Scrawls From The Crypt: Ghoul's Night Out '88

14 year old Dread is very excited today. 41 year old Dread is a little nervous. And you, dear reader, reap the rewards of this emotional conundrum. Allow me to explain. As you can see from the photo above, Danzig rolls into Portland this evening as part of the 25th Anniversary Tour, featuring Doyle on guitar. It's no secret that I worship everything Glenn Danzig released from the Cough Cool 7" in 1977 through Lucifuge in 1990. What you probably don't know is that 1990 also marked the last time I saw him perform live...until tonight. I saw him twice in '88 and twice in '89 but my last show was on October 31st at the Capitol Theater- a fantastic 1920s architectural wonder turned 70s porn theater, turned concert hall- in Port Chester, New York (with Trouble opening!). Naturally, my expectations were...how do I say this?...exalted. And Danzig promptly dashed all hopes with a bummer show and scarcely a mention of that most sacred of American holidays. He more or less went through the motions as if it was just any other night of the year and delivered a muscular but ultimately tedious performance that reminded me why punk was invented to destroy turgid stadium rock in the first place. The Ouroboros occasionally gags on its tail. And here comes your schadenfreude money shot, darling reader. In tortured anticipation of tonight's "reunion," I exhumed this embarrassing scrawl from 1988. Yes, it is a bad drawing in every way. But I've never forgotten the impact Danzig had on me as a kid and gazing at this crude negative space nightmare brought back a flood of memories. For instance, I distinctly recall laying a quarter on the paper to get that unusually round moon. Gah! I also distinctly recall referencing that wooden cross from the back of The Accused record More Fun Than An Open Casket Funeral which came out a year earlier. Ack! Apparently this was my hasty teenage celebration of the man's legacy in ink. Tonight we celebrate his legacy again. Finally. Wish me luck.