We Did the Mash...the Monster Mash!

Welcome to the Halloween edition of Saturday 9! Well chosen, Sam...I loved this song when I was a kid. Let's get on with it and have some fun and please be sure to stop by and visit the Saturday 9 site to find direct links to other bloggers playing along or for the rules (there really aren't any) if you'd like to join in.

Saturday 9: Monster Mash (1962)

Unfamiliar with this week's featured song? Hear it here.

1) In your younger days, did you ever trick or treat while dressed as a monster or ghoul?   My mom was a librarian and one year the art teacher at the elementary school Mom worked at (and I attended) made paper mache monster masks for all the teachers.  They were really something.  Mom's was sort of a lady Frankenstein with greenish skin, curly newspaper hair, long black construction paper eyelashes, and HUGE sparkly red lips.  I thought it was the coolest thing, as did many of my friends.  I wore it a few times over the years.  I haven't seen it in ages, but I know it is still packed away in a box in Mom's attic.

2) Do you enjoy being frightened by celluloid boys-gone-bad, like Michael Myers (Halloween) or Jason (Friday the 13th)?   NO!  I like spooky things, but hate true horror films, all-to0-realistic haunted houses, and the rest.

3) When you were a kid, did you ever TP a neighbor's house or indulge in any other Halloween acts of vandalism? (Don't worry, the statute of limitations is up.)  I may have TPed a house or two, though I don't really remember.  Around here, "corning" was big (that's throwing dried, shelled corn at houses if you don't know), but I was pretty much under threat of permanent grounding if I ever got caught doing that so I never did.

4) Will you be attending any Halloween parties this year? If so, will you dress up?  We went to a Halloween bonfire last weekend.  I dressed as a unicorn because I found an awesome rainbow unicorn wig.  I will probably dress up next week for the kids on the bus, too.  It kind of stinks, though, that we aren't allowed to give the kids treats any more.  Too many kids with food allergies and sensitivities. 

5) Can you see any Halloween decorations as you answer these 9 questions?  I have a jack-o-lantern (not real) in the living room window and an animated, singing dog in a pumpkin costume right beside it.  That's the extent of my Halloween decorations.  I didn't even set out my "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" figurines.

6) While Halloween is most popular in the United States and Canada, and isn't really celebrated at all in Japan or South Korea. How would you explain our Halloween customs to a visitor from another land?  Greedy little buggers egged on by their parents go door-to-door (often in multiple neighborhoods) mooching free candy from people their parents don't know and can't trust not to poison it or fill it with razor blades.  The greed is so complete that even teenagers and adults now trick-or-treat.  Adults use it as an excuse to dress up in another identity, drink and behave badly.  I'm not a big fan....can you tell?

7) "Monster Mash" is one of Halloween's most played songs. Are you happy to hear it every year? Or does it set your teeth on edge?  I've always liked the song.  It was, and still is, a fun song.  And it beats the heck out of "One-eyed, One-horned, Flying Purple People Eater."

8) This week's featured artist, Bobby "Boris" Pickett, started as a stand-up comedian who incorporated his imitations of Boris Karlof and Bela Lugosi into his act. Can you impersonate anyone?  I used to be able to do a pretty good version of Dana Carvey's Church Lady, but I haven't tried in years.  I don't know if I can still do it or not.

9) Dick Clark was an impossibly young looking 33 in this week's featured clip. Are you often told you look good for your age?   I guess in a round about way.  Most people think I'm about 10 years younger than I am.

Trick or Treat is tonight in our area so I'll just wish you a spooktacularly.....