Calabrese - The Blog

Bobby "Vamp" Calabrese Face Melting Rock & Roll Blog

2012-11-28T22:25:00.001-07:00

OK I admit it. I dropped the ball on blogging. Only one blog post this year!? I'll tell who is not slacking my little brother. Not only does he constantly tweet, facebook, tumble but he's always blogging. I know more about him from his online life than from real life! I knew something was up when we went to a local coffee shop and the owner recognized him from his blog and not the band! He even got free coffee because of his blog!

So check it out if you have not already...

The Uncanny Art of Bobby Calabrese

2012-01-24T19:38:00.001-07:00

Back when we first started the band we needed artwork but we didn’t know who to turn to. I remember seeing Bobby’s doodle drawings and thought they would be great to use for the band. So I took his notebooks full of doodles from high school and scanned them into my computer. I didn’t know what I was doing so I would line trace the images then color them with the paint bucket tool. I remember it would take hours to convert them into full color but it was fun. I still have a box full of Bobby doodles that I thought would be great to color for the band. I didn’t get much done before we ended up meeting artists online, like Big Tony O'Farrell and Andrew Barr, to fuel our horror rock image.

I asked Bobby what he remembered about his early doodle drawings.

“I suppose I was out of high school when I did those drawings, and if so, I was around 17 or 18. The only thing I can remember is wanting to raise the level of awesomeness with the band. At the time, we didn't have shit for art, so I took it upon myself to doodle around and see what I could come up with. In high school, I was way into comic books and the idea of writing/drawing my very own series was a huge goal for me. Looking back, i wish I kept up with it because by now I bet I'd be damn good! Or completely delusional with crappy art. Who knows?

So we started the band. It was a great opportunity to blend two loves, music and notebook doodling, and I think it turned out pretty well. Obviously, everything was colored in on Paintshop by you, Jimmy, making my quick and sloppy drawings into pretty cool and slightly disturbing art pieces!

I had a weird style. I drew a lot of inspiration for indie comics because the art seemed do-able and the story lines clicked with me. Nothing was too over the top and there was no way I was gonna start drawing like the top dogs! (big boobs and burly muscles are, like, super hard to draw) So I picked my style, which seemed to be a mix between big heads and vague, dead eyes. I liked it 'cause it purposely sloppy and somewhat appealing. I'd be lying if I said there wasn't a certain "charm" I was going for, like Charlie Brown with seven fingers. (I had a hard time drawing hands)

I still draw this way -- a goofy mummy and an alien with a jet pack are in my Top Go-To Doodles. I like to draw people with ripped up limbs, too, but there's only so much of that before people start questioning your sanity. Also, I remember thinking these were great! As soon as we started hiring people to whip up Calabrese art I kinda backed off a bit. If you want the best, you go to the best. You DON'T go to the 18 year old hunched over a stack of paper in a poorly lit room drawing zombies in red Chuck Taylors. Ha!”

Notes from the Road - Hollywood, CA @ The Knitting Factory.

2011-08-17T16:52:00.000-07:00

We played a lot of great shows at the Knitting Factory before they closed and I have a lot of fond memories.

The first time we played the Knitting Factory in Hollywood was with Order Of The Fly, Murder Land and Back to Zero. It was our first taste of Hollywood. There’s something seedy and desperate behind the façade of the golden stars, plastic movie attractions and gift shops. Most noticeable when we leave the venue at two in the morning when the streets are littered with drunks, homeless, taxies and cop cars.

The Knitting Factory had 3 stages, a small bar room stage, a medium open floor stage, and a large stage that had a balcony. When we started playing there we played the medium stage (we never played the small girly stage). After playing several shows for Church Of The 8th Day promotions we worked our way into headlining the medium stage, our first time headlining in LA.

Backstage.

In 2008 we headlined the Knitting Factory for the first time, and it was one of my favorite shows. They gave us the VIP room upstairs with waters and pizza. And we played with some of our favorite bands Zombeast, Order Of The Fly, and Murderland. I think on the main stage they had some private rap party and on the mini-stage Peachcake played, another band from AZ whom we played with before at a VFW hall.

Zombeast!

The magical backstage.

Order Of The Fly

There have been several festivals where we got to rock on the main stage with bands like 13 Step Rebels, Koffin Kats, Rezurex, and Frenzy.

Logistically it was a pain in the ass to load in when we played the main stage cause we had to unhook the trailer in the small back parking lot then park the van in the underground parking garage, then walk all the gear and merch down the cramped back service hallways about 200 feet. No big deal for most bands, but when we’ve got 12 totes of merchandise it sucks.

Down that hallway I’ve seen fist fights, wasted drunk chicks, instruments get stolen and Nick 13 hanging out, just what you would expect.

A view from the stage.

When we played the medium stage we parked in the loading zone at the side of the venue. It was a perfect spot until we got a ticket for being parked in a loading zone.

I’ve seen many people get stupid drunk and kicked out of the Knitting Factory not sure if it’s - A. that’s just Hollywood. B. the venue gave off a stupid vibe. C. the other venues we play don’t care about retarded drunks.

Across the street at a booze shop.

Also across the street.

Chapter 3

2011-03-24T21:19:00.000-07:00

Beach Blanket Bloodbath continues...HERE!

Notes from the Road – Brookdale, CA @ The Haunted Brookdale Lodge

2011-03-03T13:30:00.003-07:00

“BLOOD FEST II - The 2nd annual Blood Fest at the Haunted Brookdale Lodge! Including Live performances by STELLAR CORPSES, CALABRESE, TELL TALE HEARTBREAKERS, HERE KITTY KITTY and round two of The BIKINI BLOODBATH WRESTLING TOURNAMENT!!! Enter now for you chance at the $100 grand prize!! Must be 18 to wrestle. Show is all ages.”

I can’t believe it was November of 2009 that we played at the Brookdale Lodge, it seems like just a few months ago! I remember this show more for the location than anything else. They say the lodge was a vacation spot for Al Capone and the other mobsters of the 1920’s. The place was aging but it still held it’s charm.

Heading out to the lodge we foolishly followed the diabolical directions of the Garmin GPS. It took us through tiny twisting mountain roads with oncoming traffic passing us within inches. To make matters worse, a convoy of cars built up behind us 'cause I had to slowly maneuver the terror-roads.

