Halloween Pumpkin 2023 - Pumpkinception

 

That's Good Enough For Me by Jim Fusilli (transcript)

 That's Good Enough for Me

Cookie Monsters of death-metal music.

BY JIM FUSILLI

Wednesday, February 1, 2006 12:01 a.m. EST

While the extreme branch of heavy-metal music known as death metal is defined in part by often-vile lyrics about violence, catastrophic destruction, nihilism, anarchy and paranoia, its singing style is associated with a beloved goggle-eyed, fuzzy blue puppet.

Death-metal vocalizing is also known as Cookie Monster singing, if not in tribute to, at least in acknowledgment of, the "Sesame Street" puppet that blurts in a guttural growl, his words discharged so rapidly that they tend to collide with each other.

All this was news to people at Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind "Sesame Street." "We have nothing to do with it," said Ellen Lewis, vice president of corporate communications. "What is it?"

"It's a whole new thing to me," said Frank Oz, who originated the voice of the Cookie Monster. "I've never heard of it."

Most death-metal vocalists don't seem to mind the term. "We think it's funny," said Angela Gussow, lead singer for the Swedish band Arch Enemy and one of the few female death-metal vocalists. "We take ourselves too seriously."

The term is considered derogatory by some metal fans, but it's an apt description. Issued like machine-gun fire, death-metal vocals are low, guttural and aggressive, with no subtlety, no melody and very little modulation. But unlike the garbled sound emanating from the lovable and occasionally frenetic Cookie Monster, death-metal vocals seem to come from a dark spot in a troubled soul, as if they were the narrator's voice on a tour of Dante's seventh circle of hell. Cute and funny they ain't.

It's not easy to determine where and how Cookie Monster singing actually began. Early death-metal bands such as Death and Morbid Angel that emerged from Florida in the mid-'80s helped create the musical template that characterized the blasting sound as well as that of its Satan- and occult-obsessed sibling, black metal: fast, relentless drumming often featuring two bass drums; grinding, rapid-fire chording on guitars; squealing guitar solos; muted electric bass; unexpected sudden tempo changes; and a sense of theatricality that's inevitably threatening--"a horror film put to music" is how Monte Conner, a vice president at Roadrunner Records, sees it.

But while the vocals in early death metal are low, raspy and aggressive, not unlike the vocals by, say, Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead, that extreme degree of Cookieness is missing.

Curiously Named Locales: Boring, Oregon

Photo credit: Boring Beer Fest Facebook page

 Somewhere between the gritty metro of Portland, Oregon, and the lonely peak of Mt Hood, lies the sleepy little town of Boring (Population: ~8000, Motto: "The most exciting place to live!"). Historically a hub of the timber industry, Boring is also home to plant nurseries and agricultural businesses. It was named for William Harrison Boring, a Union soldier and pioneer who moved to the area in 1874 and established a farm there while Oregon was still a territory. William Boring had come west to join his brother Joseph who had settled in the area in 1956. William later donated land for the first schoolhouse in the area. A rail line was built from Portland to the Boring Junction and a post office was established. The rail line was later dismantled as car traffic made the electric trolley that used it redundant. The line was then incorporated into the Springwater Corridor, a multi-use bike path that runs from the Willamette River in Portland with its terminus in the most Boring place imaginable. The family also lent its name to the Boring Lava Field which stretches from the village to downtown Portland and includes a few extinct volcanos like Mt Tabor, Rocky Butte, Kelly Butte, Devil's Rest, Larch Mountain, Powell Butte, Mt Scott, Mt Talbert, Beacon Rock and many, many more.

Sources:
Wikipedia: Boring, Oregon
Wikipedia: William H. Boring
Wikipedia: Boring Lava Field
KGW: Boring, Oregon, What's In a Name?