The Writing Life

Raiding the Music Library A-Z # 2: Bad Brains – “I Against I”

/ Ray Van Horn, Jr. / 4 Comments

There are a handful of albums in recording history that just socked me out and left me breathless upon first contact. The Beatles’ Sgt. Peppers, for instance. Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. System of a Down’s Toxicity.

Rastacore icons, Bad Brains is not a mere band. They’re an experience. They’re the sound of justice, spirituality, equality, love and repressed anger. If you’re not familiar with them, think of Bob Marley throwing a side hustle show with the loudest punk band you can imagine. Bad Brains albums are often constructed with blazing, fierce punk rock or hard proto metal with interludes of sedate traditional reggae psalms to mighty Jah and King Haile Selassie I, the Jesus figurehead of Rastafarian religion.

Bad Brains are dear to my heart and while I Against I is one of the rare albums they don’t drop a dub or reggae track, it is THE most righteous sound I’ve ever heard coming out of a set of speakers. The Bad Brains weren’t merely breaking racial divisions; they were punching out a dictum of unity the likes no one ever saw until then. I literally sagged to my knees and shook my head with a tear swelling in my eye upon first listen in 1987. Just wow.

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.

I Will Be a Guest Panelist and Reader at the 2024 Philcon, November 22-24th

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I am honored to be invited as a guest panelist and reader at the illustrious 2024 Philcon, Philadelphia’s decades-standing science fiction convention. I will be discussing horror, comics and superhero films with my fellow panelists throughout the weekend of November 22nd to the 24th at the Doubletree by Hilton in Cherry Hill, NJ. See ya there!

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.

Raiding the Music Library, A-Z # 1: Fiona Apple – When the Pawn…

/ Ray Van Horn, Jr. / 4 Comments

Pinching the idea from another writer friend of mine who did this exercise at social media, I will be spreading these posts between others.

I’m not an OCD type per se, but I do alphabetize my music and comic books and worse, in sequential order of their release. More significant and tedious with music if you’re not an aficionado or a journalist, which I have been both.

At an older blog of mine, I actually began listening to every single album in my then 3,600-unit collection and posting one sentence comments on them. An arduous task, I made it to the middle of my B’s before my time grew tighter and frankly, readership interest waned. I was wanking, I own it.

So here, I will be picking one album for each letter of the alphabet, and I’ll drop a brief blurb about what the album of choice means to me.

Let’s begin with Fiona Apple’s 1999 album, When the Pawn…

Tori Amos and PJ Harvey opened my eyes to female angst rock, while Ani DiFranco showed me how imperative a knuckle down (pun intended) folk-punk approach to acoustic with blistering social commentary sounded. Fiona Apple sang in a jittery, sometimes unhinged key of depressive mania, and I adored it upon first contact.

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.

First Installment of “Unearthed Metal by Ray Van Horn, Jr.” featuring 2012 interview with Lita Ford Is Now Live

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The first installment of my new feature at The Ripple Effect / Ripple Music is live, kicking things off with the incomparable Lita Ford!

Check it out:

https://ripplemusic.blogspot.com/2024/09/unearthed-metal-by-ray-van-horn-jr.html?m=1&fbclid=IwY2xjawFlK4VleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHRaNPS-2Q79PdE6hekMydLbQ9-CiqaOimaXcWeu81oH4AuqodAQ3dlSQ2g_aem_ID7Emp2l1KQNI5K2OeGJsQ

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.

A Scary Story From My Road Dogging Days

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Funny what stories you tell each other sometimes first waking up. A scary story behind this treasured pic with the Queen of Metal, Doro Pesch. One from the road dogging files. I had been covering another show at The Nokia in Times Square, Manhattan the night before and didn’t leave the city until 2:30 a.m., driving home all the way and getting only a couple hours of sleep. I had an on-site interview with Doro and Chris Caffery of Savatage and Trans-Siberian Orchestra in Virginia the following day.

At this time of my life in 2006, I was covering 8-10 concerts a month and getting 3 to 3.5 hours of sleep a night after transcribing interviews and getting my copy turned in for deadline. Back up for my day job, which has been in the grueling title industry for 27 years. If you’ve been in it, you know it’s a business that kicks your ass constantly.

Eventually this dual lifestyle is going to take its toll, and sure enough, after leaving the Doro gig after a final chat with the lady, her way tour manager, Johnny Dee and Chris Caffery, I got back on the road on a work night at 1:30 a.m. with a 2.5-hour drive. I’ll never forget the absolute terror I felt finding myself at a complete stop in my old Ford Ranger pickup in the middle of the road. I’d passed out behind the wheel, beyond fortunate nobody had been coming.

