Friday, August 29, 2014

DYNASTY OF DARKNESS

"DYNASTY OF DARKNESS"
by Chris Chaos and Baron Craze

The following article was adapted from "THE BLOODY RISE OF AXIS VIDEO" concerning the films "Dynasty of Darkness" and "Dynasty of Darkness: Apocalyptic End"

After we completed filming for our “BREAKNECK WRESTLING” project we were looking for our next project, we took inventory of our likes and decided upon doing music videos for bands. So we put out the word and did a few videos and wondered what to do with all the music videos once we had them filmed and edited. At that point, we then wanted to do a loose documentary on some of the bands that we were working with…..Enter “DYNASTY OF DARKNESS”, a collection of music videos from local and international bands that we filmed videos for. So we started contacting bands and informing them of what we were doing and some could care less and others were very welcoming to the idea. Myke Hideous of The Empire Hideous was one of the greatest help and found us Shadow Reichenstein and Bella Morte for our project. So Myke set up a show at the CBGBs of several bands and we filmed the whole set for our project. When we filmed the CBGBs set we didn’t know what we were getting into. We rented a van and booked the seats for all those going. Driving up to NYC was always a hassle and had a hell of a time finding parking. When we finally found a parking spot it was a miracle, so we unpacked and head over to the club to start our night of filming. (Side note) A few weeks later we got a $400 ticket in the mail and we had to pay it since it would have cost us more money to take off from work and spend the day in court fighting the ticket. Although the van was parked clearly far enough from the yellow line and the fire hydrant there was nothing that we could do, we spent just about all day and night at the club setting up and filming. I enjoyed (sarcasm implied) the whole show up on a speaker getting a wide shot of the concert, needless to say I was rattled and deaf by the time the show was over.


We found a great band named Sapphic Ode based out of New Jersey and Pennsylvania and worked out a deal to film a scripted video for them. We filmed that all in one day at the legendary Harwain Theater in Mount Ephraim, New Jersey and everything went very smoothly, despite it being an all-day event. We filmed several scripted scenes for the video which featured members of the band, an actor and the fetish dancers/models Cyndie Myst and Dani 
Nemesis. We did many takes of the individual members of the band for the live portions of the video. It was extremely hot in the theater and in one of the scenes that required the guitarist to have a black trash bag over his head he almost passed out. It was a great experience working with all involved and it was also the 1st time we worked with Cyndie and Dani. The lead singer of Sapphic Ode, Julie, was also a model for Wicked Talent and that is how she secured Cyndie and Dani for the video. We filmed so much footage for this scripted video we actually could produce a making of video to go along with it. In between filming the scripted video for Sapphic Ode we also filmed them a few times live to mix into the final video edit. This video called She God was also the last time the theater was used before it was torn down and turned into a Walgreens drug store.

In the storage room of The Harwain we found old film reels of porn dating back to the 60’s and 70’s, I wish that I could have rescued them. This shoot garnished a lot of attention since Charles Cudd of the band Dead Emotion drove all the way down from NYC to meet and talk about doing a scripted video for them.

An interesting story unfolded at one of their shows up in NY that we were filming, before we were in touch with the band KITTIE, they were playing on the same bill as Sapphic Ode. When they came on I just decided to film their show and then seek permission later, but halfway through the set my camera people and myself were swarmed by security to confiscate our footage. It was very loud, we were in NY and in no position to argue so we gave up the 
footage. Then later on when we did work with Kittie they stated that they remembered this incident and apologized.

Also during the filming of Dynasty of Darkness we met up with Charles from the band Dead Emotion based out of NY and he has become an ally with our projects ever since. We discussed doing a scripted video for his fetish song called BYTCH. The video was scripted it out and we set the date and all showed up at a Moose Lodge in the middle of Bumblefuck, New Jersey to film it. We started somewhat early and it continued into the wee hours of the 
morning. It was fetish themed so our model friends Cyndie Myst and Dani Nemesis were on hand once again. The alcohol was flowing and everyone got silly. There were so many scenes filmed it was really hard to decide which ones would make it when we went to edit the video.

Charles actually had another shoot set up to add even more footage to this great video. We filmed this part at the house I was living in at the time. Charles had some more fetish models involved for this shoot and the legendary Carpetboy appeared in this one. We will eventually also edit a making of video for this song too. The outtakes were hysterical.

While searching for bands to include on the D.O.D. DVD, we came across an industrial band called Suture Seven, a very talented group of 3 guys from the Harrisburg, PA area. I believe we met them through our "at the time friend" and club promoter J.R. at a local club in Philly. Their musical style is part Ministry, part Nine Inch Nails and part all of their own. The 1st time we saw them live it was some sort of Hero/Villain costume theme and they all dressed up 
like the thugs from the old Batman show. After the show I contacted them and told them what we were doing with D.O.D. and they really wanted to be a part of it. So we made plans to meet them at the next show and we filmed their whole set. It was too hectic to try and get interviews after the show so we set a date to meet them at their studio. We met up with them and conducted the interviews and they are truly a great bunch of guys. After the interviews they 
gave us a private concert in which we also filmed. They supplied us Rumple Minze and pizza but I had an empty stomach and too many shots before the pizza arrived. I ate one slice of pizza and it did not agree with me so I excused myself to the outside and threw up. It has been an ongoing joke between the lead singer and myself ever since.

Later that night S7 was to play a show, in which we were also to film, with a band called Carfax Abbey. Afterwards we met up at a local diner and just goofed off in celebration of a good show. Soon after they did a cover of Ministry’s Stigmata that was to be included on a cover CD.

After that night, we all became good friends and came out to several of their shows to film even more. One night in the winter they had a Christmas party and we drove up there to hang out and enjoy the holidays. It stormed that night so they offered for us to stay the night.

