A night of the creeps with Paperback Writer: Chamber of Chills, chasing the moon, and more - By N.L. Be

What's this strangeness at the farm town cemetery?

Saturday was the beginning of my 'Month of the Creeps' on Paperback Writer. I told you about Esther the Delano Voodoo Lady, I showed you photos of Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. I took you through images of the Chamber of Chills and cemetery freakiness.

Did you know the same guy who does Marilyn Manson’s make-up does the monster make-up for the Chamber of Chills?

Aboogaboooga!

We’re talking a fun spooky house, and well known because of the make-up and creep factor..






A rock and roll make-up artist in Bakersfield?

CNN might be coming out to take a peek. The Travel Channel was out Saturday night squeezing helmet cams onto big-headed kids and sending them through the terror-filled maze. Talk about scary. I heard Shaun from Dirty Spanglish was nearly eaten alive by an actual Meathead zombie monster right at the entrance!

Yikes!

I toured behind the scenes and met Dave—he’s running the entire show. It’s their first year outside: a maze over 900ft long. I toured through in the daylight. Yes, that’s cheating. I found every hiding spot. I saw every trap door and trickery. I took close-ups of dolls while no one was looking…







And I even watched Al Mendez put make-up on Meaty’s Meathead. So I know who's beneath the zombie face.



Al has been airbrushing for years. He painted most of the backdrops and outdoor artwork. He’s that talented. It’s only his second year painting faces. But you couldn’t tell. He painted some freaky veins on the giant brain thing.

Gulp.

And then I toured again, this time right before victims, I mean, patrons made their way through. The lights and terror sounds were on. Fog machines spewed toxic glowing air, and the creepiest monsters lurked in the shadows and crevices of Bakersfield's Halloween catacombs.



I loved it.













I had to take a break from the creepiness. There was a children's benefit show at the GATE. I got mixed signals and heard Lost Ocean was going to perform at 8PM. No go. I would be chasing the moon at their new scheduled time of 10PM.



I showed up and talked shop with the band anyways. I challenged them to showing up at the Marketplace in the back of a truck, blasting their tunes. We talked about the Bakersfield music scene and how many kids are out of touch with music, and how scenes in other California towns pack the kids into venues like sardines when Lost Ocean comes to town.

And they should. So should Bakersfield, but that's the town mindset: be afraid of live rock and roll.

Lost Ocean has the potential to be one of the biggest bands out of Bakersfield. They’re signed with EMI (Credential Recordings) and just released a demo that they handed to me. “Listen to song 4 while you’re chasing the moon,” bass player Bret Black said. I snapped a photo of he, drummer Christopher Short and vocalist, Jeff Grey. Where was Skyler?? I'll find out when I review their CD, Night to Life.



For trivia’s sake: who are the Bakersfield bands right now who are signed or courting labels? Korn, American Standard, The Filthies, Adema, Midnight Panic, and Lost Ocean.

Afterwards I had dinner with Matildakay and Jesse Rivera. It was three writers fighting over breadsticks, although JR was in serious mourning from his Dodgers having imploded during the playoffs.

Speaking of great reads, check this horrifying Dodger entry by JR. You will crap your pants. Why? Because mild-mannered JR nearly killed someone over a baseball game. Go read now and leave a comment! Then when you’re done, go read his blog, Mexican on a Diet and offer your support.

Dinner was great. We chowed. We needed the energy. Why? We were off to chase the moon to Arvin Cemetery and White Cross. Yes, it was a full moon. We drove up the 223, through Arvin and into the creepy foggy foothills; the mountains loomed above us, shadowy, like hunters prowling for the moon themselves.

The white cross on the side of the road stood in a foggy haze. We lurked and talked then chased the moon back through town to the cemetery.





We took photos. A floating balloon looked like a ghost. It flickered and bobbed. A cat sat in a cemetery road and stared at the moon. We walked around gravestones and peered at markers where kids had been buried. JR then told a story about a kid with multiple personalities whose brother had died in a car wreck. He took on his brother’s personality.

We talked about JR’s relatives buried there and then heard strange metallic wheezing sounds and cars passing in the distance. “What’s that?” Matildakay said.

“And what are those lights?” I added. A string of lights floated like bright ghost heads in the distance.

“Those lights are Grimmway Farms. They package foods 24-7. Those sounds are tractors that run all night.”

Spooky. Grimmway. You can’t get a freakier farm name than that. They probably grow zombie parts out of brackish ghoul extract.

I thought I saw moevement in the shadows. Some kind of zombie farmworker from the voodoo fields that never sleep? That was enough for me. I was out of there; but not until I headed up old 99, past giant Eucalyptus and rows of palms on the 99 ghost highway. It was desolate. We passed shacks and the haunted Green Garden apartments where mentally insane reside.

I was never so happy to see my Oleander ghetto.

But not for long.

I was then off to the Red Eye Radio Show with Puck and John Wessling. As I headed over I heard talk of bigfoot hunting and a psychologist called in to ask about the hunter's father. Psycho analysis from a psycho for sure.







I showed up at 1am, got on the radio and talked abuot my night's wandering through creepiness. I even brought a talisman of evil that I claimed was pulled from the Arvin cemetery. I told them it was 'little feet', possibly an actual child skeleton someone had dug up and hung in a tree. I was just a grave robber after all.

"It's so real," John said. "And sort of rubberized."

Death has that effect for sure...

I wouldnt' be making anything up if that's what he was hinting at.

"And there's an inscription on it," John added.

I'll leave that to your imaginations...

This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on Monday, October 09, 2006. You can leave your response.