Anarchy Plus Fifteen

15-year anniversary of the Great Halloween Disaster of 1994. Actually, we played two shows: one on October 29 (the worst live rock-and-roll train wreck I have ever known), and another on Halloween proper, which actually went OK, but nobody remembers that.

The best part, of course, was the seven-foot glowing sarcophagus that rose up out of the fog after the first song, and opened to reveal Matt, microphone in hand, dressed as Batman. Matt appeared only on the video monitor at the beginning of the concert, singing live via closed-circuit TV on our opening number "Evil Under the Ground."

The video monitor content then switched over to "Yitch-Vision," which was my big contribution to the atmospherics. It was mostly footage of nuclear tests and scenes from "Carrie" synchronized to our signature song "Spontaneous Human Combustion."

All of this trickery was executed by Rich Amtower, who was mixing the show and also joined us briefly on keyboards (much to his disadvantage)! I took the stage dressed as Zorro, but for some reason added a bright, battery powered light inside my mouth, which produced a strange effect when I sang, but did nothing for my guitar playing.

Vic, resplendent in horns and red paint, played a bass guitar heavily modified to appear as a giant skull, spinal column, and pelvis. Don, lacking an actual costume, steadily emitted articles of clothing from behind the drums into the audience between songs, with the inevitable end result. Meaning Janet broke up with him when she saw the videotape.

I came into possession of the sarcophagus - created by Victor especially for the show - when Vic's parents moved to Montana. Amazingly, the sarcophagus was still in their garage. It is now in my garage, and I will never be browbeaten into disposing of it. An amazing, glowing, cumbersome artifact of an unforgettable, nay, unforgivable night.