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.
"Serenade to the Big Bird" written in large text. Used according to Public Domain Mark 1.0 Universal Deed.
Have you ever heard the saying, “the cameraman never dies?” The phrase is a viral internet meme that Reddit popularized in 2020.
The joke references survivorship bias, a logical error in studies where statisticians only collect data on entities who ‘survive’ their trials, while ignoring those who do not. But for internet-users who enjoy videos of daring stunts and perilous expeditions, “the cameraman never dies” is a comforting mantra to repeat as their favorite YouTubers barely finesse death on camera.
By nature, war memoirs are very similar. Only someone who survives a war can publish an account about it, no?
Background
“Serenade to the Big Bird” is an unfinished WWII memoir written by American author Bert Stiles through 1943 through 1944. He was a B-17 copilot, serving in the 401st Bomb Squadron, 91st Bomb Group for the U.S. Airforce.
On November 26, 1944, he shot down a Luftwaffe Fw 190s before his plane careened into the ground in Hanover, Germany.
I had skimmed past this fact written on page nine. When I finished “Serenade to the Big Bird,” flipping to find more, a chill raced down my spine when I realized that there wouldn’t be.
At twenty-one, Stiles dropped out of college to work odd jobs and hitchhike across New York. At twenty-three, he was flying across England with a fleet of elite fighter pilots on the way to drop bombs atop Berlin. Strictly speaking, “Serenade to the Big Bird” is a chronological series of journal entries that cover those eight months of Stile’s military career.
But if I were to say what “Serenade to the Big Bird” is about, I would say this is a story about a great author who was never supposed to die a soldier.
The Book
With the theatrics of a writer and the honesty of an everyman, he records everything from his eccentric fleet mates and child-like infatuations to the sweaty boiling hell of a bomber plane’s cockpit from 30,000 feet above the ground. His account provides a shockingly grounded and relatable anti-war perspective of WWII. Stiles feels like he could have been saying as much, sitting right next to me scribbling poetry in a PHI class at NC State.
Above it all, however, “Serenade to the Big Bird” stands out among the rest because of Stile’s compassion. German, American, British or French–Stiles has a rare empathy for everyone, including the enemy. You wouldn’t normally associate that with a soldier, let alone a bomber pilot.
Instead of glorifying the atrocities of war or letting them send him into a nihilistic spiral, Stiles is painfully hopeful, right until the very end.
On page 216, Stiles writes in the final three paragraphs:
“In the end it is only people that count, all the people in the whole world. Any land is beautiful to someone. Any land is worth fighting for to someone. So it isn’t the land. It is the people.”
Conclusion
His memoir is only 216 pages. It’s barely even a novel. Yet, I found myself amazed by the depths of just a single life lost to time seventy-five years ago.
A favorite artist of mine since I was a middle school child, I’ve always found comfort in Beck’s diverse genre-bends in the 1990’s. I still greatly enjoy his work to this day, but he is far more hit-or-miss lately, with an unfortunate emphasis on the misses.
Despite how I view his music now, his seminal 1996 record “Odelay” fully shows his true potential in the “anti-???” genre of his time. Now, the actual term he was scooped up into, against his liking, would be the slacker generation and the anti-folk movement, but I put question marks in what I define him as because Beck is certainly no slacker.
Having been near-homeless despite working constantly many times in the 1980’s and early 1990’s, and because Beck himself appears to be anti-label of most kinds. He hated the slacker label and always adhered to the opposite of what would result in immediate success.
Something is nuts with this album. Either in the mind of its maker or in its concept itself. We start with the aggressive yet jingly “Devil’s Haircut” and in an instant get taken into “Hotwax,” a rap rock song using only acoustic guitars and harmonica. Later, “The New Pollution” goes into alternate reality bubblegum pop, which is backed by smooth alto sax and a demented sound of isolation.
The album on paper is all over the place but becomes cohesive in the hands of Beck and producers The Dust Brothers (one might be familiar with their work making Fight Club’s soundtrack and Beastie Boys sophomore record) through its experimentation in weirdness.
“Novacane” is a perfect example of Beck being his anti-anything self: live performances featured him in a fancy button-up suit paired with a old school harmonica, the song itself has a minute plus long outro of pure noise, and the song itself speaks of nothing whilst sounding important.
Many of Beck’s lyrics follow this ironic style, as he famously used in what remains his only true mainstream success through Loser in 1994. Songs like “Where’s It’s At” or “High Five (Rock the Catskills)” are catchy, although ear-splitting, jams thanks to dance-inducing beats, clever sampling, and high frequency tones. What on Earth could “I’ve got two turntables and a microphone” mean? Nothing. That’s why the song is awesome. The rule of cool strikes again.
Nonsense lyricism might be the basis for the record but Beck’s musical prowess in sampling and skills in the genre switch-up show he has depth. Combined with the talented Dust Brothers, Beck traverses a vast landscape of samples with his own original instrumentation in ways few artists have attempted to replicate. The very concept of rock music utilizing samples is an under explored genre in my opinion.
Diving deeper, the album’s closer “Ramshackle” (if you don’t count the hidden track of bleep bloops at the end, labeled as “Computer Rock” on streaming platforms) is its only track to contain heavy lyrics. Previous songs may be filled with ironic or post-ironic (maybe even post-post-ironic) nonsense but cracks show into who Beck is and his experiences. “Jackass,” “Sissyneck,” and “Lord Only Knows” reflect on his time going from menial job to a new, uniquely soul sucking other.
“Ramshackle” continues this theme but in more detail. A more clear picture is presented here, of people falling out of his life forever and a feeling of no guidance for what comes next. But, as the chorus picks up, unity is described. Unity that we all face the unknown. We all face the uncertain, terrifying world and keep moving forward. We will lose the world we stand on, but will push on. We might even succeed.
“Odelay” is a fantastic rock, hip-hop, folk- or really, whatever you want to call it- record. It was nominated at the 1997 Grammy awards for Album of the year and ended up winning Best Alternative Music Performance as well as Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for the single “Where It’s At.”
Favorite tracks: 1. “Ramshackle” 2. “Where It’s At” 3. “Novacane” 4. “High Five (Rock the Catskills)”
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.
