Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Rob Zombie in Concert


I traveled with my 12 yr old son Luke last night to Louisville and saw Rob Zombie in concert. Man, what a FANTASTIC show - easily one of the top ten shows I've ever seen (and I've seen a LOT of concerts in my time, believe me)!

Before the show there was a soundtrack of horror music and clips from Universal horror films - definitely set the mood.

There were two bands opening - Captain Clegg and the Night Creatures and the Necromantics. Captain Clegg were featured in the Rob Zombie film Halloween 2 (which I still haven't seen yet - I need to watch that soon) and they were terrific. They have a steel guitar player in the band and a cool country vibe with a rockabilly sensibility to them. Their singer has a great voice and is very charismatic. They definitely wave that horror flag high and I love their costumes - kind of a groovy undertaker look. Good stuff, and a great live show. You should catch them if you get a chance. 


AND they even came out to the merchandise table afterwards and met their fans, signing autographs and cds and shaking lots and lots of hands. I saw this fat toothless woman come up and have them sign her belly - talk about a horror show - hahaha!

Necromantics were next and they were really good, too. They brought their Psychobilly horror set to the crowd there and really rocked the place. They're playing in Nashville in a week along with Blitzkid and Hillbilly Casino (a KICK-ASS Nashville-based band) and I am planning on catching them again there. They're a 3-piece band with a female drummer - she rocks! 


 Rob Zombie finally hit the stage and man, it was amazing. An absolute barrage of light, video, and sound that was almost overwhelming. Rob had a giant screen behind the stage that played clips from horror movies, animation and more throughout the entire show. There were two more led screens onstage that played different video clips and animation, again from horror movies. I saw everything from Universal monsters to Nosferatu, Witchcraft Through the Ages to El Superbeasto. Amazing. Rob is a real monster kid, let me tell ya.


 The music was so tight it was ridiculuous and the band sounded great. Rob was in top form, dancing and running around stage. He even came out into the audience with a giant flashlight he shined in the crowd, and he stopped and stood on the seats right in front of me and gave me a high five, nodded at my son and headed on around the stadium, working the crowd while his guitarist absolutely shredded the guitar with a smoking solo.

 It was, again, a great show. Rob is touring in support of an upcoming cd, "Hellbilly Deluxe 2" that is coming out in Feburary. If he tours again, make plans NOW to go see him. You won't regreat it!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Dr. Gangrene PSA nominated for Emmy

Our Werewolf of Nashville PSA got nominated for an Emmy - specifically director Cameron McCasland in the writing category. Congrats Cam!! That's the PSA on cleaning up after your pets in public, and in it I get to throw the line "Remember, it's not what you don't do - it's what you DO do." doodoo. classic.


Friday, November 20, 2009

Roger Corman receives Oscar!


Legendary movie director/producer Roger Corman received an honorary Oscar award this past Saturday, November 15th. Corman is one of my favorite directors. I've read his biography "How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime."Truly inspirational and a great read too. Corman is one of the guys on my list of people I'd most like to meet. He is a legend in the movie business and fully deserving of this Oscar. Congratulations, Roger!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

A package arrived in the mail on Halloween day from my good friend Lewis D'Aubin. Lewis is better known as Professor Milo T. Pinkerton, the lead singer of the band THE C.O.G. (Consortium of Genius). Lewis had run across a CD at a local Halloween store and knew I’d want a copy – it is a CD of children’s scary stories called SHIVERS – Weird and Creepy Tales.

Now ordinarily I wouldn’t be all that interested in this CD, but there was one thing that made this one a bit different – or I should say, some one. The narrator of this CD is none other than legendary horror host John Zacherley! Zach introduces each story with little skits and narration, and returns at the end of each story to wrap it up. The stories are definitely geared for younger kids, very much in the Goosebumps mode, and kind of corny. But Zach’s bits make this pretty fun. I wound up scanning through the CD to Zach’s bits and skipping the stories.



I have never seen this CD before. It was made back in 1999 and apparently they made at least 3 different ones, although I’m not sure if he narrated them all. I’m going to track the others down on the internet – if you’d like a copy of this CD, you can find it here:
http://www.oldies.com/product-view/14781G.html
at good ole Oldies.com. Be sure to tell em’ Doc Gangrene sent you.

And to find out more about The C.O.G. go to:
http://www.consortiumofgenius.com/
They are a trio of musicians and mad scientists who have been cranking out music for the better part of a decade now. They’re based in New Orleans, and are very much fans of sci-fi and horror. You can find them on Myspace and Facebook, and at the website above, too.