New news!

First up: Zombiestock. This Friday. 12 noon - 7. Check out my last post for all the gruesome details http://billytackett.blogspot.com/2010/07/zombiestock-dead-white-blue-and-you.html or go to http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=106427192729697&ref=ts. And just to clarify: Zombiestock is taking place inconjunction with Fright Night Film Fest but is separate. I will be at Zombiestock on Friday but I will not be set up at Fright Night.

Next: I just scheduled a new show here in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Comic Expo on September 18. It's a one day event with a ton of guests. For a $7 admission you can't go wrong!

Thirdly: New art! Again! This one may end up being an oil painting...maybe...

Zombiestock, Dead White & Blue and YOU!

Salutations! A little plug for my upcoming show in Louisville KY, ZOMBIESTOCK! Zombiestock runs in conjunction with Fright Night Film Fest from noon to 7 pm this Friday. The event is free, did'ja catch that? FREE!! And if that wasn't enough if you come dressed as a zombie you will get to be in Feathered Italian Films' next movie which is called Zombie Movie for some weird reason... And if THAT wasn't enough to make you want to get yer zombie on get a load of the guest list:


Friday the 13ths FIRST Jason Voorhees ARI LEHMAN
WWF/WWE/ECW legend AL SNOW
Award winning zombie artist BILLY TACKETT
Deadlands director GARY UGAREK
5 time MMA champ and Hall of Famer DALE MILLER
Wrestling Diva/ actress & director RONI JONAH
The Crow's ROCHELLE DAVIS
PLAYBOY models/actors APRIL HUNTER and MEGAN MOONEY
Dead Moon Rising stars TUCKY WILLIAMS, JASON CROWE and many more including special guests like TJ Moreschi, David Fultz, Cory Stringer, David Pollard, The Wingman cast & crew, Madhouse productions and more! 
Don't forget music and performances by Ari Lehman's FIRSTJASON, SACRED SORROW, TRISTA RAY and DJ LEPREKON


Zombiestock runs from 12 noon to 7pm Friday July 30th at the INN PLACE HOTEL in Louisville KY. After "ZOMBIESTOCK" attend the FRIGHT NIGHT FILM FESTIVAL and meet all your favorite STARS! FNFF does charge a fee for entry to their festival. Zombiestock is FREE. But if you donate you can get some cool crap. Check the info here: http://www.indiegogo.com/zombiestock


Oh, And I mentioned new art didn't I? I didn't? Oh well. Here's my newest piece title Zombies of the Universe anyway!

Billy Tackett Studios' ToZ (Terms of Zombification) *first draft*

This may come as a surprise to some of you but a lot of people know me for my depictions of zombies. I know, I know. This day and age it seems as though everybody and their retarded brother is jumping on the zombie meatwagon. "Zombie this, zombie that, I can do zombies! Zombie stories, zombie movies, zombie clothes, zombie art, blah blah blah". Yes, zombies are everywhere. Unfortunately there's more bad than good and that goes for zombie art.

The trend seems to be that the good gets better while the bad gets worse. Now don't get me wrong, just because I think some art is bad doesn't mean the rest of the world should think it's bad as well. Art is truly in the eye of the beholder. Zombies on the other hand...

The influx of people trying to cash in on the popularity of zombies has muddied up the waters terribly. Those of us who are and have been in love with the genre for years or, as in my case decades, are being pushed to the side by fly-by-nighters.

In order to show my sincerity to you, the general zombie-lovin, gore-whorin', freaky-speakin' general public I have decided to create my own TOS (terms of service). I will call them my Terms of Zombification (ToZ) and they will consist of my own little code of ethics that pertain to zombies in general and zombie art in particular. The ToZ here is just the beginning. I will be adding to these as the need arises.

1. The Zombie Genre is not a fad and I will not treat it as such.

2. I will not take the Zombie Genre too seriously but I will treat it with the respect it deserves. And I, as a Zombification Specialist, ask to be treated with respect as well.

3. I will not use Photoshop to add textures or otherwise manipulate photos to make zombies. All my zombies will be lovingly handcrafted.

