Halloween Emerges Quietly at Target & Other News

So it is finally September....Hooray! I had wanted to do a "First Day of September" post...but alas I am late as always. September 1st signifies that we are just one calendar month away from the glorious month of October...woo hoo! And in Florida it means that the stores can officially start putting out their Halloween wares. True enough....some renegade stores have had theirs out for awhile now....and oh how I love them for it too. But many are hold-outs until September when it is officially safe, and a less likely target of the scorn and ridicule of the 'Unbelievers'! You know the ones....."those who don't believe in the Great Pumpkin"!! Tsk Tsk! Now I'm not sure how it goes down, in other parts of the nation, but in Florida.....it seems that Target is always the last holdout.
BUT....I went in there this week and actually found small signs of Halloween emerging. They had the Halloween T-shirts out, which is usually the first thing to arrive in our stores. And there were a few Halloween items in the Dollar Bins up front, but not many. But surprisingly, they also had a Halloween Music section, complete with an audio box to listen to all the spooky selections. The Fall candles were out and smelling good, as well as children's Halloween books. There were NO signs of the 'School Supply Section' being converted over to Halloween yet however. Oh Target....why do you taunt me so? This excursion to Target was exciting to me though because....well because I am easily excited I suppose. But it was almost like Easter egg hunting in a way. As these little sections of Halloween were hidden amongst the regular merchandise with no real signage or fanfare to mark their presence. And I just happened to stumble upon them as I made my way around the store. That's always fun. In juxtaposition to Target of course...is the Spirit Halloween Store that officially opened it's doors. Ours is decorated really spooky and has all kinds of props and costumes. It's 100% 'in your face' Halloween there....no searching necessary! As the 500 neon orange signs they have out front does a more than adequate job of alerting you to their presence!

And Home Goods, which was previously not impressing me much so far this season....just upped their game! I went in, because it is my weekly Autumn routine to go in and see if anything new and spectacular has arrived. And much to my delight, the Halloween section had grown exponentially, AND it was swarming with people. This did cause me a moment of slight panic as I thought of them encroaching on my holiday. For I'm usually the only one haunting those aisles this early in the season. Where did all those folks come from? HomeGoods had a lot of new items that were not there just a few days ago. So now I proclaim my love affair with Home Goods to be officially rekindled. Oh how I love thee HG! Oh....and, JoAnne's had begun getting their Halloween merchandise out as well, and I scored my first sighting and purchase of Martha's Halloween line! I liked it....but then I always do. There was a 'Witchy' line of stickers and decals that I especially liked. But it was all good in my book!As for us....well, we are enjoying our Labor Day weekend by decorating the inside of the house for Halloween of course. And we've managed to watch "The Good Witch", "The Halloween Tree" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" to kick off the season. Hope everyone else is getting out. or staying in and kicking off the Halloween season as well!

Macabre Music Box

I am totally digging on this limited edition Danny Elfman & Tim Burton 25th Anniversary Music Box that was made in celebration of the dynamic duo’s 25th anniversary of working together. This collector's chest includes Burton’s artwork, a DVD and 16 CDs featuring 19 hours of music, including 13 of Danny Elfman's original scores that have musically haunted many of Burton's best films. This is a collector edition, custom designed, working Zoetrope music box featuring Burton's macabre art. Among many other included goodies, it comes with a Skeleton Key USB flash drive. Now there were some Limited Numbered Collector Editions, but those are already sold out. And the box is now in it's final pressing, so after those are gone, there will be no more sold. This is a lovely piece of art, but it doesn't come cheap at $499.00. But then again, this is no 'small' music box. No sir...for as Burton (almost too eerily happy) denotes...."this box is big enough to fit a HUMAN HEAD!" Really? Wow...great information to have, and yet I'm left to wonder WHY??
Anyway...you can hear a sample of the haunting music, and purchase yours here at The Danny Elfman & Tim Burton 25th Anniversary Music Box website. And you can view a video below of the pair 'unboxing' this marvelous monstrosity....if you dare!
(All images © Tim Burton / Danny Elfman) www.burtonelfman.com

I've Got a Skeleton in My Closet!

