So...how's it going?

Having a good new year so far?

This is my first post here of the year 2011. I really hate that I don't update this blog as often as I once did, but that's the way it goes sometimes. Life in the Meat World is hectic and often frustrating, and I often have trouble getting myself in the proper mental place to write. I do still post stuff all over the place at odd times, just not here...and while it's possible that I'm spreading myself too thin, often it's just quicker and easier to post in those places. And those places are:

Twitter, of course. I'm always blathering on about something there. I hope you'll follow me in case I accidentally say something profound in 140 characters or less.

I've been posting mostly images of this and that on my Tumblr blog, called I Come Tumbl'n. That's kinda taken the place of the images I used to post here. Last night, I thought I would start a mini-feature of sorts, in which I'll post a page a day from Thriller, until I decide to stop.

Speaking of Thriller, I'm afraid I'm not going to be upgrading the venerable old website anytime soon; although I did reserve a Wordpress blog a few months ago with the idea that I might recreate it in blog form. Someday, I'll give the series and its creators a proper spotlight.

I'm on Facebook, and post a lot of links and videos there, which probably irritates my friends and family no end but I do get positive feedback as well, so feel free to friend me there if you like. I deleted my MySpace page last week, so don't look for me there.

If you miss my opinions and thoughts on recent comics and graphic novels, please check out my more-or-less weekly column over at Popdose, Confessions of a Comics Shop Junkie. Perhaps someday I'll start capsule reviewing my new comics purchases here again, but it won't be anytime soon.

I've also been invited to participate in a group blog about pop culture called Poplitiko; many, many fine writers have contributed already. I haven't put anything up there just yet, but I plan to do so as soon as I can get some coherent thoughts together. Chances are it won't be about comics; my first post will most likely be about my favorite year in music, 1974.

I still post the odd sketch on the ol' LiveJournal, as well as my DeviantArt page.

Geez, I am spread thin!

OK. How about some personal stuff! Actually, it had crossed my mind to make this blog more diary-like, but I'm not sure how much I want to do that. I din't think my personal life is all that interesting. I'm still working at the small print shop full time, though decreased business has caused the owner to cut us back to 4 days a week instead of 5...this is not a pleasing development, but we've managed to get by OK so far. Needless to say, I am considering my options and have been looking around for other jobs, but let's face it, my age is a handicap now. I've also begun to entertain thoughts of a career change for the first time in my life...but what, I can't say right now. Anyway, I still work part-time at the radio station, and right now, during basketball season, I'm getting enough hours to almost make it worth my time. That will all come to a halt in April, and I'm now considering trying to find a second part-time job to help make ends meet. Busing tables or working in a kitchen doesn't sound as bad to me now at 51 as it did, oh, 20 years ago.

Recent TV and movies I've seen and enjoyed include the Coens' True Grit and of course Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (I know, I haven't done proper movie reviews in ages). I've begun to watch the AMC series Breaking Bad on DVD, and am liking it quite a bit so far. I actually won an autographed copy of the documentary Who is Harry Nilsson...and Why is Everybody Talkin' About Him?- autographed by the director, not by Nilsson, of course. Actually, I have Harry's autograph already, obtained years ago for me by a friend at a Beatle convention. Long story. Anyway, it's fascinating, informative, and often moving- and while I can quibble with this and that and how it is or isn't presented, I recommend it highly if you haven't seen it. As far as currently airing programs go, right now I'm loving the FX series Justified, and am looking forward to the return of HBO series Boardwalk Empire and Treme.

Musically, I took money I got for Christmas and ordered a bunch of recent albums, such as the Black Keys' Brother, Tom Petty's Mojo, Band of Horses' Infinite Arms, Justin Townes Earle's Harlem River Blues, and Paul Simon's self-titled debut. Of all the new ones, I really loved that Band of Horses the most, though they were all very good. Some better than others. My music listening habits are random and varied; I'm liable to start the day in a Prince mood and wind up listening to Jethro Tull by days' end.

I also took some of that Christmas money and ordered the first four volumes of Fantagraphics' Popeye comic strip reprints; while I had read several of them here and there over the years, and liked them a lot, I had never read a sustained run of them. I have to tell you, that is some inspired, wonderful, insane stuff. If you think you know Popeye from today's comics or the cartoons, know that this is a whole 'nother thing, like those comics and films cranked up to ten and dosed with something stronger than spinach. They're quite amazing and very enjoyable, and I haven't really gotten into the acknowledged peak of Elzie Segar's tenure yet. I'm also still getting and reading lots of comics; current favorites include Keith Giffen's Doom Patrol, which is selling poorly and probably won't be around much longer, damn it; Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt's Sixth Gun; Jeff Parker's entertaining Thunderbolts; Aaron and Guera's Scalped; David Hine and Moritat's surprisingly good take on The Spirit; and the Hellboy books, with a number of creators including Mike Mignola and Guy Davis, are as solid as always. Invincible Iron Man. Batgirl is intermittently interesting, as is Batman, Inc. and Booster Gold. And I know I'm forgetting some, so I'll stop now.

I'll wind this up. I don't know when I'll post here again, but hopefully it will be sooner rather than later. Thanks for reading!

Thanks For the Memeories.

In an effort to provide content here on a more frequent basis (stop laughing, you), I think it's high time I got back to putting music-related stuff up here. And in that spirit, here's a Facebook meme that I got tagged with by the esteemed M'sieu David Fiore.

Rules: Create a non objective list of your favorite albums of the last 20 years (anything released between 1990 and now), remember, this is your FAVORITES so, if Maroon 5's songs about Jane was your favorite album, that should be number 1, even if you feel Nevermind was a more influential album.

#1 is probably #1, but most of the rest of these are in the order I thought of them, mostly. It doesn't say how many albums to list, so I'll limit it to 25. I have no doubt that I will forget several. Also, for no good reason, I'm naming one album per artist.

1. Flaming Lips- The Soft Bulletin
2. Lloyd Cole- Don't Get Weird on Me, Babe
3. Matthew Sweet- Girlfriend
4. Ron Sexsmith- Other Songs
5. Eels- Daisies of the Galaxy
6. Los Lobos- Colossal Head
7. Wilco- Summerteeth
8. Jellyfish- Spilt Milk
9. The Jayhawks- Sound of Lies
10. Coldplay- A Rush of Blood to the Head
11. Paul Westerberg- Suicane Gratifaction
12. Shelby Lynne- I Am Shelby Lynne
13. Julian Lennon- Help Yourself
14. R.E.M.- New Adventures in Hi-Fi
15. Puffy Amiyumi- Nice.
16. Brian Wilson- SMiLE
17. The Waterboys- Dream Harder
18. Masters of Reality- Sunrise on the Sufferbus
19. Cibo Matto- Stereo Type "A"
20. Tori Amos- The Beekeeper
21. Iris Dement- My Life
22. My Morning Jacket- Evil Urges
23. Miranda Lee Richards- The Herethereafter
24. Maria McKee- Life is Sweet
25. Joe Henry- Trampoline


Others I thought of after I posted the list: Prince's Gold Experience, Patty Griffin's 1000 Kisses, Cyndi Lauper's Hat Full of Stars, Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Stone Temple Pilots' Purple, Paul McCartney's Driving Rain, Matthew Sweet's In Reverse, Jack Johnson & Friends' Curious George Soundtrack (shut up, you), The White Stripes' Elephant, Beck's Odelay and Sea Change, Fishbone's Truth and Soul, Pearl Jam's No Code.

I gazed a gazely stare.

Back in the hazy, crazy days of 1973, Scottish pop singer Lulu, who was by then past a string of Sixties hits including "To Sir With Love", the theme for a film in which she also appeared with Sidney Poitier and for which she was probably best known here in the States, gravitated into the orbit of David Bowie (she years later confessed to a fling, Bowie hasn't commented) and Mick Ronson at the height of the Glitter era...and the a single, a cover of Bowie's 1970 title track from his Man Who Sold the World album, was the result. Above is a TV performance of same from 1974. Although I dearly love the music the Bowie/Ronson team made together, I had not gone as far as to check this out before- although I was aware it existed. The slightly-different arrangement isn't bad, although the sinuous guitar melody line that runs through the original is missing until closer to the end, it's definitely got that honkin' sax that DB liked in this, the pre-Ronson split Pinups era...but I don't think Lulu's vocal does much for the song at all, sorry to say. Her calm, sweet demeanor doesn't really jibe with the ominous paranoiac mood the song (especially in its original version) evokes. I haven't heard the B-side, "Watch that Man", a fave Bowie track of mine from Aladdin Sane.

Anyway, today is Ms. Lulu's birthday today, and reading about it got me curious to hear her cover. Thought I'd take the opportunity to send along a BSBdG. Wish I could have been more complimentary- I did like "Sir", and she was definitely a big part of the whole Swingin' '60s scene. So there's that!

Various and sundry.

For the Red Wolf overview, go here. Sorry about the curve. I'll try to keep that sort of thing to a minimum in the future.

Yeah, I know, it's been another week without posts here at the Show. Just can't quite seem to get into that routine for various reasons. But I have been watching, reading, and listening to a lot of stuff, and I thought "Hey, why not do one of those long posts which touch on a number of subjects!" And since I still haven't totally abandoned the notion that this is not just a comics blog, I'll just go from one thing to another and try not to lose everybody in the process. OK? Here we go.

