Photo courtesy WCVE
WCVE’s “Midnight Frights” is rising from the grave — at least for one long night. The VPM television station will broadcast an all-night marathon of the irreverent, locally produced creature-feature program on Sunday, Oct. 27. It’s news to the host, Armistead Welford, aka Armistead Spottswood.
“ ‘Frights’ went on indefinite hiatus in April,” he says. “I didn’t know the show was coming back for Halloween. What episodes are they running?”
The master of terror-monies is out of the loop for good reason. He’s busy working as Maymont’s carriage house manager and spends his off time as an actor in TV shows and movies — most prominently “Lincoln” and “Harriet.” He’s also the founding bassist of Love Tractor, a seminal ‘80s band from Athens, Georgia, that’s set to make a comeback.
Richmond magazine: How did “Midnight Frights” begin?
Armistead Welford: Eric Miller and I shared an affinity for cheesy horror and science fiction flicks, and we were both fans of Richmond’s longtime horror host, the Bowman Body. WCVE OK’ed it, so we would find films in the public domain, like “House on Haunted Hill” or “The Terror,” and just have fun. The shtick was that my character invented movie making, and built the Byrd Theatre and directed every movie ever made. [Laughs]
Armistead Welford (Photo courtesy WCVE)
RM: What do you remember about forming Love Tractor alongside groups like R.E.M. and the B-52’s?
Welford: When I went to college, at the University of Georgia, I wanted to be in a band, and Athens was the perfect place. There was a small counterculture there. There was a hippie restaurant called the El Dorado. The B-52’s used to work there and practice in the building behind. Pylon and the Method Actors were around. R.E.M. was just getting started, too, and Michael Stipe introduced me to Mark [Cline], and we became Love Tractor. It was an exciting time.
RM: So, the band is re-forming?
Welford: We’re just about to reissue our first two records [“Love Tractor” and “Around the Bend”], and then we’ll have some new Love Tractor stuff out next year.
RM: “Frights” was a little-known treasure. You had to stumble onto it.
Welford: We did have fans. I’d get calls all the time from people. I held the door for a lady at the Buford Avenue Pharmacy one day, and she asked me if I was the host of “Midnight Frights.” We had one dedicated fan, a woman who contacted me from jail. So, they’re out there. [Laughs]
The Oct. 27 midnight marathon on VPM includes the films “The Undertaker and His Pals,” “Cat and the Canary,” “The Brain That Wouldn’t Die” and “War of the Monsters.”
