Your Mind May Have a Parasite

Scary Books, Kiddies!

The Mind Parasites.  By Colin Wilson.  Bantam, 1968.  First published by Arkham House, 1967.

           This harrowing romp is a novel on Lovecraftian themes, but told in a sci-fi vocabulary.  You see—according to this tale—when ol’ Aich-Pee Ell talked about entities “from beyond” who wanted to control Man, he was right.  But those critters are noncorporeal minds which override the consciousnesses of most humans.

            Only narrator and some few others come to realize the age-old domination and take strides to combat it.

            Of course, Colin Wilson being who he is/was, that conflict takes place in the mind of a hero who finds the strength of will to wrest control from those nigh-immortal baddies.

            In the olden days of SF there was a short story in which an astronaut, the first to travel to another planet, is shocked when suddenly his mind is FREE of a hitherto unknown mind vampire, which cannot exist past a certain distance from Earth.  The astronaut is amazed to discover that he has scads more brainpower.  He easily reaches heights of philosophical and moral insight never before attained by Man.  He is astonished to realize this is Man’s normal mental state—except for those evil mental piggybackers in control of Earth.  He makes plans on how to release all of humanity from the scourge.  Then his spaceship gets close to the new planet—and he is immediately reoccupied by those mind-controlling critters.

            I sure wish I could remember that tale and its author’s name!  Anyway ...

            In Wilson’s tale, only those who have the power of the mind (say that with a German accent) have the right to survive!

            Do you have what it takes?  Look inside and see!  Power!  Power!  POWER!!!

            See you right back here on Monday, October 31, for the culmination of this year's BLOG-O-WEEN:  a second new music comp!

  

The Hour of Ghosts

As I settle in, this week before Halloween, to reread Ray Bradbury's magical Something Wicked This Way Comes for the 30th time, I want to share a little Bradburian snippet from the December 1969 issue of Playboy.

Is such a future charming or disappointing?  Will people exile themselves in private experiences and forsake community, until driven by hunger to re-aggregate?

TOO LATE!

  

See you on Friday.

  

Now Undead -- My First Halloween Comp!

  

This was my first attempt at piling up a graveyard-full of Halloweenish songs. It ain't been available for a while due to host issues.

The creepy concoction comprises:

1 - Alice Cooper: - Welcome to My Nightmare

2 - Sid Frank & James Dukas: - Holidays Halloween

3 - Marilyn Manson: - This Is Halloween

4 - It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown: - Rock 1

5 - Dick Dale: - Riders in the Sky

6 - Aqua: - Halloween

7 - Donald Duck 1937: - Trick or Treat

8 - Jonny Quest: - Underscore 1

9 - Sheb Wooley: - The Purple People Eater

10 - Music for Monsters: - Ghouls Glide

11 - The Who: - Boris the Spider

12 - Buddy Morrow and His Orchestra: - The Raven

13 - CD Creepies: - Frenzy #1 

14 - It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown: - Rock 2 

15 - Hap Palmer: - Have a Good Time on Halloween Night

16 - Nekromantix: - Trick or Treat

17 - Jonny Quest: - Underscore 2

18 - Stephen Lynch: - Halloween

19 - Spooky Music for Spooky Occasions: - Part One

20 - Henry Hall: - Here Comes the Boogeyman

21 - James Horner: - Something Wicked This Way Comes Main Title

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

23 - Jonny Quest: - Underscore 3

24 - Squirrel Nut Zippers: - Hell

25 - Ukulele: - Five Little Pumpkins

26 - It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown: - Rock 3

27 - Jack Marshall: - The Munsters Theme

28 - Spooky Music for Spooky Occasions: - Part Two

29 - Zombina and the Skeletones: - Nobody Likes You When You're Dead

30 - Grateful Dead & Merl Saunders: - The Twilight Zone '85 Main Title

31 - Mickey Mouse 1929: - The Haunted House

32 - Manhattan Transfer: - Twilight Zone

33 - Music for Monsters: - Skeleton Dance

34 - Space Ghost: - Main Title

35 - Bloodrock: - DOA

To visit the mind of an amateur-but-well-intended compilationist, just listen!

https://www.filefactory.com/file/2kzbylalkzyy/MA-07_-%202022.rar

See you on Wednesday to continue our last full week of BLOG-O-WEEN!
   

Woof Woof!

 Scary Books, Kiddies!

The Wolfen.  By Whitley Strieber.  Bantam Books, 1979. Copyright 1978.

This, Strieber’s first novel, made a splash.

The paperback had a die-cut front cover, and above is the inside front cover.

You tell me if the horror is inescapable or not. Like a lot of Strieber’s fiction, there’s a basic odd premise which he follows to a creepy or disgusting end.

