May 2013 - Page 6 of 7 - Ramblin' with Roger

The Tom Skulan FantaCon interview, part 2

Raoul’s death devastated me. I felt as if the guts had been torn out of FantaCo and I wanted to go away

FantaCon, once an Albany tradition for fans of the comic book, fantasy, and in its later incarnations, horror films, is returning after a brief, two-decade hiatus. FantaCon 2013, operated by its original creator, Tom Skulan, will be held Saturday, September 14, and Sunday, September 15 at the Marriott Hotel on Wolf Road in Albany. Ticket for the related Three Nights of Horror at the Palace Theatre on September 11-13 in Albany, will be available from the Palace Theatre box office, starting on February 13.

FantaCo, the store/mail-order company Tom started, operated from 1978 through 1998 at 21 Central Avenue, Albany, NY. I worked there from May 1980 to November 1988, worked at the first five FantaCons, and attended the sixth.
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Even before I started working at FantaCo, I bought from FantaCo this single by the Spastic Phono Band, a parody of some Beatles and Paul McCartney songs. The store carried some Japanese EPs of the Beatles. How important to you were The Beatles specifically, and music generally?

The Beatles were and are very important to me because they represent a group of individuals who against ALL odds did exactly what they set out to do. That’s a powerful example to learn from.
Musically they are sublime. My Beatles CDs are the CDs I play the least because I just enjoy them so much I never want the magic to wear away. The Beatles (White Album) is my all-time favorite. Not only because it has so many songs but because there is a slightly ominous tone to the whole thing. And yes- I love Revolution #9 too. I always look forward to dissecting all the sounds.

Early on, the store also sold some records of some local bands such as Blotto. How much did you follow the local music scene?

When I lived above FantaCo I went to JB Scott’s on a regular basis and saw all the local bands opening for the national acts. It was a fun time “living downtown”. I followed most of them at the time.

The 1980 FantaCon was the one with the Berni Wrightson artwork on the cover. It was labeled FantaCon 2, to avoid the confusion of the previous event. What are your memories of that show?

I recall that we were MUCH more prepared to put on a show! That show was substantially larger than our first event and it was crazy busy. I fell asleep in my car on Sunday night after the show was over.

How did it come to pass that the Pinis always showed up for store signings of every Elfquest issue?

Wendy and Richard were very good friends to me and did me a really big favor once so I thought the least I could do was to promote each new issue of theirs and thrown them a little party. It became a regular thing for many years.
They and I still have good memories of those events.

There was a comic book FantaCo published in 1981 called Alien Encounters, which was packaged by a guy named Larry Shell. How did this come about?

Steve Bissette. Either Steve told Larry to send me the completely print-ready book OR Steve brought it to me. I can’t remember which but the book was completely ready to print so we did it. It did quite well. [Steve confirms that he sent Larry to Tom & FantaCo.]

The first move into the horror market was the publication of the book Splatter Movies in 1981. How did that come about, and how did FantaCo come to trademark the title?

We had been successfully advertising in Fangoria Magazine and I wanted to have a product to sell that no one else had. John had the idea for a book on the history of gory movies so we just went from there.
The whole trademark thing came about because everyone starting using the term!! SO we trademarked the title of the book in order to recoup a little money from its usage.

Eventually, Splatter Movies was a real money maker, but initially, it was a real drain on the FantaCo coffers. Would you explain that?

The damn silver print on the cover and that single spot of blood!! That’s what ate up all our money! While to those looking at the book now it may seem plain jane- at the time doing a silver print underlay with a single drop of red cost a fortune. The print costs on the book were much higher than anticipated due to that cover. We eventually made a handsome profit but it was quite scary when the book was delivered and the bill arrived.

The FantaCon in 1981 was disappointing in terms of attendance. Do you think it had to do with the Simon & Garfunkel concert in Central Park that same weekend?

Assuredly that was a large portion of the problem. The other element was that our 1981 show was a virtual replay of our 1980 show. Same guests. Berni even did the cover again. So we were to blame as well.

