Helping out The Bat Poet

I made an appearance on CH19 Cable Access TV Saturday night... A long time producer of Nashville public access, Joey Bowker, a.k.a. The Bat Poet, has had a number of medical procedures including open heart surgery, and has even found out he has Diabetes, to top it off. Worse yet, Joey has no health insurance.

Well, Joey is one of the longest tenured members of CATV, Nashville's Public Access channel. He is best known for his crazy show, The Bat Poet.


If you aren't familiar with the Bat Poet, it's an insane public access show where anything can and does happen - a fly by the seat of the pants show that is sort of like a train wreck - you can't turn away. Joey appears in a batman mask, and does pretty much whatever comes to mind onscreen. It's nuts.

Well, after so many years of performing onscreen for free, providing entertainment for the people of Nashville, the station decided to hold a telethon to help raise money for Joey. I offered my services to help out in the event, as I started on access, and am glad to help out a long time producer.

If you'd like to help, it's easy -

Checks made out to Joey Bowker should go to:
Joey Bowker Fund
c/o CAC & MEAC
120 White Bridge Rd. #45
Nashville, TN 37209

here's a Nashville scene newspaper article about Joey and the telethon:
http://blogs.nashvillescene.com/pitw/2008/10/the_bat_poet_needs_your_help.php

AND, here's a quick youtube video to make you familiar with this crazy man and his insane show!! Long live The Bat!

GREAT new dvd!

Below is a flier for a great looking new dvd from the fine folks at Alpha Video - it is released on their new imprint, Smash Vision. This dvd is called Dark Dreamers - it's a series of interviews with over 30 of the most influential writers, artists, filmmakers and special effects artists. Just take a look at the list of interviewees - amazing! Everyone from writers like Richard Matheson and Harlan Ellison, to directors such as John Landis and Wes Craven, to fan favorites Forrey Ackerman and Bob Burns - this looks like a real treat!!

It's a 4-dvd set, and I can't wait to get my hands on this one and watch it!!

Go Green PSA gets Emmy Nod

The “Trash Day Of The Dead” PSA from the “Go Green With Dr. Gangrene” campaign has been nominated for an Emmy by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences at the 23rd Annual Midsouth Emmy Awards.

“Trash Day Of The Dead” Writer & Director Cameron McCasland was nominated for writing in the “Advanced Media Writing” category announced earlier this evening at The BMI headquarters on Music Row in Nashville, TN. This is the first Emmy nomination for McCasland, and his production company, New Valiant Productions. New Valiant founders Michael Creason and Cameron McCasland were on hand for the event. When asked about the nomination McCasland stated. “I’m elated! This project has been a love affair from the start for everyone involved. And I’m honored to be in such great company thanks you to everyone at the NATAS.”

“Trash Day Of The Dead” stars Creature Feature's Dr. Gangrene (Larry Underwood) and his faithful assistant Nurse Moan-Eek (Linda Wylie) as they battle against littering zombies on the streets of downtown Nashville. The short has gained multiple honors this year both nationally and locally for its environmentally minded message, including a special honor from Tennessee State Governor Phil Bredesen. The short was shot on location in downtown Nashville, TN. The 23rd Annual Midsouth Emmy Awards will be announced in Nashville on January 24, 2009 at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. The show will be hosted by Country Music Legend Hal Ketchum. For a full list of this years nominees please visit http://nashville.emmyonline.org/The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is a non-profit, professional organization dedicated to fostering excellence in television. The academy has 19 chapters with 15,000 members nationwide.



New Valiant Productions is based in Nashville, TN and is owned and operated by Michael Creason & Cameron McCasland. For more information go to http://www.newvaliant.com/

Happy Birthday Boris

Today is the birthday anniversary of the one and only Boris Karloff - 121 years ago William Henry Pratt was born, better known to the world as his stage name, Boris Karloff. Here's to the King of horror films, a true icon of horror cinema. I'm gonna celebrate by watching some Thriller episodes tonight!

Blitzkid show

Tues night I got out to THE END in Nashville and caught the Blitzkid show. Had a great time - opening for them was The Creeping Cruds, (of which I just caught a few songs but were terrific nonetheless, as always), and The Rock and Roll Hooligans. I had heard of the Rock and Roll Hooligans before but never got a chance to catch them, and was glad to finally do so. They are a great band who really kick ass.