My bookmark for this paperback is a copy of its hardback listing in Publisher’s Weekly, July 3, 1978.

If you think about this premise, it’s a sad thought to think of human-level intelligences (the title critters) locked into bloodthirsty, predatory behavior. Talk about a cursed existence! As the book ends, their secret is out.

See you on Monday, kiddies!

  

Poe Little Me

This survey of American horror master Edgar Allan Poe appeared in the September 1, 1986 issue of Amazing Heroes.

See you on Friday, fellow fright mavens, for another scary book!

Don't Wait for Midnight!

 As you can read on the CD cover, this is my 20013 Halloween comp. It was linked with an outdated host.

Brought back from the grave, here are:

1: The Uncanny Film Festival & Camp Meeting Intro Mazeppa Pompazoidi (1:34)

2: Graveyard Boogie Buster Doss & His Arkansas Playboys (2:36)

3: Theme from "Young Frankenstein" Madeira (2:44)

4: The Purple People Eater Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages (2:40)

5: Horror Movies Dickie Goodman (1:57)

6: "House of Frankenstein" Main Title Dick Jacobs & His Orchestra (3:09)

7: The Mechanical Man Bent Bolt and the Nuts (2:12)

8: Hearse On A Surfari Ding & Bat (1:49)

9: Night On Disco Mountain David Shire (5:07)

10: Frankenstein New York Dolls (5:57)

11: Evil Eye Al Saxon (2:25)

12: Hallowe'en Dance (1909) American Symphony Orchestra (2:03)

13: Halloween Siouxsie and the Banshees (3:34)

14: Weeds Above My Grave Jo Ann Stokes (2:33)

15: The Screemin' Meemies from Planet X Merv Griffin (2:57)

16: Trick or Treat Otis Redding (3:10)

17: Scope Them Turkeys Out! Natural Brass Company (featuring Dr Mazeppa Pompazoidi) (3:08)

18: Skeleton Frolics (1937) Joe DeNat (7:05)

19: Zombie Lou The Johnson Brothers (2:06)

20: The Transylvania Twist Baron Daemon and the Vampires (2:05)

21: The Night Before Halloween Bill Buchanan (2:05)

22: The Skeleton Fight Mack Allen (2:37)

23: Where Danger Lurks Ronald Hanmer (1:35)

24: Something from the Twilight Zone Barry Ray (Rich Cutcher) (2:02)

25: Nudist Colony of the Dead Joyce Mordoh (3:41)

26: It's Halloween Capsela (2:47)

27: Why Can't This Night Go on Forever (1932) Isham Jones and His Orchestra (2:58)

MA-60 - Midnight Jinx Show!

Here's the art I mutilated to produce the CD cover.

See you next time!

  

A Halloween Book!

Scary Books, Kiddies!

The Halloween Book.  By Jack Maguire. Berkley, 1992.

I bought this slim tome at the south OKC Albertson’s on December 5, 1992. It’s a typical smorgasbord of simple costume and decorating suggestions, a few recipes, and the like.

It’s almost as pasteurized as Halloween has become. Give me a few Dionysian thrills and uncertainties!

See you Monday for another music comp, fiends and goblins!
 

The Movie with Such Possibilities

The 1983 film adaptation of Ray Bradbury's stupendous chiller Something Wicked This Way Comes had so much going for it -- most notably the involvement of the maestro himself.  How, then, did such a disaster result that scenes were reshot and score composers swapped?

You may recall that the novel started out as a screenplay to star Gene Kelley, based on Bradbury's story "The Black Ferris."

Here are some previous Super Blog posts about Bradbury's novelistic masterwork:

https://markssuperblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/something-wicked-is-great-achievement_26.html

https://markssuperblog.blogspot.com/2015/10/something-wicked-this-way-comes-but-fun.html

https://markssuperblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/its-most-wonderful-time-of-year.html

https://markssuperblog.blogspot.com/2019/08/its-astounding-piece-of-americana.html

https://markssuperblog.blogspot.com/2019/08/celebrating-big-show-part-4.html

https://markssuperblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/something-wicked-this-way-comes.html

https://markssuperblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/secret-origin-of-something-wicked-this.html

But our topic today is a one-sheet for the film's video release.

How would you have fixed the film?  I would have dispensed with the whole "tornado eats the bad guys" and stuck with the freakin' REAL ENDING of the book -- less impressive to Hollywood types, but more true to the creeps which made the novel attractive in the FIRST place!

You can check out the Georges Delerue rejected score on Spock's Record Round-Up.  I for one wasn't impressed.

See you on Friday!