Brookdale Lodge, a river runs through it – a river of death!

I waited for Frodo to come running through the doorway!

The room we played in did not have central heating, instead, it was solely heated by this fireplace. Did I mention it was a cold November night?

Davey sat next to the fire most of the night and talked with a guy who was the son of a Preacher who performed exorcisms, you know, a typical Calabrese fan. The guy also told Davey about the Lizard People who lived within the hollow Earth. Did I mention by the end of the night Dave’s pal spilled his beer all over the merch table? But he was a nice guy and bought one of the posters he ruined.

In the room next to us, a local paranormal group had set up cameras and sound recording equipment. They said they were trying to capture the presence of the dead, but I think they were actually trying to bootleg the show.

Did I accidently capture a picture of a ghost?

I was talking with the Paranormal group and they said they’ve made contact with a little dead girl who haunts the hotel. Fun!

I had a good time creeping around the lodge.

It’s in a book...the place must be haunted!

Here’s Dan from Stellar Corpses setting up the inflatable pool for the bikini jello wrestling contest.Good job, Dan!

A fan presented Bobby with a homemade “I’m in Twilight” t-shirt.

Lasers!

Stellar Corpses rockin it.

Our buddies Stellar Corpses tried to outdo us with their merch. Nice selection, guys.

We still win!

Micro-Fiction "A Holiday Blast"

2010-12-15T18:59:00.000-07:00

Check out my latest story at MicroHorror...

A Holiday Blast

By Jimmy Calabrese

The ghosts of Shady Suburb were lonely ...

READ MORE!

They Call Us Death - Lyrics

2010-12-02T08:05:00.001-07:00

Here are the lyrics to our new CD, for those who bought it on ITunes, or accidently found a copy of it on the internet.

Enjoy!

They Call Us Death
In the dust there's a flame that burns
Pack of wolves watch the meat in turns
Because the pain that you alone will feel
Will never seem as real
As the night you went and died

Where in the world has a fool like you to run
When the sun
Burns beyond the veil of days
She broke her vows
She lost her life
In the end they call us death

When the stars in the sky they bleed
All my life they have lied to me
The hearts of men possessed by sin
Revenge it pulls me in
When the devil calls me home

---------------------------------

Black Anathema
This place is cold and lonely
You better start to worry
There’s no ever leaving here
The spell is all around us
Making my world feel worthless
A ghost imprinted in the air

When you lie, you will live no more
I know your secrets
I know your weakness
When you sin, you will give me more
I know your secrets
I know your weakness

You dreams are dead and broken
Everyone has forgotten
Who you are what you have to say
It's too late to pray
It's too late to change
Your world is burning down
You'll fade away

---------------------------------

Deep In The Red

Bleed, all over me
Bleed the heat inside your skin
Bleed the hate you keep within
Well, the pain that chokes the world
Is the serpent crawling through your veins
In your heart, it’ll stop
To take on you

Deep in the red
There’s nothing but a pulsing death
Taking all your life, baby
Everything you know
Will soon be mine right through your eyes
Move slow, holy blood

Screams in the dark
Crippled inside
When you fall you fall apart
In the darkness in the world
In the cold Antarctic of your heart
You cry blood
And leave me screaming

---------------------------------

Near Twilight
Oh, my baby believes that demons are real
But only I know the way
Why you walk in fear and hide?
Failed to open up your eyes to see
Trust in me
In me

Oh the twilight, its killing me
Oh my body, it burns and bleeds

The things that we do they seem rather strange to you
Cause we believe in worlds you cannot see
When the devil calls you will hear your name
And know that you are just like one of us
You can’t deny your desires

---------------------------------
Blood of the Wolf

You wanted power they gave us pain
They don’t care if you live or die just as long as you do what they say
Do you ever question what you believe?
Is there a God above or are we alone?

You better move it when we move into shape and start to change
Blood of the wolf
Heart pumpin’ death, black death into our teenaged veins
Blood of the wolf

Steel coffin holds me down
Blood in me is the blood in the ground
And it feels just like I’m on my way
Born in dirt with nothing left
'Cause my bones are breaking and I don’t give a shit
It’s the power of death

---------------------------------

Within the Abyss

See, I see the end
You wanna be, just where I stand
I walk through flames, where the damned fall in place
Oh, baby, so strange

Whoa-oh
From beyond our time and space
Whoa-oh
To destroy the lives of man
Lightning strikes the womb and no child will be born alive
Whoa-oh
As is in hell

When you're alone, that's when I'll whisper my venom
What makes you feel strange, is why we are the same
Fall toward the Abyss within

---------------------------------

Venomwolf

My body is a wasteland
The heat is all I wanted
Like a four crowned burning pain in my chest
My veins, they're screaming
Like a ghost in its death
And it goes...

A weaker man
Might burn in hell, for the venom
Drink your death
Blacken the blood
Feel the power
Destroy the world
Eternity turns

What lies beneath, you don’t want to see
Faceless creatures with a secret name
A chill in your mind that will make you a sinner
A crooked spine of evil charm

---------------------------------

Summon the Beyond

In the hour of fire, left hands grab
All that I have left is all I've planned
Because the blood that I'll use tonight
Is the blood that I know is mine
And the heart knows just how to melt
When it's outside beyond your chest in hell

We summon the ancients
We offer our sins
Phantoms of madness
Perversions within
Invoking those who were never born
To bring hell crashing down on you

It’s your choice to take the knife
One decision brings the afterlife
When you see all the hate it brings
The eyes empty, call to me
Temptations of the ecstasy
Your life is dead
A fantasy

---------------------------------

Violet Hellfire

We stand at the edge of time and live to walk away
Exploding worlds, violent stars, chaos gods
We call to them
Chaos rules again
Chaos rules

When the Unknown grows in force
Flesh and blood and broken bones
A silent whisper from beyond
Spirit of darkness lets me know that...

