Cravenomena

Apologies are in order — in a general way, to the readers of this blog for having failed to update it in recent months; and, more specifically, to Joey Myers.  Joey called Craven a couple weeks ago after having stumbled across Cravenomena.  In addition to saying some nice things about the blog, Joey wanted to direct Craven’s attention to his Flickr account, where he has literally dozens of amazing photos documenting a childhood (and adulthood) obviously misspent in the best way.

Do yourself a favor and head over to Joey’s Flickr collection to salivate over some amazing monster toys, paperbacks, album covers and other gorgeous artifacts of late 20th century psychotronic culture.

By the way, if Joey’s name sounds familiar to you (as it did to Craven) that might be because you are a punk rock or shockabilly aficionado.  Joey is a well-known rock n’ roll drummer and one of the founders of the band, Hayride to Hell.  (I don’t know if they took their name from the great Hoodoo Gurus song by that name, but more props to them if they did.)  Regular listeners to Craven’s radio show on KAFM will have likely heard Joey’s drums (alongside two of Craven’s favorite Billys —  X guitarist Billy Zoom and actor/children’s show host Billy Barty) on Deke Dickerson’s classic 1999 album, MORE MILLION SELLERS.

BTW, among the photos in Joey’s collection is a shot of the Lindy Loonies, the grotesque toy line referenced in the comments section of Craven’s post entitled “Nutty Mad Men.” Be sure and check it out.

Coming up in future weeks — Craven’s long gestating look back at the making of SHOCK! SHOCK! SHOCK! Among other things, you will learn how the actor who made Tony Soprano an unlikely sex symbol got his cinematic start as a sadistic orderly in a movie made for less than $2,000.  Watch for it!