Mwa-ha-ha… And a good EVE to all joining me on this FRIGHTENING 31st of October, 2008.  This is All Hollow’s…

EVE!

And I think that, tonight, the title pretty much says it all.  What could be scarier, as Jim asked last night, than Chris Moore covering a Britney Spears song?  Well, I can’t think of anything off the top of my head.  In my defense, I’m not exactly doing a Britney Spears cover.  Technically, this is a cover of the Fountains of Wayne arrangement of Britney’s hit single, first released on their “Out-of-State Plates” album, a collection of non-album tracks and previously unreleased material.  Now, these collections are usually hit-and-miss, but this is actually a really good one.  There’s a couple of new tracks (one of which, “The Girl I Can’t Forget,” is one of my favorites from them), some great live stuff (including a rare better-than-the-studio-album version of “She’s Got A Problem”), and crazy tracks like this, their arrangement of the classic “Hit me baby one more time!”

So, I know you can’t wait to listen, and I certainly want to rush back to the big Fusco-Moore Experience All Hallow’s Eve bash, with special guest (and Richard Simmons impersonator) Mike Fusco!  He really went all out — I’m talking head-to-toes, red tank top labeled “PUMPkin’ and SWEATin,’” leggings to disguise leg hair, and amazingly 80′s-esque velcro sneakers.  Thankfully, Jim and Becky have changed out of their terrifying, horrifying costumes… as Jim said, they wanted to be the scariest people he could think of… namely, John McCain and Sarah Palin.  Meanwhile, I’ve had a sudden urge to manage a beet farm and shun my co-workers (if you’re not an Office fan, I was Dwight Schrute tonight).  And, yes — it’s true: as part of his tip, I left our On the Border waiter a Schrute Buck.  He earned it for actually ensuring that the chips and salsa were bottomless.  With five hungry people at the table, this was no easy task!

In related news, we’re all too tired to record the Halloween WCJM show we had planned on doing, but I have the song list that I would have recommended to the boys (in reverse order):

6)  “Long Black Veil” – the Band’s version; not a halloween song per say, but a creepy one;

5)  “Heroes and Villains” – Brian Wilson’s SMiLE track; good for Halloween costumes;

4)  “Reflective Smile” – a Moody Blues poem set to music that begins “Your painted smile hides you…”;

3)  “Ninjas” – the Barenaked Ladies song from their new album that ends “If you take off their masks, they’ll be smiling”;

2)  “Brilliant Disguise” – classic Bruce Springsteen; again, not a Halloween song, but speaks for itself;

and…

1)  “Werewolves of London” – the quintessential Warren Zevon Halloween-worthy tune!!

For some reason, I’m filled with things I want to keep writing about, but we’re about to kick back and watch a flick — possibly North by Northwest.  Not exactly a scary movie, but a classic nonetheless.

I’ll leave you with a challenge to Jeff that Jim initiated last night — come on, Jeff, joing us in lady land.  And I’m not making a Jimi Hendrix reference.  No, I’m referring to the fact that this is my third cover song in a row that was originally sung by a female singer, and Jim shared an incredible Diana Ross interpretation.  Jump on the bandwagon!

Regardless of the gender of tomorrow’s session, I hope you’ll come back for some amaze-za-zing videos by Jeff and Jim.

See you next session!

Related posts:

1. “Wherever You Will Go” (The Calling Pop Acoustic Rock Cover Song) – The Laptop Sessions
2. “Merry Christmas Baby” (Beach Boys Christmas Song Cover Version) – The Laptop Sessions
3. “No Way to Say Goodbye” [Leonard Cohen Acoustic Rock Cover Song] – The Laptop Sessions