Why was there no FantaCon in 1982?

After the dismal attendance for 1981, I lost interest in it for 1982. Just that simple.

Video Screams came out in 1982, a guide to horror video. Was it just ahead of its time, or had FantaCo not yet established its horror bona fides in the marketplace?

It was wicked ahead of its time!! Such a book just 5-6 years later would have blown off the shelves. In retrospect I don’t know why I thought a book about videos would be successful at a time when most people did not have any!

It seemed that you were a bit burned out for a few months in 1982. What was going on with you?

I had some medical issues I was trying to deal with.

One aspect of the store I remember is that you always had us rearranging the store. Where did you pick up that trick?

I got that from years of working at retail stores. I started doing it for a chain that required it but later at other stores, I did it to make the time go by. It also boosted sales which boosted my paycheck!!

Gates of Eden and Deja Vu were among the best items FantaCo did in the comics realm, yet they were commercially unsuccessful. Why do you think that was?

Simply put, the pricing. I remember to this day the nasty letter I receive from Bud Plant demanding to know who the hell I thought I was charging $3.50 for a comic book!! Gates and Deja were EXCEEDINGLY expensive books in terms of the art. We were paying more per page than any other comic company. So we had to have high cover prices to make up for it. That hurt us in the market place.

FantaCo did some Chronicles of Marvel properties – the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Avengers and Spider-Man. These were among the most successful items the company did in the early 1980s. What was the philosophy that garnered name artists such as John Byrne, Frank Miller, George Perez and Dave Cockrum to provide covers for the series?

Same response as above- our page rates. We paid our Chronicles cover artist more than Marvel did. That’s how we got such spectacular work for those issues.

What do you recall about the counterfeit Cerebus issues we purchased?

I recall that Sparkle City contacted us about those. Now I had done business with Sparkle City since well before FantaCo so I took notice a little more than I should have. They arrived and the ink on the covers was still sticky!!! lol
We bought 50 of them,right? And immediately found out they were fakes. I have a personal suspicion of who did what with those… [Here’s my recollection; we bought 54, according to notes I had written at the time.]

The 1983 FantaCon had some characters, notably James Doohan [Scotty from the original Star Trek]. Any stories you want to share?

Hmmmmm… I remember that incident well. Don’t want to upset the fans…

Was Herschell Gordon Lewis [the subject of a 1983 FantaCo book about his “exploitation” films] the total antithesis of what you expected?

I totally expected a laid-back, very casual filmmaker and instead was presented with a suit and tie advertising executive!! I mean I went out with him after the show and he was fun, but yes – he could not have been more polar opposite than I expected!

After Mitch left and Raoul died in 1983, how were you feeling about FantaCo?

Raoul’s death devastated me. I felt as if the guts had been torn out of FantaCo and I wanted to go away. I did have a nervous breakdown which lasted about 45 days and months to fully recover from. [FantaCon 2013 is dedicated, in part, to Raoul’s memory.]

What were you trying to say with the comic book Sold Out? [Artist John Hebert wrote about it at length HERE.]

The story was interned to be a cautionary tale about just how overheated the B&W market had become. And at the same time the two issues themselves were part of the story. Some people got it, some didn’t. John did a great job on the art.

You did several publication deals with existing products – Midnight Marquee, Demonique for two. How did those special issues come about?

Those deals were based completely on my desire to give back. I read Gary Svehla’s Gore Creatures (later renamed Midnight Marquee) as a kid and I really liked what Demonique Magazine was trying to do.
I thought it would be nice to step in and boost their circulations and well as have the chance to work with them.

What’s a Chas Balun story you’d like to share? [This obit from Fangoria is fairly descriptive of the Balun/FantaCo connection; the store/mail order used to carry his Connoisseur’s Guide to the Contemporary Horror Film. FantaCon 2013 is dedicated, in part to Chas’ memory.]

