"Darling, Come and Join Me"...

was Vampira's epistle to Jimmy, scribbled on a photo of her sitting over an open grave at Forest Lawn Cemetery in LA in the mid-50's and sent to James Dean, an enticement and a provocation to the recently-arrived-in-Hollywood protean young actor with a significant interest in the occult, who later reputedly dated her...

The original rare opening to the Vampira Show (1954)


Now the great Maila Nurmi has died at age 86, and Tim Lucas--the irrepressible polymath editor of Video Watchdog and author of "Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark", has written the best eulogy to the first ever television horror film host and the star of "Plan 9 from Outer Space" (and also, the absolute template for Elvira, who ripped her off shamelessly)--read Tim's posting of Friday Jan. 11th here--you might also cast an eye at Maila Nurmi's Wikipedia page...

I first met Tim Lucas (no relation--but another brother of the free spirit) at the Chiller Theater Convention out at the Jersey Meadowlands in 1993, where he and his wife Donna were chaperoning the incandescent Barbara Steele to a meet 'n greet with her fans, who were and are legion (and I am most assuredly one of them)...Tim recently did the commentary and helped compile a definitive Mario Bava DVD set for Anchor Bay, he is an erudite film and music brainiac and pop culture expert, and one of the trusted Knowledge Brothers, along with my friends Mitch Blank, Mitch Myers, Bob Strano, Richard Porton, Fred Perry, David Dalton, and Steve Beeber (there are more of course...you know who you are)...and his staggering new Mario Bava book, which weighs in at a hefty 12 pounds and 1128 pages of miniscule type, with a foreword by Martin Scorsese--the luscious hitherto unknown color stills from the great black and white fever dream "La Maschera del Demonio" (a/k/a "Black Sunday", 1960) alone make it worth the price of admission--even if it does cost more than a pretty penny ($260 in the US!)--also, you need a sturdy table in front of you to prop it up and peruse it, no lap-dancing with this baby--and you can order it online and at bavabook.com.
Also please check out http://www.bavabook.blogspot.com/ which reprints reviews of Tim's Bava tome (Dave Kehr gave Tim and his Bava scholarship a rave in the NY Times recently here--also check this out)...I recently spotted a copy of Tim's Mario Bava book prominently displayed in the window of the Cinema Store in London's Upper St. Martin's Lane, the best store for hard to find foreign and cult film DVDs and cinema-related books, stills and posters in London (Cine.Qua.Non at Staalstraat 14 in Amsterdam is another fantastic outpost/resource for cineastes)...go and seekest forthwith!

Another book worth tracking down and owning is Steven Lee Beeber's excellent compendium of insomniac tales and related artwork, "Awake! A Reader for the Sleepless" (Soft Skull Press)--not only will you find my black humoresque short story "Me and the Golem" in there (hint hint) but also fascinating entries from Charles Simic (the current US Poet Laureate), Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood, Jonathan Ames, John Sayles, Lydia Lunch, Louise Bourgeois, one of the Suicide Girls, Lynne Tilman, and many others...Steve is the author of "The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB's", a great writer, and a cool guy-- you can order his book from Amazon and also check out his very entertaining blog here...

Have to dash now as I'm leaving today for my beloved Amsterdam--playing the Dutch premiere of my "Sounds of the Surreal/Monsters from the Id" at the fabulous Paradiso (my 20th or 21st appearance there since performing with Captain Beefheart there in 1980--I've lost count!) on next Tuesday Jan. 22nd at 9pm...also am teaching a guitar masterclass and lecturing on the craft of songwriting at the Amsterdam Music Conservatorum this coming Monday at 11am...

and most significantly I am recording a commissioned solo guitar score for NPS, the Dutch National Radio, whose studios are located at the Dutch media enclave up in Hilversum--I will be accompanying the last known extended interview with Don Van Vliet a/k/a Captain Beefheart with my original music, an interview that was conducted in 1993 by my good friend the broadcasting journalist mover-and-shaker Co de Kloet, the go-to Beefheart and Zappa guy in the Netherlands...stay tuned dear readers...

xxLove

Gary