The Edgar Allan Polka and Dark Songs 2012 Returns to Door County, October 26 and 27

This year’s Dark Songs performances will take place on Friday, October 26 at Cherry Lanes at 9 pm and Saturday, October 27 at Third Avenue Playhouse at 7 pm.

Like the immortal Johnny Cash, Edgar Allan Poe was known to dress in black. Like the legendary rocker Jerry Lee Lewis, he married his 13-year old cousin. Like many of history’s mad geniuses, he died penniless. And, befitting the great mystery writer, his death arose from mysterious causes under even more mysterious circumstances.

Poe barely made it through his 40th birthday, so one might imagine he liked to party. At the very least, he loved to entertain. To this day, classic masterpieces like “The Raven” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” still provide gloomy reverie for some, gleeful revelry for those of us who enjoy a good dance on the dark side.

His inspiration led to the birth of “Dark Songs / The Edgar Allan Polka,” an annual songwriting, recording, live-performance event held at The Holiday Music Motel during the last week of October. Much like Steel Bridge Songfest, Dark Songs attracts many returning artists from around the globe to collaboratively write and record original songs inspired by the Halloween season. Those songs, along with songs from past years, are showcased during two special performances.

[embedplusvideo height=”309″ width=”500″ standard=”http://www.youtube.com/v/Uun63a0pJDA?fs=1″ vars=”ytid=Uun63a0pJDA&width=500&height=309&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=1&react=1&chapters=&notes=” id=”ep1932″ /]

This year’s Dark Songs will take place on Friday, October 26 at Cherry Lanes at 9 pm and Saturday, October 27 at Third Avenue Playhouse at 7 pm (after-party at Cherry Lanes to follow). Artists will arrive on Sunday, October 21 so keep your eyes and ears peeled for the inevitable spontaneous performances that are sure to pop up all over Sturgeon Bay!

For more information and a complete listing of this year’s lineup, visit the Holiday Music Motel’s Website at www.HolidayMusicMotel.com or call 920.743.5571.

This year’s performers include:

Chris Aaron
Mike Bleck
Charles Boheme
Renee de la Boheme
Landon Capelle
Charlie Cheney
Danielle French
Vincent Gates|
James Hall
Ruby James
Jeanne Kuhns
pat mAcdonald
Kim Manning
Ellie Maybe
Jimm McIver
Anne McCue
melaniejane
Liv Mueller
Kory Murphy
Mojo Perry
Bruce Reaves
Anna Sacks
Steve Smith
Dan Smrz
Vee Sonnets
Troy Therrien
Victoria Vox
Andrea Wittgens
David Woods