Chas was a MOUNTAIN of a man!!! And often he and I would go to Hollywood looking for old record and movie stills. Now Hollywood is not what people think it is. Those who have been there know exactly what I am saying.
Well, once we were walking back to the car without various treasures and this junkie came up to me demanding some money (no one EVER came up to Chas). Chas spun the guy around and proceeded to “chest bump” him in the forehead! I don’t know if this will make sense in print but what Chas was doing was bumping the guy’s forehead with his chest, forcing him to walk backward. He did this down the entire block until the junkie tripped on the curb and fell down and ran away in abject terror. Good old Chas!

Thanks, Tom for your time!

Pictures, top to bottom, all taken by Roger Green
Monster, 1989 FantaCon
Richard and Wendy Pini, 1989 FantaCon; attended frequent FantaCo signings for their Elfquest comic book
John Hebert, 1989 FantaCon; artist for FantaCo publication Sold Out!
the late Chas Balun, 1989 FantaCon; contributor to several FantaCo publications

Coming back to America

Before you leave Canada on foot, you need to put fifty cents, Canadian or American, in a turnstile.

All of our NYS Small Business Development Center offices across the state meet once a year. In late April, the locale was Niagara Falls, NY. I’d visited there a couple of years ago with the family, but I had never had a chance to see the Falls from the Canadian side since we had our SBDC conference in NF in 1998. Back then, when a half dozen of us crossed back into the United States, I waved my passport, said, “They’re with me,” and the guy let us all through.

No more. Now when one crosses the border back into the United States, one ought to have a passport, or an enhanced driver’s license, available only in four states thus far – MI, NY, WA, VT) or other specialized forms.

Just before the trip, one of our business advisors e-mailed me that his passport had expired. Could he get into Canada? From all the anecdotal data – as opposed to the official position – it’s possible that he could get into Canada with that passport, a birth certificate, and a driver’s license, e.g. The issue was getting BACK into the US. It’s generally understood that, EVENTUALLY, a US citizen can get back into the United States, but that it might take a while.

At a break in the conference, five of us decided to walk to the Canadian side of the Falls. We had no difficulty getting in. We did note, though, that when someone getting into a car crossing back into the US, the previously placid Canadian crossing guard bolted out of her seat, and noted that if he walked into the country, he had to walk back.

After our sojourn, we were ready to go back to the hotel. Here’s something you should know: before you leave Canada on foot, you need to put fifty cents, Canadian or American, in a turnstile. (By car, I think it’s $2.75.) One of our group had stayed behind to play at a casino; we hoped he still had half a buck left to return to us. Another one of my colleagues has a motorized vehicle. While three of us got through easily, the handicapped-accessible gate refused the coins. Finally, a colleague walked around to enter Canada side and got the guard to find someone to finally let our buddy through. While we waited, surprised travelers exclaimed re: the toll, almost to a person, “You’re kidding me!”

We cross the Rainbow Bridge and got in the queue for dealing with US Customs. There were two teenagers in front of us who apparently went on the US path to Canada, because “some guy told them they could,” then they realized they didn’t want to be going into Canada. So they were going to try to get back into the US. I asked them if they had passports; one said yes, but I MEANT WITH them. Why, no, they did not, just school IDs, and the like. Worse, the one who DID have a passport somewhere was a Norwegian national. One of our group asked if they wanted to let us go first; she later said she was kidding, but none of the rest of us thought so. My party passed through the system easily, but we figured those poor teenagers were going to be there for a while.

So if you’re near an international border, carry the appropriate ID, just in case.

My favorite albums from 1961-1970: 100-76

My best female friend in college loved ‘Lady Samantha,’ a song written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin.

George Jones’ death reminded me of an album I didn’t put on the list, because I suppose it’s a greatest hits, of a sort: 50 Stars! 50 Hits! of Country Songs, “on two great country albums,” it said on the TV ad. But I didn’t buy it. My grandfather, who worked as a janitor at a radio/TV station, brought it home one day. Being a fan of WWVA, Wheeling, WV, which I could hear at night, I loved it.

