Tag: Renfield Rasputin

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Wednesday 13’s Scream Britain Scream Live Concert DVD

SBSIf there is one good thing to be said about being down with a broken neck, it is that I have plenty of down time to watch a few new videos and get a review in on the good ones. Luckily for me, one of these that showed up in the mail last week was my preorder for Wednesday 13’s new live concert DVD, Scream Britain Scream.

Filmed at the Koko Club in London, England, while on the “Spook and Destroy” tour on Halloween 2012 this provided the perfect setting for a Wednesday show.

As always I have to say that this is the tightest version of Wednesday’s band that I have ever heard in his history. Roman Surman, Jack Tankersley, Troy Doebbler, and Jason “Shakes” West fill the musical void that is live videos since this one actually sounds like a live show!

Other than the band, which seems to be having fun with the performance, the sold out audience in attendance is captivated from beginning till end of the 19 songs. W13 and the boys hold up the energy that is expected from a rock show where others would have dropped off after the third song. Opening with “Rot for Me” and moving though staple W13 numbers such as “House by the Cemetery”, “My Home Sweet Homicide”, “Gimme Gimme Bloodshed”, “Rambo”, and the encore numbers of “I Love to say Fuck”, and of course “Bad Things”.  Of course there is the harder and jams such as “Put Your Death Mask On”, and “All American Massacre” just in case you feel that you need to mosh the shit out of your media room.

If you have ever seen W13 live, you will know that even though this show was meant for video, it is not anymore over the top than any of his other shows that were not recorded. W13 puts out the most high energy performances despite the venue size or date. But this one show in particular captures that statement on film for any nay-sayers that may have the balls to exist!SBS2

For the true fans, the boys have included a few clips of  the backstage antics and the after show fan meetings. “Did you ever get those socks, Wednesday?”

Also, we have to hand it to artist, D.A. Frizell, who provided another ghoul-iscious offering of cover art. As a side note, Wednesday also gave the chance to 13 lucky fans to have their names on each undead Brit’s helmet via ebay auction. Now we all know this helps out with productions costs but can you really think of a better way to get closer to your fans than to be able to have one say “Hey, you my name was printed on ghoul #13’s helmet?” I think not.

If you are starting up a band, take note, this is what a rock show is supposed to look like! For the love of Goth, don’t stand there catatonic and don’t stare at your feet for an hour and a half! This is a sure hit to any fan of horror rock. It is gritty, catchy, and high energy packed the way that a good rock show should be!

Fair warning!!! I don’t care how catchy the songs are, please remember that it isn’t a great idea to head bang to Wednesday 13 while your neck is broken!

5/5 Bloody Jack-o-lanterns

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You can find more of Wednesday 13 here:

www.facebook.com/officialwednesday 13

wednesday 13 (officialwed13) on Twitter

or buy the official merchandise at:

http://morguethanmerch.com/

 

Renfield Rasputin needs more Vicodin.

xray

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Wednesday 13, “UnDead Unplugged” CD review

91WSgyUJGxL__SL1500_The long awaited acoustic album, UnDead Unplugged, from Wednesday 13 has arrived! Finally fans have a chance to hear their favorite songs in a stripped down, pure, simple versions with the assistance of Mr. Jack Tankersley.

Clocking in at a little over 38 minutes with one new and ten previous released tracks, the album fails to disappoint. He has done acoustic country albums, remixed his previous released songs, and recently wrapped up an acoustic tour of jolly old England, so an acoustic release was inevitable.  However just as you think that you have Wednesday 13 penned down,  he pulls something like this out of his hat that people would not expect from the future king of horror rock. Wednesday’s sense of humor threads through all his albums, in which this time he parodies the original Whitesnake album cover!

Do you want to know what makes a great song? It is not the production; it is not the type of instruments used during tracking. It is if the song can hold up as an electrical version as well as it being played acoustically. If a song is written well, it will transform easily with little changes to the arrangement. Wednesday proves that much of his catalog ranging from his early days as in FDQ “Scary Song”, the days of Murderdolls “Welcome to the Strange” and “Nowhere”, as well as his newer auras “Ghost Stories”, can all wear the acoustic label because-they are great fucking songs that are well written!  Period!

