Annette Funicello

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"Spring break!" The mere mention of the phrase would conjure distinct visions of fun for any particular age group in American history. For well-heeled college students at least as far back as the 19th Century, the spring holiday was a casual time to recuperate from academic stresses. For those who came of age in the late 1950s and early 60s, Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello defined and inspired a more established spring break ritual. Young adults today, who have never known life without MTV, experience spring break as an aggressively produced and marketed event that has all the flash of a rock concert, major sporting event, and fashion show, all rolled into one annual beach blast.

Over the years, spring break revelers have made a home for themselves at many different beach locales. The Frankie and Annette crowd could be found primarily at Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Daytona Beach and Panama City Beach, also in Florida, began solidifying their own respective popularity not long after. Palm Beach, California, along with international stars Cancun, Acapulco, and the Bahamas, have all established themselves as crowd favorites today.

There's another major spring break hotspot right in Texas' backyard. South Padre Island, 25 miles north of Mexico on the Texas gulf coast, has gained steadily in popularity since the tents and bonfires of the 60s. South Padre Island offers an expansive five mile stretch of beach, and there is ample lodging to accomodate any budget. A trip into Mexico is only a thirty minute drive, for those spring breakers who want an international experience. For spring break with a Texas flair, come on down to South Padre Island.

Mark Stone writes articles for various websites including http://www.south-padre-island-spring-break.com

The History of Halloween Music

Some may debate whether Bobby Pickett's "Monster Mash" or the beginning of Johann Sebastian Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" was the first music to unequivocally be associated with Halloween, while other's may insist that nothing truly scary made an impact on the national consciousness until the Starland Vocal Band released "Afternoon Delight".

No matter what you associate musically with Halloween, the songs and themes that seem to pop up year after year around October 31st have certainly made an impact. Unlike Christmas Music, which has a rich tradition (aside from the deplorable "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer"), Halloween music is almost exclusively a product of the 20th century.

The number of purely musical releases are few and far between. Most recognizable Halloween themes were a byproduct from the film and television industry. Consider Ray Parker Jr's "Ghostbusters", which was originally titled "I Want a New Drug" and performed by Huey Lewis and the News. It not only rose to the top of the charts, but has also enjoyed many subsequent years of airplay because of the Halloween season, much to the chagrin of anyone who can't appreciate the beauty of rhyming "dose" with "ghost".

Even more popular are the sound bites from various horror franchises. Who can forget the busy yet astonishingly creepy theme to John Carpenter's "Halloween" or the scary, slow building strings that John Williams wrote for Steven Spielberg's "Jaws"? And dare we not include Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" from the movie Titanic. Talk about frightening!

Indeed, movie and TV themes such as "The Twilight Zone", written and performed by Neil Norman & His Cosmic Orchestra, seem to resonate with more appeal than novelty songs written with monster mayhem in mind. Personally, I blame the song "The Blob" which was written and performed by the ingeniously named The Five Blobs for setting a terrible precedence. It's not easy to adequately convey the urgent need to "be careful of the blob" with monotone vocals and music that sounds fresh from an Annette Funicello, Franky Avalon surf picture, but somehow all five blobs managed.

No matter what music puts you in the mood for frightening fun this Halloween season, it's almost a given that you'll hear it somewhere. Whether it comes from the television, the radio, or via the humming of that co-worker in the cubical next to your who you never were all that sure about, Halloween music is indeed here to stay.

About the Author

To learn more about The History of Halloween You can also download Halloween music for free on our site. Read articles on International Music

Can you match the VINTAGE tv show to the character?

NO ABBREVIATIONS PLEASE.....sorry

Gunsmoke-----Newley O'Brien
I Love Lucy-----Mrs Trumbull
The Real McCoys---Pepino
The Donna Reed Show----Alex Stone
The original Mickey Mouse Club--Annette Funicello
Ding Dong School-----Miss Frances

'The Middle' actor shines
Young Atticus Shaffer brings refreshing spin

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