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The Green Child is, to put it simply, the strangest book on this list. The introduction and blurbs speak of an “other-worldly suspense” or an “unearthly, hypnotic radiance.” Even a basic synopsis of the plot is almost too strange to convey. Welcome to Book Hell, “a club devoted to the collecting of obscure, esoteric and otherwise weird books.” — finding original postings of Book Hell are like wandering through Hell’s seven circles- just another boring spam filled hole. A Journey Round My Skull, explores “Unhealthy book fetishism from a reader, collector, and amateur historian of forgotten literature.” The Voynich manuscript “is the most mysterious of all texts. It is seven by ten inches in size, and about 200 pages long. It is made of soft, light-brown vellum. It is written in a flowing cursive script in alphabet that has never been seen elsewhere. Nobody knows what it means.” CODEX SERAPHINIANUS by Luigi Serafini, is one of the world’s strangest and mysterious books: “The Codex is a lavishly produced book that purports to be an encyclopedia for an imaginary world in a parallel universe, with copious comments in an incomprehensible language. It is written in a florid script, entirely invented and completely illegible, and illustrated with watercolor paintings.” -Archimedes Laboratory |
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| Posted in: Award winning books, Book Collecting, Monsters & Myths | No Comments » |
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Happy Krampus Day: December 5th: The myth of the Krampus has its roots in the dark |
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| Posted in: Art, Monsters & Myths, Performance, Religion | No Comments » |
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The Book Beat is having a Midnight Madness Monster Party and book sale on August 1st at 10:00 PM -12:30 AM in honor of Stephanie Meyer’s third concluding book The Breaking Dawn, in The Twilight Saga series being released Friday August 1st at Midnight. This is a book her fans have been waiting for… The Book Beat is located at 26010 Greenfield in Oak Park. Call 248-968-1190 for more information.
Joining the late night festivities will be Detroit’s only local television horror host (actually its Detroit’s only locally produced television outside the news), the legendary . . . Wolfman Mac and his crazy crew of ghouls will be there in the flesh handing out Breaking Dawn books to eager Twilight Saga fans at the stroke of midnight. Its the summertime book happening Stephanie Meyer fans have long been waiting for — and a fun event for the whole family. Wolfman Mac can be seen on Detroit’s Channel 20 every Saturday at midnight. Watch the next NIGHTMARE CINEMA show Saturday, July 26th, on TV Channel 20 when he will announce details about the Book Beat Midnight Madness sale. Wolfman Mac shows the creepiest vintage horror flicks with retro cheeseball humor. Fans of the Ghoul and Sir Graves will love it! Listen to a radio interview with Wolfman Mac produced by WDET-FM. Also, performing “Live at Lincoln Center” (on the sidewalk in front of Book Beat) beginning at 11 PM will be Detroit’s wild and woolly freakout jam band THE ODD CLOUDS. There is nothing like the Odd Clouds anywhere. Click here to watch a Youtube live video of The Odd Clouds … In-store guest DJs will rock the store with creepy old school vinyl, lounge music and horror soundtracks. Come prepared and wear your Halloween costume. Book Beat and the Nightmare SINeMA crew will be filming all the madness for a future commercial to be shown on the Wolfman Mac’s Nightmare Sinema! Wear a costume and be part of the action… come dressed as your favorite monster, vampire or wolfman… This will be truly amazing Monster Madness! AAaaaaaHhhhwwwwwoooooooooahh!! In celebration of our 25th anniversary, Book Beat will be offering a 25% discount on ALL books Friday, August 1st, 10 AM -12 am and Saturday, August 2nd, from 10 AM-7 PM. (costumes are optional) – hope to see you there… stay creepy!