The divine was looking out for me that night, and it would still be another year until my future son came to us for foster care, then adoption, before I slowed my roll and got more sleep. As with my entire life, I have pushed myself like a rabid dog to make my writing pursuits blossom and flourish. Responsibilities first, sensibilities, well…lol. Thankfully I’m still here to talk about it.

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.

“Unearthed Metal by Ray Van Horn, Jr.”

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Announcing a new partnership with Ripple Music, helmed by two of the most righteous brothers in the music world to bring you “Unearthed Metal by Ray Van Horn, Jr.” The first installment being a side interview I did with Lita Ford in 2012 following my 2009 chat with her for Dee Snider’s House of Hair Online. Here, Lita dished me a generous portion of her memories as a Runaway.

In my time covering music, I interviewed hundreds of musicians. Yet I have an archive of lost footage for projects that fell through the cracks or other writers beat me to the punch on my ideas. I owe it to those people who generously gave me their time to let their voices be heard.

Todd and John are two of my longest friends in the industry, and what they’ve done with their label, website and one-time podcast has been the go-to example of how you do it indie-style. Todd approached me with this idea and I’m delighted to bring you some rad interviews I know you’ll dig.

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.

“Demon in the Chelly,” a Poem by Ray Van Horn, Jr.

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From my open mike days a lifetime ago, here’s a ditty I spoke numerous times. Initially catching my audience off-guard, it became one of my more requested pieces down the road.

I can’t find the actual picture from Canyon de Chelly in Arizona that inspired this poem where a formation in the crags looks hauntedly like a demon’s scowl. The Chelly is reported to be haunted, so hopefully that serves enough as a primer for you.

Demon in the Chelly

Ray Van Horn, Jr.

maybe it was Pezazu

that puke-inducing hellraiser from The Exorcist

maybe it was Lilith

compulsory guardian of this craggy wasteland

or maybe it was that tetchy pile of rubble

Rockbiter from The Never-Ending Story 

but I assure you

as much as I know Kansas is flatter than hours-poured beer

there’s a demon in that otherwise impenetrable canyon

the wraith’s been shacked up there for centuries

I can tell by its stories-high,

wind-worn and perpetually pissed-off countenance

snarling an ecological caveat

to anyone spotting it amidst the majesty of the baking gorge it calls home

it likely devoured cowboys and Mennonites

before the Navajo chased the former into California, the latter into Pennsylvania

these days it likely inhales parasailers and climbers

and snacks on thunderbird-enamored tourists

invading outer rim reservations with soul-stealing digital clicks

freshening up at pueblo-styled chain hotels Custer would’ve found novel

and strapping on newly-purchased Canyon de Chelly souvenir shirts

suburbanerds straining their sedans into the steep gangways of sandstone chapels

genuflecting amongst the coyotes, antelope and scrub jays

and peeling off wonderstruck utterances such as

“Behold, the amazing work of God!”

while the demon, imprisoned within its coulee cell

takes iniquitous exception

and whistles odium down the barren chasms below

like the dubiously merged soundtrack

to a spaghetti western-meets-slasher film

it flosses its entrenched boulder teeth with rattlers

and it coughs up tarantulas

always parched amidst the choking aridness of its containment

with far-flung cactus juice ridiculing it from the ravine floor

woe be the unsuspecting American traveler

drifting by in steel wagons robed in travel-cracked bumper stickers

with Earth, Wind and Fire swooning soulfully

vomiting burger wrappers

out of rolled-down windows

obtuse to malignant possessors from the rocks

who threaten priests with gruesome avowals

and return the retching favor twofold

All photos courtesy of the public domain

Ray Van Horn, Jr.’s “Behind the Shadows” is Coming

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It’s coming in a few months. Behind the Shadows. 10 throwback styled tales of terror culling my love of Stephen King, horror comics, Bram Stoker, The Twilight Zone, Saturday night horror flick hosts, punk and Heavy Metal fantasy mag.

The advance reviews to be used in the book have exceeded my hopes. Blown me the hell away, to be honest. The accolades, much less the names giving the glowing testimonials. I am deeply humbled, and I’m not just blowing smoke.

Matt Slay’s cover art is final and what he cooked up for me had me shrieking ” Squeeeeeee!!!” Y’all are going to love this thing.

Behind the Shadows, coming soon from Raw Earth Ink. This time, I REALLY mean business.

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.