Re: Amy’s question about Dusty Springfield: I’ve had a greatest hits album for quite a while, but I’ve only gotten Dusty in Memphis fairly recently, certainly since she died, so it doesn’t have the multiple plays to make the list. Also, there are additional songs on the CD (some leaking into the next decade – 1971) which I like as well or better than the songs on the original LP.

More of my favorite albums; thanks to SamuraiFrog for the inspiration. This is difficult in that the difference between 73 and 72 is really insignificant. The difference between 70 and 7 would be another matter.

100. Beach Boys: Smiley Smile (1967)
This was the weak substitute for SMiLE, the legendary album that was nearly four decades. Still, it has its goofy charm.

99. MC5: Back In The USA (1970)
My high school friends made an antiwar film to ‘High School’

98. Blood Sweat & Tears: Child Is Father To The Man (1968)
That first album, before David Clayton Thomas.

97. Santana: Santana (1969)
First album; songs of this ended up at Woodstock.

96. Jefferson Airplane: After Bathing At Baxter’s (1967)
That strange experimental third album.

95. Rare Earth: Ecology (1970)
The CD was on a twofer, with another Rare Earth album, but the Ecology songs were obviously trimmed. They substituted the 10-minute album version of ‘I’m Losing You’ with the three-minute single version! Outrageous.

94. Jackson Five: ABC (1970)
This was my sister’s album. In the J5 in the day, my voice was very similar in range to Jermaine, who usually did the second leads.

93. Chicago: II (1970)
The album with the first wave of big hits.

92. Jimi Hendrix: Are You Experienced? (1967)
“Have you ever been experienced?”

91. Johnny Cash: At Folsom Prison (1968)

90. Temptations: Puzzle People (1969)
The second of the psychedelic soul albums, with “I Can’t Get Next To You.”

89. Vince Guaraldi: A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
This album, and a biography about him, made me more appreciative of his greater body of work.

88. Steppenwolf: Monster (1969)
The lyrics to the title song are still, unfortunately, most relevant.

87. Simon and Garfunkel: Sounds of Silence (1966)

86. Beach Boys: Friends (1968)

85. Supremes: Where Did Our Love Go? (1964)
The first batch of hits.

84. Arlo Guthrie: Alice’s Restaurant (1967)
Mostly for the title song.

83. Moody Blues: Days Of Future Passed (1967)
This is the album from which ‘Nights in White Satin’ emerged as a hit, four or five years later.

82. Band: Music From Big Pink (1968)
Some people prefer this first Band album to the second, but not I.

81. Led Zeppelin: II (1969)
This fell several notches because the song credit debacle really ticked me off for quite some time.

80. Three Dog Night: Suitable for Framing (1969)
My best female friend in college loved ‘Lady Samantha,’ a song written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin.

79. Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
I came to this album fairly late; this century for sure.

78. Grateful Dead: American Beauty (1970)
New Paltz was a Dead college, and while I got bored with their extensive noodling, I liked their shorter songs.

77. Beatles: Abbey Road (1969)
The medley is clever but got overplayed, and perhaps overpraised. Love the Harrison songs on here, though, and a couple of others.

76. Arlo Guthrie: Running Down the Road (1969)
I suppose I had an overfondness for the Woodstock artists.

Not to be replaced by Facebook

Facebook is really good for snark.

When I noted that I’ll be doing less blogging someday, I should have made it clear that I won’t be filling up that time using Facebook. I mention this specifically because many of my original blogging buddies from 2005 and 2006 have done just that.

I suppose if one is just posting cartoons and videos, then Facebook might be the right venue. I know columnists from my local newspaper and reporters from TV stations and indeed TV networks use it to pose questions to get a sense of the “pulse of the people.” Said content often shows up in their newscasts/broadcasts.

But if one wants to say something more, I still am a fan of the blog. Of course, I realize I’m an old-fashioned guy who STILL hates the designated hitter rule in baseball.

Facebook is really good for snark, some pithy comments in response to a cartoon someone has posted. I’ve been known to engage in it from time to time myself; once I did it on the wrong person’s timeline, and it turned out better than I would have expected. And I do make use of the reminders about people’s birthdays.

