Breadcrumbs Into The Valley (A NEPA Horror Fest Trail)

I grew up in a valley, so, literally - walled off by mountains, from the rest of the world, geographically. It’s a mindset too. I know it well. I grew up aware of it, freaking out about it, and eventually - once I spotted the breadcrumb trail to get out, I really wasn’t looking back.

Spoiler: my wife and I did come back. But this “left and then returned” thing is as important as the valley mountain walls metaphor to me. There’s a sense of purpose here.

I was thinking about a Murphy’s Law show at Homebase (a converted warehouse with concrete floors where, for about 4 years, there were a lot of great punk/hardcore/underground shows in the late ‘90s/early 2000s).

The band played their cover of “Somebody’s Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight,” which - I was and am a huge fan of that song - and as I’m singing along, I get a beer dumped on my head by their singer, Jimmy.

It’s a funny story. Not just because I was below the drinking age and it was a lot of beer. But it’s a peculiar story because something else happened that night too.

Before the show, Jimmy was hanging out and talking to people. After the show, Jimmy was hanging out and talking to people. He thought it was funny about the beer, he laughed it off, and he encouraged me to come to New York City and visit his tattoo shop and he’d give me a few bucks off.

I never went. I don’t have any tattoos, still, but I did think about it. It was little moments like that, when the outside world was right there, inviting you to come along, with these people from outside our little valley that made me feel like you really could just go places and do things.

Since my wife and I are both from this area, and since we decided to come back together, one of the commitments we made was to help highlight the breadcrumbs in and out of this valley.

Ideally with less beer in minor’s hair.

But if local people don’t know how accessible the world actually is - we know how easy it is to be trapped. We didn’t like that feeling. We don’t like thinking of others with that feeling.

When our old friend, Bobby K, posted about being on a fence with his local horror movie festival (NEPA Horror Fest), and that he was still looking for sponsors, my wife and I jumped at the opportunity to help back the event.

It checked all of our breadcrumb boxes. Movies from in and out of the area, on a big ol’ drive in movie screen, open to all ages, in an all afternoon/evening event. It was local and global, side by side.

I had Bobby come on Just Press Record just so we could talk about it some. He told me about the filmmaker from Pittston he’s featuring this year (local), and the guy who flew in from Dubai last year (not local!).

He told me about how cross-generational nostalgia isn’t just simple sentimentality. How it helps culture survive in places industries easily forget. It ain’t Disney World, but there's a “this means something” factor you can't deny when you're watching horror flicks at a drive-in.

And Bobby left me thinking about the significance of the very large drive in screen versus the phone screens everybody stares at all day. Which tracks the local and global - because watching something together does that in a way only watching a movie on a giant screen at the end of a parking lot can.

I can’t guarantee we’ll save any souls sponsoring an event like this.

I can guarantee that if it weren’t for events like this, I’d be stuck in a rut, or worse.

Come join us - October 11th, Circle Drive-in, 5pm. Kids 12 and under get in free. You can bring a rooster (yes, really) or a pet, if you want. This is how the next generation will learn they can do it too.

Someone needs to keep leaving breadcrumbs into and out of our valley, or nobody is going to find their way out. Come check it out if you’re local. Come see what NEPA’s got cooking if you’re not.

Be someone’s breadcrumb. 10/11. See you there.