A Chin That Lives in Jersey

When you hear the term 'Boomstick', what do you think of? You recall one man who basically gave the middle finger to evil and fought his way to show that even the common goofball can be a hero. He is not that good though since he is the one who has the gun. Long before I knew of Evil Dead franchise I remember back in the days where VHS rental stores were everywhere, a cover image of a man standing proud with a chainsaw in his hand as the smoke circled up his arm, torn shirt with straps on his muscled chest and a beautiful lady on his side. Below what was a car, skeletons, and tiny people with a fork?! What kind of a movie is this? Keep in mind I was only 8 at the time and thinking 'This has to be the coolest movie ever!'. Naturally this is when I started to love Horror movies at a young age after watching both the original Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street and the most beloved sequel of that franchise, Dream Warriors, all thanks to my Uncle Mario who showed them to me. I was so baffled when I couldn't rent this movie I always kept seeing at the video store. It wasn't until I was 10 that they finally let me rent that movie. It was titled 'Army of Darkness' starring Bruce Campbell. Watched it and loved it! It wasn't really horror at all, more like Looney Tunes meets Three Stooges with adult situations. After that I got to watch The Evil Dead and it's Re-quel; Dead by Dawn.


NOW ONTO THE MAIN TOPIC OF THIS BLOG:

Back in 2012 there was a contest to choose 2 people of the next costumed actors/actresses to come to the fairly new at the time 'Days of the Dead' which was held in Indianapolis. I chose this gentlemen named Adam King. He sported the character I remember watching back when I was a kid and while I got older too. He was Ashley 'Ash' Williams from the Evil Dead franchise. While the tallies of votes were counted, he won!

I have seen people dress up as Ash but, nobody can come close to this guy right here. He amazed me of how uncanny his look is so damn accurate to Bruce Campbell, I'm still stunned to the very day. June came around and I finally got to meet this guy. I arrived at the hotel where I saw my fellow friend Nick Tyson talking to him and as he turned to me, he automatically knew who I was. With the most relaxed calm voice he said "Hey Steve, it's nice to meet you". I replied back "Nice to meet you too Adam, you're an amazing Bruce's Ash hands down". He was very pleased to know that people cared about his look. I do admit I was really nervous meeting him. Why? I am a shy person in person but, I started to warm up where I felt very comfortable to talk to this guy. During the convention I donned my Heath Ledger's Joker return from the previous 1st ever 'Days of the Dead'. He told me while as Ash, to act sexy towards the camera that my better half was carrying as Harley Quinn. I got to know things about him and damn; he was so much fun to hang out with. With sad regret I had to do only 2 days worth of the show because I couldn't get Sunday off. When the convention was over I added him on Facebook and let the love and craziness begin!




So a year later and we're back once again as characters we love and I added something new. I decided to do for the first time ever Jack Nicholson's Jack Torrance from 1980 Stanley Kubrick film 'The Shining' based on the best selling Stephen King novel. I was very uneasy taking on Jack's Jack, but Adam assured me that it will "Go great and many people will notice!". He was right! Minus the few people that mistook me as Jack BLACK dressed as Jack Nicholson's Jack Torrance by whatever reason. Why associate Black's name to a horror convention when you know very well it's Jack Nicholson. Was my hair too long for it? Or was it that the fact Black kinda mimics Nicholson? Anyways; This time beside Adam supporting the torn shirt with the Boomstick and Chainsaw, he was wearing the full stubbed handed shirt and the S-Mart stock boy attire complete with the metal hand Ash wore during the medieval times in Army of Darkness. He let me borrow his green oozed Axe to complete my Jack. I kept saying "Scatman must've had green blood under that winter coat when he got axed". Adam was very keen on keeping his Ash very much alive and well. Still knowing that he really wants to meet his idol he costumes as and I kept telling him he will one day sooner or later.

Dreams do come true and not just in fairly tales either. He finally got the meet the Boomstick master; the Chin king himself with all the cocky attitude included, Bruce Campbell. The moment where the Earth stopped to take a multiple among multiple looks in awe. I'm very happy that he got to meet Bruce and fore fill his dream and that will always be one thing he'll never stop talking about. With his beautiful Girlfriend at the time, he felt very accomplished but there was one thing he knew must do.

He married his girlfriend! She was just the wonderful complete circle he was looking for all this time and never ending love he gives her day in, day out. I see Jessica as a big inspiration in his life and he is very lucky to have a wonderful woman that loves him so much. As the little younger brother I was very happy for the both of them on their marriage and their continued support for each other all the time. I have yet to meet Jessica in person, but what I can see/hear/and know she is very friendly. This Summer as of the year 2017 I am planning to take a trip to New Jersey and spend a couple of days with them. I miss Adam very much. Friends come and go; but not this guy. He never once left me behind where I am in the dust or felt like he was 'better' than me. I lost friends because of that.

To conclude this blog entry dedicated to a Brother that I love dearly; I want to say if you ever make a friend that you can instantly click with and know you can chat about anything to that person with feeling too odd and strange. Be very lucky, there is very few people in this world that share the same values and respect as you. Thank you for being who you are. Thank you for being my Best Friend through these years. Keep on rocking that Boomstick!