An October scene. Image by Drazen Nesic, licensed CC0 1.0 Public Domain
It’s finally October and sadly it’s coming to an end. With that comes the next monthly “DJ Dragonfly’s Favorites.”
I know that I am not alone in saying that this month has been a rough one. With all the midterms, fall activities and the sun setting earlier and earlier, tensions have been high. I have personally been falling back on comfort and so many of my favorites this month have been repetitive of the last couple months. That being said, I tried to compile a list of songs that I think accurately measure my favorites this month, excluding repeats. Some of these songs have explicit content, so fair warning to everyone.
This month, I feel I have a dichotomy of nu metal or heavy distortion and indie or high reverb feel in my playlist. I like to think there is a gradient especially with all the Halloween playlists I have been working on lately. I believe a couple of the songs in the playlist are kind of Halloween-esque, such as “Oh Klahoma” by Jack Stauber.
I have a couple other songs that I had recently been reminded of and haven’t been able to stop listening to. One example would be “Deceptacon” by Le Tigre. The other night, I was taking my lovely dog Daphne out and I overheard a car passing by with this song blasting. I hadn’t heard the song in ages and decided I needed to listen to it right then and there. Thus, the song has become one of DJ Dragonfly’s October Favorites.
Another example might be “Suffragette City” by David Bowie. I was also reminded of this song as it was playing in a TV show I was watching. I couldn’t just let that song slide. I needed to start listening to it again. That honestly led to a spiral of Bowie songs which of course led me to now want to rewatch “Labyrinth” from 1986. I suppose I have my evening plans. I hope everyone enjoys this months’ selections.
A pensive Autumnal scene. Image licensed CC0 1.0 Public Domain Universal.
Daylight savings time has come to its timely close, on Halloweekend no less. While I’m sure many of us enjoyed and appreciated that extra hour Saturday night, there are many more changes still to come.
The days are colder and the nights are longer. The sun is setting earlier and earlier every day and with that comes many an annual affliction. Aside from the flu and getting paler, seasonal depression comes a-knockin’.
Officially referred to as seasonal affective disorder, this silent criminal of good feelings is not an all or nothing affair. There are many ways to combat the seasonal sadness most tend to feel around this time of year and so I have decided to compile a list for anyone in need.
We are officially in the middle of the fall semester. That can only mean one thing: midterms. I can’t speak for everyone, but most everyone I know, present company included, have been drowning in exams, projects, presentations and extracurricular activities. The most prevalent feelings I have observed in myself and others have been stress. That being said, I think it’s high time I did another mental health check in.
With it feeling like everything is happening all at the same time, I want to provide a guide for how to deal with the stress and how to get through this dreaded period of the semester.
First and foremost, I would recommend making a list of all the things that are due within the next week and have them written down in order of due date. This helps to better visualize what needs to be done by when. Outside of that, I like to do quick and easy tasks between larger ones as a form of procrastination. For example, if I have a big presentation due Wednesday, but I also have one simple assignment due Tuesday and two others on Thursday, instead of procrastinating by scrolling on my phone or something I will complete one of those assignments. It allows me to take a break from what I’m working on and still get something done.
I try to make as much progress during the day as possible with my work so that I can have the evening to unwind and use for myself. That is not always possible for everyone. It’s not always easy to find time for oneself. My suggestion is to make a to-do list for the day and get as much done as possible as early as possible. For me, the small tasks instead of procrastinating helps with that a lot.
That is not to say that you should never take breaks. Taking a break is healthy and a requirement to mental sanity. Please take breaks as needed. But there is a difference between taking a break and just procrastinating.
That being said, being brain fried doesn’t do anyone any good. I never ever encourage people to pull an all-nighter. It is better to do what you can and go to bed at a reasonable time. Getting a good night’s sleep and waking up a little earlier to keep working, is a much better way to make sure you can retain more information and do better on an exam or presentation.
I urge everyone to be gentle with yourselves during this time. Take things one step at a time and please take some time to keep yourselves sane. It’s okay to take a break. It’s okay to do what you need to do. Get enough sleep and nourish your bodies appropriately. Good luck to everyone with their exams and projects.
