Viviana Chavez first got interested in acting while she was in high school after appearing in some school productions. She fell in love with being on stage and hasn’t stopped since then. She was cast as Miranda in the first season of the AMC hit show “The Walking Dead”. Since then she has had parts on “Homeland”, “Bethany” and “It’s Supernatural” as well as several web series. Viviana was a guest at the Full Moon Tattoo And Horror Fest this past fall. I was really happy to get the chance to interview her and had a great time with her. This is one lady that I think we will be seeing a lot more of in the future!
Click here to listen to our interview with Viviana
Kevin Galbraith never intended to get into acting, but he answered a casting call on Facebook and became a cast member of the hit AMC TV show “The Walking Dead”. Kevin has appeared in several scenes of the show as one of the walkers. He was the “swamp zombie” that Carl was throwing rocks at and was also the zombie that killed Dale as well as other scenes. Kevin was a guest at the Murfreesboro Anime And Comic Convention last month. We sit down and had a wonderful talk about the show, cast and his plans for the future. I hope you enjoy my interview with Kevin Galbraith.
Click here to listen to our interview with Kevin Gabraith
For the second time this year Christi and I made the trip to Virginia Beach, Virginia to attend the Blood At The Beach Horror Convention. We had a great time at the first show and was really excited about attending this one as well. The one thing that we really liked about the first one was the fact that a lot of the guests that were there were people that don’t do a lot of conventions that we had attended in the past. Now, don’t get me wrong, we love seeing the same guests because with some you develop a “bond” with them and they remember you and sometimes call you by name which is very cool to me. But, it is also very cool to meet someone that you have never met before.
The first show was located about 30 minutes from the actual beach, but this time it was right on the beach. Although it was too cold to put on bathing suits and go swimming we did find sometime on Saturday to go outside and watch the waves. It was very nice and calming.
The view from our hotel room!
The celebrities attending the show!
One of our favorite movie series has always been Friday The 13th. These films brought the slasher genre to the main stream in the 1980′s and has remained one of the most popular film franchises ever. There were several stars from Friday The 13th at Blood At The Beach.
Christi and I had both ordered Adrienne King’s Crystal Lake Wine but neither of us had ever met her. She was just as nice and as sweet as she was when we talked to her on the phone and it was a real pleasure and honor to meet her.
I interviewed Adrienne after the show on Friday night . You can listen to that interview by clicking here.
Amy Steel was in the second installment of Friday The 13th. She was awesome as well.
Amy signing my print from Joel Robinson.
Steve Dash was also a guest at Blood At The Beach. He played Jason in the second Friday film. He had his machete and ready to pose with it in his pictures. I met Steve and his wife at the Full Moon Convention in Chattanooga a few weeks earlier.
Ron Millkie who played the police officer in the first film is one of the examples of people who doesn’t do a lot of conventions. I don’t think he has been at a show that I have attended.
Kane Hodder who played Jason in several of the Friday The 13th movies is one of Christi’s favorites. He was very popular all weekend. He was selling copies of his bio at the show and signing everything from pictures to hockey masks.
Christi told Kane to choke me hard and that he did!!
The Friday The 13th Q & A Panel
We saw Adrienne King and Amy Steel in the lobby of the hotel and they said that they were going to the Q & A for Friday The 13th so we headed over to the room to check it out. The room was full of Friday fans and it was a very fun panel.
Ron and Steve at the panel.
Amy, Adrienne and Kane cutting up during the panel.
It was funny to hear Steve Dash tell the story about when someone would ask him back then what movie he was doing, his reply was “It is just a piece of shit film.” Of course he didn’t know back then what we all know now.
The Walking Dead Guests
It is no secret to anyone that The Walking Dead is one of the most popular horror based shows to ever grace the tv screen. Blood At The Beach featured several stars of that show.
Here is a picture of Christi with Travis Charpentier and Kevin Galbraith who both played “walkers” in the show.
