Wild Bill Ketelhut provides the "blog" to this anti-blog
He has a radio program on WXOU out of Oakland University
Wild At Heart
Halloween is almost here and I thought I would get a few things out before the weekend.
Halloween did not become a holiday in the United States until the 19th century, where lingering Puritan tradition restricted the observance of many holidays. The holiday came here during the time of the great migration after the potato famine in Ireland where it originated, and is known in Irish as Oíche Shamhna. Pre-Christian Celts had an autumn festival, Samhain which celebrated the end of summer. The festival is an agricultural "fire festival" or feast when the dead revisited the mortal world. Large communal bonfires would hence be lit to ward off evil spirits. Pope Gregory IV standardized the date of All Saints' Day, or All Hallows' Day, on November 1 in the name of the entire Western Church in 837. Kids there traditionally dress in costumes of various underworldly creatures and enjoy lit bonfires and fireworks.
Of course, today in America, we mostly like to dress up and party. I am looking forward to going to the annual Halloween show by ICP which should be interesting. The Crofoot will be having a special Halloween program going on with the Von Bondies and Wolfman Mac. Upstairs in the Pike Room will be the Javelins, Prussia and Wildcatting all doing tributes to their favorite bands (the Strokes, Smiths and T Rex respectfully). The Pop Project will be at the Phototropic Lounge and there will be free candy (sounds like a bribe to me). Don’t forget to dress up.
It is also the start of the Roller Derby season on Nov 1st with a Halloween themes derby between the Detroit Pistoffs and the Devil’s Night Dames. Doors at 6PM and the match starts at 7PM. These are always fun events so get your lazy butts over there and cheer on the women. The featured charity is Alternatives For Girls which helps homeless and at risk girls avoid teen pregnancy, violence and exploitation so it is a worthy cause getting out there.
Crash Baby, who now runs the Derby girls, is currently helping the prop division on the current filming of the new Rob Schneider movie being filmed around Greektown. I was down there as an extra which was fun. We got to film some outdoor party scenes with Rob of which yours truly might actually have some face time when the movie (tentatively titled American Virgin) comes out next year. It is all in the placement. I even got a set nickname which was cool. One of the set guys started calling me Blue, which might have been the color of my skin after being outdoors without a jacket all day in the cold Detroit weather. Most everyone was really nice including Rob who took some time to talk to fans and sign autographs. I met a lot of cool people (or should I saw people who were cool) though the line for the catered food line reminded me of high school through less organized. It is amazing how idiotic people can get when they don’t get their way. Kudos to the female cop who came along and organized the line. You go girl!! I plan on going back down today after my show.
On my Monday show, I will be having a talk with singer Jessica Lea Mayfield who was in town last night at the Pike Room. Tune in between 8-10AM for that and I will be giving out tickets to see Brian Wilson in Ann Arbor on the 12th. Later everyone and have a safe holiday.
"MCB IS DETROIT"
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