  

2010 Called, It Wanted Its Anthology Re-Upped

 

Yep, the 2010 Spook-Tacular was dead.  An ex-comp, if you will.  When I learned the link had died, I opened the crypt and cleaned things up a bit, just for you, my pretties!

The contents:

1    Halloween Sale       Goodwill       0:59

2    Attack Of The Fifty Foot Woman  The Tubes       4:25

3    It's a Nerdy Halloween      Herbert Midgley  2:42

4    Frankie-Stein       Robbie Robison  2:58

5    This Is Halloween          Panic! At the Disco    3:27

6    I Only Have Eyes for You      Spike Jones 3:26

7 Horray For Horrorwood Frankenstein Drag Queens 2:18

8 It's Halloween Greg Conley 3:07

9 Zombie Dance The Cramps 1:51

10 Mummy Beach Hot Lava 2:59

11 Love Song For A Vampire Annie Lennox 4:12

12 Creature with the Atom Brain JezusFactory 2:40

13 Saturday Evening Ghost Frankie Stein and His Ghouls 2:01

14 Halloween Song Evangelicals 2:15

15 Mummy Walk Contrails 2:36

16 Main Theme Dracula Twins 1:32

17 Vincent Price Zombina & the Skeletones2:19

18 Monster Mash Misfits 2:34

19 Kids Halloween 10/30/2008 ASK U 1:14

20 Halloween Linda Book 2:52

21 Feed My Frankenstein    Alice Cooper 4:40

22 Dead Man's Curve Jan & Dean 2:25

23 Creature from Outer Space Big EyedBeans from Venus 3:05

24 Bo Meets the Monster   Bo Diddley 3:03

25 TV  Theme Gigantor 0:52

26 Frankenstein Stomp Count Lorry & The Biters 2:01

27 The Skeleton In The Closet Louis Armstrong    3:08

28 Frankenstein Twist The Crystals 2:53

29 Frankenstein Meets The Beetles     Jekyll & Hyde 1:51

... And while it's a mixed bag, it's still ALIVE!

As I told you in 2013, the last time this thing escaped into the light, "In the tradition of old spook shows, you are hereby dared to sit still the whole performance through!  Can your heart take the thrill! as monsters emerge from the speakers, REAL and ALIVE! we're not sure what happens when Frankie Stein meets the Creature with the Atom Brain, but -- WOW!"

Now you can discover for yourself!  It's ... 

https://www.filefactory.com/file/1uqvfutz65x6/MA-10_2022.rar

See you Wednesday!

  

A Scary Look Behind Aich-Pee-Ell

Scary Books, Kiddies!

 

Lovecraft:  A Look Behind the “Cthulhu Mythos.”  By Lin Carter.  Ballantine, 1972.  Cover art by Gervasio Gallardo.

            When I came across this paperback in 1976 or so, I felt vindicated.  Here at last was proof that ol’ Aich-Pee Ell was worthy of my fascination!  There was a real book written about him!     

            The chapter titles, intentionally Lovecraftian, are:

1.      The Visitor from Outside
2.      Intimations of R’lyeh
3.      The Thing on the Newsstand
4.      The Horrors of Red Hook
5.      The Coming of Cthulhu
6.      Acolytes of the Black Circle
7.      The Gathering of the Shadows
8.      The Spawn of the Old Ones
9.      The Elder Gods
10.  Invaders from Yesterday
11.  The Last Incantation
12.  Beyond the Tomb
13.  The House in the Pines
14.  End of an Epoch
15.  The Last Disciple

            It’s a fun romp through the rising fandom of HPL’s dense, off-putting writing, vocabulary, and personality.

            I first discovered HPL through the blessed Bartlesville (OK) Public Library, then was fortunate enough to find some of Ballantine's reprints at Bartlesville Bookland (which establishment you can also blame my acquaintance with National Lampoon).

See you next time, kiddies!

  

Color Herman Munster!

I dare ya!

Or the house ...

Of course, these are from the 1964 coloring book ...

See ya!  Sorry to be late!

  

A Comp Every Monday for BLOG-O-WEEN!

 Yep, all this month we're going to post new Halloween comps, and re-post a couple whose links have gone dead. Going dead ... what a concept for Halloween!