MUSIC:

Two birthdays I totally whiffed on in the previous weeks were those of:






















RINGO STARR, who turned 69 years old back on Tuesday, July 7. How ironic is it that now, with two Beatles dead and the other survivor looking more and more haggard with every passing year, that the perpetually-ill-as-a-child and oldest of the four looks and acts as vital and lively as he did at least a decade ago? I did a favorite Ringo songs list a few years ago, and I don't think it's changed much today. In the past week, I've seen a few articles and blog posts defending Mr. Starkey's artistry, decrying how little respect he's gotten and taking pains to point out how good a drummer he really was. Thing is, I've known this for a long time, and not because I'm a drummer (I'm not) or even a Beatle fan (which of course I am, very much so)...but because it's plain as day and perfectly obvious to anyone who knows anything at all about music and drumming. I can't recall too many instances of seeing people put down or belittle Ringo's ability in print, but when I do, I automatically discount that opinion, chalking it up to plain' ol' ignorance or contrarianism. Now, ol' Ringo hasn't exactly endeared himself to people with his recent request for people not to send him stuff to autograph, citing being too busy as a reason. Hey, yeah, that's pretty cranky-sounding, but you know, as much pleasure as he's given people for over 40 years now, I think he's earned the benefit of the doubt. As always, we have no idea what he and his mates have been through. Here's Ringo's website, in case you're curious.

Also:






















Good old BRIAN WILSON (shown here in 1976, from a Rolling Stone shoot I do believe) celebrated his 67th back on June 20. I think he's one of the great genius composers of the 20th Century, but I may be a tad biased since I'm such a fan of the Beach Boys and Brian's solo work. Back in 2003, I wrote this, and I think much of it applies six years later. Here's a list of my favorite Beach Boys songs, which I might change here and there now but probably not. I got his most recent release That Lucky Old Sun back during Christmas, and found it very good- a bit uneven quality-wise, perhaps, but it always sounded committed and his band is excellent. The track "Good Kind of Love" belongs right up there with his best, featuring some wonderful chord changes and a strong melody, as well as a charming, open-hearted sentiment that makes it a winner. The concurrent documentary DVD is also well worth a look; I rented it from Netflix a while back and found it very interesting as it showed us Brian and the Wondermints working on the album, as well as playing it live in the studio.

As far as any other music stuff goes, I listen to a constant stream of tunes all week long, all month long; nothing right now is jumping up and down, begging me to hold forth about it. I did enjoy listening to Hothouse Flowers' Home the other day; while it's got a very early 90's production sound, it isn't as egregious as some records I've heard from this period and boasts many great songs.

If you follow me on Twitter, I post comments on music I listen to fairly often. No plans to resurrect the Off the Record blog; I've been considering reposting the entries here and deleting it. Problem with that is I'd lose my comments, and I have a couple I want to save. Who knows.

MOVIES:

I haven't done any movie reviews in ages; probably not since I saw Dark Knight Returns. Back in January, I thought it might be interesting to keep a movie diary, writing it down every time I watch a film in its entirety (or finish watching a film I had started previously). Believe it or not, I have faithfully done this to this day! That said, I don't really want to go back and write about each of them, even though I haven't ruled out posting the list at the end of the year. Recent flicks I've seen that made an impression, though, were Up, yet another excellent Pixar effort which I enjoyed very much, despite the constant aerial action that had my acrophobia going nuts, making me twist in my seat. It also featured a couple of flashback sequences that were so moving that they could wring tears from a stone. Had me awfully misty, for sure. On a completely different note, I was tremendously entertained by the over-the-top theatricality of Repo! The Genetic Opera, a musical about a bleak future in which mass organ failure has led to the creation of a market for organ transplants and a company which makes the possible- for a price- and if you can't pay, they send the black-hazmat-suited Repo Man after you to get the organs back. Forcibly. As in cut them out of you in the alley. It's an obvious attempt to create a cult-movie like Rocky Horror, with a noteworthy cast: Anthony Stewart (Giles from Buffy) Head, singing again; Alexa Vega of Spy Kids, veteran actor Paul (Mira's dad) Sorvino, celebrity scourge Paris Hilton (whose newly transplanted face falls off at one point), and Sarah Brightman as well as Skinny Puppy's "Ogre". One of the co-writers, Terrance Zdunich, makes an impression as a shady whitefaced character named Grave Robber; he gets one of the best songs, an ode to an addictive drug which makes the surgeries less painful called Zydrate. He reminds me a bit of Joel Grey's master of ceremonies in Cabaret. The visuals are very much in that NiN/Marilyn Manson video/Tim Burton aesthetic style, and the whole thing gets across via its sheer chutzpah. Its director helmed a couple of the Saw flicks, which of course I am determined to miss at all costs. Reviews were awful, but I wound up kinda digging it.

TV:

Not much of note right now; Earlier this year I had gotten interested in NBC's low-rated Kings, a thougthful reimagining of the Biblical story of David and King Saul. which featured a typically outstanding turn by Ian McShane. When ratings were poor, they put the show on hiatus and aired them late last month and early July, on Saturday nights when no one watches. I'm sorry to say that I missed the most recent episode myself, but will look to see it on Hulu as soon as possible. I think there are a couple more left before it's gone for good- I might consider getting the DVD set so I can watch it in its entirety. Also, at about the same time Kings initially aired, I developed an attraction to Joss Whedon's latest, Dollhouse. After a tentative start, I think it really got in gear towards the end and thankfully has been renewed for another season; the limitations of the concept itself, the adjustable morality brought to bear, and the limitations on the acting ability of star Eliza Dushku give me pause, but it works in spite of everything. TNT's Leverage is another show I watched intermittently earlier this year; it's new season premiere is coming up soon. Another show I like quite a lot is HBO's Entourage; its new season premieres tonight.

And finally, COMICS.

The writer John Ostrander, whose run in the 90s and early Aughts on The Spectre is, in my opinion, one of the best things to come from DC in that period, has been battling glaucoma- and needs help with the expenses that insurance won't pay for. We've all been there, I know. The Hero Initiative is trying to help; go here for more information and if you can I hope you can join in.

Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern? OK, sure. I liked him in Smokin' Aces, even though he was probably the most restrained member of the diverse cast. I might be more worked up about it if I was a GL fan, but I've never been listed in that number.

Go here for a couple of great Powerhouse Pepper stories by Basil Wolverton. You won't regret it.

Go here for an amusing Little Lulu satire by Howard Cruse. We don't see much Cruse these days, and that's a shame.

Tom Spurgeon has been killing it with his Sunday interviews lately; today's is with Peter Bagge, and is well worth your time as always.



Anyway, that's about it. I'm slowly but surely reading Clifford Meth's collection of short stories Billboards, but it takes me forever to read prose novels these days (I've been reading Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon for going on three years now) so I'm way behind on getting it done so I can review it as promised. I will finish it eventually, and I'll be sure to let you all know what I think.

As always, more later, hopefully sooner rather than. And as always, thanks for your patience.

A quick announcement: most of you probably know this already, but I have decided that I want to do more music posting, and have created a blog for that very purpose. It's called Johnny Bacardi's Off the Record, and I have the first two posts up now. Basically, I plan to take a good, long look (more than a review, less than a novel) at albums out of my collection, not just vinyl, mind you, but releases from the last four decades, not only my beloved early-mid 70's. I can't promise how frequently I'll update it- I'm afraid they're gonna take days to write- but I'll try to get at least one a week up there. It's really gonna depend on how motivated and inspired I get. Anyway, hope you'll like it and add it to you Bloglines or Google Reader or whatever you use, that way you'll know when I've put something up.

Odds and ends:

Sometimes I think I should enable titles here; since I've started using Google Reader to read everyone's blogs (well, not everyone, but you know what I mean) it does make one's posts stand out a little bit more. Still, after five (almost six!) years, I'm kinda "what's the point" about it.

Holy gosh, I haven't posted here since Wednesday! I was doing better there for a while, but real life has been very busy lately and I haven't really had anything particularly pertinent to say about anything anyway. As always, I appreciate those who hang with me.

While I'm going on and on about me, did you know I had a Flickr account? Well, now you do. Believe me, it won't be as impressive as those by the likes of Kevin Church, Katie West or Zoetica Ebb, but recently I've had access to a good camera and have been moved to take a shot or three, and thought it would be a good place to put them. I am no photographer, and have no pretense towards being one, but many of these shots will be of a more personal nature (i.e., me, things and places around me and stuff that informs my personal life) so if you're curious, then by all means check it out. And leave a fricking comment, whydoncha- no one has done so yet. I won't get mad.

The Flickr account isn't in the sidebar yet; actually, lots of things aren't, and that's just sheer laziness on my part. I used to simply go in and edit the template, and in some ways that was quicker, but when I changed to this look, I started using the new tables or whatever you call them, and hate to mix and match. The new way of adding links is not all that much more difficult, but for some reason I kinda procrastinate about adding stuff using it, and that's why my link list is so incomplete. So honest, it's not because I don't like you if your link isn't included at right, it's just because I'm a lazy bastard. Chances are I follow you on Reader, and one of these days I'll get around to completing (or at least updating) the list. I hope.