"The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (1975) movie poster
CONTENT WARNING: This review, film and/or soundtrack contains themes of sexual expression, violence, assault and conspiracy.
Around this time of year, hundreds of movie theatres across the country host midnight screenings of cult classic, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” While I have yet to actually go to one of these events, I have seen the movie numerous times. I love the film and feel like it is rightfully a cult classic.
Background
I did a little background research and discovered that it was actually written when Richard O’Brien was an unemployed actor trying to keep busy. He wrote the story combining classic science fiction and low-budget horror films into a musical amalgamation. The story came to stage in 1973 and later to screen as an independent film in 1975. The film served as the breakout role for Tim Curry who played Dr. Frank-N-Furter. Some of the original stage cast was also retained, such as Richard O’Brien who played Riff-Raff and Patricia Quinn who played Magenta.
One thing that has been noted, unfortunately, was the conditions that the actors were in, especially for the pool scene at the end. A subset of the characters are all wearing lingerie with heavy makeup on and are swimming around in a pool on a stage, trying to indicate an orgy. As it turns out, the water was cold and the set bathrooms, or really anywhere else, was also quite cold. Susan Sarandon as noted that she caught pneumonia after the filming of this particular scene.
Additionally, the character of Rocky has another singer dubbed over his voice. This person is Trevor White, who’s contribution to the film was left uncredited.
Plot
This movie was a testament to sexual and gender fluidity. This movie, however, also contains a fair amount of assault, abuse and violence. Additonally, there are allusions to conspiracy and incest.
The story is told from the perspective of a criminologist studying a mysterious case. It is of a newly engaged couple, very prim and proper, stumbling into a world they never knew existed. Brad Majors and Janet Weiss, just hours after getting engaged, are caught in the middle of nowhere in the rain with a flat tire. They walk a few miles back to a castle where their lives will be changed forever.
There, they experience sexual awakenings and gender expression far beyond their comprehension. The other side of this would be that they also had to endure sexual assault and witness murder and abuse. In the castle, they meet sexually charged Riff-Raff and Magenta as well as Columbia and Dr. Frank-N-Furter, their master.
Brad and Janet, despite the oddities before them, request to use a phone to call for assistance but are refused. Instead they are stripped of their clothes, led to bear witness to the birth of a “perfect man” whose sole purpose is to satiate the sexual desires of Dr. Frank-N-Futer, and ultimately they are both seduced and used as playthings in the Doctor’s lifestyle of garters, heels, and corsets.
As it turns out, the odd characters of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, Riff-Raff, Magenta and Columbia are all aliens from the planet Transsexual in the galaxy called Transylvania. They were on Earth to satiate Dr. Frank-N-Furter’s curiosity about humanity and his quest to create the perfect man. Only Riff-Raff and Magenta, who we discover are siblings despite the sporadic lustful contact throughout the film, are the only ones who ultimately return to their home. Their reasoning being that Frank-N-Furter’s lifestyle is too extreme, even for them. To me, this seems like a reflection of what the fear of free sexuality and fluidity might have led to without the shackles of the cis/het expectations of society.
Brad, Janet and one Dr. Scott are left behind in the rubble, traumatized. It is left up in the air what actually happens to them but it is definitely seen that their lives would never be the same again.
The style of the music in this film is very 50s rock n’ roll. Many of the songs start off with a simple guitar lick with some distortion slapped on. Keyboards can be noted in many of the songs as well as a well defined saxophone solo from the character of Eddie, played by Meat Loaf.
Richard O’Brien was a fan of Steve Reeves movies and wanted to incorporate some of that into this film, which explains the 50s style of music. The ensemble really seem to have taken the idea and ran with it well as they have a large variety of voices chiming in for the choruses.
I want to say that this film isn’t for everyone. It is a cult classic for a reason. There’s nudity and violence and many disturbing themes, but if reading this review has you intrigued, then I think that you’ll really enjoy this film. I have to say that I love the personal expression, the interpersonal challenges and the inevitable karmic consequences. I think it is a great movie to watch if you’re in the mood for something a little out of the ordinary.
