Happy Halloween!

I haven't gotten around to dusting off my Mix Tape Fridays — but here's a musical bag of tricks and treats from A Million Miles Away's KS. Better than candy corn!

If you have yet to visit The Big Wicked Online Pageant, keep scrolling down the page. There are some GREAT photos of these folks.

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The Big Wicked Online Pageant

The first annual Big Wicked Online Pageant is here! Visit these blog-ghouls and e-goblins. Leave trick or treat comments. Discover new bloggers. Then come back here and let us know whose photos are your faves.

We're adding new pageant contestants nearly every hour, so check back regularly. There are some great costumed memories on the blogs this week!

• Dan at All Things Dan

• Barbara Bruederlin at Bad Tempered Zombie

• Dguzman at Beginning to Bird *

• Cormac Brown at Cormac Writes

• Beth at A Cup of Coffey

• Samurai Frog at Electronic Cerebrectomy *

• Sean at Everything Is Pop, Pop Is Everything

• Allison at Flying Buttresses

• Gifted Typist at The Gifted Typist *

• Grant Miller at Grant Miller Media

• MNmom at Happy to Be from Iowa *

• Johnny Yen at Here Comes Johnny Yen Again *

• Splotchy at I, Splotchy

• McGone at International House of Blogcakes *

• Brothers Tony Alva and Mathdude, together at Intravenus de Milo *

• Marni at It’s a Pug’s Life

• Lulu at Land-o-Lulu

• The Dena at Linkadelica *

• Dr. Monkey von Monkerstein at Monkey Muck

• Gizmorox at My Head Is a Box Filled with Nothing *

• Dale at Passion of the Dale

• BeckEye at The Pop Eye *

• Flannery Alden at Prone to Whimsy *

• Artful Dodger at Rants Raves Life and Anything Else That Comes *

• Katrocket at Rocketradio

• Doc at Social Zymurgy: Culture of Beer

• Skyler’s Dad at Some Days It's Not Worth Chewing Through the Leather Straps *

• Chris at Some Guy’s Blog *

• Bubs at Sprawling Ramshackle Compound

• Suze at Suzel’s Sass *

• Tanya's Alexander at Tanya Espanya *

• GETkristiLOVE at Two Minutes in the Box *

• Evil Genius at What I Like About the Universe

• Red at What I Like About the Universe

• Cap'n Ergo "XL" Jinglebollocks at With a Twist of Lemon *

Check back later today and throughout the week, as other blog-ghouls plan to post photos in the coming hours and days.

* Tuesday's newbies!
* Wednesday's children!
* Thursday's players!

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My Moment in the Big Wicked Moon

So here I am, hosting the first annual Big Wicked Online Pageant — and I can’t find a Halloween photo from my youth. ‘Tis a sad thing, as Halloween was just about my favorite day of the year. I got to dress up, run around the neighborhood with Holly and Renae, and bag tons o’ candy. I usually went as a gypsy, with lots and lots of baubles accenting brightly colored skirts. (Come to think of it, I still dress like a gypsy two days out of five.)

But I’m not going to let something like poorly archived family photos keep me from playing — so here I am in a rather creative costume, circa 1990:



That’s me: the opening credits to the Twilight Zone. Fun costume, but I ended up being a literal wallflower since I always had to stay within extension-cord distance of a wall socket.

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The GMMP Great Eight

Looks like we have a great eight for my GMMP challenge — those musically daring souls willing to connect six degrees of artists or songs:

• iSplotchy’s GMMP master, Splotchy

• Allen L

• Bad Tempered Zombie’s Barbara

• The Pop Eye's BeckEye

• Monkey Muck’s Dr. Monkey von Monkerstein

• The KatBox’s Glassmeow

• A Million Miles Away’s KS

• And me!

We’re waiting on a couple entries — then we’ll hit PLAY and roll this mix tape, with Splotchy and me posting everyone's six. The kids will be tracing their six degrees of musical brilliance on their pages, as well.

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Six Degrees of the GMMP

Now that Splotchy has resurrected the Green Monkey Music Project, he’s offered the GMMP masters the opportunity to helm our own mix. I’ve missed my weekly mix tapes (but still can’t find the time to put them together), so I’m grabbing this opportunity to semi-mix.

The theme: Six Degrees of Music

The idea: As with Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, you need to connect six degrees of musicians or songs. For example:

• The Box Tops: “The Letter” (Alex Chilton, lead singer)
• Big Star: “Kizza Me” (Alex Chilton, lead singer)
• Alex Chilton: “Make a Little Love”
• The Replacements: “Alex Chilton”
• The Replacements: “I Will Dare” (Peter Buck, guitar)
• R.E.M.: “Jesus Christ”

Your sixth-degree connections can be by musicians, or cover tunes, or whatever musical notes you come up with.

We need six people to monkey around with Splotchy and me. Are you up for the challenge? Leave a comment here, and start connecting your musical dots.

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The One Wonders Meme

Fellow metro Atlantan Mathman6293 tagged me for an interesting meme: answering one-word questions. I need to get back in blogging shape, so let’s go, Number One!

1. Clothes: Whenever I’m in public, absolutely. At home, maybe. Oh, you mean where do I get them? Wherever a display grabs my attention. I’m more of a visual shopper, less of a label one.

2. Furniture: As with clothes, wherever something strikes my fantasy.

3. Sweet: If I’m slugging at home, it’s Häagen-Dazs’ Vanilla Swiss Almond with hot fudge sauce or Magic Shell. If I’m out, whatever sounds most decadent and gooey.

4. City: San Francisco, with Paris and New York City very close behind.

5. Drink: Since Coaster Punchman’s visit, I’ve been hung up on grapefruit margaritas. I guess I’m not ready to stop reliving that magical night.

