Halloween / Dia de los Muertos 2005
Umlaut got carried away while making a Halloween compilation CD. Actually, that's an understatement.. but the end justifies the madness... 60 songs and a running time of 4 hours. All killer, no filler IMO:
- Highway To Hell - AC/DC
- Welcome To My Nightmare - Alice Cooper
- Little Demon - The Amazing Crowns
- Devil In My Car - The B-52s
- Bela Lugosi's Dead - Bauhaus
- Helter Skelter - The Beatles
- Release The Bats - The Birthday Party
- Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
- (Don't Fear) The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult
- A Fistful Of Terror - The Bomboras
- Werewolves On Wheels - The Born Losers
- Scary Monsters - David Bowie
- The Munsters Theme - Comateens
- Creature From The Black Leather Lagoon - The Cramps
- I Put A Spell On You - Creedence Clearwater Revival
- Smash It Up - The Damned
- Black Shuck - The Darkness
- Extrasensory Deception - Dave Allen & the Phantom Surfers
- The Creature Stole My Surfboard - Dead Elvi
- Halloween - Dead Kennedys
- Psychic Voodoo Doll - Deadbolt
- The End - The Doors
- Halloween - The Dream Syndicate
- Ribcage Mambo - Frenchy
- Banshee Beach - The Ghastly Ones
- Evil - Howlin' Wolf
- Killer Wolf - The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
- Dead Souls - Joy Division
- Spooks Night Out - The Legendary Invisible Men
- Jack The Ripper - Link Wray
- The Munsters Theme - Los Straitjackets
- Everyday Is Halloween - Ministry
- Halloween - The Misfits
- 19 Witches - Monster Magnet
- Halloween - Mudhoney
- (You Must Fight To Live) On The Planet Of The Apes - The Mummies
- Teenagers From Mars - The Network
- Frankenstein - New York Dolls
- Up Jumped The Devil - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
- Dead Man's Party - Oingo Boingo
- Burn The Witch - Queens Of The Stone Age
- Pet Sematary - Ramones
- The Halloween Dance - Reverend Horton Heat
- Dragula - Rob Zombie
- Halloween (She Got So Mean) - Rob Zombie w/ The Ghastly Ones
- I Drink Blood - Rocket From The Crypt
- The Time Warp - The Rocky Horror Picture Show
- Creature With The Atom Brain - Roky Erickson
- Sympathy For The Devil - Rolling Stones
- Gravewalk - Satan's Pilgrims
- Halloween - Siouxsie & The Banshees
- This Corrosion - The Sisters Of Mercy
- Halloween - Sonic Youth
- The Witch - The Sonics
- Werewolf - Southern Culture On The Skids
- Born With A Tail - Supersuckers
- No Costume No Candy - Swingin' Neckbreakers
- Boris The Spider - The Who
- Werewolves Of London - Warren Zevon
- The Number Of The Beast - Iron Maiden
BauhausThe Warfield, San Francisco
October 26, 2005
Umlaut blew off the 1998 Bauhaus reunion tour and regretted it afterwards. It seems like alot of folks go through a "Bauhaus phase" during their formative years. Umlaut's "Bauhaus phase" was when I was a hungover English / Lit Major in the mid-80's. Baudelaire 'N Bauhaus. I was so fucking *deep* and reeking of LI-TER-RAH-CHA. I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.
You'll NEVER guess what color most of the crowd was wearing.... NOPE! It was BLACK. However, I committed a major Rock fashion faux pas by wearing a Who t-shirt to the show. Obviously, I had inadvertently aligned myself with The Mods, but no Brighton-style fisticuffs erupted. Thankfully, like North and South Korea, the uneasy truce between Mods and Goths remains intact.
Something else that wasn't very Goth was The Sheriff & Friends telling Umlaut about a fantastic new restaurant (Medicine on Sutter St.). No matter, Umlaut will dine there soon and will wear BLACK. That being said, have you noticed that most Goth musicians seem to age better than Southern Rock musicians? Discuss amongst yourselves.
The opening shot of Burning From The Inside > In The Flat Field made me want to break out the black lipstick. The band was amazingly tight and sounded phenomenal. I was completely locked into Daniel Ash and David J.'s musicianship. Damn if Daniel Ash isn't my new Guitar God after all these years.
