Happy Halloween

Not into September and there’s already a palpable spirit to the Halloween season. There’s something noticeable about this year, though. Even though it was 82 degrees out, there was still that fall chill in the morning. It’s easy to get excited about Halloween but just easy to burn out.

For the last two years, I’ve sworn every October 1st that I will spend the next thirty-one days listening to only spooky, horror-themed music. The promise turns the month into an endurance test and I usually end up losing. Thanks to other places like Scar-Stuff and the plethora of bands with MySpace pages, it has gotten easier to get close to that thirty-one goal-line.

It’s easy to burn out on Halloween. The stores have turned it into the new Christmas. From September on to November, it’s all black and orange and creepy. From there, it’s red, green and white until New Year’s. Thirty-one days of the holiday is a lot to take. Adding another month sounds a little like torture, but for both Christmas and Halloween, I think the spirit needs to be thinned out. Kids can have a longer running start, planning their costumes from the start of school onward (or if they’re not into it, one month is fine.) And adults can enjoy it for as long as they want.

Adults get a kick out of it, either for the novelty or a true love of all things fun and spooky and I’m glad to find that there is a prescient for people to keep their enthusiasm going well into their years. While most of my spooky-love fell into music, I’m now playing catch-up on the movies and TV shows that build it up. Thankfully, there’s plenty of Video On Demand movies and local horror showings that will help out.

I’ve already started on some music as a pregame for the main event. Figure I’ll write up what passes through my ears up until the big day and hope that it makes everyone’s a very Happy Halloween.