It may just be me on the verge of becoming an Old Fogey, but it seems to me that the great tradition of sanctioned extortion known as “Trick or Treating” has fallen victim to societal changes and probably unjustified paranoia. That annual ritual has been replaced by Halloween parties.

Way back in the mists of time – about ten to fifteen years ago – the radio station WFMU hosted a Saturday morning kids show called “Greasy Kid Stuff”. It wasn’t your standard Disney-type music; instead the hosts played music for your inner child. They Might Be Giants, Kenny Young and the Eggplants, Jonathan Richman, Shonen Knife, et al. Anyway, every year the last show in October was devoted to Halloween music. One year, they gave some simple recipes for a kid’s Halloween party.

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In a blatant attempt at bringing traffic to my blog, I have joined the “Countdown to Halloween” this year as a “Cryptkeeper”. This means I have committed myself to posting regularly this month on Halloween-related themes. Since as a baseball fan, I will be unable to avoid commenting on the playoffs and World Series on occasion, my posts for the Countdown will feature this banner:

I’ve got nine posts ready to go. Now I could post them daily, one right after the other, but I’d completely run out of all of my possible ideas well before the end of the month. So I’ll be spacing them out, posting one every few days.

In order to have something a bit more for you right now, the Free Music Archive has dozens of collections of Halloween-themed music for you to download. Should be plenty to put you in the mood….

By the way, this year’s Countdown has nearly 200 Cryptkeepers. Click on the banner to get to the Master List – and give them page views and comments!