I don’t watch much TV, but I love movies, especially those that fit with my two favorite seasons–Halloween and Christmas.  My favorite children’s video for Halloween in The Book of Life, a computer-animated film that follows the adventures of a guitar-playing bullfighter, Manolo, on the Day of the Dead as he journeys into the worlds of the dead. The film as breathtaking animation and graphics, and is full of humor, music, and fun. Adults and children alike will enjoy this.  Here are the DVD cover and official trailer video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBw5YScs8iQ

The second video I would recommend for your Halloween celebrations is a video version of the play Dr. Faustus, written by Christopher Marlowe (first performed in 1604), the story of a doctor who became a necromancer and sold his soul to the Devil in return for knowledge and power. In the film version, Richard Burton stars as Faust and Elizabeth Taylor as Helen of Troy.  The play has several memorable and famous lines such as, “Is this the face that launched a thousand ships?” You can find more quotes HERE:  Here is a trailer for the film. Put it on your list of films to view!

Thirty Days to Halloween, Day 6. “Lobo Meets Red Riding Hood”

Here’s a little bit of horror for you redheads and lovers of redheads. I wrote this short story for a horror contest. It’s sort of a fractured fairy tale, similar to Decaprio’s Red Riding Hood. I placed a trailer video after the story.

“If you want trouble… find yourself a redhead.” – Unknown

I’ve always had a weakness for redheads. On a hiking trail on the Natchez Trace, I heard a runner’s footsteps and turned to see her coming my way.   I stopped and leaned against a hickory and lifted my canteen as if taking a drink.   She slowed her jog to a walk. “Hello,” she said.

“Hi, yourself.”

“Are you okay? You look a little out of breath and your face is red. As red as my hair.”   She slipped the scarlet hood of her cape back to reveal thick, dark red hair that seemed to sparkle in the sunlight.

I took another drink of water. “I’m fine.” Liar! my thoughts shouted. She has stupefied you. I thought I’d take a chance. I corked the canteen and extended my hand. “My friends call me Lobo. And you are?”

“Scarlett.  I’m going to finish this trail. A little bit beyond that is my grandmother’s house. Want to walk with me? Grandmother always has a good meat pie ready for me.” She tightened the strap on her small backpack and slipped her arm into mine. “Please come with me. Grandmother loves company!”

“Sure.” As we resumed our hike, a thousand questions and thoughts buzzed through my mind.

“Guess how I got my name,” she said.

“Your parents loved Gone with the Wind?”

She snickered. “You’re funny. Obviously, I came out of my mother’s womb with red hair.”

“I like redheads,” I said.

“You’d be stupid not to. I like you too.”

I felt like howling.

As we walked, she told me all about redheads. “Did you know Scotland has the largest percentage of redheads, but the United States has the largest redhead population? The Greeks liked to say that we redheads are emotionally un-housebroken. They believed we turn into vampires when we die.”

She looked at me and grinned. I blinked because for a moment I thought I saw a jagged tooth.

She continued. “The Spanish Inquisition thought redheads were witches.” She sighed. “That may be partially true.”

“Aren’t there some famous redheads, like Lucille Ball?” I asked.

“Oh, yes. Many.”

We walked on past the trailhead and followed another path past a NO TRESSPASSING sign.  “There’s her house,” pointing to a small clapboard house.

When we reached it, we stepped up on the porch. She opened the door and stuck her head in. “Grandmother, I’m back! I’ve a friend with me too.” She took my hand and pulled me inside.

“Grandmother, this is Lobo.”

“Glad to meet you, ma’am.”

“Oh, Scarlett, I’m glad you have a polite boyfriend this time.” She looked at me. “This girl has such a hard time keeping a boy around. Won’t you sit down to eat? I just finished cooking this meat pie.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

She set a steaming piece down with a spoon. “Dig in, boy!”

