Now here's an oddity... a NEW music video for a 25 year old song.
But not just any song... a song I actually WROTE and RECORDED. It was released as a 12-inch single. For the yung'ins out there, there used to be big, black, shiny plastic things called "records" - a 12-inch one usually held an entire album's (or "LP" - "long players") worth of songs, sometimes as much as 15 of 'em; occasionally, it only held 2-3 songs which was considered a "12-inch single" or 4-6 songs, generally considered an "EP" ("extended play").
I wrote the song under my birth name, Paul Castiglia but recorded it under the stage name, Paul Cast. It was called Cuttin' Loose.
DISCLAIMER: I was in college at the time I wrote it, so it's filled with idealism and angst as you'd expect. And typical 1980s cheesiness, of course!
My good friend El Kaye (who is also responsible for stoking my love of Wheeler & Woolsey movies) graciously offered her video editing talents to conceive a classic style music video for the track composed of public domain footage and some old photos of me taken for the photo shoot of the single's sleeve (the cardboard covering with which consumers kept the record when not in use, which doubled as informative packaging and protection for the disc).
Most of the public domain clips in the video come from classroom "scare" films of the 1950s, newsreels, instructional films and the like. There is also a brief animated bit from a promo film from a car dealer, some scenes from a TV show called The Buccaneer and a quick piece from Bela Lugosi's Shadows of Chinatown movie serial. Most of all, you'll witness sublime clips from the cautionary tale, Boy with a Knife (including some featuring Chuck Connors).
No horror clips to speak of (unless you count the jack-o-lantern) and mostly unintentional comedy, but what the heck - some of you out there may consider the whole experience a "horror-comedy!"
Without further ado, here's the music video for Cuttin' Loose - ENJOY (or NOT)!
Attention all comic book fans: this coming Saturday, April 20th it's time for another SUPERHEROES FOR HOSPICE Charity Comic Book Sale. I'll be one of the guests in attendance and I'll have copies of much of my work through the years with me, including my ARCHIE'S WEIRD MYSTERIES and VINCENT PRICE books. As always, there will also be (long) boxes and boxes of comics for sale from all decades as well as other great comics creators on hand to autograph comics, do sketches and sell original art. Proceeds benefit Barnabas Health Hospice and Palliative Care Center.
The event takes place from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. at the Barnabas Health Corporate Office, located at 95 Old Short Hills Road in West Orange (directly across the street from Saint Barnabas Medical Center). Admission is free. For more information or to make a comic book donation to Superheroes for Hospice, please contact Spiro Ballas at sballas@barnabashealth.org or 973-322-4866. You can also read more specifics about this Saturday's event when you click here.
Now here’s a clip from the audio/video podcast, “Fever Keeps It Real” – the fine
folks who run the show, Paul and Linda Wein dropped by one of our previous “Superheroes for Hospice<” events and interviewed me
about Archie’s Weird Mysteries and the charity starting at 3:46 – enjoy!
Hey gang, just a quick reminder - this Thursday, April 18th (which is tomorrow as I type this but may not be as you're reading it) I'm back in Bridgeport, Connecticut for another BEDLAM AT THE BIJOU double-feature screening. Yes, Brian Solomon has graciously invited me back as his special guest for an inspired double-feature of the classic Rankin-Bass monster bash MAD MONSTER PARTY and a film it helped inspire, TIM BURTON’S THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. We’ll talk about the films, give out cool goodies, do trivia and whatnot. I’ll also have ARCHIE’S WEIRD MYSTERIES and VINCENT PRICE books available for sale there (I’ll sign them, too).
The fun takes place on Thursday, April 18th starting at 7PM. The theater is located at 275 Fairfield Avenue in Bridgeport, Connecticut and you can phone them at (203) 332-3228 or email info@thebijoutheatre.com for more information. You can also visit the site for this screening by clicking here.
Now enjoy the trailer for THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS!
Hello again, folks! I want to thank those who stopped on by to see me at the Asbury Park Comic Con a few weeks ago. My spring tour of the Tri-State Area continues this week with not one but two stops! First, this Thursday, April 18th I’ll be back in Bridgeport, Connecticut for another BEDLAM AT THE BIJOU double-feature screening. Yes, Brian Solomon has graciously invited me back as his special guest for an inspired double-feature of the classic Rankin-Bass monster bash MAD MONSTER PARTY and a film it helped inspire, TIM BURTON’S THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. We’ll talk about the films, give out cool goodies, do trivia and whatnot. I’ll also have ARCHIE’S WEIRD MYSTERIES and VINCENT PRICE books available for sale there (I’ll sign them, too).