It seems like much of the stuff I could be using for blog fodder, I'm posting on Twitter instead. I will do some linky stuff shortly; if you follow me on Twitter, some of this will be familiar (I hope) but bear with, please. If you're on that highly addictive messaging service, and you don't follow me, well please feel free to do so- I need all the followers I can get if I'm going to rule the world someday.

OK, since at odd times in the last five plus years this has, much of the time, been a TV/Movies/Music/Comics/Sports (not necessarily in that order) blog, here's a little about each:

Last night was the big two-hour grande finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and all things considered it was an appropriate sendoff to a series which has been often frustrating, but more often wonderfully imaginative and sometimes moving, in spite of everything. Of course, none of it turned out like I thought it would, which just further proves that I'm not so smart. While Nickelodeon, on the one hand, has seemed to do everything in its power to dumb the show down and drive away viewers via its scheduling, at least they did air the show in the first place, and I suppose they should get credit for that even though it seems like they never really understood what made it special in the first place, preferring the more conventional likes of Spongebob Squarepants and The Fairly OddParents, lively and entertaining cartoons but neither possessing or requiring the amount of depth and attention that Avatar needed. Nick just never really seemed to like the show, as if they were confused and intimidated by the attention it got from many critics and fans outside the preteen and tweenage demographic that is their purview. Anyway, last night's episode resolved many longstanding plot threads, but maddeningly left many dangling, even creating a couple of new ones. I have it on good authority that one reason was because "they didn't get the originally planned, full four seasons" and why? "...the film that canned the series early. Timing and all that.". This motion picture, set to be made by none other than that Happening guy M. Night Shyamalan, is to be a live action version, which would seem to be counter-intuitive to the appeal of the concept, at least as I relate to it, but you never know. MNS has a lot to prove after the lackluster box office of his previous film, and that may motivate him to excel- if he's got it in him. His last attempt at full-blown fantasy, The Lady in the Water, was a bizarre disaster. I will say this- it's going to be a little strange to not be anticipating the next episode; it's an odd feeling to know that the Nick series is now done. In a strange sort of way, I almost hope they don't show reruns all that much; it just won't seem fitting, somehow, to see the "Sozin's Comet" episodes come on on a Thursday afternoon, out of order with no buildup or context to speak of. I get the same feeling from seeing reruns of Justice League Unlimited, more on that later.

Other TV shows I've been spending some time on include The Middle Man, which is still enjoyable in fits and starts but the arch tone wears me out after a while. It wants to be a hip, quirky and lighthearted adventure story, and sometimes gets pretty close, but often it just tries too hard. Venture Bros. is still going strong, showing remarkable depth and complexity while remaining as absurd and fun as ever; if you're not watching this show, you really should be. Netflix or rent the first two seasons on DVD, and you can even get caught up with season three via adultswim.com. My NCIS viewing remains consistent, even though it's not really must-see TV anymore. Should be interesting to see what happens with the cast; looks like they're trying to break them up but that seems like a remarkably bad idea. I still watch the occasional Justice League Unlimited episode on Cartoon Network; while they seem to be perpetually stuck in episodes from late in the penultimate and the final season, many of those are highly watchable and have their share of classic moments, such as the Flash's super-speed dismantling of the Braniac-possessed Luthor, and Batman dodging one of Darkseid's Omega beams. I'm pretty much caught up with previous seasons of HBO's Entourage; new episodes begin in September. It's not exactly essential, but it has a great cast with good chemistry, and is often very funny. I started out watching AMC's Mad Men, and was quite enamored of it, but missed something like the third and fourth episodes, figured I'd be lost and decided to catch up via DVD in time for the season 2 premiere. Uh...didn't happen. There's still time, although I think the second season begins this week or next. I also kinda got interested in HBO's Big Love, about a polygamist and his attempts to live a normal (well, relatively speaking) life in the monogamous world, as well as the various situations that arise within his sect. It's got a good cast, too, with Bill Paxton as the lead and Harry Dean Stanton, Chloe Sevigny, and others in supporting roles. I rented the first DVD of season one, but never could really get the time to sit and watch it so I sent it back so I could get further down my Netflix queue. I'll get back to it someday. It's got a really nice intro, which features the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows"- you can see it right here. Anything else? Hm. Dirt's second season was a strike-truncated disappointment, and then it got canned, too bad. I find myself watching reruns of Two and a Half Men in the afternoons sometimes; it's surprisingly funny and nasty in equal measures, with a cast of pros playing the material well. The CW Saturday morning Spider-Man series overcame a tentative beginning to become a surprisingly good watch; the script is often witty and is often fast-paced and fun. I think that's it. Almost worthy of Tom the Dog, huh!

Movies? I've seen a few lately. Iron Man, Hellboy II of course; and I also caught a showing of WALL-E a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't as nuts for WALL-E as many were; it was entertaining and very well animated (I expect no less from Pixar) but I found myself second-guessing the science and logistics constantly. For example, the film expects me to believe that the former residents of Planet Earth, having evolved into still-somewhat-human blobs, could immediately begin to walk, and survive the turmoil on the ship in the movie's resolution, as well as rebuild their planet- I didn't think these people even had much in the way of bone in their legs, especially enough to support all the weight they had put on! And one tiny plant is enough to convince the ship that Earth is habitual again? What about the obviously-still-depleted ozone layer? The winds that were still coming up at regular intervals? Sure, we got a look at some more greenery as the film wound down, but color me skeptical. I've yet to go see Dark Knight; everybody and their uncle is praising it to high heaven, but I wasn't all that enamored of Batman Begins, not enough to drop six bucks towards seeing its sequel, no matter how good Heath Ledger may or may not be. I also viewed the new Watchmen trailer online; it's very impressive although it does kinda look like all the other recent comic-book based films lately; the Billy Corgan music was somewhat disconcerting as well. Just a little too 90's for a property that's still associated with the 80's in my mind. I think Ozymandias looks like a dork in that black domino mask; IIRC he spent most of the comics (which I haven't read in ages) without it. Yeah, I'm nitpicking. Recent Netflix rentals include Michael Clayton, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Black Snake Moan, Crank, and the Aqua Teen movie- the first was very good but marred somewhat by a contrived ending, the second was marvelous, the third was ludicrous but kept my attention, the fourth entertaining, and the last became too much to take after a while- 15 minute doses of absurdity can be fun; two hours of same was just too much, and I bailed on it. I plan on doing a proper movie post soon; stay tuned.

Comics? The usual suspects that I've been enjoying, and I hope you've been reading my reviews to know what I'm talking about. One which really grabbed me was Hellboy: The Crooked Man #1, the first chapter of what promises to be another excellent miniseries. Set in Appalachia in 1958, and dealing with witches and hillbillies, it shows Hellboy as almost peripheral to the events displaying a detachment that Ron Perlman couldn't begin to portray. Richard Corben is on art, and he's excellent; people forget, I think, that he was first and foremost a horror artist back in the day who used to sign his work "Gore". I'm a sucker for that backwoods supernatural stuff anyway; this reminded me a lot of Manly Wade Wellman's excellent tales of Silver John, aka John the Balladeer, who encountered various ghosts, witches, and demonic creatures as he wandered the hills with only a silver-stringed guitar and a little bit of experience in dealing with such matters. I don't know if any collections are available, but if so I give them my highest recommendation. Ah! Here's one- a bit pricey, but worth it I think if you can afford it. Also, thanks to Bully, I've been reading Blake Bell's new bio of Steve Ditko- fascinating stuff, and it reproduces a LOT of great art at a bigger-than-normal size...and the effect is somewhat breathtaking, especially if you revere Ditko's 60's work as much as I do. Of course, I'll write more about these, and the other comics I haven't reviewed yet, later this week. On a related note, here's info about some mighty sweet art books by a number of talented artists- here's a couple of samples:



Yep, that's Darwyn Cooke and Cam Stewart! Each of them has their own collection available. I really would like to get a copy of Stewart's The Apocalypstix, but I thought I was still on Oni's comp list so I didn't preorder. I haven't received anything from Oni in months now, so I guess that's no longer the case, and as a result I'm going to have to find a copy somewhere. Such is life.

Music? I haven't really picked up anything new lately- mostly it's just finding old stuff that I haven't heard in ages or haven't heard at all here and there on the Interwub. Dennis Wilson's Pacific Ocean Blue came out before I got interested in the Beach Boys; having made up for lost time since then (1977) it was inevitable that I would get around to it eventually, even though to be honest I wasn't crazy about the songs Dennis had on 70's Boys LPs like Carl and the Passions. Much to my surprise, it sounds nothing like those cuts at all; it's consistently tuneful and clever, and Wilson uses his croaking vocal to his advantage a la Tom Waits or hoarse Harry Nilsson circa Pussy Cats. I also have obtained XTC's Wasp Star (Apple Venus Vol. 2), now eight years old- better late than never and well worth the wait, the only question being why the hell did I wait so long?!? Also, the two most recent issues from Lindsey Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac, Under the Skin and Say You Will; Skin is stripped-down but tuneful, Will is overlong, and suffers from being in actuality a Buckingham/Nicks album with Fleetwood and McVie as the rhythm section and Christine McVie barely present except for a few lost-in-the-mix felt-but-not-heard backing vocals, but there are some very good cuts by both singer/songwriters. Been also listening a lot to Rosebud, the self-titled debut, and only release by, a contingent of LA musicians from 1971 that came out on Reprise and featuring Judy Henske and Jerry Yester, who as a couple released the noteworthy Farewell Aldebaran a yer or so earlier. I had heard one cut on a Warner/Reprise Loss Leader, a lovely tune called "Lullabye II (Summer Carol)", previously and was very interested in hearing the rest of this hard-to-find release. Never did find it on vinyl. It's OK, if unremarkable, kinda-country-pop-rock stuff and so far the aforementioned track is the standout. I fully intend to give it time to grow on me. Otherwise, it's been a panoply of stuff; I listen to several CDs on average every day of every week.