Eventually came the time when they went through a line up change, they kept the original members but then moved the singer to drummers, added a new male singer, added a female bassist and a female keyboardist. With this new line up they did change the sound a bit and then released a new album. Shortly after they did sadly break up and moved on to other bands or higher education.

Carfax Abbey was the next band that we had our sights set on for including on D.O.D. We 1st spotted them at a Suture Seven concert and they were amazing. We were kind of put off because a few people stated they had a real ego problem, but once we met the guys we realized that was NOT true, they are all down to earth and really cool guys. The members were open to our project and anxious to get started. We secured permission to come out and film and captured the performance on camera. Several other filming dates were set up also since we wanted all the footage that we could get and we also enjoyed seeing the band live. A date was set up to meet them at the guitarist's house so that we could film some interviews for our project. We prepared a bunch of questions and all went very smoothly. A few months later the guitarist and his girlfriend got married and we were invited, they had a very interesting creepy 
theme along with a graveyard wedding cake, very awesome.

We attending quite a few of Carfax Abbey’s performances but one of the most memorable had to have been the one at Pirate’s Den (in Gloucester City before it burned down) where all the other bands were in the death metal genre and the guitarist kept making fun of one band since their lyrics did sound like Cookie Monster shouting “I want cookies!”

Bella Morte was a band that Keith liked and we met them at a show through Myke Hideous. Bella Morte is very talented and has a huge following so of course they were perfect for our project. We filmed them quite a few times over the years and all over New Jersey and New York. The most memorable show we did with them was at the very 1st Monster Mania event in Cherry Hill, NJ. The set up and atmosphere was just insane and it was a wonderful 
experience to be a part of this memorable show and event.

Of course we could not discuss the bands associated with Dynasty of Darkness without mentioning the legendary Myke Hideous of The Empire Hideous. He was hosting an event up in New York at the CBGBs one night and wished for us to film it for our Dynasty of Darkness project. He had quite a large number of bands lined up and we filmed the whole event and included The Empire Hideous, The Torn Paperdolls, Five Star Dive from that event. That was a long day, the ride up to NYC, the task of trying to find parking (which ended up in us getting a ticket) and my long perch seated up on a speaker for about 8 hours to get the wide shot of all the bands. But a legendary show took place that night and we made it a part of D.O.D.

A few weeks later we met up with Myke at his house to conduct the interviews for the film. He took us on a tour of his very interesting house, I liked his “used” coffin. It was a treat hearing of all his experiences with previous bands such as The Misfits, Spy 99 and The Bronx Casket Company. We brought some beer and asked Myke if he minded if we had a few, and he stated “as long as you do not mind me indulging”, whatever that meant....

We met up with Myke on several different dates to film other bands, like Shadow Reichenstein, that he suggested to us for use in our film. Also one night we were having a party at our house and invited Myke and crew to come, now that was an adventure. I know a few of us drank too much and the party was a blur. One of Myke's band mates was the 1st to duck out, he retreated back to his car and passed out. I think I was next, I went outside to the corner of 
the house and puked.

Introducing The Torn Paper Dolls. Prior to filming the event at the CBGBs up in NYC with Myke Hideous I saw that The Torn Paper Dolls were also on the bill so I contacted them ahead of time to make sure we could include them in our project, they agreed and the rest is history. T.P.D. is a much different band than anything that we have ever filmed but we didn’t mind since we did want a spread of different styles on the DVD.

We filmed with T.P.D. a few times and it was a joy each time, we had Nikki Jaine and Sky over a few times to film interviews and what not. One of the most memorable moments with Nikki was when she came over to provide an interview and we almost killed her. She drove over from Philly and after the interviews we were all just bullshitting around and we were taking funny photos posing with a mannequin we had named Stan. She started feeling queasy and 
had an allergic reaction to the paint or something on Stan, so we had to drive her home after that.

Moxley. The next band we started to work with for the Dynasty of Darkness project was a hardcore outfit out of Philly named Moxley. We told them of what we were doing and they wished to be on the DVD. We followed the band and filmed several of their shows to edited down to be placed in the project. It was a slow process since we were working with so many different people, bands and personality’s. Then I started getting emails from members of Moxley attempting to rush us for the edits. I explained to them the process and that it would take some time to get the videos complete but they were not listening and continued to try and rush their segment. So apparently that left a bad taste in both parties mouths due to this, but despite this the video came out great and made it onto Dynasty of Darkness: Apocalyptic End.

BARON CRAZE: "Nevertheless, Axis regain our footing, with a live show at the Trocadero Theatre, for the local band Moxley, on July 15th, and allowed Chris, Ben and myself to showcase our talents, a 3-camera shoot, if I am not mistaken this event was my first time at the Troc. Chris had Ben and I take turns on the main camera filming lesser-known bands that went on before the main show of Moxley. It turned out later that the person with no video camera 
experience actually did a fine job – and why not, I can shock folks often. The gig paid us $300, not bad for a one-show performance, however at the time a missed opportunity, nobody contacted or talked to the bands that played there that night, (of which one was called Decomposed) to try to get more monies and more exposure. The video and performance were solid, and Axis Video and myself were proud that we did a good job and able to return to the 
forefront. Moxley redefine what the standard crap-fest of metal had become, very water downed, and help us to by showing that we were not the standard production house." Baron Craze.

Resurrection was a band that came a little later in production and proved to be a valuable resource. Cherby, a member in the band, also promoted in several clubs in the area that catered to metal and rock bands. So we expanded the scope once we took on their project and Cherby led us to another band that appeared on the DVD, The Fall of Man.