Whoa-oh
Violet Hellfire comes
Whoa-oh
This hell…is our home
Buried in the wall of bedroom where I used to live
The memories they haunt me still of what I did, of who I am
My live is a lie, my life is…

---------------------------------

The Machine of Instant Death

I feel the ashes
Of everything I’ve known , through the madness
With the hellhound wolf’s disease
Feeds the bodies hot in heat
Into the ether
Into the unknown
Alone

Oh, this shadowed life I roam
Is the only life I know
You see me as the end
Well, I am
Sweat burns the flesh
Hot machine of instant death
Bright lights are only a dream

You seem like nothing
Invisible to me
You hold it all back
Biting your tongue
And tasting the blood
The nameless horror
That they call love

---------------------------------

Endless Night

There's a darkness in the world
I feel its pull
In the beating heart that kicks out dirt
You'll find me there
'Cause the only death I like
Is the death buzz of the night
When your knife plants a kiss through my heart, you're alive

I know you don't belong
I know you wanted more
It's all a lie, you know
Paranoia's cold shadow
In this endless night
You will do just what you're told
Don't look back you're alone

Possessed with a spirit I brought forth
Down deep with the vultures and the worms
A quicksand of serpents remind me
My bones and the dirt are the same

---------------------------------

Loveless God

I have seen the end of time
It makes it’s way
To the forefront of my mind
Breathe in, taste the dirt
What you want is dead and gone
There’s no return
Holy death, holy design
I am the dead

After what we did last night
We can never go home
When you’re all alone
We will always know

With you tarot cards you told me
Things I tried to hide away from the world
They spoke of secrets and lies
Skeletons of despair and crime

-------------------------------

New Flash Fiction Posted - "The Executioner"

2010-11-04T11:28:00.000-07:00

Check out my latest flash fiction tale posted at Death Head Grin....

The Executioner
By Jimmy Calabrese

"Die vampire!" The woman stood over my eight-year old daughter's bed. I dove across the room knocking the wooden stake out of her hand.

READ MORE!

Notes from the Road – Corona CA. @ Showcase Theatre

2010-10-27T14:24:00.000-07:00

The “legendary” Showcase Theatre, which closed down in 2008, was our first California show. We opened for our pals Order of the Fly who helped us book the show.

When we first played the Showcase Theatre I experienced a flashback. When my family moved to Arizona from Illinois my older sister Gina and I drove out to California. California is the Mecca for any Midwesterner growing up in cornfields and snow. The years of television and movie propaganda made one think the only place to be is California. So the first chance we got, we drove out to Hollywood. We did the usual tourist things, but we also wanted to see the real Hollywood. So drove around trying to get lost. Eventually we found a random place to walk around, and as we passed a restaurant guess who we saw going in for a bite? It was the Lord Almighty himself, Glen Danzig. Like giddy school girls bumping into the Jonas Brothers at the mall, we didn’t know what to do. I managed to pull it together and yell out “Hey Glen, can we get your picture.” Then he turned around, smiled and my sister took the picture.

Anyway, that night we decided to go see a punk show. We found a weekly flyer and picked out a venue at random, The Showcase Theatre. I can’t remember who was playing or if I even liked the show. I do remember sitting on the staircase that led to the merch tables and wrote in my journal. “Dear Diary, wow I can’t believe I’m at an actual punk show in California. I hope that one I’ll be on this very same stage and fuck up.”

I remember when we opened for Three Bad Jacks, we did a podcast interview after the show in our van. While we were recording, we heard yelling going on outside. We made a joke and thought nothing of it. It turned out that someone stole a guitar from the Three Bad Jacks. It was one of Elvis’s $1200 guitars that someone snagged from the stage as they were unloading the gear. The thief ran out to his car and people chased him down the street. All that excitement and we missed!

Eventually we headlined at the Showcase. It had been our first California headlining show, and I was in disbelief that all these people came out to see us. Then I felt the pressure, cause all these people came out to see us! I can’t mess up. So of course, when we played Your Ghost my mind went blank and I couldn’t remember how to play the opening bass riff. The goddamn riff I wrote! I repeat that riff a few times during the song, so I tried to recover each time I played it and failed. It was the longest 2 minutes of my life. Afterwards I tried tuning my bass and Bobby kept yelling at me “It’s not your tuning! You’re just playing it wrong!” Thanks for pointing that out.

I have a lot of great memories at the Showcase. Jose the owner of the venue is a great guy and always took care of the bands. He had plans to open a new venue, so I hope when the economy turns around he will be able to do that.

At the Showcase we’ve played with; Koffin Kats, Three Bad Jacks, Zombeast, Order Of The Fly, Chop Tops, The Returners, 12 Step Rebels, More Than Never, Summers End and many others I can’t recall.

New Short Short Story - Food Revolution

2010-10-25T19:51:00.000-07:00

Here's my latest short story at Postcard Shorts: Stories that fit on a postcard.

Food Revolution
By Jimmy Calabrese

The aliens held Ronald by his arms and legs, but he kicked free.

READ MORE!

New Flash Fiction - From The Back Of A Comic Book

2010-10-11T08:10:00.001-07:00

THE NEW FLESH just posted my latest flash fiction yarn. Check it out...

From The Back Of A Comic Book
By Jimmy Calabrese

When Jeremy cracked open the egg a human eyeball stared back at him. He dropped the egg back into the shipping container.
"What the hell!" Jeremy searched for the directions. "I should've ordered the x-ray glasses."

READ MORE!

New Flash Fiction - Good To The Last Drop

2010-09-09T07:34:00.001-07:00

Check out my latest Scifi adventure tale...

Good To The Last Drop
By Jimmy Calabrese

A tentacle slid around my throat. Then a second wrapped around my mouth. I bit down on the mucus-covered limb and warm pus exploded down my gullet. Blech! The tentacle withdrew for an instant then slipped around my pelvis and inner thigh. Christ!

READ MORE!

Flash Fiction - ANTARCTICA: By Jimmy Calabrese

2010-09-02T07:23:00.000-07:00

Check out my latest flash story posted at Flashes In The Dark.

ANTARCTICA
By Jimmy Calabrese

The robot fired its machine-gun arm annihilating a polar bear and her cubs.

A false alarm.

Ten hours passed and still no sign of the combatants. The robot displayed an area map and ran a probability algorithm, then widened its patrol of the oil fields.

READ MORE!