Boy, this is a long post, huh!

Sports? Beseball season has been pretty good so far; my White Sox are hanging in there in first place, managing somehow to hold off the Twins and Tigers in the AL Central, with smoke and mirrors, seemingly, sometimes. I think they have what it takes to win that division, and even make it to the Series if they can stay focused. My beloved Atlanta Falcons are just trying to regroup and rebuild after one of the worst NFL seasons ever with a new coach, who strikes me as somewhat vanilla but if he can get this team tougher and playing smarter, then I'm all for it, and a new rookie quarterback who probably won't see action right away, plus a new feature running back who was impressive in the backup role in San Diego, but is unproven as in the feature role over the course of a season. They've lost a ton of other players on both sides of the ball, as cleaning house was the order of the day in ATL. Hate to say it, but a 6-10 season would be a minor miracle. That said, I think they'll be at least competitive- their division isn't the strongest. The University of Kentucky is gearing up for a new football season with high hopes, and of course basketball isn't far from anybody's mind in Lexington, even in September.

One more thing- by all means, check out the "Items of Interest" box in the sidebar there at right; it's where I select other blog posts that I run across in Google Reader and want to share. I think most of them will be of interest to a lot of you!

OK, now I'll wind this up and get on with the rest of my Sunday. Thanks for reading, if you've made it this far, and stay tuned for more later!

Today, Rockin' Roger Green posted the list of Entertainment Weekly's top 100 albums of the last 25 years, which ones he had, and some opinions on same and I thought it's been a while since I posted something music-related here- besides Beatle birthdays of course- so whaddaya say; let's all pretend we care what I think about them, too, and I'll bold the ones I own:

1. Purple Rain - Prince and the Revolution (1984): Not even what I consider Prince's best. Sure, the film was memorable, and this isn't a bad record (even though I find it unfocused and sloppy, and smells like songs taken from the vault and slapped together), but better than 1999? Sign 'o' the Times? I think not. Hell, I like Dirty Mind, Come, and Gold Experience better.

2. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill - Lauryn Hill (1998): A friend of mine had this, and I remember hearing several songs from it that were OK but not anything I cared to own. It seemed earth-shaking at the time, though, and it's odd that you never hear anything from Hill or the other Fugees anymore. Not that I'm complaining, mind you.

3. Achtung Baby - U2 (1991): I think I prefer Zooropa, actually, but this is a very good record. Joshua Tree, in my opinion, is probably their best but that may fall outside the 25-year limit (I forget when it came out! 1986-87?). Anyways, this was the first album where they stopped taking themselves so...seriously... and let a little cynicism (and Eno/Lanios-induced willingness to experiment sonically) seep in and all the better for it says I. These days, they're back to being pompous, and they don't even have the saving grace of memorable tunes to balance it out.

4. The College Dropout - Kanye West (2004) Nope, I am not a convert.

5. Madonna - Madonna (1983): People forget it wasn't until Like a Virgin that she made a real impact, and MTV airplay of "Lucky Star" and "Borderline made this so-so debut seem more important and more full of import than it actually was. It's a decent enough album, though. Her best? Not hardly.

6. American Idiot - Green Day (2004): Never saw what other people see in this group. Probably never will.

7. The Blueprint- Jay-Z: (2001): Did this have "Girls Girls Girls" on it? If so, I really liked that track. Don't want to push my luck, though.

8. Graceland - Paul Simon (1986): I never liked this one as much as I did its immediate predecessor Hearts and Bones, and like it even less after reading this. "You Can Call Me Al" was a cutesy, catchy song, like "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover", which I hated.

9. Back to Black - Amy Winehouse (2007): I liked "Rehab", still do. There are one or two other tracks that are OK. I never listen to this anymore, got bored with it real fast. She's a real piece of work, isn't she?

10. In Rainbows - Radiohead (2007): My son made me a copy of this, and I could swear I've listened to it at least twice through but I'll be damned if I could tell you a single thing on it. This group is intermittently interesting, and I appreciate where Yorke's coming from, but other than "High and Dry" from The Bends I just don't get into the rest of their catalog.

11. MTV Unplugged in New York - Nirvana (1994): I remember when this aired, but other than a couple of tracks I never really bought into Nirvana (or the deification of Kurt Cobain, for that matter) either. The version of Bowie's "Man Who Sold the World" isn't bad.

12. Stankonia - OutKast (2000): Kinda wish I had this; I love "Mrs. Jackson" and dig much of Speakerboxx/The Love Below muchly. Someday.

13. You Are Free - Cat Power (2003): Another band which a lot of people really like, but I have yet to investigate. Maybe someday.

14. Disintegration - The Cure (1989): I went through my Cure stage at about the time this record came out, at age 28 a bit too old for the target demographic but isn't that always the way for me. This one's not as good as Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, the first one I ever got, nor is it as good as The Head on the Door.

15. The Marshall Mathers LP - Eminem (2000): Actually, I don't mind this guy too much. Don't own anything, either, although my son did and I heard a lot of it then.

16. Rain Dogs - Tom Waits (1985): One of the (I insist) only two indispensable Waits albums, but I prefer Swordfishtrombones.

17. Odelay - Beck (1996): Another example of my son having something first and then me coming along, hearing it, liking it, and buying it myself. This one's his best to date- he's done everything in his power to avoid sounding like it since which is artistically valid but frustrating from the listener's viewpoint. I like Sea Change, his soporific-but-tuneful 2002 release as well.

18. People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm - A Tribe Called Quest (1990): Nah.

19. Dangerously in Love - Beyoncé (2003): Nope, although she's certainly likable in films.

20. Tidal - Fiona Apple (1996): I had this because I liked "Criminal" but got bored with it and sold it. Don't miss it much, either. I did get Extraordinary Machine, but I never listen to it either.

21. The Emancipation of Mimi - Mariah Carey (2005): Please.

22. 3 Feet High and Rising - De La Soul (1989): I got this because I liked "Me Myself and I" with its Parliament samples and such. Still have it, but never dig it out. Maybe I should.

23. The Soft Bulletin - The Flaming Lips (1999): If I was making this list, this album would be #1. It's rare when I know I'm going to love a record from the opening notes, but that's what happened when I put this in the CD player. It's an imaginative, heartfelt set of ruminations on life and death and cosmic wonder, and it's one of the best albums I've ever heard in my life. Not to put too fine a point on it.

24. Come On Over - Shania Twain (1997): Twain's an appealing performer, to say the least, but I'm not a fan of her style of music, that overproduced, slick antiseptic pseudo-pop/country.

25. Turn On the Bright Lights - Interpol (2002): Don't know much about this group; I may have seen the name in print or heard a track.

26. Time Out of Mind - Bob Dylan (1997: Critics gushed over this, but I didn't really see what all the fuss was about. It has its moments, and probably is the best Dylan album of the last 25 years, given the competition...actually, I'm fond of Under the Red Sky, which most Dylanites despise. Figures.

27. Funeral - Arcade Fire (2004): Another group whose appeal eludes me. Granted, I'm more familar with Neon Bible than this one but I'm not crazy about it either.

28. Illmatic - Nas (1994): Not a fan.

29. Breakaway - Kelly Clarkson (2004): I don't own this (although I think my daughter does). Kelly and I have a history, as you may recall (I wish Imageshack hadn't "lost" the Jamaican vacation picture I had), and I don't mind her music too much, like some of it even- but I've never been moved to buy.

30. Appetite for Destruction - Guns N' Roses (1987): I never really warmed to these guys, although "Welcome to the Jungle" is a serviceable late-80's hair metal cut and I kinda like "November Rain" as well.

31. FutureSex/LoveSounds - Justin Timberlake (2006): I give Timberlake all the credit in the world- he's a good performer, onstage and especially in film, and doesn't embarrass himself in the recorded area either. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna buy or download his music.

32. Life's Rich Pageant - R.E.M. (1985): For a long time, this was my favorite R.E.M. album, and it was also the one which converted me to R.E.M. fandom. "Fall on Me" just might be my favorite of their songs. It's not a perfect LP, though; there are two or three cuts that haven't really stayed all that fresh. I might put Document, Automatic For the People, and even New Adventures in Hi-Fi ahead of it now.

33. As I Am - Alicia Keys (2007): Keys is a talented performer and a heck of a good actress, plus she's just stone cold beautiful...but I have no desire to own any of her sterile soul music.

