9th Annual H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, Oct. 11-13, 2002

Welcome to the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, held at the Hollywood Theatre here in Portland.	The inimitable Graves, who I haven't seen since I left Seattle, was present for the showing of the film he did, "The Resurrectionist", which was one of the best we saw.	Eric, Steph, and myself taking a smoke break with Graves. Eric was obsessed with product placement this weekend, it seemed...
Yes, there are quite a few pix of the "Thickets" below, but they don't play much, and haven't even been here for the last two years, so this was a big deal. Besides, I wasn't taking pictures of the movies, so I had to use the camera SOMEWHERE...	The Darkest Of The Hillside Thickets, the world's only Lovecraft influenced punk/ska band, kicked some major ass.	Due to problems at the border (they're Canadians), they were unable to get their gear here, so the festival managed to scrounge enough equipment for them to play.
Even with that little fiasco, and the lack of mixing equipment to get levels and volumes just right, they were incredible, and had a blast...as did we.	There's just something funny about the guitarist standing on the amp, and still not being all that tall...	Toren tears through 'The Innsmouth Look'
Merrick rests out among us, since his mic was being bitchy anyway.	They may not have their own gear and props, etc., but we still managed to get a stuffed plush Cthulhu for them, which appeared for 'Color Me Green', and spent the rest of the night on the tiny little drumkit.	Proof that even literary geeks and fanboys can get up and rock out.
Yes, even I dragged my ass up to throw down, Miskatonic University Medical Department Scrubs and I.D., executioner mask, and all.	Not that you can really tell it's me, since all you can see is a mass of hair. Believe me, it's me. I should know, I was there.	Eric opted to commemorate his first Thickets show by having them all sign his head.
The finished head, complete with Elder Sign.	This is the posse with Anna and Matie Truwe, who are 'Blood Everywhere Productions'. We sat right in front of them at what turned out to be the showing of their 'Six Shorts In Moonlight', which were absolutely incredible...and they were quite cool. Note the fanatical product placement.	The winners of the Howie Awards this year (an award given for the promotion and furthering of Lovecraft's work) were S.T. Joshi, who has written and researched an exceptional amount, and Stuart Gordon, director of many Lovecraft movies, including Dagon and Re-Animator, to name just a couple.
It's rare that a big name Hollywood director gets down among the people, much less gets in the pit and rocks out to an obscure band, but Stuart Gordon was right down with us for the Thickets.	As big a movie nut as I am, you better believe that I know this guy's name, and to get to meet him (much less rock out with him!) was an honor. When I asked for a picture, he seemed genuinely pleased that people liked his work so much. This was an extreme honor for me.	Down the street from the Hollywood Theatre (where this all took place), there is a yellow star made of pipes...no idea why it's there.
We had to get pictures there...this is a Lovecraft convention, and there's a big Elder Sign a block away, c'mon!	Eric as sacrifice, complete with ritual maidens.	The ladies show love to the Old Ones...man, I love this pic.
Eric as ritual master, complete with worshippers.	We took a chance to step into the infamous Wet Spot, but didn't see what all the big deal was.	(Sorry, this is a very local/regional joke, and only you Seattleites will get it. For those of you not in Seattle, There's a S&M club there called The Wet Spot.)