Those who have lived in or near Charlotte, NC know that every fall, popular rollercoaster park Carowinds does their annual nighttime scare program. There’s haunted houses, performances, decorations and monsters everywhere, at least normally. I have personally been going almost every year, if not every year, since I moved to North Carolina. This year, I have been severely disappointed.
What Once Was
Let me explain. In the past, the park would close around 5 p.m. and reopen around 6 p.m. with the scare actors out and ready to play. The park wouldn’t close for the night until 1 a.m. I could leave my house at 5, which was about 45 minutes away, and get there in time for opening, get through ticketing lines and be ready to have fun within an hour. There were three or so haunted houses and mazes along with different parts of the park acting almost like boroughs with different themes. There were very few “safe” places where you couldn’t be scared. Additionally, there have been areas around the park with dancers and there was always a big performance in the front apex of the park where the Carolinas’ meet.
What is Now
This year, everything was different. To start, I am a season pass holder and that has always been enough to get me into the park for any of the events and enjoy all parts of it outside of line jumping etc. Apparently the system has changed this year. My pass was still enough to get me in the front gate but not enough to let me experience any haunted houses, so I had to purchase a separate pass for that. Additionally, there was a new attraction for “The Conjuring” which required a separate pass purchase, and it was definitely not cheap. We opted not to pay for this attraction.
Next, we left my house at quarter after 6 p.m. to get to the park at the current opening time of 7 p.m. We stopped to get gas and food which would conceivably add about half an hour to our trip. All this taken into account, we should have arrived at the park by 7:30 p.m. As I’m sure you can guess, that is not when we arrived. We finally parked around 8:30 p.m. This wasn’t ideal, but not a huge deal as we did anticipate some traffic.
The next step was to get through the admission line which shouldn’t have taken longer than 20 minutes. Boy were we sorely mistaken. About an hour later, we finally made it into the park. But that wasn’t the last line we had to stand in before we could finally go have fun. We had to mosey our way to the front apex where the big performance normally would be to get our haunted house passes. Luckily, this line wasn’t a long one and we were all squared away by 9:45 p.m.
Now, I was admittedly pretty upset by this point. My accompaniment had to help me regulate and try to see the bright side of everything and I appreciate their efforts but it wasn’t working. We wandered about the park and had kinda decided to focus on the seasonal attractions instead of waiting in line for the rollercoasters since we could go on those any time.
We went all the way around the circular park and only spotted about a dozen scare actors outside of performances total. I was personally shocked. There were no boroughs of Victorian ghosts or birdcages or pirate zombies or really any dolls and creepy clowns anywhere. There were two actors with the chainsaws and two or three actors with sliders (metal knee and arm pads that allow actors to slide across asphalt that spark and make very loud noises). I was only spooked by one of these actors throughout the whole park. As I stated before, there used to be countless of these actors, all with a variety of style and scare tactics. There wasn’t really a safe place to be in the park where one wouldn’t have the looming threat of an actor with tattered clothing and heavy SFX makeup.
We took a minute to look at a park map to see if there was something we were missing. As it turned out, there were only four “scare zones” throughout the park and we had completely walked through them all without realizing. There were also a couple new attractions that we had had a chance to sample. We decided we wanted to try to catch some of the other new things we hadn’t seen yet.
New Attractions
One of the new attractions was a “rave” area with a scheduled performance every hour or so. This was called “DepRAVEd” and consisted of a large space with lots of fog machines and lights. There were several dancers with the focus being on one with a white wig whose style was pretty limited to a pop and locking routine. All the dancers, with two exceptions, were exceptionally talented. They seemed to me like they were just a group of people with a mild sense of rhythm that had been packed together in a dance studio and given a routine to learn. It felt very unimpressive.
Another new attraction was a burlesque show called “The Bon Bons Burlesque Troupe” which was nothing like what I would have expected at SCarowinds. This dance group was three ladies in pastel color-coordinated costumes consisting of corsets and ruffle shorts and fans. Their performance spot was also located on the top of a drink kiosk. They, again, weren’t exceptionally impressive. Not only was the dance routine just kinda alright, but they weren’t scary. They looked like they were trying to be little candies or something but in my experience at this event every year indicates that the whole point is to be scary.
