Interview – Joseph A Federico

In appreciation of “Elvira: Mistress of the Dark”

March 9, 2019March 9, 2019
by josephafederico

Originally published by Actor/Singer, Manuel Caneri (2017)

I had just started high school as a freshman in the fall of 1988. Elvira was hitting the pinnacle of her success as the “Mistress of The Dark.” Her ghoulishly beautiful face was gracing the ads of booze products, Halloween costume knickknacks and late night talk shows. Living in Northern California, I did not have access to her formative years on “Movie Macabre,” the B-movie hosting gig which propelled her to fame. This was a two-fold disappointment in my teen years as I was desperately curious to see more of Elvira AND to have more exposure to the low budget horror films which I was increasingly becoming more infatuated with (read: obsessed). In the age before Netflix and YouTube, it was more challenging to get your hands on these Z-grade treasures.

Needless to say, it was to my great excitement that Elvira released her first feature length film in the fall of 1988. I saw the movie on a Saturday afternoon, the day after its release. It was the 1:00pm showing (I have the memory of an elephant) and for the next 96 minutes I was swept into Elvira’s world and I ate up every second of it. Here was a love letter to creature features enveloped in a joyously silly, high spirited comedy. And, here also, was Elvira in all her delightfully devilish glory. I fell head over spiked black heels in love with the “Mistress of The Dark,” a single sided love affair that continues to this day (as of this writing, I have an Elvira wallet in my back pocket).

I only saw the film in theatres one time. It didn’t do much business at the box office and sadly vanished from theatres prematurely. When it was released on video a few months later, in true movie nerd fashion, I rented the film almost every single weekend thereafter. The clerk who worked at City Video took pity on my weekly rental habit and very kindly offered to sell me a used (mostly by me) copy of the movie for $12. With zero hesitation I took him up on his offer and for years to come I wore out the videocassette subjecting everyone from my sister and my parents to my childhood friends (and any other unsuspecting bystander who crossed my path) to experience the delicious exploits of Elvira.

The film finds our heroine quitting her lackluster job as a horror hostess at an obnoxious TV station and heading to Falwell, Massachusetts for the reading of her great aunt Morgana’s will. Upon her arrival she is greeted with shock and dismay by the conservative town residents but is able to befriend the local teens, in addition to capturing the attention of the hunky owner of the local movie theatre. Hoping to receive big bucks as part of her inheritance to finance a Vegas show, she is instead given a rundown house, a recipe book and poodle named Alconquin (whom she renames Gonk after giving him a punk rock make over) . Unbeknownst to her, the harmless recipe book is in actuality a tome of magic spells which her shady Uncle is hell bent on getting his hands on for dubious conjurations. It all culminates in a pastiche of vicious gossipers, demon attacks and musical numbers.

Cassandra Peterson and company didn’t set out to make an epic masterpiece with “Elvira: Mistress of The Dark.” It’s a simple, lighthearted and slightly naughty comedy and never assumes to be anything more than that. And that is one of the keys to its lovability. It embraces its silliness and gleefully celebrates it. Sure, I’m a huge fan of sophisticated cinema like the work of Hitchcock or Orson Welles et al, but I also have a massive sized soft spot for the camp talents of Roger Corman and the giddy, even juvenile humor of low brow comedies like The Sweetest Thing and Dirty Love (yes, the one with Jenny McCarthy… there, I said it.) Critics were harsh and movie goers didn’t turn out upon its initial release but thankfully through the years the film has gained a sizable cult following in addition to some very dedicated fans.

The movie works so well mostly due the fact that its protagonist is immensely likeable. She’s a fictional character who has existed in the real world years before the movie was actually made. The difference this time is that Elvira is now a full-fledged character with a backstory and a fuller, cohesive personality. Sexy and bawdy? Yes. But also tough, flawed and overwhelmingly endearing. As expected, the movie rests on her shoulders (and her ample cleavage) and she carries it with confidence and a heaping ton of charm. She’s also a terrific comedienne. Peterson spent the early part of her career as a member of the Groundlings, the famed LA comedy troupe, and she brings a knack for delivery and timing to the character. Shockingly she was nominated for a Razzie Award and many reviewers criticized her as being a bad actress. I believe it’s because they were clueless about who Elvira was and how the character operated and that Peterson, much like Paul Reubens and Pee Wee, was creating a larger than life fictional persona.