Christi had given me my birthday present early this year. She got me the Blu Ray edition of The Walking Dead which comes in a special display. Travis played the RV Zombie who Andrea stabs in the face with a screw driver in Season 2 and his head (complete with the screwdriver) is the holder for the discs. Christi knew I would want to get Travis and Kevin to sign the base.
I love this.
Addy Miller who was the very first zombie we see in Season 1 was a guest at Blood At The Beach. We have become friends with Addy and her mom as well.
Addy with Christi
Keisha Tillis who played Morgans wife in the show was a guest too. She played Morgan’s wife in one of Season 1′s most emotional scenes.
One of the show’s most popular characters was T-Dog. I will never understand why they killed him off this season. He was one of the most popular guests at the show.
Christi, Irone Singleton and me.
Savana Wehunt played a zombie in The Walking Dead as well as being Chandler Riggs’ stand in.
Chandler Riggs was a guest at the show too but we had limited time at the show on Saturday and his line was very long.
Other guests at Blood At The Beach
One of my very favorite films has to be Cabin Fever. We had met Cerina Vincent in Gatlinburg last year where I did an interview with her. It was really great to see her again. Here she is signing my poster from Return To The House On Haunted Hill.
Another shot of Cerina and me
My favorite guest at the show had to Sarah Butler. She has been in several movies but my favorite has to be the remake of I Spit On Your Grave.
It was very cool to talk to her about the making of that film. I told Christi that she has replaced Danielle Harris as my favorite horror actress after meeting her and finding out how nice and sweet she is.
Christi and Sarah
Sid Haig checking the internet during down time at the show. He didn’t have much down time as there was a line at his table all weekend.
Verne Troyer was also at the show.
Dana Barron from Vacation was at Blood At The Beach. I had to get a picture with her as that was one of my all time favorite movies.
Dana signing a picture for me.
Christi and Dana.
Jason Lively who was in European Vacation was one of the nicest guys at the show. He took a lot of time with his fans and talked about anything you wanted to talk about. He was in Night Of The Creeps as well.
Me and Jason
One of the very best vampire films ever has to be The Lost Boys. Alex Winter was in that film and Christi got to meet him for the first time.
Alex was also in the Bill And Ted movies but Christi got a picture from The Lost Boys.
Alex and me.
Zack Ward from A Christmas Story.
Remember the film Night Of The Comet? I know a lot of people consider it a very cheesy movie but I still enjoy watching it. One of the stars of that movie, Catherine Mary Stewart was at the show. It was really great to meet her and tell her how much I love the film.
Getting Catherine to sign a Night Of The Comet picture for me.
Catherine and me at Blood At The Beach.
Always great seeing the wonderful Debbie Rochon at a convention.
Debbie signing another picture for my collection.
Writer Jack Ketchum
Getting Jack to sign a book for a friend.
Actor Tom Towles with Christi.
I have always been a huge fan of Kevin Smith’s movies, especially Chasing Amy. A friend had gotten an autograph for me earlier this year so it was really cool to finally get to meet her.
Vendors and other cool stuff
As with any horror convention, Blood At The Beach was full of vendors selling posters, movies, pictures and much more.
Masks
Posters from London 1888
This guys stuff really caught our eye. The company’s name is Fabian’s Finest Freaks. Some of the most awesome stuff we have seen.
Santa was on hand to welcome in the holiday season.
Halloween was over but one group had a pumpkin carved and lit up all weekend.
There were a lot of other guests at the show including Vernon Wells, Robert Rusler, Anthony Michael Hall, Jamie Kennedy and many others but there is just so much time it is hard to meet everyone. We got to meet the main stars we wanted to so that made for a great weekend.
I really hope that they keep putting on two Blood At The Beach shows every year. If the first two conventions are any hint of what they have in store for us in the coming years horror fans are in for a great treat.