The last two attractions we were able to sample were actually pretty good. The first was a stage performance in the theatre called “Wake the Dead” which was an interactive musical-like performance. The actors all did an exceptional job with their vocals and the song choices were impeccable. Each of the suspects in this stories murder mystery had a version of a popular song attributed to them. One had a version of “Cell Block Tango” from “Chicago” one had a version of “Tainted Love,” one had a version of “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” and lastly, one did a version of “Hot Patootie – Bless My Soul” from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” I think that this performance was likely the highlight of the evening for me.
Last but not least, we did manage to make use of our wristbands and go through one of the haunted houses. Sadly, that was all we had time for as the park closed promptly at 11:59 p.m. This haunted house was a new creation inspired by a doll workshop. The house was supposed to be a doll factory that has a gas leak and I was impressed with the set as well as the actors who did get me a couple times.
One other area I found that was new was a Sinner’s Lounge near the Fury. This space is supposed to have a speakeasy feel to it with fainting couches and fancy chairs as well as alcoholic beverages and a stage in the corner. We stayed for about 15 minutes or so and didn’t see any indication of a performance but I could be wrong about that one. I liked the idea behind this lounge but I think the execution could have been done better.
I wish I had had the chance to explore the rest of the attractions but alas I only had about two hours to do everything I wanted to and there wasn’t exactly a lack of lines. Overall, I had a very disappointing time this year and likely will not be returning until I receive indication that the park is returning to its past glory. I feel this attraction has gone down so much in quality, especially in the scaring and talent departments. I come to get spooked and hear my own heart pounding in my ears and I just didn’t get that. I can note that the quality of the attraction has been on the downhill for the last couple years, but this has to be the most dramatic plunge in quality I have yet to experience. If someone were to ask me if I thought paying the money for a regular entrance ticket and a haunted pass were worth it, I would have to give that a very hard no. I hope this helps anyone who didn’t get a chance to go this year and felt they were missing anything.
A Halloween scene. Image by Pixabay, licensed CC0 1.0 Universal.
Halloween: Costumes, candy, spooky movies and fun music.
I love Halloween. No contest, Halloween is my favorite holiday. As such, I always make a huge deal about it every year. I usually have several costumes ready for any eventuality, eat way too much candy, make all kinds of fun treats and snacks and, of course, I make a bomb playlist for my annual Halloween bash.
When I was in the process of making the set I wanted to play on the radio this past weekend, I decided that one hour was not nearly enough time for me to showcase the kind of fun party playlist I can make. So, here is a shortened version of the playlist I plan to have at the bash this year. Content Warning: some of these songs contain explicit themes or language.
Obviously, there are some staples that have to be in a Halloween playlist; (“Thriller,” “Highway to Hell,” “This Is Halloween” etc.) I have decided not to include those in this particular playlist. Most everyone knows these songs and I feel the need to present some more unique, but still popular options.
In my usual playlist, I would probably have included a lot of Alice in Chains, Foster the People and The Offspring. For this particular playlist, I have decided to just add some relatively less known songs or covers of popular songs. I really just wanted to provide people with more options than just “Ghostbusters,” although that is a classic.
This playlist should have a little something that everyone can enjoy. I have a lot of indie songs, yes, but I also have some grunge songs, pop songs, even a song that is supposed to be a Halloween song in the style of a Christmas song (“It’s Halloween!”)
I hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween and Halloweekend and enjoys the playlist.
I love going to the Renaissance Festival. I go every year and sometimes even twice. The one performance I never miss would be the “The Craic Show.” I have mentioned The Craic before briefly so today I will dive deeper.
About the Band
The Craic is currently a five piece Irish/Celtic metal band at the Carolina Renaissance Festival. They are currently made up of Daniel O’Ryan who is the frontperson, growling vocalist, electric guitarist, medieval bagpipe player and the first original member, Netto Batera who hails from Brazil and has been playing the drums in the band for the last four tours, Ruby Bloodstone who has been playing the upright bass for the last two tours, Nathan Redaxe who has been playing electric violin for the last three tours and lastly their newest addition being the roadie Levi who plays drums and the mandolin. Throughout the years, about 15 or so members have filtered in and out, some staying for years and some for just one weekend.