Another noteworthy trait worth mentioning is that Elvira is a feminist hero. Hear me out! She unapologetically enjoys her body and her sexiness but she’s also fiercely independent and maneuvers around her obstacles without ever needing help from a man. When a letch crosses her path, she kicks his ass and puts him in his place. She demands respect without having to compromise her behavior or her image. She’s in charge baby!

The film makes good use of some delightful character actors. Edie McClurg, an ’80s staple famous for her cameos in John Hughes comedies and supporting roles in TV sitcoms, is Chastity Pariah, the town’s detestable busy body. She’s funny and clearly enjoying her turn as a colorful antagonist. W. Morgan Sheppard wisely plays it straight as Elvira’s brooding-come-demon uncle, the real villain of the piece. Daniel Greene is easy on the eyes as burly love interest Bob and Susan Kellerman is the jealous, faux breasted Patti. There’s also the late Jeff “Kenickie” Conaway as one of Uncle Vinny’s slimy henchmen, a bossy, grouchy Pat Crawford Brown (“Shut up Leslie!”) and some affable young actors as the teens at Elvira’s side.

A large part of the movie was filmed at the Warner Bros studios in Burbank, California. The Midwest Street area of the backlot stood in for Falwell, Massachusetts. These sets have been used in countless other films such as The Music Man and The Monster Squad in addition to standing in for Hazzard County in The Dukes of Hazzard television program. The façade of Elvira’s house was located just steps away from the town square area. Sadly it was torn down recently during a studio expansion. I was able to view these sets a few times when I took the Warner Brothers Studio Tour. My friends and I made the tour guide stop the oversized golf cart when we passed by Elvira’s house. We ran up to the façade and took photos on the porch while a gaggle of German tourists waited less-than-patiently for us to resume the tour. Incidentally, it has been erroneously reported on various web sites that the movie was filmed on the Back to The Future square on the Universal lot and that Elvira’s residence was the same house used in The Munsters. Both of these instances are not correct but I can see why some casual viewers might mistake the two as they look quite similar in their layout and design.

Cassandra Peterson tried for many years to make a followup this little gem and after many false starts, she was finally able to self-finance Elvira’s second big screen adventure. Filmed in Romania, Elvira’s Haunted Hills is a playful homage to the Roger Corman Poe films of the 60’s which starred the late, great Vincent Price. As a big fan of those classic films, I appreciated and enjoyed the movie. It would be unfair to expect any other Elvira movie to rekindle the giddy charm of her first celluloid foray.

I can’t say “Elvira: Mistress of the Dark” made me think deeply about life or made me discover some hidden truth of the human condition but what it has done for me might be even better than all that. It made me laugh and it made me happy. And it continues to do so upon every viewing. What more could you ask for?

Until next time, “unpleasant dreams”…

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The McBryant Mission

January 20, 2019January 20, 2019
by josephafederico

My next guest blogger is a young, southern man who has a dream and a big heart. His name is Logan Bryant, and this is his story…

So, what’s the McBryant Mission exactly? “Two guys with a dream to bring quality craft beer right to where you’re going. No need to come find us, because we’re going to bring it right to your favorite bar or restaurant. No joke. Real Amarillo craft. Real beer. Real good. Early stage start-up.”

Now, that right there is our Facebook “about” section, telling you what we are all about, but honestly, there might just be more to say about it. Let’s dig in.

My business partner and long-time friend, Patrick McKnight, and I came across this idea in our dusty, little-big city-town thing called Amarillo, Texas. We entered the sphere of brewing with almost zero collective experience between the two of us, other than a couple other attempts, successful ones, I might add, at him making a few different types of alcohol.

I happened to stop over to his apartment, with whom he shared with his daughter and another roommate, late one night after getting off working at a local pizzeria. You see, I was, I am, and I may still be a pizza guy. I know, I know… tough job, and somebody has got to do it… but, I digress. I can get into that more later.

Mead, moonshine, and then finally beer: These are the alcohols that were experimented with for Patrick to truly learn and absorb the fermentation process. Fermentation is simply the process of microorganisms called yeast, converting the sugars in a wort (the sugar-filled mixture that eventually becomes the alcohol) into carbon-dioxide and alcohol. Neat, huh?