Recorded in his office/beat laboratory/dojo/Transylvania Studios, with help from Jack TankersIey engineering, and Brent Clawson mixing/mastering. The sound is up front in the speakers but yet so dynamic and well rounded. Seriously, I cannot stress how clean the tone is! This shit sounds better than a lot of acoustic songs that were recorded in 64 track digital studios. The acoustic guitars are bright while the vocals are tucked nicely into the mix. The songs are visited on a couple of occasions by a keyboard where appropriate to fill in the mix of melody but not used as a crutch, which would defeat the purpose all together.

Highlights of the album include “Haunt Me”, “Nowhere”, “Curse of Me”, “Scary Song”, and “Ghost Stories”.  Not that the others don’t fall into the acoustic mold, these just resonate with haunting and ethereal sounds from the speakers. The only thing I think could be cooler than this is if it were to be released on vinyl!images

This album is best heard with the lights turned down and the music turned up. Freak, geeks, and ghouls of all ages, plug in your electric flicker light bulbs inside your Funkin pumpkins and settle down with this one on the CD player. You won’t be disappointed! I don’t usually give such a high rating to a new release of previously released songs, but…

   4.5/5 Jack-o-lanterns    

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You can dig up (see what I did there?) more dirt on Wednesday at:

www.facebook.com/officialwednesday 13

wednesday 13 (officialwed13) on Twitter

 or buy the official merchandise at:

 http://morguethanmerch.com/

 

 BVjFI1rCYAEk7AF

 Renfield Rasputin writes horror, plays in several Texas bands, keeps this site above water, and can be followed on Twitter where you can tell him to your heart’s content how much he sucks.

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The Purge: Anarchy review

They say that pictures are worth a thousand words, well if that is true then this picture sums up all of my feelings for this movie sequel.

 

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I purged harder in the bathroom this morning.

 

“Do you feel cleansed?”

I do now…

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Renfield Rasputin writes horror and is sick of this shit.

 

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Renfield’s Re-Collections part 7 (Revenge of the Gothbilly)

Well it looks like I have to watch what I say and do because halfway around the world someone will get pissed and send me a cease and desist note, (not to mention that they will tattle to the social media giant that they found you on – insert spooky wiggling fingers here). I won’t go into any more detail of the event because I don’t want to be sued and have the Folger’s coffee can that is Horror-Writer’s bank broken. (Turns the Folger’s can upside down, nothing falls out.)

Since I’m still bitter about this and in the mood to be an asshole, I think the items I speak about this week will be ones that have been recalled for legal reasons. Certain ones were either cease and desist, or all out sued over. Remember that this makes them a rare find! Every other one might be worth a small fortune to the right buyer. Whatever the cost may be!

You can’t please everyone, and most of those people read my articles. Oh well, my lackadaisical attitude is kicking in and I’m becoming immune to the bullshit.  Usually this is what gets me in trouble.

Going forward I do want to stop and thank all the HW fans that spoke up and said really nice things to support us. (Thanks C.L.!)Remember that we do all this for you as we stand to make no profit off of it. Every writer here spends their free time de(ad)icating to this site and that is what keeps it going! Every article is carefully treated as their baby with time consuming edits and rewrites. Now that you know that, we hope you appreciate everything. Each time you read an article, drop that writer a quick tweet or follow on Twitter and tell them thank you (or if you are like my readers, that they suck). Remember that kindness goes a long way!

Once again the lawyers are making me say (sighs)…Neither myself nor Horror-Writers endorses the following listings and have no financial gain (unfortunately) associated with the sale of the items featured in this article. So don’t freakin’ sue us!

 

 F13 poster

Friday the 13th part 8 Advanced Poster – Recalled D/T Cease and Desist from the city of NY 1989

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FRIDAY-THE-13TH-PART-8-RECALLED-STYLE-ADV-MOVIE-POSTER-/171326515245?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27e3db282d#ht_3368wt_949

First up on the chopping block is the Friday the 13th part 8 (Jason Takes Manhattan) poster. Apparently no one asked the city of New York if they could borrow the “I heart NY” logo when they created this design. The design was replaced with a menacing Jason appearing over the NY skyline “KIlroy wuz here style”. The posters were recalled and destroyed but a few still remain hanging around if you can get your hands on them. Remember that this at the end of the 1980’s so posters were starting to become 40 x 27 as opposed to 41 x 27. This particular one is the former.

