HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Image stolen from here.

I've been playing with my new computer over the last couple of months and have been transferring gobs and gobs of music onto it. In honor of the season, I thought I might share my idea for the ultimate Halloween mix with you. I divided the songs into categories, one category per song, although many of them could easily be included in several different ones.

I may update this list as the day progresses. Feel free to add your own ideas in the comments section...

CLASSIC ROCK:

•Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival
•Bat Out Of Hell - Meat Loaf
•Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen - Santana
•Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
•Boris The Spider - The Who
•Brain Damage/Eclipse - Pink Floyd
•Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap - AC/DC
•(Don't Fear) The Reaper - Blue Öyster Cult
•Dream Police - Cheap Trick
•Frankenstein - Edgar Winter Group
•Godzilla - Blue Öyster Cult
•Helter Skelter - The Beatles
•Highway To Hell - AC/DC
•Hotel California - Eagles
•Hush - Deep Purple
•Paranoid - Black Sabbath
•People Are Strange - The Doors
•The Raven - The Alan Parsons Project
•Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner - Warren Zevon
•Scenes From A Night's Dream - Genesis
•Stiletto - Billy Joel
•Strange Brew - Cream
•Sympathy For The Devil - The Rolling Stones
•Tubular Bells Part 1 - Mike Oldfield [as heard in The Exorcist]
•Welcome To My Nightmare - Alice Cooper
•Werewolves Of London - Warren Zevon
•The Witch Queen Of New Orleans - Redbone
•Witchy Woman - Eagles

80'S/90'S ROCK:

•Abracadabra - Steve Miller Band
•All You Zombies - The Hooters
•Cat People (Putting Out Fire) [Let's Dance album version] - David Bowie
•Cry Little Sister (Theme From The Lost Boys) - Gerard McMann
•Destroyer - The Kinks
•Devil Inside - INXS
•Don't Pay The Ferryman - Chris DeBurgh
•Enter Sandman - Metallica
•Eyes Without A Face - Billy Idol
•Feed My Frankenstein - Alice Cooper
•Home By The Sea/Second Home By The Sea - Genesis
•I'm Going Slightly Mad - Queen
•It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) - R.E.M.
•Lost In The Shadows (The Lost Boys) - Lou Gramm
•Love And Death And An American Guitar - Jim Steinman
•Miss Ghost - Don Henley
•Moon Over Bourbon Street - Sting
•Murder By Numbers - The Police
•October - U2
•On The Dark Side - John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band
•Rattlesnake - Live
•Spiderwebs - No Doubt
•Synchronicity II - The Police
•Twilight Zone - Golden Earring
•Vampires, Mummies And The Holy Ghost - Jimmy Buffett
•Witch Hunt - Rush
•Zombie - The Cranberries
•Zombie Zoo - Tom Petty

MODERN ROCK/COLLEGE ROCK/ALTERNATIVE:

•Bloodletting (The Vampire Song) - Concrete Blonde
•Cemetry Gates - The Smiths
•The Dead Girls - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
•Dead Man's Party - Oingo Boingo
•Eaten By The Monster Of Love - Sparks
•Everyday Is Halloween - Ministry
•Fear (Of The Unknown) - Siouxsie & The Banshees
•The Ghost In You - The Psychedelic Furs
•Ghost Of The Year - Max Q
•Ghost On The Beach - Insiders
•Ghost Town - The Specials
•Happy Phantom - Tori Amos
•I Eat Cannibals - Total Coelo
•I Scare Myself - Thomas Dolby
•Intruder - Peter Gabriel
•The Killing Moon - Echo & The Bunnymen
•Lullaby - The Cure
•Monster - Fred Schneider
•Nightmares - A Flock Of Seagulls
•Ouija Board, Ouija Board - Morrissey
•Pet Sematary - Ramones
•Praying Mantis - Don Dixon
•Psycho Killer - Talking Heads
•Reptile - The Church
•Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) - David Bowie
•Swamp - Talking Heads
•There Is A Light That Never Goes Out - The Smiths
•Tombstone - Crowded House
•(Waiting For The) Ghost Train - Madness
•Ways To Be Wicked - Lone Justice
•Weird Science - Oingo Boingo
•Witches' Night - The JudyBats