My role in this is simply one of materializing the idea that is now McBryant Brewery. The logo, the money, the marketing, etc. THIS is my domain. I leave making the alcohol, the recipes, the subtle nuances that makes our beer… well, just darn good… to my brewmeister deluxe. Funny story.

So, apparently, you need to take a class or get a certificate or something to become an actual” Brewmaster”, so, I decided to fill the spot with a made-up title for now. Titles are just titles, right? His product that comes from his level of experience blows my mind. He is able to look at a recipe without EVER having tried it once, and tell me exactly what he would change to get the flavor profile he was envisioning.

Hey, whatever works. I get a good product, and he gets some good fun out of it. Win, Win. I touched upon myself just a little bit in the last paragraph, but I didn’t give you a full picture of who I am and what I’m about. That’s what THIS paragraph is for. My name is Logan Bryant, and I am a 22-year-old man born in Lubbock and raised in Amarillo. I’ve been around, can’t you tell? I work at a locally-owned pizza shop (La Bella Pizza on Olsen) here in town, and have been doing so for about the past 3-4 years.

Working for a locally-owned business for so long and seeing the ins and outs of a small business operating had always intrigued me, and is more than likely what spurred me to say “screw it, let’s do it” with McBryant. Now, what exactly spurred me on to brew beer? Well, like I had previously stated, I knew one of my best friends knew how to make pretty decent alcohol, and with minimal accommodation, too. Before I had even thought though, I must tell you the short, simple, and sweet story of what made this come to life.

Yes, I get two paragraphs about myself. What did you think this was? I was a boy who could never seemingly sit still; I was always the class clown. If anyone said anything at all that I could make a witty remark to, it just had to leave my mouth in an attempt to make others laugh. I wasn’t always in trouble, but that may not seem obvious with the preceding statement.

Being that outgoing character helped me stick around longer in service industries, hence my stretch at La Bella pizza, with which I’m still (gratefully) employed until this brewery gets its wings. My outgoing nature plopped me right into a barserver position at work whenever they decided to expand their current small pizza shop into a neighboring building (it’s in a shopping strip, so the buildings are literally RIGHT next door to one another), by cutting a couple of door-sized holes in the wall between our shop and the new expansion.

This was a fun position that didn’t require much effort at first, due to the new nature of the bar-side dining area. Eventually, I had started getting more people coming in and from all over the country too! Some even came from other parts of the world, as Amarillo just so happened to be on their route to where their final destination was. Props to route 66 for that, because one encounter with one customer would end up changing my life, and the life of my brewmeister, fundamentally.

A woman walked in and hurriedly asked me what we had that was local. I responded to her with all of our local Texas brews that we carried, and she simply said “No, I meant from here.” She meant from Amarillo. I had to respond with an unfortunate tone, telling her that we did not carry anything from the local breweries.

See, all of the breweries in town are set up as brew pubs. Brew pubs make their own beer, yes, but they only sell it out of their own storefront, basically forcing people to find them on their own, to get some new craft beer. I, in that moment, came up with the idea to brew our own beer. The pieces all fell into place, and I thought that with my graphic design knowledge, minimal marketing knowledge, and a dash of ambition, that maybe… just maybe… we could start our own little grass-roots operation. Our mission is to get good beer where you already go to get your beer.

Here we are now… 1,100 followers on Instagram, 250 likes on Facebook and ambitious as hell. I won’t say I didn’t pay my way, because… well, I did. Now, I don’t “buy followers” or “buy likes;” I utilize a tool that makes marketing for me just a little bit easier on me personally; it’s called Marketing Tools, and is an app on Play Store and iTunes. This was done so that when we are able to legally sell our products, we already have people looking at us and want to buy. Can you blame me?

SO, we will keep pushing until the dream is realized. Once you figure that out about anything you want to do with yourself, you can make miracles happen.

Even with the seemingly small numbers of support that we’ve garnered over that last few weeks/months, we are overwhelmed with the LEVEL of the support we actually have received, and cannot tell you how blessed we are to be living in this wonderful time with all of you wonderful people.

So, take this stereotypical start with us in my dad’s garage, and make it worldwide. What do you say?

As they say in Texas, “Thank you, pardner.” Thanks for the read, and be sure to go check us out and support what we are doing!

