Continuing my diary/recollections of the recent Seattle Crypticon, begun here… 

5 p.m.: Author/editor Thom Carnell and I were joined by our “third musketeer,” the irascible writer/Fango contributor Philip Nutman, and proceeded to ponder what “The Best Era of Horror” was. We didn’t design this panel, and were a little remiss, because we really think there isn’t one. There’s always a good horror film to find somewhere, at any given time; it’s a matter of knowing where to look, and what era to look in. So we kind of subverted the title of the panel and bent it to fit our own will. It was great fun starting with the early Universal stuff and bringing it right up through the current wave of foreign output. In the end, a nice “spackle” panel, as I call it. Fun stuff.

6 p.m.: The Horror and Kids panel kicked off. My lovely daughter Rayne was unable to make the con this year, so I sat the panel out and took a short break, while Thom and his daughter Connor and son Jhustin spoke on the subject. I ran away to my room for a bit of “instantaneous relaxation” and to gear up for the rest of the night. Making my way down the elevator, out the doors, into the hotel itself and through the labyrinthine halls to my room was indeed a task as I navigated through old friends and well-wishers. Oh, the wonderful distractions! “Let’s grab a beer!”, “Have you eaten yet?”, etc. But I begged off quickly—still work to do—and grabbed a quiet moment in my room. Yes, it included taking a leak worthy of a racehorse. Jeez, had I been that focused? I didn’t even realize I had to pee. Wow.

7 p.m.: Thom and I gathered in a special area set up for an intimate “fireside” chat with well-known character actor Bill Moseley. There was no fireside, really, but there were popcorn and cookies and Sun Drop soda, a faux Dew drink that had me right back where I needed to be. Zing!

Now, Moseley is probably one of the most well-known faces to modern horror fans. Chop-Top in TEXAS CHAINSAW 2. Otis in HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES/THE DEVIL’S REJECTS. His filmography is a massive list of appearances in everything from PINK CADILLAC with Clint Eastwood to 2001 MANIACS: FIELD OF SCREAMS (which Eastwood is not in), and tons of television like CARNIVÀLE and ER. For those who don’t know, Moseley was also a writer, having worked for the very well-regarded Omni and National Lampoon magazines, so there was an instant camaraderie there. We got into his journalism days, then into his friendship with Timothy Leary, whom he met during his stint portraying Leary in a play in LA. We got around to discussing his film work, his process and the landscape of modern filmmaking in the low-budget arena. Before we knew it, we were getting the “time’s up” sign. It was succinctly ignored, and we continued on for another 40 minutes until the staff were ready to drag us offstage by our shorthairs.

Lastly, we gave Bill the second Crypt Icon Award, created and presented by sculptor William J. Bivens—which was cool, since William has been a con attendee since day one. It’s pretty awesome seeing true fans become involved, get to know the people they grew up watching and become contributing members of the community they love so much. Way to go, William! Great piece, too!

9 p.m.: Time for my yearly films primer, this round focusing on postapocalyptic flicks. But alas, my From Dystopia to Destruction presentation was not to happen—the third and final casualty of the death of my hard drive. Apologies to visiting filmmaker Ryan Nicholson, maker of GUTTERBALLS among other tawdry titles, who was going to sit on the panel with me. Next year, bro!

This really, to be selfish, was a bit of a blessing in disguise. I was whipped from the Moseley thing, and needed to re-up on my “instant relaxation” and grab a quick beer. I retreated to the lobby bar for the first (and only) time of the weekend, with my partners Nick and Jasmine, and ended up watching the Seattle Mariners win over The Yankees in the 12th inning, seated again next to my new best pal, Mr. Moseley himself. After more laughs and conversation, we bid our adieu, retired to the very nice hotel room provided by the con and proceeded to let nature take its course. It was my birthday. I was surrounded by friends. We had a lot of liquor. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or psychic to figure out what happened next… *hic*

SUNDAY:

Morning came wayyyyyy too soon, and there was a small fiasco concerning the Linnea Quigley Horror Workout thing we wanted to do. I ran into Miss Quigley at breakfast and we both just kind of looked at each other, a little tired and hangdog, and put the kibosh on it. We had covered everything the day before pretty in-depth. Best to just take it easy, and sit signing for fans at the table.

I went and walked around, pretty zombified at this point, and smoked friends’ cigarettes, and just took everything in for once.

1 p.m. rolled around, and I went to do the Horror in Music panel, with my drummer Patrick Fiorentino (yes, we play ze brutal thrash in our band Kandar…coming soon to a torrent site near you) as well as my Olympia, WA cohorts Paul Malleck (whose lo-fi horror ’zine Dormarth is an absolute must, geared to the VHS heads out there) and Ian Bracken (who doesn’t do shit except drink and watch movies, but look out, world—seriously, he does it like no other and has a lot to say), as well as new pal Derek Koch and the ever-present Thom. Soundtracks. Industrial music. Metal. We went over what we could in an hour, slowly filling the small room we were in with our boozy exhalations.

2 p.m.: I headed off to another room to discuss one of my great passions, television horror of the 1970s. Basically a name-dropping/plot-breakdown primer that became a trip down memory lane for me as well. “The Nut” sat in on this with me, holding my hungover form upright and urging my hopefully coherent ramblings onward, as we casually spoke with the audience in what naturally became more of a roundtable event. It’s always a pleasure to have an excuse to throw out titles like THE NORLISS TAPES, SANDCASTLES, CROWHAVEN FARM etc. along with the more well-known DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK, DARK SHADOWS and THE NIGHT STALKER. The old James Coburn-hosted anthology series DARKROOM even got some love, though it actually began airing in 1981…just sayin’…

Then 3 p.m. struck, and that was that, wrapping up my weekend. I was stunned, tired, empty, spent—and most of all, happy.

The thing I’ll say about Crypticon, and what makes it the special type of event it is, is that it has a folksy atmosphere that really isn’t prevalent in a lot of the cons I’ve attended, or had the honor of speaking at. It has had its ups and downs, sure, but wears its battle scars well, and there is a true family atmosphere among the attendees. Right down to the dealers’ tables, which featured a lot of local artists plying their wares, much of the work being exceptional. In particular, GAK Photography; that shit is so überdope I gotta pimp it out—but GAK serves as a marvelous example of what I’m talking about. Crypticon keeps it real. You can’t buy that for a dollar.

See ya next year; until then, spread the fear!

Special thanks to Tawny Mayer and Thom Carnell for the pictures.

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