The Graves / Vampires Don’t Exist Music Video

2010-07-28T11:21:00.003-07:00

With our new music video scheduled for September (with Brian Pulido again) I thought it fitting to recap our last music video for the movie, The Graves. The song we chose for the movie is a fan favorite, "Vampires Don’t Exist." The video is a cross promotional vehicle for Calabrese and the movie. The scenes for the music video we shot were also used in the movie. We are featured at the beginning of the movie. We play Calabrese, the band that the heroines come to see before they get into trouble!

It was awesome seeing ourselves on the big screen at the cast and crew screening. I think it’s a natural progression for Calabrese to be projected ten feet tall. If you have not seen the movie, I’d suggest renting it or picking up a copy to add to your Calabrese Collection. We’d be happy to sign the DVD. The extras on the DVD have a performance only version of the video.

When we first arrived at the movie location, I didn’t know what to expect for an indie horror film, but when I saw the 3 RVs and 2 trucks unloading equipment and people, I was very impressed.

From what we’ve learned about making movies and videos, there’s a lot of hurry up and wait. We arrived at 4pm at the venue The Sets, as instructed, and I don’t think we shot our scene 'til around 8pm. The assistant director (I think that’s who it was) told us set up our instruments on the stage right away. So we hurried up, got everything into position, including the banner, then the lighting guys did their thing. We were excited, we were ready to rock...but we had to wait.

While we waited, a line of extras started forming outside the venue. The movie held an open casting call and a lot of Calabrese fans and the curious showed up!

I was told that this day was the last day of shooting and everyone was in a good mood. I guess out in the desert, where they shot most of the film, was pretty rough and the cast and crew were happy to get back civilization.

After what seemed like hours, the crew’s walkie talkies started buzzing. Like General Patton about to arrive, the director, Brian Pulido, was coming and everyone was getting ready. I believe they just shot the scene at Atomic Comics. Then they arrived, Brian, Adam (the Cinematographer) and the actresses. The set came alive, down time was over. Brian said hello to the crew while checking the location for the next scene. The actresses were whisked away into one of the trailer for a costume change. While they were getting their hair and makeup done they listened to "Vampires Don’t Exist." They had to familiarizing themselves with the song to join us on stage to sing.

When they were ready for us, all we had to do was perform along to the song while they blasted it through the PA. To the camera, Brian would introduce the band then we’d do our thing. I took some shots from the stage during the down times. I believe we performed about 5 times while they shot the scene with several different cameras and POVs. Then we were done.

They had snack table all day and a nice spread of food to feed the cast and crew after they finished shooting our scene. After dinner, they shot the final bar scenes around midnight.

We only met Claire Grant and Jillian Murray, unfortunately, Tony Todd and Bill Moseley were not in our scene. My biggest regret from the movie was that I didn’t get killed nor was I scripted to kill anyone. My cinematic vision had been squashed!

We got to see a screening of the movie before everyone else, see this blog post. Then the movie had limited theater run during the After Dark 4 Horror Fest. I didn’t get to see it with an audience but I heard reports that at least in one theater, the audience cheered when they saw Calabrese on screen. Fuck yeah!

We are eternally grateful to Brian Pulido for writing us into the script and getting us some screen time.

Overall it was a great experience. We had fun on a professional movie shoot, we have another promotional music video, and we are now officially a part of horror movie history!

Chapter 2 of Beach Blanket Bloodbath

2010-07-02T14:03:00.001-07:00

Chapter 2 is now posted for Beach Blanket Bloodbath. It's a web comic that Andrew Barr (long time Calabrese artist) and I have been having fun goofing around with. Check it out!

http://beachblanketbloodbath.blogspot.com/

Notes from the Road – Corpus Christi TX. @ ZEROS

2010-06-11T08:18:00.000-07:00

I couldn't find the original show flyer, but I'm pretty sure the first time we played at Zeros was in 2008.

We arrived in the afternoon, and when we opened the door to the bar smoke billowed out like the place was on fire. The anti-smoking ban clearly not in effect. Only a few locals sat at the bar drinking and smoking. Hours later, they would leave as soon as the first band started playing.

It’s strange the emotions you feel stepping into a dive bar thousands of miles away from home; depression, anxiety, boredom, disappointment. Then people start to show up, the other bands the fans. Eventually you start talking with someone who’s been a fan for years and you share stories and a real human connection is made. And that connection is what keeps you playing dive bars across the world – it’s the people you meet.

I forget the owner’s name the first time we played at Zeros but he looked like he stepped out of an 80’s movie. He reminded me of the Cobra Kai sensei from the Karate Kid. While Bobby and I hung out in the van the owner would mysteriously walk out into the darkness of the back parking lot then return stumbling back in the bar…interesting.

The last time we played at Zeros there was a new owner, he was a really nice guy who introduced us to his wife and told me about life in Corpus and the strip clubs.

A memorable moment was when a fight broke out while we were setting up. If memory serves me correctly the fight was about how long it was taking us to play.

Check out a show review on this blog I stumbled upon.
http://14diamondkarots.blogspot.com/2008/04/calabrese.html

And of course, we blew a fuse.

Flash Fiction - "Space Station Severed Head"

2010-05-06T18:16:00.000-07:00

Here's my new flash fiction story posted on MicroHorror.

Space Station Severed Head

By Jimmy Calabrese

When I entered the Hospital Pod on Space Station George W. Bush, I found the beautiful doctor struggling for her life against a decapitated zombie.

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A Calabrese Family History Lesson

2010-04-30T17:49:00.001-07:00

In anticipation of our shows in Italy, I thought I’d share some Calabrese family history. I received this information from my Aunt. So, get ready for a pop quiz at our next show!

Spoiler Alert – We have no ties to the mob (that we’ll admit).

Vincenzo Raphael Calabrese

Our great grandpa, Vincenzo Raphael Calabrese, was born in 1878. His family lived on a farm and grew grapes in a town called Foggia. It’s located on the Adriatic Sea side of Italy but in the interior, parallel to Naples.

One day, our great grandma Celeste was working in the fields near Foggia when a shirtless Cavalry Officer rode up to her. His red chest hair glistened in the hot shining sun and she instantly fell in love. That Officer was our great grandfather who had been drafted into the Cavalry at the age of sixteen. They soon married.

