Since I joined the full-time staff at RM back in January, I soon realized some of the themes that run through the issues – initially perceived by me to have been meticulously planned – are actually happy coincidences. (Shhh…don’t tell anyone. Instead, remain confounded by our unbridled brilliance!) The latest example being the November issue, in which the boundary-demolishing A Serbian Film is our cover story, The Gore-met’s column focuses on the wrongful arrest of special effects artist Rémy Couture, and Monica’s Library of the Damned column is a discussion about censorship and Banned Books Week’s Most Challenged Title of the year. As our Editor-in-Chief Dave Alexander pointed out at the last CineMacabre Movie Night, it seems horror is becoming dangerous again. Anyway, my point is the thread between those aforementioned pieces wasn’t necessarily strategic, it just kind of happened.
Well, it seems those RM-related coincidences can bleed into life occasionally too. Among the artists we featured in our ram-packed Halloween double issue this year were Iron Maiden artist Derek Riggs and Halloween Carols composer Kristen Lawrence. Other than their obvious connection to music, the likelihood of their lives colliding seems fairly unlikely. Well, on October 23 Lawrence served as guest keyboardist for The Iron Maidens, an all-female tribute to Iron Maiden for their “Heavy Metal Halloween Show” on October 23 at the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana, California and who did she run into backstage but Derek Riggs?! The pair marvelled at being featured in the same issue of Rue Morgue and how the universe had seemingly brought them together yet again.
Coincidence? You decide, but this House of Horror is some crazy place. Never underestimate the radiant powers of Rue Morgue! It’s bigger than all of us…
Check out some footage of the show below, and you can see more photos of the night if you go to Kristen’s Facebook fan page here.
