A September Night at the Phantom Concert Hall

We're kicking off the fall season, and thumbing our nose at the dreary, rainy weather, by heading out to the concert hall again. Tonight's performance...Rheinberger's roiling, romantic piano concerto!



Isn't it great? One of those lovely pieces that flies under the radar. I love finding these obscure little gems.

Sorry to be late with this and not posting for a while. My elderly mother took a fall and broke both her shoulder and hip, and my sister and her husband have moved cross-country to Seattle. I had to be on hand when Mom underwent surgery and helping arrange for assistance while she's in a rehab facility. And then Mom decided she couldn't take care of her cat any longer so she had him surrendered to a local shelter, which upset me quite a bit as he's 10 years old and shelters have problems adopting out older cats. And I haven't talked about this on the blog, but over the summer I was hit by an unexpected depression and I went into therapy. I'm slowly coming out of it but it's taking a while, as it usually does.

So, the past couple months have been difficult, to say the least, and while I slowly get my groove back, bit by bit,I hope to get back to regular posting.

Looking Back on October

Whew. October was a busy month.

Aside from my work going wild (which I'm not going to talk about, really can't talk about, except our operations are expanding and we'll be changing our name in a few months as we've outgrown the old), I was getting into a lot more than usual. One of the good things about living in the Baltimore suburbs as opposed to the DC suburbs is that my money goes much farther.

My friends at the Yellow Sign Theatre in Baltimore's trendy artsy Station North neighborhood (where I once considered moving) ran an innovatively-staged film series. For three weeks, a different film was featured each week, and each film was hosted by a different "horror host". What made it even better was that the theater was done up as a basement rec room, with a "slacker teen" host who had to deal with interruptions from his mother ("Oh, I just thought your friends might want a snack,") and a grouchy, overbearing father who appeared only as a silhouette. It was a blast going to that and I hope they do it again. The films were Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things, The Ape Man (with Bela Lugosi), and the sleazoid classic Bloody Pit of Horror. There were also commercial breaks (usually vintage) and a great sensation of being over at a friend's place, watching TV.

One evening I impulsively went to Bennett's Curse, a huge and elaborate haunted house in Jessup, MD. I was deeply impressed; it was the biggest and most technically professional haunted attraction I'd ever seen. There were large animatronic figures that must have been expensive, as well as a section of the attraction done in 3-D paints (patrons were given glasses). It took quite a while to go through, and sometimes was pitch dark and you had to feel your way. It was a real adventure and next year I want to get a group together and go. It's expensive as these things go ($30 basic admission) but was worth every penny.

The HallowRead conference was an interesting experience. It's currently a one-day event, a sort of micro-con, in a community center in Ellicott City, MD, just down the road from me. The focus is on "steampunk, horror, paranormal and urban fantasy" although I was bemused to notice that the romance end of these genres was heavily represented. There was a steampunk tea that I managed to miss (it required separate admission) but I will be sure to attend next time. There were panel discussions and some socializing, and a small dealer's room that was primarily a chance for the authors to sell their own works. I bought a Baltimore-set paranormal novel, and had a zesty conversation with the author about finding a moral compass when you're a nonbeliever, and a couple of gay romance novels which I found out is actually a thriving genre for female readers. I also met and connected with a charming lady who turned out to be the wife of a Facebook friend, whom I'd never met, so that was a charming coincidence. So in the end, it wasn't a literary Monster-Mania but it was enjoyable, and with potential to expand into a full-weekend convention, and I hope it does.

My HallowRead ticket included admission to two events that evening that I decided to attend, which I think nobody else did. One was the "Haunted Ruins" of the Patapsco Female Institute. Check the link for the story behind the site; it's a ruined girl's school on a hill overlooking the town. It was a typical amateur haunted house in some aspects, but was given a punch of eerieness by taking place in actual ruins and using the actual folklore.

The other event...oy. It was an opportunity to sit in on an actual "ghost hunt" at the Ellicott City Historical Society by serious "paranormal investigators." Now, I'm a skeptic about such things, but I thought, what the hey, it would good to see this sort of thing in person and firsthand. I wondered if they would be cynical charlatans but no, they were sincere believers, although perhaps a bit off in the wooniverse. The most down-to-earth member of the group was their resident Wiccan, who was very sensible about a lot of things, dismissing "orb" photos as mostly being dust, moisture, or insects. One spot for investigation was a place in the basement, where several people claimed to have felt nauseated near some broken tombstones. Several said they felt queasy, but I honestly said I felt nothing. (I wondered how much of the queasiness was their own built-up expectations.) They would sit down and try to communicate with the spirits using a smartphone app called "Echovox." That's right, a $20 smartphone app that lets you talk to the dead somehow. I found the notion fairly ridiculous myself.