I ate like a condemned man eating his last meal. I’ve never tasted a meat pie so good.  The grandmother and Scarlett had grown silent and sat as still as statues, looking at me. It felt really weird. Finally the grandmother moved over to her kitchen counter and rolled a pie filling that she pressed into a pie pan.

“Yep, you got a good one this time, Scarlett. I like him. He will taste real good. Make a fine meat pie. The cleaver’s on the shelf, dear. You know what to do.”

Thirty Days to Halloween: Day 5. A review of  In the Shadow of the Vampire: Reflections from the World of Anne Rice by Jana Marcus, with an Introduction by Katherine Ramsland.

One can certainly argue that Anne Rice made vampires popular through her Vampire Chronicles and movies based on her books. Her fans and disciples have created an actual subculture.  (Google says there are ten vampire bars in New Orleans, there are fan clubs, and vampire tours ). The back-cover description says this fascinating book offers interviews and a closeup view of her devotees and disciples with over 100 photographs from Rice’s Memnoch Ball in New Orleans. The book is rich with memorable quotes, too many to mention in this short review. This book will help you understand the world of Anne Rice and the world of those who live in the shadow of the vampire.

If you ever wondered how books and movies can affect people and how far they can go into the darkness, as one of the opening epigraphs says, “And in this Savage Garden, these innocent ones belonged in the vampire’s arms.”–Anne Rice, The Vampire Lestat.

When I first wrote my children’s picture book Rio Grande Valley ABC and began my intense studies of the Rio Grande Valley and Northern Mexico, I discovered the Day of the Dead. Here are two fine coffee-table books about the Day of the Dead filled with the origins, the history, personal stories, traditions, photographs, motifs, and crafts that are sure to make the Day of the Dead weekend come alive and give you plenty of ideas for decorations of your own home and altar.

The first book is Day of the Dead: A Passion for Life. It focuses on the celebration in the State of Michoacan. The text and photos are by Mary J. Andrade and the book is published by La Oferta Publishing Company.  The book illustrates that only in Mexico is Life honored through Death.

The second book is Day of the Dead: Art, inspiration, and Counter Culture by Ross Thorne and published by Flame Tree Publishing. David Lozeau provides a very interesting foreword. The artwork and photographs are amazing. The back cover features a beautiful quote by Frida Kahlo, “I hope the end is joyful and I hope never to return.”

Here’s a humorous short story I wrote to help you celebrate Halloween!

“The Egyptian Room”

  Henry sat at his desk, and as usual, was surrounded by mountains of files and jumbled papers.

French Composer Camille Saint-Saëns wrote Danse Macabre OP. 40. This was the music  I heard in my Introduction to Music class that inspired my previous post of “Dance with Death.” The composition is based on a legend that says Death appears at midnight every year on All Saint’s Eve (Halloween).  Death calls the dead from their graves to dance for him while he plays his fiddle. The legend says skeletons dance for him until the rooster crows at dawn, when they must return to their graves until the next year. It is a creepy image.

Today, I begin my Thirty Days to Halloween series that will feature original stories, poems, reviews of books, movies, and music devoted to the season. I hope you enjoy it. Today’s post is an original poem I wrote while in my Introduction to Music Class at ACU. I was inspired by the graphics in the professor’s PowerPoint and by the Danse macabre music. This was a poem that I wrote quickly. Here are the poem and graphics. Tomorrow I will post a video of the wild fiddle music itself. According to legend, Death appears at midnight every year on Halloween. Death calls forth the dead from their graves to dance for him while he plays his fiddle.

I danced with death and did not know her.
And the  out of tune violin
Played on through the night
To a song that had no end.
As we danced, I wondered,
When would the music end?
She answered, “This dance will last
Until you fall like other dying men.”

Death had soft hands and a pretty face,
Not like I might have feared.
Her eyes looked deep inside my heart,
And she shed a single tear.
A warm embrace she gave me,
And the world began to spin,
My fingers slipped from her hands,
The fate of dying men.