As can be expected in all bands, members sometimes don’t always get along super well, or have other interests. The current CRAIC lineup however is a definite exception. The members all have the same energy and love for their craft as well as each other. They all enjoy each other’s company outside of the music. And even within their musical lives, O’Ryan lauds the other members for their writing and musical abilities. A writing session would consist of O’Ryan noodling about on a stringed instrument finding a riff, then a melody, followed by a chord progression and finally some lyrics. He then records it and asks the others to add something to make it great. Finally, they record all the parts and put it together in Logic Pro.
The band was first formed by O’Ryan and had their first performance on Feb 18th, 2012. As explained at the start of every show, “craic” (pronounced “crack”) is an Irish Gaelic word meaning good or fun times (can also mean a story). The name comes from O’Ryan’s personal experience with traveling to Ireland in the 2000s and hearing it constantly used, not understanding what the word actually meant.
O’Ryan got the idea for the band back when he traveled to Germany and received his first exposure to medieval bagpipes being played at events. These groups played metal/medieval combinations and O’Ryan bought his first bagpipe there. O’Ryan also had a love of rock n’ roll and metal music (KISS, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Metallica, Slayer, etc.) and decided to bring the metal/medieval combinations back to the United States. His goal, essentially, was to make and play music that sounded like what Mozart’s versions of rock would sound like. When asked what some of the inspiration behind the band might be, O’Ryan responded with names like Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphy and The Pogues.
When asked what the aspirations for the band were, O’Ryan stated their biggest one was to help people forget their troubles and to enjoy life in the present. “Craic” meaning to have a great time follows this principle well. The band’s main message to people is to get out of the rut and away from the stressors and overthinking.
Renaissance Life
Now I can’t speak for everyone but I have always wondered how someone became involved with the Renaissance Festival life. When O’Ryan bought his medieval bagpipe, he also was taught by castle and medieval performers in Germany. Upon returning to the United States, his music taste and new talent opened up some doors. He formed a band and eventually they started booking medieval fairs.
I can imagine that the Renaissance Festival lifestyle isn’t for everyone. O’Ryan happens to love it. From what I gather, once you’re on a circuit you move approximately every two months. He stated that his favorite part was the interaction between different people and the band. Going from place to place has allowed the band to make friends with locals who look forward to seeing them every year when they return. This lifestyle has also been characterized as a huge party of fans where you can still make a living. But returning to the point that it isn’t for everyone. You have to be nomadic and are only ever really stable for a couple months at a time.
Shows and Projects
When asked what their favorite performance was, O’Ryan quickly said the Colorado Renaissance Festival. This festival, not unlike the Carolina Renaissance Festival, is eight weekends long but every show they play has a minimum of 300 people in attendance. The finale shows are intense and usually have over 500 people in the audience. The event has been characterized by the crazy and awesome people who come to see them, especially at the end of the day.
After playing the show for 12 years, I would assume the nerves would calm down. While O’Ryan stated that he no longer experiences stage fright or a fear of messing up, he still feels a bit nervous before a show in the hopes that people will enjoy the performance and give a good energy back to the band.
The band is currently working toward putting out a new album that would have an Autumnal/Halloween feel to it. They want to keep up the work with the albums and the next big thing that O’Ryan mentioned was taking the band on a trip to perform in Europe. The hope is to be able to play at a German or Scandinavian folk metal music festival. I, for one, would love to see something like that and would hop a flight over there just for that if I could.
When asked who the band would like to collaborate with, if anyone, the first response was “I don’t know.” That seems like a fair response, especially to such a tough question. Upon pondering, the response was to be able to meet and collaborate with some of the founders of medieval metal music, such as Corvus Corax (Latin for “Common Raven”).
Accomplishments
The song the band is most proud of and is their favorite would be “Seven Seas.” This song was written in less than an hour and is a bit of a different sound than the rest of their repertoire. The song is an impactful waltz and meant to be a self-portrait. When performed live, audience members link arms , sing along, and sway to the music.
