The Music of Tim Burton's Films Plus Danny Elfman Concert

I spent my Halloween with Kyle in downtown Los Angeles watching an orchestral performance of the music of Danny Elfman from Tim Burton's films. No costumes for us, but we sure were excited to be doing something other than a Halloween party…not that there's anything at all wrong with that. It's just nice to switch things up a bit.

We were rushed to the Nokia Theater after checking into our hotel, but were very kindly given a parking pass on our way in to the parking lot by the gentleman in the car next to us. Saved us thirty big ones! How nice.

The downtown district where the theater is located was so busy! The concert drew a large crowd, plus it was Halloween and there were all kinds of people running around in costumes, eating dinner, and going to the clubs. There was also a mini carnival in the middle of the square, but of course we didn't have time to check it out. We barely managed to inhale some food and rush to our seats in the nick of time.

Downtown LA district where the Nokia Theater is located. So many lights and billboards, but I'm sure it's still nothing compared to Times Square (which I have never been to…yet!).

The marquis outside the theater.

The mini carnival in the promenade celebrating Halloween and Day of the Dead.

LA is covered in billboards and advertisements. I thought it was funny to see four of the same ads for the same movie with the same picture and everything in one spot. You think they're pushing this movie hard enough?? Haha.

It was pretty much a sold out event. The concert was done last year as well, and we had wanted to go to that one but the tickets sold out instantly. We were lucky to get the seats we did this year. I imagine this will be a yearly occurrence based on how great the turnout was.

The orchestra played all the best Burton movie songs - Beetlejuice, Batman, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow - and of course rounded out the evening with pretty much all the songs from The Nighmare Before Christmas. Danny Elfman made an appearance and of course sang all the vocal parts he does in the film, including Oogie Boogie's song, which was an interesting version. All of the songs featured snippets from the movies to accompany the music, so it was a fun dose of Elfman's memorable compositions.

The program for the evening.

PeeWee's Big Adventure! Did you know there's a sequel coming out??

Intermission selfie

Frankenweenie, which is one of my favorite stop-motion flicks.

There's Mr. Elfman belting away. 

I think he's singing "Oogie Boogie's Song" here.

Screen right before the show stared and the musicians were all taking their seats.

"The Nightmare Before Christmas" with Elfman there in the center.

I took lots of videos, however I don't want to upload them because you're not supposed to video at the theater and out of respect to the artists, I'm using them for memories only.

We booked the cheapest, crappiest, two-star hotel on Priceline through "name your own price," and I do NOT recommend this service for big cities like LA or San Francisco. The two star hotels in big cities must be held to a different standard or something because our hotel SUCKED. Neither of the table lamps worked, the light was on a timer and kept turning itself off, the TV was practically an antique, and the outlets were so loose we had to prop something against the power cord of our phones to make sure they stayed in the stupid hole. But the worst part was that Halloween turned out to be a stormy night and the windows on the eighth story were not caulked or sealed shut in any way. You opened them up and there wasn't even a screen to keep you from falling out. The wind whistled through relentlessly and made the loudest racket all night not to mention we were freezing since there was no heater or good blankets on the bed. Such a terrible experience and we both slept awful. And to top it all off we were charged for off-site parking. Don't stay at the Hacienda Inn near the airport - it's ghetto as heck.

The following day was a ton of fun however, no matter how tired we were from not sleeping.

Stay tuned for my post on Comikaze (my first comic convention!) and Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood.

"Beetlejuice" at the Trash Film Orgy

Friday night was the final Trash Film Orgy at the Crest Theater. It's been held there for 14 years and due to "changes" that are coming to K Street, the TFO had to find a new home. Thankfully, it got sent off with a bang and tons of people showed up to watch "Beetlejuice."

Kyle and I met up with a bunch of friends and were happy to be a part of the festival's final showing.

Beetlejuice leggings by BlackMilk; Boots - New Rock; Tank - Sovrin; Shrug - CAbi

The line to get into the theater stretched down K Street. It was so packed!

Marquis.

Poster outside the venue.

I've never seen the lobby of the Crest packed this full. So many people supporting TFO's final show. 

People filming little snippets about their TFO memories.

The Trash Afterlife booth.

Aloha Mighty Tiki!

This was a skit with the Bloody Bunny, a TFO staple character, and a Sleazy Lawyer. The parody skit was called "Phantom of the Crest" and of course it spoofed "Phantom of the Opera." 

Here is the Phantom killing the Sleazy Lawyer. It's funny because the lawyer represents the reason why TFO is being booted from the Crest. According to him, the consortium he represents wants to transform K Street into a bunch of bro-douche bars and urban Walmarts. 

It was such a fun night and I spent it in the company of good friends. Goodbye TFO! Hopefully you'll find a new venue soon!

Until next time…

Sacramento Horror Film Festival Day One

An acquaintance of mine puts on the Sacramento Horror Film Festival and he was kind enough to give me a 3-day pass with a +1 for a friend so I could write about the event. Yay for press credentials!

