Two Questions: Just How Musically Eclectic Are You?

 

Redartz: If there's anything as much fun to discuss as comics, it must be music. And we've made reference to many kinds of music here over the years; as we have as many musical preferences as we have community members. Many of us, myself included, consider our personal musical tastes to be fairly eclectic. Well, this week we intend to find out just how eclectic we really are...

Thus our questions this time around first ask for your judgement, and then will give said judgement a bit of a test. Call it an experiment, a bit of fun, or a goof. I'll accept the praise or brickbats either way.

First the personal assessment:

1.  Name at least three genres of music you enjoy listening to, and give us an example. 

Next, the practical test:

2.  If you have a device with the capability, set your music player to random and hit it  5 times. That should be sufficient to give as a taste of your taste! Let us know what those  songs turned out to be.If you've no such music player, feel free to blindly pull a few records /cds from your storage and name those. No fair skipping, if something embarrassing comes up we have to own up to it (God help me here; lol)!

No doubt you all are breathlessly awaiting me to start things off, so wait no more. My answers are...

1. Pop. I love pop, just good old unpretentious pop. As an example I'll give ABBA, and "Honey, Honey". Much of ABBA's output could serve as a solid example here. And I love just about everything they did.

 Blues. A trip to Memphis years ago with my wife really ignited my interest in this genre. One favorite cut is Amos Milburn and "Down the Road Apiece". Discovered this gem on a terrific compilation cd I snagged at a yard sale.  A great way to find new music on the cheap.

Broadway/Show Tunes. My parents played such music extensively as I was growing up, and it stuck with me. Probably my favorite is "Fiddler on the Roof"; all of it is phenomenal but the opening is spectacular. Tevye introduces the tale in fine form as storyteller and singer.

There's my three genres; I could go on extensively but would hate to bore you. So, now let's see what my Random Music Player says about me.

2. Cut one: Thin Lizzy, "The Boys are Back in Town"

Cut two:  Lorne Greene, "Ringo"

Cut three:  The Beach Boys, "Surfin' USA"

Cut four: Dinah Washington, "The Way I Feel This Morning"

Cut five:  Lene Lovich, "New Toy"

Well, I got off pretty easy. A good mix of styles and eras, and none of my Alvin and the Chipmunks tunes showed up. Okay, now let's hear from you. What wide ranging musical magnificence do you enjoy, and to what extent will your player show it? 

 

 

Sound and the Fury: New Music, Then and Now...

Redartz:  Well, here is another post inspired by a flea market excursion. You might guess by now, correctly, that I haunt these things with some frequency. What can I say? It keeps me out of the pool halls (a good thing, as I'm a lousy pool player).

In this instance, the 'big find' wasn't a comic or collectible. It was a box full of compact discs; about 200 of them. Completely unsorted; this box was stuffed full, sitting on the floor of one particular booth, and marked for the whopping sum of 12 dollars. Most folks would pass over such a box; cds suffering in popularity from the availability of streaming services and the resurgence of vinyl. But not me; I took a brief look over the top of the stacks (one could realistically only access a couple dozen without emptying the box all over the floor). Yes, there was junk, but several discs of interest- enough interest to justify the purchase. 

So an hour later I was hunched over a card table in the living room, sorting and stacking piles of jewel cases. There weren't any 'big guns'; i.e. no Beatles, Stones, Duran Duran, Hendrix. But there were many I chose to keep: a Simpsons disc, Basia, Enya, Modest Mouse, Harry Connick Jr., and more. There were quite a number of classical discs, many not already among my collection. But providing the fun (and today's subject) were the many discs totally unfamiliar to me. Soundtracks to films I'd not heard of, cds by acts from all over. World music, Jazz, Big Bands, and so on. And how can you beat the fun of auditioning all this new (new to me, anyway) music? Right off the bat there was a great discovery; a disc by an act called Groove Armada. Now you UK residents may know of them, but I did not. Popped it in for a listen and was quite pleased, googled them and found out they have had some success 'over your way'. Now I will have to search out more of their work. 