4. I will strive to make each zombie a unique and interesting creature.

5. Zombification involves more than just removing lips, adding blood to the face or clothing, making someone look like they were on the business end of either a shotgun or great white shark.

6. I will strive to make my zombies appear to obey the laws of physics yet I realize that at times artistic license must be taken for the greater good.

7. I do not compete with other zombie artists. There is enough room for all of us.

8. In my eyes the Zombification process is not a form of derision but a sign of  respect. I hold all subjects of the process in the highest regard. After all, there ain't nothing cooler than a zombie.

9. Gore will not be used gratuitously. All gore will have a purpose.

10. Slow zombies vs. fast zombies is a dumb argument and I will not take part in it.

Billy Tackett

my monsters are more FAMOUS than your MONSTERS CON!

Famous Monsters of Filmland. Those words are legendary. Taking part in Famous Monsters Con in Indy was a great honor and I feel as though the magazine is back with a vengeance! It was pretty freakin' awesome to be around such legends as Basil Gogos and William Stout. I missed my chance to meet them properly but sharing the same room with them was a humbling experience. And the sheer number of horror movie icons roaming the building was staggering. I won't go down the list but here's a rundown of some of the folks that made FMC a great weekend:

We had great booth neighbors with Cinema Wasteland and Pirate Pictures with the folks from Kitbuilders Magazine across the way. On Friday we had dinner at Chili's with a group that included Jim O'Rear, Bryan Wilson, Cerina Vincent (I didn't know at the time but Cerina was a Power Ranger!), Danielle Harris, and William Forsythe.

Saturday was an awesome day which concluded with dinner with Sam Flegal, Matt Essary, Johnny Bopp and Dick Starr at a restaurant called Indy's, which I would not recommend if you like draft beer...long story. After that we headed to the hotel to check out the after hour shenanigans...of which included witnessing the star of a classic zombie movie make a girl in a tutu get outta his chair, sharing a beer with the write of Night of the Living Dead, hanging out with the great conversationalist Eric Butts, the discovery that one of William Stout's entourage has a wet ear, finding out the Billy Gram is a hoot and a half and Dragonfly is a damned good IPA!

Some other folks that we got to hang out with over the weekend was Jason Crowe, Roni Jonah, Bob East, Bradd Parton, Lydia Burris, Chris Kuchta, Mike Christopher, Terrance Z'dunich, Dave from Con-tamination, Marc Ballard, Sal Lizard and the tons of friends that stopped by the booth. Thanks to Gypsy and the volunteers for the hospitality and we look forward to next year.

Dinner @ Chili's

Dinner@ Chili's

Cerina, Danielle, Angela & Heather outside Chili's
Photos courtesy Wickedbeard

Don't forget: this weekend we're going to be hanging out at Loveland Castle for the Masked Cabaret and then the next week Zombiestock! Get you VIP pass for $100 and up and get some cool stuff! Tell 'em I sent you.

New shows

I'm gonna try to stay caught up on updates but things are pretty crazy. So many zombies, so little time. Anyway, here's a rundown of some upcoming events we'll be attending including two recently confirmed one night shows that should kick ass.

This weekend we're headed to Indy for Famous Monsters Con. There's a couple of guests there that I am pretty stoked about: artists Basil Gogos and William Stout. The show boasts Return of the Living Dead, Night of the Living Dead, Day of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Lost Boys reunions. Other guests include friends Jim O'Rear, Mike Christopher, Dick Starr, Johnny Bopp, Sam Flegal and  Kane Hodder as well as Bela Lugosi Jr, Charles Band, Karlos Borloff, Sal Lizard, Tony Todd and more. Looking forward to this one.

On  July 17 you will find us at the Loveland Castle for the Masked Cabaret that will feature our friends Pickled Brothers Sideshow as well as vaudeville acts and belly dancers.

On July 30 we'll be taking part in Zombiestock. The event is being sponsored by our buds at Feathered Italian Films and Fright Night Film Festival in Louisville KY. Zombiestock will not just be another zombie walk. It will be a movie set where you can take part in Feathered Italian Films' newest flick, Zombie Movie. Ari Lehman's First Jason will be performing and My Bloody Wedding's David Fultz will be there.The event is free but if you purchase a VIP pass of $100 or more tell 'em I sent you for some cool swag and special deals.

