Legendary Artist Frank Frazetta Has Passed Away

On May 10, 2010, the master of fantasy art, Frank Frazetta, passed away due to a stroke at 82 years old.

Being a Robert E. Howard fan, Frazetta's work has been a part of my life since I was a kid. My mother even had two mirror/paintings of Frazetta's. They were paintings of Conan, which she didn't know, she just liked them! His work in comics and book covers is legendary. His art has inspired my writing and fantasy RPG gaming countless times over the years.

Fantasy fans world wide will feel the void his passing has left.

Rest in peace, Mr Frazetta, and thank you for sharing your incredible art with us all.

Official website: http://www.frankfrazetta.net/

Happy Mother's Day

Oh What A Night
by Paul Ingrassia

A steady beeping woke Francine, and it made her head feel like a pounding bass drum.

“What a freakin’ night,” she tried sitting up, but met with resistance.

Her eyes snapped open, but it took a moment for her vision to clear. Slowly, a small room with stark white walls and no windows or doors came into perspective. Francine saw she was strapped to a gurney, naked, and her belly was swollen. She realized the sound was coming from a monitor she was connected to. Otherwise, the room was barren.

“Where the hell am I?” she screamed. Her only answer was the pinging monitor.

“What happened last night? What’s wrong with my stomach?” Confusion turned to panic.

“Okay Francine, calm down, you’ve gotta think this through. I went to see the Misfits with Stacy, and we met those two hot guys. After the concert, we went back to their place to party. God, I got so wasted. Then what happened? Wait, that’s right, I went into the bedroom with the big guy to make out. Yes, I… I remember! He started tearing my clothes off, I tried to stop him, but he was so forceful. It hurt when he took me, so I started screaming for Stacy, but he wouldn’t stop. So I… holy shit! What did I do? NO! I bashed his head in with that ashtray. Oh my God, I hope I didn’t kill him!”

Sweat beaded across her body and she started shivering. Then, she felt a strange sensation in her belly, as if something were moving around inside her.

“What the hell is going on! Stacy! Stacy, where are you?”

There was a sudden whooshing sound as one of the walls slid open, then Stacy, wearing a white lab coat, stepped in.

“Stacy, what is going on? Why are you wearing that coat?”

“Francine, I am not who you think I am.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I am a scientist from the planet you call Mars. You have been selected for an extremely important experiment.”

“What the hell are you talking about? We’ve been friends for six years. For Christ’s sake, we even slept together!”

“As I said, you were selected. It was my job to make certain you would be a suitable host, and that included making sure you could handle rough intercourse. The males of our species are quite ferocious, so impregnation can be painful.”

“Impregnation? Oh my God, are you saying I am having an alien baby!?!”

“What I am saying is you have the honor of being the first host to carry a Martian-Human hybrid child.” Stacy began preparing a syringe. “You will be giving birth momentarily.”

“It only happened last night…”

“Actually, it happened thirty days ago, you have been under sedation. The gestation cycle is complete, the time has come. It is a shame you will not witness the historic moment.”

“What do you mean?”

“A tribunal decided you must be executed for the crime of killing our breeding stud. He was only a teenager. I am sorry, but you will be euthanized after the birth. You will never see your child,” she inserted the needle into Francine’s arm. “Goodbye, Francine.”

“Stacy, please, no! Please, help me, don’t… do this… please… Stacy…”

Francine’s vision faded to black.

Collecting Crapsey

My Adelaide Crapsey collection consisted of, up until this week, the standard essential books: Smith's Complete Poem's and Collected Letters and Alkalay-Gut's Alone in the Dawn. This week I have had the pleasure of adding three items to my collection.

The first, a copy of Crapsey's Verse published by Manas Press. This is the first edition from 1915. It is probably the one single book I have always wanted, at least since first reading Crapsey's work. Want to know the exciting part? It is in great shape, and I only paid $10 plus $4 shipping! Considering I never see it listed for less than $45, I consider this to be a great find!

The second, a copy of Century magazine from November 1914 that I purchased on ebay. This magazine contains the only professional publication Crapsey had within her lifetime, just prior to her death. It contains the poem 'The Witch'. Along with a first edition of Verse, I consider this to be one of the most important Crapsey collectibles. This copy is in pretty good shape, the cover has some tearing and chipping, but otherwise not too bad. The price tag? Only $15.97, plus $4.95 shipping. Again, I feel a good price.