34. Is This It - The Strokes (2001): I've heard this, and I thought it was OK, but I never bought it.

35. Jagged Little Pill - Alanis Morissette (1995): This was tuneful, but lyrically awful. Still, the dumbass "irony" song was catchy, and I liked that one about the "hand in (her) pocket" as well as yes, "You Oughtta Know". I also liked "Thank You" from the followup, but that's been it for me from Alanis. Oh, and I liked her cameo in Dogma. Does this belong on this list? I doubt it. Maybe in its influence on other female 90's artists, don't know.

36. CrazySexyCool - TLC (1994): I guess this was influential as well, so sure. You know what I liked by these ladies? "What About Your Friends". That had a killer hook and melody, and was free of the hip-hop diva posturing of later videos and songs.

37. The Moon & Antarctica - Modest Mouse (2000): I liked "Float On". That wasn't on this, was it.

38. Raising Hell - Run DMC (1986): I think I almost prefer King of Rock, but hey- you can't deny "Walk This Way" and I liked "It's Tricky", especially the video with Penn and Teller. "No! No Run DMC! NO!" "Yo. That's Tricky."

39. Sheryl Crow - Sheryl Crow (1996): I've been thoroughly unimpressed with everything she's done before and since, although I liked a couple of cuts on her debut. This one's so-so as well, but I'm nuts about "If It Makes You Happy", the best Rolling Stones song of the 1990's.

40. Ready to Die - The Notorious B.I.G. (1994): Not a fan.

41. Legend - Bob Marley and the Wailers (1984): Ditto.

42. Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)- Wu-Tang Clan (1993) Likewise.

43. Paul's Boutique - Beastie Boys (1989): Now this one's a hell of a lot of fun, super audacious and super influential with some of the best sampling ever, back when musicians could sample with impunity and not pay a price. It really should be higher on this list. I'm not the biggest rap fan in the world, but this one kicks my ass every time.

44. Car Wheels on a Gravel Road - Lucinda Williams (1998): I wish I liked Williams more than I do; she's definitely a major talent. This one's probably her best, out of those I've heard anyway. Fave cut: "Drunken Angel".

45. If You're Feeling Sinister - Belle and Sebastian (1996): I tried to like these guys, really I did, but just couldn't develop a taste. My loss, I'm sure.

46. Homogenic - Björk (1997): This is in no way, shape, fashion or form better than Debut OR Post. This was the first album in which electronic noises became more important than song structure, and her constant warbling around in search of a melody became real grating after a while.

47. Exile in Guyville - Liz Phair (1993): I don't revere this like some do; there are too damn many melody-free cuts on this for me to embrace it fully. But "Never Said" and "Fuck and Run" are the shit.

48. American IV: The Man Comes Around - Johnny Cash (2002): Even though I like Cash and Rick Rubin, I don't own any of his latter releases. No, wait- I think I have the first couple in mp3s on my old iMac, but never got around to burning them on a CD. When Rubin gets hold of people like Cash, Donovan or Neil Diamond, he tends to want to cast them in spare, stripped-down settings, with minimal accompaniment- and while that's valid and I'm in the minority, for sure, this approach bores the living shit out of me. Maybe that's why I don't have any of these.

49. A Rush of Blood to the Head - Coldplay (2002): For the life of me, I don't understand all the Coldplay hate. Sure, they sound like U2 and Radiohead, and so what? There's nothing on the last three U2 releases that's half as good as "Yellow", "Trouble", "Sparks" or "Politik". Sure, their frontguy is self-effacing and bland to a fault. But I found much to like on their first two albums, and this is my favorite of the two, for "The Scientist" if nothing else.

50. Sounds of Silver - LCD Soundsystem (2007): I have a couple of mp3s, that Ken Lowery, I believe, sent me. They were OK, but I wasn't moved to investigate further.

51. The Score - Fugees (1996): See Lauren Hill above.

52. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - Spoon (2007): Nothing.

53. King of America - Elvis Costello (1986): This is a solid, if unexceptional, effort from Elvis- hell, I would have put Blood and Chocolate, Imperial Bedroom, or even Mighty Like a Rose ahead of it. For me, the most memorable thing about this one is the cover.

54. Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 - Janet Jackson (1989): I still love "Miss You Much", and one or two other cuts still entertain, but like all her albums it's too damn long and not strong enough. Still, I guess it can be included for its impact if nothing else.

55. It Takes a Nation of Millions... - Public Enemy (1988): Not a fan.

56. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco (2002): I prefer Summerteeth, a damn-near perfect example of experimental pop, but this one's excellent as well- perhaps the peak of Tweedy's experimentation, coming at the expense of the melody unlike its predecessor. I heart "I'm the Man Who Loves You", which sounds like a great lost Nilsson/Brian Wilson/Neil Young collaboration. Ghost is Born went too far in the other direction, and Sky Blue Sky is pleasant enough, but unremarkable.

57. Harvest Moon - Neil Young (1992): Many bought the hype and hailed this as a return to his halcyon Harvest days, but don't you believe it- despite the charming title track, this is strictly bland, overproduced, antiseptic late 90's-Aughts Neil all the way.

58. Surfer Rosa - The Pixies (1988): I prefer Doolittle, but "Cactus" is a good song.

59. Ray of Light - Madonna (1998): This is OK for the most part, but I prefer Bedtime Stories by a wide margin. Hell, I like Erotica better, too.

60. Crooked Rain Crooked Rain - Pavement (1994): Don't know much.

61. Paid in Full - Eric B. & Rakim (1987): Not a fan.

62. OK Computer - Radiohead (1997): See #10.

63. The Joshua Tree - U2 (1987): Oh yeah, this is when it came out. After all is said and done, I think this is their best and should be higher on the list if this is supposed to be hierarchic. Pretentious as all get out, but they back it up with their musical chops.

64. Mama's Gun - Erykah Badu (2000): I don't own anything by this striking lady, but I should. Maybe someday. I liked "Tyrone"; don't know if it's on this album or not.

65. Elephant - The White Stripes (2003): It's too damned long by about five songs, but you can't beat "Seven Nation Army", "Hardest Button to Button" and "Ball and Biscuit".

66. The Chronic - Dr. Dre (1992): No.

67. Metallica - Metallica (1991): I had a brief infatuation with these guys and a lot of other bands of this ilk in the early 90's; didn't last long. I have this, I think, although I haven't seen it in years...

68. Wrecking Ball - Emmylou Harris (1995): For some reason, I stopped buying Emmylou albums after 1984 or so. I liked most of them before that, loved a couple, but after a while her sound became homogeneous and bland and I lost interest. Getting Daniel Lanois to provide his trademark studio-gloss synthesizer "atmospherics" didn't help get me back. I'd give this a listen if I had the opportunity, but I have no reason to believe I'd be interested in taking it home.

69. Give Up - The Postal Service (2003): No clue.

70. My Life - Mary J. Blige (1994): No, although she did a song about five years ago that I liked OK. Don't remember what it was. It wasn't off this one, that's for sure.

71. Rock Steady - No Doubt (2001): Never acquired a taste for No Doubt, except perhaps the song "Bathwater". I kinda liked some of Gwenny-Gwen Gwen's solo album.

72. 1984 - Van Halen (1984): Not my favorite by these guys, but it's OK. It was certainly influential for a while there.

73. The Queen is Dead - Smiths (1986): never understood the appeal of the Smiths or Morrissey. Guess that's my loss.

74. Play - Moby (1999): I liked a couple of tracks on this, but was never moved to buy.

75. Born in the U.S.A. - Bruce Springsteen (1984): It's a classic of its kind, but except perhaps for "Bobby Jean" and "Darlington County" thanks to FM radio and MTV I have no desire to ever listen to it again. Yeah, it belongs...but I prefer Tunnel of Love.

76. Heartbreaker - Ryan Adams (2000): I liked Whiskeytown, and I own this album's followup Gold, but I overlooked this one. Don't really feel like I'm missing out. Only hipper-than-thou critics would put this on a list like this.

77. Dummy - Portishead (1994): The appeal of this group has always eluded me as well. I'm such a philistine.

78. Vs. - Pearl Jam (1991): Sure, OK, but Vitalogy is a better record.

79. Let It Be - The Replacements (1984): Sure, OK, but Tim is a better record. Note to Roger: if you're expecting something like Don't Tell a Soul with this one, well, let's just say that you'll be surprised. Pleasantly, I hope.

80. Back to Basics - Christina Aguilera (2006): Until I heard her version of Lennon's "Mother", I would have snorted in derision at this. But now, I'll just shrug my shoulders and give the benefit of the doubt.

81. The Downward Spiral - Nine Inch Nails (1994): NIN was my son's favorite band when he was a teen, so I heard a LOT of Reznor's music. I deplored the spiteful, self-pitying tone, but musically it was usually always interesting and "Closer" is a masterpiece.

82. Grace - Jeff Buckley (1994): I'm sorry- this one isn't as good as Sefronia even. Stll, "Last Goodbye" and the ruined-by-TV and Films "Hallelujah" are remarkable, and he was shaping up as a talent worth watching, if he could ever buckle down and do anything. He didn't inherit his dad's work ethic, that's for sure.

