DISTURBING FACTORY

"While belief in the supernatural is only superstition. the sense of the supernatural cannot be denied." -- Thomas Ligotti.

I just love that quote, it gets directly to the heart of the matter. And you have to look no further in todays life than to visit most high rises in this country with buidings that don't have a 13th floor. I have to admit that I have not read much Thomas Ligotti. Not on purpose, as usual it comes down to there's only so many hours in a day, and being the owner of the Overlook Bookstore, I am constantly inundated with new fiction on a daily basis. Then this collection of Ligotti's short fiction came in as a graphic edition. So I plopped it down to give it a go, and as its officially produced with the author's asisstance I thought this would be a nice introduction to his work. Each story features an introduction by the author, and I mean a full page intro for every story. As I'm learning, Ligotti's work is involved and intense. No slight of hand here. These are truly disturbing visions of horror the author delivers.

Let's begin with "The Last Feast of Harlequin" which is very much in the Lovecraftian vein. Lovecraft, considered one of the father's of the horror genre, can be work to read at times, and I've not always been a fan. In this case Ligotti's idea of the masquerade in a dull little town, shows that there is more beneath the masks of the clowns and of the town, than meets the eye. Although the buildup is slow, the payoff is disturbing. I believe I enjoy these author's who've been influenced by Lovecraft, (such as Ligotti), much more. I'm not exactly sure why, but maybe these influenced author's bring a modern feel to old horrors. "Dr. Locrian's Asylum" takes me down memory lane aka "Night Gallery," yes, a favorite show of mine. A town on the down side of it's life, with the omnipresent old and empty asylum, that casts a long shadow across the town. It seems that burning down the asylum isn't going to remove that shadow, or the ghosts, that once inhabitated the asylum in life, and now in other forms. And of course there's the retired Dr. Locrian, who sits and watches from his upstairs bedroom. He's creepier than the ghosts. Also featured are stories "Teatro Grottesco" and "Dream of a Mannikin," both eerily creepy in their own right and nice additions to this collection.

The stories are deftly adapted by Stuart Moore and Joe Harris. The artists, Colleen Doran, Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night), Ted McKeever, and Michael Gaydos supply plenty of detail. color, and eerie to bring these visions to us. Anytime the artist can relay the author's vision, gives us, the reader, an even more complete picture for us to visit with. These artists have spent a gread deal of time on this project and it shows.

Okay, now where did I put Nightmare Factory Vol . 2 ?

You can see all Thomas Ligotti at the Overlook HERE

THE FRINGE

You're going to hear me write about "no time" in my life and how I'm always trying to sneak in a movie and / or TV show when I get TIME! :-) I used to record things I might miss. In fact I had recorded so much over the years that it really became a space problem These days I don't set timers for weekly shows, or plan to see a show. I've got an out you see.. I've become spoiled by the DVD TV season sets you can purchase, or better yet, rent! Now I can see a whole season within a week (or less if I'm inclined).

THE FRINGE is a Tuesday night show that combines detectives with sci-fi, mystery, paranormal, and just down right evil folk. I didn't catch it when it began, but somehow my family and I started watching it one night, and after several shows, we've become hooked. Produced by J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias, and now the new Star Trek movie franchise as of 5/09) who seems to have joined similar ranks with Josh Whedon (Buffy, Firefly, Dollhouse). This series features his 'wraparound' story that is slowly unfolding as we delve into each weeks smaller episodes of odd worlds of mayhem. The bigger story 'seems' to be that a lot of this is connected and thus you have the wraparound. I'm finding it intriguing and I suggest you take a gander when you can.

Today's television is tough. With competition so fierce, we the viewer, are actually benefitting from the writers with some major story line improvements, twist and turns, and you don't know what's coming next. I like that. It's a fine line to keep our attention as well as keep the carrot just far enough out so we're close, but can't quite catch up until it's time for us to eat. Sometimes it's snack, sometimes its a smorgasboard, but as my buddy Dallas likes to say "ah, but was it a good ride?" Good advice.

Now, again, the only reason I've seen a few of episodes is that I've been with my family in front of the tube (no flat screen here yet bubbas and bubbetttes :-), but I get the feeling we'll all be sitting down to see this season's finale here in May. Of course, there's always the DVD set when its released.

So far I'm liking this ride on The Fringe, so hop on board and let's see where it takes us!

NICKLEBACK TAKES ATLANTA BY STORM - NO, I MEAN IT!

For those of you who don't know me very well, I was in the music business for a looong time. Managing record stores, and eventually working for Polygram and Relativity records in promotions. On top of that I've been seeing concerts since I was 15. Now some 30 odd years (we won't be exact here ;-) and about 500 shows later (what? I can't hear you...) I'm running the somewhat respectable mail-order bookstore and press The Overlook Connection.

However these days I'm running the business and trying to keep up with my family, with an occasional concert here and there. Last night I was let out of the property! Whoo Hoo! So... I'll admit it.. I'm not as well versed in today's music as I used to be. Hell, it was my job besides being a huge part of my life, but I just don't have the time like I used too. Thanks to my wife and son, they've been educating me again.

