Facing my fears...
This newsletter is a day late but I was headed to the Chiller convention in New Jersey today so I wanted to include some photos in the newsletter.
If you have never attended a horror convention what you can expect is an overcrowded event inside either a convention center or a hotel. The hotels are much more congested with people (the scariest thing is they probably aren’t meeting fire code). The Hilton in NJ was no exception. People lined up in small hallways to get a photo op with Catherine Bach (aka Daisy Duke) or Dean Cain from Lois & Clark. I actually passed Dean Cain as he was leaving the room where they were taking photos. The hall was so cramped and “Superman” was going one way and I was going the other. We passed each other awkwardly. He was shorter than I thought he would be and had put on weight.
In addition to the celebrity guests, many vendors have tables set up selling every kind of horror geek swag. I picked up a Pazuzu statue from muckychris.com. It’s going to look great in the Office of Demonology.
One of my favorite things at the conventions is the people who dress up. Here I am along with the Real Demons of Pop Culture coloring book artist Chris Blake Sasser. We are having our cake with the zombie from the Creepshow Fathers Day story.
I usually get my Funko Pops signed and the only two people there that I had Pops for were Ace Freely from KISS and Lisa Loring—the original Wednesday Addams. Ace was late so I never got to see him. Lisa wanted $100 to have a Funko Pop signed. I said F@ck that. Makes no sense. I also brought a VHS tape that I have in the Office of Demonology but let me explain why.
The TV movie Salem’s lot scared the hell out of me as a child. This scene in particular.
I had nightmares from this scene. Check it out on Youtube. The character is Danny Glick and he is floating outside his friend’s window asking to be let in. But Danny has recently been changed to a vampire.
Many nights before bed, my older brother used to yell “There is someone in the window.” and I would run in terror out of our bedroom to safety. He did this relentlessly and I never learned my lesson that he was messing with me.
The actor who played Danny was at the convention. His name is Brad Savage. In addition to Salem’s Lot he was in quite a bunch of shows and movies. He was in Red Dawn (the real one from the 80s) as well as many of the 1970s Walt Disney movies. He was very nice and I told him my story. He said he was happy that I had nightmares otherwise I would have never remembered him.
Mr. Sasser delivered two more demons for the upcoming coloring book this week. Here is the great lion demon Marbas.
Starting the day after the next episode of the Real Demons of Pop Culture I will be going live on YouTube (and TikTok) and doing a “let’s draw demons” live demo. I’m not sure if I will draw the demon of the week or just random demons. I will also do Q&A while drawing. I am trying to figure out what works for live streaming. It’s not easy and since there will be more art coming in the future for Real Demons I thought it would be fun to add drawing demons to the mix. I throw a lot of things at the wall to see what sticks. This is the next thing I am throwing. More details in the next episode.
Halloween is only 2 days away. I hope you have a Happy & Safe Halloween.
Peace,
James