This was one incredible Halloween weekend for me… I'll try to sort it all out for you:

As you know, it started on Thursday – when I played my 12 HITS FROM HELL UNPLUGGED set at MAMAS. The place was packed while I mixed a few songs from my regular acoustic set in with the classic MISFITS songs. I, personally think the ‘Delta Dungeon’ is my best take on one of these songs, though.

Then, on Friday, I arrived at the Parsippany, NJ Hilton Hotel for the opening night of CHILLER THEATRE, and was excited to learn that I’d be sharing a room with NY DOLL, David Johansen; and legendary TV/Radio host, ZACHERLY… as well as MR JIM, and FRANCHE COMA… but they weren’t due to arrive until Saturday, so I was the ‘only’ MISFIT for one night.

    

Things kinda went fast the first night… My first mission was to locate George Lazenby, and get his autograph for my friend Stefan, at NO BALLS RECORDS in Germany. Stefan’s gone all-out for me, so this was a priority. Luckily, he was right across the hall from me, and after getting the autograph, our conversation turned to music, and when I mentioned that I did a lot of Al Jolsen covers in my solo act, the woman who accompanied him jumped into the conversation.

You’d think a ‘Luxury’ hotel, like the Hilton would provide heat on a cold night – but, I guess they decided to go ‘green’ – and I ended up with a bit of Laryngitis from trying to sleep in the cold. The next day, they gave me an electric heater, which went “POP” after running for five minutes. This was the hotel, if you recall, that didn’t want THE UNDEAD to play, ‘because someone might get hurt’ – so I think you can imagine the kind of riot act I ranted off at the hotel manager at this point. I never have these problems with MOTEL 6, it’s always the ‘Luxury’ chains. One of my high school classmates just opened a small chain of luxury hotels – I’ll have to tell him to make sure they have good heating, and he’ll be one up on the competition.

You can imagine how the day went – if you’ve ever been to one of these conventions. I know some of the celebrity guests have gained reputations for obviously hating to have to meet fans and sign autographs, but, speaking for myself – I had a great time, and I’m pretty sure Mr Jim and Franche Coma did, too. Steve Zing stopped by, and said HI; and invited us to the Dec 26^th DANZIG show… Obama’s bringing the beer. Former Undead bassist, Anthony d’Amico, and former drummer, Eddie Enzyme came by to say HI, too. Some of these guys, I only run into when I go to Chiller – it’s getting to be like a class reunion.

It was the first time that I’ve actually been able to spend time with Franche and Jim – the Box Set signing was too crazy, so we really never spoke - and we hit it off pretty well. This was their first time meeting Fiends, in a setting that’s more casual than the Box Set signing event, and I think they’d say it was ‘an experience’ – especially after they caught a guy trying to steal some Static Age LP jackets… and he blacked out and collapsed to the floor in front of us.

We were signing posters that advertised our appearance, along with CDs, vinyl, and merch that we had for sale. We had some posters leftover, so we’ll be getting together to sign those and make them available through mail-order.

I spoke with Bob Slash. In 1979, he filmed THE MISFITS onstage in Bethlehem, PA with Super 8 Soundfilm. I think I may have finally convinced him to dig up that footage and get it on Youtube. We gave him permission to shoot the footage – so the Copyright is legally his. The only thing I can remember of this footage was that the stage was very small, and I fell off  while playing the solo in 138.

I was able to squeeze in some sleep before we played the party, and give my voice a chance to recover before playing a 30 minute set.

… and then, on Sunday morning a Limousine service picked us up, and drove THE UNDEAD to the Ford Mansion, in Morristown, NJ –George Washington’s winter HQ. When we arrived, I was told that the first band had to cancel, and they wanted us to get started as soon as possible. So I think we actually started playing at 11:30 in the morning. It was a rush playing Punk Rock in a National Park, and practically on the front steps of a National Monument to a crowd that had a complete misconception of what Punk was about, and then be asked to play at other Tea Party events in Pennsylvania and, I think, Delaware. My goal is to take a Punk Tea Party Tour nationwide.

