Special Features



The Return of Blood Fest



By AL J. Vermette
Photos by Louis Poveromo



It’s hard to believe but the year 2019 would be the last year we held our yearly live Halloween show Blood Fest at the Queens Flushing Library in their large auditorium after 12 long years of playing at that venue. We didn’t know at the time that this would be the last show there as the following year 2020…..well, you all know why we didn’t hold a Blood Fest that year. It was during that dark quarantine time that our contact there, Gina Fazio, also left to pursue other opportunities and since the venue was moving away from live events, we needed to find a new location for the next Blood Fest when things got back to normal after lockdown and such.


Sure in 2020, we did hold a Blood Fest event….sort of by hosting a Facebook Watch Party in our group Saturday Night Chillers and Eddie’s Movies, who we partnered with for the event where we showed movies, and old clips from past Blood Fest events to make it at least feel like a Blood Fest event. However, sadly in 2021 Facebook ended their Watch Party program and so we had nothing that year at all to celebrate Halloween from Blood Moon Rising. It was a very sad year to miss doing anything for Halloween and with the pandemic still ongoing, I didn’t want to do a live show anyway and potentially get people sick so we held off another year.


In December 2021 by chance, I came upon a new venue within walking distance from my home in Olyphant PA, and asked if they would like a Halloween event to play their show house. They jumped at the idea and Blood Fest 2022 was booked in February with a full eight months for me to plan a new show at the new site.


The new setting, The Keystone Stage, was a brand new playhouse that just opened that hosted a variety of events from magic acts, musical performances, stand-up comics, drag-queen events, open mic nights, and even breakfast & photos with Santa where I become familiar with the place when attending with my girlfriend and her grandkids. I thought the place was ideal for a new Blood Fest location and after thinking about it for a while, booked the 22nd of October 2022.

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Once again Blood Fest was hosted by our very own Dark Soul who was just thrilled to be on stage once again. Creepy as always, Dark Soul was dressed in all black with his skull face and long black hair, he hosted the night's events such as introducing the acts plus conducting the scream and costume contests. Dark Soul also beckoned people into the haunted house set up in the front lobby of the Keystone Stage.


This new location for Blood Fest would bring all new talent to our event plus one old friend to join us in the new setting. Long-time Blood Moon Rising friend, Jon “Soda” James, who by the way played the very first Blood Fest way back in 2003, came with his new band Coventry Carols. They were fantastic and it was great seeing my pal Soda again plus they will be joining us this October for Blood Fest’s 20th Anniversary show. Soda was joined by bass player Cliff “Sugar Bear” Catropa and drummer Terry “TT” Taylor, who all worked the stage like the pros they are. At one point Soda, the lead singer leaped from the stage with guitar in hand and in Jimmy Hendrix fashion played while laying on his back jamming to the beat. What a performance they gave us.


Coventry Carols performed their original songs off their brand new self-titled CD with their single The Well featured within their repertoire. For more information about Coventry Carols see their website for music and their live show dates.


https://coventrycarols.com/home


After the first band, it was time for a little magic…..no literally, we had magician Alister Black perform his illusions wowing the audience in their seats. Alister, a master of the classics of magic performed such wizardry gems as cutting a rope in half only to restore it in whole a minute later, card tricks, and other unbelievable illusions in the art of deception. Alister brought up on stage an assortment of audience members to assist him with his performance as right before their eyes technique astonished everyone including those who stood right next to him as he pulled off his trick.


Next was the scream and costume contests where Dark Soul brought contestants up on stage, and asked who they were and the character that they were playing. He had everything from a steampunk girl, to an evil priest on stage with Jason Voorhees, Gomez, and Morticia Addams and a female Chucky acting as judges for the costume contest. When it came to the screamers taking the stage, it was the Chucky girl who had a piercing shriek that just filled the room.

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To close out the show was the band Running In Flip Flops, a regular staple of The Keystone Stage as they performed both original songs plus some cover tunes as well. They were all in costume as the evil priest mentioned earlier and was the band's lead singer. One band member was dressed as an avocado or pickle or something weird like that. They were great and like Coventry Carols, we would love to have them play next year as well.


Something I really wanted to expand upon this year and since we had the room for it, was a haunted house. Now we have always had a haunted tunnel ever since Blood Fest 1, but this time I wanted something a little more. And so I erected a 10x 20-foot black tent and filled it with as much creepy stuff I could within the time I had to set it up. I blacked out the windows added some make-shift walls and added the monsters. I really wanted more but time was my enemy and only had a few hours to get the tent up and add the props. It didn’t come out exactly how I envisioned it in my head for months, but I was still happy to have it included in the show. I did manage to get the jack-o-lantern/ pumpkin room, spider’s lair, and Reapers Chambers with light-up creatures and animatronics all throughout.


It was good after a three-year hiatus to produce a live Blood Fest show once again and I was thrilled to return to doing it as a nighttime adult show as well. The Queens Library was fun and their large stage and 200-seat auditorium worked well for the years we played there, but for the last few years I wanted to get back to our roots as a scary adult show and more away from the family-friendly event we did the last years. Yes back to our roots playing to grown-ups as we did originally when we started in Boonton N.J. at the Darress Theater.


Now the year 2023 will mark Blood Fest’s 20th Anniversary and I am thrilled to have a new location to hold this landmark event. Stay tuned to our website and Facebook groups for info on Blood Fest's 20th Year Anniversary show.

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More Pictures from Blood Fest 19

Coventry Carols





Running in Flip Flops





Horror Host Dark Soul





Costume Contest





Decorations