Much love, much beer,

Logan Bryant
Owner, McBryant Brewery

To be the next guest blogger on JosephAFederico.com, click here.

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Spiritual Guidance by Maricela Duarte

January 20, 2019January 20, 2019
by josephafederico

The next guest blogger on JosephAFederico.com is my friend, Maricela Duarte. Continue below to read her fascinating story and be sure to contact her for a spiritual follow-up!

My childhood was normal to say the least. You know, everyone has stories of imaginary friends and tall tales of events that happened during sleepovers. Well, my events never took place over at someone’s Halloween party. I had always been somewhat of the ‘odd’ or ‘different’ child in our family.

I remember the earliest experience being around the age of 3. I was in our small apartment living room and I remember it being a bit dark; a sofa and a window was right behind it to my left, and to my right was the front door. I remember playing with a green tennis ball on the floor, and then I saw a quick shadow followed by some low whispers. I also remember being interested in Armageddon. Every morning, I’d ask my mom if a day would be the ‘end of the world,’ then run outside and stare up at the sky as if something were going to happen.

A few years later, our family moved into a home in Pico Rivera, California, and that is where everything for me began. No day or night was quiet for me; there was ALWAYS something or someone around trying to get my attention. From silhouettes of men in brown robes, to women in white dresses crossing between walls in our bedroom, and even small creatures hanging off my bed at night and scattering on the floor… no night was inactive.

Although those events were not frightening, I would bring it to my mother’s attention to which she would order us to clean out the storage from underneath our beds, because she was then certain the crawling creatures were mice. I lived with all of those apparitions for about a year or so when one night, I was completely frightened of what showed up to greet me.

I remember I woke up in the middle of the night to use the restroom. We had the type of light in the hallway that would have to be turned on from the opposite end (not closest to our bedroom). I tried waking up my twin to ask her to join me, so that I would not be alone, but she insisted that she didn’t have to pee, and I would just have to make the tumultuous journey down the hall alone. Holding my breath, and knowing something was waiting for me, I slowly walked out of our bedroom and started making my way down the long hall.

Nothing was off at first, taking another unsteady step closer to the light switch. I started noticing two red eyes starring right at me from our bay window in our living room. I thought to myself that it may be outside of the window. I took another few steps, and as I got closer to the living room area, to my amazement, I noticed that the eyes were on top of my parents record player INSIDE our home in front of the bay window. That’s where I froze.

This thing was possibly the size of a medium-sized small dog breed, with gray skin and ugly-looking paws. It was squatting down, looking straight at me with nothing but what looked like a smirk on its face. I never made it to that light switch, but instead ran straight into the bathroom and quickly locked the door, sat in our bathroom for about what felt like a lifetime (more like 45 minutes).

I waited until I sensed that this thing had backed up away from the door, although I knew it wasn’t out of the house. Once again, I held my breath and counted to three before throwing open the bathroom door and booking it straight for my bedroom. I turned my head right before entering my room where I saw this thing on the floor with that same disgusting smirk again.

After that night, what I thought was a curse to live with just became harder and harder to deal with. Since I had no one to show me how to set boundaries, and when to allow entities to come into contact with me, life was full of ups and downs. I acted-out a lot during this time of my young life, and was angry all the time, probably because I never really slept.

I tried to talk to my parents about everything, but just ended up keeping it to myself after the constant ‘it was just a dream’ excuses. Being of the old world, my parents stuck to many old habits of lecturing and scolding. For example, if we misbehaved, they would tell us that our “Guardian Angel had left us and the Devil would be pulling at our feet tonight,” so, that just added to my fear.

After the event with the gargoyle-like creature, that is when I started feeling the frequency of Spirit. The voices were still far off, and it always sounded like someone had the television on in a back room at just the right volume to know the television was on, but not loud enough to hear it.

The energy was always intense, and sometimes, I found myself getting completely dizzy and falling over. I would get constant visions of the past rushing through my head, especially around the older side of town. Once we moved to Colorado, things calmed down a little. But, being that we were only 12 when we moved out there, little did I know the ghosts that waited for me in good ‘ol Denver.

