Today is a research/notes day. Yesterday and tomorrow, writing. I’ve just finished recording my notes from David E. Gehlke‘s Damn the Machine, which I highly recommend if you want to learn, in detail, the history of Noise Records. It includes a section on Coroner, but goes into depth the sagas of Celtic Frost, Kreator, and Helloween, plus information on copious other Noise bands like Running Wild, Rage, Tankard, etc. Excellent book, excellent resource. Also, excellent guy, that David E. Gehlke.
Furthermore, I went back into my very old notes and pulled up all my information about the Masked Jackal video, as tomorrow’s writing session will get into that. Yesterday, I went into Marky’s lyrics for Punishment for Decadence, and got into the recording, a bit of technical information, plus stories.
As for video interview notes, I have just made it over the midway hump in interviews with Marky, who is my main source (and he’s just full of info) — #22 of #42 (so far). Our interviews have stalled as we got into Grin, which is where it has been sitting for a while, since I had to take that too-long break. I’m looking to have the interviews I have notated by at least the end of April, if I don’t take too many days off, and then we can resume those interviews. It’s a lot. I’m alternating notation and writing days, so everything is still in motion without getting burnt out on either.
Speaking of days off: That west coast trip next month to see three Coroner shows just got more exciting, for me, at least. Added to the excitement is a topic very close to my heart: practical film effects. Fun fact: Back in the early ’90s, I went to school for this. I’m a huge horror fan, and an even bigger fan of the guys who made the gory, monster magic happen. If you’re into this sort of thing, you may know that Bob Burns passed away in December. Read about him here. Huge loss. That said, his basement wonders live on, or will, in the capable hands of Greg Nicotero. I am old enough to have been following his career since almost the start of it, and being from the Pittsburgh area, of course he’s a hero of mine. (of course!) I mean, just look at his filmography.
My husband, Anthony Everitt, is currently writing the Son of Dr. Cyclops video review column for Fangoria magazine, which is appropriate, because the original Video Eye of Dr. Cyclops, back in the early-to-mid ’80s, was his father, David Everitt, who also co-edited the magazine with Bob Martin (if you dig on older horror films, you should definitely check it out). It’s a family thing. Anyway, when he saw that Burns had passed, he knew there had to be an appropriate memorial in the magazine, and an 800-word piece turned into a 2000-word 2-part feature, which is exactly what the man deserves.
So, obviously, he needs to talk to some of the people who were closest to Burns, which began with Greg Nicotero on Friday and, today, Steve Wang (…it’s too cool). It’s in progress, so the interviews will be rolling in — it’s going to be great to get into the real old timers — the originators. Hubs is about to be privy to my own Zoom interview notation struggles! In any case, when we make the west coast show trip, thanks to his apparently tremendously generous character, we get to have hangs with Greg Nicotero while we’re there, which is just fabulous. In addition to this, but unrelated to the Burns quest, we’ll be having lunch or dinner with another practical effects royal, the mighty Mark Shostrom because he is a very good egg and a fine fellow.
The other fun thing I’m looking forward to (and will drive home exactly the level of nerd I am) is (if we have the time and I hope we do): we get to go visit Antonio Bay! The filming location for The Fog (1980, not the remake) is in the Inverness/Point Reyes area, just north of San Francisco.
That’s all the informative and cool, personal news I have. Now…back to the work…
Lee Harper Oswald 