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Entries tagged with 'Halloween'
Posted Nov. 19, 2007,
The Life and Times of Fabian Basabe: "I Will Never Be the Man to Turn Down a Password Party!"
By Fabian Basabe
Hello PAPER Readers! Sorry for the long silence... or should I say, you are welcome for the long silence? Here is your favorite... how do you say it again... Oh yes, Douche Bag, with more from Los Angeles, to which I am fast becoming addicted. Now, I don't want to kill the healthy competition between East Coasters and West Coasters, and sure, the fashion, parties, power and money are greater in New York, but I am sorry, you cannot compare the lifestyle. When in New York City, people are struggling with the incoming cold weather, meetings, sirens and crowds, while everything is so pretty out here in LA! People are genuinely happier and I mean... why not? Everyone is good looking! And on my part, today I had a killer meeting about a new show concept, ate lunch outside, and came home to sit in my jacuzzi for 45 minutes and now I am watching TV while trying to focus. Not bad right? Work AND play! And did I mention everyone is good looking in LA?
So let's re-cap the last few weeks’ activities...
Posted Nov. 13, 2007,
The Unholy Three at the Magic Castle
By Ann Magnuson
Next time PAPER swings into the Southland they really ought to get the alt-magic trio The Unholy Three to perform at the opening! (Even better, rent out the Magic Castle where the group performs regularly in the cozy Parlour of Prestidigitation!) No doubt named after the 1930 Tod Browning film The Unholy Three (called by one reviewer as "one of the strangest, most dementedly off-kilter crime dramas ever filmed), these three contemporary magicians likewise present some of the strangest, most wonderfully demented, off-kilter magic while adding their own idiosyncratic humor to create a most heady and devilishly surrealistic brew. Plus they come with some serious rock 'n' roll cred! The Unholy Three are (from left to right in the illustration above and right to left in the photo below) Pixies-drummer David Lovering, he who enigmatically calls himself Fitzgerald and Rob Zabrecky, former frontman for the infamous L.A. band Possum Dixon. I've seen them twice, most recently at the Magic Castle on Halloween weekend where I was happily in the same party as K. K. Barrett, the West Coast punk rock legend (he was the drummer for The Screamers)-turned-awesome production designer and post-punk doyenne Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs! Because the Magic Castle has a strict dress code, one and all were dressed to the nines (with Miss O wearing a fetching blue dress paired with a wicked pair of patent leather Pat Benatar-esque ankle boots!)
Posted Nov. 2, 2007,
PAPER TV: Alien Comic Halloween Show Madness
By PAPERMAG Editors
PAPER veteran Tom Murrin puts on a Halloween comedy show! Watch as the Alien Comic and Jack Bump give you Halloween tips, Valmonte Sprout dances and MANGINA... uh.... ignites his head on fire!
Posted Nov. 1, 2007,
Eight Items or Less: Necrophilia Is Back, TopShop Is Coming to Broadway and DJ AM Is Spinning at the Hawaiian Tropic Zone
By Gary Pini
1. When Popbitch reported the following, we immediately thought it was just an urban legend: a retired American undertaker told a London bartender that after Marilyn Monroe died and her body was taken to the morgue, all the local undertakers took turns having sex with the body. Now we're not so sure. News channel 1010 WINS reports that a 24 year-old lab technician was arrested this week for allegedly having sex with a dead 92 year-old woman at Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, New Jersey.
2. We've been worrying about holiday shopping but managed to cross off one loved-one with The Pet Driver's License. Only $29.95 will get you a pet's picture on the state license of your choice. And: "it's not just for pets. Use it for teddy bears and dolls, too!"
3. Retail news via racked.com and eater.com: British fashion retailer Topshop is moving into 478 Broadway and Yellow Rat Bastard is moving out. L.A. chain Fatburger is coming to New York Ciy, on the corner of Bleecker and Macdougal. The Shake Shack in Madison Park is going to stay open 365 days a year -- well, maybe not on Xmas.
4. Hilarious PAPER Nightlife Awards presenter Michael Musto whips out his crystal ball and predicts for AM New York: "a major explosion of great nightlife in New York City, though it might not be until 2013." In the meantime, Hawaiian Tropic Zone in Times Square has received a hard-to-get cabaret (aka "dancing allowed") license and has booked DJ AM.
