shindig all-star – Halloween Shindig

TRACK #387

Tormentor by W.A.S.P.

So, it’s been about 4 years or so since we enlisted any news players onto The Shindig All-Star Team. At almost 400 songs deep on the playlist, that either seems perfectly reasonable to you, as we’ve tapped out most of the big hitters already, or it seems completely unreasonable because how the fuck is that possible after so many goddamn songs?

Well, take your pick, but the fact remains, no one has hit 3 songs since Acid Witch and King Diamond both did so back in 2020. And honestly, it’s amazing to me that either one of them hadn’t already.

Well, today we welcome abroad new All-Stars Blackie Lawless and the boys of W.A.S.P.

The White Anglo-Saxon Protestants from Los Angeles lent their tune Tormentor to Charlie Band’s 1984 bat-shit anthology The Dungeonmaster. It shows up specifically in Charlie’s own segment entitled Heavy Metal.

What’s more? The boys actually appear in the film, playing this very song and it’s awesome. Charlie forever immortalized their short-lived and controversial on-stage Torture Rack gag.

And if that’s somehow not good enough for you, Tormentor also makes an appearance in 1984’s resurrected Samurai rampage picture Ghost Warrior, and once again in Charlie Band’s own TerrorVision, playing on the television. And hey, is OD wearing a W.A.S.P. shirt?

You’re goddamn right he is.

So, let’s not belabor the point. W.A.S.P. rules and it’s good to see them finally get the All-Star representation they deserve. Welcome aboard, fellas!

Do you like this noise?! Then you shall have your fill of it!

TRACK #251:

Here I Am by Elvira

Since we seem to be hearing a lot from Shindig members we haven’t seen in a while this year, let’s welcome back That Gal in Black Who Keeps Coming Back, Elvira.

Yep, it’s been about 4 years since The Shindig’s gotten a hitter from Casandra Peterson’s beloved horror icon. To be fair though, we front-loaded this playlist with a ton of Elvira, so giving ourselves a chance to cool off has been helpful.

By 1988, Elvira had burst from the confines of local Los Angeles late-night Television and into homes across the nation with guest appearances on shows like CHiPS, The Fall Guy and endorsements with companies like Coors Light.

However, that was the year Elvira made the great leap from the small screen to the silver screen with Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, a film she co-wrote herself with disembodied Pee-Wee’s Playhouse head, Jambi!

It’s a fun piece of 80’s horror camp that’s very entertaining, with some great special FX work and Elvira at her double entendre-delivering best.

After being sexually harassed by her station’s new owner, Elvira quits her job. Then, she finds out her Great Aunt Morgana died and left her a giant old house! So, she moves to Massachusetts to receive that inheritance.

Unfortunately, the town’s uppity constituency of conservative buttinskis don’t like the cut of her jib. This doesn’t stop Every Tricker’s Treat from indulging in a montage to fix up the old mansion or host a late-night horror fest at the local movie palace. Eventually she gets accused of Witchcraft and almost gets burned at the stake!

All’s well that ends well for Elvira though, as she ultimately uses her inheritance to finance a life-long dream of starring in a lavish Las Vegas show; an occupation Casandra herself actually held at a rather young age.

I do regret to inform you, dear readers, that our beloved Casandra was nominated by those despicable cretins at the Golden Raspberry Committee, for worst actress 1989! Can you believe such a thing?

The good news is she lost to Liza Minnelli for a double-dose of dreafull performances in Arthur 2: On the Rocks and Rent-A-Cop. Still, I can’t believe Casandra was even nominated. Really? It’s a character, and a singular one at that. God, I really think I hate those Razzie fucks.

At any rate, Here I Am is the song she performs in that lavish Vegas show. And while it’s a tad short of my liking, it eventually evolves into a full on Monster Rap, which more than makes up for it’s brevity, in my opinion.

Since the very end of the song has no lyrics, due to Elvira beginning her famous tassel-swinging dance, I’ve included a gif of said dance, to fill the void.This is a dance, I’m proud to say, that I finally got to see Casandra perform live back in 2017, which was the farewell season of her famous, 21-year running Halloween stage show at Knottsberry Farm.

Here she is…Elvira!