I would like to say a big thanks to Al Keisel and the staff of Blood At The Beach for putting on a great show and for making Christi and myself feel very welcome. And a big thanks to Christi for taking a ton of great pictures for this post.
The next Blood At The Beach will take place April 19- 21, 2013. You can click here to visit the website and keep up with what they have planned.
Hope to see you all in Virginia Beach in 2013!!!
I had the pleasure of attending the Full Moon Tattoo And Horror Convention in Chattanooga a few weeks ago. The Full Moon Conventions are organized by Ben and Stacey Dixon of Nashville. Ben is one of the best tattoo artists in Nashville and Stacey is an actress and model. I have been attending the Full Moon shows for many years and they never disappoint.
My favorite part of attending conventions is meeting the celebrities from my favorite horror movies. It means a lot to me to be able to tell the stars what an impact their work has had on my life. I really like it when a convention has a reunion of several cast members from one of my favorite films. Full Moon had several cast members of the Phantasm cast. A. Michael Baldwin, Reggie Bannister and Angus Scrimm was joined by director Don Coscarelli for what was in my opinion one of the best movie reunions you could ask for.
Me and Don Coscarelli
Me and Reggie Bannister from Phantasm
With A. Michael Baldwin
The Tall Man himself Mr. Angus Scrimm
Don Cascarelli
Me with Reggie and Michael
Fans meeting the Phantasm guys
One of the hottest tv shows on the air right now is The Walking Dead. There were several cast members of the show on hand to meet and talk to the fans. Many of these people we have met before and become friends with. It is always fun to hang out with these fine actors and actresses.
My girlfriend Christi could not make it to the show. She had found a bottle of Zombie Zin wine in North Carolina and thought it would be cool to get some of the walkers from the show to sign it. Here is a pic of Sonya Thompson signing the bottle.
Rodney Hall saying hello to Christi and holding her bottle of wine.
Our favorite zombie of all time and good friend Melissa Cowan AKA The Bicycle Girl was at the show on Saturday and put her signature on the bottle as well.
A Walking Dead fan talks to Melissa about the show, along with Melissa’s boyfriend Erin.
Me and Melissa before she headed back home.
Viviana Chavez who appeared in the first season of the show as Miranda was at the show on Sunday. I did not know that she was going to be at the show. It was a very nice surprise to be able to meet her.
My picture with Viviana
PJ Soles who starred in the first Halloween movie is a very special friend to Christi and me. She was at the show and did a very nice question and answer panel and talked about Halloween, Rock And Roll High School and some of her other films.
PJ during her Q & A.
Steve Dash who played Jason in Friday The 13th Part 2 was one of the guests at Full Moon. He is a very nice guy.
David Naughton was in the film American Werewolf In London. A lot of people don’t know it but David was the guy that sung about being a pepper in the Dr Pepper commercials in the 70′s and had a hit record with the theme song of the tv show Makin’ It that he also appeared in.
David signing a picture for Christi.
Two of our good friends from Georgia were on hand as well. Circus Envy and Jerry Dewayne Lester saying hello to Christi.
With Lace Grainger, one of Argos T. Fleam’s Kooks
There was a costume contest on Saturday Night so I thought I would stick around and check it out. The judges for the show were Daniel Griffith, Melissa Cowan and David Naughton.
Here are pictures of some of the costumes that were entered in the contest
The judges voting for their favorite costumes
And the winner is…..
I was hoping this girl would win. A very original idea with her Tippi Hedren costume from The Birds.
As with any horror convention there were a lot of very cool vendors selling their products at the show.
You could also get a tattoo at the show if you wanted to. Full Moon started out as a tattoo show and the horror side was added a few years later. Glad to see they kept the tattoo part.
Me and Stacey Dixon, one of the shows organizers.
As always I had a great time at the Full Moon Tattoo And Horror Convention in Chattanooga, Tn. They always have stuff going on all weekend and great celebrity guests. A big thanks to Ben and Stacey Dixon for putting on one of the best shows in the south. As long as they keep doing the show I will keep coming. Looking forward to their show in Nashville in 2013 at the Nashville Convention Center. Hope to see you all there.
