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My First Visit to Horrorhound Weekend!
I spent Saturday, September 14 of 2024, in Cincinnati, OH at the Horrorhound Weekend!
Held at the Sharonville Convention Center, it is a Horor convention that has been going strong for many years.
This year, they had guests including Heather Langenkamp (Nightmare On Elm Street 1, 3, and A New Nightmare, Star Trek Into Darkness, The Midnight Club, Hellraiser: Judgment, Shocker, just to name a few), Tom Atkins (The Fog, Escape From New York, Halloween III: Season Of The Witch, Creepshow, Lethal Weapon, Maniac Cop, Striking Distance, and so much more), Robert Englund himself (Freddy Krueger and so much more), one of the Jasons (CJ Graham), one of the Michael Myers’ (Don Shanks), Scott Ian of the bands Anthrax and S.O.D., John Christ and Eerie Von of Danzig and Samhain, the stars of Lisa Frankenstein Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse, Andi Matichak of the last 3 Halloween movies, other Nightmare On Elm Street 1 stars Amanda Wyss and Ronee Blakley, Nightmare On Elm Street 4 stars Tuesday Knight, Toy Newkirk (who waved Hi to me at one point), Brooke Theiss, special effects makeup genius/director/actor Tom Savini, Mitch Pileggi (The X-Files, Shocker, Sons Of Anarchy) and many more.
Star studded event and lots of fans there like myself.
I first met Heather Langenkamp. I have been wanting to meet her for some time now, and when I said that to her, she said “well dreams come true”.
She graciously welcomed me to her autograph table and I had her sign a picture from A New Nightmare, which I really like a lot, and she appreciated that I knew what movie it was from. She told me it’s coming up on it’s 30th anniversary, which is wild to think.
She is very nice and I am so glad I finally got to meet her. I was only going to get her autograph and get a pro shot picture with her later (which I did), but she offered selfies at the table too for not much more money. So, I got a lot of pictures with her.
Thank you Heather so much for your kindness and for all your great performances past, present, and future.
I then went to meet Tom Atkins, who I have been a fan of for many years also.
My favorite movies with him are The Fog and Halloween III: Season Of The Witch.
Again, like Heather, such a nice, gracious person. He was kind to me and to everyone in line.
I had him sign a Halloween III picture and got a pro shot picture with him.
I’m so happy I got to meet him finally too. Thank you sir for everything.
I also met Scott Ian, who I have been a HUGE fan of for 25 years.
I first discovered his bands Anthrax and S.O.D. on the VH1 Rock Show, which Scott actually hosted a lot of. That was my Headbangers Ball show, if you will.
I love his bands Anthrax and S.O.D. I even like The Damned Things that he was part of. He has two great books, and is in some other cool bands too (Mr. Bungle, Motor Sister, his wife Pearl Aday’s group Pearl, and has played/collaborated with several others too), and he has always been extremely busy on various other media as well, appearing on many music related shows, list type shows, and even shows like Married With Children and The Walking Dead.
I had him sign one Anthrax CD and one S.O.D. CD, and he thanked me for the compliments I gave him for his awesome music. And I got some selfies with him too.
He said the next Anthrax album will be out next year. I can’t wait to buy that. Thank you Scott for everything and keep on rocking!!
And lastly, I met Don Shanks, who played Michael Myers in Halloween 5. That movie does not get as much love as some of the other Halloween movies, but I think it’s better than most people seem to think. He told me how great it was working with the late great Donald Pleasence in the movie and that he had a fun time making the movie.
He signed a Halloween 5 picture for me and I got some selfies with him.
Thank you Don for speaking with me and for being kind also.
I went to a couple of panel Q&As also.
One featured John Christ and Eerie Von of the bands Danzig and Samhain, who talked about the relationship between music (Metal in particular) and horror. Fun discussion.
And I went to the Lisa Frankenstein movie panel. That really drew a big crowd. Stars Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse discussed making the movie, most favorite/least favorite scenes to shoot, did they get to take anything from the shoot, what their characters’ favorite music would be (80s for Kathyrn and classical for Cole), and a lot more. Very fun time. I’m glad that Lisa Frankenstein found it’s audience because it is a lot of fun. I highly recommend you see it.
There were tons of vendors, including a really cool section of vendors in an area of the center called Mask Fest, which featured tons of awesome monster/alien masks and life sized figures of various horror legendary characters. Lots of great talent there.
