Open Thread - Thurs 31 Oct 2024 - Halloween!
Halloween!
It's Thursday and Halloween! Halloween, as celebrated in the USA, is my favorite holiday for several reasons: 1. pumpkins and haunted houses 2. costumes and decorations 3. parties and/or trick or treat and candy! 4. It's often a great time of the year, season-wise, not too cold, not hot, colorful...
Yep, Halloween!
Everything above still makes the day wonderful in my old age, and more, since there's one more reason I love Halloween: 5. It's my birthday! That made it hard when I was a kid because few would come to a birthday party on Halloween. But then I realized that every Halloween party I attended was also my birthday party and people decorated, dressed up for it, and gave everyone candy! Awesome! I think being born on that day helped make me somewhat strange and very into black. Or maybe I was destined to be a Goth/Punk type anyway. I dunno 
A few years ago I started a list of my favorite Halloween-listening type songs. I can't remember why I started it, but I've continued it, and I'm going to share some of the songs here. So get ready to do some dancing!
The Damned: Shadow of Love (1985) The bass beat on this song sounds like riding a horse. I love it. And David Vanian, the lead singer? Damn, I wanted hair like that. I'm kinda glad now that I have a gray streak or two in my hair
Oingo Boingo: Dead Man's Party (1985) Sounds like going to a Halloween Party to me! Danny Elfman, the lead singer, has had an amazing career in music. And this was one of his first songs!
The Pogues: Fiesta (1988) Pogues - Celtic Punk, right? But this is... Hispanic? Party until you fall down!
Fiddler's Green - Down! (2016) For a change of tempo, kinda. Celtic Punk! Or maybe Folk Punk! With the devil, and the last verse is in Latin. Latin. *swoon* This song is very Goth in a way. And danceable! Fiddler's Green is a German band. I've been a fan for 30 years or so.
And some more Damned - Grimly Fiendish (1985) - Yes, two Damned songs, but how can they not be on the list? They are punk, Goth, and British!
My list is about 25 songs long, at least, so we'll stop here... Enjoy the first five and let us know what your favorite Halloween songs are because I know there are a bunch of good songs out there that I missed. And after a bit of rocking, goth-ing, punk-ing, whatever, have some fun on Halloween because it's a fun day, with parties, costumes and candy!
Thanks for reading this post on Halloween songs. Here's the open thread - remember, everything is interesting if you dive deep enough, so tell us about where you're diving!
Comments
Happy birthday, sima!
I will check out the celebratory music after work.
Gotta long trial today. Yuck.
Thanks for sharing your remembrances with us, chica!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Hey now
.
a little Halloween humor
Happy Birthday!
truth is considered foreign influence, world peace is a threat to national security
Happy Birthday, Sima
If I had known it was your birthday I would have got you a card.
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.
Good morning Sima, have the Happiest of Birthdays!
Have just started in on the music, but, as to the Pogues, there is a serious connection between the Irish and the Mexicans - look into Los San Patricios, aka Batallón de San Patricio. (plus, of course, there's that "Party until you fall down!" spirit you spoke of)
So,
y apropos:
or, if you prefer Belafonte:
be well and have a glorious birthday
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Yay….it’s back online
.
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/10/30/winning-a-battle-over-control-of-o...
Phew….. I certainly missed reading the articles there. See what happened.
I still can’t access it from my link. I’ll try hitting the homepage from this link.
Nope no luck. Others say they can only access it from Firefox and I’ll have to get it. Damn rat bastards!
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Last I saw, the site is up
.
.
but whatever work around they have will not update yet
truth is considered foreign influence, world peace is a threat to national security
The site is up
But you have to do this to get the latest news. Consortiumnews.com
October 30, 2024 at 16:26
Please flush your cache and refresh the page.
It works for me now
Went from the page header. I’ll try my link
Edit…not working again either way.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Now if you want a real scare for Halloween --
Here we have Democracy Now stumping for Harris:
Bishop William Barber Endorses Harris, Says Faith Leaders Must Oppose Trump’s Hate
The key passage from the good minister:
Well, apparently Jesus, Yeshua of Nazareth to be sure, wasn't all that clear to Barber, or for that matter to Goodman, otherwise he (and she) would counsel a vote for Jill Stein. The rest of us can judge Barber and Goodman for their support for Killer Kamala/ Holocaust Harris. As for the least of these? Today they are Palestinians, Lebanese, and the good Ukrainians who are being dragooned daily into the front lines with a couple hours' training where they are mowed down by Russian firepower. They are also the immigrants Barber loves to celebrate who are coming here because the US is destroying the old countries' economies.
“One of the things I love about the American people is that we can hold many thoughts at once” - Kamala Harris
Good lord…..
This guy is such a fraud. Guess he hasn’t noticed how we are treating the wee folks in Gaza? Trump isn’t doing that. Harris is. I could go on, but why bother?
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Happy birthday and Happy Halloween, Sima.
Here in France profund, there isn't much in the way of Trick or Treating. But we see incredible pots small and large of gorgeous Chrysanthemums. The first year I didn't get that they are for the Toussaints or All Saints' Day, where many troop to cemeteries and place said Mums on loved one's graves. Waves of flowers all over France tomorrow.
In the intervening years more people are actually planting Mums in window boxes and patio pots, as I always have. At least I'm no longer a heathen.
I pulled my sweet corn stalks down and bundled them up for decor against the stone walls this evening and lit candles in our road-facing windows. Our clocks fell back last early Sunday morning. You all are catching up this weekend as I understand it.
To celebrate our Halloween we listened to recordings of Totentanz by Liszt and Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz. So for your birthday I'll put our favorites in here for your listening pleasure. These are fascinating performances and the comments in the YT threads are interesting.
First is Liszt. I thought when Mon mari put it on it was some modern version of Liszt but no it is as he wrote it. It is much more modern than the time it was written. This version is maybe over the top, but watching the pianist play and the conductor interact is something. Very emotional.
From the Annecy Classic Festival, 2014
From the Annecy Classic Festival, 2014
Pianist Denis Matsuev and Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Zoltán Kocsis
My preview says the link is blocked then directs me to You Tube anyways. Let me also try to put a url in here:
Totentanz Dies Irae
Here is a good summary from Wiki. Rarely do I find much good there these days, but music, biographies and history can be bright spots.
Totentanz Dies Irae
The second piece is Symphonie Fantastique. I have listened to versions of this since the 1970s. I had a Sheltie once who barked when the chimes are rung in the fifth movement, thinking it was a doorbell. Never failed. This version is another intense take on this symphony.
The Deis Irae which is a very old Gregorian theme, is heard here in the fifth movement.
Charles Munch was in his last year with Boston when they recorded this.
Here is a Wiki summary of the five movements.
Symphonie Fantastique
We have had the most unusual weather this year: months of cool, rainy, thunderstorm days for weeks on end. No real summer except two weeks or four late August early September. We have had eight and nine inches of rain per month. We had our highest little river rising just two weeks ago. Couldn't grow Cilantro or lettuce (I know I couldn't believe it.) for love nor money. But I did get some sweet Corn to sprout and a nice large raised bed with mature ears in September. We recorded 256 mm of rain or 11 plus inches of rain for October. Wow.
Enjoy your birthday and very best wishes.
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.
Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.