is “only” 1993, this slip is obvious the last in a long line!

Please dive into some eruditious reading soon, fellow book-gobblers!  Then share the goods and bads with your friends!  See you Monday.

Tune In!

Here is Part 8 of the publicity packet for the Superboy TV series' second season.  The radio folder!

The folder containing the radio scripts is above.

Now that's a solemn pronouncement of heroes!  Below are scans of the two reel-to-reel tape spools included in the whole Season Two package.  If only I had a player, I would dub to MP3 for you super cats!

See you Monday.

  

Heroic Legacy

Here's a spiffy article by Jimmie Tramel of the Tulsa World, from the June 24, 2026 issue.

I sent a note to Tramel, complimenting him on the list, and he replied like a real Super Fan.  Now read this article and become a better Super Fan, too!

  

Peru-sing the Papers ...

I've always been prone to clipping odd reports. I was a Fortean long before I knew the word, or the guy it was named after!

Ever since I read a Scrooge McDuck comic-book story about the gold mines of South America, I knew why the conquistadores went wacky.

This article was clipped from the December 7, 1989 Daily Oklahoman.  Can anybody tell us if there's more to this story?

See you Thursday!

  

How Many Marriages Do Ya Need?

Those of us who grew up reading the Silver Age of DC Comics (roughly 1960-1970) knew that these were some of the ground rules of Superman's super life:

• Since he was himself invulnerable, baddies might try to inflict emotional pain by hurting Superman's friends
• Therefore, by simple proximity, Supes was endangering any female he kept time with
• These rules may be ignored at any time for the sake of a story

However, after the 1992 death and return of Superman, someone at DC decided to stop dicking us around when it came to the ole on-again, off-again romance between Supes-Clark and Lois.

Superman: The Wedding Album came out in 1996, and was mirrored at *nearly* the same time on ABC's Lois & Clark.

Of course, comic-book nerds (like me) remembered all the OTHER times that Superman had gotten hitched, or seemed to, in lots of comics stories over the years.  So, in the October 12, 2001 issue of the Comics Buyers Guide, a fine fellow named Jack Abramotitz decided to list some of them.

I am happy to report that in my case, only ONE marriage is sufficient for fulfilment and joy.

See you Monday.  Hope your quest for love takes a good turn!

  

Sharing More Favorites

From long ago and far away, here are some of my faves from mostly pop-culture closets.

MA-57 - 45s & Favorites, Disc 8:

1 - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere Neil Young with Crazy Horse (2:29) 1969

1970
2 - Let It Be Beatles/BRG/Veech (3:59)
3 - Your Song (live) Elton John (3:48)
4 - Lay Down (Candles in the Rain) Melanie (3:49)
5 - (I Know) I'm Losing You Rare Earth (3:36)
6 - Everything Is Beautiful Ray Stevens (3:33)
7 - We Can Work It Out Stevie Wonder (3:11)
8 - Moondance Van Morrison (4:31)

1971
9 - Let Your Love Go (album version) Bread (2:22)
10 - What Is Life? George Harrison (4:15)
11 - Footstompin' Music Grand Funk Railroad (3:46)
12 - Here Comes the Sun Richie Havens (3:43)

1972
13 - Immigration Man Crosby & Nash (2:57)
14 - The Sage (live) Emerson, Lake & Palmer (4:01)
15 - The Six Wives of Henry VIII (live) Rick Wakeman (6:29)

16 - Thomas The Rhymer Steeleye Span (3:12) 1974
17 - Life's Been Good Joe Walsh (8:03) 1978
18 - Juke Box Fury Rickie Lee Jones (4:12) 1990
19 - Pity Jude Beatles/BRG/SB (7:41) 2005

Don't take Track One personally.  But take Track 19 to the bank as a great mashup of two suspiciously similar songs!

***

MA-239 - 45s & Favorites, Disc 27:

01 - Be What You Is - The Flys - 1966  (2:02)

02 - Hook in Your Heart - The Shades - 1980  (2:28)

03 - Norwogian Weed - The Beatles - Sacred Cowboy - 2014  (2:06)

04 - I'm Alive - The Hollies - 1964  (2:25)

05 - Contact In Red Square - Blondie - 1978  (1:59)

06 - Creeps - Q4U - 1982  (1:49)

07 - Love in a Vacuum - 'Til Tuesday - 1985  (3:36)

08 - Run Home to Your Mama - Evie Sands - 1965  (2:31)

09 - Every Kiddie Gets A Prize (live) - Xiro - 1988  (2:27)

10 - Hey! Puppet Man - Bob Morrison - 1965  (2:27)

11 - It's So Difficult - Dislocation Dance - 1980  (2:58)

12 - Tell Me in the Sunlight - Margie Day - 1963  (1:54)

13 - Mind - Kas Product - 1990  (2:42)

14 - Grin and Bear - Screaming Sneakers - 1982  (4:37)

