1. Worship Satan. 2. Pledge. Repeat.

A gracious, monstrous, mighty sick and mighty hot THANKS to all of you who pledged to last night's My Castle of Quiet horrorcast™. About mid-way through the program, I set a shift goal of $3,000—a bit ambitious, perhaps, but I would always rather allow the patrons to show ME where the ceiling is, rather than say, "here's the ceiling." Too late, I did it, and as it was, we didn't make it, but we did do very well, for a show broadcasting after midnight in the EST block especially. My bottomless gratitude to every generous pledger who dug deep, and showed myself, the world, and WFMU what The Castle means to you. We also distributed some mighty special prizes in the process—new releases on Gilead Media, and the DVD of Mystics in Bali, to name but a few. (Mystics YT clip; prepare yourself for the most-gaudy witch laugh in contemporary film.)

A very special Castle blessing of sorts (our sort) to listener SiHV and family, who managed to survive a car wreck mere hours before we went on air. SiHV also managed to check in with a very generous pledge, despite the incident, and walked away with the new Barghest LP, not to mention WFMU and My Castle of Quiet's deepest gratitude for his contribution made under duress.

Tremendous thanks also to Diane Kamikaze Farris, for co-hosting with me in the veritable wasteland of the late night. I'll be returning the flavor by MC'ing Diane's show this coming Thursday afternoon, from Noon-3 on WFMU. Diane's premium CD is a winner, and has been dominating my car stereo for the last week or so. Make sure to tune in.

And speaking of premiums, a few of you pledged to receive a copy of MCoQ's kustom CDr compilation, In the Dark, There Are Fingers That Grab, My Castle of Quiet companion #3, a collection of all-exclusive, new material from a hearty host of Castle-favored artists. More infos here and here. Only the few, the brave, the less-broke of us, those with $75 or more to spare for WFMU and MCoQ, will be receiving a copy of this select corpus, of which I'm quite proud. Please, we need more premium-sized pledges, and I'd like (as would the artists) to see this collection get out there some more, as it really is a dazzler, and I'm extremely grateful to all the artists who donated their talents to make this disc something more than a mere gathering of my personal favorites, but instead, a tome of Castle who's who of this moment in historical time.

So, on to next week, when my co-host will be the outrageous and sharp-witted Professor Dum Dum, sure to keep myself and Castleheads on our collective toes. I'm looking forward to it, and I hope to hear of thee there.

All in all, Diane and I managed to entertain, in the midst of rousing the faithful, and pulled off an entertaining broadcast in the process, if I say so myself, and I do. Click on the image of the evil forest ranger Asmosdeus, and the doomed Susan, up above, to hear the archive, and view the playlist and comments for this week's special-fundraising-edition horrorcast.

Hey - those pants sold out in pre-order!

Yes, this week I claim the headliner for myself, as the most laughable line of the night; a bit "inside," but if you know the party or parties involved, utterly hilarious.

The Castle Freak should never have come out of his basement lock-up. To view the full physical extent of his body, his visage, and those all-but-gone genitalia—it would be too much for even the most damned of souls. And he tried to compensate, with the young lady, for his lack of proper equipment, but it all ended up a bloody mess, truly. Truly yes, and no exaggeration, neither for the young lady or for Castle Freak himself. Had her hands not been bound, she could have given him "the tap," but even then, things may have been too far gone. Lousy head indeed!

I had an extra-good time putting last night's horrorcast™ together, hardly consulting my "notes" at all; it's true enough that sometimes one only needs a few good starting points, for any creative venture. So it was last night.

The Roland Kayn piece, to contemplate Kayn in the first, a composer that has inspired me so much, and yet his works rarely grace the Castle airwaves, largely because of their duration, but also because I'm cautious of wallowing in music I truly like that much, so that it may never, ever become routine. The expected enthusiasm followed in the listener comments. (Kayn passed away in January.)

As listener ami ad noted "good tunes" on the playlist at the very stroke of 1:47, I am unsure as to whether this applied to Kavra or Desastrious—both are deserving; grimy black metal of the very highest order—the very sonic equivalent of gloriously ill-fitting pants. Ha!

In addition, after two weeks and as many selections, listeners are already on track with the new Half An Abortion full-length being one of the best noise records of the year. It's called Naked Math Machinery, and is available on Ilse Music. Ho-Lee-Fook, it's good!

Like all of dir. Stuart Gordon's Lovecraft adaptations (Castle Freak is based on the short story The Outsider, which can still inspire tears some 40 years after I first read it), Castle Freak amps up the gore, and takes great liberties with the story, but the still the basic core of the tale remains. Gordon is a smart man, and knew that Lovecraft was quality writing, not meant to be merely "mined" for its skeletal parts. The Outsider is punk literature decades and decades before such a thing existed, before Darby Crash ever thought to write a poem; the ultimate parcel of human alienation, and a spot-on expression of the dusty solitude of our lives within these neato flesh-prisons we carry around. Here is a larger-scale appreciation I wrote of H.P. Lovecraft for WFMU's Beware of The Blog in January of 2006.

Please remember that Professor Dum Dum and I will be at Clifton, NJ's Clash Bar tomorrow night (39 Harding Avenue), starting at 9 p.m., as part of a WFMU "Meet the Listener" event, as well as a Bill Zebub DVD-release and screening party for his film, Antfarm Dickhole. I imagine the event will go on as planned, hurricane be damned; and while we're at it, damn the newscasters and broadcast weathermen too, for so delighting in whipping up general hysteria, and drumming up business for the supermarket chains and property insurers.

