So it's now only one more day until Halloween and I finally got around to watching the Paul Lynde Halloween Special. The special originally aired over 30 years ago in 1976. But it is now rescued from obscurity and released on a nice little DVD. I knew it was going to be ridiculous and hilarious. But it really is hard to even explain. You must simply watch it. The guest stars include Billie Hayes (Witchiepoo from H.R. Pufnstuf), Tim Conway, Betty White, Margaret Hamilton (The Wicked Witch of the West), Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch), Billy Barty (Legend, Willow, Sigmund & the Sea Monsters), Roz Kelly (Pinky Tuscadero of Happy Days), Donny and Marie Osmond, and Kiss! I know what you are thinking....amazing. Yes it is. And with the brilliant Paul Lynde as the host and Bruce Vilanch helping out with the writing this special was bound to be amazing. Kiss perform the amazing song "Beth" on the special.  The show includes ridiculous skits and musical numbers and the network debut of the band Kiss. I sort of wish they still made specials like this today. There really was nothing like Paul Lynde and he paved the way for many who came after him in Hollywood.

Here is a clip from the special...


There are some very exciting things out today. First of all in the land of TV on DVD there are two very exciting releases. Twin Peaks the Complete Series comes out today. The definitive Gold Box Edition is really amazing. Not only does it include the recently released Season 2 but also the out of print Season 1. Also included is the original and European version of the pilot for the first time on DVD domestically! It is finally all together in one box. The 10 disc set includes new interviews and special features all supervised by David Lynch. This show was amazing and nothing has ever come close to its brilliance. I have been waiting for years to watch the whole series over again in anticipation of this release. If you have never seen this show in its entirety, I highly recommend it. For my review of Season 2 you can go back and read it here.  I can't even begin to explain how much this show means to me. Also out today is My So-Called Life on DVD. The complete series gets a better more deluxe treatment than the previous release on DVD. This show started a couple years after Twin Peaks in 1994. But it was just as important and nothing has really come close to this show except for maybe Freaks & Geeks. This new release comes with a book with photos and special things from the show. It also has interviews with cast members including Claire Danes and 7 audio commentaries. These are exciting times.

So these last couple years have really been all about Depeche Mode. But really, my life has been all about Depeche Mode and Dave Gahan. I still remember the day I first heard "People are People" for the first time. My life was really changed forever. This man named Dave Gahan has influenced countless bands  and artists. And much like Morrissey and the Smiths, I really can not imagine what music would be like without him. I am sure many would  like to imagine music without him, but not me. Generations before had The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Or Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. For me and thousands of others, we had Depeche Mode and The Smiths. Siouxsie and The Cure. I think most of us who grew up in the 80s and 90s either loved or hated Depeche Mode. You were either a proud devoted fan or you made fun of them on a daily basis. The mutual love of Depeche Mode helped to create friendships and bring together countless boyfriends and girlfriends. Really, where would I be without Dave Gahan. After releasing his first solo album in 2003, "Paper Monsters," he went on tour as the solo Dave Gahan. The shows of course included many Depeche Mode songs. But his solo tours really lacked the energy of a Depeche Mode show. I have probably said this before, but there is really nothing like seeing them live. Just watch Depeche Mode 101 again, if you don't understand. Luckily Depeche Mode was not yet done. They released "Playing the Angel" in 2005 and it was really one of their best in many years. I had never stopped loving this band but it was really nice to know that they were still as good as ever. The band released another live album and another greatest hits. They released a great compilation of all their mixes. But most importantly they reissued their entire catalog of albums as deluxe cd/dvd combos. The albums really needed some remastering. The final two albums just came out a couple of weeks ago. They really are amazing. Each album has its own complete mini documentary about the making of the album. Dave Gahan is now releasing his second album today, "Hourglass." Some might say, enough already, Mr. Gahan. But for those of us still in love with the man that brought us "Dreaming of Me" 26 years ago, there can really never be enough.