5. Mickey Rourke did not have a great Halloween. The Miami Herald reports the actor arrived at Miami club Mokai with a hot blonde last night only to encounter another recent date who attacked and bit him on the face, drawing blood. Ouch!
6. Thrill Jockey Records is having a two-day birthday party -- their 15th -- on December 14 and 15 at the Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago. Expect the Fiery Furnaces, Sea and Cake, Trans Am etc. $50 for both nights.
Posted Oct. 31, 2007,
My Barbarian Does Krautrock Agitprop at the Silverlake Lounge TONITE!
By Ann Magnuson
The L.A.-based performance collective My Barbarian perform a special Halloween show tonight at the Silverlake Lounge. It don't get more esoteric than this folks (I recommend seeing Dusan Makavejev's cult classic "Sweet Movie" beforehand). Don't forget your Krautrock kostume!
From My Barbarian's email blast:
Posted Oct. 31, 2007,
Kato Kaelin as Jesus Christ at the Hollywood Hellhouse this Halloween!?
By Ann Magnuson
That's what I've been told. O.J. Simpson's former handyman has landed the role of a lifetime! Kato Kaelin won't just be hanging around this Halloween night -- he'll be hanging on the cross offering you redemption after your trip through HELL!!!
My earlier post on the Hollywood Hellhouse described what horrors lurk within the walls of this old abandoned Acapulco restaurant taken over by limonsine liberals here in Tinsel Town. As energetic and engaging the young actors are I still think they should have scenes of real Hollywood debauchery instead of ironically spoofing the Christian hellhouses but... Hey! I had my chance to play Satan but wouldn't you know, the ROLE DOESN'T PAY! If you can't even cough up scale for Satan, what kind of damned pagan operation are ya anyways? Oh well... I've played Satan enough. Time for more challenging roles.
Posted Oct. 31, 2007,
Dylan Halloween: How Does It Feel?
By David Hershkovits
As my Facebook friends know, I've had the soundtrack for the new Todd Haynes movie I'm Not There on high rotation. Some of my favorites include Karen O's "Highway 61 Revisited," Stephen Malkmus' "Maggie's Farm," and Cat Power's "Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again." A surprise of the two-CD soundtrack is "When the Ship Comes In" by Marcus Carl Franklin, a 14 year-old African-American who plays Dylan as a young man. Anyone who cares, knows by now that Haynes cast six different people to play Dylan at different periods of his life, including Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger and Richard Gere. So if you're looking for a Halloween costume, how about looking to Bob Dylan lyrics for inspiration.
By Brian J. Barr. Illustrated by Michael Dougan. Via Seattle Weekly
Posted Oct. 31, 2007,
Happy Halloween!
By Dennis Dermody
While you're out trick-or-treating tonight or dodging eggs being thrown by surly delinquents, I'll be taking part in my annual Halloween tradition -- watching scenes from Mame, the scary Lucille Ball musical version of Auntie Mame. Seeing Lucy croak out "We need a little Christmas" is more terrifying than the shower sequence in Psycho.
Posted Oct. 29, 2007,
About Last Night... Allison Sarofim's Halloween Party
By Caroline Torem Craig
The theme of surrealism was fully embraced with creative flair by both sexes at Allison Sarofim’s Halloween party. Alison was the perfect hostess in her enormous, fully extended peacock feathers, miraculously weaving in and out of the many merrymakers, most of them costumed to the nines! Sure, there were three "Dick in a Box”-es and a couple of angels… but Cynthia Rowley literally showed up with flaming cupcakes on her chapeau; someone was perched in a window motionless for most of the party; there were several Magritte men (see photo above); someone dressed as one-quarter woman, three quarters-candles AFIRE!; Calvin Klein, true to his minimalist style, opted for a simple and chic black mask; Bonnie Morrison played the mustachioed bride while another one, in lovely white lace, sported a neatly cropped blonde beard.
One-quarter woman; three-quarters fire!
Hunter Hill and Perry Moore as Ari and Uzi Tenenbaum
Posted Oct. 29, 2007,
Son of a Witch!