I always wondered why my childhood home had such an overpowering energy to it, and that was answered by Mrs. Moreno, a beautiful neighbor we had growing-up in Cali. One summer, when we went back to visit some family, she sat down with us and spoke about growing-up in the neighborhood of Pico Rivera. The story was that before our home was built, there stood the last church of Pico Rivera as property of Mexico, before it was purchased by the United States. That immediately explained the women in white dresses and the men in brown robes.

Fast forward to my teenage life. The home we moved into was built around the 1940s, but we feel that the ground itself was haunted. I would constantly get scratching at my bedroom window, my bedroom lights would always be flipped on in the middle of the night, thundering/banging on my front door in the middle of the night, as well as orbs flying inside and outside our home. My twin sister once followed an orb outside in the middle of the night, trying to see whatever this thing was! She, of course, found absolutely nothing.

When my husband (then-boyfriend) and I moved into our first apartment together; that’s when my Guides really started to push me into awareness. I fell onto dark times then, self-medicating myself with marijuana and excessive drinking, because then, I had a reason to hear the voices… I just chalked it up to the drugs.

Needless to say, I’ve been clean a little over ten years now, and have been working on helping to understand what is really out past the veil that we cannot see with our own two eyes. I strive to help others start their healing process through council and Reiki, and I use my gifts. I’m now grateful for them and find it amazing to see the things and hear the things and sense the things that are all around us all the time.

I can now teach my kids and so many others, how to set proper boundaries, not just try keeping away negative forces, but also keeping away negative people and situations. Meditating and speaking to myself is part of my normal life now, and it keeps me sane. I still get a few nightly visitors, but all in all, I have grown to a point where I can set the proper intentions and lay down the law for anything that tries to come into my home.

Now, I have created my own business to help others spiritually by clearing homes, spaces and people, that have unexplained activities and/or attachments. I bring in many different tools and allies, and follow my Angels’ guidance and intuitions using many forms of plants, flowers, oils, smudges and so much more.

I truly believe that I was given this gift in order to receive the experiences that I did, and use it to help others.

If you would like to reach me, you can find me on Instagram @m.d.traditionalllc, or by email, at mdtraditional@gmail.com. Our web page is www.beyondmediums.com for any paranormal issues you find yourself having.

For more information or to be Joseph A. Federico’s next guest blogger, click here.

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Talk About Acting with Adler Hyatt

December 7, 2018December 7, 2018
by josephafederico

My third guest, the young, handsome and talented Adler Hyatt, is an actor. See, I’m attempting to spotlight all walks of life and professions in this here blog series.

Read on, because things are about to get interesting…

Whether I knew it or not, I was always a performer growing up. I always loved playing as TV characters when on the playground as opposed to football. When I discovered the stage, I was hooked. My journey took me all the way from my New Orleans home to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to get my bachelor’s degree in Acting. I dedicated my life to the role of a performer, and I wish I could go back and teach myself all the things I know now… to make my personal course a little smoother.

The biggest question I had as a young performer is, “What is my method?” I thought I should know what I needed to do to prepare myself for a role naturally, but an actor’s method is a unique thing. It’s like a fingerprint, but even more personal, since it can’t truly be categorized. The one thing every person in the entire industry will tell you about acting, is that an honest performance is key to every lock for actors.

To get an honest performance, you need to have a grasp on your process. But, which process is the right fit? I’m a firm believer in the fact that different people need different things to be able to access the pool of emotional openness needed for that honesty. Whether you are a Stanislavsky Savant or a master of “The Method”, the constant truth of acting is trueness in the emotion, in the scene, in the character. To find this trueness, one needs to find what way the character fits into their personal process and method.

I know actors that give tear-jerking performances after light skimming of the words, and actors that discover honesty in the words after in-depth textual analysis and a breakdown of the scene through bookwork. Neither of these actors are better than the other; they both are simply using different processes to open their portrayal of the characters to the audience.

For myself, I always thought that my need for bookwork was a weakness… that the actor that needs to put more effort into the book is not as effective as an actor that just releases their emotion to the world with ease, but that isn’t the case. If it gets you where you need to be as a performer, bookwork is a fantastic tool.

Now, one of my favourite things to do when getting new characters is the bookwork, whether it is necessary or not. It helps me find the person in the character and that person is what I can bring to the stage or screen or radio or wherever I find myself as an artist. What the audience receives is the most important part of the job of an actor. How the actor gets there is the process.