Two of my heroes growing up were Rod Serling and Elvira. I am a bit surprised that I actually turned out sort of well adjusted. I absolutely loved watching The Twilight Zone on television. One of my babysitters let me watch it and I really thought that Rod Serling was the coolest man in the world. His shows were nothing short of brilliant. I still look forward to the yearly marathons even though I have the episodes on DVD now. I also watched a lot of the "Movie Macabre" hosted by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. The show originally aired in 1981. I also became obsessed with Elvira and watched her late night movie show any time I got the chance. The movies were absolutely horrible, but her hosting and commentary was hilarious. It probably helped develop my love of horror movies and just bad movies in general. But also my love of sarcasm. Elvira got her start in Hollywood with the comedy group the Groundlings. Both the Elvira character and Pee-Wee Herman were created at the Groundlings. I got to meet Elvira at Midnight Mass last year and the lady is still as great and beautiful as ever. I was excited to find out she had a new reality show coming to TV. The show finally started and I just finished watching the second episode. The reality show is on the Fox Reality Network. A channel that I am sure I will probably never watch again after the Elvira show. But the show itself is great. Elvira is basically looking for "the next Elvira." I am sure that she gets tons of appearance requests that she can't always fulfill and needs somebody to basically help run the Elvira business. Imagine how popular she is in the month of October. Maybe she should pick live five new Elviras.

After a couple of crazy new release weeks, today is a bit slower. Beirut came out on top last week. At least for us at Amoeba. I am still thinking Jens Lekman has the best album out this year. But I know its now a new week. And the Christmas releases are continuing to come out. The Michael Buble "Let it Snow" EP is finally out at retail stores. I know most people really hate the Christmas music. But I sort of get a sick pleasure out of it. I may not be excited by Michael Buble but there are plenty of great christmas albums. I am actually getting excited that we will soon be putting out our Christmas section. I am not really sure what is wrong with me. But don't worry. I'll be doing some Christmas blogs in December. But my plan was to do all sorts of Halloween blogs as well. But somehow it is already the 16th of October. But I still have a couple of weeks to go. The Halloween sections are up at all the Amoebas right now. So go buy all your favorite Halloween music soon. I really do love October. When I think about October, I think about horror movies and the magical Elvira. Unfortunately, it is a rare treat for an artist to do a whole Halloween album. It is just not the same as Christmas. Try to imagine how great it would be to hear a whole album of The Carpenters singing Halloween classics. Or how about Aretha Franklin or Dolly Parton. Almost everybody does a Christmas album at some point in their career. Even Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand have Christmas albums. But who besides the great Elvira puts out a whole album of Halloween songs. You really need to check out some of those great B movies hosted by Elvira that have been coming out on DVD. Amazing stuff. Her jokes are still hilarious. But I guess if you never liked her then you still will not like her. I grew up watching those Elvira movies and really thought that she was the coolest thing ever. She actually still is. Her reality show "The Search for the Next Elvira" just started a couple of days ago. I have not had time to watch it yet. But all I know is that it is a four part series and I will be watching and talking about it very soon. It on the special Fox Reality network. If you live in the Bay Area and have Comcast cable, that is channel 159. I seriously had no idea that this channel even existed until I was searching for her new show to record.

I was very close to almost not going to this show. Curt had too much homework so I was left to go to the show all alone. But I am really glad that I did. Not only is the Great American Music Hall only a couple of blocks from my house but I love it there. I know I have said this before. But I really do love it there. The architecture is so amazing. I actually ended up running into about 6 friends there so I had no more worries of standing all alone in the corner once I got there. But I was sort of looking forward to that. I really like going to movies all by myself in the middle of the week. It is usually just me and some retired ladies and grandpas. Maybe cause I end up seeing movies like  "The Queen" and "Letters from Iwo Jima." This would explain the old ladies and grandpas. I went and saw "Eastern Promises" this week. There were still only about 10 people in the theater but the "crowd" was a bit different. More old loner type dudes than old ladies. The movie was really awesome. Cronenberg and Vigo Mortensen fit together so perfectly. They captured the feel of a little russian restaurant so well. I have never been to one. But I feel like now I have. OK, back to the Jose Gonzalez show. I may have been to plenty of movies by myself but I have not really gone to a show by myself before. It is weird though. As much as Curt and I go to shows, I don't really see people I recognize out that much. I am always thinking to myself, who are all these people. Why don't I ever see them anywhere else in the city. But it seems that Jose Gonzalez was the show that all of my friends decided to go to. I had heard great things about his show at Bimbo's last year, so I was looking forward to the show. I really love the new album and wanted to hear it live.