Estrus: Shovelin’ the Shit Since ’87

Boy, was I excited when I first heard the news of this new Kickstarter campaign! A new book from Korero Press featuring the complete history of infamous independent garage-rock record label, Estrus Records!

From the Kickstarter campaign page:

Dweebs, punkers and shitheads rejoice! Estrus: Shovelin’ the Shit Since ’87 gives you the sights, sounds, stories...and shit...behind the iconic independent record label Estrus Records. The book—a roughly 9" x 12" cinder block of a publication—chronicles label founder Dave Crider’s journey from small-town hobbyist to regarded move-and-shaker in the DIY/punk/garage rock circuit.

Not only will Shovelin’ include the matchless imagery that accompanied Estrus releases by artists like Art Chantry, Frank Kozik, Darren Merinuk, Alex Wald, and (Chris) COOP, but it contains stories and other words of wisdom from members of The Mummies, Man or Astroman?, The Makers, The Mono Men — plus other bands that don’t start with the letter “M” like Fireballs of Freedom, The Nomads, Cheater Slicks, The Drags, Sugar Shack, Guitar Wolf, The Trashwomen, Gas Huffer,  The Oblivians, Prisonshake, The Von Zippers, Lord High Fixers, Phantom Surfers, The Quadrajets, The Statics, Estrella 20/20, Gasoline, Jackie & the Cedrics, The Fall-Outs, and more…

- X -

I'm backing this one 100% simply for the absolutely incredible work from one of my favorite graphic designers, Art Chantry. An endless flow of amazing work him and a host of other well-known artists that created now-iconic work for the label...

Ah, heck. The label put pout some REALLY awesome music, too!

And apparently I'm not the only one excited for this new book release, because in about 2 hours the ENTIRE project was fully funded! Nice work! But I still kicked in to grab a copy of this one, because it's a mandatory addition to my library.

Give the Kickstarter page a visit to get in on this one. It's open until April 20th and it's already fulled funded, so it's a done deal!

  

How To Operate A Financially Successful Haunted House

So this one was making the rounds the other day, and it's soooo good I wanted to share it here!

Back in the early 80's, Philip Morris (of Morris Costumes fame) and Dennis Phillips wrote an instructional how-to on creating your own haunted house, called How To Operate A Financially Successful Haunted House, that quickly became the industry standard. Choc full of incredible clip art illustrations, savvy promotion tricks, and the latest and greatest special effects and makeup how-tos, the manual quickly went through multiple represses to meet demand in an exploding haunted house industry.

And while I don't yet have an early copy in my collection, Flashbak did us all a favor and posted a ton of the pages from the manual on their site. So much wonderful Halloween and haunted house nostalgia on each page! And even though many of the ideas are no longer relevant in this day and age, I could still sit back and peruse those glorious pages for hours. It really takes you back to that incredible era of haunted houses where literally anything went. Regulations? We don't need no stinking regulations!

Do yourself a favor and check out the truly awesome collection of pages Flashbak posted up. And grab a few of those insanely awesome clipart pages! I'm definitely going to work up something fun with those!!

Enjoy!

  

"Nightmares Of Halloween Past" By Gary Baseman

I recently grabbed a copy of artist Gary Baseman's new book, Nightmares of Halloween Past. And what an incredible book it is!

288 pages cataloging Baseman's extensive collection of vintage Halloween photography, which serves as the inspiration for many of his paintings also showcased...

All photos courtesy of Gary Baseman and Two Fauns.

Since the book has shown up at my door, I have spent quite a bit of time perusing its contents. So many wonderfully old, creepy, and nostalgic vintage Halloween photos alongside Baseman's now-iconic character style paintings. And the background stories give great insight into both the artist and his works.

I grabbed this book on a bit of a whim, but I am SO glad I did. It really straddles the line of being both an artist's book, and a nostalgic Halloween book. And if you're into either (or both, like me), I highly recommend adding it to your collection!

It is now sold out at Gary Baseman's site, but a few copies remain over at Two Fauns. Get on it!!

And if you're really into Baseman's Halloween-inspired art, he's currently offering a really cool, limited edition print of The Bad Luck 13 Monster Gang, a painting featured in the book. Available here.

Only 20 days until Halloween, monsters! I hope you're ready!!