After his service great grandpa opened a small business in Naples and they had two children. But due to a poor economy (southern Italy was very poor) he lost his business and decided to immigrate to the United States. He left Celeste and the 2 children with her parents and made the trip alone. This was around 1900.

Leaving Italy for work was very common at the time. But in prior years people looked for work in other European countries. The steamboat companies who made a good profit on transporting immigrants had advertised the opportunities in the United States, and fortunately, great grandpa fell for it.

Like all immigrants, great grandpa searched out family when he arrived in the US. One of his cousins lived in Chicago so that’s where he arrived.

Great grandpa’s cousin got him a job with Pullman (a company that built railroad cars). This was a pretty good job but he didn't like the structured life in a factory. So, he got a job with the railroad as a cook. He liked working for the railroad since it was out in the open, allowed him to travel and gave him a sense of freedom (the same reasons he like the cavalry). He worked along the western railroad line going through Nebraska.

Meanwhile back in Italy, great grandma Celeste dealt with the loss of their two children due to cholera. After the children's deaths, she decided to make the trip to America. Without knowing a singe word of English, she crossed the ocean alone on the boat. She wore around her neck hung a hand written card with her name and destination. Somehow, she found her way to Chicago and learned that her husband left to work on the railroad, so all alone she kept searching and headed out west. Finally, after all her searching Celeste and Vincenzo reunited in Nebraska. They started a new family and settled down in Hastings Nebraska.

Nebraska had plenty of work until after world war one. Great grandpa worked on farms, and they ended up having nine children. Our grandpa Raphael was the second oldest child and oldest son went to work on a corn farm. And one year he had to eat corn all summer. At that time our grandpa Raphael would have been about ten years old.

Vincenzo and Raphael

Great grandpa then decided to come back to Chicago and start working for Pullman again. He kept his early love of farming and grew grapes at his Chicago home and made wine for himself and family. This was just before the Depression in 1929, so the house they bought was at an inflated price (sound familiar?). After the crash, great grandpa lost his job and never worked again. Our grandpa Raphael then raised his brothers and sisters along with his own family.

Grandpa Raphael

So the family tree is as follows; Great grandpa Vincenzo married Celeste. They had a son Raphael (our grandpa) who married Helen. They had a son James (our dad) who married Judy and they gave birth to 3 sons Jimmy, Bobby, and Davey who became The World’s Greatest Horror Rock Band...and the rest as they say is "history".

Flash Fiction - "Free Monster to a Good Home"

2010-03-05T21:15:00.000-07:00

Check out my my latest yarn published at The Short Humour Site.

Free Monster to a Good Home
by Jimmy Calabrese

Juan laughed as he posted an anonymous reply to the online classified ad: You can send one my way, I have a big backyard.

A few days later, when Juan backed his truck out of the garage, he discovered a gigantic 10 foot crate blocking the driveway. No markings or labels were on the crate. He talked to his neighbors, but nobody knew when or who delivered it.

Juan checked his e-mail and found a reply to his response to the classified ad: Thanks it's on its way.

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Notes From The Road - Nashville, TN. @ The Bottom Lounge

2010-02-28T15:12:00.003-07:00

Burlesque, booze and bands. That pretty much sums up The Goon 10th anniversary show. In 2009 Eric Powell invited us, and our good pals Ghoultown, to play his event. The show was held at the Bottom Lounge in Nashville Tennessee.

It was a dark and dreary day and it didn't start raining till the end of the show while we loaded up the gear.

We were the first to arrive and the place was an empty warehouse. Getting pre-show jitters I worried that the place could NEVER fill up. But with the power of The Goon, 3 bands and a ton of burlesque dancers it was a lock.

A few hours before the show Santi from Ghoultown lead us to a hidden location a few blocks away were we could buy coffee. We ended up at this trendy bar hidden within the factory buildings. We entered the bar with Santi in his cowboy hat, boot spurs and bullet bandelero, but since it was Nashville they only thought Bobby and I the freaks with our greaser look.

(Lyle from Ghoultown and Bobby)

I remember seeing a lot of the people we met at DragonCon at the show. And we got to hang with Eric for a while before the crowd showed up. Once again we forgot to make it a Kodak moment and didn't take any pictures with Eric.

To close out our set we called Ghoultown and Eric up onstage to sing some Misfits tunes to end the night.

Notes from the Road – Yuma AZ. @ Prison Hill

2010-01-28T08:56:00.000-07:00

In 2007, we played on Prison Hill in Yuma Arizona -- literally on Prison Hill. I remember Bobby set up this show with some kid through MySpace. It sounded sketchy at first, but it ended up being one of my favorite shows.

I can't imagine how these kids started hosting punk rock shows on the hill, but I salute them for their DIY attitude. Our friends ORDER OF THE FLY have played on Prison Hill and said they had fun too, but they also said they had a hard time with powering all their amps and keyboards. I didn't understand why they had a problem till we got there and found out they ran the power from a small gas generator. I remember I kept eyeballing the gas generator because it looked less than half full even before the first band played. The kids assured me it would last all night, and he was right.

These kinds of shows must have been going on for a while because when the sun set more people showed up. By the end of the night, the hill was packed. I thought for sure the police would arrive and shut down the outdoor party, but they never did.

These pictures don’t do it justice. The energy from the crowd was amazing. The sky was filled with stars, and the weather was cool and energizing. Also our friends SATURDAY NIGHT SHOCKERS stopped by and played that night as well.

The following pictures I found on my computer from the show. I didn't note who took them, so if it was you let me know!

Notes from the Road – Antioch CA. @ The Mutiny

2009-12-30T13:04:00.002-07:00

I've decided to finally to something with all the pictures I've been taking when we play shows. So keep an eye out for new blog updates called -- Notes from the Road. Here's the first of many...

In 2008 we played a small town called Antioch in California at a bar call The Mutiny. The night Bobby learned a valuable lesson.

During the show, Davey and I noticed that Bobby was not around to watch the other bands. Later, we found out that someone bought him beers and shots at the bar on the lower level. Normally we don't drink when we play a show and here’s a good example why.

