At the end of our the most recent post I mentioned the proposed
schedule of upcoming articles feeling assured that each topic would
prove worthy of a full article. Under most circumstances that may
have been so but then one of the holidays lover most feared events
reared its ugly head as a string of lousy luck struck hard and fast
making it far more difficult to enjoy the wonders of the season.
Naturally this changed the planned arc of upcoming posts to become
more of a recovery story and a possible public service for those who
also stand a chance of getting slapped by unseen forces. If you’d
be so kind I’d ask that you sit back and hear a tale of Halloween
peddlers, Skeleton festivals, horrendous luck, and how a mood table
and hair metal saved it all.
Let’s set the
stage with the lousy luck as it seemingly started on Friday night. Ya
know those moments when every tiny thing goes wrong? Maybe you step
on something causing you to spill your drink and veer forward to
knock something over. Then while cleaning up you find all the
cleaners are empty and for some reason the paper towels are in the
completely wrong part of the house, oh and maybe something’s on
fire too. Take that sort of general funk and stretch it out for days
along with the addition of some extra annoying relations to make it
extra fun. Then top it all off with a scoop of awful weather. Suffice
it to say I could spend the entirety of this article complaining but
as I aim to be a relatively positive spot on the internet I’ll try
to keep the rage dumps nice and brisk.
The stage being set
let’s shift to Saturday as I prepared to head out to Marshall MI to
check out a craft/art show called The Bewitching Peddlers of
Halloween which coincided with something the town called Skeleton
Fest. I got up early enough to ensure a few hours before the peddlers
show closed though some unexpected delays left me with a little over
an hour to take it in which made the five dollar entry fee sting a
little more. Inside was a wide selection of some really high-grade
Halloween goodies. We’re talking unique statues, paintings, and all
manner of oddities that were often incredibly well-produced and
ludicrously overpriced. Now don’t get me wrong, I love me some
unique stuff and appreciate that these folks have to deal with fees
and travel expenses At the same time I understand that an admittedly
pretty painted wood block smaller than the palm of my hand is in no
way worth $60. Worse was the occasional elitist vibe coming from some
of these vendors. For me Halloween is very much an all-inclusive
holiday, particularly as it is based around what you want to be
rather than who you are. Too much of what was going on here was like
a hoity art-show reserved for the financially well-endowed. While
that may be fine for the rich and extra picky it’s sort of terrible
for those of us with normal paychecks. I was basically ready to call
this place a total bust if not for one both.
Pickled Punks is
the creation of a married couple (unsure if the art is from one or
both of them) with art prints, t-shirts, and coloring books on sale
at human prices. Art-Prints were $15, $20 if framed. As you might
imagine this made them very popular and a little difficult to shop
with this part of the show floor becoming a choke point. There were a
few prints I loved but this event also happened to fall at a point of
extra low finances which left me in a bind though a member of my
party at least made it so I could bring home a coloring book. What
stings is how some of the prints on sale at the booth aren’t
available on their website. If you’re lucky enough to come across
them at an event I’d advise picking up the ones you want.
The show having
been largely disapointing my group moved on to the town proper to see
what they had to offer. Not a great deal as it turned out. Skeleton
Fest involves putting out skeleton displays for the town to vote on
only maybe twenty-percent of the downtown participated in it, not to
mention most of these paled in comparison to the light-post displays
I’ve seen in Leslie over the past few years. There were a couple of
food stalls, and the typical selection of small-town folk musicians.
This sort of event would be fine if you already lived there but as a
location for a day trip it failed to offer much of interest. A lot of
the activity relied on the downtown businesses of which far too many
were generic boutiques. That sort of speaks to my impression of the
town itself. It’s not really any better or worse than most of the
towns around here but they put a lot of cash into making themselves
look good no matter how dishonest it might be. Chief evidence is how
their biggest store is a beautifully rundown old Big K-Mart. This
store was so terrifically bad that it was nearly worth the whole
trip. Most important of all is I was able to experience the aroma of
K-Mart once again. I’d forgotten that smell but boy did it ever
take me back.
So my outing to
Marshall offered very little to praise and the remainder of the
weekend through Monday continued the trend with personal injuries, a
slight bout of feeling terrible, and a battle with decorative lights
in eighty-degree weather that nearly had me converting to a different
holiday of choice. At one point I found myself staring in awe as a
fast food joint took nearly forty minutes to fill a six-item order
while Bruce Hornsby sang “that’s just the way it is” over the
radio. It was about this point when I began to wonder if a family
member had run over an elderly gypsy. The transition to October was
fast on its way and I was not having a good time. This wasn’t how I
wanted to kick-off the month but then a sliver of salvation came in
the form of a mood table.