  

A Late Halloween Gift Becomes An Early Christmas Present

It all began with a ghost-story contest, a parlour-game, a serious young woman of eighteen years old who had run away with her boyfriend, and some very stimulating company—and a thunderstorm which kept them indoors...


Around the time of Thanksgiving, my wife and son presented me with a box. They said that it was originally supposed to be a surprise Halloween gift, but that it had only just arrived today.

Puzzled, I opened it. Inside was a face that I instantly recognized!

Frankenstein: The First Two Hundred Years by Christopher Frayling was hot off the Reel Art Press presses and delivered straight to my door. I was totally surprised, as I didn't even know about this new book! Over 200 stunningly beautiful pages detailing everything Frankenstein, from the original New Year's Day release of Mary Shelley's iconic 1818 novel (and its many interpretations), to Karloff's iconic Universal film monster portrayal, through the fascinating, wider metaphorical use of the storyline, and up to the firm hold of all things Frankenstein in modern day pop culture.

I haven't had a chance to fully dive into this monster yet (see what I did there??), but I can't wait to take it all in. I didn't realize that Shelley's Frankenstein story will turn 200 this January 1st. What a great time to celebrate my favorite horror character!

A huge thank you to my family for this gorgeous late Halloween/early Christmas gift! This is going to the top of my reading list immediately after the holidays.

Frankenstein: The First Two Hundred Years is available now at Reel Art Press and Amazon.com.

Hand Carved Krampus Masks by Miguel Walch

Every winter I see stunningly beautiful, hand carved wooden Krampus masks from artists in and around Austria. And every winter I think that I need to save up a bunch of money and have a custom, one-of-a-kind hand carved mask created especially for me. Some day, I suppose.

This year, I discovered the amazing work of Austrian artist, Miguel Walch. His ability to take a hunk of wood and create a vibrant and hideous, lifelike creature completely blew me away. His final Krampus masks would fit in perfectly at any European Krampuslauf or displayed prominently on any art gallery wall...

All photos courtesy of miguelwalch.com

And while I don't have the funds available to get my own custom Krampus mask yet, I will seek out his gorgeously designed book. It's all in German, but the stunning photography and the beautiful graphic design still make this one a no-brainer for my personal library.

All photos courtesy of miguelwalch.com

Thanks, Santa!

Christmas is over for another year, but Santa made his annual stop to the Cemetery and dropped off a slew of great presents for the Highbury crew. Apparently my name made the "good" list this year, even with all of the naughty things I have done...

Here's a few things that made it under my tree this year:



The Classic Horror Stories by H.P. Lovecraft

Loathsomeness waits and dreams in the deep, and decay spreads over the tottering cities of men. A time will come - but I must not and cannot think! 

The Call of Cthulhu, The Dunwich Horror, At the Mountains of Madness and more! Over 400 pages of Lovecraft's densely descriptive Victorian-styled short stories. I've already started with The Horror at Red Hook and can't wait to find the next free minute to curl up and dive in again!



Horror Classics Anniversary Edition DVD Box Set 

Get an instant library of some of the greatest horror classics ever to come out of Hollywood on twelve double-sided DVDs. Never has such a comprehensive collection of great classic horror films been assembled in one exciting package, all for an amazingly low price!

FIFTY MOVIES!!! TWELVE DISCS!!! Need I go through some of the titles contained in this set? Atom Age Vampire, The Bat, Bloodlust, The Brain That Wouldn't Die, Carnival of Souls, The Corpse Vanishes, Dementia 13, King of the Zombies, The Monster Walks, Night of the Living Dead, Revolt of the Zombies, The Screaming Skull, The Terror, White Zombie and more and more and more! Horror classics mixed in with B-movie schlock will give me hours and hours of viewing pleasure.



Hot Wire Foam Factory Crafters Deluxe 3-In-1 Kit

Get creative!! The Sculpting Tool is our most popular and versatile tool for freehand sculpting, carving and scroll cutting. Making realistic hills and mountains has never been easier. Cuts foam like a hot knife through butter. 

Plunge, Slice and Dice!! The Hot Knife is the foam cutting tool the world has been asking for. A combo hand held scroll saw and power drill that cuts foam with fast, clean surgical precision.