83. Learning to Crawl - The Pretenders (1984): Had to go look- I forgot I had this. I got real tired of the hits "Back on the Chain Gang" and "Middle of the Road" thanks to overexposure on TV and radio, and frankly, I don't remember anything else on the album. I never was a big admirer of this group anyway. "Brass in Pocket" and "Don't Get Me Wrong" were the only other cuts that yanked my crank.

84. Low-Life - New Order (1985): Nada.

85. Home - Dixie Chicks (2002): My daughter has this one; she's a longtime fan. Although Natalie Maines' overwrought loudmouth Daisy Mae Yokum act gets old real quick, they're all very talented, more often as not their songs are very strong musically, and I love the hell out of "Wide Open Spaces". So there ya go.

86. Loveless - My Bloody Valentine (1991): Another band I have never cared about.

87. All Eyez on Me - 2Pac (1996): No.

88. So - Peter Gabriel (1986): I suppose this is his best album of the past 25 years; his best IMO, III, came out in 1981. I bought this, enjoyed "Sledgehammer" on both TV and my speakers, as well as the Kate Bush duet and "Big Time", which was funny and catchy. I never dig this out and listen to it, though, haven't in at least (I'd bet) 15 years.

89. Bachelor No. 2 - Aimee Mann (2000): I want to like Mann so much, really I do, but outside of "You Stupid Thing" everything else she's done since has sounded whiny and tuneless. Sigh. I like this one's cover.

90. Toxicity - System of a Down (2001). Not interested.

91. Siamese Dream - Smashing Pumpkins (1993): My son has this, so I've heard it but the only Pumpkins album that ever grabbed me enough to want to own it was Melon Collie.

92. The Writing's on the Wall - Destiny’s Child (1999): No.

93. Either/Or - Elliott Smith (1997): Again, my son. I've heard it, but don't remember it. I do own X/O, like some of it, never play it.

94. Synchronicity - The Police (1983): I think this was their peak, creatively. SO naturally, they broke up after and were never the same again for good or ill.

95. Trap Muzik T.I. (2003): Whothewhatthuh-?

96. Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea - PJ Harvey (2000): I have Rid of Me, To Bring You My Love, and White Chalk. For some reason I don't have this. I LOVE Love, and if this is better than that one then I should immediately run out and get it, I think. Guess it's inevitable that one with limited resources such as I will miss out on some from time to time.

97. Britney - Britney Spears (2001): I guess when you look at the big picture, this probably belongs...but guys. C'mon.

98. Transatlanticism - Death Cab for Cutie (2003): One of my son's former girlfriends is a big fan of these guys, and I've kinda liked what I've heard from them, but as of this writing I own nothing. Gotta love a group that names themselves after the song that the Bonzo Doo Dah Dog Band sang in Magical Mystery Tour...

99. Live Through This - Hole (1994): I'm sure Britt had this too, and chances are I heard it. I certainly heard "Doll Parts", and it was OK. I've liked a couple of other Hole tracks in the past, Courtney Love solo as well, but again, not enough to buy.

100. Faith - George Michael (1987): If you want to get technical, my wife is the owner of this one, I promise. But there have been Michael tracks I've liked- "I Want Your Sex", "Freedom 90", "Fastlove"- just not very many of 'em.



Whee! Done! By my count, I own 38 out of the 100. Thought I had more. Hmph.

Via the illustrious Sean T. Collins comes a link to this great little David Bowie list piece, in which he cites a dozen of his songs that he "doesn't seem to tire of". There's not a duff track in the lot, indeed a couple are favorites of mine, and the whole thing is so forthright and self-effacing, not to mention perceptive, that at first I wondered if Bowie himself really wrote it. But let's just give the man the benefit of the doubt- he's certainly earned it- and enjoy the list and commentary for what they are, which is very interesting and entertaining. I loved what he said about an otherwise undistinguished track from 1986's Never Let Me Down, as well as a very astute (hindsight will do that for ya) potshot at his 1970's management.

You know what? I still listen to Heathen a lot. Great album. I like it better than anything in the 80's and more than one or two of his classic-era efforts.

Got tagged by the estimable Plok for a meme that I've seen making the rounds lately, and since I'm not really coming up with anything to put here lately (in fact, still haven't read all the comics I got last Friday!), I think this will do.

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to.

I listen to five times that in the course of a normal day; that really makes it hard to pick tracks that really stand out...but these are some that came to mind when I pondered the criteria. This is going to be less of a "songs that shape my Spring/Summer" list and more of a "songs that I remember digging lately" list. And yep, don't worry, it's all boring old fart 70's music, or music made by boring old farts that came to prominence in that decade in which I grew up in most ways.

1. I COME TUMBLIN' by Grand Funk Railroad (E Pluribus Funk)
As I've stated on many occasions, when I was 11-12 yrs of age GFR was the band all the cool older kids listened to. Pluribus was the last album they did before expanding into a four-man group, firing their manager/producer, and enlisting Todd Rundgren to make them pop stars via We're an American Band. Anyway, I used to have this album on 8-track many years ago, and gave it a good proper listening to in its time, but it had been many years since I'd had the opportunity to do so again until recently acquiring this album via download. I had forgotten what a non-stop hard-rocking album this was, with the bass up front in the mix, and "Tumblin' " is a great example that also sports good group harmonies.

2. DOLPHINS by Tim Buckley (Sefronia)
I've been an absolute fiend for Buckley lately; acquiring nearly all his albums in the last few months. He started out as a gentle folkie type, but soon metamorphosed into a restless stylistic chameleon whose subsequent albums ran the gamut from Miles Davis-influenced experimental to Van Morrison/Ray Charles/Rolling Stones style R&B, but never sounded mawkish or imitative. And his voice- oh my god, the man could sing like no one on this Earth. Problem is, the more he tried to break new ground and keep his restless muse happy, the farther into obscurity he sank, each album selling poorer than the previous until his premature drug-related death in 1975. This is a cover of a song by New York folk hero Fred Neil, whose greatest claim to fame was as writer of "Everybody's Talkin'", which Harry Nilsson took to the bank via the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack- Buckley performed it from his early days, and had long intended to record it. Finally, he got around to doing it on 1973's Sefronia, his penultimate release, and I think he really did it justice. To see him performing this live from this period, go here, and prepare to be amazed.

3. BYE BYE BLACKBIRD by Ringo Starr from Sentimental Journey
Paul released a home-crafted set of pop songs, John his highly personal and abrasive kiss off to his former group, and George bided his time, delivering a mammoth set of finely crafted songs that he'd been sitting on, in some cases, for three years. What did Ringo do in the wake of the breakup? Why, he put out an album's worth of standards, "for me Mum" as he put it at the time, probably the most non-rockish thing he could have possibly done. If you ever wanted to hear what Richie sounded like singing "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" and "Stardust", with appropriate accompaniment that was arranged by a clutch of celebrity arrangers such as George Martin, Paul McCartney, Richard Perry, and Quincy Jones, well, here you go. This is the second cut and probably the catchiest, arranged by Maurice Gibb using a big band arrangement with banjo. Tra la la. I think he could do worse than to revisit this type of music, even though it's a bit late for the Harry Connick, Jr./Brian Setzer-led Big Band and Swing revival. Anything's better than the last four or so half-assed mediocre-sounding pop records he's done.

4. DAUGHTERS OF THE SEA/FLYING CLOUD by the Doobie Brothers from What Were Once Vices are Now Habits
Song one is a rock/folk exercise with a nautical theme, sung and written by Patrick Simmons. You remember, the guitarist with the really long hair that wrote "Black Water", which is also on this album. Song two is an lovely synth/acoustic guitar-driven instrumental. When I was a teen and in my early 20's I loved the good-time hippie-vibe summertime keg party rock/folk boogie-band stylings of the Bros., before Mike McDonald joined up and changed them (for the worse) into a poor man's Steely Dan. These two tracks always remind me of listening to them in the back seat of my parent's car at 4 AM one summer, on my old portable 8-track player with the sound down low, as we drove to Florida for a vacation when I was (I think) 15.

5. NOBODY LOVES YOU LIKE I DO by Emerson, Lake and Palmer from Works Vol. 1
Toldja this was a bunch of old boring fart music, didn't I? Anyway, after shooting their collective wad with 1973's excellent (well, I think so anyway) Brain Salad Surgery album, they preceeded to fart around with live albums and such for four years, even planning to do the "simultaneous release of solo albums" thing that Yes beat them to by a year because they apparently had lost all patience with each other, until finally deciding to put them all together as one big double album extravaganza called Works Vol.1, which makes it sound a lot more impressive than it really was- Emerson's side was exciting for piano enthusiasts and precious few others; drummer Palmer's side was a collection of melody-challenged percussive-themed pop songs with all-star accompaniment, and the two-song side that featured the trio reunited in the studio for as long as they could tolerate each other contained a tuneful, but overlong instrumental Copland cover and a really overlong and melody free song about Pirates, which at least had the saving grace of Pete Sinfield lyrics. But Greg Lake's side was a whole 'nother thing- collaborating with Sinfield, he presented five grandiose acoustic-guitar based and orchestra-driven ballads, three of which are effectively romantic, one of which is quite cynical and features Sinfield's best wordsmithery, and then there's this one, which seems to be a love letter to ELP fans. It's bighearted and sports another great melody, with a atmospheric, muted guitar solo in the middle. I rarely listen to the other three sides, but lately I've been in the mood to hear Lake's, and this song, in particular.