Each must stand to play a part
In an endless symphony,
And dance to increasing tempo
With the ghosts of one’s destiny.
Look closely at the one you hold,
The hands, the eyes, and face,
The face of a lover,  a friend or a God,
That will take you from this place.
–Rickey Pittman 1992

The Great Storm: A Bayou Fairies Book by Cher Nicole Levis and illustrated by Paula Merritt Windham was released with perfect timing at the peak of hurricane season. This is Levis’ second children’s picture book, a sequel to her first book, The Bayou Fairies. Bayou Fairies is a children’s book that teaches children about the plants, trees, flowers and animals of South Louisiana and how one can make friends by acts of kindness. The Great Storm also follows these same themes. You can read my review of Bayou Fairies HERE.

Windham’s artwork is captivating. Her short bio says that she is an avid animal and nature lover, and the illustrations make that point. The paintings are true to Louisiana, with a soft tone that fits the book’s story well.

Readers are invited to sit in the Story Ring with the fairies and learned how the swamp and bayou animals made it through the Great Storm with the magical bond of friendship. Like Bayou Fairies, the book is away to introduce children (and some adults!) to the beauty of the flora and fauna of the Louisiana Bayou. Along with the narrative, there are also educational facts about Bayou animals and plants listed at the bottom of several pages—as a kind of “Did you know?” exercise. These are facts that will stick in young readers’ minds easily after some repetition.

The charming and playful fairies are endearing and memorable. Here you will meet King Oak and Queen Nolia, who narrate the story and introduce each of the Bayou Fairies who are each given a distinctly Louisiana name, such as Andouille the alligator.
One can tell that Author Levis loves the bayous she was raised on and one can conclude that her degree in creative writing was well deserved. The book was published by All-Gator Bookbites Publishing House in Lake Charles, Louisiana. This a book that will warm the heart of any reader. One can order the book HERE:

The Santa Fe Expedition of 1841: A Poem by Rickey E. Pittman

In the summer of 1841,
President Lama had a vision,
Texas wasn’t large enough,
He sent the Santa Fe expedition.

General McLeod and Captain Lewis,
With 21 ox-drawn wagons,
And 300 men left in June,
With one old brass cannon.

Spurred on by Lamar’s command,
They walked toward Santa Fe’s trail,
They didn’t know how far it was,
Or that they were doomed to fail.

There was a Comanche moon,
When they reached the Llano Estacado,
Lost in an endless sea of grass,
There were no trails to follow.

The Comanche and Apache
Stole their horses at night,
Would kill and scalp if they could,
And the Texans feared they might.

Deserted by their Mexican guide,
Facing hardships from the weather,
They continued on a dead man’s walk,
That seemed to last forever.

Drinking foul badlands water,
Eating what they could find,
Their leaders made too many mistakes,
And a strange madness filled their minds.

They marched on in misery
Till Santa Fe they found,
They surrendered to the Mexicans,
Without firing a single round.

Governor Manuel Armijo
Who had 1500 men,
Promised them protection,
So the Texans trusted him.

But he marched them 2,000 miles,
South to Mexico City,
In chains and in sorrow,
He drove them without pity.

There were no maps to guide them,
There were no well-laid plans,
But we honor their sad footsteps,
These brave and bold Texans.

Lacie Carpenter is one of the most talented and hard-working musicians I’ve ever known. She has a natural charisma and winning personality that is endearing. She consented to an interview with the Bard of the South. Here it is!

1. You are known as a fiddle player, but you also play guitar and mandolin. Tell me about how these instruments came into your life. Any other instruments that you play? 

I’m a classically trained violinist that has also been trained in the art of fiddling.  I guess you could call me a “Fiddlest”!  I play guitar, mandolin, ukulele, piano, and I sing.  (Those are my favorites, anyway). Since I went to college for music, I learned to play every instrument but harp and banjo…but I’m not the best percussionist or bassoonist!