BARON CRAZE: "From the starting gate, Axis Video turned our attention back to the bands of the local scene, starting with a band called Resurrection (no relation to the band from Florida, which was using the name at the same time). At the last known time they changed their name to American Messiah, they hired us for their shows at the Cherrywood Rock Club, in NJ. We filmed their entire set, and highlighted the track “New Disease” and this lead us to 
do their next gig, still at a low-end amount, but it allowed us to have another return to the prize.

February 9th marked our biggest event came from, Resurrection and this time at the Trocadero Theatre. This would mark, my first time, with no experience under my belt to do photography, I use a simple PowerShot Canon Camera A570IS and was pulling off fabulous photos, that need the briefest correction with a Photo Program, and unable to afford Photoshop I purchased Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 both helped tremendously. The bassist, Cherby, 
instructed us to be ready for a show-stopping event, and something that the Troc did not approved thereof, simply dousing himself in fake blood, which I captured with a perfect darkened stage and three spotlights behind. I was asked by others, who saw the photo, wished to know such things as what was the F-Stop (I had no what the hell they said) and what studio did I used, I said it is a live shot, with a simple camera. Here I learn the important rule, you 
got the camera, and you have the right and permission to film, take your shot, and forget about the crowd. I took some of that lesson to heart and change the other part, to give the fans respect, and work around them, any event has asses in the masses, no need to become another one of them.

These ventures led us to do more videos of bands at the Troc, and accomplish a small goal of doing the first three months of this new year of music videos, with many bands, for example Fall of Man “Disconnect”. The year was off to an exciting start, the black cloud overhead finally past, and we all needed that to happen." Baron Craze.

Living With Demons. L.W.D. is a talented music producer and member of various bands that provided us with quite a few pieces of music for some of our various projects. In between the various bands and segments on D.O.D. you will hear LWD’s music. He came up with us on the CBGBs shoot and assisted us tremendously, also he was out with us on a very memorable interview with the Jersey Devil Hunters for our documentary "THE SEARCH FOR THE 
JERSEY DEVIL". The Search for the Jersey Devil

The day finally came when we wrapped filming for Dynasty of Darkness and it was time to edit this beast of a project. First we had to decide which bands to include and which ones to cut and we planned out a release party with a club in Philly along with a secured a solid date. We had a few weeks to get the DVD edited then off to the DVD duplication plant to have it replicated in time for the release party. We were about ½ way through editing up the Sapphic Ode She God video when something happened and the hard drive of the edit deck crashed, when the deck rebooted all the edits were missing so we had to start all over again from scratch. This really set us back and we had to have the edits done pronto. The start of our insane time lines and deadline meeting beast modes.

Long story short we finished editing up the DVD, all looked good and the release party was only days away. So we mailed off the master disc to the plant to have the DVD pressed. I received the phone call from the plant that they received it and the DVD shipments should be back to us on Friday..FRIDAY??!?! That was the day of the release party! We ordered 1000 discs but they could only get us 30 in time for the release party. Luckily all worked out 
perfectly and we had the DVDs on hand to present at the release party. Many of the people that worked on and appeared in the project did show up for the release and it was considered a success. It was magical to see all of our hard work appearing up on the big screen. The only thing issue was that the club was having several events going on alongside the release of the DVD that they could not play the film in its entirety. The Dynasty of Darkness DVD 
was completed and released in 2003. After its release many people were asking for a part 2. So we drafted up the blue prints for that and got to working on it right away.

A funny side note to this story is that this was when we still had the Bang Bus up and running, we parked in the parking garage that was across from the club that was hosting the party. In all of the excitement we locked the keys in the van as we were planning to make our grand entrance. But luckily the attendants were apt at lock picking.

After a warm reception, a follow up to Dynasty of Darkness was planned and entitled “Dynasty of Darkness: Apocalyptic End” and this had bigger and more infamous bands slated to appear but this beast would be a long time coming and wouldn’t be released until 2010. In #2 we met with Dave Brockie from Gwar and filmed him twice over the course of a weekend. We met up with him at a show in PA and filmed this incredibly long set. He was beyond drunk and 
tried to kidnap us and make us part of his Slave Pit. I was game, but reality slapped me in the face and I couldn’t go on tour with him. I must say that was the most drunken weekend that I have ever witnessed! My hard shell camera case was actually floating on the bar floor from all the spilled alcohol. On the day of Dave’s last show he partook in way too many Jager shots and could barely stand up. At one point he pissed off his drummer and he left for a bit then Dave played the drums, with his bass. Dave also has a hankering for wearing kilts since he hates pants, and I must say I saw way too much cuttlefish that night. For Dynasty of Darkness 2 we edited up “Damn that Money” but hope in the coming months we can edit up other live videos from Dave’s set. (Rest in Peace Dave!)

Several stories are associated with the day we went to film for Dave Brockie. First it was a day when the members of Axis Video's schedules were all conflicted, Keith told me we were filming one of 2 of Dave's shows, either in Philly or West Chester. He then decided that it would be the 2nd day in West Chester and I had prior obligations and was up all night. Then Keith called and informed me that the film dates now included BOTH days. So Keith and the rest of the filming crew met me at my house to make the journey into Philly to film the 1st nights show. It was beyond crowded. We were waiting on D.B.X. (The Dave Brockie Experience) to take stage so we talked with the band members as they were unloading their tour van, the famed Sea Slut. We got some interviews and odd talk in with Dave before he excused himself to go get ready for the show.

When it was time we made our way inside the club and sat with the band members and had a few drinks and dispensed relationship advice upon one of the band members that had his eye on a female in the club. Then came the time for DBX to meet their fans and sign autographs, chaos. So we had to assist in setting that up and maintaining order.