6. Music: It’s my reason for living. Here’s a little secret: R.E.M. is my favorite band evah.

7. TV Series: Pushing Daisies

8. Film: I can’t pick just one, so here are some of my favorites: An Affair to Remember, Diva, Wings of Desire, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Amelie, Bridget Jones' Diary, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Harold and Maude, Parting Glances, All About Eve, The Evil Dead trilogy, The Women (the original), The Philadephia Story, Truly Madly Deeply

9. Workout: Lately, my most vigorous workouts have been chair-dancing at my desk at work. I’m starting a new vigorous regimen in a couple weeks, though.

10. Pastries: The chocolate croissants at the DeKalb Farmers Market — they’re perfect.

11. Coffee: Strong dark roast (preferably French), black. If I hit Java Monkey on my way to work, it’s a 16-ounce skim latte with an extra shot.


And now the 1s I’m tapping:

• Eebie at Modern Day Hobo has one-upped!
• Red at What I Like About the Universe has cussed me and one-upped!
• Skyler’s Dad at Some Days It’s Not Worth … has one-upped!
• Pagan at The Pagan Sphinx has one-upped!
• Mathdude at Eating Chicken Vindaloo has finally one-upped!

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The Power Pop Return of the GMMP

The beloved and musically brilliant Splotchy has resurrected the beloved and musically brilliant Green Monkey Music Project with the Power Pop Mix Tape. Having been undercover from the blogworld for several months (I’ve watched “Fringe” a bit much, haven’t I?), I nearly missed my opportunity to play. I begged Splotchy … bargained with him … offered cash bribes … and he finally relented.

Plus, the musical nerd occupying most of my soul was highly offended over a power pop mix tape without a single Big Star track — considered to be THE power pop group. And I worried that some of you may not be familiar with Big Star — a sad, sad thing. So let’s spend a few moments in music school.

Alex Chilton started his music career as lead singer in The Box Tops, which evolved from a band he started during high school in Memphis. The band scored with blue-eyed soul classics such as “The Letter,” “Cry Like a Baby,” and “Sweet Cream Ladies.” Alex was 16 when he recorded “The Letter”; next time you listen (which you can do as you read this, if you click the link below), remind yourself he was a kid.

Chilton joined Chris Bell’s Big Star in 1971. They recorded three brilliant albums — #1 Record (1972) Radio City (1974), and Third/Sister Lovers (1978) — none of which sold well. BUT. Big Star was a big influence on some of the best groups in the 1980s, including my beloveds R.E.M. and The Replacements. Chris Bell was killed in a car accident in 1978. Alex Chilton now performs solo, and also has reformed Big Star with Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow.

But who wants to read when music’s dying to play? Here are my GMMP Power Pop selections:

The Box Tops :: The Letter

Big Star :: Don’t Lie to Me

Big Star :: September Gurls

R.E.M. :: Jesus Christ

Alex Chilton :: Thing for You

The Replacements :: Alex Chilton

Cheap Trick :: In the Street (That 70s Show theme)

The Posies :: What’s Going Ahn

A mix tape for me is like a bag of Lay’s Potato Chips — I can’t havee just eight. So here are a few more Big Star songs and covers, to give you a hint of their influence:

Big Star :: Kizza Me

Afghan Whigs :: Nighttime

Jeff Buckley :: Kanga-Roo

Wilco :: Thirteen

Yo La Tengo :: Take Care

I hope I’ve sold y’all on Big Star, that you're dancing in your chair and singing loud enough to bug those sitting near you.

And welcome back, Splotchy’s Green Monkey Music Project!

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The Big Wicked Online Pageant

A couple of years ago, this blog circle participated in quite the entertaining online event: The Little Miss Sunshine Online Pageant. Participants posted a grade-school photo, and Dale and I linked to those posts on our blogs. The contest was a smash, with about thirty folks posting their lovely piccies, and people from far and wide clicked their way across our blogworld. It was a hoot seeing who was a third-grade hottie and who was fourth-grade nottie.

I was a nottie.

Some of us discovered new blogs to read, so it was well worth the time to dig through the boxes in mama’s attic. But we haven’t done anything fun like that since 2006.

That is, not until Bubs over at Sprawling Ramshackle Compound put on his cocktailing thinking cap. He contacted Dale and me with a great idea: posting our favorite Halloween costume photos. Ideally, these would be photos from your childhood — but we’re easy. We’re talking the ultimate in tricks and treats!

Rules for The Big Wicked Online Pageant

• Scan a photo from your Halloween past.

• Post it on your blog Monday evening, October 28.

• Once you post your photo, e-mail me at the address on the navbar. If you can, include the URL to that specific post.

• I’ll post a link to every participant’s blog Tuesday morning by 9 a.m.

So start digging through your archives. Warm up the scanner. Get ready to don your best Halloween masks!

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Coffeyfornication

Last week, while debunking the myths surrounding this summer’s disappearance, I noted the following:

I am not the reason why David Duchovny checked into that sex-addict rehab clinic. But he’s going to be in town next month shooting a movie, so maybe I can work in a relapse.

Since I posted last week's not-so-juicy gossip morsel, Sitemeter has informed me that the blog has had several West Coast hits — from Los Angeles and Seattle, Portland and San Francisco — via this Google phrase:

coffey duchovny

Methinks Duchovny’s looking for me. And a relapse.

I feel a bit guilty, though. I loved Tea Leoni in Ghost Town — and, well, in anything she does — so I’d hate to cause her heartache.

But. He’s been on my Top 5 lists since 1995 … so suck it, Bree Sharp!

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