Anyway, a long period of questioning the spirits and getting fragmentary answers followed (Echovox seems to record ambient sounds and play them back in fragmentary bits so it will sound otherworldly and you can interpret them according to your own expectations), and I went off my shift and to the upstairs. One lady and I wandered into the main museum and while there did seem to be a real cold spot in there, I realized quickly it was because the door was open. Their "EMF readers" were getting all sorts of readings there (I suspect those things function randomly, based on my own observations) and then people clustered in to investigate this new "haunting," they wondered why it was warming up so much. I stood back thinking, "Hellooo, body heat," but said nothing. Eventually, I had enough, and was horribly tired, so I excused myself and went home. still a nonbeliever.

I also attended my friend Phil's annual Cemetery Potluck, held every October in Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, DC. That is turning into the goth/steampunk/dandy event of the season, and I'm always flattered to be included and welcomed in that diverse group, although I need to step up my game with the outfits.

Halloween itself I spent in DC, thrifting and visiting a favorite tea shop and ambling about downtown, and attending a burlesque show in the evening. However, I think next year I will stay in the Baltimore area...I didn't get home until 3 am and was a wreck the next day.

This weekend I have nothing planned, and am content to limit my travels to the gym, library, and grocery store. There are times I lament my ongoing singlehood but tonight I'm actually grateful to be alone. A weekend home alone with the TV and my books is welcome after all the running around I did in October.

To close, here's a favorite tune for this time of year...

After a busy weekend

I was busy last weekend...

Monster-Mania was this weekend. I've attended this Philadelphia-area convention a few times in the past, but now they've started having a second show in  Baltimore so it's pretty much a given that I have to go.

There were a lot of neat people (like the couple above) but it was mostly a dealers and autographs event. I'm not much of an autograph person, and most of 'em charge of autographs anyway and that's money that I can spend on books and DVDs. There was a movie room as well, but not much real programming aside from that. The dealer's room was mostly collectibles, and that's also something I'm not big on; the manufactured "collector's item" stuff usually leaves me cold. (I'm a picky bastard.) But I did find some cool handcrafted things, like a boutonniere made from old playing cards and with a skull at the center that I'm going to wear to a picnic soon, and a comfy pillow made to look like Sam from the delightful Halloween anthology film Trick'r'Treat. I also got a dozen DVDs, including a few I've been unable to find for a while, like The Big Crimewave (a Canadian noir comedy) and The Unnamable and The Unnamable II. DVDs were surprisingly cheap; I wonder if the trend toward streaming is making them more affordable.

I did get to meet independent filmmaker James Balsamo, which was pretty cool. Yeah. that's me on the right.

Sunday was a small ceremony at Edgar Allan Poe's Grave.

It was organized by the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore, a group I should look into joining at some point. Yesterday was the anniversary of his death, so every year about this time they arrange a flower-laying ceremony. It was a quiet, calm observance, and everyone in attendance was invited to lay flowers if they wanted. This was followed by everyone retreating to the Poe Room of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in downtown Baltimore, where they had arranged a lecture on Poe's precarious finances.

The Poe Room is gorgeous and there's tons of rare editions in the shelves; I could while away many hours there. But anyway, the lecture basically confirmed that Poe made some bad financial choices, but was also hampered by the difficulties of earning a living writing, and also the reality of a bad economy at the time. There was some fun discussion afterward, and I got to raise the question of whether Poe was really the first to create the detective story or if it was E. T. A. Hoffmann. (My theory? Hoffmann started to piece together the elements, but Poe synthesized them better.)

I also read this oldie, after coming across references to it as one of the great gothic mystery classics. How was it? Well, badly dated in quite a few ways, but still fairly enjoyable. In WWII-era San Francisco, Hilda Moreau (whose husband is away in the Navy) goes to visit her sisters-in-law, who inhabit a crumbling Victorian house. Eldest sister Pauline controls the purse strings of the family trust, and browbeats (and sometimes blackmails) the other sisters into following her orders. Pauline ends up murdered, and a shady servant and an even shadier lady lawyer end up dead as well before things are resolved.