It was cool to see the original Bauhaus lineup onstage with the original Love & Rockets lineup and 2/3 of Tones On Tail. I wonder how many smartass hipsters shouted out "Kundalini Express!" during the show. Leather jackets with the Love & Rockets Express artwork painted on the back = 1.
She's In Parties set off a frothy Goth frenzy that was made more entertaining by a trio of Goth girls on the main floor singing along, complete with Goth hand gestures. It's in the can. During the storming encore of Bela Lugosi's Dead > Slice Of Life > Telegram Sam > Ziggy Stardust I had a brief but very profound flashback of being 25-years old again. I was so fucking *deep* and reeking of LI-TER-RAH-CHA back then. However, I wasn't happy like I am now. I love when music reminds you to have perspective like that. I am your slice of life.
This was my 29th concert this year and I'm 5 behind my pace from this same time last year. I must be getting old. If you bought one of every Bauhaus merch item you would have paid $190. On the way back to the car, some pimply-faced teenagers called me a fag. A girl on the main floor had a bright red mohawk and a boy had a bright purple mohawk. Too bad they weren't together.
Since Halloween comes but once a year, Umlaut should recount the Halloween gigs he's seen over the years:
Y&T / Motley Crue - Concord Pavilion, Concord, CA - Halloween 1982 - This was a couple of years before Y&T started wearing stupid stage clothes and writing stupid songs. I hated Motley Crue. My friends hated Motley Crue. We had front row seats and were flipping the Crue off as soon as they hit the stage. After several songs, Nikki Sixx stopped trying to win us over and flipped us off and challenged one (or all of us) to come onstage. None of us were that stupid. We continued to flip him off until one of their roadies came over and told us to stop or we'd be kicked out! What the fuck?! I still hate Motley Crue.
Metallica - The Keystone, Palo Alto, CA - Halloween 1983 - The show was sponsored by local Rock radio station KOME (R.I.P.) and a DJ hosted a lame costume contest. Cliff Burton (R.I.P.) watched it from the side of the stage. At the conclusion of Metallica's set, S.F. major rager Rich Birch (R.I.P.) came onstage with a sledgehammer ala the cover of the Kill 'Em All album (Pic by Umlaut). A classic moment. Old Metalheads will remember Rich's quote that was immortalized on the back cover of Kill 'Em All.
Sonic Youth - The Warfield, S.F. - Halloween 1990 - The band came onstage in costume. Kim was dressed in a tight catsuit. Thurston was a mummy. I can't remember how Steve and Lee were costumed. Thurston's costume was simply toilet paper wrapped around his head and street clothes. He started spinning around and around during a solo and the paper started unraveling off him. It looked cool. The lobby of The Warfield was filled with dry ice before the show and the inside was decorated for the occasion. They even handed out souvenir buttons at the door.The Mummies - The Chameleon, S.F. - Halloween 1991 - The Mummies in The Mission on All Hallow's Eve! While making my way to the gig there was a mini-van on Mission St. that had obviously stopped for a traffic light when something went terribly wrong. It was abandoned in the middle of the street and all of its tires were slashed and all of the windows had been smashed. TRICK! The Mummies ruled.
The Cramps - Bimbo's, S.F. - Halloween 1993 - They were billed as The Creatures from the Black Leather Lagoon (HA HA). A guy in the crowd was in costume as a giant can of beer. The costume was made out of cardboard and at one point he jumped into the pit and started dancing / thrashing around. The band even took notice of the giant dancing / thrashing can of beer as they played. A few moments later there was a small eruption in the crowd and the cardboard came flying up in the air and landed on the stage at Lux's feet. I didn't see what happened to the guy. Twas one of the funniest things I've ever seen at a show.
The Strokes / Mooney Suzuki - Bill Graham Civic, S.F. - Halloween 2001 - Miatomic and Umlaut made fun of Mooney Suzuki (for good reason). The Strokes played their hits. We sat next to Electra Woman but the dominant costume seemed to be Aloof Scenester with cigarette.
Trivia: Umlaut has dressed in drag twice for Halloween. Once as Yoko Ono and another time as a Flight Attendant (complete with fishnet stockings and makeup). Yes, there are pictures. No, you can't see them.
The Halloween Monster House of San Rafael (Pic by Umlaut)
"Bonfires burning bright,
Pumpkin faces in the night,
I remember Halloween."
- The Misfits
