Pinball Expo 2019: All About Elvira!

I HAVE TO ADMIT that before I played it, I was a little skeptical about the latest Elvira-themed pinball machine that debuted this weekend at Pinball Expo 2019. I’m a big fan of the previous Elvira tables, Elvira and the Party Monsters (1989) and Scared Stiff (1996), both designed by Dennis Nordman and released through Midway/Bally. The new table, Elvira’s House of Horrors , from Stern Pinball, was also designed by Nordman, and served as…

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Scream from Heaven: R.I.P. Kim Shattuck

LAST NIGHT, as I was taking a short break from playing the silver balls at Pinball Expo to squeeze in a little writing on my next novel Voodoo Heart, my son Shaun texted me to tell me there was a new CD just released by punk-pop band The Muffs called No Holiday. He knows I love The Muffs…Nobody belts out a punk-rock scream like lead singer/songwriter Kim Shattuck. So I was pretty excited that there…

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Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin plays Deep Red

YOU COULDN’T ASK for a better way to kick off “Halloween Season” than a concert by the guy who created the haunting scores for some of the best Italian horror films of the ’70s – 90s. When I heard that keyboardist Claudio Simonetti was coming to Chicago on Sunday, Oct. 13 with his touring version of the classic Goblin, I bought tickets instantly. And he and the band did not disappoint. For the first half…

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