The Story Of Salem’s Lot

Salem’s Lot scared the living shit out of me when it originally aired as a two-part miniseries on CBS (November 17 and November 24, 1979). Please to enjoy this one-hour love letter, filled with scary clips, wise observations, and neato behind-the-scenes trivia.

In this in depth retrospective I tell the story of Tobe Hooper’s 1979 vampire epic “Salem’s Lot”, based on the novel by Stephen King. I delve deep into its development, production and legacy while providing my own thoughts on the miniseries. Starring: David Soul, James Mason, Lance Kerwin, Bonnie Bedelia, Lou Ayers, Ed Flanders and and Reggie Nalder. Written by Paul Monash and produced by Richard Kobritz. Copyright Warner Bros. Television.

Starchild and I

What do Paul Stanley and I have in common?  Chest hair?  Makeup?  Goofy stage banter?  Nope.  Not much, really, except for one formative event: at age 5, we were both pole-axed by Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto (Piano Concerto #5).  Here’s PS waxing eloquent on the subject:

I was absolutely god smacked. To know that music could have that kind of power, although I was so young, the music had such heroic qualities to it and mammoth chords. To this day it’s some of the heaviest and most glorious melodies ever. So that really was my introduction to the gravitas that music could have and how emotive it could be. So at the core of music for me is Beethoven.

As for me, it was the first piece of music I fell in love with when Col. Renfield brought home a copy and put it on the ol’ console.  The Beatles came a year or so later.

If you’re interested, there are many good recordings and a handful of great ones.  But to my ears, Rudolf Serkin owned this work.  Here he is with Leonard Bernstein and the NY Philharmonic competing with him for attention.  The winners are we, the listeners.