There was so much to see and unfortunately I could not meet everyone (some I’d met before like Robert Englund), but I’m happy with who I met and I can’t thank them enough for their kindness and for all their great work.
Thank you everyone.
Horrorhound Weekend! is awesome!!
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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice 2024 A.D. Movie Review
Let me preface this by saying I have loved the movie Beetlejuice since it was almost new, when it was released in 1988.
And I have read rumors for years about a possible sequel, but it never quite happened.
But now it FINALLY has.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice 2024 A.D. was released on September 6 of 2024, and I think it was worth the wait.
Director Tim Burton returns with title star Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara reprising their roles in this new tale.
I’m going to give spoilers here, so don’t read on unless you have already seen it or don’t care: Winona Ryder’s character, Lydia Deetz, at this point is a rich TV show host talking about ghosts and the paranormal/supernatural.
Her Dad from the first movie passes away so her, along with O’Hara’s character Delia, and Winona’s daughter in the movie Astrid (played by Jenna Ortega) go to the funeral at the old house from the first movie.
Beetlejuice, who has obsessed over Lydia since the first movie, ultimately gets her attention when Lydia’s daughter is taken into the otherworld and wants Beetlejuice to help her.
Also, Beetlejuice is now in fear of his soul being sucked away by a literal soul sucker named Delores (played by Monica Bellucci), who was also Beetlejuice’s wife from many years ago.
I’m spoiling everything here, but let’s just say that all you loved about the first movie is pretty much here.
Michael Keaton is still awesome as Beetlejuice, causing crazy things to happen. But Keaton is always awesome in every part he plays, in my opinion.
Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara are very good in reprising their characters, and the rest of the cast are solid and all do a great job.
Most especially Willem Dafoe, who plays a fun actor/cop.
No, this movie is not 36 years old and so it hasn’t had decades to be adored. So please take that out of the equation, and just have fun with it.
I think it is a lot of fun and I laughed and smiled a lot watching it.
Go see it.
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The Black Crowes Happiness Bastards Album Review
The Black Crowes are back with a great new album called Happiness Bastards.
Released on March 15 of 2024, this album marks The Crowes’ first full on new album of original material since 2009 (they released a cover EP in 2022 called 1972 though) and many thought this would never happen.
That’s because the band broke up, and by all accounts, singer Chris Robinson and his brother, guitarist Rich Robinson, did not get along.
However, they apparently put aside their differences and got back together a few years ago, and now the band includes Chris and Rich, as well as bassist Sven Pipien (who was been in the band for many years), Nico Bereciaua also on guitar, Erik Deutsch on keyboards, and Brian Griffin on drums.
This album rocks!! It sounds like a Black Crowes rock album to me, which is how I want it to be.
Some don’t like that more classic members aren’t there, but Chris and Rich are still great, can still write very good songs, and have a tight, rocking band.
If you don’t like it, fair enough.
But I do like it very much and I’m glad The Crowes are back.
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Jon Anderson And The Band Geeks True Album Review
Original Yes singer/founder Jon Anderson’s latest album, now with his group The Band Geeks, was released August 23 of 2024.
Called True, it is very much what you expect from Jon and his massive discography.
This album is truly awesome.
Jon’s voice is still as great as ever, and his band are great.
It consists of Jon on vocals of course, along with Richie Castellano on guitar/bass/keyboards/backing vocals, Andy Ascolece on drums/percussion/keyboards/backing vocals, Andy Graziano on guitar/backing vocals, Christopher Clark on keyboards, Robert Kipp on Hammond Organ/backing vocals, and Ann Marie Nacohio on backing vocals also.
If you are a fan of Jon, you should really enjoy this.
Every song is great.
I love when my favorite musicians keep making great music, even in their later years.
Sometimes they make some of their best work then.
I wish more would do that. I know most people don’t buy music like they used to, but I know there is still an audience out there.
Many classic artists like Jon Anderson, Ace Frehley, Deep Purple, Mr. Big, and others have put out great albums just this year.
So, it is possible for new music by classic artists to still be great.
Fans need to seek it out.
So, seek this one and others out and see what you think.
Oh, and I got this album signed by Jon, courtesy of TalkShopLive. I appreciate it!!