Blitzkid came on last and brought the horror tunes aplenty. There was a good sized crowd for a Tuesday night, and the folks there were diggin it. They played a set of horror tunes and had a misfits kind of vibe working - especially as Dr. Chud from the American Psycho days of the Misfits was playing drums. Great show!

for the record...

I rewatched Spider-man 3, and just have one thing to say...


infuriating.

That is all. I feel better now

Horror Host Graveyard

My good buddy Chris Corpse over at the Horror Host Graveyard blog wrote a nice entry on us today:

http://www.horrorhostgraveyard.com/

Chris does a great job with daily entries on horror hosts past and present. His is one of the few sites I look at daily. I especially like when he digs up clips of retired hosts or presents info on some long gone but not forgotten TV personality. Great job, Chris, and thanks for including us in the Horror Host Graveyard!!

PSAs Mentioned in Tennessean newspaper

The Tennessean newspaper had a nice write-up this morning about the PSA campaign we've run recently... Here's the text below...

Local filmmakers win award

Nashville-based New Valiant Productions filmmakers Michael Creason and Cameron McCasland were awarded the Sapphire Blingy Award for environmental excellence at the 2008 Blingy Awards.

The New Valiant Public Service short Trash Day Of The Dead from the "Go Green With Dr. Gangrene" campaign was honored.

This is the second award for Trash Day Of The Dead as it was also named a 2008 finalist in the AEGIS video & film production awards.

The 30-second spot stars WNAB CW 58's Dr. Gangrene, portrayed by Larry Underwood, and his assistant Nurse Moan-Eek, played by Linda Wylie as they do battle against litter on the streets of downtown Nashville.

The Blingy Awards is a cutting-edge design competition honoring the best of video, film, print and Web.

For more information about the Nashville film company, visit online at www.newvaliant.com.

Creature Feature recognized by GOVERNOR of Tennessee

The Governor of Tennessee, Governor Phil Bredeson, has awarded the staff of Creature Feature and New Valiant Pictures a special award for service to the state of Tennessee in conjunction with the Go Green Campaign and PSAs. This is a tremendous honor, and it's been my priveledge to bring horror to the citizens of Tennessee the past decade,and the PSAs have been a really great way to spread environmental awareness. Thanks to New Valiant Pictures for their past producing these public service announcements,and look for another batch of psas soon!!

The Creeping Cruds - Tennessee Bloodbath

The Creeping Cruds, Nashville's premiere horror band, has released their second CD, "Tennessee Bloodbath". This cd features 12 high energy tunes filled with blood, monsters, and kick ass guitar licks. Released in October (naturally) of 2008, this one is a terror-ific followup to their first CD, "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became The Creeping Cruds."

On the first CD Jeano Roid did all the singing as well as the lead guitar - This CD features a different singer, Wolfie, who also does a fine job bringing the horror, freeing Jeano up to concentrate on the guitar work. There is also a different bassist this time around, Handsome Jimmy, and a new drummer too, Boomer (who is a long time collaborator with Jeano from previous bands in the past). The final member of the horror troop is McNasty, who was a member of the band from day one and once again provides guitar and vocals.

They all come together to bring a slightly different sound to the Cruds this time around - slightly more polished, I suppose, while retaining the same energy and horror themes fans have come to expect from their live shows.

Tracks:

Blood At The Door

Tennessee Bloodbath

I Was A Teenage Werewolf

I Kicked Dracula's Ass

The Blob

Best Friend's Girl

Chainsaw A Go-Go

Meat And Three

Mosquitos

Hellhounds

I Killed Santa Clause

Come Out Neville

My favorite song on the CD is one based on the Richard Matheson novel "I Am Legend" - it's called "Come Out Neville" and is especially fun live. All the songs on the CD have little intros or spoken bits between the tracks, adding to the ambiance. This is nice follow up to the first CD and one well worth picking up. Go to www.creepingcruds.com to get your copy today! Tell em' Doc Gangrene sent ya!

Ps – I lied about one thing. There is actually a special hidden track on this cd – but you'll have to pick up your own copy to find out what it is!!

Hey Abbott!

My good pal Scott Essman over at Universal Studios posted this fantastic Abbott and Costello animation on Youtube. Scott spearheaded this creation, writing, directing and producing it.

Scott is my choice for Monsterkid of the Year in the Rondo Awards - Scott has consistently pushed the classic monster genre year after year, both in his job there at Universal as well as his personal pet projects, such as this. Check it out, and take a look at some of Scott's other videos on youtube and you'll understand why he's my choice for Monster Kid of the Year!