The fun takes place on Thursday, April 18th starting at 7PM. The theater is located at 275 Fairfield Avenue in Bridgeport, Connecticut and you can phone them at (203) 332-3228 or email info@thebijoutheatre.com for more information. You can also visit the site for this screening by clicking here.
This coming Saturday I’ll be back in my home state of New Jersey for another SUPERHEROES FOR HOSPICE Charity Comic Book Sale. This will be another full-service show where I’ll have the works with me. As always, there will also be (long) boxes and boxes of comics for sale from all decades as well as other great comics creators on hand to autograph comics, do sketches and sell original art. Proceeds benefit Barnabas Health Hospice and Palliative Care Center.
The event takes place from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 20th at the Barnabas Health Corporate Office, located at 95 Old Short Hills Road in West Orange (directly across the street from Saint Barnabas Medical Center). Admission is free. For more information or to make a comic book donation to Superheroes for Hospice, please contact Spiro Ballas at sballas@barnabashealth.org or 973-322-4866. You can also read more specifics about this Saturday's event when you click here.
Now here’s the trailer for Mad Monster Party – ENJOY!
Okay fans, last week I mentioned my upcoming appearance at the Asbury Park Comic Con this weekend. Turns out it’s just one stop on what I’ve decided to call the “Paul Castiglia’s SPRINGING INTO ACTION Tri-State Tour!” You’ll have several chances to meet and greet me, and if you’re so inclined, get an autographed book or comic in the process.
Yes, it all starts at the Jersey Shore in Asbury Park, birthplace of Bud Abbott, the celebrated straight man who met more Universal Monsters than even makeup maestro Jack Pierce. I’ll be at the Asbury Park Comic Con this Saturday, March 30 from 10 a.m to 6 p.m. This will be a full-service show as I’ll be bringing all I can carry – not just my ARCHIE’S WEIRD MYSTERIES and VINCENT PRICE books but also a variety of books I’ve edited including volumes from the ARCHIE AMERICANA SERIES, a variety of comics for which I’ve written stories, some SONIC THE HEDGEHOG collections featuring my tales and a new text book to which I contributed a chapter, WITH GREAT POWER.
On April 18th I hop on back to Bridgeport, Connecticut for another BEDLAM AT THE BIJOU double-feature screening. Yes, Brian Solomon has graciously invited me back as his special guest for an inspired double-feature of the classic Rankin-Bass monster bash MAD MONSTER PARTY and a film it helped inspire, TIM BURTON’S THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. We’ll talk about the films, give out cool goodies, do trivia and whatnot. I’ll also have ARCHIE’S WEIRD MYSTERIES and VINCENT PRICE books available for sale there.
The fun takes place on Thursday, April 18th starting at 7PM. The theater is located at 275 Fairfield Avenue in Bridgeport, Connecticut and you can contact them at (203) 332-3228 or info@thebijoutheatre.com for more information.
A couple days later I’m back in my home state, good ‘ol New Jersey for another SUPERHEROES FOR HOSPICE Charity Comic Book Sale. This will be another full-service show where I’ll have the works with me. As always, there will also be (long) boxes and boxes of comics for sale from all decades as well as other great comics creators on hand to autograph comics, do sketches and sell original art. Proceeds benefit Barnabas Health Hospice and Palliative Care Center.
The event takes place from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 20th at the Barnabas Health Corporate Office, located at 95 Old Short Hills Road in West Orange (directly across the street from Saint Barnabas Medical Center). Admission is free. For more information or to make a comic book donation to Superheroes for Hospice, please contact Spiro Ballas at sballas@barnabashealth.org or 973-322-4866.
Last but certainly not least, it’s off to the Bronx, New York where once again I’m involved with KIDS COMIC CON. This year I’m mostly volunteering at the great event that caters to kids who love comics. I’ll be helping out in a variety of capacities including conducting podcast interviews on the show floor.
