Let the blood-letting begin!

"For although Nepenthe has calmed me, I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men. This I have known ever since I stretched out my fingers to the abomination within that great gilded frame; stretched out my fingers and touched a cold and unyielding surface of polished glass." —H.P. Lovecraft, from The Outsider

"Through the grease-streaked windows of an all-night café, we watched the arrested get taken away; and the flickering neon stands ready to fuse, the wind blows away all of yesterday's news ... you're Better Off Dead if you haven't yet died ..." —Bernie Taupin

"Asteroooooiiiiiddd...coming in from the void!" —Jaz Coleman

Call it a healthy sense of self-hatred, but don't call it negative. At almost 49, an age where you're "better off dead," my impish, playboy youth, and happy-husband years all behind me, it's time to bash that ego in the back brain with a shovel, and wake up sometime later, dust myself off, and figure out what the fuck the next goddamn thing is going to be.

The playlist comments last night were overwhelming, a flood of heartfelt goodbyes, uproarious praise, and hopes for the future. It's very gratifying to know that, as listener blee put it, "MCoQ is an amazing labor of love, the time you put into this program really does shine." Yep, it is, I do, and it does, so thanks for that. Every time I get that feeling that my life has been a miserable waste (happens less and less as I get older, btw) I'll look at this playlist page of comments, and remember.

Nothing lasts forever, and nothing deeply fulfilling is designed to last very long at all, not without growing, changing, becoming something else. You wouldn't appreciate it if it did. Or at least I wouldn't.

And so it was. ...

Psychic Limb crackled the air and fissured the earth with their mighty and succinct blast of a performance, and I couldn't ask for a more apropos guest for what I wanted to be a brief, yet impassioned, good-bye.

Thanks again to the band, and to everyone who commented on their set, wished me well, etc. I'll be soaking up the appreciation for years to come, be assured. ... We needn't stand on the pier too long; one of my goals for the future is to keep posts here more to the point, less head-scratchy and belabored. Besides, I'll be back sooner than expected, with two fill-in shows for Evan "Funk" Davies on July 3rd and 10th, 9 p.m.-midnight ET.

Watch this space for more information on those upcoming programs, as well as my other activities. And please remember, you can always contact me with comments, friendly hellos, music and film inquiries, whatever, at castle@wfmu.org.

Thanks for listening; you've made the show what it is, for art without an audience, especially on radio, just floats without a base station, and the Castleheads have been the most appreciative and generous landing field a creative person could ever ask for. Huge thanks to all the great musical guests and co-hosts who've adorned the My Castle of Quiet airwaves with their presence, talents, and good humor. Very special thanks to Frank Henenlotter! I'll be putting up direct links to all the Castle live sessions and other special programming here eventually. ...It's a solid four-year body of work, and I'm proud; 195 shows, all archived at that link three or four lines above, thanks to the good people at WFMU.

Click on the end card up top, to reach the archived audio, playlist and comments for last night's full-stop horrorcast™. The devil rides out, for now, and will be back before you or I know it.