The 'moral' of this tale is that it is still a pleasure today to discover good music. Maybe it's easier in today's world to explore different musical outlets. Back in the 70's and 80's, learning about new music meant having either a friend with a great lp collection or access to a record store with knowledgeable staff (and preferably a good imports section). In college we had a terrific used record store, called Second Time Around. They had a big selection of old and new lps, but the big attraction was that they kept receiving many of the hot new sounds from all around the world during those heady days of the Punk/New Wave era. Nobody else in our area could have introduced me to, for instance, Gruppo Sportivo. Every week, our little gang visited that store to see what was in (after a stop at the nearby comic shop, of course). And we rarely left empty handed.

So for our discussion: expanding your musical horizons. How did you do it 'back then'? How do you do it now? How important is it for you to 'stay current', and do you enjoy finding great music from the past that speaks to you now? What acts were you stoked upon first hearing? Go ahead, we're all listening...

Chew the Fat: The Golden Age of Nostalgia?

Redartz:  Hello all! I was thinking about the ever-beloved Bronze Age Babies the other day, and recalled how Karen and Doug would sometimes refer to our present time as a "Golden Age of Reprints". And I'd say they were quite correct to do so. But upon further consideration, I wondered if that could be taken a step further: are we living in the Golden Age of Nostalgia? Some thoughts to consider ...



 

As Karen and Doug discussed, the generous availability of reprints in many formats allows enjoyment of comics from all eras, all genres, all companies (or most, anyway). From Omnibus volumes to digital comics, tpb's to archived free Golden Age stories, just about anything and everything comics can be found. 

But the same can be said for animation, and for television shows: with YouTube, DVDs and streaming, much of entertainment history is there for the picking. I find YouTube to be a wonderful source of almost-forgotten clips from the Bronze Age, the 60's, and everywhen. And, my wife and I recently ditched the satellite tv for an Amazon Firestick and an actual antenna for local broadcasts. I was pleasantly surprised by all the goodies to be seen on these free channels: "MeTV" for instance. It's been Retro Saturday Nights at our house, watching the Incredible Hulk, Wonder Woman, Twilight
Zone, Batman and Star Trek! Another freebie channel shows "Emergency", and yet another fills my wife's afternoons with westerns. 



 

But wait, there's more. Video games? Now we have classic arcade games being released on retro styled systems, and some are available as apps for your phone or tablet (still waiting for an authentic version of "Galaga"). 



 




 



Toys? There are many 'retro' versions coming out of vintage playthings. And of course there's Ebay for the real stuff. 




 










Music? My wife has Sirius Satellite radio, and can select exclusive stations for any decade from the 1940's onward. CD's are cheap just about any flea market you hit. Vinyl is back, and growing (who would have thought; if the next phase is VHS tapes I wouldn't be surprised). 



You get the idea; no matter what your nostalgic area of interest, there is unprecedented access to incredible amounts of material both physical and digital. And so, perhaps this is the Golden Age of Nostalgia after all. What say you?

Two Questions: Old Comics and Old Music!

Redartz:  Hi folks!  We have a quick double-shot for you today, two easy questions which may cause you to have some fun looking into the answers.

 

QUESTION 1: What is the oldest comic book you have in your collection (or, if you no longer have that collection , what WAS the oldest comic you ever owned?)






 



QUESTION 2:  What is the oldest song, or piece of music, that anyone might find in your collection, Ipod, phone, or whatever?   Does your musical interest begin in the 70's?  The 50's?  Or even earlier?  Dust off those old 78 rpm's and let us know.




 To start with, here's my answers: 

1. The oldest comic in my collection is an issue of New Funnies featuring Woody Woodpecker from 1949.   My oldest Archie:  Laugh 61, 1954.  Oldest DC: World's Finest 88, 1957.  Oldest Marvel: Fantastic Four 21, 1963.

Laugh 61, Feb. 1954

New Funnies 154, Dec. 1949

World's Finest 88, June 1957

Fantastic Four 21, Dec. 1963

2.  The oldest piece of music in my collection is a Gregorian Chant, composed most likely in the 15th century. In terms of more 'popular music,' I have the recording of "Rum and Coca Cola" by the Andrews Sisters from 1945.  And yes, eclectic is my middle name (Red Eclectic Artz?).

And now it's your turn.  Reach waaaaaay back into the back of your longbox, and the bottom of your record stack, and give us your answers!