6. BIRDS FLY SOUTH by Maria Muldaur from Open Your Eyes
Eyes was Maria's last release for Warners, where she found her greatest success only six years earlier with "Midnight at the Oasis". By 1979, she was trying to stay current by working some contemproary disco rhythms and R&B into her folk/jazz/country mix, and it was sometimes an awkward fit. Still, especially if you're a fan, there's a lot to like about this album, which often reminds one of contemporaneous Little Feat in places and still features a couple of tracks that remind of past glories, like this one. It's a sweetly cheerful little old-fashioned sounding soulish shuffle in which Maria informes her beau that when he's down she'll fuck him and make him feel all better. Honestly, that little scamp. I don't have the album credits handy, but someone contributes some sassy/sprightly harmonica at the beginning that is somewhat annoying early on but adds a lot in the middle solo break.

7. DOWN ON RODEO by Lindsey Buckingham from Under the Skin
This is from Lindsay's long-delayed 2006 follow-up to his last solo album, 1992's Out of the Cradle. It's mostly acoustic and sparsely arranged, with Buckingham playing most of the instruments, save for Mick Fleetwood and John McVie providing a rhythm section for a couple of cuts...and this is one of them. I actually enjoy this album a lot more than I expected- I like Lindsey more when he's in full-on studio wonk Brian Wilson wannabe mode and often find his manic acoustic playing hard to take. The lead cut is the worst offender, but it's actually not that bad once one gets acclimated. Anyway, in this case "Rodeo" refers to Rodeo Drive of course, and it's kind of a melancholy look back at days gone by in later years with a dynamite melodic hook in the chorus.



And that's only a few- if I had done this a couple of days later, there would be a different set of songs, of that I've no doubt. I'm not going to tag anybody else, but if you think you'd like to give it a whirl, please let me know because I've enjoyed reading many of the others I've seen around the 'Sphere.

One of the many regrets I have in what I like to think of as a "life" is letting go of my collection of CREEM magazines, a set I built from the middle of 1973 until approximately 1988. Stupid stupid stupid. Anyway, I ran across an interview with wroter/editor Dave DiMartino today, and found it to be interesting reading. Why not click right here and read it? There's also a link in that interview to another tete-a-tete with another great writer of CREEMs gone by, John Kordosh.

I do NOT regret, however, being around to read each new issue off the stands. So there's that, anyway!

RIP Marc Bolan of T.Rex, who died on this day 30 years ago.

In my early teen years, boys and girls, I LOVED Sly and the Family Stone. To this day, I revere the 1971 Greatest Hits album- it's a collection of Funk, rock and soul that few others can match. I also have deep abiding love for 1973's Fresh and 1975's High on You, and the pre-Hits albums are all certified classics.

Now, it's beginning to look like Sly, now in his 60's, is making baby steps towards a comeback- this time for real, and none of that fubar'ed Grammy Awards show stuff. Go here for an amazing interview with the man himself, as well as some discussion of where he's been since the 70's. Here's a slide show of pics, several of which I haven't seen before.


Crossposted from the LJ.

I was 7 years old in 1967, so frankly, I have no real recollection of when I first became aware of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts' Club Band. I knew the Beatles, sure- you may recall me writing, at some point or another, about how one of my earliest childhood memories was seeing the Fabs on Ed Sullivan, and my parents' bemused reaction, and that fabled copy of Meet the Beatles that my Aunt Lavana owned, but didn't like nearly as much as I did, and she wound up giving it to me because I was constantly playing it on her record player when she wasn't at home. Both my parents worked, y'see, so I stayed days with my father's parents before I started school, and my Aunt lived at home with them for a while. Beatles merchandise was everywhere; mostly in the form of bubblegum cards, which I bought as often as possible, and while I didn't own any records myself (save for that Meet the Beatles), I always loved hearing their songs on the radio or at older neighborhood kids' houses, and seeing the occasional TV appearance, including the Saturday morning cartoon series, which I never missed. Looking back, I'm amazed that Lennon's "More popular than Jesus" remark didn't become a sore point with my parents, especially my devout Baptist father; but then again, they always encouraged me (mostly) to read all kinds of things and listen to all types of music, so perhaps they got the gist of what John was saying, if they even thought about it all that much.

Anyway, I digress.

I believe it was sometime early in 1968 when I got my first copy of Sgt. Pepper; I had read things here and there in the newspaper, and had read a long article in the World Book Year Book about the Summer of Love, especially the music, and of course Pepper's was a big part of the piece. I was very curious by then, and had already had a few LPs bought for me, mostly of the kids' stories variety- I recall a spoken-word Legend of Sleepy Hollow-Tell-Tale Heart album, as well as a Jonny Quest LP and a few music 45s. So one day, when I was in Bowling Green shopping with my Mom at a Big K store, I made my move, and asked her to buy it for me. When I got it home, I listened to it constantly- at eight, of course I couldn't really judge it like I would now or compare it to what I had heard before, but I could tell that it was just different than the likes of "Eight Days a Week", "She Loves You", or "I Feel Fine"- it was operating in a different dimension, a more imaginative and more visual one which I thought was very exciting. I remember spending hours playing with another recent acquisition, a Frustration Ball, and listening to Pepper's, trying to pop the little balls in the little cups while Indian sitars and music hall clarinets played in the background.

But of course, I grew up, and as I got older I got a progressively better grip on just what exactly the Four Lads were all about...and even though I was too young to be affected by the Summer of Love and the impact it made, my fandom was cemented throughout the late 60's and 70's, when they went their own ways and made their own individual sounds. While I came to love all their albums, from Magical Mystery Tour to the great Revolver to Abbey Road and beyond, Pepper's still maintained a special place in my listening routine. I owned it on 8-track, eventually acquired a new vinyl copy, and when CDs became easily available in the 1980's, I made Pepper's the very first compact disc I ever bought on its 20th anniversary, 1987.

So to make a long post longer, I thought that here on the 40th anniversary (since I still can't legally download the mp3's), I'd take Pepper's track-by-track and share my opinions and comments on each of its songs.

And I hope I don't sing out of key.

SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND: The opener establishes the feel and connective thread of this not-quite concept album; it's not like all these songs are related per se, but the concept is a group of tunes performed by a fictional band. I've always liked the chunky guitar riff (probably McCartney) and the funky rhythm that Ringo plays in this song; sometimes it's a shame that the sound effects and cute conceits take over, but the song is so cheerful that it doesn't matter. Jimi Hendrix did a decent cover of this song live, and if I'm not mistaken a version came out on one of his posthumous LP releases.

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS: Ringo's genial showcase, with its almost-mock humility, plays perfectly into Mr. Starkey's strengths. Some classic lines ("What do you see when you turn out the light/I can't tell you but I know it's mine") and a strong melody. Cocker's slowed-down blues version was good, but it didn't eclipse this.

LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS: At 8, of course I had no idea about the LSD rumor, which was convincingly shot down by Lennon over twenty years ago. I responded to the wonderful Lennonesque wordplay more than I did the meandering melody, as I recall, and that remains true today. This song had a really nice showcase in Yellow Submarine. That said, if you ask me, of all the Pepper songs this one has dated the least gracefully.

GETTING BETTER: Of course, I didn't know it at the time, but of all the Pepper tracks this one sounds the most like it would have fit on Revolver seamlessly. The bopping, cheerful melody belies the self-hating Lennon lyrics. British roots-rock band Gomez did a really nice cover of this, some of which was used by GE in commercials for a year or so.

FIXING A HOLE: This one probably would have fit in on Revolver, too, but its jazzy shuffle might not have set easy. This is a track which I didn't care for so much at first, but years and years later I've begun to enjoy it more and more, especially the middle section where a guitar riffs over a Macca-sung "hey-hey heyyyy".

SHE'S LEAVING HOME: Probably my least favorite track on the album, but it's still very strong melodically and the "Sheee-ee...is leeeeea-ving....hooo-ooome" interludes are touching. Harry Nilsson did a decent cover, and I think I sometimes prefer Bryan Ferry's take on the mostly forgettable All This and World War II 2-LP set to the original. Go here to see the trailer for that bizarre, and little-seen film. I didn't know until just a couple of weeks ago that George Martin didn't score the strings! Apparently he wasn't very happy about it either...

BEING FOR THE BENEFIT OF MR. KITE: Another one in which I liked Lennon's wordplay, mostly copied verbatim from a circus poster. Catchy melody and imaginative aural collages make this one unforgettable. Took on a whole new dimension years later when I watched George Martin sitting at the mixing board and pushing sliders up and down to demonstrate how many sounds were in the mix while listening to the backing tracks they put together on a FOUR TRACK RECORDER in a documentary made to coincide with the 20th anniversary. It aired on Disney Channel, believe it or not.

WITHIN YOU WITHOUT YOU: George's sole songwriting contribution is very misunderstood, and often gets dismissed when considering this album. Sure, it's full of the then-trendy Indian instrumentation, and as such is very dated as well...but you don't forget the melody easily, the lyrics are among the best, and certainly among the truest, that George ever wrote, and the middle instrumental section, where symphonic strings glide in and among the tablas and sitars, is made of genius. It's become one of my absolute favorite Pepper tracks.