A lot of the words are interchangeable: process, method, technique; they all, in essence, mean the same thing. What we need to remember as actors, is that all the feeling, and working and connecting is done to bring ourselves and the character together. Whether that is done by being the character or being yourself and knowing how to inflect delivery to get the desired sound and physicality.

The best thing is what works for the individual. An actor’s method cannot be dogma. Through my own training, I picked and chose pieces from each of the famous methods we studied until I discovered what brought me emotional trueness as a performer. Doing this not only helped me find my own truth as an actor, but I also discovered personal growth as a human being.

Sincerely,
Adler Hyatt

Care to be my next guest blogger? I’d sure like to have you on! Email josephafed@yahoo.com for your chance…

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Conversations with Jason Cobb

December 4, 2018
by josephafederico

My second guest in this blog series is a man, a legend… on Instagram and in real life. The true reason I reached out to Mr. Cobb, was because I was intrigued by what story he had to tell, that I just knew he had hidden behind his somewhat-scandalous story and platform wall. He’s not a many of many words, but what he shares is one of love and self-truth.

Ladies and gents, I’d like to officially reveal Mr. Jason Cobb!

I was supposed to be a high school theatre queen, having been in every musical, touring troupe, and theatre production I could find. So, fast forward past college and logically, I became a lawyer (sarcasm intended). I came out of undergrad the way most people worked their way through – undecided. I knew I wanted an advanced degree, if only because I knew I was capable. What form that took was mostly irrelevant for the longest time.

But several years out of undergrad, I found myself married to the first guy I ever asked out (a guy I met at my telephone customer service job), and he had legal dreams. So, after watching him tackle his first two years of law school, I was very much into “that’ll do.” So, I quickly followed after.

Fast forward through a few houses, a few mortgages, several dogs, and a kid. After fifteen plus years, I decided to get gay-divorced before that got trendy, too. And at forty, I found myself largely unsure of myself and what I had to offer anyone on the dating front. I got a quick education. But first, I got a mustache. Duh.

It sounds silly, but growing a mustache had a LOT to do with me owning my own appearance, and accepting that I didn’t want to try passing for a young man. I looked like what I looked like, and that was fine. My goal was to be genuine. Frankly, my life had gotten really complicated in a short amount of time, and the last thing I had energy for was creating an alter ego.

But, choosing to present yourself in a genuine fashion necessarily requires a large measure of self-acceptance. And part of my journey of self-acceptance was realizing that I was fine just the way I was… that not everyone was going to be into me, and that I didn’t need everyone to be into me. And mostly, that I wasn’t my own type.

Really. I realized that as a gay man sizing up every other gay man, I didn’t need to meet my own standard or checklist of what I was looking for. I wasn’t into me. But solely as a preference, not a judgment as to my worth as a human being. Just because I wouldn’t date someone like me didn’t mean I wasn’t worth dating; it just meant I was looking for someone with a different taste in men. I came to accept it as perfectly normal for someone to see things in me they find impossibly sexy, attractive, and loveable, that I simply didn’t appreciate at all, or that I even found unattractive.

This approach also freed me to feel validated about my own needs and desires. And so, @notgettingyouapony, my Insta handle, was born. I was fine being a daddy, but I already had an actual son who wanted me to buy him things. I wasn’t looking for another bill, or another tax deduction.

Having never really dated before shacking up and getting married the first time, I quickly appreciated that I also lacked any dating skills… as in, I can’t take a hint, I don’t understand when someone makes a pass at me, and making repeated passes usually results only in the same reaction. I’m that dense.

So, I decided to try just being nice… to be honest about my feelings, including with myself, not sleeping with anyone I didn’t actually like at the moment on some level as a human being, and trying not to unnecessarily hurt anyone. I didn’t always succeed, but I feel a lot better about myself thinking I did right by most people. Fight me.

My little midlife dating adventure led me and my boyfriend together a few years ago. He’s everything I could have dreamed for, and surprises me every day. And even though he tells me constantly, I still haven’t the damndest idea what he sees in me. But, I love him for it. And I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk (said with full appreciation that it sounds like a dad trying to be cool…)

Hi, I’m Jason.

Interested in becoming my next guest blogger? Drop a message to Josephafed@yahoo.com and we’ll get you squared away. Don’t be shy, now.