Click here to listen to my interview with Ashleigh Jo Sizemore
Ashleigh Jo Sizemore is an artist and an actress. One role that she is really proud of is that of one of the walkers in the hit AMC show “The Walking Dead”. She has become known as the big eyed zombie, in fact she told me that her eyes is what got her the role in the first place. Ashely was kind enough to sit down with me at this past summers Days Of The Dead Convention and talked with me about acting, her art and many other things. Enjoy my interview with Ashleigh Jo Sizemore!!
Marc Ballard has been organizing comic and horror conventions all over the show for the past 14 years. This year the show returns to the Nashville Fair Grounds October 6 – 7. This years guest list is one of the best that he has had in a while. I caught up with Marc today to talk about his guest and all the other things going on at the show. With guest from The Walking Dead, Ghost Busters and Night Of The Living Dead you can’t miss. Listen to our interview with Marc and I am sure you will be in Nashville the weekend of October 6. See you there.
Click here to listen to Marc’s interview
Full Moon 2012 Poster
People waiting in line to get tickets to Full Moon
The very first horror convention that I ever attended was the Full Moon Tattoo And Horror Convention that is held each spring in Nashville Tn. I look forward to this show each and every year. My friends Ben and Stacey Dixon are the organizers of the show and they do a top notch job each and ever year.
Christi and Stacey Dixon
One thing I really liked about this years Full Moon Convention was the fact that this year it was held at the Nashville Convention Center in the heart of downtown Nashville. The convention was in on huge area. I have to say I really like it when conventions are like this and not in several different rooms at a hotel. I think a lot of conventions should look at this and move toward this type of setup!
Downtown Nashville
The Celebrities at Full Moon
There were several stars that we were really looking forward to meeting.
The first one was Norman Reedus from “The Walking Dead” and “The Boondock Saints”. He was very nice and very personable. I really enjoyed meeting him.
Me and Norman Reedus
Christi getting Norman's autograph for her daugther
Christi with Norman Reedus
Norman talking on the phone
One of the most popular cable tv show has to be HBO’s “True Blood”. Kristin Bauer stars as Pam in that show and she was another one of the guests that we were really wanting to meet. She is just as pretty as she is on the show and one of the most popular guests at the show.
Christi and Kristin Bauer
Kristin signing a picture for me
Me with Pam from "True Blood"
Another really popular star that was at Full Moon was Kane Hodder. He was Jason in several of the “Friday The 13th” films. Kane is a regular guest at Full Moon.
Christi and Kane Hodder
Kane Hodder
Another actor who appeared as Jason was Richard Brooker. He appeared in the third installment of the “Friday The 13th” series. He is the first Jason that wore the famous hockey mask in Part 3. He had some very cool Jason masks for sale at the show.
Christi with Richard "Jason" Brooker
There were three Jasons total at the show. Ted White was the third.
Christi with Ted White
Not only were there stars from “Friday The 13th”, there were also stars from the “Halloween” movies as well.
Brad Loree who played Michael Myers in “Halloween Resurrection” make his first visit to The Music City for the Full Moon Show.
Christi and Brad
Brad Loree waking up on Sunday morning with a cup of Java!!
Getting attacked by Michael Myers!!
Like Brad, George Wilbur is also a stunt man who has played Michael Meyers in a Halloween film. George appeared in “The Return Of Michael Myers”
George Wilbur, Me and Brad Loree
Me and Leslie Easterbrook
Leslie Easterbrook has been in countless movies over the years. One of her recent roles was that of Mother Firefly in Rob Zombie’s “Devils Rejects”. I was really excited about meeting her and conducted an interview with her for this website that will be posted very soon.