WHEN I'M 64: More twee McCartneyisms; litle did we know he would make a solo career out of this sort of thing. Still, it's a nice tune, 8-year-old me got a kick out of hearing the "Vera, Chuck and Dave" part, and it's still very catchy. It also got a clever showcase in Yellow Submarine, and on a personal note, I'll never forget one evening at the Baker Street Cafe, back when I used to play guitar on open stage nights there, in which someone sat down at the piano and started to play this song...and I was the only one who knew all the words so I got to sing it. It got me and the piano player a nice hand and I got a couple of beers bought for me out of the deal. Good times.

LOVELY RITA: This is probably the most overlooked track on Pepper, probably for good reason; it doesn't really sound finished to my ears. The extended heavy-breathing fadeout that takes up the last minute or so of the song would seem to bear this out. Still, the lyrics are clever, and it's catchy in that way that only Macca can do catchy. The great Roy Wood did a disappointing cover on the aforementioned WWII album.

GOOD MORNING GOOD MORNING: Lennon typically denigrated this one (and another favorite Fab cut of mine, "Cry Baby Cry") as "gobbledygook" in interviews later in his life, but I've always thought that he was dead wrong and was too self-depricating in this case. Inspired by TV commercials, and ostensibly about being self-absorbed as well as the communication gap that often exists between people, it benefits from a wicked McCartney guitar lick in the middle. Again, like "Rita", the animal sound effects at the end would seem to signify that they didn't know how to end it otherwise, but it serves as a great segue to...

SGT. PEPPER'S REPRISE: Which is just a short-and-sweet rock-out return to the opener, and I've always loved how they run the "SgtPeppersOneandOnlyLonelyHeartsClubBand" line together towards the end. The Beastie Boys sampled the Ringo drum lick which begins this on Paul's Boutique, to great effect.

A DAY IN THE LIFE: Lots and lots of brilliance going on here, possibly the most seamlessly stitched-together of all the songs that Lennon and McCartney wrote in piecemeal fashion together...or if the stitches show, the garment as a whole is impeccable. So influential, you still catch writers and musicians using several of the lines and ideas put forth here. For the comics fans among you, it was either Steve Gerber or Mike Friedrich, I forget, which worked the "4000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire" into a Son of Satan story in Marvel Spotlight in the 70's. Again, in that documentary I mentioned earlier, I was greatly amused to find out that when they were recording the part where they come back in after the classic ascending orchestra section, they had the late Mal Evans counting down to keep the musicians on cue, and then an alarm clock rang to let them know when the time had come. The clock stayed in, Mal didn't. One of Lennon's best vocal performances.

FEW SECONDS OF GOBBLEDYGOOK AT THE END: This wasn't on the US LP release, so I didn't hear it until I got the CD. Don't know how I ever made it without experiencing it.

And that's it. I think Pepper's is certainly a landmark album, and deserves (mostly) the praise it's received over the decades. Personally, I don't think it's the best Beatle album- for my money, Revolver remains their creative apex. Pepper's is perhaps just a little too self-consciously arty to be perfect, and the weakest cuts on Revolver are better than "Lovely Rita" or "She's Leaving Home", which gets cut by "For No One" if nothing else. Still, it's a great record just the same, and will hopefully sound as good forty years from now as it did four decades ago.

How about some random stuff from hither and yon...

Sayonara and domo arigato to Graeme McMillan's Fanboy Rampage, which has closed up shop after two years. It was one of the most entertaining reads out there, especially the comments...and I hope, in the best "nature abhorring" tradition, that someone steps into the vast breach left by its departure. But it will take some doing, that. Regardless, today is a dark day for whatever passes for the "Comics Blogosphere", whatever that is. I don't really know what to think about the recent commentaries vis-a-vis the End of the CB from Neilalien and ADD (friend me, damn your eyes, Alan!)- true, it does seem like things are in a certain state of flux right now- but I think the CB is like Marvel's Hydra: cut off one head and two more spring up to take its place. I guess I don't know what to say because I've been part of the problem. I just have my ups and downs and periods of apathy when it comes to writing, and I'm hopefully coming out of a particularly nasty one. I'm not going to give it up anytime soon, though, especially that I've got a 3 year anniversary coming up, gosh darn it!

DC's January solicits are up. I'll try to run down what has caught my eye ASAP, which these days could mean anywhere from a week to a month...!

In case you missed it, my LAST CALL column went up last Friday at CBG. I'm kind of in a transitional period, getting my last books from my LCS and getting the first ones from DCBS, so it's a little light- but hopefully of interest. Reviewed are the two Jill Thompson Death manga-esque novels of recent vintage, AT DEATH'S DOOR and THE DEAD BOY DETECTIVES; Slave Labor's wordy new series REX LIBRIS #1; THE SUPER SCARY MONSTER SHOW featuring LITTLE GLOOMY #2, and the somewhat disappointing finale in GOTHAM CENTRAL #36. And for future reference:

REX LIBRIS 1: B
SUPER SCARY MONSTER SHOW 2: A-
GOTHAM CENTRAL 36: B+

Also, Gordon McAlpin has an interesting interview with Smax and Top 10 (classic) artist Zander Cannon about many topics, including the recent GN Bone Sharps, Cowboys and Thunder Lizards, which looks great but me can no afford.

Bought Neil Young's latest, Prairie Wind, the other day after reading several positive reviews in several places which talked it up quite favorably. The days when I buy Neil Young albums as soon as they're released are long past, but something about this one, the cover perhaps, or the fact that it was Young's first since his recent health troubles made me curious. Well, I wish I could say it's a great album, but it isn't. In fact, despite one or two not-bad tunes, it's an inconsistent middling effort, with a throw-stuff-at-the-wall approach that recalls his notorious Geffen-era music. Some of the lyrics seem to be more personal than usual, once in a while even profound...but Young doesn't have the wit to pull off Chris Rock references or Elvis sendups, and something which used to be a Young strong point, the ability to come up with constantly great melodies, has apparently abandoned him. He even dusts off the This Note's For You-era blues horn approach, to incongrous effect, on a couple of tracks. It's possible that it could be a grower with me, but it will probably be a while before I revisit it.

Hey, how about those White Sox, huh! Never thought I'd live to see the day! Now that the Falcons have been to a Super Bowl in my lifetime, and the Sox are going to the Series, I am getting a little nervous.

Haven't been watching too many movies; I tried to view the Lon Chaney silent version of The Phantom of the Opera last night, but fell asleep before it was over. Most of the DVD's I've been getting from Netflix lately have been music documentaries and such- I viewed a documentary bio about Miles Davis today, two hours long and it still seemed superficial somewhat, that's how much the man accomplished. I also have recently viewed an odd and frustrating look at Roxy Music's early years, which had a ton of great TV footage of the band from 1972-1975, but was constantly being interruped with so-called experts pontificating on what we were seeing and hearing. Sometimes they had something interesting to say, but they should have let the performance clips play and then talked. They had one guitarist on there who showed me the chords to "A Song For Europe", and I'm grateful for that. I've also viewed a documentary/interview/performance clip collection of the Jefferson Airplane, and it was pretty interesting, providing a lot of looks at the group at a time which I didn't really see them all that much when I was a preteen. I'll try to hold forth more next time I get worked up for another installment of Heart Netflix.

Jingle Belle artist Jose Garibaldi has a MySpace blog! And it has scads of great art, all scanned real big-like so it takes forever to load with my pokey internet connection but the wait is well worth it! Also, Paul Dini has posted, on his LJ, a most excellent Jason Bone spread from the upcoming Jing one-shot, which will actually come out before Christmas this year. It also features Stephanie Gladden, whose work "gladdened" my heart last year.

I've been remiss in linking to some of the interesting content over at the Comic Foundry- the latest to come to my attention is an interview with Crisis on Infinite Earths, Spawn of Frankenstein (lest we forget!) and Tomb of Dracula writer Marv Wolfman. I think I may have been missing a lot of these heads-ups, because the email I received had a subject header and a sender marked "(None)", and Nine and one-half times out of ten I'll delete those as spam...

I was thinking about Lee/Kirby's Sgt. Fury, that duo and later Steranko's Nick Fury...S.H.I.E.L.D. stuff, and the eventual 70's jury rigged "explanation" of how Fury can be as young in 1976 as he was in 1944- you remember, the Starlin/Chaykin "Infinity Serum" (I think that was what it was called, right?), and now Fury's still kicking around in present day mainstream Marvel storylines...and I kinda wished that someone would retcon the whole mess and establish that the former what- 25? 30? year old WWII Sergeant could indeed have helmed S.H.I.E.L.D. in the 60s, and perhaps retired in the 70s, and turned it over to his son (you know they could come up with one), then his son, Fury's grandson, in, say, 1997 or so. Get rid of the serum junk, God love Starlin, but that was dumb. That way, we could still have the Nick Fury that couldn't stand that hippie music like that of the Five Million Megaton Explosion (remember them?) and preferred to listen to Miles or Coltrane, or Bird in one of the best post-Steranko stories. I don't know, I was just thinking.

OK, that's all I got for now. Almost time for football. More later, hopefully.