NEHW member Rick Silva at his Dandelion Studios table at Rhode Island Comic Con.
Author Stacey Longo behind the NEHW table, which had a different set-up on Sunday.
Author Rob Watts with Psylocke.
Actors Felix Silla and Gil Gerard at the Buck Rogers panel.
Gil Gerard
The New England Horror Writers participated in the first ever Rhode Island Comic Con, which from the crowds that were there this past weekend it will not be a one-hit wonder.
I heard from a lot of people that were happy that Rhode Island now has a comic con to go to. This weekend these convention attendees received an excellent convention with celebrities from movies, television, paranormal investigators, and even wrestling stars.
This convention had more people on Saturday then Rock and Shock had its entire weekend a couple weeks ago. There were two reasons for this. The first reason its the first ever Rhode Island Comic Con and the second reason is the celebrities they had. They had John De Lancie, who played Q on three different Star Trek series, Robert Picardo, who played the Doctor on Star Trek:Voyager and in Star Trek: First Contact, Nicholas Brendon, who was Xander in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and lately was the boyfriend of Penelope Garcia in Criminal Minds, Gil Gerard, who played Buck Rogers in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Dirk Benedict, who played Faceman on the television series The A-Team. There were plenty of other stars too. It was just too many to name, but you can always click here to see the other guests.
The crowds were like the ocean; never-ending and unrelenting. There were so many people I decided to just take pictures and not get names so a lot of the pictures won’t have captions. It was hard enough taking pictures with the crowds let alone trying to get names.
The NEHW table at Rhode Island Comic Con.
Actor Dirk Benedict signing his book, Confessions of a Kamikaze Cowboy: A True Story of Discovery, Acting, Health, Illness, Recovery, and Life for me.
Author Stacey Longo and wrestler Hacksaw Jim Duggen.
Author Rob Watts standing behind the NEHW table.
Raymond Ramos as Blade.
There will be another post of pictures from Rhode Island Comic Con, maybe even two.
The Rhode Island Comic Con happens this weekend in Providence at the Convention Center and members of the New England Horror Writers will be there.
Author Don Franklin, who has his own table at the convention, will have his first novel, Reaper’s Walk: Hellstone, on hand and will be autographing copies.
The other NEHW members, who will be at Comic Con, are Stacey Longo (Epitaphs, Pookie and the Lost and Found Friend) Rob Watts (Huldufolk), Kristi Petersen Schoonover (Skeletons in the Swimmin’ Hole, Bad Apple) and Scott Goudsward (Epitaphs, Call of Lovecraft).
Check out the convention’s website here and see what celebrites are going to be signing during the weekend. After getting celebrity autographs, don’t forget to come on by and say hello to all the NEHW members at the convention.
The convention center is located at 1 Sabin Street in Providence, Rhode Island.
Alan Kessler, the host of the NEHW event. Photo by Jason Harris.
The Podium for reading. Photo by Jason Harris.
Author Rob Watts reading his Kindle story, “Carman.” Photo by Jason Harris.
Robert T. Smales talking with Tracy Carbone and Stacey Longo. Photo by Jason Harris.
The NEHW table. Photo by Jason Harris.
Author Stacey Longo reading from her children’s book, Pookie and the Lost and Found Friend. Photo by Jason Harris.
Journalist and author Louis J. Salome talking about his book, Violence, Veils and Bloodlines. Photo by Jason Harris.
The NEHW table being swamped by readers. Photo by Stacey Longo.
Author Tracy Carbone reading from her new novel, Restitution. Photo by Jason Harris.
Author Robert. T. Smales reading his story, “Photo Finish,” in the anthology The Ghost is the Machine. Photo by Jason Harris.
Rachael, an audience member, tells a scary ghost story. Photo by Jason Harris.
Author Rob Watts talking with reporter Angie Orenstein. Photo by Jason Harris.
NEHW members talking. Photo by Jason Harris.
Another shot of the NEHW table. Photo by Jason Harris.
Photo by Rob Watts.
Last October, I took a trip to Copenhagen, Denmark. It’s one of the most beautiful (and one of my favorite) cities in Europe. The architecture is breathtaking, the streets are spotless and navigation throughout the city is the easiest I’ve seen in recent memory. As Copenhagen is such a compact city, traveling on foot can be done with the greatest of ease. It’s amazing what you can stumble upon while strolling along the cobblestone streets and alleys.
I was fortunate to walk by Tivoli Gardens one day, which was a five-minute walk from my hotel. Tivoli Gardens is an amusement park and pleasure garden which opened in 1843, making it the second oldest amusement park in the world. It’s home to one of the oldest wooden roller coasters in the world as well as the world’s tallest carousel.