OLDIES:

•Devil In Her Heart - The Beatles
•Haunted House - Jumpin' Gene Simmons
•I Put A Spell On You - Screamin' Jay Hawkins
•Love Potion Number Nine - The Searchers
•Mack The Knife - Bobby Darin
•Monster Mash - Bobby "Boris" Pickett
•The Purple People Eater - Sheb Wooley
•Spooky - Classics IV
•Witch Doctor - The Music Of David Seville
•(You're The) Devil in Disguise - Elvis Presley

NOVELTY:

•Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes - Lewis Lee
•Attack Of The Radioactive Hamsters From A Planet Near Mars - "Weird Al" Yankovic
•The Cockroach That Ate Cincinnati - Rose & The Arrangement
•Dead - They Might Be Giants
•Dead Puppies - Ogden Edsl Wahalia Blues Ensemble Mondo Bizarrio Band
•Masochism Tango - Tom Lehrer
•Nature Trail To Hell - "Weird Al" Yankovic
•Slime Creatures From Outer Space - "Weird Al" Yankovic
•Spider - They Might Be Giants
•They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! - Napoleon XIV
•The Time Warp [from The Rocky Horror Picture Show]
•Turn Around - They Might Be Giants

70's/80's POP:

•Cleanin' Up The Town - The Bus Boys
•Dark Lady - Cher
•Devil Woman - Cliff Richard
•Ghostbusters - Ray Parker, Jr.
•Hungry Like The Wolf - Duran Duran
•I'm Your Boogie Man - KC & The Sunshine Band
•Maneater - Daryl Hall & John Oates
•Mean Green Mother From Outer Space [from Little Shop Of Horrors] - Levi Stubbs
•Oogie Boogie's Song [from The Nightmare Before Christmas] - Ken Page
•Somebody's Watching Me - Rockwell
•This Is Halloween [from The Nightmare Before Christmas]
•Thriller - Michael Jackson
•Union Of The Snake - Duran Duran
•Voo Doo - Rachel Sweet

COUNTRY:

•The Devil Went Down To Georgia - Charlie Daniels Band
•(Ghost) Riders In The Sky - Johnny Cash [also recorded by many others]
•The Legend Of Wooley Swamp - Charlie Daniels Band

EASY LISTENING/AMERICAN STANDARDS:

•Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead (from The Wizard Of Oz)
•The Little Blue Man - Betty Johnson
•Phantom Of The Opera (from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical) - Michael Crawford & Barbara Bonney
•That Old Black Magic
•The Thing - Phil Harris
•Witchcraft - Frank Sinatra

CLASSICAL:

•Carmina Burana (O Fortuna) - Orff
•Funeral March Sonata No. 2 In B Flat Minor, Op. 35 - Chopin
•In The Hall Of The Mountain King - Grieg
•A Night On Bald Mountain - Rimsky-Korsakov [based on a work by Mussorgsky]
•The Sorcerer's Apprentice - Dukas
•Toccata In D Minor, BWV 565 - JS Bach

TV/MOVIE THEMES:

•The Addams Family
•Alfred Hitchcock Presents (Funeral March Of A Marionette)
•The Batman Theme [from the 1989 movie, composed by Danny Elfman]
•Bewitched
•Casper The Friendly Ghost
•Dark Shadows
•Ghostbusters (Main Title Theme) [composed by Elmer Bernstein]
•Halloween (Main Title Theme) [composed by John Carpenter]
•The Imperial March (from The Empire Strikes Back) [composed by John Williams]
•Jaws Theme [composed by John Williams]
•The Munsters
•Outer Limits
•Scooby-Doo [the classic TV cartoon theme song]
•The Twilight Zone
•X-Files

PROJECT VALOUR-IT

Thirdwavedave asked me to pass along word of an upcoming BlogTalkRadio interview about this worthwhile cause. You can read all about it HERE or just listen in HERE tonight (10/31) at 9pm EDT.

No Blogoween?

I blame Hillary

(apologies to IMAO and spacemon... er Frank, er, nevermind... Ray Nagin made me steal that photo)

Hello Out There!

Hi!

