The PopCulteer
October 5, 2012
Happy Horror Time
The first-ever Shocka Con took place last Saturday on D Street in South Charleston, and it was a rousing success, exceeding all expecations. Organizers said that they’d be happy with 300 to 800 attendees, and instead upwards of 2,500 people showed up at various points during the day-long, mostly free event.
This was the first year for the Horror/Sci Fi Con, and because it was first conceived only a few months ago, plans were scaled back from a standard three-day convention to a one-day event based around South Charleston’s Mound, with films shown at The Labelle Theater and seminars at The South Charleston Public Library, just a coouple of blocks down D Street.
The even was free, but donations were accepted so they can get an early start on next year’s convention. While next year’s Shocka Con is expected to be a more conventional convention, I’m hoping that some of the cool elements that made this year’s show such a success are retained. The Monster Parade and free concert were hugely popular.
One of The Monster Dolls dance troupe
Mike and Rose winland did a tremendous job on short notice, and their team of advisors and organizers, which includes Dale Morton, Dave Roase Marc Adams and Carrie Stollings should take a moment to bask in the glory before throwing themselves into the planning of next year’s show. Major kudos also go to The City of South Charleston, who proved that you can put on major outdoor event that’s fun for everybody without completely disrupting traffic and inconveniencing commutors for several days.
The Radio Free Charleston crew was out in full force, recording what will make up most of the RFC 2012 Halloween special. Most of the images you will see today are grabbed from te video shot by Melanie Larch, Lee Harah and your PopCulteer. It was was a long, gloriously fun and exhausting day, ending with the Shocka Con after party at The Empty Glass, which featured the debut of The Wayward Girls School of Bulesque, performing with Pepper Fandango.
On with the photos…
The Monster Parade
Darth and the boys
This vehicle could have circled the block and been in the parade twice, but I guess that they didn’t want to re-hearse
For some reason this reminds me of Tianeman Square
Zombies galore! On wheels, even!
Happy Families
The costume-winners from the movie “Silent Hill” Actually, there’s a third member of this trio, but we haven’t dug up a good shot of her yet
I already used my awful pun, so I wouldn’t want to “re-hearse” it. Oh crap, I just did.
Under The Tents
Exibitor Tents surrounded the Mound. Here’s a small taste of what we found under and around them…
Tables for The Renfiekds and Kanawha Players
Direct from Transylvania, it’s Renfields swag
Effects Make Up
Face painting
Aw, the poor little ghoul is all tuckered out
More face-painting
Howdy!
Some dude had an incredibly accurate Chase Henderson outfit
Magic Makers table
More Magic Makers
Not many people know that Martha Stewart has eleven fingers
Cool stuff. Didn’t get his name. That’s what the comments section is for, folks!
It’s our old buddy, Daniel Boyd. I wonder what he was doing there?
Chillers cover model, Erica Martin , with Danny at the Chillers Table
Writer/artist, Jason Pell
Walking Dead “Walker,” Jeremy Ambler at a table with more folks who YOU can identify in the comments section
That’s the Porkchops 3D crew over there
None other than Burt Fleming, himself, star of the Porkchops trilogy and Zombie Babies
The mask from Porkchop 3D
The Zombie Babies are soooo cuuuute
The Shocka Con alien, ascending a staircase
“Out of de way! I ams comin’ throo!”
Spot the alien in this photo
“I’m telling you, that fish was THIS BIG!”
“You kids get off of my lawn!”
The Bands
One of the major attractions of Shcoka Con was the free performances on the stage at the Mound. We caught many of these, and you’ll be seeing them on our Halloween episode of Radio Free Charleston, but here’s a preview…
The Dead Ringers macabre acapella kicked off the music
Actually, the Tom McGees kicked off the live music, going on before and after the Monster Parade, but I’m too lazy to go back and fix the previous caption
More Ska madness from The Tom McGees
…and their killer horn section
Stephen Beckner of The Nanker Phelge got into the spirit of things
Mark Beckner of The Nanker Phelge got into his solo
The Monster Dolls dance troupe
Ash, from “Evil Dead: The Musical” which opens tonight at Kanawha Players Theater
Do The Necronomicon
Direct from Transylvania, The Renfields
Auxilliary Renfields associate, Lucio, The Werewolf
That drum kit, some would even say it glows. Wait…wrong holiday.
The Renfields in action
Spotlight on Dick Ramses Renfield, with Vincent and The Fiend in the background
All wrapped up in his guitar solo (joke stolen from Dino Stamatopoulous)
Vincent, The Fiend and Dick Ramses
The Wayward Girls School of Burlesque
The Shokca Con after party took place at The Empty Glass, where The Wayward Girls made their debut, with The Pepper Fandango Band. Here are some of the photos we can get away with sharing…
Pepper Fandango with the Wayward Girls’ Mistress of Ceremony, Penny Maple
The legendary Kitty Killton
Elle Xombeah gets a surprise
Lavender Menace before things got bloody
Lilli Lugosi de-caped for the night
Pepper Fandango laid down the music for the girls
Penny Maple, all tuckered out
Goodnight Moon
We leave this photo essay with a shot of the happy full moon, which smiled down upon the Shocka Con festivities. Captured on video by Melanie Larch. Keep reading PopCult for our regular features. The next episode of Radio Free Charleston will be a “Best of Halloween” special, followed one week later by this year’s Halloween show, which was recorded at Shocka Con
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