Photo by Rob Watts.
The highlight of the park, however, is the Halloween theme it puts on throughout the month of October. How pleasantly surprised I was to walk by the park and see jack o’ lanterns hanging on the side of the building. As this churned my curiosity, I decided to check the park out further and couldn’t believe that such a place existed. It definitely brings the kid out in you as you walk along the park and see 1000s of carved pumpkins, costumed characters, witches and scarecrows. They have a daily Halloween parade and many themed displays and performances throughout the park, making this an amazing Halloween universe.
This park is definitely a Halloween lover’s Disneyland. I will definitely be visiting this park again when I return to Denmark, especially as there have been many additions since last year, including an adult haunted house, where children under 12 are not permitted. Admission for adults is 95 Danish Krone (roughly $17.00 American) and the park is located at 3 Vesterbrogade in Copenhagen Center. So if you just happen to be in Denmark someday, you’ll want to add this to the top of your to-do list.
Happy Halloween everyone.
Rob Watts at Tivoli Gardens.
Author Trisha Wooldridge talking with author Jack Ketchum. Photo by Jason Harris.
From left to right: NEHW Co-chair Tracy Carbone, actor Sean Whalen, and NEHW Co-chair Stacey Longo. Photo by Jason Harris.
Actor Sean Whalen and NEHW Director of Publicity Jason Harris. Photo by Stacey Longo.
The Women of Horror panel: (from left to right) actress Heather Langenkamp, author Tracy Carbone, author Stacey Longo, author Trisha Wooldridge, and actress Lisa Marie. Photo by Jason Harris.
The Women of Horror after the panel. Photo by Jason Harris.
Author Kristi Petersen Schoonover helps fellow author Trisha Wooldridge with her corset for Rock and Shock. Photo by Jason Harris.
Author Bracken MacLeod is so excited to be at Rock and Shock; his left hand can’t stop moving. Photo by Jason Harris.
Author Jack Haringa. Photo by Jason Harris.
From left to right: NEHW members Stacey Longo, K. Allen Wood, and Sarah Gomes. Photo by Jason Harris.
Authors Adam Cesare (holding a box of books) and Scott Goudsward. Photo by Jason Harris.
Authors Rob Watts and Kristi Petersen Schoonover talking at Rock and Shock. Photo by Jason Harris.
Candyman actor Tony Todd. Photo by Jason Harris.
Brian Anderson, of Waltham, MA., as zombie stormtrooper and Ghostbuster Travis Smith, of Providence, RI. Photo by Jason Harris.
Author Rob Watts talking with author Stacey Longo in the NEHW booth at Rock and Shock. Photo by Jason Harris.
The other table in the NEHW booth. Photo by Jason Harris.
Author Kristi Petersen Schoonover talks to Dr. Chris. Photo by Jason Harris.
Author Stacey Longo. Photo by Jason Harris.
Another Rock and Shock has come and gone. The New England Horror Writers were there once again. We have been there for the past four years. This year saw less atttendees then last year, but last year’s guest line-up included Robert Englund, whose line went on forever and never seemed to get any shorter, and Ace Frehley, former lead guitarist of KISS. This year had Heather Langenkamp, of Nightmare on Elm Street fame, Anthony Michael Hall, of televison series The Dead Zone and movies The Breakfast Club and Weird Science, and another former KISS member, Peter Criss.
Before getting to Rock and Shock, the wife and I went to fellow NEHW member Trisha Wooldridge’s house, where we were staying over the weekend. We were also going to be joined by another NEHW member Kristi Petersen Schoonover, who would be arriving later that night. It’s always a party when the NEHW members get together.
After leaving Trisha’s house, we drove to Annie’s Book Stop in Worcester to talk to the owner about her bookstore. The wife and I were picking her brain since we’re opening our own bookstore called Books and Boos in Colchester, CT. It was a very informative 40 minutes.
I was there the entire weekend and Saturday was the busiest day. Friday started off with Breakin’ into the Biz panel, which included myself, T.J. May, Matt Bechtel, and Kristi Petersen Schoonover, who ended up as moderator since there wasn’t anyone from Fangoria magazine there to do the job like there were for the other panels during the weekend. The panel went well and there were a lot of suggestions and advice given to the people in the audience.