It's Halloween month and when it's Halloween month, I switch all the music in my CD player over to Halloween themed music. I have a huge Halloween Music Collection with all styles of music being represented. One of my favorite genres of Halloween music however, is 'vintage' Halloween music by big band greats like Glenn Miller and Louis Armstrong. Nothing puts me in more of a Halloween mood than Kay Starr singing "Swinging at the Séance" or Louis Armstrong singing "Skeleton in the Closet". (Note that I managed to say 'Halloween 6 times in just 4 sentences....ha!)

As most of you can see from my sidebar, I have a link to a Halloween CD also called "Swingin' at the Séance". This CD is a compilation of remakes of those fab old vintage Halloween tunes, and the swanky band is the mondo talented Moon-Rays. Now I know that I've blogged on them before, and I've also gifted their CD's in several Give Aways. You can see the video for "Swingin' at the Séance" here on the Give Away blog post I did last year. My connection to the CD is that I'm the artist who had the big fun of doing all the artwork for the 12 page CD Cover/Booklet. I get no kick backs from pushing their CD at all mind you....I just think it's a fabulous CD that everyone should have in their Halloween Collection.

So the band just recently released a new video from "Swinging" for the remake of the Louis Armstrong tune "Skeleton in the Closet". They actually styled the video to mimic the styling that was used when Louis himself sang the song. It incorporates the use of Halloween shadows and imagery for some ghostly fun!

* * But shhhh......I have a special little secret to share with you all about this song. As a musical 'thank you' and nod to me for doing the artwork, the band threw a special lil' surprise onto the CD for me while recording it, which was very cool indeed. In this song, there is a verse that says, "All the witches, were in stitches, as their steps made rhythmic thumps, and they nearly dropped their broomsticks, when they tried to do the bumps." So their surprise was that they changed this verse for ME! The revised verse says, "All the witches, were in stitches, as their steps made rhythmic thumps, then WENDY dropped her broomstick, when it tried to do the bump!!!"
(It's at 1:21 in the video.)

Ha Ha....ain't that just the niftiest lil' 'shout out' ever?! I was so surprised and so honored to be immortalized in a recording! That will be my one and only claim to fame in this life...ha! Of course my kids love to hear that part of the song almost as much as I do! So I thought I'd share my secret here with the rest of you Halloween Heads, along with The Moon-Rays new video for "Skeleton in the Closet", from their Halloween CD, "Swingin' at the Séance."
(You'll want to turn my music player off so you can hear the song.)

Also, at the top of this post is a poster that the band had me do for them so they could send it out with the CD's. I used those old 'Spook Show' posters of yesteryear as my inspiration. When you could spend an evening at a good ole' fashioned Séance and Midnight Jamboree for entertainment! And you were usually guaranteed to see a specter or two. It's a shame they don't hold these anymore....I'd be the first in line! :o)
Artwork © 2008 Wendy A. (All Rights Reserved)

105 Followers and the "Dark Arts Give Away"

Well, as usual I am ALWAYS late for EVERYTHING! And it pains me that I did not seize the moment when it came a few weeks ago. But none the less, it is official...I have reached 100 104 105 fiendish followers on 'The Hallowe'en Tree' blog. Woo Hoo! And in my witchy lil' world, that is as good of an excuse as any to have a drink celebrate! So I am celebrating with a GIVE AWAY! And this give away is titled..."Celebrating the Dark Arts"! So what you ask...is the meaning of a "Dark Arts" Give Away? Well step right up and I'll elucidate....

As most of you know, I am an artist/photographer....and a lover of the 'Dark Arts'! Not like VooDoo and Santeria (although they are scarily fascinating too), but rather the 'Creative Arts' with a 'Dark Side'! So this give away will have a little 'something something' from the Visual Arts, the Cinematic Arts, the Literary Arts and the Musical Arts. And that means that there will be 4 different winners, 1 from each category.