It's an interesting milieu; almost all characters are women, a reflection of the wartime days when almost all the men were off fighting. But every so often I had to look up some reference that I didn't get, and other aspects of the wartime life are quite alien to 21st-century readers. The resolution also seemed rushed, as if Collins was getting close to her page limit and decided to wrap things up. The solution comes almost as a mistake, rather than as the result of deduction and reason. I guess I'm too much of a fan of the Analytical school.

In personal news, I joined a gym! Yeah, in that photo above, I've got quite the gut. I went for the first time on Tuesday and just walked on a treadmill for a bit, but watch out. In another decade I'll be svelte and sexy.

April Miscellany

Some smaller bits and bobs...

• I've lately been seduced by Phryne Fisher. For whatever reason I never picked up the books, and I'd heard of the Aussie TV series, "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries" but it wasn't showing anywhere I could get to easily, but recently it's turned up on US cable TV and after watching a few episodes, I'm in love. I bought the first season of the show (there was a sale on Amazon) and read the first book, Cocaine Blues. Naturally, the show condenses the book terribly, but it's still a load of fun, especially with Essie Davis as Phryne, the penniless Australian lass turned British noble. I am a bit curious to see if they incorporate aborigines or other uniquely Australian elements, as so far, while the series is entertaining as hell, there's not a lot to differentiate it from a British show. We'll see.
  
• Yesterday, I got out to see a movie for the first time in months. 'Twas the new Hammer film, "The Quiet Ones" which I found entertaining but not as good as "The Woman in Black." Set in 1974, it concerns an experiment by a psychologist and his students, trying to "cure" a woman of psychological problems and poltergeist phenomena...only to have things quickly get out of hand. It's got some good chills, but there's an abrupt shift partway through that needed a bit more buildup than it got. Still, it's not as bad as all that, and is a decent gothic thriller, which we need more of. And for pity's sake, it's Hammer! And any new Hammer project gets my support! 
  
• I came across a 1945 edition of Emily Post's Etiquette and am enjoying reading it. There's so much that's out of date, like how to write invitiations on your visiting cards or where to put the musicians when you have a tea with dancing. But there's also some practical stuff, like how the secret of popularity is being unselfconscious, interested in everything, generous in spirit, and above all, polite. She's also disarmingly modern, even for 1945. While she does discuss debutante balls, she also makes it clear she views them as archaic. She also hails the growing equality between men and women, and derides the notion of "the Victorian lady dependent for her safety in public upon the protection of a chivalrous gentleman." Quite refreshing.
• I bought a car last month, a 2003 Toyota Camry, and so far it's functioning beautifully and I'm getting around Baltimore easily. I've spent a few days just driving around when the weather's good and going places I haven't been yet. I've decided when there's more leaves on the trees I'm going to go mad photographing some of these places, and maybe doing some sketching. I'm taken with the idea of learning watercolors. Anyway, brace yourselves for reports of future adventures. I've already spotted the obscure former mill town of Oella, an intensely picturesque and architecturally interesting place.
• I hope to have an official Facebook page for this blog set up soon; friends have said they're waiting for it. So watch out...

A Quick Personal Note

Sorry I've been dragging lately. The last few weeks have been a bit difficult, just not horribly. I fought off a sinus infection, had a quick exam by my cardiologist (no biggie, just lose some weight and get some exercise), started taking tango lessons (yes, for realz), and then took my car to the garage to diagnose a rattle and was told it needs about $900 in repairs. Ugh. So right now my car's sitting immobile in the parking lot while I build up the scratch to get it fixed. It's annoying but there's public transport galore here, and I once went six months without a car with only a few problems here and there, so a few more won't be too much of an issue. I'll definitely have it back on the road by the New Year.

In the meantime, I've been reading and listening to music and doing other things. Last night I walked into the movie MYSTERIES OF LISBON, not realizing it was nearly 5 hours long, and while it's not exactly an action-packed mystery, it is a visually impressive and lavish film that truly captures the feel and spirit of a 19th-century novel. I highly recommend it.

A small example of MYSTERIES' visual oomph.

And just throwing something out there...in the past month, the top 10 countries looking at this blog were the US, UK, Indonesia, India, Canada, Germany, Russia, Italy, France, and Poland. "Strawberry Hill," "Xeethra," and "Anthony Eglin" are the top 3 search terms that lead people here. And the top post is my review of The Castle of Otranto, which is the most popular of all time. I guess a lot of students are doing papers on it.