Pictured Above: Detroit’s outerlimit freakout musicians THE ODD CLOUDS!  |
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| Posted in: Book Beat / Shop history, Monsters & Myths, Music, Psychedelia, Reading | 1 Comment » |
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| Posted in: Media, Monsters & Myths, Music, Psychedelia | 2 Comments » |
The “Rehearsal for the Destruction of Mu” is a live shadow theater & musical lightshow exotica coming May 10th at the MOCAD cement pastry palace and funky prayer & novelty shop in the heart of the art ghetto. Monster Isalnd’s cosmic calamity troupe will dazzle and bewilder the young and old with their ancient and modern low-fi psychedelic pyrotechnics. Performing will be; narrator, synth and harmonium player Aliccia Berg, on sitar, bass and guitar: Matthew Smith, lighting FX and percussion Jamie Easter, violinist: Mary Alice, puppeteer artist Tom Carey, samples, lighting, etc., Cary Loren.  Come See the CTHULU monster awake from a dreaming sleep! Come See a Clash of Planets collide in a firey ball of destruction! See the mysterious and exotic hanging gardens from ancient Babylon! Hear the celestial bells and droning eternal rhythms! Witness the flood and cataclysmic debris! See the Lost Princess of Mu and the ghost of Alfred Jarry! Showtime at 9 PM.
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She started the horror show host phenomenon in the year 1954-1955 and based her dress and cool morbid attitude on Charles Addams’ Morticia character as seen in New Yorker cartoons mixed in with her own twisted beat sensibility. Vampira was the original horror host, an icon of gothic style and beatnik beauty. She earned $75.00 a week for her role, and was cancelled due to public outrage. None of the shows exist, except for the on-set stills, they remain the stuff of legends and rumor. Hear one of the last live interviews with Nurmi where she talks about the creation of Vampira on You Tube. Learn more about this independent, unique and doomed actress at SCREEN SIRENS. Rest in peace, my lovely ghoul and as Vampira would say at the end of each show, “Bad dreams, darling.” |
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| Posted in: Film & Video, Monsters & Myths, Obituary | No Comments » |
Beautiful and exotic actress Maila Nurmi known to her legions of fans as Vampira, died peacefully in her sleep from cardiac arrest on January 10th, 2008. The star of Plan 9 From Outerspace and similar “Z” grade motion pictures, Nurmi was best known as the 1950s Los Angeles TV horror-host Vampira, a glamorous ghoul with a plunging neckline and 13″ waist, who would introduce sludge grade movies and toast you with her bottle of sulphuric acid.
In 1959, she was “discovered” by Ed Wood Jr., the transvestite genius director of bad movies, and stole the show in Plan Nine From Outerspace, playing a grave robbing ghoul alongside wrestler Tor Johnson and Bela Lugosi. She can now afford a much needed rest and toast together with fellow ghouls Ed, Bela, Tor and her late paramour and best friend James Dean.
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The first act follows strange patterns and objects traveling through formless space and colored gas, until they settle inside the mystical garden of Mu, (Act Two) where plant and sea life begin to appear and develop. Act Three is the further corruption of life forms and culture, that ends in the cataclysmic devastation of the island. The last act is the sinking of Mu and the migration of its life into physical beings that appear again, performing a shadow theater play in contemporary culture. The play is performed as an improvisation that is interwoven with music and sound effecs produced by Monster Island. The play uses light and music in equal parts to create a vision that is a mixture of ritual, theater and sound. Inspired by the writings of Madame Blavatsky and Alfred Jarry, Mu theater is an experience that is both elemental and prophetic, a wheel of tantric statement, boundless energy and possibility -like watching ones own dreams appear. Designs and constructions for the first puppets and backgrounds were made by Detroit artists Tom Carey and Cary Loren. Additions to the puppets will soon be supplemented by a variety of other artists. Some images from the first “Rehersal for the Destruction of Mu” are avialable at Tom Carey’s Rusty Nail Studio Online blog. Below are a few images from the UFO factory show from Saturday, Jan. 5. – thanks to photographers Lee Ambrozy, Mary and Tom Carey. Garden of Mu: Undersea creatures: Mu Princess Xie and Tiger:<
More pictures from Mu! - These photos were taken by narrator and singer Lee Ambrozy:
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| Posted in: Film & Video, Monsters & Myths, Music, Psychedelia, Puppets | No Comments » |
“The Rehearsal for the Destrution of Mu” is a shadow puppet play presented by the Detroit area group Monster Island. The play is an improvised shadow theater of four acts, that show the development and transformation of shadow theater (the earliest form of storytelling) from its psychic origins, on the mythical island of Mu, to the beginnings of cinema in Paris, France, at the end of the nineteenth century.
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