This weekend saw the end of an era. The final Feast of Flesh took place at midnight on Friday. I've posted about this event before and how crazy amazing it is. If you don't know what it is (and for whatever reason you're not clicking on that convenient link I provided), it's an experience. Saying it's a show would somehow lessen what it is. There's live music, mostly naked women, and zombies topped off with a cult horror flick.
While I didn't get as many good photos as I would have liked, I'll do my best to talk you through the event with what I have.
As always, the show starts at the stroke of midnight. People usually start lining up an hour before hand and you never know what you might run into out there...
Zombie Beaker was just one of the people ready for the costume contest. But first, we have to go inside and get our goodie bags from the girls of Black Cat Burlesque.
Here's what was in the goodie bags. The Reese's did not make it through the entire show. I'm only human! There's also a pixie stick, gummy brain, some kind of weird marshmallowy eyeball (an annual staple), googly eye ring, ghost pendant, and peanut butter chocolate lips.
As you enter the theater, you're greeted by a live band. This year it was Reverend Glasseye. It's quite an eclectic collection of musicians including saxaphone, trombone, banjo, cello, stand up bass, and violin.
The best way I can describe their sound is dark folk music with a bit of country, but it's the kind of country music you'd hear in a Southern horror movie. A dirty, grimy country sound.
When the band finished their set, our decadent host, J Cannibal, took the stage to much hootin, hollerin, and applause.
J. talked for a bit about the Feast of Flesh as a whole and how it started out as a place for people to go to get away from their daily lives and just have fun. With this being the final Feast, there was a good amount of retrospection by everyone that took the stage.
He then introduced the first act from Black Cat Burlesque: Kid Vicious.
She swam her way around the stage and ultimately lost one of her pasties when she popped her top off. Oops! But she kept the Creature head on the entire time. I know how hot it can get under a mask so props to her for keeping it on during her gyrations.
Next on stage was the founding mother of the Boston horror burlesque scene: Devilicia. I wasn't able to get good photos of her due to the dark makeup she had from head to toe. She was also sporting a wicked pair of horns that made her look like a dancing demon. Her act always ends with her dousing herself in blood.
The next event was the zombie costume contest. J. Cannibal and his partner in slime, Mary Widow, walk the line of people waiting to get in prior to the show and hand out tickets to those in costume.
There are three events in the costume contest. Each event knocks out half the zombies. First, the contestants have to give their best "Braaaiiiins!" The punk girl on the right did hers as she arched herself into a reverse crab walk position. It was also funny because J. had no idea what she was doing at first and wasn't exactly sure where to hold the mic for her.
Second, they have to do a zombie shuffle across the stage (no photos, sorry). And the final event is a zombie dance off, naturally! They're down to the top three now but the eliminated zombies are called back on stage to join in.
The winner was zombie Beaker, which I think was a given from the moment he stepped on stage.
J. has another surprise in store for us before the final movie. He started talking about Michael Jackson's Thriller video and the impact it had on him as a kid. I mean, what kid didn't that video have an impact on? He showed it to us on the big screen!
I haven't seen it in years and it was fun seeing it again. But shortly into the zombie dance number, the screen began rolling up. (The Coolidge is an old school theater. When they show movies, the screen comes down on the stage from the ceiling.) As I was starting to wonder who had made a colossal goof, some of the Black Cat girls came out under the screen, led by Mary Widow!
Not the best photo, but you get the idea. They carried out the rest of the dance pretty much in synch with the video which was pretty cool to see. Luckily, I had the presence of mind to video some of it.
The girls then shambled off the stage and into the aisles as the zombies attack the house in the video. After it was done, Mary took the stage to reflect on the last 10 years of Feasts and handed things back over to J. before things got too emotional.
J. talked a bit more about the Feast and how successful it has been. He said how he'd put everything he had into the first one. And how it was originally booked at the smaller of the Coolidge's theaters which only holds 200. Not only did it sell out, but there were another couple hundred people wanting to buy tickets! The Coolidge moved the event into the bigger theater where it's been ever since. He thanked us all for supporting him which was met with a standing ovation. You could tell he was feeling the love as he told us all to sit down.
And with that, he introduced the final events for the final Feast of Flesh: a short documentary followed by a 35mm print of Peter Jackson's Bad Taste. The documentary was hilarious, detailing a day in the life of J. Cannibal. The writing was funny but the visuals even more so because he was in full makeup throughout whether he was in a bathrobe, cooking in the kitchen, or watching Game of Thrones with his cats (who are a couple seasons ahead of him). I couldn't stay for the movie. It was already 2:15am, I'd been up since 6am, and had a 40 minute drive home ahead of me. But I did watch it the next day!
UPDATE: Below is the doc shown.
Thank you J. Cannibal, Black Cat Burlesque, and all the bands that have played the Feasts of Flesh over the years for making a truly memorable night every single time!
There's a few more pics of the event on Flickr.
Before you head off to your next house, swing by Halloween Mixes.
They're posting a themed mix album every day of the month!
They're posting a themed mix album every day of the month!
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