Halloween – Life in a Minor Key

October 31: Oingo Boingo ~ It’s a Dead Man’s Party

Published by Betsy R. Marks on October 31, 2013

Oh, but it’s so much more than just Oingo Boingo or Dead Man’s Party.

Danny Elfman’s work as composer helped make Nightmare Before Christmas the spectacular artistic effort it is. Combined with Corpse Bride, you have a mash-up of simply epic proportions.

Not the video you remember from the ’80s? There’s a reason. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I love it when Elfman mugs for the camera, but the cuts between the movie Back to School (dreadful full-on ’80s teen angst flick) and Oingo Boingo in concert with animated Day of the Dead figures, makes for a much less cohesive video overall.

Happy Halloween to those who celebrate.

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October 30: Halloween Light Show 2011 ~ This Is Halloween

Published by Betsy R. Marks on October 30, 2013

Thinking of my friend Richard on his birthday. He would have been 53 this year, IIRC, Pumpkin pie for a birthday cake. He never quite forgave his mom for being a day early.

Seems appropriate to celebrate Halloween eve with this particular video. I’ve got pumpkin carving on the schedule this evening. Over the top Halloween decorations are part of the fun.

One more day…

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October 29: The Charlie Daniels Band ~ The Devil Went Down to Georgia (live) AND The Devil Comes Back to Georgia

Published by Betsy R. Marks on October 29, 2013

In 1979, when this song originally hit the radio, it was a major crossover hit, but more importantly, it was the soundtrack to my summer out west in 1979 and 1980. By then we’d settled down to a summer house just outside Garden City, Utah, with a fabulous (three and a half-mile distant) view of scenic Bear Lake, which straddles the state line between Utah and Idaho and is so close to Wyoming you can see it from the deck.

It was impossible to turn on a radio station (full service – Country AND Western – or Classic Rock) and not hear this song eventually.

Lyrics junkie that I am, I had the whole song memorized before the end of summer.

I’m not a Country music fan by general nature, but when it’s thrust upon me, as it was back then, some stuff just catches my attention. I will never know if it was the white hot sound of Daniels’ fiddle playing or the patter style of the song, but it hardly matters. How else do you beat the devil?

Two days and counting…

But wait. There’s more!

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October 28: Zbigniew Zbig Rybczynski,The Orchestra, Funeral march

Published by Betsy R. Marks on October 28, 2013

There’s a story behind this clip.

At some point (and by this I mean *years ago*) I caught a brief clip on the Classic Arts Showcase, If you’ve never encountered it in channel cruising on Cable, you might not have a frame of reference, but for me, often dealing with insomnia, being able to tune in for random clips of ballet, classical music, ancient theatrical films – think Shakespeare – and more, it’s awesome.

One night, I caught the majority of this piece, which (it turns out) was part of a larger whole, called The Orchestra. And then it took me forever to find out who made the film so I could watch it again, because a random chance encounter on CAS rarely produces a second viewing of the same clip.

I knew of the director (Zbigniew Rybczyński) from short films like Tango and music videos for The Alan Parsons Project, Pet Shop Boys, Art of Noise and more, but had never seen this clip before.

Enter YouTube and IMDB.

YouTube had the full clip at one point, but it’s gone. The fragment below is all I can find at the moment. That said, there’s now a copy of the Making Of, which is at least as cool as the original full length version of the Funeral March.

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October 27: Dumb Ways to Die (times four)

Published by Betsy R. Marks on October 27, 2013

It’s not my fault.

Really.

It started innocently enough, when a young friend of mine suggested I *had* to watch this awesome clip. Yes, yes, I know. That’s how it always starts.

First one’s free and all that.

Obviously, it had to go with the Halloween Count-down, but when I went to find the link to add to my list, curse YouTube for including all those “related video” suggestions, because I would never have found the others. Well, except for the last, because the same young friend pointed it out to me as awesome. And you know what? It is!

Besides, now that you’ve got the earworm, you know where to go to get rid of it again.

You’re welcome. It was nothing. Really.

Heh.

And because it *is* all about movies, after all…

Or maybe Minecraft…

And this is the one said young friend thought was so very awesome. Frankly, I agree.

Four more days left…

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October 26: Boris and Bobby do the Monster Mash

Published by Betsy R. Marks on October 26, 2013

It’s no wonder I’ve always had a fondness for this single by Bobby “Boris” Pickett. It arrived on this planet 15 months before I did. I’ve never known a world without Monster Mash. Picket’s impeccable imitation of Boris Karloff makes this campy hit a perennial favorite.

The tune was far and away the most popular Halloween soundtrack for my childhood handily beating I Know An Old Woman and The Cat Came Back. Even the Purple People Eater can’t compete.

Sometime next year, as I continue to add to this archive blog, I’ll get to those other tunes of my early years, but for now let’s just enjoy this super, lipsync’d, earworm-worthy track.

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October 25: The Muppets ~ Cårven Der Pümpkîn

Published by Betsy R. Marks on October 25, 2013

One more Muppet clip, because I can. Besides…Who can resist the Swedish Chef? Really?

Pumpkin carving – another annual ritual abused horribly by the Chef.

The Muppet Studios clips – almost all of them designed to help pump up Muppet popularity in advance of The Muppets (2011) – resulted in some selections of sheer genius. Also hugely popular viral videos.

We’re counting down the days to Halloween. One more week to go (a mere six days left).