Music, in general, came to me. It found me at birth and I just knew I was going to be in the music industry…some form another.  I started off playing the piano when my mom bought me the Baby’s Baby Grand Piano. I could play songs I heard without hesitation, but the piano and I broke up soon after she got me a toy violin. It was done… I was going to play the violin! I didn’t start playing any other instruments till college—except for singing. I loved to sing but I hadn’t had any training until recently.  Since I had to learn every instrument anyway, I picked up the mandolin, then the guitar, so on and so forth.  I wanted to play mandolin because of Rhonda Vincent. I thought it was so cool that a woman on the Grand Ole Opry could lead a band and she played mandolin and fiddle, along with knowing how to play guitar.

3. I first met you at the Gladewater, Texas Opry and was privileged to play with you and the stage band. How long did you work with the Opry there? Your mother was the emcee and she did a fine job at that. Was your mom a great encouragement to your career?

Yes! I played in the house band Texas Smoke for almost 10 years.  My mom is the best encourager! She also is brutally honest and believes in me an infinite amount.  She knows I’m a free spirit and wouldn’t mind traveling in a Gypsy music van peddling songs, but my mom knows I have way too many instruments and clothes to do that! She keeps me grounded while also pushing me to always be my best.

4. I know you’ve had several tours. Can you tell me about those?

I’ve toured Alaska, NYC, Virginia, MN, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ireland (twice), England, Austria, Germany, and Nashville before I moved to Music City three years ago!  Each tour was different.  Some were Celtic, some were classical, and others were just me doing my own thing.  I’ve played for the Prime Minister and Archbishop of Austria. Pub and cathedral tours in Ireland and private parties for families. Radio tours across Virginia and played at the world-famous WSVS! The old Flatt and Scruggs radio station.  I’ve performed at Fine Arts Centers, canoeing conventions, and Juilliard.

5. I believe you have done studio work as a fiddle player. What artists or songs have you worked with?

Yes. I’ve played for Belmont students working on their senior projects, Gary Gentry (The Ride), Lauren Grant, Bob Mauldin, and Wayne Moss. As far as working with other artists songwriting, symphonies etc… Becky Buller, Wayne Moss, Linda Eder, ETBU Symphonic Band, Marshall Symphony, Orchestra of the Pines, Piney Woods Camerata, and been a soloist for many of these groups.

6. What would you advise anyone wanting to learn to play the fiddle?

Give yourself 6 months before you quit!  Have patience and grace with yourself.  Don’t think you’ll automatically play “Devil Went Down To GA”!  Never think you should be growing at the same rate as others—don’t compare.  The fiddle isn’t easy.  If it was… everyone would play it. Enjoy the struggle.  There will be frustration—stop, breathe, start again. Perfection is an ever-moving target—you weave in and out of glorious moments.  Hold onto those moments when you find yourself plateaued.  Like love—music never hurts you.

7. Tell me about your fiddles, models, maker, etc… I’ve seen you play two. One is electric?

I have several fiddles! More like 12. I play Stuart the most… Yes, I name my instruments. Stuart has a long story I won’t go into, but he is very old and is my Soul Fiddle!  Blossom is my American made fiddle that I bought at the Texas State Fiddle Championships.  I fell in love with her right before I did the contest and I told the seller I would buy that violin if I place in championships.  I placed and I put a down payment on Blossom.  I also play a 7-string fretted Mark Wood Viper. Oh how I love Vinny the Viper… Most commonly known as the Green Machine or The Beast.  Then there is my newest electric fiddle, the NS Violin. I have an endorsement deal through THINK_NS! I’m very proud to be endorsed by an amazing company with incredible instruments.  My NS is so new, I haven’t named her yet…

8. Do you have a favorite fiddle song/tune?

“Gold Rush” is my favorite fiddle tune!  My favorite song… that’s a little harder—but I have to say it’s “Shiver Me Timbers” by Tom Waits.

