My thoughts on pop music and pop culture, plus the weekly playlists from THIS IS ROCK 'N' ROLL RADIO with Dana and Carl (Sunday nights 9 to Midnight Eastern, SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM in Syracuse, sparksyracuse.org). You can support this blog on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2449453 Twitter @CafarelliCarl
All editorial content on this blog Copyright Carl Cafarelli (except where noted). All images copyright the respective owners TIP JAR at https://www.paypal.me/CarlCafarelli
For Halloween, I'm directing today's fresh Boppin' traffic to my Greatest Record Ever Made! celebration of "The Transylvania Twist" by Baron Daemon and the Vampires:
Finally, a collection of information about (and links to BUY!) the book that contains the final edit of the Baron Daemon piece: The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1).
Hug a vampire today!
If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit toCC's Tip Jar.
My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK streamand on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK streamand on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.
At the end of each month, I've generally been hitting pause on this blog's certifiably dumb commitment to daily public posting, and instead prepping a private post for just my paid supporters. Now that I've scuttled my Patreon platform, the private posts will no longer be a thing. BUT! Because today is Halloween, I still wanna pause the usual daily shenanigans and look back at an appropriate post from 2017: a Greatest Record Ever Made! celebration of "The Transylvania Twist" by Baron Daemon and the Vampires.
(That was Boppin' [LIke The Hip Folks Do] # 700; today's post is, by official count, Boppin' # 2968. That reflects a lot of certifiably dumb commitment. But I digress.)
When I wrote this piece six years ago, I believe I had already started thinking about the possibility of doing a Greatest Record Ever Made! book, dedicated to the notion that an infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. If I did have the book idea in mind, I didn't really start pursuing it until around 2019. That book, The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), is now finished and awaiting approval from a publisher. If it becomes a book, the Baron Daemon chapter will be a part of it.
There's no shame in being a fan of your own stuff; a writer should be able to take pride in the work, and no creative effort can be accomplished without at least a little bit o' hubris. My GREM! bit on Baron Daemon is among my favorite pieces, and I'm delighted to share it with any interested parties. Especially Halloween parties.
For those who don't have the fond familiarity with the Baron that we Central New York baby boomers enjoy, here's an intro to the subject, as it will appear in the GREM! book:
VOICE-OVER: My home town of Syracuse, NY is best known for its snowfall, its college basketball, and its foolproof plan to turn the area into a tourist Mecca by building a really big shopping mall where a bunch of oil tanks used to squat. What could possibly go wrong?
But in the early 1960s, Syracuse gave the world Baron Daemon, the goofy TV vampire host of Baron Daemon's Buddies on Channel 9. Believe me, if you were a kid around here at that time, Baron Daemon was big as the Beatles to you.
In the fifties and sixties, many local markets had their own flamboyant vampire kiddie TV host. Only Syracuse had Baron Daemon. From 1962 to 1967, the Baron and his cohorts cavorted in televised escapades and performed schtick between cartoons and Flash Gordon serial adventures, live (or undead) from the Channel 9 studio in the basement of the Shoppingtown shopping center. Every kid in Syracuse was a fan of Baron Daemon.
And in 1963, Baron Daemon made a record. Now, decades later, that record's supernatural allure has drawn a unique visitor to Syracuse....
As I've said before, I could pass for a vampire if I could just get a little tan first.
This video was done in one take, but enthusiasm carries the day more often than mistakes ruin it. That enthusiasm is immortal, just like vampires ought to be. Especially campy, corny, schtick-loving bloodsuckers like Baron Daemon, who preyed on unsuspecting scenery with the undead passion of the broadest of broad comic performers. We loved him for it.
Mike Price, aka Baron Daemon
Grab ahold of your baby and hold her tight! Here's to Baron Daemon, from one of his bloody buddies. Happy Halloween from Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do).
If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider a visit toCC's Tip Jar.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK streamand on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.
Each week, the pop culture website Pop-A-Looza shares some posts from my vast 'n' captivating Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) archives. The latest shared post is a look back at my Halloween costumes over the years, "This Mask, This Candy Bar."
I don't think that we will be opening our doors for trick-or-treaters this year. In this time of pandemic, the chance of exposure seems too great a risk for the kids, for the kids' parents, and for we the middle-aged candygivers. We hope for a return to normalcy soon. In the mean time, it does not feel safe to participate in the usual Halloween rituals. I've gone over it again and again in my mind, but I can't justify tempting the potential of a dire consequence, all trick and no treat. It ain't worth it.
Sweet times will return, not soon enough, but eventually. For ghosts and ghouls, witches, vampires, princesses, superheroes, and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers alike. For now, I reminisce about the disguises I wore when I was a young beggar, demanding Milky Ways from neighbors and strangers. "This Mask, This Candy Bar" is the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.
My current costume, and my plan to implement a return to normalcy
You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby! This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here. The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project: Volume 1: download Volume 2: CD or download Volume 3: download Volume 4: CD or download Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio:CD or download Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1)will contain 165 essays about 165 tracks, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here:THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1).