I also read this in the meantime. It's OK, not great. The narrator spends far too much time navel-gazing and getting caught up in her too-perfect-for-us-to-care love affair. I will give it credit for having a nifty murder method (poisoned blankets and sheets) so it wasn't a total loss. But the language was fairly clunky and I just couldn't like the narrative. These "literary thrillers" are starting to get too big for their britches.

Anyway, that's all for now. I'll try to keep it moving this month; October is big for our little community...

A Quick Note

I really turned it up last month, and it was my biggest month so far, 13 postings. (The significance of that number is not lost on me.)

I've been a bit slower this month so far. I've been distracted by a couple of things, mainly my niece's wedding. She graduated college (bachelor's degree in chemical engineering), and is about to go into the Navy (nuclear officer candidate), so in between she got married. Seemed like the thing to do.

I've also had some medical issues; an eye infection gave me a sleepless night and led to me madly scrambling around the DC area last Friday to find an ophthalmologist who was open. (Turns out to be minor and I'm much better.) Plus I'm now on cholesterol meds plus fish oil, which I was initially wary of but it turns out to be clinically proven to reduce triglycerides, so I'm going with it. And I've been trying to eat better, although I did indulge today in a food-truck sub.

I'm also taking a drawing class which just started Wednesday, so I actually have homework (five half-sheet drawings) to turn in, and I'll be working on those this weekend in between going to DC's gay pride festivities. And I'm also beginning to seriously think about what I'm going to do with my future; my office is going to be moving to Columbia MD or the BWI area at the end of next year, so I have a year and a half to decide if I'm going to stay with the job and commute, stay with the job and move, or find another job.

But never fear, I'm not abandoning you. I may slow down a bit this month but I'll still be around. In the meantime, here's a photo of me at my niece's wedding, in a vintage linen suit...

Blood and Cashmere

This past Saturday night, I went out to see "Mondo Andronicus" again, and it led to some fond memories, so I thought tonight I'd give you a personal ramble.

Some years ago, I went to a performance at a bar of a delightful little play called "Poona the Fuckdog and Other Plays for Children," being put on by DC's late great company Cherry Red. Stage blood frequently jetted out into the audience, and those in the first three rows were given trash bags to defend themselves. I was sitting in the fourth row, when an onstage stabbing occurred, and a jet of blood spurted out, out, over the heads of the people in the first three rows, and landed, splotch, into my lap. Oh well. Later, there was a song about tequila (sung by a naked man who was playing the title character's "Fairy Godpenis"), and during the song, tequila shots were half off at the bar. I ordered one quickly, and then a minute later, someone handed me two of them. I looked around, and nobody was waiting for any, so I figured, what the hell, and downed them. After those, and the two or three beers I had before and after the show, meant that I ended up staggering out into the night, pretty darned drunk and with a lap full of stage blood, looking like I'd just committed a murder, or suffering from some hideous venereal disease. I had to walk around for a while until I was sober enough to drive home, and at one point bumped into two of the actors from the show, including the Fairy Godpenis, upon which time I blurted out that classic line, "I didn't recognize you with your clothes on."

Years went by, and on a wintry night (I believe it was a Valentine's Day, and I know I was single at the time), I attended one of the Lobsterboy burlesque shows at Chief Ike's Mambo Room, in DC's Adams Morgan neighborhood. One dancer, Sugarbabe Goodhue (I think that was her name; I haven't seen her around in the local burly-q scene for a very long time) did a number where she played a woman getting a "Dear Jane" letter, and then retreated behind a stretched-out sheet and did a shadow strip number, and then emerged in a beautiful gown...squeezing a foam-rubber heart drenched in stage blood all over herself. When done, she flung the heart on the stage...and naturally, it bounced off the stage and directly into my lap. We had our picture taken together after the show, and yet again I was staggering out into the streets, pretty darned drunk and with a lapful of stage blood. Luckily, I had taken Metro that night, so I didn't have to worry about sobering up before I went home.

But stage blood and I are well acquainted. I have a shirt that still is stained after I wore it to a Cherry Red show. After Molotov's last show, "Blood, Sweat, and Fears, II," one of my favorite T-shirts was liberally spattered with blood, and Saturday, I had gobbets of the stuff on my white shirt and cashmere sweater vest. And that just tickles me. It washes out, and that just adds to the fun. Call me perverse, but there's something fun about riding home on Metro on a Saturday night, looking like you've just come from a crime scene, casually cleaning the blood off your hands with a Wet One while bouncing your head to the music on your iPod.