Mr. Right here. Just wanted to put up a post to let everyone know I'm back online and visiting many of my favorite blogs again on at least a semi-regular basis. So --- if you have been finding comments on your blog left by me, they are likely not illusions nor an imposter.

Sorry I've been away so long, but I just couldn't take having all those pages either take forever to load or not load at all with the old computer and dial-up internet, which are both now (thankfully) things of the past!

Not sure when or if the blogging bug will bite me again, but I will try to let people know if I feel the urge!

All the best!

Mr. Right

Move Election Day to April 16th

This was found at The New Editor (Tom Elia) and it's an interesting read.

(Versions of this column originally appeared in both the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Austin American Statesman.)

April 15th is upon us once again, a day, like indigestion, that never fails to elicit a number of responses. While some growl, others medicate, saying that freedom has its price or that taxes pay for civilized society. (Most indubitably -- care for some tea?)

A majority of people are willing to pay taxes for freedom or civilized society and would do so happily if they thought they were getting a fair shake. But a lot of people don't feel that they're getting a good deal.

In fact, they feel ripped off. But what can they do about it? In theory, they can wait until the first Tuesday in November every two, four or six years to change officeholders. But doesn't such a wait dissipate their desire for change? Why do they have to wait so long, and who benefits from such a wait? (I'll give you a hint -- it's not the voting taxpayer.)

Let's start benefiting the voting taxpayer and move election day to April 16th.

Normally, we don't patronize a business again if we feel ripped off. That's not an option here -- unless hanging out with the IRS is your idea of a good time. But we can vote for change, which is kind of like not patronizing a business again.

In theory, before entering the voting booth, we can try and learn about the issues and where our money goes. However, in reality the federal budget is extremely complex and most people's eyes glaze over when even its subject is brought up, effectively killing any inquiry.

Wanna feel like the walking plague? Try asking someone to read it at the next party that you go to. How does a particular program relate to what you paid in taxes? What is an average taxpayer's portion of an obvious boondoggle? Why do you think that the budget is so difficult to wade through and who benefits from such complexity? Surely not taxpaying voters. (Hey, where'd everybody go and why am I drinking alone?)

Did you know that the average federal government salary plus benefits exceeds $50,000 a year? You probably haven't had the time to read pages 205-209 of the Analytical Perspectives volume of the federal budget for fiscal year 1998 where this juicy morsel appears (after many calculations).

I'll bet that's probably because you haven't yet finished reading the 68,000 plus pages of the Federal Register. Oh, it's good stuff. Runs the vast panoply of the human experience, it does. But none of this stuff provides the drama of the 10 million words that make up the Federal Tax Code. I know, I know, you've been meaning to get to that, too. Or maybe it's gotten to you first. Perhaps not. Then again, maybe torture is your bag.

Suppose that you comparison shop and find a better price at Company A, do you necessarily care that Company B isn't as efficient and therefore charges a higher price? Do you immerse yourself in the details of Company B to see why there's such a difference? Are ya nuts?

No, you buy from Company A and let the executives of Company B figure out the details. If the executives at Company B want to keep their jobs, they react. That's their job.

But what can you compare our government to? Please, keep it clean: Did you pay more to the government in taxes or to the bank on your mortgage or to your landlord for rent this year? Do you think of your home as a major purchase? How about your tax bill? Is "major" an adequate adjective? (Quit looking at me that way, ex-gentle reader, it makes me nervous.)

Even if some of the sometimes arcane budget material does manage to resonate with voters and they actually understand it (just like they understood "Medicare cuts"), there is a further problem that is unique to the process of government. We pay our taxes in April and vote in November. Where else do you pay for something and wait for almost seven months to choose the product? And that's in an election year. Would you pay for your house and then wait seven months to choose its style? Would you take a blind date to the most expensive restaurant in town without a fallback plan? Whaddaya, nuts?

Let's simplify the process and move election day to April 16th. Shouldn't the timing of tax payments and our selection of office holders be tied more closely together?

Wouldn't this help to focus taxpaying voters' attention? Wouldn't elected officials respond better to the wishes of taxpaying voters if elections were held right near tax time?

Those voters who feel that the federal government is doing a good job could vote accordingly. Who could object to moving election day to April 16th? I wonder. Are they nuts? Or are the rest of us -- for voting in November?