15 - Magnetic Heart - VS. - 1980  (2:16)

16 - It Was a Happening - Unknown Detroit Artist - 1966  (2:05)

17 - Too Much to Take - Stark Raving - 1987  (3:40)

18 - No One Listens - Legal Weapon - 1981  (2:49)

19 - Allergy - The Petticoats - 1997  (2:18)

20 - (Drowning Out the) Big Jets - Action Pact - 1983  (2:01)

21 - It's a Groovy World! - The Unifics - 1968  (3:20)

22 - I Hate Myself for Loving You - Joan Jett - 2014  (4:10)

23 - (Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All - The Fifth Dimension - 1972  (3:12)

24 - Can't Take It - Barb Wire and the Fences - 1982  (2:28)

25 - Maybe Tomorrow - Angel Pavement - 1969  (4:07)

26 - Wrong Yo Yo - Carl Perkins - 1957  (2:35)

27 - Keep Your Hands Off My Baby - Gore Gore Girls - 2002  (3:02)

You can't beat the advice of Track One!  Track 12 is a song which references another classic, "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?"  Track 25 is notable in that it's a cover of a Badfinger song, but its intro is straight of a Chicao cover band's version of "25 or 6 to 4"!  And keep your hands off my baby, she's not your yo-yo.  See you Thursday! 

 

Exporting Eighties Erosion

 Two comps of musical glory and oddities.

MA-93 - It Exported from the 1980s:

01 - Start from the Start - Nervus Rex   1980  (3:01)

02 - Pretty Boys - Jimmy and the Boys   1981  (2:44)

03 - Wings Over America - David Reilly   1982  (3:59)

04 - Neighborhood Kids - The Lads   1983  (3:32)

05 - The Raft - Pink Industry   1983  (1:36)

06 - Get My Message - Shoes   1984  (3:41)

07 - The Gang on Fortune Hill - The Nobodys   1984  (4:02)

08 - Eldorado - March Violets   1985  (4:14)

09 - Too Hot to Stop - Benjamin Orr   1986  (4:14)

10 - Ghosts Can´t Run Away - Foreign Affair   1989  (4:04)

11 - (Don't Talk to Me) I'm Shy - The Passions   1981  (2:16)

12 - Drowning in Berlin - Mobiles   1981  (3:26)

13 - Play This Song (on the Radio) - Sorrows   1981  (2:54)

14 - The Late Mistake - Comateens   1983  (2:30)

15 - What's There Left - Nine Circles   1982  (5:19)

16 - Black Mirror - Get Smart!   1984  (2:15)

17 - She Went Pop - Iam Siam   1984  (4:45)

18 - Innocent, Not Guilty - Garland Jeffries   1980  (2:14)

19 - Jukebox (Don't Put Another Dime) - The Flirts   1982  (3:39)

20 - Boys Will Be Boys - One to One   1985  (3:27)

21 - Lies to Live By - The Del-Byzantines   1982  (3:59)

22 - Memory Lane - The Sinceros   1981  (2:47)

If you start from the start, you'll get my message, and hope it's not lies to live by!

***

MA-124 - It Eroded the 1980s:

01 - Catch a New Wave - The Metropolitans   1986   (3:59)

02 - Boys Can Cry - Catholic Girls   1982   (2:43)

03 - Mad Heat - The Popular Sex   1984   (3:22)

04 - Paralyze - Drama   1985   (3:41)

05 - The Serpent - Fantasia   1989   (3:16)

06 - First to Know - Doubledare   1986   (3:25)

07 - E102 - BMX Bandits   1986   (3:41)

08 - Cubismo - Data   1985   (3:47)

09 - Lies - Frame by Frame   1985   (4:04)

10 - Pretty Day - Mary Möör   1982   (2:58)

11 - I'm a User - Donnie Iris   1983   (2:27)

12 - Nobody Told Me - The Monitors   1981   (3:36)

13 - Been Teen - Dolly Mixture   1981   (2:25)

14 - Practical Girl - The Clique   1983   (3:09)

15 - City of Fame - Hillary Laddin   1980   (2:19)

16 - Johnny Quest - Pack Nine   1982   (2:54)

17 - Not Goin to Work - Boy Girl   1986   (3:00)

18 - Television Satellite (extended version) - Sophie & Peter Johnston   1987   (3:45)

19 - Waiting for Tomorrow - Shadowboys   1983   (3:34)

20 - Living in a Movie World - In Fear of Roses   1988   (2:17)

21 - Power of TV - Sandglow Marinas   1982   (3:22)

22 - Running Past - Strike   1980   (3:05)

23 - Keep Going - Fou Gorki   1984   (3:38)

24 - On Your Video - TV Smith   1983   (3:07)

If only it were this easy to catch a new wave!  Don't worry, it will keep going on your video!

See you Monday for the last installment in this catching-up month of comps!