I knew we were in trouble when we played the first song -- I mean tried to play the first song. We might as well have handed the guitar to a monkey in diapers, cause Bobby could barely play. That was the longest set of my life, good thing everyone else was drunk. It’s odd that everyone whooped it up, as if they didn't notice the tragedy unfolding on stage. I guess when the music is loud and the audience wasted you can't go wrong. Then it happened, the police showed up and shut down the show. They must have heard how bad we were playing. We were told about a noise curfew after 1am. Small towns, go figure. I couldn’t have been more happier.

I have a theory about drinking and playing music. I think you need to start drinking when you start playing otherwise the booze to music ratio is totally fucked. I know if I drink and play music I'll forget lyrics, lose my finger position on the bass, and burp a lot. What a lovely image that is.

I have also noticed in our travels that often when a band calls for the audience to bring them beer, the band SUCKS. This is especially true when they call for the audience to bring them shots, and 100% guaranteed when they call for booze before they even play the first song.

At the bar someone informed me that Ed Hardy was once a respectable tattoo artist before his art was put on clothes for duchebags.

Now that’s what I call art.

The sun shined while a soft breeze rustled the trees. Like Mayberry from The Andy Griffith Show, but with punk rock music.

Flash Fiction - The Magic Doorway

2009-12-14T09:28:00.001-07:00

A new flash fiction story has been posted on Everyday Weirdness.

Only moments ago, Jeremy and the rest of the boys jumped off the cliff into the ocean. Now the boys waited for Adam, circling like sharks. They knew he would be too chicken to jump, and they tormented him with delight.
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The Creative Mind of Brian Pulido – Part 2. The Rise to Chaos

2009-11-30T19:50:00.003-07:00

Let’s jump back into the interview…

Part 2. The Rise to Chaos

Jimmy Calabrese - Jumping into your high school years, I heard you took a film class that got you interested in film?

Brian Pulido - I was college bound, but I didn't know what my major was going to be, even during my senior year, believe it or not. Until I took a film criticism class where we watched and discussed movies. We were watching this movie "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang," and I suddenly understood what film was all about. I knew film had an emotional impact on me and other people, but after watching this particular movie I knew this is what I wanted to do. The way the teacher taught us to view the film made me see the emotional effect it was going for. I just hadn't looked at it that way, but when she began pointing it out I was like "Oh wow, there’s something to this". And right then I applied to just two film schools. I applied to NYU films and Seaton Hall. Usually the rational is that you apply to about ten schools with the hope that at least one won't reject you. Thank my lucky stars I got into NYU. I went to NYU film school starting in the fall of 1980.

JC - When did you start getting into music? When did the love affair begin?

BP - I loved music ever since I could think. My dad had an amazing collection of Jazz and Blues records, and stuck inside his collection was the Sly and the Family Stone album. I must have been about eight years old when I started listening to those records. But even then I was listening to Charlie Parker, Diana Washington, Billie Holiday, and then not long after I got into the Rolling Stones. Right off the bat I was a "deep track" kid. I was into the Rock, then veered off into the harder Rock like Ted Nugent, but the second I heard Punk that was IT.

JC - Do you remember which punk band?

BP - It was the Sex Pistols. I'm not going to debate it, but the Sex Pistols are the single most important band to ever walk the earth. I won't even listen to any arguments about whether New York, California or English Punk is more important. I'm not even willing to entertain it because everything begins and ends with The Sex Pistols. Just the way the Night of the Living Dead is nihilistic, the Sex Pistols annihilated music -- they destroyed it. And as soon as I heard the Sex Pistols album Never Mind the Bullocks, I played that record consistently for all my waking hours. I learned about everything that came after them; the Ramones, the New York Punk Scene, Dead Boys, Ultravox, Suicide and all the English stuff but nothing in my world compares to the Sex Pistols. So that was my defining musical moment.

Music has always been a back drop for me; music is an identity thing for me. To this day I listen to all sorts of music but I particularly like all kinds of Rock. So that could be Blues, Jazz, Metal, Alternative, Classic Rock, and Punk. I like the Rock. It is very very important.

JC- I've heard that you wrote a story in high school about lunatic Santas. Did you ever end up using that story in any of your comics?

BP - I wrote this story in 9th grade, "When Speaking of Dark Splotches in the Sky" about a bunch of lunatics that escape from an asylum, get dressed up in Santa Claus outfits, and go to this small northern California town an destroy it. I turned that story in to the schools literary newspaper and I disgusted the guy who ran that. In this day and age I'm sure I would have been brought up to the Principle and sent for psychological help. It was really insane. And no, I never used that story again.

JC - At least that story was written well enough to where they didn't think it was the ramblings of a madman.

BP - I guess but it was rejected. They wouldn't run it.

JC- But it didn't get you expelled, so there must have been some merit to it. They didn't think it was a manifesto of murder.

BP- True. All of my anger is taken care of in the fiction I write. I wouldn't want to face the consequences of doing anything real. It’s fun to do all this stuff in fiction.

JC - What was your major at NYU Film? Did you focus on all aspects of filmmaking, or just scriptwriting, editing, directing?

BP - It was pretty well rounded. We were working with real film, 16 millimeter film.

JC - So you have experience cutting actual film?

BP - Yeah, we worked with what was called an upright Moviola. We'd shoot film, the next week we'd get it back, and then we'd edit the actual film, splicing it together. The next week after that, we'd screen it. Then we began using sound, which was magnetic tape essentially, which had to be physically cut as well. In our Junior year we would use what was called a flatbed Steenbeck to cut film, which was fantastic. It was much easier to navigate. At that time I made a film called a Junior Narrative, which was titled “Night Fall”, which was a loose adaptation of a Tennessee Williams story about these lost and lonely lovers who were fated to be together. It was a very nicely crafted movie that was very boring. We did everything throughout the course: edit film, shot film, and wrote scripts.

JC - So when you graduated film school why did you stay in New York and not move to Hollywood?

