Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “Ghost Riders In The Sky” — The Outlaws (1980)

An old cowpoke went ridin’ out one dark and windy day… I think it’s practically impossible to have grown up in post-World War II America and not have heard some iteration of Stan Jones’s 1948 cowboy classic Ghost Riders In The Sky in some capacity. It’s been covered by dozens of big name artists, from…

Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “UFOs, Big Rigs, and BBQ” — Mojo Nixon (1997)

Mojo Nixon is singing about UFOs, big rigs, and barbecue. Do I really need to sell this any more? Mojo freakin’ Nixon + alien encounters + 12 wheels of interstellar transport + smoked meat = ESSENTIAL Halloween tuneage. I first heard UFOs, Big Rigs, and BBQ waaaaaay back when, while playing the first-person shooter ‘Redneck…

Yay… the 2014 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Nominations, or: “Who cares what you do…”

OK let’s forget the flowery prosaic intro and just jump headfirst into this year’s crop of nominees: Nirvana KISS Yes Peter Gabriel The Meters The Replacements Hall & Oates N.W.A. Linda Ronstadt LL Cool J The Paul Butterfield Blues Band Chic Deep Purple Link Wray Cat Stevens The Zombies Whoa… I’m a HUGE Kiss fan!…

Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “Home By The Sea” — Genesis (1983)

It’s just one of those things, man. I seriously can’t stand Phil Collins. Nothing personal against the guy, but his No Jacket Required album made the calendar year 1985 a living hell for me. Sussu-freakin-sudio indeed. His voice makes my skin jump clear off my body and run straight up a tree. He did the…

Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “House Carpenter” — Nickel Creek (2002)

The haunting Scottish ballad “The Daemon Lover” ensares you with a tragic tale of a woman being visited by a past lover… who is later revealed to be The Devil. He tempts her away from her child and husband with promises of land, riches, lurid promises of dark enchantments… She kisses her child goodbye, and…

Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “A Little Piece Of Heaven” — Avenged Sevenfold (2007)

‘Cause I really always knew that my little crime Would be cold, that’s why I got a heater for your thighs And I know, I know it’s not your time But bye-bye And a word to the wise, when the fire dies You think it’s over but it’s just begun Baby, don’t cry You had…

Noshing In Wonderland #5: Whispering Canyon Cafe vs. Kona Cafe, or: “I can hear old guitars a playing, on the beach at Hoonaunau…”

Boots & I recently hit the 2013 International Food and Wine Festival at Epcot in Walt Disney World, but we couldn’t let our Lake Buena Vista excursion pass us by without a few other miscellaneous adventures in Disney Dining. So this time around, we decided to check out two restaurants at their Deluxe resorts: the…

Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “Moon Over Bourbon Street” — Sting (1985)

One of these days I’m really going to have to talk about Sting’s 1985 debut album The Dream Of The Blue Turtles because not only is it one of my favorite all-time albums based on the quality of the music alone, it was one of those “Got Me Through High School” records that I ridiculously…

Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “Keelhauled” — Alestorm (2009)

It’s metal. It’s Pirate metal! It’s Scottish Pirate metal!! It’s Scottish Pirate metal with a Keytar!!! Not only is Keelhauled a perfect Halloween song to get you in that dress-up-and-gut-a-deserving-swine mood, it pretty much has one of the catchiest sing-along choruses ever recorded. I know we don’t all have Sid Meier-esque daydreams about raiding towns…

Buttkickin’ Halloween Songs: “Wicked Annabella” — The Kinks (1968)

In a dark and misty house Where no Christian man has been Wicked Annabella mixes a brew That no one’s ever seen… From the magnificent The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society album comes this spooky little number written by Ray Davies and sung by brother Dave. Between the thunder of Mick Avory’s percussive…