Here's a new comp to get us started.  And here's the goods:

01 - Born on Halloween - Blue Magic - 1975  (3:14)

02 - Millie the Ghoul - The Ticklers - 1965  (3:03)

03 - Lost in the Cave of Flying Dogs - Chemicals Made from Dirt - 1982  (3:47)

04 - The House Is Haunted - The Chenille Sisters - 1992  (5:16)

05 - Dr Geek (From Tanganyika) - Thurl Ravenscroft with the Jeff Alexander Quartet - 1956  (2:38)

06 - Sorcerella - Jefferson Lee - 1969  (2:21)

07 - Dangerous Kitchen - Nerves - 1981  (3:27)

08 - Night of the Demons - 45 Grave - 2012  (3:41)

09 - Gussie the Goblin - Tex Fletcher - 1965  (2:24)

10 - Beware of the 4-D Witch - Joe Bisco - 1973  (2:47)

11 - Queen of Halloween - Billy Snel - 1958  (2:39)

12 - Release the Bats - The Birthday Party - 1980  (2:33)

13 - Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead - Glenn Miller and His Orchestra v Marion Hutton - 1939  (2:32)

14 - My Bloody Valentine - Rosekill - 2003  (3:08)

15 - Living in a Haunted House - Orange Cardigan - 1981  (4:05)

16 - Witches Brew - Janie Jones - 1965  (2:19)

17 - I Love It - The Warm Jets - 1978  (3:10)

18 - Black Cat - Brian Auger & the Trinity - 1967  (3:13)

19 - Witches - Secret Life - 1984  (3:31)

20 - Regenerate My Dead Pet - The Zombie Dandies - 2016  (3:12)

21 - One Eyed Witch - The 7th Court - 1967  (2:22)

22 - Experiment - Drats!!! - 2007  (3:49)

23 - Happy Halloween - Marc Strommer - 2001  (2:23)

24 - Spider Pasture Now - Puke Spit & Guts - 1980  (2:39)

25 - The Sea Witch - Johnny Jay Colonna - 1959  (2:05)

26 - It's Fun to Be Scared - Jem and the Holograms - 1987  (1:07)

https://www.filefactory.com/file/cyqp7gbjcsm/MA-161.rar

Come back on Wednesday for more spook-a-licious excitement!

  

WELCOME TO BLOG-O-WEEN 2022!

Be here every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for spooky or fun things with a Halloween tilt!

Here's one of my costumes from around 1964.  The mask is gone, but its memories linger ... just like the memories of fun we'll share all of this coming!

Come back on Monday for a new Halloween-music comp, the first of a series of Halloween comps every Monday, all month!

  

See you then!

  

Were You There?

On February 20, 1983, ABC-TV presented the first broadcast of Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Above is the two-page ad in TV Guide.

Did you watch?  I was ready, sports fans, and made a video recording.  How thrilling to see the new footage!

I wasn't the only one thrilled, as evidenced by the above letter printed in the March 19, 1983 issue of TV Guide.

Don't ask me why, but I took at least one photo of the TV screen during the showing too. This is the scene when Kirk arrives at Engineering to put the whammy on Captain Decker.  Kirk is looking down over the railing to where Decker and Scott are.  Next, Kirk will hop onto the one-man elevator and lower himself so as to lower the boom.

Speaking of BOOM, this is the end of TREKKING WITH CLIPPINGS.  Sneak back here on Saturday, October 1, for the beginning of this year's BLOG-O-WEEN!  With new posts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the whole freakin' month!

Be there or BE SCARED!

  

Star Trek Makes You Smarter

We already knew that!

But now we have the National Enquirer to back us up!  (That's the December 14, 1993 issue.)

Of course, you could argue that any pastime which stimulates the ol' noggin can make you a better cogitator.  By those standards, friends, you guys are PURE GENIUS!

See you Thursday with more brain boosting!

  

STAR TREK V -- Directing and a BROTHER Brother?

 

The above two images are from the June 9, 1991 Oklahoman.

... And so are these!  All from the same ish, flailing about to get people to see the new STAR TREK movie.  It was sure to be a hit after the upwards trajectories of films number two, three, and four, right?

RIGHT?

See you Monday for our last week of this year's TREKKING WITH CLIPPINGS!

  

Two Articles on STTMP

They're both from the January 6, 1980 Tulsa World.  As we know to our disgust, Jerry Goldsmith's magnificent score did not win the Oscar as best.

And how about this former Tulsan getting the opportunity of a fannish lifetime?  All I can pass on to you is that the "Kendra Ryan?" I found at IMDB is probably NOT her.  Can any of you fine Trekky friends enlighten me?

 See you Thursday!

  

A Bedtime First

This December 1989 clipping from the Tulsa World's supplement TV News elucidates a "first" which isn't that big a deal.

The "first" was just a hook to hang a puff piece about Sirtis on.  Not that there's anything wrong with her puffy pieces ...

See you Monday!

  

When TV Guide Was Semi-Relevant

Here are the pertinent (that is, Trekkian) pages from the July 24, 1993 TV Guide:

And to round off the post, the above image is the readers' letters from the issue two weeks later.

See you on Thursday, Trekkors and Trekkettes!