And then we have GenCon on Aug. 5-8 and Chicago Comic Con Aug. 19-22 as well as some local shows in September but more on those later!

Congrats on the Red White & Dead Zombie Walk in Seattle for bringing the Guinness World Record for the largest Zombie Walk back to the U.S.! My Zombie Sam was the official mascot for the event and we'll be attending ZomBcon out there for Halloween.

And the beaten goes on... Part 1

Been a little while since I last posted. May has been pretty busy. First we had the wedding of a family friend. Great wedding. Congrats to Claire and Brian.

The next weekend we traveled to Illinois for the wedding of Abyss Walker creator Shane Moore and Tracy in which I was a groomsman and shared best man duties. The wedding was interesting for a number of  reasons. First it was held in a historic courthouse in which Lincoln practiced law. Then, a well known Star Wars actor was in attendance and an animator for numerous Disney movies was also a part of the wedding party. Another interesting thing was that all the groomsmen and the groom wore armor. We wore Greek or Roman style armor. Which means no pants. I always wear pants. Because I have the internal temperature of a 90 year old woman. Also sandals. Nice. We looked good. But did I mention the temperature was just above freezing? Well, it felt like it to me anyway. But it was cold as shit! And rainy. And windy. Did I mention I didn't have pants on? But we looked good and we had a great time. And we made memories! Did I mention we looked good? Judge for yourself:

Next weekend we packed up and headed to Birmingham AL for Imagicon. It's always great seeing our old friends. Thanks to Tom, Tom, Joe, Kelly, Abby and the whole Imagicon crew for their hospitality. Also thanks to Larry Elmore, Sam Flegal, Jim O'Rear, Daniel &; Amy Taylor, Nigel Sade Christina Lynn Meyers, Ash Evans, and Kevin &; Farra from Macabre Mansion for helping make it a fun weekend. Check out the Macabre Mansion interview with me here. Oh, special thanks to Kelly for the bottle of vino. Next time we drink together!

The photos above courtesy Macabre Mansion

Next up, Marcon in Columbus where I was artist Guest of Honor. Our first time at this show but considering this was year number 45 you better believe they know what they're doing! It was great hanging out with Shane and Tracy, something we don't get to do often enough it seems.Thank to Linda Winks for her assistance and to the staff for having us. And thanks to the attendees of both events for their support. We didn't get any photos at the event but highlights included watching the drunken festivities with Abyss Walker author Shane Moore & Tracy, Barfleet party, dinner with Sam Flegal and dinner with Beef & Tamara of TB Gallery.

Weekend after that: Our youngest's graduation! (Photos coming soon!)

After that we headed to Knoxville for the Knoxville Comic & Anime Con. Attendance was low on Sunday which was bad for sales but good for getting the opportunity to hang out with friends like Ben & Tracy from World of Strange, Richard Ewell, Roni Jonah, Jason Crowe, Sam Flegal (again), Rob Brown, fez wearin' Jan,. I also met a cool artist by the name of Brandt Hardin. He does some cool lowbrow stuff that you need to check out. Seriously. 

And that brings us to this past weekend. Northside Rock n Roll Carnival just across the river in Cincinnati. This has to be one of Cincinnati's best kept secrets. The crowd is awesome but yet there are few vendors other than food and beverage peddlers. Despite the long hours and the heat we look forward to this show every year. We always meet some great folks and get the opportunity to hang out with friends. Like the folks from Horrorhound Magazine who was set up right beside us and Pickled Bros. Sideshow.

This year our youngest tried her hand at vending and shared our booth with some of her drawings and really cool duct tape wallets. And she had pretty good success. This was also the official debut of the t-shirt emblazoned with the image of a Godzilla-like monster destroying the Cincinnati skyline. We sold out! Apparently word got out and folks would run up to the booth, ask for the Cincinnati shirt and go away without bothering to look at anything else. Pretty amazing! 

Now that you're up to speed stay tuned for some pretty cool announcements!