So here I am at Nickleback, with openers Seether and Saving Abel, and trying to get a hold on who and what I'm about to see. Yes, I know some Nickleback, but a whole concert? Well.. I wasn't so sure about this. But my twelve-year-old really wanted to go and mom and I decided to take him and his brother Kyle (pulled away from Ga Tech finals.. shh...don't tell anyone) and sit on the amphitheatre lawn. Give me a beer, I'll sit on anyone's lawn.

Saving Abel was quite good. Above and behind the amphitheatre roof we saw a storm coming. The lightning was flashing sideways as if we were in Frankenstein's laboratory. It was eerie cool. The sky was dark and murky and at one point during a slow part in their final song, the sky parted and the sun hit all of us on the lawn! The crowd roared approval! And then God said "Arthur, Arthurrr, King of the Britain's"... oh.. excuse me.. I digress... Then Seether came on and and really got the crowd going. I didn't know this band really, maybe one song, but I was again, impressed. I will be looking into some cd action on these guys.

And then comes the main attraction as Nickleback took the crowd by storm. No, I mean it, Nickleback comes on, the sky begins shuddering and thumpin' the earth with those load cracks and whoosh.. here comes the rain.. and I mean we are running for cover bubba. All 10,000 of us on the lawn. What cover you ask? Exactly. Time to buy a beer.. in fact somebody upstairs kept turning the faucet on and off throughout the show. Everytime it came on.. time to get a beer. This could explain some staggering on my part later on (along with the shivering, and zombie slime-like skin underneath our clothes) as we went to get in our car and turn on the heat. Oh, the show you ask, "Dave, how was the show?" (when do we get to the review for chrissakes).

Nickleback was a lot of fun. I'd have to say I was thoroughly impressed with Chad Krueger's singing, guitar pickin', and overall frivality (this is putting it nicely :-) as he spoke to the crowd. They played their hits, they played new material off their recent release, DARK HORSE, and they showered (no pun intended) the crowd with a five minute giveaway (playing their versions of metallica, et el ) of shooting t-shirts into the fans. The light show, the stage set-up, the video screens (huge! Great for the lawn people!) the sound, everything was top-notch and well thought out. If you didn't get your money's worth, then you were in the bathroom with the rest of the guys (and some gals) trying to stay dry from the rain. At one point the lead singer from Seether came out and led Nickleback with the cover of a FILTER song (thanks Kyle!) that was rockin' and haunting. Good stuff.

Oh yes.. back to the rain my friends...it was raining.. most of the concert. But Poppa Dave here braved it all with the rest of his family, and we had a wonderful time. The band rocked the crowd of 15,000 plus, and when they were playing you almost forgot that it was raining. Now that's a band worth standing in the rain for. Until the wife says - okay.. that's it .. get me to the car and turn on the heat.
Yes dear :-).

John Lennon In Spain: A Haunting

JOHN LENNON IN SPAIN AT HAUNTED HOUSE

April 21st, 2009. If you don't know it by now, you will. I'm on ol' Beatle and music fan and I'll be posting items on music now and again. Here's an interesting piece about John Lennon's stay in Almeria, Spain in '66, where he wrote Strawberry Fields Forever. The house he stayed in was apparently haunted as well. There's an eight minute bit of footage too which is worth checking out. http://www.theolivepress.es/2009/04/20/a-haunted-house-visits-from-ringo-and-a-trademark-rolls-royce-the-mystery-of-lennon%E2%80%99s-strawberry-fields-forever-trip-to-southern-spain/

THE TIME TUNNEL and CRAIG GODEN

I'm sure some of you remember Craig and his mail-order bookstore The Time Tunnel. When I subscribed to Castle Rock, the Stephen King Newsletter back in the 80's, I discovered Craig and his Time Tunnel store in an ad in the back of one of those small, but fun, newsletters. I may even have a copy of one of his catalogs (I tend to keep stuff, especially of people I like) here in the Overlook files. Craig and I became fast friends and we had a few stories from Necon that may never see the light of day :-). Craig and I also began a tradition of bringing in food on Saturday's at midnight for the hungry (and tipsy) authors and readers at Necon. It began on a whim. We went out to get some food for ourselves - we were hungry - and finding food at Midnight in Bristol, Rhode Island is practically non-existant. But low and behold... in the middle of that moon-lit foggy night, a "Stop-n-Go" sign glowed in the distance. We bought (and heated up I might add) every sandwich they had in the coolers. It was a big hit and every sandwich was \'gone\' before you could say boo. Then we began buying pizzas at midnight the year or two following. Eventually the Necon powers that be took up the midnight feeding frenzy and now Saugies and buns are supplied (a big thank you to John who cooks for us every year!).

I found out just recently that Craig passed away in 2008. The last time I saw Craig was at Necon a few years ago. Craig had moved on from selling books years ago and started a new career in the computer field ( wow.. a real paycheck... wonder what that was like ). He looked good and we had a great time visiting and catching up. Now that I know hes gone a flood of memories seem to be coming. Seems that happens when we know someone whos passed. Life gets busy and we cant keep up with everyone, but sometimes I wish I could. Im just glad to have known Craig he was a good friend to me and the Overlook for many years.

Craig was a musician, did you know that? Yep, he played guitar and wrote songs. I have an album he sent me once, that featured a song of his - Craig singing and playing - time to dust that one off and give it a listen. He had a lovely voice. We'll miss you man.

Dave

Thanks to Rosandra for letting me know.

You can read more about Craig Goden here:

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080504/OBITS/805040335&template=printart