2008 Horror Hootenanny 5 pics

Big round of applause to Ray and Wendy for posting pics of the Horror Hootenenny South - it took place at The Pond in Franklin. Thanks to everyone who came out to see a kick ass show - Dave and the Country Rebels, The Creeping Cruds, Psychocharger and the Coffin Burys - fun stuff!!




See all the pics HERE:
http://raywen.org/concert/hoot102508/








Tanya Roid, in Wolf Costume!



















Psychocharger hits the stage!














The Coffin Burys in action

100th post - Woo Hoo!!

This is the 100th post here on the Gangrene blog!

Way cool - I've been very sporadic with this thing, the first post being way back on 10-26-06. But the way I see it is it's here for me when I feel in the mood or have time to write about stuff.

With Halloween over things have slowed down a bit, so I feel a bit more energy for some side activities. Speaking of which...

There are pictures up from the Horror Hootenanny now at:

http://raywen.org/concert/hoot101808/index.html

The Exotic ones rockin THE BASEMENT

Some of the costumes at the Hootenanny

Ray and Wendy, regulars at the Hootenanny shows, as well as many other events around town, took these and posted them online. This was the first Horror Hootenanny this year, October 18th 2008 at The Basement - and featured The Exotic Ones, The Creeping Cruds, The Coffin Burys and Daikaiju.

Rockin' with the Creeping Cruds

Unfortunately Ray had to leave before Daikaiju or the Coffin Burys came on, but he took some terrific shots of the Cruds and the Exotic Ones. Thanks Ray, and thanks to everyone who came out!!

I'm hooked!

I've watched every episode of the new HBO series True Blood that has aired so far, and I have to say I am hooked. It is a really clever series that stars Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress who gets caught up in a love affair with a vampire named Bill Compton, played by Stephen Moyer. The series is based on a series of books called The Southern Vampire Mysteries, by Charlaine Harris .

It is a fresh take on the vampire mythos, and has featured several twists and turns I didn't see coming. I love the flashbacks to the past history of vampire Bill, especially the Civil War flashbacks. This series is spearheaded by Alan Ball, the guy who brought us Six Feet Under. It feels kind of like a cross between that show and Carnivale, with a hint of cajun Louisiana undead spice thrown in for good measure.


My only regret - we're already on episode 9 of the first season of 12. It'll be over soon and we'll have to wait till next year for more new episodes!!

The Dead Matter: Cemetery Gates CD

Got the post-Halloween blues?

Then Midnight Syndicate's newest release, The Dead Matter: Cemetery Gates, is just the thing to help you keep it Halloween all year long!


The folks at Midnight Syndicate have been quite busy - in addition to their haunted soundtrack work, they have also been involved creating a motion picture, The Dead Matter. Co-written and directed by Edward Douglas of Midnight Syndicate, the film is scheduled for a 2009 release.

The Dead Matter: Cemetery Gates CD includes several tracks from the upcoming soundtrack and is some of the best work Midnight Syndicate has done to date. It is done in the dark orchestral style Midnight Syndicate has become known for and is highly recommended - this is one CD Halloween lovers must have!

Here's the track listing:

1. Cathedral Ruins
2. Shadowed Grove
3. Meeting of the Acolytes
4. The Revenants
5. Called From Beyond
6. Nightfall
7. The Hunt
8. Across the Chasm
9. Cemetery Gates
10. Entering the Crypt
11. Alchemists's Chamber
12. Tear of Osiris
13. Forging the Scarab
14. Shadows Descend 1
5. Inside the Scarab
16. Exodus
17. Dark Legacy
18. Lullaby
BONUS TRACKS
19. Lost
20. Not Your Saviour
21. Theme to "The Dead Matter" (A.B.T. Remix)

To find out more about this film and listen to some of these tracks, go to:
The Dead Matter website - www.TheDeadMatter.com

Here is the teaser trailer for the film:

Happy Post Halloween

Hope you all had a fun and fright filled Halloween - I know I did! I made many appearances and hosted several live events - among these was a radio appearance I did at Jack FM 96.3 - They asked me to come in and be their ORDINARY LISTENER OF THE WEEK, where I basically read all the events for the week of Halloween. The station put together a little tape of the bloopers from that day. Here it is below - enjoy my screwups!