BP - I actually did fine, working in New York City. When I graduated I didn't have anything lined up. Luckily, nine months out of graduation I got a break. A friend of the family introduced me to this man who was a Location Manager, and he gave me a break. I began working as a PA for the movie “Batteries Not Included”. Off and on I was working that movie for over thirteen months. I found myself working quite frequently in New York, because I found myself a nice group of people who helped me find work from one job to the next. So from “Batteries”, I then worked on “Bright Lights Big City”, and at the same time I got another break and was hired as a Second Assistant Director of the music video “Tougher Than Leather”. The first day the First Assistant Director had a nervous breakdown and quit and I by default became the First Assistant Director, not knowing what the heck I was doing.

JC- Was that Run DMC?

BP - Yeah Run DMC “Tougher Than Leather”. I was the First Assistant Director and way towards the end when a car blows up, I'm the guy running towards the car. Theoretically I get blown up in the car.

JC - Laughs.

BP - That's my claim to fame. That was fun. That's a whole other interview.

JC - You also worked on music videos for KISS and Queensryche. Do you have any stories about working on those?

BP - Sure, what happened is that the “Tougher Than Leather” video got me into the world of commercials and music videos in New York and LA. I started working with a quite a few of the who's who. The first time I was an Assistant Director I was on a song for the movie “Earth Girls Are Easy”, directed by Julian Temple of all people. He directed “The Great Rock N Roll Swindle, The Filth and the Fury here comes the Sex Pistols”. I wasn't so good at my job. I got it done but I didn't work with him again. I was really "green" to be honest with you.

Queensryche was great. I did 2 Queensryche videos. One interesting story was that the first one we did was directed by Mary Lambert, who directed “Pet Cemetery”. I was brought on specifically to corral her, so to speak. Apparently she was very de-focused. I was kind of hired to muscle her through. She was very artistic and not easy to work with. Ultimately after those two days of shooting, the whole thing got scrapped.

My KISS story: I was an Assistant Director for the music video Domino and Unholy. This is my Gene Simmons story, this is great. So we were on Unholy. We were on a stage and I worked with this Producer named Tema Tascantin. Tema was a tough Producer; she could make grown men cry. But now that we were working with this upper echelon of talent she was always very concerned that they were being taken care of. She'd always ask me to make sure the band was happy. At one point Gene comes over, and people were going about doing hair and make up and costumes, doing what they were doing. Tema still nervous looks to Gene and says "Is there anything I can do for you?" And without missing a beat Gene says "You can line up every woman in this place against the wall so I can fuck em." Tema just looked at him kinda nods and drifts off. Amazing.

JC - Laughs. What a character.

BP - Yeah it's KISS. I'm a big KISS fan, so that was really fun.

JC - So how the heck did you jump into comics after being that involved in movies, commercials and music videos?

BP - I realized at one point while I was working with this wonderful Director Darees Auria, who I worked with regularly. Darees made Spanish commercials and high end music videos. We were on a particular shoot, and I just came off working a Mark Romanek industrial, Marks the guy who did the Nine Inch Nails video “Closer”. Something was gnawing at my soul more or less. We were there on set and I had that Talking Heads song that says "What the hell am I doing with my life" and I realized at that point my own goals were kind of on hold. I was an Assistant Director; I was serving others, apposed to having the balls to have my own vision come to life. It was really at that time that I just said “ok, I'll make my play”. Later that day, the Director Darees said “something just happened with you didn't it?” He's like “I know something just happened with you.” I was like “Yeah I can't do this anymore.” He said “Alright man I can see that.” And that was it. That was the last job I did. That coincided with several of my comic projects coming to life within a month of that.

JC - Were you working on comics while you were an Assistant Director?

BP - I was actually. When I graduated from college I was working on long feature films and it was very difficult to get anything done, working 18 hours a day. Especially starting out, it was pretty all-encompassing. I was working on comics as a hobby at night. I had a lot to learn actually, about spelling, grammar, how stories are structured. But I wasn't putting it on a full burner until that particular video when I said I can't do this anymore. It coincided with meeting and being with Francisca my wife. To be honest, I said I needed to grow up and be a man about stuff, take charge of life. That's really what made me start driving hard towards the comic book career. The movie career, at that time of my life- I could not see how I could end up as a Director. I had the inability to figure that part out. So, I skirted out of the film industry, and became a writer and publisher of comics. It was not my stated goal in life, but it was a wonderful creative expression. I remember when Evil Ernie #1 came out, it was the December of 91, and some guy recognized me at a comic book convention, one of the first ones I was ever at. He was like "Hey you’re that guy who wrote Evil Ernie, that comic wasn't too bad." That was like my first compliment on something I did creatively, and I liked it. I wanted to repeat it.

JC - Did anything you learn from film school translate over to comics?

BP - A lot does and a lot doesn’t. Initially it gave me the training to think of the story in pictures, which helped quite a lot. Things like lighting, camera placement, I would always throw that in the scripts, and artists I've worked with are real cool with it.

The fascinating thing I found out in the past couple of years is that there are a lot of bad habits I've developed writing comics that I had to unlearn when writing and directing a movie. In most movies you "show don't tell" when in comics, because of time constraints there's a degree of exposition, because it speeds things up. What I learned making this movie is that a picture is really worth a thousand words. I have to be real careful about being redundant.

JC - Why did you start Chaos Comics? Why didn't you try and enter the already established Marvell and DC companies?

BP - I love all the Marvell and DC comics but I did not necessarily have an interest in writing them. Yes, I've always been entrepenureal and my drive has always been to tell the stories I'd like to tell. I've always admired guys like Stephen King who keeps telling the story he wants to tell, and Richard Matheson. It's not like Stephen King developed his talents and then started writing Agatha Christie novels; his expression is what he wants to say. There's a cost to that ‘cause new and unproven things are really hard to get into the market place. I was very lucky when I started in comics, because it was a time when that stuff was embraced. That was the reason I didn't go into that particular direction.

Lets be honest, the reason I formed Chaos Comics along with Francisca my wife and Steven Hughes was because we had a deal to do another Evil Ernie series with a publisher, but they dropped us like a hot potato and we were destitute. It was either start all over again and look for another publisher who was into our thing, or just start it up. With a $28,500 loan from my father and the efforts of all the people I mentioned, Chaos Comics was founded.

JC - Chaos seemed to start up at the perfect time, right at the boom of independent comics.

