Happy October, Highlighters (we have no idea where this name came from, wink)! It is officially a new month which means a brand new guest blog series for all of you. This month’s theme is Halloween Memories. So, who better than to kick off the month than the “Morbidly Fun Punk Rock” band, Stellar Corpses? We had both guitarist Emilio and lead vocalist Dusty write us up some of their favorite, and least favorite, halloween memories! Check out what they had to share with us below.
Emilio Menze – I think it was Halloween 2003, two of my friends and I had driven all night before and part of the afternoon to get from Santa Cruz to San Bernardino for a very special Halloween Danzig show. We were HUGE fans and had never seen him live before. The opening acts were Atreyu and The Murderdolls so all in all it was going to be a tremendous show. We get to the venue real early to get in line and ensure that we would be front and center for Danzig’s set. Once we arrive at the gate the security guard gives us the grave news that Danzig had just cancelled the entire show…….that day. So that year I spent my Halloween driving, and driving, and more driving. All the way back home. Needless to say it was a trick not a treat!
Dusty Grave – I have a lot of good Halloween memories, it’s has always been my favorite holiday. Not only do you get to dress up and get free candy, but as a shy little kid, it was my chance to walk up to people’s front doors and talk to them. Something I would never do on any other day. I used to decorate my entire front yard like a cemetery and on each tombstone I would write things like “Here lies Bungie Biff, his cord was longer than the cliff.” But Halloween wasn’t always so nice and innocent. Once when I was trick or treating in a crowded neighborhood, a guy wearing a mask and full camo gear jumped out of the back of a truck with an automatic paintball gun and started firing at all us kids. I remember the feeling of panic as everyone screamed and ran for cover. There’s something about the anonymity of wearing a mask that brings out the best and worst in people.
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Worst Halloween memory? I was about 2 or 3 years old…I remember I was dressed as a black cat, and my mom unintentionally made me look like a member of KISS. I was carrying a massive bucket full of candy, and I walked up to a door…when a guy in a zombie mask jumped out and scared the living daylights out of me. I threw my bucket of candy, started running, and fell. When the guy took off the mask and apologized, my mom said to go back, and all I kept screaming was, “NO, NO, NO…the green monkey will get me!” Last year, my family bought me a stuffed animal of a green monkey as a joke for Halloween, haha.
It would be hard to pinpoint what my absolute favorite Halloween memory is, because looking back on my childhood, it was such a magical time of the year in general. My great-grandmother was a professional seamstress, so of course, I always had the best costumes. 🙂 Halloween just doesn’t have that same vibe anymore; not sure if that’s because I’m an adult now, or that times have changed. Either way, I remember the streets being filled with children, and the yards being elaborately decorated. I remember that in my great-grandparents’ neighborhood, there was an elderly lady that had a full yard of animatronics and would blast “The Monster Mash” all night. It was awesome, and I’d never seen anything like it when I was little. Even the grocery stores had elaborate marketing displays. The one I remember most vividly was the Coors beer one at Vons, which had cardboard cutouts Elvira and a bunch of monsters.
While Halloween may not be as magical as it was when I was a kid, I certainly look forward to this time of year all year long! The best thing about it now? I get to buy and build all of the cool stuff I used to admire and dream about having when I was a kid, and spreading the joy of this holiday to others!