One of these without pin holes and creases can go for about $40. (Which is a steal if you are a F13 fan.)

 

 Twilight of the Dead

 

Twilight of the Dead Poster – Recalled D/T Cease and Desist from George Romero 1980

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TWILIGHT-OF-THE-DEAD-FULCI-ORIGINAL-27-X40-ONE-SHEET-MOVIE-POSTER-FOLDED-/141322134099?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20e774a253#ht_825wt_955

Yep, good ‘ole George Romero was trying to protect his “…Of the Dead” series and forced the filmmaker to change the name of this movie to what we know it as today,  “The Gates of Hell” after sending them a cease and desist. Too much “Dawn” imaging? Too much of the same font? How about too much “Of the Dead”?  I don’t really care. You be the judge. You know my rules about posters and their sizes, quality, fold lines, etc by now.

$135 and up if you can find one. Good luck with that. Let me know how that works out for you. On second thought, no don’t. I don’t really care.

the omen 

 

The Omen advance poster – Recalled due to pressure from Catholic Church 1976

http://www.ebay.com/itm/THE-OMEN-1976-ORIGINAL-ADVANCE-TEASER-STYLE-B-1-SHEET-MOVIE-POSTER-GREGORY-PECK-/351104471359?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51bf75113f#ht_116wt_955

I’m not bashing the Catholic Church here; I’m just stating the facts! The inverted cross that little Damien Thorn casts in his shadow was not seen as “Kosher”. Wait, no that’s the wrong religion. Oh, Blasphemous! That’s it. As always, they were recalled and destroyed whKing Diamondile a few leaked out. Later the cross inversion was replaced with the shadow of a wolf. I’m sure King Diamond is blowing their minds right about now. (Shall we talk about Gene Simmons suing King over the face paint in the middle 1990’s?)

I’ve seen these go easily for $300 and up.

 

Fresh Prince 

 

A Nightmare on My Street, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince Single – Suit settled out of court

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DJ-Jazzy-Jeff-Fresh-Prince-A-Nightmare-on-my-street-Hip-Hop-Rap-Jive-45-/291183973476?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item43cbead464#ht_779wt_955

New Line Cinema sued the newly Fresh Prince when he released this song. Will Smith agreed to put this sticker on the cover “[This song] is not part of the soundtrack…and is not authorized, licensed, or affiliated with the Nightmare on Elm Street films.” In the song he refers to Freddy as “Fred” and then goes on to describe his sweater, hat, and glove. Not to mention that he also rips the theme off as a hook throughout.

Pay whatever you want. Just don’t admit that you own this crap.

 

Sleepaway Camp

 

Sleepaway Camp Survival Kit Boxed DVD Set – Recalled Due to Cease and Desist by American Red Cross

http://www.ebay.com/itm/sleepaway-camp-survival-kit-/271543072033?pt=US_DVD_HD_DVD_Blu_ray&hash=item3f393a7521#ht_35wt_1193

Well as soon as the American Red Cross got a hold of these, they were gone for obvious reasons. I’m sure it sounded something like this in the meeting.

“And next up, we need to address the issue of…this.”

Hal reaches for the boxed set. “Well what’s wrong with an instructional DVD Hal?”

“Probably nothing if the instructional DVD taught decapitation, abdominal goring, and boob groping and didn’t have our logo on it, Frank! That’s a splatter gore horror movie.”

“What? We can’t have our logo on films about decapitations, and abdominal stabbings!”

“And boob groping, Frank.” Hal adds.

“Woah, slow down there Hal! Let’s not be picky. Who are we to judge?”

$40-$50 for the set.

 

 

With that, the court will recess until next week. I guess I will go and play Judas Priest’s Stained Class record backwards, (you can look up that joke below)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judas_Priest#Subliminal_message_trial

while snuggling up to a good John Grisham novel, (you can look up that joke below)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Grisham

and sip a cold Star Bock beer, (you can look up that joke below)

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Star-Bock-beer-has-coffee-giant-Starbucks-1950184.php

 

Until then, remember what I always say, come on everyone and say it with me…

Screw you to you and you know who you are!