In February of 2024, the band released an album called “Icons” with 14 different songs. O’Ryan listed this album, alongside their new EP, “The Five Song EP,” to be some of the accomplishments they are most proud of at this point. As someone who has listened to some of these songs live, I can attest to their pride. They are well written and well performed songs.
Last but not least, I asked O’Ryan if he considered himself and his band to be successful. He asked me what I considered to be success and I told him that was part of the question. His response was that success was being completely satisfied with what one’s doing and that it brings peace and joy and a steady, sustainable income. He thinks that yes the band is a success. The band seemingly took off right away, even if the quality of performance wasn’t up to where it is now. O’Ryan believes that the reason it took off was because no one in the United States had ever really seen this kind of music.
They faced a turning point around 2016 and 2017 where O’Ryan decided to take on the band full time. He stopped taking small and solo gigs and took the show on the road. Around COVID, O’Ryan found the band struggling and many members left the band. It was just him and his drummer Netto against the world. They took what they had and ran with it to make what is, in my opinion, one of the more impactful, fun and best performances at the Carolina Renaissance Festival.
Members
The Craic. (Left to Right) Nathan Redaxe, Daniel O’Ryan, Netto Batera, Ruby Bloodstone. Image provided by The Craic.
Now, I want to take a minute to talk about the members themselves. At the very front, there is Daniel O’Ryan. He is up there switching it up every song between the double-necked guitar and the medieval bagpipe. Worth mentioning that he uses the bagpipe and sings in the same songs. I am amazed at the breath control that that must take. His vocal style is not unlike many metal vocalists with a low grumbling and growling. He seems to have excellent vocal control and he knows what he’s doing.
To his right, audience left, we have Nathan Redaxe. He is up there fiddling away with his electric violin. This performer is clearly having a wonderful time. He dances around and has a big smile on his face the whole time. It would be an understatement to say he plays extremely well and if I knew more about violin I could go on and on about it.
Behind him would be Netto Batera on the drums. These drums, first of all, are decked out. They are covered in furs and he uses “bones” instead of drumsticks. I swear I have never seen a more energetic and passionate drummer in my life. He is having the time of his life up on that stage and plays so well even when one of the cymbals is knocked over.
Beside him, there would be Levi the roadie. I have only seen this person play once. He played the mandolin when I saw him and he played it well. He appeared fairly reserved on stage and maybe a little unsure of himself but I have no doubt that he’ll be having a grand old time in no time.
Lastly, Ruby Bloodstone. This performer is really something. I have seen them play a couple times now and they always seem so happy to be there. They always have a huge smile on their face and always place extremely well. They carry themselves well and are always dancing along to the music.
Next time anyone’s in the Charlotte area, I would highly recommend not only checking out the Carolina Renaissance Festival, but also paying O’Ryan and The Craic Show a visit.
Colorful mountain road near Grandfather Mountain and Linville. Image by Sophia Dutton-Rodkin
Pretty much from the middle of September until the middle of November, I have something going on every weekend. I have so many things I like to do in the Fall that I have to schedule it pretty far ahead of time. I thought it might be a good idea to share what I like to do in the Fall so that others might get some ideas.
Every year on the first weekend of October, the Renaissance Festival circuit comes to Huntersville, NC. I go every year at least once. I am a sucker for an excuse to get all dressed up and do something fun with my outfit or hair or makeup.
For anyone who doesn’t know what the Renaissance Festival is, it is an event in which performers, vendors and artists come together to create a period experience. All employees are dressed in fun Renaissance inspired attire as are most of the patrons. Some people choose to do something different like characters from anime, “Star Wars,” video games and so on. There are all kinds of interesting and delicious and overpriced foods and so many awesome experiences and trinkets.
Every year, I have a list of shows I want to see, experiences I want to participate in, and foods I want to try.
CONTENT WARNING: This review, film and/or soundtrack contains themes of religion, race, sexuality, suicide and violence.
As I have mentioned before, I am not a huge fan of musicals. However, I have been persuaded to review this one. “Jesus Christ Superstar” is a dramatic rock opera about the life and journey of Jesus Christ before his death. While the film itself is about Jesus Christ, the film is not overly religious in tonality.