VIP lanyards, flyers, and program! So many little souvenirs to remember this fun festival.

Sacramento Horror Film Festival is a three-day event that takes place at the historic Colonial Theater and showcases independent horror films and shorts. There are also a smattering of other horror-related events, panels, and performances throughout the weekend, including live shadowcast theater.

SHFF will show "Bride of Chucky" on Halloween. Kyle and I would totally be there except for we have tickets for a Danny Elfman concert in L.A. that night. 

Exterior of the Colonial Theater. It's so old-school and has more personality than I do.

On day one, which was a Friday, I brought along my girl friend Kasi, who also appreciates cinema, particularly the macabre.

Movie theater lighting. Queens of darkness. Plus we only come out at night. Not true - it was totally day time and still hot outside. Come on weather…can we have fall already??

The first section of the day started out with a series of shorts and ended with a full-length feature called "Eat," which was about a struggling actress in Los Angeles who develops a disturbing habit of eating pieces of herself when she gets upset. The horror aspect of this film lies in its gross-out factor. There were several scenes where the protagonist's body, namely her toes and fingers, ended up in such bad shape that Kasi and I were both gagging and laughing simultaneously. "Eat" was thoroughly enjoyable with good cinematography and pretty decent acting. It also had memorable effects, although the ending was kinda lame.

After a short break during which Kasi and I grabbed some vegan eats from the restaurant next door to the theater, we headed back inside for some Evil Dead burlesque complete with fake blood and boobies. Score.

Jezebelle's Army with an "Evil Dead" inspired performance. And yes, that's a chainsaw underneath that chair in the center. 

A bloody burlesque performance. This is how the act began.

Hula hoops and booty shakin'.

Bloody zombie faces and hula hoop dancing with nipple pasties. 

Yay - more blood.

Next was a creature and zombie makeup contest. The winner was a "demented Minnie Mouse" as the judges named her, but the runner-up was Regan from The Exorcist, and personally, I think her costume was the best.

Regan costume that took second place. Later, she did an Exorcist-inspired burlesque act.

I can't imagine why this movie disturbs so many people. ;-P

Regan, Little Red Riding Hood werewolf, and the honey badger. Honey badger don't give a shit.

Judges and contestants in their full glory. 

"Demented Minnie" took first place. Although technically that's not what her costume was - she said it was a demented porcelain doll, but the judges called her Minnie, so whatever works.

After all the performers finished up, the shadowcast of Troll 2 began. Kasi had gone home because it was late, so I was there by myself sitting on the aisle seat during the intro credits with all the cheesy dancing trolls and I got spooked by an actor dressed as a troll touching me while I was not paying attention! The trolls came prancing up the aisles to get to the stage and messed with people along the way and although the trolls themselves are the farthest thing from scary, I was very much not expecting that interaction and was caught totally off guard.

Dancing trolls.

I left after the "piss on hospitality" scene because the audience got squirted with super soakers and being that I was on the aisle, I got pretty wet. Plus it was late and I was tired and Kasi had ditched me, so I called it a night before the show finished. I wish I had the energy to stay because two actors from the film, Darren Ewing and Deborah Reed, were both there to do a signing and Q&A session afterwards. I love Troll 2. It seriously is the "best worst movie" ever.

Next up is day two of the Horror Fest.

Until next time!

Sunday Brunch and "Tusk"

Sunday was our good friend Zach's birthday. We met up with a bunch of friends at a restaurant in downtown called Capitol Garage. They're known for their brunch specials and cocktails.

Starting brunch off right with an alcoholic horchata! 

A tofu curry scramble for breakfast - all vegan. It was damn good! 

There were like 12 of us altogether! What a large group. The birthday boy is the one on the right wearing a black beanie and stuffing food in his face. 

After some great conversations and delicious food, we headed to the movies to see Kevin Smith's new horror film, Tusk. Kyle and I are pretty big Kevin Smith fans and listen to all his podcasts, so we've been following all the Tusk news eagerly and waiting impatiently for the movie to come out. It did not disappoint!

Love this poster. 

All these cool people all in black. And no, it wasn't planned. That's just how our crew rolls. Hahaha. Also, we went full walrus in this picture. #walrusyes

The movie was awesome. It was everything you would expect from a Kevin Smith film (in the best possible way) and since we had been following it so closely, we were delighted to find out that it actually stayed very true to the original podcast that it was based off of. The makeup and special effects carried the film, but the actors' performances were also stellar. It was no surprise that Michael Parks made a great evil Walrus scientist/doctor, but who woulda guessed that Justin Long could pull off such an amazing walrus? All of the references to the SModCo podcasts were hilarious and the movie managed to find that perfect balance between weird, horrific, and terribly amusing. Go Kevin Smith. Please keep making movies of this caliber.

Until next time!