October Recap

October, not surprisingly, is always a busy month for me.  

This month started with a quick flight up to Portland, Oregon to show off a bunch of metal prints in my first ever solo art show at Well & Verne called FANTASMA.  

Myself with store owner and curator Chris "Panda" Lang and fellow photographer Dennis O'Neill

Thanks to a rather large bottle of whiskey gifted to me by Panda, most of the night was a complete blur, though I did get the chance to meet comicbook creator Anina Bennett and her partner Paul Guinan.  Anina was incredibly sweet and we got a chance to have a long talk about art.

Anina Bennett and myself.

After the show wrapped, I spent most of the rest of my trip attending the 22nd Annual HP Lovecraft Film Festival, where I got to see the premiere of director Elias' feature AYLA as well as a few dozen Lovecraft-inspired shorts.

I also got the chance to screen my short film THE STARS ARE BLACKEST AT NIGHT with co-director Darren Eskandari during the "Lovecraft Under the Gun" 72 hour film contest.  Seeing one of my films on the big screen in front of a sold out audience was such a surreal experience.

On stage during the Q&A after our screening.

We were in competition with three other shorts, and although our film received the most cheers and applause, the award went to a felt puppet musical called I DREAM OF LOVECRAFT by Travis Friess and his wife Aunt Gore (viewable here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUTyXcrWE58).  It was such a great experience to be a part of overall and I'm thrilled to have been a part of it.  Hopefully we'll attempt to do it again next year.

On the day before my trip home, my hosts took me to see BLADE RUNNER 2049.  I'm a huge fan of the original as well as a fan of the work of both the new film's director Denis Villeneuve and cinematographer Roger Deakins so I had high hopes for the film.  Unfortunately, while I loved how the film looked, the story felt incredibly lacking.  Also, I felt like HBO's WESTWORLD did it better with it's first season last year.

Andrea O'Neill, myself & Panda getting ready to watch Blade Runner 2049

After I returned from Portland, it was right back to the studio to shoot a new image for the Monster vs Monster show at Exhibit A Gallery which featured art featuring famous monsters by a variety of artists as well as several weird cage matches.

Amanda Sugar Jones as the Wicked Witch of the West

The following week, Amanda invited me out to attend Lucha Vavoom, an incredibly fun and raunchy show featuring Lucha Libre wrestling matches, burlesque performers and, this time around, a musical performance by Peaches.

Amanda in her vampy stage costume for Lucha Vavoom

LV is one of the better things I've seen here in LA in recent memory, and the Halloween edition was even better than the last one I went to a few months ago.  Spotted FIREFLY and CASTLE star Nathan Fillion in the front row, watched a performer stick a lit candle up her ass in a rather acrobatic way and got a chance to meet THE PRICE IS RIGHT host Drew Carey backstage after the show.  I gotta say, this was probably the funnest night I've had in a long while.

Glow-in-the-dark Peaches doing her thing on stage.

The very next night, I got a last minute invitation to see Thievery Corporation live at the Hollywood Palladium.  While not typically the kind of show I'd normally attend, it was a really great performance and a chill way to spend an evening out with friends.

The Thievery Corporation light show

The following morning I finally got a chance to catch the Yorgos Lanthimos-directed THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER.  While I haven't yet seen THE LOBSTER, I was a big fan of Lanthimos' debut DOGTOOTH, and "Sacred Deer" did not disappoint.  An incredible morality tale told in Lanthimos' unique storytelling style, I can't recommend this one enough.

Norest for the wicked as later that night was the Sabbath of the Wretched art performance showcasing Missy Munster's new line of dark occult headdresses.

Nothing like a sheep skull to welcome you to an evening of weirdness...

It was a great chance to sell a ton of prints featuring the work Missy and I have done together over the last year as well as finally see Missy and The Coven of Ashes do their thing with bloodletting and extreme piercing throughout the ceremony.

All in all, a very productive and exciting month.  My only real disappointment thus far is that I haven't yet made plans for Halloween tomorrow night.

Perhaps I'll stay home a worship a few Elder Gods...