BP- There was so much luck involved in retrospect. People say, "Brian Pulido is a marketing generous who can anticipate the market change." I think a lot of it was luck. We came in at a great time, and the comic print runs were gigantic. 2 million wasn't very unusual; Spawn #1 was 1.7 million. Our first comic Evil Ernie Resurrection # 1 we ran 66,329 the way I remember it, so with a wholesale price 2.99 it was hard to make mistakes and not be grossly profitable, although we did make a fair amount of mistakes. By time of Feb 1994 Lady Death became part of a phenomenon called "The Bad Girl" comics, and her sales by August 94 were in the 250,000 print runs.

JC - How long did it take you pay back your dad on that loan?

BP - I offered to pay my father, but he refused to take the money. Conceivably we could have paid him back with the first issue. He always refused me paying the money back. He would say "I'd rather you have your inheritance now." He deserves a lot of credit for the founding of Chaos as well.

JC - You've stated that Chaos was about fun, rock ‘n’ roll and outrageousness. Why do you think rock ‘n’ roll and comics mix so well?

BP - Well particularly then, no one was doing that at all. Back on the 90's we were coming off the time in the world of comics where superhero comics were very stale, and a confluence of independent publishers rose to fill that void. What I wanted to see as a fan didn't exist, things like Evil Ernie, Lady Death, Chastity, stuff we published. It was edgier anti-heroes, and outright bad guys who ran the book and I just didn't see that. Also as a KISS fan, as a rock n roll fan, it was always natural that when we put out a comic book we also offered a button, or a model kit. From the very beginning it always made sense to me. It was just a natural expression on how I saw things anyway. I've always seen them three dimensionally, there's a comic, barware, apparel, an action figure, and it always made sense. That kept showing up, and we teamed up with Clayburn Moore and had among the first round of action figures released into the collectors market. That's when people didn't think that was possible.

Why do comics and rock combine? I don't know why, but they just do.

JC - Last week I read on MTV.com that the rapper 50 Cent put out a new album called War Angel which was inspired by your comic. Are you surprised that your work has influenced the Rap Genre?

BP- I put out a comic called War Angel in 2005. It's about an angel who's bred by God to make war. He stops speaking to her but her mission never changed, so it corrupted her. She's one brutal character. I think War Angel's great but where I'm surprised is that it was an experiment. I was trying to throw as many genres into one comic as possible, so it's a horror / bad girl / western / sci-fi- it's all in there. When you stack those things up, it makes it crazy and inaccessible. War Angel's real name is Serenity, she's a lesbian, she's pitting Warlocks and Vampires against each other, it's really among the craziest stories I've written. That part’s surprising, but it's just cool. 50 Cents is cool, good for him.

MTV Shows

JC - What do you think comics can do that movies can't and vice versa?

BP - Comics can go really far, in terms of genre. Comics can really depart since relatively speaking they cost less than a movie, so you can stack 15 genres up. In the world of very personal comics, like journaling comics, you can be really personal and yourself. The form itself has a lot of flexibility and the budgets are really reduced. I think there's just more opportunity to tell personal stories. There's not always sales there, but there’s alternatives like web comics. You can see a lot more different points of view, where as in today’s movie market you are seeing more and more of these blockbuster sort of films, where it's getting more difficult to do more independent personal films. I still think you can do that in the world of comics without getting too hurt. Comics have some of the most fertile story telling minds like Mark Millar, Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis, and Grant Morrison. These guys are great story tellers, really trippy thinkers. I haven't seen movies incorporate their ideas yet, but really it's only a matter of time because comic books are the breeding ground for Hollywood. They are on a ten year lag.

JC - Did you like running the business of Chaos, or did that hinder you? Eric Powell said that the business side took up too much of his time when he self-published, but then again he spends more time drawing, inking and coloring. How was it for you?

BP – Running Chaos was everything; it was great, it was terrible, and it was wonderful. I really started out as an artist, at one point I advocated the management of Chaos to other people, but that was our most inefficient year. We had 19 employees, our costs were crazy, and I was just interested in being the artist and not the business person. However we started getting into financial trouble, so I had no choice but to buckle down and become the business person. In the last couple of years Chaos was really strained, because we were carrying forward debt and we made some huge mistakes and ultimately we folded. Chaos was everything; it was wonderful and horrific all at the same time. During the time of comic’s boom it was fun, it was like printing money, then it became more challenging and we made a few strategic or financial mistakes and it was heartbreaking. Not only for me, but for the people who worked for Chaos and the fans. It was complicated; it was a lot of life packed into 9 years.

JC – What's your take on education? Sounds like you are pretty pro-education.

BP - For me, I'm like a building block guy. I wish I could learn better than that. I have to take it one step at a time. Take Chaos for example. I seem to only learn by making dramatic mistakes. Now I look back and say I'm a little better at business, because I made so many mistakes. I wish I had the vision of educating myself in business a head of time, so I didn't make all those mistakes, but I'm pro-education to this second. I'm always educating myself in trying to keep current to the best of my aptitude. I'm all about it.

JC - Even the creative type people? Do you think the "artists" need education?

BP- It would be ideal to be purely creative, but it's a little more responsible to educate yourself in the business. If you’re going to be in it for the long run, you need to handle yourself in the business. It seems as if you have to develop both sides. The creative side and business side, if you want to stay in this for a while. For me, working independently as a creative person in my 19th year, it's really required me to educate myself in some stuff that's pretty dull, things like balance sheets, income and expense, developing marking strategies, stuff like that. A lot of these things just simply had to be learned, either that or I wouldn't be doing this anymore. It's important to develop them. It was a terrible mistake that I made, I hired management inside Chaos Comics, and then I turned away and became creative guy again. I abdicated my management and just looked away and whatever happened, happened. If I could do that part over again, I would have managed those people to create a certain atmosphere, instead of looking away. Which is a normal thing for a creative person to say -- I'm going to do my own thing over here plotting the end of the universe, you take care of the rest. That was a terrible blunder because I literally dropped out from management for 9-10 months, and I think that ultimately doomed the company.

To be continued...

Beach Blanket Bloodbath -- IT BEGINS...again

2009-11-17T08:07:00.002-07:00

Check out the 1st Chapter of the web comic Beach Blanket Bloodbath. Art and Characters by Andrew Barr with special guest writer me!