DBX finally took the stage and all went well. After the show we went backstage to interview him and he expressed his opinions on many topics and where we learned how much he really hates pants and why he had the kilt on. Needless to say, the Cuddlefish made its appearance in the interview and made its way onto Dynasty of Darkness: Apocalyptic End immortalized forever.

The 2nd night we filmed the performance in West Chester, PA and we didn't have a GPS for this trip and were relying on Mapquest directions. Fun...so here there are 5 guys in a car and lost in West Chester, so we stopped to ask for directions and it seemed like everyone in town were bikers, so we made Stormtrooper (one of our camera people) ask these bikers where Gay Street was. Haha. (Yes, the club was on a street named Gay Street)

We finally made it to the club and met up with Dave and crew and he was excited that he found new victims for the Slave Pit. This show was beyond messed up but a good one! Dave got beyond drunk with beer and Jager Bombs which proved to be highly entertaining. At one point during the show Dave was so drunk that the drummer left the stage for a few minutes in anger as Dave played the drum set with his guitar. His kilt had many “wardrobe malfunctions” 
and I am so glad I was not on the camera that was trained on Dave as he paraded around the stage naked. Poor Keith, haha. At another point in the show Dave lost his contact lens, so he enlisted the crowd in assistance to help find it. Amazingly the contact was found and he used our cameras to help put it back in. The bar was flooded with spilled alcohol and my hard shell camera case was actually floating in the spilt drinks.

During the show we ran into some people that we thought were members of CKY but they denied it, but of course later on while we were outside talking with Dave they introduced themselves as CKY. We have footage of this somewhere with Ryan Dunn (RIP) puking outside the bar.

The other big band that we filmed for Dynasty of Darkness 2 was KITTIE, and that was very fun hanging out with them for the night and filming their set. I contacted their management and informed them of our project and to see if we could set up a session to interview the band. They said yes, we could meet with the members of Kittie in their tour bus prior to the show. So we got there and saw Jenn (from when she was with the band) and she told us that we 
would be actually filming in the venue and filming the whole show, even better!!! We interviewed them backstage at the TROC in Philly for about 2 hours and then hung out with them and bullshitted before they went on. Then we filmed their entire set. The show got over really late and I had to be into work early. So I went into work the next morning, did a few things really quick, then built a wall of boxes in my office and passed out for 2 hours before the phone woke 
me up.

The big scripted video for this DVD was BILE’s “In League” video, we filmed their live set at the TROC in Philly, and then on a separate date filmed the scripted material for the video, this was one of the most fun and smoothest shoots we have ever done. In this video you can see some scene favorites: Gary from Carfax Abbey, fetish models Cyndie Myst, Dani Nemesis, Amber Star, Ru and Rebecca from Carfax Abbey fame. The video was set in a creepy old house 
in the middle of nowhere NJ and set the theme and tone of the dark video. Out of all of the music videos that I have done over the years I feel this one is my proudest moment.

One thing that I remember from the live shoot of Bile was when we met up with the band, some other camera person was filming for KMFDM and kept stating he was a filmmaker and that he and ONLY he was filming KMFDM. OK dude.

BARON CRAZE: "This year would be an up and down year for Axis Video, had us embarking on making a video in honor of Bile, while Axis Video, with Chris filming a portion of the film, of them playing live, years before we thought of making an organized music video to show others what we were capable. Cyndie and her model friends drove down from northern New Jersey and New York for the film. We planned out the shoot, came to line in the song, “stick in it 
where it really hurts” I informed Chris I have special item for this, and we got Gary of Carfax Abbey to star in the video. The next week over, I brought the special item (2 versions of it) to steel long spikes, and it floored Chris, who has stuff like this, I replied just one of many things in my chamber office… Makes you wonder what else I like and have in this office… many twisted items children… Nevertheless the shoot, has a professional feel, organized, pre-planned, everyone involved understood we were in control of the set and the production, smoothly ran it, and finished well ahead of schedule." Baron Craze.

The other beast of a scripted video that appeared on this project was Dead Emotion’s “Nothing to Die For”. An interesting and haunting video, shot I believe on 3 or so separate dates and locations. The Grim Reaper (who was portrayed by Baron Craze) and grave yard shots were filmed in New York and the rest in New Jersey. I remember when we arrived at the location for the NYC scene, we were walking up the hill leading to the park and I have never seen that many condoms and needles piled up in my life. We stayed up in Queens, New York the night before at Charles’ house so we could wake up early to start filming. It might have been about 8am and Charles and Marina wanted Baron to get into his Grim Reaper outfit, we decided to wait until we actually started to film since it was very hot and humid outside. Luckily we did wait since we didn’t even leave to go to the location until the afternoon. When we did start filming the Grim Reaper scene, Baron had to take a break since it was hot out and he had on this heavy black costume. This video featured Miranda St Croix and (Just) Sean as the main cast and several other people in supporting roles. The dead ghost ballerina scene was very haunting and we filmed it on an outdoor stage in Haddon Heights, New Jersey.