By Dennis Dermody
I know this montage to Eartha Kitt's witch song has made the rounds but it's still pretty terrific, and considering it's Halloween this week, what the hell!
Posted Oct. 26, 2007,
Day of the Dead at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
By Ann Magnuson
This Saturday, the Hollywood Forever Cemetery holds its annual Day of the Dead event. This is, without a doubt, one of the most memorable nights you will ever experience in Los Angeles!!! Every year this very special Dia De los Muertos festival gets bigger and there is no better way to honor your dearly departed loved one than to slip their photo into one of the many spectacularly beautiful and often wildly psychedelic ceremonial altars. Last year we were grieving the loss of Fluffy, an utterly gorgeous and completely crazy Maine Coon who miraculously showed up at our doorstep in Joshua Tree a year earlier. Miraculous because we were in the middle of nowhere and he would have surely been devoured by coyotes or our neighbors pitbulls had we not brought this adorable if nutty teenage cat back to L.A. (Yeah, we know the name was idiotic but you had to see his tail to really understand there was no other option.) Last October, poor Fluffy was hit by an asshole truck driver going too fast in our neighborhood. It's amazing how much you can cry over a pet. (Just ask Ellen!) At least he had one good year. Rest in Peace Fluffs, we miss you!
See video of the event here and here and here.
Posted Oct. 26, 2007,
Hollwood Hellhouse Contest
By Ann Magnuson
We got an early start on Halloween last week by touring the Hollywood Hellhouse. Located in an abandoned Acapulco restaurant in West Hollywood, this haunted house is a faithful recreation of the Christian hellhouses that have proliferated around the country in recent years. (Jerry Falwell is thought to have created the first one in the 1970s.) This Hollywood version was dreamt up by a bunch of damned-for-all-time Hollywood types (led, I believe, by Mr. Satan himself, Bill Mahr) and emphasizes the secular horrors outlined in the original the Christian Hell House Outreach™ kits. (Homosexuality, abortion, adultery, drinking, drugs -- you know, the usual suspects.) According to the Hollywood Hellhouse website, these scripts include "a 263 page manual which covers everything from casting to publicity to instructions on how to make hamburger meat look like a fetus and where to store vats of blood."
Posted Oct. 24, 2007,
Nothing This Halloween Can Be Scarier Than These Fires!
By Ann Magnuson
I meant to begin a run of Halloween-themed posts ('tis the season after all) but as these horrible fires rage on and on and on I can't begin to think of anything scarier than losing your home (and everything you own and GOD FORBID your pets) to one of these firestorms. The nightmare stories keep pouring in and the photos of the thousands of homes destroyed are just heartbreaking. All of Los Angeles is covered by a thick blanket of smoke. Everything is cast in a deep amber, which, I'm almost embarrassed to say, is freakishly beautiful. The whole scene is very apocalyptic (which seems to becoming the norm here in SoCal). We're told to stay in and not breathe the air. Scary. And not in the fun Halloween kind of way. Hopefully the winds will die down soon, the fires won't spread too much more and the many animals who have been left behind survive! Bravo to all the brave firefighters battling this inferno! The photo below shows just what they are up against (image submitted by Trevor Lillis to the L.A. Times Your Scene site.)
Photos from the L.A. Times
Posted Sep. 5, 2007,
Rock On Rob Zombie
By Dennis Dermody
I'm thrilled that Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween made $31 million over the Labor Day weekend. Not that the movie's all that good -- it isn't. But the first 45 minutes are so twisted and great that one has to give Zombie credit for slipping it into a dumb remake of a classic horror film.
When I first heard that Halloween was being redone I groaned, but then when I heard it was Rob Zombie at the helm it made me hopeful. And the beginning of the film is really the prequel -- or how Michael Meyers "became." John Carpenter's film was about the boogie man on Halloween night in a small town called Haddonfield. And shots from the movie The Thing on TV were no accident -- Meyers represented this dark scary relentless figure who keeps coming for you. That's the genius of the first film -- its utter simplicity and how it managed to create such unbearable suspense. We really don't care about Michael Meyers. He's beside the point.