Moreover, Facebook can be a useful tool for research. “Does anybody know” where something can be purchased or when some event took place; something to be said for collective wisdom.

For some people, such as my nieces, it’s the only way I know what’s going on in their lives. For others, it’s the only way I can get ahold of them; if they have e-mail, they don’t check it, and I can only reach them if I instant message them when they are online.

However, I get more spam that gets posted onto my timeline. Actually, it’s the same one: “Hey, check this out!” I don’t know how to stop it, and I’m unaware it’s there until/unless someone points it out to me.

Facebook: useful tool which I will not use to replace blogging, in case you were wondering.

Eight years of blogging

Boy, that summer of 2005, when I probably had no one READING my blog, I sure seemed to have had a LOT to say.

I started blogging eight years ago today, apparently without much forethought. because, in the lyrics of that Rufus featuring Chaka Khan song, “Once you get started, it’s so hard to stop.” I’ve managed to blog every single day here.

To be sure, occasionally it was just a single YouTube video, but even then, it almost always had a soupçon of contextual verbiage. (Here’s a question for you all – how does one type a ç from a standard US typewriter? The one in the previous sentence I cut and pasted.)

One of the ways I have maintained whatever level of sanity I have is that I don’t blog here nearly as often as I used to. Some days early on, I would blog here more than once a day. I’ve tried very hard not to do that anymore.

The table below shows how many times each month I wrote posts numbering greater than the number of days in that month. I didn’t start until May 2 of 2005; thus those Xs for January-April.
2005 X, X, X, X, 3, 10, 18, 28, 22, 17, 14, 8 = 120
2006 10, 5, 9, 4, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1 = 31
2007 0, 0, 3, 1, 1, 2, 0, 1, 2, 3, 1, 1 = 15
2008 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 3, 3, 0, 1, 0, 0 = 9
2009 0, 0, 1, 3, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 = 5
2010 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 = 2
2011 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 2, 1 = 8
2012 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 = 0
Zeros for 2013 thus far.

Boy, that summer of 2005, when I probably had no one READING my blog except my friend Fred and his wife Lynn, I sure seemed to have had a LOT to say.

Of course, what I’ve done, when I ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY had to write something else, when I have something set in this blog, is to try to post it elsewhere, perhaps my Times Union blog, especially if it was something specific to the Albany area, e.g., or the New York State Data Center blog if it involved geeky stats.

Since not writing at all has taken place now and then – life DOES get in the way – having a reserve of posts is a good strategy. I had eight fewer completed blog posts in the queue on the last Monday in February of this year than I did on the last Monday in January, whittling down my reserve from 31 to 23, and it’s pretty much stayed there. Now you might think 23 is good, but it’s not the stuff that I can, or want, to post in the next 23 days. It’ll be a post I’d rather put up on a particular day (Flag Day, the anniversary of my father’s death, ABC Wednesday, or the like).

What I wrote last year seems more likely now than ever. After I hit 10 years as a daily blog, a goodly run, it will become…not a daily blog. (Probably. Maybe. Who knows?) Certainly, I’ll write three or four or five times a week at least. Heck, in October of 2015, I might make it seven days a week for a couple of weeks, because the info contained therein will be of interest for only a few college friends I knew 40 years earlier. Yes, I know what I’m going to blog about in October of 2015. I don’t always know what I’m going to blog about in May 2013, but two and a half years from now…

One other thing: I used to timestamp my blog posts between 4:30 and 5:30 a.m., Eastern standard time, for no other reason than it gave the impression that I got up every morning to craft these words of wisdom. Now that I’m in my 60s, I’ve decided to post between 6:00 and 6:59; the minute part is determined by the minute when I publish. Since this is fed to my Twitter feed and my Facebook page, I theorize, correctly or not, that more people will see it. Of course, if I REALLY wanted more people in North America to see it, I’d post at noon, but obviously, this is not based on REAL rational thought.