Leslie Easterbrook with Christi
Leslie Easterbrook from Rob Zombies "Devils Rejects"
In addition to Norman Reedus, there were several other memebers of ”The Walking Dead” cast on hand. One was Madison Lintz who had one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the shows second season as Sophie.
Christi and Madison Lintz
Madison and her mom Kelly Lintz
Madison’s mom Kelly Lintz is an actress as well and appears in the recent movie “The Hunger Games”
Rodney Hall and Mike Koske who were featured on “The Walking Dead” as Walkers were also guests at Full Moon
Mike Koske, Me and Rodney Hall
One of the first horror movies that really got to me was “I Spit On Your Grave”. Camille Keaton was the female lead in the film. If you have seen it you will know what part got to me.
With Camille Keaton
Robert Carradine was at the show too. One of the most popular movies he was in has to be “Revenge Of The Nerds”. He was at Fright Night last year but I didn’t get a chance to meet him so I was glad he was at Full Moon
Me and Robert Carradine
Here is a picture of our friends Josh and Angie with Tony Todd. Tony has been acting for many years an was in the movie “Night Of The Living Dead”
Christi with Jerry
Christi and Me with Circus Envy
Easter "Candy"
Christi and Argos T. Fleam
After Hours
When the convention shuts down, the parties begin. Full Moon offered a huge amount of after hours enterainment for people
There was a burlesque show at the venue that attracted a big crowd
Lady in red
Belly Dancer
This girl was really good
My back still hurts from watching this
Pole dancer
- It takes a great amount of skill to do this
We ran into Frank Fritz from the tv show “American Pickers” walking around the show on Saturday night. We chased him down and got a couple pictures with him.
Christi and Frank from "American Pickers"
Generation Landslide
One thing that I was really looking forward to seeing was Ben Dixon’s band from the 80′s Generation Landslide play at BB King’s Blues Club. I never got to see them back in the day. We headed down to the club and watched as Ben and company rocked the house.
Gene Hadley
Ben Dixon
Generation Landslide rocking BB Kings
Tony Frost
Ben Dixon
Gene Hadley
Costumes
I have said it before but I love seeing people dress up at horror conventions as their favorite horror character or one that they made up themselfs. Here are a few pics of the fans at Full Moon..
Our friend Jason with Caitlin Cadaver
Zombie Elvira
Tallest guy at the show
This lady had the best zombie make up I have seen in a while
Chris Pezzano and Christi
Mara Queen Of The Macabre
This guy was a little creepy!!
Fresh Bar-B-Q
Our friend Jennifer was checking to see if this guys beard was real or not!!!
Tattoos
There were close to 100 tattoo artists at the show who were all busy doing tattoos all weekend. Here are a couple pictures of my friend Kevin getting a Vincent Price tattoo.
Does it hurt?
Finished product
As you can tell by the picture below Christi and her ”friend” were having a great time at Full Moon
Look behind you Christi!!!
This was the 11th year of the Full Moon Tattoo and Horror Convention and from the looks of things this show shows no sign of slowing down. Top notch guests along with a great venue and great fans all add up to a fun weekend. I will be attending the Full Moon Show as long as they put it on. It is good having a convention in my back yard that I don’t have to travel a long distance to.
I would like to say a big thanks to Ben and Stacey Dixon for putting on one of the south’s best horror conventions. Looking forward to next years show!!!
Also a big thanks to Christi for taking great pictures.
We will see you soon!!!
Savana Wehunt is a twenty year old actress from Georgia. She originally wanted to be a vet but after being in several children’s theater productions she was bit by the acting bug. This past year she was featured in The Walking Dead web series and TV series as well. As a walker she appeared in two of this seasons most talked about episodes….the attack on Otis at the high school and appearance of Sophie before she was shot. I ran into Savana at Con Nooga a couple of weeks ago and asked if I could interview her for Monsters From The Basement. She is bound to go far in the acting world. Listen as I chat with Savana Wehunt!!
Click here to listen to my interview with Savana Wehunt