I’ll also be dropping by the Archie booth to sign copies of ARCHIE & FRIEND DOUBLE DIGEST #27. This issue is coming out shortly before May 11th, and while my story inside is not new, it is being given the lead-off slot. The background on this one is interesting – originally intended to kick off a 35th issue of ARCHIE’S MYSTERIES, the tale of larcenous illusions called “The Magic Is Back” ended up headlining ARCHIE & FRIENDS #85 instead, as ARCHIE’S MYSTERIES was canceled after its 34th issue. Now, a decade later the story is getting another workout (hey, my work is forever immortalized – long after I’m gone readers will be getting chuckles from my quirky trifles, and I couldn’t be happier. :)
The 2013 KIDS COMIC CON is set for May 11 at Bronx Community College, 181st Street and University Avenue, Bronx, NY from 10 a.m to 6 p.m. Admission is FREE. There will be a TON of great talent at this show including Muppeteers from Sesame Street, animators, comics and children's book artists and even an archery demonstration! The theme for this year's convention is all about making the connections between real science and your favorite comic book heroes. Cool all the way around! For additional information and up-to-the-minute programming updates, please visit www.facebook.com/KidsComiCon. You can also check out the con's official site at www.kidscomiccon.com
Hoping to see some of you during my tour! In the meantime, please enjoy this encore presentation of my television appearance from a couple summers past, talking comics on the appropriately titled show, “Comic Book Conversations” hosted by Scott Golodner and co-starring David Levin. See you in the funny pages!
I think I spoke too soon in my last post... just when I thought I could make some good headway on Scared Silly some unexpected commitments came up! Those will result in some neat comics-related projects though... I will be announcing more specific news soon.
Also falling into place is my personal appearance schedule for the year - so far I've got about eight gigs lined up... and I'll be posting about those soon as well.
In the meantime, I thought it best to promote my most imminent appearance, at the Asbury Park Comic Con on March 30th. Of course, Asbury Park is the legendary Jersey Shore town (hence the bad pun in the title of this post) that gave us everybody's favorite monster-mashing straight man, Bud Abbott!
In any event, I'll be bringing a whole bunch of items to the convention to sign including copies of my ARCHIE'S WEIRD MYSTERIES and VINCENT PRICE books, so please come on by if you're in the area and say "hello!" The fun takes place at the Asbury Park Convention Hall from 10 to 3 on Saturday, March 30th. Click here to go to the convention's official site for more information.
Now enjoy this promotional video about the convention:
How time flies! Especially today, as I pay tribute to Lou Costello who was born 107 years ago today, on March 6, 1906.
While Stan Laurel is my favorite movie comedian of all time (and Laurel & Hardy my all-time favorite comedy team), within the realm of the "horror-comedy" genre, Abbott & Costello are the undisputed champs. A big reason for that is few comics could wring as much laughter out of being scared as Lou Costello.
Of course, Costello had the very good fortune to perfect his "scared routine" at the best possible studio: under contract to the "House of Horror" Universal Pictures, Lou got to cavort with such monster legends as Dracula, the Wolf Man, the Frankenstein Monster and the Mummy, plus a spin-off of the Invisible Man that was more mystery than horror, but still a nice nod to James Whales’ classic. As was "Hold That Ghost" with its "old dark house" (a la Whales’ "The Old Dark House"), phony ghosts and secret passageways.
Additional horror paces the studio put Costello through included nods to movie history in the form of the studio’s chief boogeyman Boris Karloff playing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as well as a mysterious "swami" character in "Abbott & Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff" that resembled some of Karloff’s sinister mad doctor roles; and Margaret Hamilton matching wits with Costello as she played... what else?... a witch in "Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain!"
This blog is a companion piece to Paul Castiglia's forthcoming book of the same name, all about horror-comedy films like the classic features "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein," the Bowery Boys’ “Master Minds” and Bob Hope's "The Ghost Breakers;" plus short subject spook-spoofs by comedy legends including Laurel & Hardy, the Little Rascals and the 3 Stooges; and such low-budget gems as "Zombies on Broadway" and "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla."
Paul Castiglia is a veteran comic book creator, having written and edited several comic books as well as compiling trade paperback collections. He has also written pop culture articles and essays for magazine and book publications, and done research for special projects related to vintage entertainment.
His past forays into horror-comedy include providing a chapter to the book MIDNIGHT MARQUEE ACTOR SERIES: VINCENT PRICE about the comedic horror films that Mr. Price co-starred in with Peter Lorre, and writing the comic book series ARCHIE'S WEIRD MYSTERIES for several years (based on the animated cartoon show of the same name and recently collected in paperback form).
Oh yeah, Paul's dad is the godfather of The Misfits' Jerry Only, further cementing his "horror business" credentials. :)