Renfield Rasputin

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A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Heaven (Or, How I Made Peace with the Paranormal and Stigmatized Zealots and Cynics in the Process) by Corey Taylor

book-funnythingwaytoheaven-corey-taylor-500Many people are familiar with Corey Taylor as the masked lead singer in Slipknot, or of the Generation Y’s metal answer to the Cure, Stone Sour.  But he is also a writer with a unique sense of humor and the meaty stories that fill the appetite of any hungry reader. Believe me, they are all thriller and no filler!

In Taylor’s second book, he explores the nature of his paranormal experiences that started haunting him from an early age. Refreshingly, he does not jump to conclusions to pass off everything that he has seen or heard as supernatural; rather he takes the time to look for rational answers as he explains his findings with paranormal research groups.

Apparently Taylor has been “sensitive” to the paranormal species his whole life. Every other chapter in the book refers to an experience with the supernatural that has occurred during his existence on this spec of dirt. In between he plots out his theory (yes, I said “theory”, as in scientific) as to the possibility of the existence of ghosts. I do have to say that he does give remarkable and well thought out rational scientific reasoning for the occurrences.

“The gist of this, if it is in fact plausible, is that if these various laws and theorems can establish reasonable evidence to support Near Death Experiences, the same can be done for ghost and spirits…Let’s look at the properties of light – more importantly, electron magnetic radiation, or EMR.  This is a form of energy that is emitted and absorbed by charged particles. This is a form of energy that is emitted and absorbed by charged particles. Electromagnetic radiation carries radiant energy through space, continuously away from its source. To me, that means that energy can exist autonomously from the body’s source.”

 Who knew that the lead singer of Slipknot could be not only so deep and intellectual, but also such a minstrel of written word? When not trying to validate his scientific research, Taylor writes as if he is having a direct conversation between himself and the reader. (Sounds kind of familiar; who else does that…who else? Oh screw it, I’ll remember when we’re done and then I’ll get back to you. Now where was I? Oh, yeah!)CT1

“I am no Stephen Hawking, but I would say I lean toward a decent side of the fence. Then again, maybe not – I do say fuck a lot, and apparently using coarse language is a sign of a limited intelligence. Well fuck you too, dick breath. “

On the downside, one may get weary of his long drawn out explanation of his disbelief in religion. I think that it is important for him to shine light on how it is possible for him to believe in the existence of ghosts, yet deny the existence of a higher power. However, after reading (or having it drilled into me) this tangent from pages 14-44, I began to get bored of his lecture like I was a senior in high school in my last week of history class at 2:55 PM.  Don’t you believers worry; he attacks Christians as well as Jews, Islam, Mayans, and even the Egyptians.  Taylor, look, you’re an atheist. Cool, we get it. But I bought a book about ghosts, not about soap boxes, so make with the spooky shit.  I just don’t see the why it was so important to drive this home for 30 pages and then with the random tangents for at minimum,  one page every chapter after that until finished. Make your point and move on. Like I’m doing now.

Corey TaylorAnother complaint is that there are no pictures. Who in the hell writes a book about ghosts and haunted houses and doesn’t include any pictures? Well, to be fair there is a total five pictures of the haunted spots, but nothing that doesn’t look like it has been put through Instagram and cropped to show the shadow spaces, and seven pictures of Taylor from cover to cover. (Hmm…imagine that.)

Look, overall this is a really good read, and being that I consider myself a fan of the paranormal phantasmagoric entities that allegedly exist spontaneously into our human dimension that is a mere thin veil of time and space, this now gives me a new perspective that I have never considered before when the debate arises. After all, it alludes to a better rationale that “they’re stuck in the middle”, or “they’ve returned to the place they are most familiar with”, or my favorite “it’s because they had a tragic accident” (yeah, that’s it Egon).  Get it, read it, nourish it for what it is worth, and then pull it out to quote it the next time your drunken friends want to use a Ouija board to contact Elvis.

-R.R.

RR2 cropped 

Death once had a near-Renfield Rasputin-experience.