Tag: psychological thriller

Halloween Repost

I know that this may step on the toes of Dave over at A Sound Day as his feature Turntable Talk this month will feature write ups about “Spooky Hits.” What follows is a piece I wrote about DJing Halloween Parties and the “must have” songs.

It shouldn’t ruin Dave’s feature much, as all I am doing is listing songs. So be sure to be on the lookout for Dave’s Spooky edition of Turntable Talk starting today.

(This post was originally from October of 2022.)

I have DJ’d countless Halloween parties. This year I had to turn down one of my favorite ones. For the past few years a local daycare throws a big party and kids and their parents dress up in costumes and it is always a blast. Due to my current work schedule, I was just not able to be there this year.

I always had to have a variety of “haunted” hits to play at these parties. In case you are looking for musical ideas for your Halloween party, here is a starter list.

As much as I hate this record, you have to play Bobby “Boris” Pickett

You’ve also gotta play Michael Jackson’s Thriller. (Love Vincent Price’s narration in this!)

A personal favorite is from the Classics IV – Spooky

I always loved Jumpin’ Gene Simmons version of Haunted House

A favorite of the kids – This Is Halloween from The Nightmare Before Christmas

Speaking of nightmares, DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince offer up Nightmare on My Street

A great one from The Eagles – Witchy Woman

Kid Rock sampled this one for All Summer Long – Werewolves of London from Warren Zevon

You gotta play Clap for the Wolfman from the Guess Who

How about the silly song called The Blob by The Five Blobs?

The Hocus Pocus movie brought this one back, but the original is the best version – I Put a Spell On You by Screaming Jay Hawkins

How about some Rockwell? Somebody’s Watching Me

Be careful who you run around with …. Van Halen – Runnin’ With the Devil

Another favorite of mine – Santana – Black Magic Woman

It’s a very rare occurrence to have a full moon on Halloween, but this song works all year round. Bad Moon Rising – CCR

The moon causes the Shadows in the Night – Pat Benatar

Beware of the walking dead …. Zombie by the Cranberries

Another overplayed Halloween Song – The Purple People Eater – Sheb Wooley

I suppose you have to play Ray Parker Jr. – Ghostbusters

Going back to the 50’s for a couple crazy songs …

The Mummy from Bob McFadden and Dor

From Chipmunk creator David Seville – The Witch Doctor

Grab a bite with a vampire – Dinner With Drac from John Zacherle

Three Devilish songs now –

Devil with the Blue Dress – Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels

Sympathy for the Devil – The Rolling Stones

A classic from The Charlie Daniels Band – The Devil Went Down to Georgia

Alice Cooper did this one in Wayne’s World – Feed My Frankenstein

Speaking of Frankenstein – how about the Edgar Winter classic instrumental..

Need some cowbell?? Don’t Fear The Reaper – Blue Oyster Cult

A song I have blogged about in the past – Superstition – Stevie Wonder

Demons – Imagine Dragons

Trick or Treat … I Want Candy – Bow Wow Wow

Another 80’s flashback … Dead Man’s Party – Oingo Boingo

Lots of requests for Enter Sandman – Metallica

All good lists need a cut from Frank Sinatra – Witchcraft

I’ve never really understood how this is a Halloween song, but everyone wants to do the Time Warp from the Rocky Horror Picture Show

From another film (Rain Man) The Delta Rhythm Boys -sing about Dem Bones

Now, some kid favorites which had me searching YouTube a lot ….

Spooky Scary Skeletons

I sang this in music class when I was in elementary school and kids are still singing it today – Witches Brew

Then you can fill in with various Theme songs from films and TV …

Scooby Doo

Tales From The Crypt

The Twilight Zone

The Munsters

The Addams Family

The X-Files

Whew!!

Watch for my Turntable Talk pick in the days ahead on Dave’s sight (and eventually here). It is a song that I don’t mention in this blog!

Book Recommendation – Ward D

Since discovering the Libby App, my wife and I have been listening to almost all of our books in the car. She gets through hers faster than me, as she tends to be able to listen to them at work, too.

She will grab books that I already have on my Goodreads “Want to Read” list and there are ones that I have added to my list that she read first. The issue I have is that my “Want to Read” list grows faster than my “Read” list! Anyway, it is fun to discuss those books together after we have both read one from our lists.

Ward D has been on my list forever. It sounded really good. My wife read it and she said it blew her away. My son’s speech therapist read it, too, and she raved about the ending as well. I was waiting on a book that was still on hold and I looked to see if Ward D was available and it was, so I finally got around to reading it.

Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

Medical student Amy Brenner is spending the night on a locked psychiatric ward.

Amy has been dreading her evening working on Ward D, the hospital’s inpatient mental health unit. There are very specific reasons why she never wanted to do this required overnight rotation. Reasons nobody can ever find out.

And as the hours tick by, Amy grows increasingly convinced something terrible is happening within these tightly secured walls. When patients and staff start to vanish without a trace, it becomes clear that everyone on the unit is in grave danger.

Amy’s worst nightmare was spending the night on Ward D. And now she might never escape.

This is the first book I read by Freida McFadden. It was a good psychological thriller. It definitely has you guessing and wondering through most of the book. There are plenty of characters in it that make you wonder who’s good and who’s bad. There are also characters that will creep you right out!

I was about 3 hours into the book (the audiobook was like 7 hours) and I came home and started telling my wife about where I was in the book and recapping what was happening. Maybe it is just that I watched a lot of Perry Mason and Columbo, but I tend to over think things. I find little things and I question them. So I blurted something out to my wife and she looked at me dumbfounded.

“I’m right, ain’t I?!” I said, proudly. She was pretty impressed that I figured part of the ending out, but “there is more to it and you’ll never guess that!” she told me. Well, she was right. There certainly was a few things I didn’t see coming and it wound up being ok. I will certainly be reading some more of her books.

I can easily see that if I was reading a physical copy of it, I’d be staying up late saying, “Ok, just one more chapter before I go to sleep!” 4 out of 5 stars.