The creation of
Dinosaur Dracula (formerly X-Entertainment), the mood table is a
practice I hadn’t really tried until last year as my tendency to
overdecorate might leave the ritual feeling redundant. I greatly
enjoyed last years attempt which was themed around old VHS rental
displays and this time around I took the chance to make two separate
tables. The odd thing this time around is that while one of them came
together naturally and easily, the other was… we’ll come back to
it. Let’s start with the one in my bedroom. I’ve had this
four-tier corner shelf for years but this is it’s first chance to
be involved with the major holiday lifting with the aid of
spider-lights.
The top shelf is
place for three totems. One is this awesome ghost carrying a pumpkin
that reminds me of the part in Halloween where Michael
disguises himself as PJ Soles’ boyfriend. A couple of LED candles
and this guy gives off the perfect glow. To the left we have
water-rat, so named for his usual placement on the water dispenser.
Given that his normal spot has been taken by a new decoration he now
serves as a reminder to hydrate with seasonal staples like pumpkin
ale, cider, and Voodew. Think of him as the Bacchus of Halloween. On
the right we have a skeletal bird… there’s no deeper meaning
there, just wanted something birdy. Of special note is the candy-corn
colored doily, least I think it counts as a doily, made by my mother.
She’s produced a few of these this year and they enhance the
vintage nature of any old item tenfold.
Level two belongs
to what is likely my favorite Halloween item. The Devil and his
friends is practically a mood-table onto itself with tons of
character and multi-color changing lights. Flanking this masterpiece
are movies on both analog and digital formats with the vastly
underrated Fright Night Part II on VHS and the ultimate
version of the Japaneses cult-classic Versus on dvd. Horror
movies are a major point of any Halloween but I also enjoy giving
myself a pat on the back for all these years of collecting by
showcasing how wide the genre can be. Plus the stark white and black
covers make for a fine duo.
Level three is
largely about the written word. I’ve been slacking on reading for
most of this year so this portion of the table is almost a challenge
to dig back into the stash of classic horror paperbacks. Of course I
had to have something from the favorite, Graham Masterton which made
Walkers a shoe-in. The Beast Within served as the basis
for a favorite horror flick so digging into the novel has been on the
to do list for quite some time. Amityville: the Evil Escapes
is just plain lovely to look at and the franchise had gotten totally
out of hand by this point it should make for some fun reading
material. Last up is Torments, the sequel to the
award-winning, though supposedly overrated The Manse. Never
had the opportunity to read part one though a lot of horror novel
hipsters like to badmouth author Lisa Cantrell for whatever reason.
I’m just tickled by her two primary works being set on this amazing
holiday with great cover art to match. Centered among these tomes of
terror are my smallest Godzilla figure and the lovely newborn figure
from Alien Resurrection. You don’t want a late-fee when
these librarian are involved.
The bottom tier has
gone through several variations but the general theme has been
gaming. Here we find a lovely old witch and her cartoon ghost minions
presenting different forms of spooky gaming from the likes of card
games like Vampire to wild horror-tinged videogames along the
lines of Bayonetta and Dino Crisis 3. With all the
activity this month provides it can be easy for games to get lost in
the shuffle. This area serves as a reminder to mix up the fun every
so often.
The big table
downstairs is another matter entirely. In fact, as of this writing
I’m declaring it a failure and will be remaking it post-haste. The
key issue is that so much of the work was done during this
troublesome weekend when my Halloween spirit was rather low which
made the results cross that line from being an actual mood table to
just a bunch of stuff piled up with lights. Consider this post to be
act one with the following tease for part two.
This is a very
large Beistle die-cut witch from 1980 that my mother found at a
thrift store in its original packaging for just four bucks. She will
remain as the totem of this second table which likely won’t be
complete until early next week as it requires a couple items that
have yet to be brought home.
There is a lesson
to be gleamed from this grab bag of experiences which is the reminder
that Halloween always has a hiccup or two. There will always be a
lowpoint in our moods, or one event that goes off-rails. The
important thing to remember is how much of this holiday revolves
around the comforts of home. Sitting in my bedroom at the stroke of
midnight with the wailing guitars of Helloween ringing in the month
of October I stared at my mood table and felt myself begin to recover
from the weird days that had preceded that moment. This speaks to
both the wonder of mood tables and the importance of just taking in
the moment. It wasn’t an intended theme but the majority of my
table, including the shelf itself, came from thrift stores. So while
a nice trip out to an expensive event or haunted house can be
highlights of the holiday you should never forgot how much joy comes
from simple inexpensive pleasures. This is where we cue the "more
you know” rainbow.
All the
evangelizing out of the way my October is going much more smoothly so
far. Still have a wealth of topics to cover for you all, including
the other table. The current goal is six updates this month so keep
your eyes pealed and please share any misadventures or mood-lifting
items of your own.
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