And that's me. I'm transgressive in my own way. I think I've always been like that; even in my youth I rarely batted an eye at whatever debauched sexual practices people were partaking in (although I would frequently want to join in), figuring hey, if folks are having fun, everyone's consenting, nobody's being hurt who doesn't want to be hurt, the more power to 'em. At a previous job I had a reputation for being a total degenerate that far outstripped anything I actually did. Even today, I do my best to dress and behave myself in a gentlemanly fashion, but am known for being tart-tongued, mouthy, and prone to outrageous comments and outrageous actions. I could go on about the drinking contests I've won at the Palace of Wonders...or the night I was made an honorary member of a punk-rock group from Tampa while at the first Link Wray tribute concert...or the day I flipped off Newt Gingrich near the National Press Club...or how at one night, at one of Trixie Little's shows, I ended up onstage, with my pants around my ankles, giving a spanking to a aerialist from the Cirque du Soleil. I sometimes think my life is too quiet and dull. Honestly, I do.

I had originally considered hitting a local gay bar for a drink, and maybe find some company, after Saturday's performance of "Mondo Andronicus," but the spattered blood on my clothes had me thinking I should simply go home and soak the blood out of the cashmere. But y'know, maybe next time I won't be so prudent. The idea of some guy pointing out, "Hey, there's blood on your shirt!" and me shrugging and saying, casually, "Well, it's not mine," gives me a perverse chuckle. That's the kind of guy I am.

Oh, and by the way, the cashmere sweater vest is now pristine and blood-free.

What I've Been Doing Lately

OK, I've been rather quiet this month...

It's been a somewhat odd summer. I meant to do more photography but earlier this year I had some bad foot pain that led me to a podiatrist. Surprise, I needed orthotics, which were covered by my insurance, thank heaven. But it's been a while getting used to 'em and only now am I starting to get back on my feet again, roving the wild streets of DC.

August was also busy with work, and with my other writing gigs. I had a series of reviews to write for Scarlet, and I've also landed my first regular paid writing job, as a wine critic for a local website. So stuff's happening for me, bit by bit.



Today is also my forty-fourth birthday, and it hasn't been too bad. I had a great celebration Friday night, while attending the Tilted Torch show at the Palace of Wonders, which ended with the ladies doing a curtain call, each holding a cupcake with a lit birthday candle...yes, it was in my honor. I was totally bowled over by the gesture, engineered by fire dancer/artist Malibu. (Love you, honey!) Then it was late-night waffles at Bob & Edith's Diner in Arlington, with my pal Todd and other members of the Palace gang, until far into the wee hours of the morning.

Today's been a glorious early autumn day here in DC, temperatures only in the 70s, dry and cool and comfortable. And I also had great news today; I visited my ophthalmologist for a glaucoma check-up and he says that the pressure in my eyes is significantly lower than last time I visited, so I don't need to go back for another six months. This was a great birthday present.

And things are starting to gel for Halloween....



The Silver Spring Zombie Walk is already taking shape for October 24th, with a stroll through downtown Silver Spring, MD, ending in a showing of SHAUN OF THE DEAD. Last year's walk was a great time, and I'm looking forward to this year's, although I'll have to wait and see what the weather will be like before I finalize my outfit.



And this year's Belly Horror show is also coalescing, taking place in the venerable Birchmere on Friday, Oct. 23rd. Last year's was quite a show and this year's should be even better.

And I've discovered a couple of podcasts that I enjoy. First is the Cthulhu Podcast, which features readings of Lovecraft works and other related horror stories, including some original stuff and other works from the 20s. Then up is the very new Mystery Man Podcast, which has readings of classic mystery/adventure stories, with background info. Both feature lively readings that really make the stories come alive, with affable hosts who truly enjoy what they're doing.

And that leads me to something that's slowly developing here...we here in the D&C crypt are kicking around the idea of the Dust & Corruption podcast. It's slowly, slowly struggling out of the idea phases, as soon as I get a good microphone and coordinate things with my partner in ghoulishness. Hopefully, before too long, we'll be showing up in iTunes as well as Blogger.

So, that's it for now. Some more stuff coming up, like a few photos and book reviews. And soon the holy of holies, Halloween, will be upon us. Brace yourselves, folks! It's gonna be a wild season!