First up is the 'Visual Arts'....that is where MY particular art form comes in, and where you will have to do your only bit of work to throw your name into the Witch's hat for this Give Away. I am contributing an 8x10 Hallowe'en Art print of the winner's choice from my new Etsy shop. So to throw your name in the running, just follow the link to my store "The Artful Gypsy's Bohemian Marketplace", take a look at the 8x10 Halloween Art offerings, and then come back here to post which one you like best and would like to have if you are the winner. This will provide me with some valuable feed back, as well as allowing me to know which print to send you if it is your spooky lil' name that gets drawn. Next we have the 'Cinematic Arts'. Well okay....'Arts' might be stretching it a bit considering these are B-movies, but 'dark' cinematic arts they will be deemed regardless, for the purpose of this Give Away. Yes, I have a fiendish 2 Feature Film of old, and although the films themselves are old, the DVD itself is new and unwrapped. The first ominous offering on this Double Feature disk, is the 1967 B-movie, "Night Fright" with John Agar. And the second sinister showing, is 1977's "Sisters of Death" starring former Playboy playmate Claudia Jennings who died in a car accident the following year.
The third item up for grabs is a book from the 'Literary Arts'. This book is called "Emily's Good Nightmares" by Rob Reger. Now tis' true that this may not be a 'literary' masterpiece like a Poe novel, but the spooky artwork and quirky text are superb for any lover of Goth culture. It's really more of an 'art book' per se....but it's still a book, and thereby qualifies to be in the Literary category for this 'Dark Arts' Give Away.And lastly, I offer up the 'Musical Arts'. And for this I am giving away another creeptastic copy of The Moon-Ray's Vintage Halloween music CD, "Swingin' at the Seance". It's a fantastic audio compilation of re-recorded Big Band Classic Halloween tunes sung by the greats like Glenn Miller and Louis Armstrong. I can personally attest to it being one of my personal Halloween favs and it's not just because I had the honor of doing all the artwork for this CD either. It's a really great addition to your Hallowe'en Music Collection, I promise. And so I am happy to be able to share it with other Halloween music fans. So there you have it....The 'Dark Arts' Give Away with offerings from Visual, Cinema, Literary and Musical artists who all share a 'Dark' love of Halloween. And since there are 4 'Dark Arts' being honored, then there shall be 4 different winners chosen for this Give Away...one for each category. Unless of course only 1 brave soul dares to enter...then he/she will get the whole enchilada. And caution... my brand of magic is always random, so you won't get to choose, or even know which of the 4 'Dark Art' gifts you have won until you have the package in your slimy lil' hands. So please enjoy whatever 'Dark' gift the fickle finger of fate decides to hand you!

You'll have a week or so (give or take a few days for the July 4th holiday) to complete the above task, and get your name thrown into the Witch's hat. You only need to post one entry to be considered. But you are welcome to try bettering your odds by cajoling your friends and family to enter the Give Away and then pass the spoils along to you if they win....ha! On Sunday July 11, I will post the name of the lucky winner(s) and those said winner(s) will need to email me with a correct mailing address in order to receive your items.

Thank you to each of the 100 105 Halloween Heads that make this blog possible, and for following along with me and allowing me to follow along with you in the Halloween Blog-o-Sphere. You all are truly the peeps who feed my love for Halloween all year long and I'm honored and grateful to share this sinister space with you all! Best of Luck! ~ Wendy :o)

And the Winner Is.....

Well today was the big day to choose the winner of my first Hallowe'en Give-Away! As most of you know, I am currently on vacation in New England. I was actually supposed to be home by now, but our trip was postponed by a few days because of my daughter getting ill a half hour before our plane was to leave. Her Tamiflu kicked in and we did make it out a few days later. But today was our last day here and we spent the day driving around small villages in Vermont, checking out the campus of Dartmouth College and taking lots of photos. We got home late, and will be catching our flight home tomorrow. So I got on the computer later than I had planned tonight. Sorry about that.

But, as promised, my extremely scientific selection method was put into place for the drawing this afternoon. My trusty Witch Hat was eagerly awaiting the little slips of paper with your names written on them for the selection....when an all out brawl ensued. Yes, at is now apparent, I have TWO children. Count them....1, 2! Therefore, it never dawned on me that a battle would be waged over which ONE of them got to draw the name out of the hat. There were all sorts of arguments presented as to why the duty should rest with each one and not the other. And I am not beyond bribes when drastic times call for drastic measures. However after much deliberation, the judge (aka ME) finally decided that the only fair way to handle the dilemma was to let each child have the opportunity to draw a name from the Witch's hat. So you know what that means? YES....it means that there will be not just 1....but 2 winners of the Moon-Rays fabulous Hallowe'en CD "Swingin' at the Seance"!