After our set, I posed for some pictures with Steve Lonegan – who should’ve been the Republican candidate for Governor. I think his outspokenness scared the party leaders, but I know he’s gonna be back. A lot of people were planning to write him in, but at the rally, he pleaded – and you’ll never hear another politician say this -  “Do not… I repeat – DO NOT… WRITE ME IN”.

 

Then, I was introduced to Congressman, Joe Wilson. This guy is so laid back, he never raised his voice, no matter what stupid, provocative question some asinine Liberal reporter would ask. A woman from the Star Ledger began with “I expected you to be more incendiary”, and Joe just looked at her and said softly, “That’s not me”.  It was great. She couldn’t get her ‘story’. He must’ve been PISSED to have raised his voice at Obama.

 

My manager, George told me that while we were being introduced, Mrs Wilson was on her phone and then came over and said that their college-age kids knew who I was, and are fans. I, somehow missed that, but as we took some pictures together, Joe Wilson called George into one shot, saying, “you guys make me look good”. I guess, now that dad is hanging with a real Punk bad boy – he earns some points with his kids.

 

Back at CHILLER, I met with fans who’d been patiently waiting for me to return, and when things slowed down I made a trip to the main hall, and spoke briefly with Richard Dreyfus – who, I was told, had gone on a 45 minute rant against the current government, and how we need to reintroduce Civics class back into schools.

 

Then, I met one of my earliest RocknRoll heroes – Davey Jones, of THE MONKEES. When I was ten, I wanted to be Davey Jones, and even got a tambourine and maracas for Christmas. He told me he met Sid Vicious when he was living in New York, and we just kinda shot the shit. He has some great memories of his own.  I must’ve made an impression, because just before I left, he gave me his daughter’s email address and suggested I get in touch with her. She’s doing music in London, and I guess she doesn’t want any of dad’s help. That’s character. I gave him a few UNDEAD CDs, and a copy of BOBBY, and he gave me his new CD. Then he said, “and give this one to your mother”, and handed me a CD – from the titles, it look like it ‘s him doing old standards, like “Fly Me To The Moon”.

 

Of course, the man who was probably my earliest childhood TV hero would be SOUPY SALES. He was a punk before there was punk. I know Glenn loved Soupy, too. When Soupy returned to TV for a brief run in 1978 or 79, we never missed an episode. Glenn loved Soupy’s puppet sidekick, Pookie’s, haircut. In fact, Soupy was so “PUNK” that his two sons ended up in the second incarnation of THE STOOGES. Soupy died last week. If you wanna see the kind of ‘childrens entertainment’ your parents grew up to – that they think is suddenly too offensive for you to have seen, find one of his DVDs. Today, every children’s show has to end with some ‘Moral’ – I saw that slipping in in the early 1970s, around the time when Bugs Bunny stopped being obnoxious and started wearing that sedated, Jimmy Carter – “I’m your friend” smile. In fact, THE SOUPY SALES SHOW kinda fit the loose definition of ‘pornography’… It had absolutely no redeeming social value.

 

Yeah… I’m still recovering, and trying to sort it all out. We’re gonna do it again, in April – but we’ll ask for more space to display merch, and if possible give us our own room so we can put some of our memorabilia on display.

Nope - it's not one of those southern prison sweatboxes. I've had a few people quiz me about what I'm gonna be doing with/to 12 HITS FROM HELL when I unplug them next Thursday, so while I've been waiting for TRI-STAR Equities to come around and fix my broken toilet - it's been this way since early July - and they're clearly giving me the usual runaround in the hopes that I'll leave, while the City Agencies that are supposed to be there for just these things only make a rush when it's time to collect bribes, apparently - I recorded this version of London Dungeon in a Southern, Delta-Blues style, which can now be heard on our Myspace player.

I'll be playing the entire 12 HITS - except for Halloween 2... I've added SPOOK CITY U S A in its place - next Thursday, October 29th at 11PM at MAMAS on the corner of Ave B & E 3rd Street in New York City.

Show your SEIU Membership card for free admission ; )