in the blackest of rooms

i will follow you into the dark (video) ~ death cab for cutie
i will follow you into the dark ~ death cab for cutie

"if there's no one beside you,
when your soul embarks,
then i'll follow you into the dark."

dark places and scary stories, what songs capture that mood for you?

find the girl while you can

a forest ~ bat for lashes

"suddenly i stop,
but i know it's too late;
i'm lost in a forest,
all alone.

the girl was never there.
it's always the same,
i'm running towards nothing,
again and again and again."

eerie and ethereal songs, what are some of your favorites?

gonna have a drink & walk around

"oh you were a vampire and baby
i'm the walking dead."

i'm a vampire girl, my favorite for as long as i can remember.
so humor me, and play along...

vampire songs?
favorite vampire film?
favorite vampire?

but still i see monsters

i see monsters ~ ryan adams

"oh, people are screaming,
people are screaming,
my baby, she's dreaming.
oh, people are shouting,
people are freaking,
i'm just staring at the ceiling,
waiting for the feeling."

monster songs?
and also...do you have a favorite monster?

the feelings i fight burn so bright

the ghost of you lingers (live) ~ spoon
the ghost of you lingers (video) ~ spoon

"just like a sailor with his wounds being salted,
i had a nightmare nothing could be put back together,
would you settle the score?
if you were here would you calm me down?
the ghost of you lingers."

do you believe in ghosts? do you have a favorite song about ghosts?

this is halloween

we all wear disguises: which one is yours today: a spooky mix volume two:

this is halloween ~ the citizens of halloween

monster (alternative version) ~ meg and dia

here comes the phantom ~ the clientele

halloween ~ dead kennedys

haunted house of rock ~ whodini
boris the spider ~ the who

vampire ~ sebadoh

rabbit in your headlights ~ unkle

a day in the graveyard ~ sunset rubdown

when the man comes around ~ johnny cash

satans river ~ porter wagoner
love will tear us apart ~ joy division
halloween ~ sonic youth
getting scared ~ imogen heap
haunted (when the minutes drag) ~ love and rockets
haunted ~ poe
wonderful witches ~ thurston moore
the creature from the black leather lagoon ~ the cramps

the whole mixed zipped

all my friends were vampires

be my victim, darling: be my vampire, baby: a spooky mix volume one:

'halloween' theme ~ john carpenter
do they know it's hallwe'en? ~ the north american halloween prevention initiative

car chase terror ~ m83

devil town (cover) ~ bright eyes

halloween head ~ ryan adams

trick or treat ~ otis redding

vampire girl ~ jonathan richman

touch-a touch-a touch-me ~ colette mckendrick

theme to 'the munsters' ~ man or astroman

scarecrow ~ siouxsie and the banshees

this corrosion ~ sisters of mercy

how to see ghosts ~ vincent price

the ghost of you still lingers ~ spoon

over at the frankenstein place ~ rocky horror picture show

monsters lead such interesting lives ~ mel torme

monster hospital ~ metric

animal ~ against me!

is there a ghost? ~ band of horses

batman, wolfman, frankenstein and dracula ~ the diamonds

cemetry gates (cover) ~ frank and walters

halloween ~ grant lee buffalo

rage (music from '28 days later') ~ john murphy

the mix all zipped up

part two coming soon: on halloween

don't dream it, be it

it started my senior year accompanied by my friends from theatre, then went on to kate and i going on saturday nights down by the beach. it was an addiction. the costumes, the make-up, the songs, the toast. perhaps it is something about being a part of something, or maybe it was the performance end to it, or all the gender-bending sexuality. sometimes i forget the impact those sing-a-longs had on me, or the people who came out of it. it was almost like the gateway drug to the club days that would later follow.

it was just a jump to the left...

"it was great when it all began
i was a regular frankie fan."

rose tint my world/floor show ~ rocky horror picture show

"so why don't you stay for the night?

or maybe a bite?

i could show you my favourite obsession."

sweet transvestite ~ rocky horror picture show

"it's just a jump to the left

and then a step to the right

with your hands on your hips

you bring your knees in tight

but it's the pelvic thrust that really drives you insane,

let's do the time warp again!"

time warp ~ rocky horror picture show

hot metal and methedrine

once upon a time i was a goth girl, though back in the day they called it deathrock. i never grew out of my love of the music, or for that matter a prediliction for black clothes, red lips, boots and kohl eyeliner. suppose you can take the girl out of the goth(scene), but you can't take the goth out of the girl.

i remember there was this boy who used to dance at helter skelter, right in the middle of the floor. he would not move the bottom half of his body at all, just twist and twirl and turn all in arms and shoulders, his eyes half-lidded and fluttering. the original version of this song was one he was always out there for. in all the time we went there i do not think we ever spoke, or that i even knew his name. but he was a fixture, a given, something we would come to expect to see. i cannot hear this song without seeing him there, dancing.

we look hard

we look through

we look hard to see for real

such things i hear, they don't make sense

i don't see much evidence

i don't feel. i don't feel. i don't feel

lucretia my reflection ~ black kites

listen to the words long written down

zombie movies are a favorite of mine, a bit of a guilty pleasure; if i bought in to feeling guilty about anything that i love, that is. some are crap and you know it from the start, but they are still somehow strangely watchable. but, when they are done well they hit on different levels, and become more than just some slow-moving undead adventure. the good ones usually hit upon the human condition, utilizing the horror of something horrific (disease, death, infection) that speaks to so much of our collective fears. or maybe i just read too much into things. as is most everything else to me, music is ever the trigger, and the shot itself. when used effectively music can light it all up, and convey more emotion than any dialogue ever could. the juxtaposition of a song about biblical revelation paired up with images of a zombie apocalypse is brilliant, and really set the tone for the remake of george a. romero's dawn of the dead.

"the hairs on your arm will stand up
at the terror in each sip and in each sup
for you partake of that last offered cup,
or disappear into the potter's ground."

when the man comes around ~ johnny cash

so bury me deep

there are all kinds of ghosts in this world, all kinds of things that haunt us. sometimes they aren’t of the spirit variety, though. sometimes they come in the form of the things we wished we’d said, in the memories of the people we let slip away, in the kisses that we wish we had given, and the places we regret never going to.

on those particularly cold nights, you know the ones that chill you in ways that are not weather related; it is then that these ghosts they dance around us, taunt and tease us, wrap us up in a blanket of ghosts that feels something akin to longing and i wish.

"the spirit is willing, but the flesh is so weak

i wanna kiss her lips, but i kissed her cheek

just hear my request, give this one on fair way

please take me home before it’s too late

bury me deep, cover me with snow

wrap me in sleep, blanket of ghosts."

blanket of ghosts ~ dustin kensrue

these are the ghosts

and as children the three of us would build those kind of forts you make with blankets and chairs backed into each other; tunnels added with use of those tv tray tables that grandma gave us the previous christmas.

there was one flashlight shared between us, and we would pass it off to each other when it was our turn to tell our version of a scary story. sometimes we would lie on our backs, our feet outstretched and poking a little outside of our suburban campsite.

the light and shadow casts would play in-between the crinkles and bends in the blankets, and we would point out shapes as if they were a ghostly set of clouds before us.

our parents were all in the front room, music playing loudly and their drunken laughter competing with the sound. sometimes i would try to incorporate the songs into my story, ghosts carved out of fleetwood mac and joni mitchell lyrics overheard.

sometimes i wish we had written them all down.

happy october.

"i need twice as much space

and half as many things

a well written verse that i can sing

twice as much space

and a new set of strings

these are the ghosts i made myself ."

these are the ghosts (undead version) ~ band of bees