Photo courtesy of Gillian Knox ’21
Dr. Gasp took the Blanch Great Room by storm surrounded by skeletons, jack-o-lanterns, vampires and more Halloween paraphernalia
BY MADDY RITTER ’20
“Vampire Fish” was one of many utterly terrifying songs students enjoyed in the Blanchard Great Room last Thursday, Oct. 24, when Halloween folk artist Doctor Gasp presented a concert and a comedy routine at the same time.
The other 11 months of the year, New England folk artist Dan Blakeslee takes off the mask and plays with his band Dan Blakeslee and the Calabash Club.
They play “an array of genres, though most are of the country, folk, Americana realm,” according to Blakeslee. Every October, however, Doctor Gasp emerges (in a very scary mask) and sings Halloween-inspired folk tunes. His most robust characteristic might be the evil laugh regularly featured in his spooky songs.
Blakeslee has been doing this for almost two decades.
“I got asked to be a part of my friend’s haunted house,” Blakeslee said. “I dressed as a ghost cowboy all in white with cobwebs over me sitting in a rocking chair playing my guitar.”
Blakeslee then wrote his first Halloween song. “After strumming disjointed and strange chords for three hours, I came up with a song called ‘Witchtrot Road,’” he said.
When audiences responded positively to the character, Doctor Gasp was born. Some of his inspirations include “old pre-1950s spooky cartoons,” Blakeslee said. “I love Tom Waits, Bobby “Boris” Pickett (writer of ‘Monster Mash’) and John Zacherle (horror host and musician) and other offbeat, zany Halloween/horror music.”
“With Doctor Gasp, I get all the weirdo art, punk energy out of me that has been growing all year,” he said.
The Network, a student organization that plans social events on campus, was responsible for the concert, complete with a pre-show open mic and snacks.
Previously, Mount Holyoke Doctor Gasp fans brought Dan Blakeslee to Nightfest 2018 and then independently organized the October 2018 Mount Holyoke debut of Doctor Gasp in the common room of South Rockefeller Hall.
On Oct. 25, a handful of audience members donned his iconography on their shirts. After the show, students excitedly lined up to buy t-shirts and posters designed by Blakeslee with elaborate and distinct Halloween imagery.
“When The Network began to plan events for Halloween, we knew we wanted to bring him back and put together a larger show,” Network board member Gillian Knox ’21 said. “That’s what was super fun about the show this time around — it was a bigger space and a bigger crowd, and we could invite friends who didn’t get to see the show last year.”
She elaborated on the draw of Doctor Gasp as a performer.
“I think what’s so fun about Doctor Gasp is how joyful and absurd the show is,” Knox said. “You are learning more about the character and the act as the show goes on. It basically goes without saying that [Blakeslee] is a deeply talented performer.”
The Network plans events year-round, but Mount Holyoke can only hope to see Doctor Gasp return next October.