Castle Freak will take you to the playlist and audio-archive options for last night's horrorcast, but, uh, best to guard your privates.

Full of wonder tonight!

LOST ENTIRE POST WHILE TRYING TO LINK BLACKDEATH HAHA THEIR HOMEPAGE LINK TRULY EVIL HAHA JUST KEPT PASTING ITSELF OVER AND OVER HAHA ERASED ALL MY PRIOR CONTENT HAHA HAD TO COMPLETELY START OVER HAHA RUSSIANS HA.

Wonder >>>

—as in a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable
—as in why is it that I inhale, and by the time I've exhaled, all new releases on Youth Attack have sold out
—as in the little boy (filthy bunny-bonnet optional) removed his finger from the hole in the dyke, and a great flood of amazing new music surged past my door, as I reached out to grab what I could, all the while "yoinking" like Homer Simpson
—as in I wonder if that's a real cat

Completely wowed by the new Half An Abortion full-length on Ilse (yes kids, it's true—great noise can come out on CD!) Also receiving heavy notice on this week's playlist were Smoke and the aforementioned Blackdeath, both on Wohrt Records, Arizmenda's new tape, already in second press, Cripta Oculta, Throudos (2006 demo is a free download at that link), the Aghori split tape (with Gitche-Anahmi-Bezheu, their side was heard on last week's horrorcast™) on Existential Cloth Recordings, OPPONENTS (as always), and Norwegian BM legends Tulus.

Next Saturday, the 27th, I'll be a semi-luminous presence at this event, a WFMU listener meetup and Bill Zebub screening and DVD release party for his film Antfarm Dickhole, at The Clash Bar in Clifton, NJ, with fellow DJ Professor Dum Dum also in attendance, his Deutsche intellectual superiority in full display. Bill's movies always deliver more than they might seem to promise at a glance, thick with gnarly wit and social satire, and gloriously politically incorrect. It should be a fun night (Alice Cooper cover band inclusive, so turn out and meet your two most-favorite WFMU air personalities (let's be honest, now.)) Bill says I'm "lovely and talented"—he hath EYES, to see; you can, too.

It's been many a year since I watched Gummo, in fact I had to take the original shrinkwrap off of the DVD case to get the capture above (from the film's final scene.) I bought the DVD, and then kind of "forgot" that I owned it, if that speaks at all to Gummo's true status as a horror film, if not a genre film. It's difficult viewing, though it achieves a certain aesthetic/visual perfection, aided by the mostly grindcore soundtrack, and Harmony Korine's chillingly spot-on depiction of middle-American, white working-class, "idle-hands" conduct.

Click on Bunny Boy to reach the audio archive(s) and playlist for this week's horrorcast. Thanks for listening.

Although I'm disappointed about the lack of Dum Dum, More William Berger is great too.

GEE, THANKS! If only, if ONLY, I had been born a baby-Jesus-hating German intellectual!

Did you think I couldn't play three hours of metal? B/c I've done it before.

Opera IX blew a few minds (but who's interested in this band now, w/o Cadaveria on vocals? Not me!), and I got a virtual shoulder rub from someone named Emma. That's about it.

Click on the Knightriders to access the playlist and audio archive of this week's bonus horrorcast.

The Castle fills in for Professor Dum Dum, midnight tomorrow

What do you see in the image above?

a) one of those carnival dolls
b) a bum
c) a vag on top of a clit on top of a bum
d) Butch Willis
e) an upside-down goat
f) all of the above

If you answered a, c, e, or f, tune in to WFMU-FM tomorrow night at Midnight, when I will be filling in for Professor Dum Dum's Lab. Due to my inferior American intellect, I will not be taking calls, nor will I be discussing the baby Jesus, and/or ways to exterminate and/or thrwart its growth (understand, though, that I am in favor of this latter activity.) I will, however, be playing lots of metal—maybe just 3-4 doom CDs, we'll see.

Midnight-3 a.m., May 2nd
WFMU 91.1 FM (NY/NJ)
WMFU 90.1 (Hudson Valley)
wfmu.org live on the Web

Me and PDD

I gotta say, being Professor Dum Dum's co-host/strait man was some funny fuckin' shit. Check out the audio archive of last night's show here.

We had no prizes, nothing to give away but the Professor's premium CD, fly-by-the-seat radio, some righteous metal, and this forward-propulsive maniac's quick mind and witty tongue, pulling my addled brain, the whole room (and hopefully a lot of listeners) ever forward. Talk about "without a net"! We actually made a few $ for FMU.

grind grind. DOOM!

Remember that innocent game we played as children? It was never a problem, until someone picked up a heavy log and just wouldn't stop hitting. "Grind...grind...grind...grind...grind...grind...DOOM!" Nowadays the kids have their Nintendos and their Grand Theft Auto, and nobody hits anyone on the head anymore. No panicked chase around the circle.

In the world of Vikings, I most surely would have been the stenographer, which sounds easier than it was. Granted, you're not raping and pillaging etc., but you do have the pressure of Erik the Red over your shoulder, hilt at his side, saying, "I don't think you've got enough of ME in there, brother."

Get the pizza, Agnes. Get the pizza! Click on her fast enough, and you might just get to the playlist and streaming-archive page for last night's off-schedule horrorcast™. Thanks to Professor Dum Dum for asking me to fill in, and to Der Blumin for keeping company. My metal hat all battle-worn, I will probably relax with a bathtub full of noise this coming Wednesday....