The third has me particularly excited, Woman's Home Companion magazine from March 1928. Why so excited? I have never seen this reprint of Adelaide's work listed in any bibliography or publication list for her. I purchased it from the same ebay seller as Century. The listing contained a table of contents with the mysterious line:

POEMS / LIMERICKS (Title/Author/Illustrator)
Unknown title / Adelaide Crapsey / photo

I quickly clicked the 'buy it now' button and sat back to wait and see what I got. It arrived the same day as Verse. I tore open the package and carefully flipped the pages. I found a page containing a photo of a slanted tree, and below it the poem 'On Seeing Weather-Beaten Trees', however it was untitled. It is credited to Crapsey from Verse, courtesy of Alred Knopf. This over-sized magazine is in very good shape, and it set me back only $23.97 plus $4.95 shipping. Again, to the best of my knowledge this is an unknown reprint of Crapsey's work. If anyone else has heard of this reprint before, please let me know, and where you heard of it, if possible. As a matter of fact, if anyone knows of any comprehensive bibliography of Crapsey's work/reprints, besides Alkalay-Gut's most excellent website, please share the info!

So, now my Crapsey collection has gotten a great jumpstart. What are my future collecting plans? I'm glad you asked! I plan on finding copies of the second and third editions of Verse put out by Knopf in 1922 and 1934, possibly the extra printings of these editions as well (put out 1925 and 1929 for 2nd, and 1939 for 3rd). I am also considering picking up some of the modern reprints as well. I know, I know, a bit obsessive, but she only has one book of poetry, so it stands to reason collecting various editions adds to the thrill. I also plan on picking up a first edition of her A Study of English Metrics, Knopf 1918. I will pursue any reprints of her poetry I can track down, like A Book of Vassar Verse and other anthologies. I would like to pick up the books by Osborn and Butscher, as well as Bragdon's' books that reference Crapsey. Eventually, I will probably pick up Sandburg and Ridge's books containing their poetic tributes to Crapsey. For someone like Adelaide with such a short life and low poetic output, there surely is quite a bit for the collector to chase.

I would love to hear stories of other people's Crapsey collections, items, and finds, and if anyone has any of the titles I mentioned and are looking to part with them, or any other Crapsey collectibles, I would love to hear from you!

Regards,
Paul Ingrassia

The Emperor Returns

Tom G. Fischer, the Emperor of extreme occult metal, is back! His latest band, Triptykon, completes his musical triptych of extreme occult metal (Hellhammer~Celtic Frost~Triptykon). Eparistera Daimones is an album I was highly anticipating. I purchased the mp3 version (wanted that instant gratification), and it came with a digital booklet, which is a very cool extra, containing images, lyrics, and liner notes. Every digital album should include one!

The music is no disappointment either. Extremely heavy, generally fast with slower parts mixed in, and of course Fischer's signature vocals, although he sounds even angrier and raspier than usual. Triptykon is well conceived and well constructed death/occult metal, and Fischer has selected a talented band to back him up.

Every song on this album is a dark piece of musical artwork, but my top 3 personal faves are:

Abyss Within My Soul
A Thousand Lies
Myopic Empire

The Japanese release contains a bonus track, which I have heard is awesome. I have also heard that an EP is planned for later in the year, so perhaps it will contain the bonus song.

Triptykon's homepage: http://www.triptykon.net/

RIP Peter Steele (1962-2010)

I read the news last night, oh boy. I was devastated, Peter Steele, legendary frontman of Type O Negative and Carnivore, died April 14, 2010 of apparent heart failure. Just like that, in an instant, one of the most unique, creative, and intelligent voices in Metal history was silenced forever.

I remember, back in the 1980s, first hearing Carnivore and saying "Holy fuck! It doesn't get much heavier than this!" I remember when Slow, Deep, and Hard came out, I raced to the record store to buy it thinking "Fuck yea, Pete's back".

I can't successfully express in any words what Pete Steele and his music have done for me over the years. His lyrics have expressed some of my deepest emotions for me. His music has brought out the primal in me, as well as the scholar. How many Heavy Metal band lyrics actually send you researching the meaning of words? His work has inspired my own writing in many ways. Bloody Kisses is one of the all-time best albums to have sex to! He wrote violent, shocking, and sometimes comical songs, quite serious but at the same time often tongue-in-cheek. Pete's music was and is an outlet for me, in more ways than I can count.

