Established A.D. 2000, March 19. Now in our tenth calendar year! Number 501 (Vol. 10, No. 44). This edition is for the week of October 26--November 1, 2009.
NOVEMBER BIRTHDAYS Mason Troupe, Nov. 4, 19 yrs Joe Davison, Nov. 14, 34 yrs. Harry Wise, Nov. 18, 75 yrs. ED Tucker, Nov. 20, 43 yrs. John Lewis, Nov. 21, 55 yrs. David "The Rock" Nelson, Nov. 27, 53 yrs.
I'm always glad to see one of our horror idols spotlighted in the news media, especially our own Dr. Paul Bearer, who was the host of WTOG 44's Creature Feature for over 20 years.
In today's Tampa Tribune (Friday, October 30, 2009), Walt Belcher's column entitled The Memory of Dr. Paul Bearer is Still Alive is an excellent tribute to the late great horror host and contains the following reference: "The crazedfanboy.com site also has a tribute to Dr. Paul as well as a good interview with Bennick." I am VERY honored! Thank you, Walt!
Also mentioned are Horrorhostgraveyard.com and YouTube.com as resources for finding all things Dr. Paul Bearer.
Kudos to Walt Belcher for remembering the good Doctor. And, of course, for the honor of mentioning our humble efforts here at CrazedFanboy.com.
As of this writing, the Tampa Tribune's homepage features a link to our Creature Feature Database on the rotating headline banner with Bearer's picture on it. I expect that will only be visible today only.
If regular readers are wondering where this issue's La Floridiana column by William Moriaty went....well, it was removed by request citing privacy concerns.
You may recall Will had done an excellent job documenting a tour he took last May in a new La Floridiana column entitled "The Nils M. Schweizer Fellows-Modern Sarasota Tour: Part One" as part of his continuing series "The Fabulous Architecture of the Tampa Bay Region" of which this installment would've been Part 11. It contained detailed descriptions and lots of photos, which is normal for Will's always top-drawer approach to journalism.
The tour director immediately contacted Will and asked that his column be removed citing what was most likely a communication breakdown about what could and could not be published regarding the tour's information on private residences and their locations. Will felt awful and contacted me this morning. The column and all related data files have been deleted.
This is an extremely rare occurence and, of course, I apologize for any inconvenience this caused.
It was a glaring oversight on my part that I did not mark the passing of noted composer Vic Mizzy in last week's PCR. Thankfully, Mike Smith mentioned it in The Rant. I regret the error, especially considering Mr. Mizzy died at this time of year.
Vic Mizzy was the composer and vocalist for one of the most famous and infectious TV theme songs of all time, The Addams Family. Yes, he also sang it. As Mike noted, "The studio did not want to pay for studio singers to record it so he overdubbed himself three times to make it sound like a group was singing."
Mizzy died two Saturdays ago, October 18th at the age of 93 (Mike originally posted his age at 83, but that's since been corrected) of heart failure. He wrote other catchy theme songs (most notably Green Acres), but Mizzy is forever linked with the finger-snapping opening of The Addams Family. Said Mizzy, "That's why I live in Bel-Air! Two finger snaps."
He will be sorely missed.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
POSTED BY NOLAN B. CANOVA, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2009
Well, it's here. The day nearly all here at the Crazed Fanboy compound seem to live for...or die for...or become undead for...is upon us.
Ye Olde Editor-in-Webmonkey has enjoyed many Halloween junkets in the past. As a child, my earliest memory was being dressed as Zorro for neighborhood trick-or-treating. No idea why now, probably the coolest costume mom could find in my size. As an adult, and more fully-versed in make-up magic, I found myself as a zombie or a werewolf victim (mostly late '80s/early '90s), to a nondescript alien of some sort (Qualex Photo masquerade party, around 1994), to a "massive-headwound Harry" model (for Tampa's Guavaween, also about the mid-90s) to more recently, a vampire host (World of Nolan video, around 2004). There are pictures of all this somewhere that someday I'll locate again!
Being older now and, well, lazier, I no longer go to the unwieldly trouble of major make-up projects, contenting myself to observe and perhaps record how others celebrate this darkest of days. This year, I'll be working the graveyard shift dressed as a 7-Eleven clerk (horrors!), the same night as Guavaween (gulp!), which is the same night as the time-change to EST (YIKES!). Whoopee. But I will be bringing my camera!
MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON
When I read last week's Mike's Rant, I noted Mike Smith's mentioning an upcoming trip to Washington having to do with something about legislation. Curious, I wrote a personal email hoping to inspire an elaboration. Turns out Mike, at the behest of his co-workers, ran for president of his local union -- kind of on a lark -- and won!
So...as I write these words, our own Mr. Smith is at the nation's capital, personally involved in the legislative process. While he is expecting to meet a few high-level dignitaries, President Obama probably won't be one of them -- at least he doesn't think so at this time. But, of course, anything could happen, and I am very proud of Mike for his pro-active attitude. His more conservative opinions in past Rants will, I'm sure, be (coff, coff, ahem) overlooked by The Prez if he should happen to wander by!
Rather ironic that politics should leap forward for Michael the same week I have to make the following announcement...
"STATE OF THE NATION" IS OFFICIALLY DISCONTINUED
This is a difficult subject for me, but I owe it to my readers to discuss it. Brandon Jones' State of the Nation column, which has been covering conservative politics since issue #475 (Spring of this year), is being officially discontinued effective this issue. If you're having a feeling of deja vu over this, please read on...
In early September of this year, a particularly nasty episode involving the Message Board resulted in Brandon quitting the column in issue #495 (where I go into a more elaborate explanation of PCR and politics if you're interested), only to return to PCR after I'd already made the announcement and after he'd started a new blog at Blogspot where he could continue unfettered. This was highly irregular and not just a little embarrassing, but I wasn't sure what else I could do except continue the column. Brandon's feelings about this episode were spelled out in SOTN, PCR #495, "Renewed Strength".
To say Brandon's column was controversial would be an understatement in the least. But I felt he brought up issues that needed to be addressed and discussed, much like his like-themed subjects were on the Message Board. But it didn't turn out that way and I received unceasing negative feedback from nearly everybody about its inclusion in these pages. Nevertheless, I encouraged Brandon to press on as I felt politics was an integral part of pop culture.
Political topics are no stranger to PCR as Matt Drinnenberg, Mike Smith, and yours truly have all contributed our opinions on the state of the nation at one time or another. But Brandon's column was the first attempt of mine in many years to include a column that was entirely political. Co-editor Terence Nuzum vehemently disagreed that politics had any place in PCR and this remained our most bitter ongoing dispute. In fact, I received little-to-no support from anybody about it, but went ahead anyway.
However, two more months of combative publishing wore Ye Olde Editor down and I had to do some serious soul-searching. After giving it considerable thought, I decided perhaps I was wrong after all, and a political column is just not what our readers are coming here for. I spoke to Brandon Monday morning and gave him the news. We parted very amicably, we're still friends, and I left the door permanently open for Splash Page (his vetted pop culture column that returned in issue #481). As of this writing, however, he has no immediate plans for anything PCR-related.
For those who would like to continue to follow Brandon Jones' political musings, you're welcome to visit his blog at Brandon7221.blogspot.com.
ZOMBIE GREASER INVADES 7-ELEVEN
So there I was, innocently ringing up sales at work last Saturday night, when I noticed a commotion outside. Handing the reigns of command over to my partner, Danny, I went outside to investigate.
At first I couldn't make out anything except the foul stench of rotting flesh which was over-powering and seemed to be emanating from some shadows. A low moan and the shuffling sounds of a zombie were heard as this thing stumbled out from the darkness.
I was being attacked by an undead '50s punk-greaser zombie!
Being educated on zombie defense from watching countless schlock films, I was ready to decaptitate the villain should he get too close. As it happened, the flash from my camera was all it took to disorient the fiend and send his photo-shy, tattered self scrambling back to the shadows from whence he came.
By now, most of you will recognize the villain in the pictures as our own Terence Nuzum, who had stopped by on the way back from the Halloween party at The Castle in Ybor City. I'm sure a quick shower took care of the over-powering stench! (Click on images to enlarge. A new browser window will open.)
Please consider making a donation to help support Crazed Fanboy! Click on the "donate" link below and give whatever you can. I sincerely thank you for any and all consideration.---Nolan
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