BARON CRAZE: "Dead Emotion returned for a second video, called “Nothing To Die For” a song by Charles and Steve Rotella, it gave us, a slightly more professional experience, Chris and I took the train up to Penn Station, with Chris experiencing the ride with a brief shock. The train slowed to a crawl, to allow the high-speed train to zoom by, it was just then Chris looked at the window, wow what a shocker for him. We arranged for Charles to not only pick 
us up but also give us a return ride home. However, as Charles drove us back to his place, we went over a bridge but not on the main portion of it, rather a very tight access road on the bridge, at a fair rate of speed. NOT FUCKING FUN! Chris was closest to the railing overlooking the river. This video had filming done in NJ – in Haddon Heights Park at the Dell and then in New York at both a cemetery and wooded private area, up a seriously steep hill. This excursion, had me venturing into more than just set design or filming but experiencing more editing and even acting, as I was the Grim Reaper, with Miranda St. Croix who later would star in our short for The Shock Trailer. This marked another zany experience with Dead Emotion, earlier in the year we joined them in New York to film them at (then named) The Bat Cave, a gothic club, where after filming, I chilled on one of the upper floors, drinking vodka, and 
Chris came up to find nothing, only to tell me later that I vanished into the darkness. This was not the first time I heard of me vanishing into the darkness, and far from the last time – that is another story for another time. However, it was time for the bands interviews, and least this marked the true Baron reckless manners, encouraging various band members to get wild with their significant others or ‘new’ friends, and let’s just say my boot was involved with my 
shoving the hindquarters thereby a face somewhere. Did I mention this was all in front of a security camera? No – well we finished and bugged out, and slipped back into the crowd by the time security arrived on the scene." Baron Craze.

In 2009 “DYNASTY OF DARKNESS: APOCALYPTIC END” was finally released with much anticipation. Amazon and several other distributors picked it up with no problems. This was probably our most elaborate release due to how many people were involved in the making of it. This sequel featured the bands: Kittie, Bile, Dave Brockie from Gwar, Dead Emotion, The Fall of Man, Resurrection, Carfax Abbey, Suture Seven and Poor Child’s Promise among many 
other segments.

Other bands that appeared on D.O.D. 2 were The Fall of Man, Poor Child’s Promise, Carfax Abbey, Suture Seven, Dead Emotion and Moxley along with many little skits, interviews and shorts appearing, but you will have to get the DVD to see these gems.

To purchase DVDs or Digital Downloads:
Dynasty of Darkness DVD

Dynasty of Darkness: Apocalyptic End

Dynasty of Darkness digital download

Dynasty of Darkness: Apocalyptic End digital download

https://www.createspace.com/266994

(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey who once again resides in and writes from Gloucester City, New Jersey. He is a filmmaker, a business owner, writer, urban explorer and investigator of the odd and weird, a proud parent, happily taken and a connoisseur of hot wings. Chris can be reached at AxisVideo@aol.com) 

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Lambertville High School: Lambertville, New Jersey



By Chris Chaos

Out of all the locations that we have visited this one seemed to have the most mystery and hype behind it.

Lambertville High School was built in 1854 in Lambertville, New Jersey. A fire destroyed much of the school in 1926, but it was remodeled and rebuilt in 1927 and used until June 1959. Since then it has sat abandoned and vandalized ever since. During the 50's and 60's many "smaller" schools became obsolete and were replaced with regional schools to accommodate larger classes. After it closed as a school it sat unused for about 30 years until vandals set fire to it destroying much of the property.



There are many stories of hauntings and paranormal occurrences at this location,
but to date no recorded murders or anything of the sort occurred at Lambertville.
Although neither were true some of the tales and legends revolved around students dying in the fire or the Buckeye football player that died on the field. Many visitors to the location also added to the mystic by writing random messages on the famous blackboard and stating the ghosts wrote them.

When we visited this location it was in bad shape, debris was everywhere. The most disturbing thing we saw was the abandoned car seat (which reminded us of the one at Boody Mill Road) in the woods several feet from the building itself. The stone sign for the school was still near the door where we stopped to pose for pics. Graffiti littered the walls of the school and evidence of vandals and partying were in every room. We feared for the integrity of the structure and hoped that we didn't fall through the crumbling floors. On the roof there were trees actually growing out of the floors.



UPDATE: In the Fall of 2012, the High School was demolished.

The structure was knocked down in one day, "which shows you how bad it was," city construction official Ken Rogers said today.

"It's really good timing," said Mayor David DelVecchio. "Now we don't have to worry about it for Halloween."

Officials state that the hill will be regraded and soil conservation will be required to keep the ground stable. No word of what may occupy the land in the future.

A video concerning Lambertville High School

(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey who once again resides in and writes from Gloucester City, New Jersey. He is a filmmaker, a business owner, writer, urban explorer and investigator of the odd and weird, a proud parent, happily taken and a connoisseur of hot wings. Chris can be reached at AxisVideo@aol.com)

Sunday, August 24, 2014

AMERICA'S MOST RETARDED

"AMERICA'S MOST RETARDED"
by Chris Chaos and Baron Craze

Foreword:
In the early 00's we (Axis Video) were in between projects and decided to take on the America's Most Retarded project before preparing for our next big release. Below includes excerpts from
THE BLOODY RISE OF AXIS VIDEO and a brief history of the AMR films.

One of the most ridiculous films to date has to be a film that I was involved with a few years back in the early 00's entitled "AMERICA'S MOST RETARDED" . 1st we were looking for people with oddball talents to showcase on the DVD, but the people that surfaced to be on this production..we were not prepared for.

During casting we were contacted by a Sam Santoro from Leper-con Productions. He wanted to become the director for the America's Most Retarded series. After some time we learned that Sam was the notorious bandit behind the BMG and Columbia House CD/DVD defrauding. He created many upon many accounts in order to receive their "free" products. Sam amassed a small fortune with his new media collection.

Pre-Jackass and pre-2000, we were all fooling around with the video camera and making others do insane things in front of it. We accumulated many hours of footage but had no idea what to do with it. Flash forward several years we constructed an idea to go back and capture the flavor of what we filmed years before. So we placed ads on social media groups looking for people to film and include on this film we were dreaming up. Many people responded and expressed interest wishing to be included in the film. Three individuals stuck out: Jimmy the Busboy, Lenny the Loon and Leathur Wench Rokk, we contacted them and set up the filming dates.