Personally, the saddest part for me is that I never got to see Pete perform live. I've always called it the 'Type O curse'. Over the twenty plus years I have been a fan of his work, every single time I was planning to see him live, something inevitably happened to cause me to miss the show. Everything from rides not showing up to bring me to the show, to friends forgetting or neglecting to get me tickets, and more. The absolute worst was Ozzfest in the late nineties, Type O was on the bill along with a shitload of other bands. I had tickets, I was on my way, finally I was going to see Type O! Mere minutes away from the Meadowlands in NJ where the show was happening, one of the cars travelling with us died. Actually, died is an understatement. It literally spewed oil into the air like a shower of black tears. The car owner stayed with his vehicle, the rest of his passengers jumped into other cars that were traveling with us. We finally got there, I was pumped to see Type O. On the floor, I ran into a friend and told them how psyched I was for Type O. My friend looked at me and said "Dude, you missed them. They were the openers, and they were awesome." I was beyond disappointed.

Now, my chance to see Pete perform live has passed forever. My loss. My tears.

I'm really not sure what else to say, other than a huge hole has been left in the world of Metal. NOBODY WILL EVER FILL THE SHOES OF PETE STEELE.

In tribute to Pete and his bands here are some links to check out:

Official Type O website, includes official statements from his band mates: http://www.typeonegative.net/index.php

Check out Pete's earliest recorded material, a band called Fallout: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jquW3AEZ_E

One of the Gods of Metal is dead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mlM1ZFcw3M

Perhaps Pete is finally at peace, his Inner Conflict finally ended: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw3BuORXZFg

This one is for you Pete, you've told us Everything Dies, and now you've shown us (I'm listening to this one, tears streaming): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ3aiM8K6D0&feature=fvsr

I can't tell you how many times over the years I have said I Don't Wanna Be Me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXIWRan3XGY

Probably one of my favorite Type O songs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEfeR-4DzMQ

And finally, the two songs from Bloody Kisses that propelled Pete and the boys into Metal stardom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0LSO-dtsxo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFwYJYl5GUQ

GOODBYE, PETER. YOU WILL BE SORELY MISSED, YOUR INFLUENCE WILL LIVE FOREVER. ALL THAT IS LEFT TO SAY IS THAT I HOPE YOU HAVE FINALLY FOUND PEACE. YOU HAVE ARRIVED AT WHAT YOU HAVE WISHED FOR FOR A LIFETIME. I HOPE DEATH HOLDS FOR YOU ALL YOU DREAMED IT WOULD.

Love your fan for all eternity,
Paul Ingrassia


Photo swiped from: http://muzyka.xlonline.pl/peter-steele-znowu-umiera-2/music/

SLEEPYTIME GORILLA MUSEUM

Risen from the ashes of the awesome anti-rock performance band Idiot Flesh, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum is a band that can truly be called eclectic, strange, and unclassifiable. Their music can be melodic, artistic, creepy, and ass-kicking heavy, all in the same song. As far as genre, good luck, single songs contain multiple genres. Think the love child of opera raped by death metal and raised as the adopted son of folk theater and prog rock. In short, fucking awesome. Every song on their three studio albums is a unique piece of musical creativity, well-conceived and expertly executed.

Personal faves:

From the album Grand Opening and Closing
Sleep is Wrong
Ambugaton
1997
Sleepytime

From the album Of Natural History
A Hymn to the Morning Star
Donkey-headed Adversary of Humanity
The Freedom Club
The Creature

From the album In Glorious Times
The Companions
Helpless Corpses Enactment
Angle of Repose
The Salt Crown

The best way to understand SGM is to check them out. Their official website: http://www.sleepytimegorillamuseum.com/

Here are a couple of vids. Warning, they are strange, creepy, and fucking awesome, especially 'Hymn'. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Helpless Corpses Enactment

A Hymn to the Morning Star

If you want a real journey into creepy weirdness, check out this vid by Idiot Flesh, the band SGM was before SGM was! Their album Fancy kicks ass.

Idiot Song

Snuff

http://www.noisecreep.com/2009/12/18/slipknot-snuff-short-film-premiere/