I don’t remember all of my Halloween costumes. My trick-or-treat years began some time in the early to mid ‘60s, and I retired from door-to-door costumed begging around November 1st of 1972, by then an eighth grader and forced by societal expectations to give up this annual grab for free candy. Stupid societal expectations. The earliest costume I can remember wearing was my Ben Cooper Superman suit, probably in either ‘65 or ‘66. The costume puzzled me. What was with the eye mask? Superman doesn’t wear a mask! And how come the costume didn’t have red shorts over blue tights, like the Man of Steel wore? Whoever this Ben Cooper guy was, he clearly had no proper eye for detail.
The next year, I was Batman. Of course. My Dad tried to talk me into being The Green Hornet instead, trying to tell me that there’d be tons of Batman wannabes prowling North Syracuse that Halloween night, but The Green Hornet would be unique. I would not be dissuaded; years before Michael Keaton or Christian Bale made it a catchphrase, I was already insisting, “I’M BATMAN!” The third and final store-bought costume I remember is Birdman, a Hanna-Barbera cartoon hero later subverted into a comedy figure as Harvey Birdman. Hmf. I take my superheroes seriously, thankyouverymuch. And never mind that my Birdman garb was supplemented by a less-than-intimidating pair of cardboard wings I made; criminals may be a superstitious and cowardly lot, but I think my disguise would only strike scornful laughter in their hearts. I remember three subsequent homemade costumes. One may have just been used for a Cub Scout party rather than actual trick-or-treating. That was my get up as Dworn, the super-weakling from space. I remembered ol’ Dworn from a cherished Superboy 80-Page Giant a few years back, though my look was my own, accomplished with a torn ‘n’ tattered cape and a pretend barbell marked “10 LBS.,” with super-weakling me bent over struggling to carry it. Like Jon Lovitz, I was ACTING...!
Dworn, we hardly knew ye
I did go out one Halloween as the ghost of Ty Cobb. Yeah, top that, you poseurs. I got an old Detroit Tigers uniform from my Dad, and I added a skull mask to make it special. No one was impressed with my creative ingenuity, but I liked me. The costume for my farewell Halloween rounds in ‘72 was Charlie Chaplin. I was a huge Chaplin fan when I was 12, and I was SO proud of that costume. It was a triumphant end to my career as a trick-or-treater. Although I was now done with soliciting candy from friends, neighbors, strangers, and assorted riff raff, I still wanted to get dressed up the next couple of years, as I took over the role of handing out the sweet treats to the masked kids knocking at our door. As The Shadow, I accidentally terrified one youngster (who got extra candy as compensation for his trauma), but no one knew what to make of me as Groucho Marx. (Wait. Come to think of it, no one ever knew what to make of me as myself either.) My interest in Halloween kinda faded away. As a freshman in college, I went to a costume party as a generic glitter rocker I called Satan Starr, Superstar. As a senior, I slapped together a decent Supergirl costume. I wound up reprising that one for two subsequent Halloweens.
For God's sake, put your red shorts on, buddy!
And I only remember three more Halloween costumes, worn to parties hosted by co-workers. In the late ‘80s, I finally took Dad’s suggestion and became The Green Hornet, with lovely wife Brenda poised to kick ass as Kato. There was also a party where Brenda wore my old McDonald’s uniform, and I have no recollection of what I wore. And finally, one Halloween night in the ‘90s, I raided my knickknack drawer for props and tchotchkes to throw together an impromptu disguise as Freelance Generic Batguy (Not Affiliated With DC Comics, A Time-Warner Company). I slay me. Now, all of my costumes have been permanently relegated to storage. I mean that figuratively; the costumes themselves are long, long gone. I won't say I outgrew the urge to play dress-up--I've never shown any evidence of outgrowing anything--but really, the only thing I miss about Halloweens of the past is all that free candy. I do dig free candy. I betcha that Ben Cooper still gets free candy, damn him. Even if his Superman doesn't wear his red shorts on the outside, where they belong.
You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby!
Fans of pop music will want to check out Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, a new pop compilation benefiting SPARK! Syracuse, the home of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. TIR'N'RR Allstars--Steve Stoeckel, Bruce Gordon, Joel Tinnel, Stacy Carson, Eytan Mirsky, Teresa Cowles, Dan Pavelich, Irene Peña, Keith Klingensmith, and Rich Firestone--offer a fantastic new version of The Kinks' classic "Waterloo Sunset." That's supplemented by eleven more tracks (plus a hidden bonus track), including previously-unreleased gems from The Click Beetles, Eytan Mirsky, Pop Co-Op, Irene Peña, Michael Slawter (covering The Posies), and The Anderson Council (covering XTC), a new remix of "Infinite Soul" by The Grip Weeds, and familiar TIRnRR Fave Raves by Vegas With Randolph, Gretchen's Wheel, The Armoires, and Pacific Soul Ltd. Oh, and that mystery bonus track? It's exquisite. You need this. You're buying it from Futureman. (And you can still get our 2017 compilation This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4, on CD from Kool Kat Musik and as a download from Futureman Records.)
Hey, Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) will contain 100 essays (and then some) about 100 tracks, plus two bonus instrumentals, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1).