AMR (#1) was filmed over the course of 4 non-consecutive days and then edited down to about 1 hour. A follow up entitled “Americas Most Retarded 2: Stupid Is As Stupid Does” was later edited into a 2 hour disaster, and many other ‘tards were added into this mix along with left over footage from AMR #1. We found people at the subway in need of a ride and filmed them to include in this disasterpiece. I worked with a guy that I dubbed Clock since his one arm was smaller than his other, just like a clock.

Purchase the DVDs here:
America's Most Retarded DVD

America's Most Retarded: Stupid Is As Stupid Does DVD

Digital Downloads are available here:
America's Most Retarded Digital Download

America's Most Retarded: Stupid Is As Stupid Does Digital Download


JIMMY THE BUSBOY:
The 1st person that we filmed was Jimmy the Busboy, a sick fuck and a busboy at one of South Jersey's more seedy establishments, The Coastline (owned by a family of Bangladesh). To set the tone and establish the workers and clientele of this location... The DJ was infected with AIDS and had a chip on his shoulder taking different ladies home each night, sleeping with them in the hopes of spreading and sharing his misery.

As Jimmy put it, "I bused tables for a very looong time." It was a chilly evening and we met with Jimmy at his house right next to the bar, he let us in and took us on a tour of his dwelling. He lived with the rest of the workers from the bar crammed into this little house. Jimmy didn't have any beer and we wanted a drink to get though this shoot so we went with him to the bar and made him purchase us some brew. Upon return back to his house the antics increased and his roommates were home, so we had to go and meet them too. I am not sure how many people lived in that house but it appeared to be many based on the industrial mop, 3 over sized fridges and piles of shoes in each room. The stench of stinky fish and rotten feet filled the air as you attempted to take a breath. He also licked dirty mops and shoes, drank bong water and participated in other degrading acts and also volunteered some very disturbing stories from his life.

LENNY THE LOON:
For the 2nd cast member we found Lenny the Loon, who stated that he had a high threshold for pain and falls asleep while getting tattoos. For the 1st day of filming we met him at his place in Mount Laurel when he started on his antics. He stole a neighborhood kids bike, acquired a stun gun for a stunt a little later in the night. He met us at Keith's place and we set out a full day of filming with him due to his wide talents. Lenny's cast-mates were a stun gun, hot sauce and alcohol. Later in the day we went to a local parking lot and made Lenny our stunt dummy and put him in a shopping cart to be pushed into things, he also ate a whole box of ex-lax with plans for him to shit himself in a crowded store and we also made a real life Mario and had him swim in a sewer pipe.

LEATHUR WENCH ROKK:
LWR out of Atlantic City, what a trollop. Where to begin? Hahaha. She came out to audition for a role in our Jersey Devil documentary and her audition turned into material for this film. We met up with her on several occasions because the comic relief that she provided was priceless. I think we still have hours of unused footage of this beast. On one of the days we filmed her on location in AC and one of the more interestingly framed shots was when we came across an AC bum drinking on a bench, so we placed her on a neighboring bench and made sure we could see the bum in the background drinking his liquor. The next meeting with LWR she took the bullet train up and met at Keith's place where she continued in her stories of all of her adventures. She got overly drunk on wine and Everclear and the events that unfolded afterwards can never be discussed..ever again.

When we edited and released AMR we still had a ton of source footage that did not make the cut, so we dumped it into the sequel. Once again we did casting calls and secured more talent to be included in the next installment. We accumulated so much footage over he years, b-roll, outtakes and just plain insanity that we also included. The main new cast member that we added was dubbed CLOCK. His real name was Sean but we called him Clock due to the fact that his one arm was undeveloped and much smaller, resembling the large and small hand of a time telling device.

CLOCK (Sean):
Clock was the nickname given to another special victim whom had a stumpy hand that resembled a chocolate covered pretzel. He reminded me of a clock since his one hand was shorter than the other. I met him at an office job that I once held while in the corporate world. He was fascinated by all the stories that I told about our filming adventures. He would always come to my office and annoy me so one day I told he to come out and we would make him a star. 1st trip was to the Berlin Farmers Market. We went up to the man selling chainsaws and axes and had a little fun with the man asking questions about body bags, duct tape and if the axes could penetrate bone.

THE COUPLE AT THE TRAIN STATION:
I Think we met this couple while dropping LWR's ass off at the train to send her back to Atlantic City, we made them sing, dance and do other acts of stupidity. They needed a ride to a town a few miles away, so we made the deal to drive them in the back of the van if they would have sex and allow us to film it.

The rest of the cast of the America's Most Retarded series are lost to history, you will have to view it to hear their stories.

And now a word from....

BARON CRAZE: "Axis Video and with some assistance from me had successful completion of two new films, the sequel to the America’s Most Retarded, as early entry into the Jackass Films of today, entitled as America’s Most Retarded 2: Stupid Is…As Stupid Does. This film had scenes of Chris and me at the Ozzfest, showing the injuries of Hacky Sack, Drinking Beer (with me upping the ante) and encounter with a rude Buddhist and myself who deliberately spilled my Busch (ugh) beer. The best though was finding a vehicle in honor of Slayer, this pickup truck, came out of hell, red and black, a skull on the exterior antenna, with an ammo belt on the dash, windows down, and not dare fuck with this vehicle."

America's Most Retarded: Stupid is as Stupid Does
$1.99 digital download sale special!

America's Most Retarded 2: Stupid is as Stupid Does will surely be a reason to dislike sequels.
Starring: Lenny the Loon, Jimmy the Busboy
Run time:1 hour 29 minutes

Whether on your way to Walmart...or the laundry-mat... the future of the world, yes, these people are real..and no ..you are not watching Jerry Springer..this is worse.....much much worse.