9. You play a wide variety of music genres. Any favorite?

I love classic country, Americana, pop, Bluegrass… Really all of it—Every genre has at least a few songs that are amazing within them… so I can honestly say, I love all genres. Listening and performing.

10. You play by ear and by reading music?

Yes. I read music and play by ear.

11. Where (or with whom) did you learn your musical skills?

I’ve had many, many mentors. Dr. Isidor Saslav was one my greatest teachers. He truly believed in me and my talents.  He was tough but always had my best interest at heart.  He pushed me to be my best and have every amount of his knowledge out to me and his other students.  Dr. Jane Saber was another incredible mentor.  She’s back in Canada now but she showed me the art of Celtic fiddling and I couldn’t have my hour of Celtic music without first having a successful classical music lesson.  She pushed me musically and personally, and I greatly grew because of her during my teenage years!  She gave me my first real performance job at a wedding, and we are still in contact today. Dr Jennifer Dalmas at SFASU.  We didn’t always see eye to eye on things, but she pushed me out of my comfort zone.  She got me past bad technique I was taught years earlier from other instructors in my younger years.  My college years with her proved that my passion for music went much deeper than classical music and that’s when I really started to experiment with other genres—even though I had been fiddling since I was in high school.  She showed me that I could be one of the best classical violinists in the world if I set my sights on that.  My goals were incredibly different.

I’ve also learned from Mark O’Connor, Valerie Ryan’s, Randy Elmore, Becky Buller, Linda Eder, Paul Anastasio, Bruce Molsky, Judy Hyman, Jonna Fitzgerald, and Buddy Spicher.

12. Your websites, podcasts, Facebook fan page? etc.

www.laciecarpentermusic.com  Facebook: Lacie Carpenter Music  Instagram: @fiddlinlacie

13. Who are some fiddle (violin) players you admire?

Eileen Ivers, Judy Hyman, Alison Krauss, Kenny Baker, Itzack Perlman, Jascha Heifetz,

14. Do you offer lessons online? How does that work?

Yes!  Just go to my website and click on the lessons tab to fill out a contact form or email me at Lacie.carpenter28@gmail.com

15. How has the Covid shutdown affected you? What future plans and performances do you have for the future?

COVID shutdown all performances and speaking engagements throughout 2021. So bummed would put it lightly!  Right now, I’m starting a few small music programs at smaller schools in the Nashville area and working on new music to release! At least there is GarageBand!!! I’m also a psychology professor at a local college.  Very grateful for backup plans right now!! I don’t know what the future holds but I’m taking it day by day and trying to create music each moment I can…even if it’s just practicing to future my craft.

16. Are you a song/poem writer? Do you have a favorite songwriter? What artists influenced you early in life?

Yes! Songwriting was my first passion. Ever since I saw Burt Bacharach when I was 9 years old. I screamed out from the audience “I want to be you when I grow up!” I’ve written poetry and songs ever since that day. Thankfully I’m much better than when I was 9!

Some of my favorite artists: Burt Bacharach, Darrell Scott, Guy Clark, Becky Buller, Chuck Cannon, Carole King, Carly Simon, Tom Waits, Travis Meadows, Elton John. The people who influenced my younger years and beyond: Bette Midler, Linda Eder, Barbra Streisand, Judy Garland, George Jones, Alison Krauss, Crystal Gayle, Tanya Tucker, Gwen Stephani, Loretta Lynn, AC/DC, Aerosmith, LED Zeppelin.

17. What is your typical day like?

I start my day with coffee and dance… dance only if no one had been around anyone with COVID right now. I practice music, teach lessons, go to a school to teach my small music start-up music programs, write, record, study, edit… I fit sleeping and eating in there too! I’m also a published author! So I’m constantly working on a new book or a ghostwriting project. I keep busy…now if all that busy-ness will turn into money!