Heather Langenkamp, Tracy Carbone, Stacey Longo, Trisha Wooldridge, and Lisa Marie on the Women in Horror panel. Photo by Jason Harris
The audience grew a little bit for the Women in Horror panel, but that was to be expected since Langenkamp and Lisa Marie (Ed Wood, Mars Attacks!) joined NEHW members Tracy Carbone, Stacey Longo, and Trisha Wooldridge. This panel had Jack from Fangoria, moderating the panel. One thing surprised me was that the audience didn’t asked two many questions when that time came. Four questions were asked of people on the panel and two of those questions came from me. I asked Heather how was it working on Just the Ten of Us and if she would do another television show. She said, she would love to do another tv series. It was also nice to hear that she will be in the next Star Trek movie titled Star Trek into Darkness, but she couldn’t say what character she’s playing. It was also great talking to her and Lisa Marie when the panel was over.
Tracy Carbone, Sean Whalen, and Stacey Longo. Photo by Jason Harris.
On Friday, it was great talking with Sean Whalen who was in The People Under the Stairs and Twister, and many other movies. Check out his credits on the Internet Movie Database by clicking here. He gave Carbone, Longo, and myself some good ideas.
I introduced myself to Doug Bradley, who portrayed Pinhead in most of the Hellraiser movies except the last one, since I conducted a phone interview with him a few weeks ago. You can read the article here.
I was hoping to interview Hall on Sunday since that was the day his manager, John Boitano, said would be the best day since it’s the slowest of the convention. On Friday, I had the feeling it wouldn’t happen since there was a sign on Hall’s table stating he wouldn’t be at the convention until 2 p.m. on Saturday. When Saturday came, he didn’t show up at his table until 3 p.m. Later on Saturday evening, he took a break and a sign said he would be back at 5:45 p.m. He didn’t get back from his break until 6:15 p.m. Seeing those signs, physical and figuratively, told me that Hall wasn’t going to keep an interview with me on Sunday. It would have been cool to interview him, but it wasn’t disappointing. I did interview another filmmaker, Ryan Convery, on Sunday about his movie Mourning Wood, which is about “humping zombies.” There will be an article and a movie review coming in the near future.
It was great meeting Tony Todd (Candyman), Brian O’Halloran (Clerks), and Sig Haig (House of 1000 Corpses) this weekend. I won’t get autographs since I am not paying $20 or more for an autograph unless they are selling a movie or a book. I will shake their hands and tell them I love their work.
There was a Horror in the Movies panel on Sunday, which Rob Watts, Bracken Macleod, myself, and Stacey Longo were on. Longo ended up being the moderator when Jack from Fangoria couldn’t do it since he had to do something else. It was attended by a good number of people.
There will be another post with pictures tomorrow.
The New England Horror Writers will be appearing at Rock and Shock this weekend. There will be plenty of members manning the booth all weekend. They will be selling and signing their books.
Epitaphs is one book in particular which will be on hand. It’s the first anthology produced by the NEHW. This Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of this collection being published. Here are the authors who have stories in Epitaphs that will be at the convention this weekend: Mike Arruda, Scott Goudsward, Stacey Longo, Paul McMahon, Kurt Newton, L.L. Soares, K. Allen Wood, and Trisha Wooldridge. Tracy L. Carbone, the editor of the anthology, will also be on-hand.
Other NEHW members, who will be at the convention, are Ashleigh Homon, Adam Cesare, Bracken Macleod, David Price, Gene Munson, Jason Harris, Jack Haringa, Jan Kozlowski, Kelli Jones, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, Matt Bechtel, Patrick Rahall, Rebekah Murphy, Rob Watts, T.J. May, Paul Tremblay, Bob Booth, and Jennifer Yarter-Polmatier.
They will also be four panels that the NEHW members will be involved in. This is the second year the organization has been on different panels. This year on the Women in Horror panel members , Carbone, Longo, and Wooldridge will be joined by Heather Langenkamp of Nightmare on Elm Street fame and Lisa Marie of Sleepy Hollow and Mars Attacks! fame.
The other panels will be “Breaking into the Biz” with Harris, May, Bechtel, and Schoonover, and “Horror in the Movies” with Harris, Longo, Soares, and Macleod.
As a fan of many classic movies, I’ve had the pleasure of visiting a great deal of filming locations to those films. As a child I got to swim at the beach from Jaws in Martha’s Vineyard. I had the pleasure of visiting The Amityville Horror house in Toms River, New Jersey. Heck, I live within ten minutes of various movie locations in Boston where such films as The Town, The Departed, and Good Will Hunting were filmed. My absolute favorite location visited however was South Pasadena, California where the majority of John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN was filmed.
Rob Watts in front of The Wallace home where Laurie’s friend babysat. Photo by Shannon Watts.