AMERICA'S MOST RETARDED: Axis Video's Greatest Sh*ts will include:
More Jimmy the Busboy and Lenny the Loon
Drunken Fools
The hazards of Hackey Sack at Ozzfest
Drunks drinking beer from the dirty parking lot ground
Stupid fights and inbred backyard fighters
Ugly People
Charlene Baby (The Retarded retard) reprises her role and demands violence
Behind the scenes at video shoots
Hot girls (The Sexy B*tches of Axis Video)
Fat squirrels
Retarded Hill Billys from Bumblef*ck USA trying to be funny
The Bums of Philly
and much much more <------a crowd favorite

WHO IS ......SAM SANTORO????
Sam Santoro is the legendary book bandit, video hoarder whom has amassed a small fortune, more than D.B. Cooper, and more notoriety than the A-Team, by scamming Columbia House, BMG, Book Club of the Month, and other
retarded companies that front product before receiving payment.

ON A FUNNY NOTE: The world police (Inter-pol) can't find Osama, but the Postal authorities will get you in no time if you scam through the mail. Poor Sammy.........

The legendary imprisoned SAM SANTORO, mastermind behind AMERICA'S MOST RETARDED, approached Axis Video once again from behind his greasy bars in federal prison.
Sam says to me on one dreary visit, "Chris, see to it that the legend, the saga, the legacy of the Retards lives on. I commission you to produce AMR 2, do whatever it takes to get it to the world. Spread the gospel wide and clear...to
all ends of the earth. Leave no Stone unturned"

So touching, it brought a tear to my eye, or was it the onions in my cheesesteak? AMR 2 will surely be a reason to dislike sequels.

Product Details
Actors: Lenny the Loon, Jimmy the Busboy, wrestlers, many other retarded idiots
Directors: Chris Chaos
Writers: Baron Craze
Format: NTSC
Region: All Regions
Studio: An Axis Video Production
DVD Release Date: June 25, 2009
Run Time: 90 minutes

http://www.amazon.com/Americas-Most-Retarded-Stupid-Does/dp/B004U73U6U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408897481&sr=8-1&keywords=americas+most+retarded

(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey who once again resides in and writes from Gloucester City, New Jersey. He is a filmmaker, a business owner, writer, urban explorer and investigator of the odd and weird, a proud parent, happily taken and a connoisseur of hot wings. Chris can be reached at AxisVideo@aol.com) 

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Throw Away Pets?

by Chris Chaos

 Is your pet a part of your family or is it just a simple form of entertainment?

 If the animal needed to go to the vet would you foot the bill or just let it suffer? If you had to move and they did not accept animals what would you do with the animal, would you give it away? Did you get your pet just on a whim for your child?

 Do you keep your animals locked up in uncomfortable cages because they inconvenience you? Do you have the time to properly care for the animal and time to dedicate to play with them.
 Sadly many animals are abused, not in the traditional sense but in the manner that they are locked up most of the day, their owners never play with them and caring for the animal has become a burden. Many people think the idea of getting a pet is fun and never consider that sometimes it can be work and a challenge.

For a dog they do need a lot of attention and need a yard to run around in. If you keep the dog locked up in a cage and then wonder why they are extremely hyper when you let them out or if the dog is left indoors for many hours and then goes to the bathroom on the floor, do not get mad, you are the problem.
 Quite a number of people do not deserve animals, case in point. For about the last 6 months and on average about once a week I see a beagle wandering the streets. Now the area is in a city and the roads are on the busy side. This dog has almost been ran over many times, and that is just what I have witnessed. I posted a message in a community Facebook group for my city explaining the situation and if anyone knows the owners of this dog. A few days later I receive a response and they state that they themselves and their children went to the owner on several occasions and let them know about the dog roaming the streets and how he almost gets hits. Their attitude was they just shrugged it off and had the "So What" mind set.

 You would not believe what some animals go through, just visit your local shelter and they will enlighten you. Quite a disturbingly large amount of animals get adopted from shelters and then are returned just a short time later.

 When we wanted to add a cat to our family we thought about it for months and weighed all the options. 1st we decided to get a cat from the shelter since they are the ones that needed it the most.Jynx posingWe made sure that we had everything that the cat would need and our schedule permitted it. We decided on a black little kitten named Leonard, but we changed his name to Jynx. Black cats (and dogs) are the hardest to place due to the superstition that is associated with them, so we knew that our new buddy was going to be just fine with us.

 An animal is not a toy, it is a living being and needs your love. Think long and hard and weigh all options before deciding on adding an animal to your family.


(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey who once again resides in and writes from Gloucester City, New Jersey. He is a filmmaker, a business owner, writer, urban explorer and investigator of the odd and weird, a proud parent, happily taken and a connoisseur of hot wings. Chris can be reached at AxisVideo@aol.com)   

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Close Calls and Occurrences

by Chris Chaos

The Start of many occurrences…the story starts on:
April 22nd 1978
Approximately 7.59pm

It was a dark and dismal day. The next hour is drawing near. Only minutes away. A soon to be mother anxiously awaits the birth of her new baby boy. The machines go wild; the doctors go into a frenzy, mother’s heart drops. Something is wrong. The most joyful moment in a newly expectant couple’s life turns dire. The baby’s heart beat has changed, something is wrong.
 Cbnews net logo
The cord is wrapped around baby’s neck, time to take evasive action. The baby comes out, but he is blue. But fear not, the story ends well…this story that is. He is granted life and escapes to the next day. Read on.

Fast forward approximately 2 years…

Near drowning

The baby has grown up and is 2 years old..playing near the pool..splash…wetness…water ripples..sun glazing down…last thoughts of going away..leaving this world..*BIGGER SPLASH*…..hazy…choke, gag. Grandmother to the rescue…pulls young child out of the pool. GASP! Granted life once again, extended stay, escape into the next day.