The worst Halloween I had was last year. I had a super duper neato costume planned up and ready to wear. To celebrate the completion of my costume, I decided to go out to the bar. I had a small pitcher and waited for my sister to show up. When she finally came, I got us a big pitcher to share. A guy at the next table accidentally stole my chair. I didn’t mind. Then a girl decided that her friends shouldn’t acknowledge us and not talk to us at all. So she decided to throw our full pitcher of beer at us and throw a pint glass at my sister. Luckily for her, she didn’t know how to throw. Then she took a few swings at my sister and pinned her arm down just as my sister got her good in the jaw. But the girl threw an empty pitcher, so my sister threw her pint glass back at her. This girl wasn’t hard to miss, she was kinda big, so she was hit right between the eyes. As my bouncers were carrying us out the door, the girl seen her own blood and passed out. We laughed. Then we were 86d for life (later on that decision was changed). We weren’t allowed to come in the next night for the costume contest. I coulda won easily. I was a giant spider. That was the worst Halloween ever! Also, on that Halloween, my sisters drunk boyfriend poured beer all over me and my costume reeked of old stale booze. I lost a costume contest to a slutty Michael Jackson 🙁
Well first off, I love Halloween. As a kid it was next best only to Christmas, because hey you get to go around dressed as your favorite monster, actor, person ect, AND get free candy. Whats not to love!? Anyway one of my favorite memories is actually the first year i didnt go trick or treating. Weird huh? I dressed as a scarecrow and hung a noose around my neck, stood on a chair next to the door and tied the rope around the wooden beam and i had the straw going way down so it didnt look like i was standing on a chair. I had a mask of a pumpkin that looked fake and cheezy but when moved in the right light looked down right eerie. I would stand there moving with the wind or moving a little but side to side to make me look fake. When trick or treaters would come up i got to choose whether to spare them or not. I remember one group of 14 year old girls came up dressed pretty revealing, and made comments on how the house sucked and wasnt as big as theirs. So when they came up to get candy I let them have it. Oh man you should have seen the look on their faces, mind you the screams definetly hurt my hears. Totally worth it. Thats probably one of the many good memories for Halloween I have.
The worst memory i have of Halloween is pretty short but downright sucked. In 2003 I had pretty bad pneumonia. Not only could i not go trick or treating but i couldnt even have any candy and i wasnt all better until almost a week after Halloween. Sucky am I right?
The worst one was last year. We got an unexpected foot of snow 2 days before last year, and power was out for 5 days. All nearby towns cancelled Halloween. There was nothing related to the holiday which sucked!
the best one will be next year if we are able to go cross country and see Stellar Corpses! Would make my son the happiest kid!
The best Halloween memory would be when I was 12 my mom surprised my best friend and I with concert tickets to see Good Charlotte. It was one of the funnest and best shows I’ve been to ended up losing my voice for a good two days. The worst Halloween was two years ago where my job volunteered me to stay and pass out candy and clean the entire place afterwards. They never told me till the day of and I was forced to cancel all my plans.
I’d have to say the best Halloween was when my daughter first “knew” what Halloween was… She was dressed up as Boo from Monsters Inc. and was a spittin’ image of her. She had a blast going door to door and saying “TRICK OR TREAT!!!” At this time, she wasn’t able to put her own sentences together, but my heart melted near the end of the night when she said, “HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!”
Best Halloween: Spending 48 hours drunk and incoherent with 45 Grave (My aunt Mary’s band haha). My worst Halloween, wait, there’s bad Halloweens?
Well the worst Halloween I had was three years ago (but I wasn’t surprised because 2009 generally sucked for me) well I spend all day putting my make up and my costume and everything was perfect but at the end all my friends cancelled and I had to spend it alone at home in my costume. Best Halloween well last year was fun, some friends came to visit and we had a pretty good time. Well Halloween it’s my second favorite holiday right next to El Dia de Muertos, I always put so much effort on both to have a pretty good time.
The worst one was back a few years ago. I had been invited by one of my friends from work to come and hang out with them and their roommates.
Okay, so literally within thirty seconds of walking inside their house, I was ready to leave. The atmosphere could be described as “uncomfortable”.
(in short, this was all from internal house drama)
You know when you’re in a situation where there’s obviously (to you) some underlying tension and everyone is like “No everything’s great! Great! Isn’t this fun?” And then you’re like “Um, yeah I have this..thing..that I need to do.” and they’re like “No, stay! Really! This is fun!!”
Kind of like that. And it didn’t get better as the evening went on. I think I finally managed to run away at some point.
But overall, I really like Halloween.