Unlike a lot of filming locations, the neighborhood of South Pasadena was used primarily “as is.” There was very little film trickery involved as the town of “Haddonfield” had (has) a charm and beauty of its own that needed very little set dressing. Aside from bags of painted leaves being thrown around within frame to establish autumn in Illinois, very little else was manipulated. Upon first visit to the now iconic neighborhood, I was shocked to see just how much of it resembled that as it was in the film, even more than thirty years later.
The hardware store (as it is today). Photo by Shannon Watts.
You don’t have to travel far around town to see most of the locations either, as much of the daytime hours scenes were all filmed within streets of each other. For instance, the street where Laurie Strode is walking to school after dropping the keys off at the Myers house (Meridian Ave), leads directly to the hardware store that was broken into later in the day. Incidentally, the actual Myers house was moved and restored directly across the street from the hardware store (now a picture framing store) and is currently a doctor’s office located at 1000 Mission Street.
Rob Watts on the steps of the Myers House. Photo by Shannon Watts.
If you walk back down Meridian Ave., you will be walking in the direction of the streets where Laurie and her friends walked home from school. You’ll want to look for Magnolia Street, Montrose Ave., and Highland Street. These are the streets which were most visible throughout the first half of the movie. Probably the most iconic location from the film, and believe me it’s still there, is the famous hedge where Michael Myers hid behind as the girls approached him. It’s a little tricky to find at first because most houses on the street have similar hedges, but if you travel down Montrose Ave, going through Oxley Street, you will stumble upon the giant hedge. Just make sure no one is standing behind it waiting for you.
The babysitting scene street . N Orange Grove Ave
The babysitting scene street. N Orange Grove Ave. Photo by Shannon Watts.
The last half of the film, where the girls were babysitting, was oddly enough filmed on the corner of Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood. Although you’d never know it from watching the film, directly behind the camera crew was a bustling nightlife. It was a bit odd for me to look in the opposite direction of the street from the film and find a KFC and Blockbuster Video (because I’m sure Laurie Strode could have run in there for help if she really needed it.) But that was the genius of John Carpenter. He had a knack for taking a side street of Los Angeles’ most happening neighborhood and have it appear as a modest suburban town in the middle of America.
The street where Myers drove behind the girls. Photo by Shannon Watts.
The two houses where Jamie Lee Curtis’ character and her friend babysat are located at 1530 and 1537 North Orange Grove Street, off Sunset Blvd. The home where Laurie Strode babysat looks almost identical as it did in the movie. The house across the street has been updated a great deal over the years but still maintains some resemblance to how it did in the movie.
Rob Watts in front of the Doyle House (Jamie Lee’s). Photo by Shannon Watts.
So if you are ever in the West Hollywood or South Pasadena area of California and you love the original Halloweenthen it’s worth a venture around the filming locations of this incredible film. Just be respectful to the homeowners and respect their privacy. And for God sake, if you see a guy walking around in a rubber mask, RUN!
The creepy staircase in the Myers house. Photo by Shannon Watts.
Author Kurt Newton reads to a group of people at the Hebron Harvest Fair. Photo by Jason Harris.
Artist Cheryl Normandie standing next to her work at the Hebron Harvest Fair.. Photo by Jason Harris.
The above picture is just one of many that will be in this post. If any pictures catch your eye, feel free to call Normandie, who lives in Brooklyn, Connecticut, at (860) 779-0827. All photos of her artwork were taken by Jason Harris.
Some of Normandie’s witches. Photo by Jason Harris.
A young fan enjoying the children’s book, Pookie and the Lost and Found Friend. Photo by Stacey Longo.
Author G. Elmer Munson signing a copy of his novel, Stripped. Photo by Jason Harris.
Author Stacey Longo taking time out to get her picture taken with a cow. Photo by Jason Harris.
Author Alan S. Kessler signing a copy of Satan Carol. Photo by Stacey Longo.
Author Rob Watts hanging out with some young fans. Photo by Stacey Longo.
Author Rob Watts getting a stern warning from Vernon Post Captain Austin Agnew for talking with some young fans. Photo by Stacey Longo.
Author Stacey Longo with Senator Richard Blumenthal at the NEHW booth at the Hebron Harvest Fair. Photo by Jason Harris.
Author G. Elmer Munson eating some chocolate covered bacon. Photo by Jason Harris.
Author Stacey Longo modeling a cane carved by a member of the Mystic Woodcarvers Club. Photo by Jason Harris.
Work by the Mystic Woodcarvers Club at the Hebron Harvest Fair. Photo by Jason Harris.
More work by the Mystic Woodcarvers Club. Photo by Jason Harris.
The NEHW table at the Hebron Harvest Fair. Photo by Jason Harris.
Jason Harris Promotions 