Fast forward approx. 5 years…

Electrified fence

Boy out with his half brother and sister..going to the store…walking in woods and back streets….pass by a farm…boy sees horses and other farm animals and tries to climb over this fence with a thin wire…can’t move, paralyzed. Immobile…electrified fence. After what seemed like an eternity finally pulled free to allow muscles to relax and contract. Granted life once again..

"THE NEXT “OCCURRENCE”: After Axis Video started gaining notoriety we had to make sure everything was noticeable among our fans, even our vehicles. We spotted a bright orange van (see Axis’s vehicles) for sale with flames painted on the sides; we just had to buy it. This van fit the attitude fully. Bought, earned, and paid in full. An excellent addition to the Axis collection.

Flash forward a few months…This occurrence occurred in the early 00’s. After a long day at work the normal routine was switched, had to pick up the baby from the sitters, traffic…eyes glazed over in lack of sleep. A car pulls out of the liquor store parking and swings onto wrong side of the road, to avoid the head on collision swerve..hits park car..looking dumb hitting a parked car as the culprit drives away unscathed.

Totaled van, points on the license and looking dumb sitting there after “hitting” a parked car. The police came to take the report and some lady stayed as a witness and stated that I intentionally swerved into the parked car, yeah ok. So the tow truck took the van and a police officer had to drop me off at home. He kept looking at me weird on the way home, which was only about 3 miles, and I had no idea why. When I got home I was pissed, set all my stuff down and then noticed mud all over the living room carpet, and what is that smell? Wait, that isn’t mud. Apparently I stepped in dog crap after the accident and now I realize why the cop was looking at me funny in the car, he must have smelled it. So now I had a wrecked van and a carpet to clean.

Yet another “occurrence”: Now to all the people that have known me for some time you know that the number 136 is a constant stalker, reminder, haunt and main stay in my life. It was 1.36 pm..with 13.6 miles left to go to the next destination. Driving down I-95 in Philly. Weather was good, not hot, not cold, but just enough to have the window partially opened. *CRACK* a rock smashed off the side window…if the window was down another inch then that rock would have been a direct hit upon my face.

THE NEXT OCCURRENCE

Chrissy and I were parked at a red light waiting for it to change. She was driving and I was in the passenger seat. The light turned green, I noticed but she didn't since she was talking and telling a story. At that moment a car ran their red light (our green light) at about 50 MPH. She then noticed it was a green light for us and that the car just barreled through the light.

Fate? If she wasn't telling the story and if she would have went when our light turned green then we would have gotten plowed by the car running the red light. At the speed the driver was going they would have collided into the driver side door and who knows what would have happened to us.

YET ANOTHER ANOTHER OCCURRENCE

One night we were going to our late night commercial gig at approximately 11:30pm. We were stopped at a red light and waiting for the green light so we could continue on. For some odd reasons the traffic lights were not functioning correctly that night.

Usually one set of lights are green and the others are red for the proper and safe flow of traffic. But on this night for some reason the other street turned red and ours was supposed to turn green, but it did not happen. All sets of lights were red. In an instant an ambulance zoomed through their red light (which should have been our green light). So luckily there was some sort of malfunction since if we would have gone and our light would have turned green then we would have gotten slammed but the speeding ambulance. The ambulance did have their lights on but had no sirens blaring and the angle we were at the red light we could not see the ambulances lights flashing despite it being dark out.

STILL ANOTHER OCCURRENCE

We were driving to a gig in Pennsylvania and going through a somewhat busy town. It was a 4 lane road with 2 lanes for each direction. We were on the inside lane and driving through town as a car that was trying to make a turn across our traffic turned into our direction and then stopped. If it wasn't for Chrissy's quick reactions by jerking the wheel into the right lane we would have hit them very hard just about head on. Luckily there was no one in the lane to the right of us.

The above was the short list, there were many more. Life is short and tomorrow is never promised, so take each day in stride.

“Today death tried to take me, but not today. One day you will win. But not today.” Chris Chaos

(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey who once again resides in and writes from Gloucester City, New Jersey. Chris can be reached at AxisVideo@aol.com)

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

The Satanic Panic

by Chris Chaos

I am currently writing a book on the subject of the panic that occurred back in the 1980's and 90's...the Satanic Panic. For this book I am looking for people that have knowledge of this event and wish to provide an interview (by email) to be included in the book. You can be either a religious figure, a philosopher or just an individual that knows about this occurrence. I am welcoming all sides of the coin to discuss in a responsible and respectable manner the details of what happened.Cbnews net logo

 The book will cover the major players that accused others or have been accused of violating children in daycares across America and will also give you a basic introduction into what Satanism truly is. Some members of Satanic bands will be featured too.There will be many interviews conducted with individuals on both sides of this heated and debated topic.Also included will be several sections dedicated to Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), repressed memory and other mental states that may have been involved in this scandal.

 Also the event of The Satanic Temple trying to add a statue of Baphomet next to the Ten Commandments in Oklahoma under the flag of Separation of Church and State will be detailed in the book.
 Baphomet Yes There are sinister people out there doing dastardly deeds to one another but there is a vast difference between a devil worshiper and a Satanist.
 If you wish to contribute your opinion, facts or just follow along feel free to contact me and we can get you set up.

(Chris Chaos is a long time resident of South Jersey who once again resides in and writes from Gloucester City, New Jersey. He is a filmmaker, a business owner, writer, urban explorer and investigator of the odd and weird, a proud parent, happily taken and a connoisseur of hot wings. Chris can be reached at AxisVideo@aol.com)