It's all in the details!! The Engraving Tool is perfect for engraving bricks, blocks, stones, words, and other shapes for detailed looking walls, abutments, portals, slats, cobblestone roads, signs and more.

Hills and Mountains? More like tombstones and mausoleums!! I can't wait to fire these tools up and start carving some Halloween foam prop goodness. With these tools, my tombstones are sure to have an all-new level of detail. 

All in all, a pretty good Christmas. Thanks, Santa!!!!!

 

Dennison's Bogie Book for Halloween (1920)

Welcome, 2012!

Happy New Year! Okay group, after a few weeks' hiatus, we have returned! We staggered through the holidays and now we're ready to hit the ground running and get our plans for 2012 underway. And this year, we're going even bigger!

So to start, I'm really excited because the mailman finally delivered the goods:

Today I unwrapped my brand new copy of The Empire of Death: A Cultural History of Ossuaries and Charnel Houses, by Paul Koudounaris. (To see some of the photos from this amazing book, head over to my wonderfully witty Dear Santa post). Apparently Santa got my list too late, so I had to order it myself...

Anyway, this book is absolutely incredible. Beautiful pictures throughout, and with each page I flipped came a new idea for this year's home haunt (which by my count, is down to only 292 days!). I can't wait to sit down and carefully read all of the information contained within. I was pleasantly surprised by the size, fit and finish of this book. It is the new crown jewel in my small collection. This is the perfect photo reference for all of my upcoming "corpsifications"...

Also, for anyone in the Northeast Ohio area (and beyond), the word has gone out that the Northern Ohio Haunters group will be getting together for their first Make & Take of the year. And this one is going to be special. Be sure to clear your calendar on Saturday, February 4, because the first M&T of 2012 is going to be held at Forsaken Haunted House in Mentor, Ohio. Sweet! I can't wait to get a behind-the-scenes tour of a pro haunt. I will be taking copious notes and photos and will report back as soon as I can. The wheels are really starting to turn for Halloween, 2012!!

Moving right along, Scrapes and I have both been monkeying around with a cool, new iPhone app called Instagram. We've taken some of our old photos and imported them into this program, complete with different photo exposure textures and borders. Tons of users posting up tons of beautiful photos. I'm there representing the home haunters!!

And finally, I can't close this post without realizing the date on today's calendar. So for all of you horror fans, I present the single greatest scene from any of the Friday The 13th film franchise...

Dear Santa...

7 more days until Christmas, and I've finally figured out what I want from you. If you check your lists, you will most assuredly find me on the "Nice" list this year, as I tried not to terrify too many children this year at the Cemetery, I obeyed my parents and I always ate my vegetables. So if you could find it in your jolly heart, I only want one thing under my tree this year...

I REALLY want the book, Empire of Death: A Cultural History of Ossuaries and Charnel Houses, by Paul Koudounaris.

Thank you, Santa!

Love, Highbury

From Amazon.com:

From bone fetishism in the ancient world to painted skulls in Austria and Bavaria: an unusual and compelling work of cultural history.

It is sometimes said that death is the last taboo, but it was not always so. For centuries, religious establishments constructed decorated ossuaries and charnel houses that stand as masterpieces of art created from human bone. These unique structures have been pushed into the footnotes of history; they were part of a dialogue with death that is now silent.

The sites in this specially photographed and brilliantly original study range from the Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Palermo, where the living would visit mummified or skeletal remains and lovingly dress them; to the Paris catacombs; to fantastic bone-encrusted creations in Austria, Cambodia, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Italy, Peru, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, and elsewhere.

Paul Koudounaris photographed more than seventy sites for this book. He analyzes the role of these remarkable memorials within the cultures that created them, as well as the mythology and folklore that developed around them, and skillfully traces a remarkable human endeavor. 290 photographs, 260 in color.


I could think of no greater gift to a Halloween haunter like myself than a book such as this, just chock full of incredible information and absolutely beautiful photography. This would be a centerpiece of reference material sure to take Highbury Cemetery to the next level in 2012.

As an added bonus, you too can see the incredible collection of photographs at the book's accompanying website, Empire de la Mort. I visit this site regularly, perusing the beautiful photography and each time my mind races, planning to replicate every shot in next year's home haunt. All photos below are from Empire de la Mort. Do yourself a big favor and take a few minutes to check it out.