So now the winner(s) are.....drum roll please.....Erick from 'The Wonderful Wonder Blog' and ' Bridgett from 'Doug & Boo Plus 2'! A big thanks to everyone who participated. I will be doing more of these in the near future. I am so excited to send the winners this CD because it is really a great addition to your Hallowe'en play list. I hope you guys will love it as much as I do, and if you do....then please be sure to tell all your friends, and drop in on the Moon-Rays over at their MySpace page and tell them you were Wendy the (very) Good Witch's contest winners and let them know what you think of the CD! Sorry again about posting the results just a bit past the midnight hour. I'm late to everything! Oh...and email me with your mailing addresses at amdahlphotography@cfl.rr.com and I will get your package mailed out to you on Monday!

I'd also like to wish my dear friend Broom Hilda a Very Happy Birthday today! :o)

Halloween Music CD Give Away

Well...today is a special day. In honor of just getting my 60th follower, I am going to do a give away too. I haven't done one before, so bear with me. But I have something that I know will be a most spooktacular thing to win in a Hallowe'en Give Away and I've been dying to share, so this is the perfect excuse. I do not understand all the workings of having people go to other websites and post things, so this one will be very easy. You only have to leave a post on this blog entry letting me know you want to be entered...easy enough. And if you are the lucky spook who wins, I will need you to email me a mailing address. I will also ship out of the country, so no problems for my friends in Canada. You also do not need to leave multiple posts because one is plenty. I will put all the names in my Witch's Hat and let my kids draw it out. How is that for a scientific selection method? We will do the drawing and post the winner on Saturday, October 10th. That's 2 weeks.

Now for what you'll win.... You may or may not have noticed in my sidebar, an advertisement for a music CD titled "Swingin' at the Séance" by the marvelous Moon-Rays. First, let me tell you what a fabulous CD this is for any Hallowe'en lover. And if you're a fan of vintage Hallowe'en....even better, because the majority of these swingin' tunes are from the 20's and 30's big band era. Here is a better description for you. "This year the Moon-Rays have given you the ultimate Hallowe'en treat! They have gone back in the studio to really dust off the skeletons in the closet and record twelve tracks of the best Hallowe'en songs of the 1920's-1940's. Songs originally made famous by artists like Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Bing Crosby, Louis Jordan, Tommy Dorsey, and Glenn Miller. These songs, many of them never re-recorded before, take you back to a time when Hallowe'en parties were really swingin! To take on the recording, the Moon-Rays used the same instrumentation and arranging that were done on the originals, which meant recording with a full big band on several of the numbers. So if you think that Hallowe'en music started with the Monster Mash in the 60's you're in for a very pleasant shock, because these songs are the real deal, and they are SWINGIN baby!!!!!!"
So why have I chosen this to give away? Because first, I can personally attest to this being my absolute favorite Hallowe'en CD in my collection. And secondly, because yours truly was the artist/photographer who had the pleasure of doing all the art work for the CD. So you can only imagine what an exciting assignment it was to design a Hallowe'en CD....right up my witchy lil' alley! The band picked the theme they wanted to go with, in this case being the Séances so common to the Hallowe'en parties of old...and I worked closely with them to give the CD the visual excitement to match their stellar music. In the end, we couldn't have been more pleased with the final product. I played this at our annual Pumpkin Carving Party last year and it was a total hit. The Moon-Rays music is equally enjoyed by young and old alike. My kids love "The Headless Horseman" and "Skeletons in the Closet." The whole CD is swell, I give you my word!

So think about it, and if you want a Free Hallowe'en CD to liven up this year's bash, then throw your name in the hat! And this is not a requirement at all, but if after you get the CD in the mail and listen to it...if you dig it as much as I do, then please tell your friends about it and send them to the Moon-Rays MySpace page. They also have 3 other CD's of spooktacular Hallowe'en music as well. They are a top notch group of musicians and I like to support my fellow artists! Check out their video of "Swingin' at the Séance" below...oh so spooky!