MATT'S MUSIC REPORT - FALL 2012

Recent Releases of Note

• ABBA - The Visitors [2-disc deluxe reissue]
• ABBA - Voulez-Vouz [12" vinyl extended dance remix]
• Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows [iTunes exclusive compilation]
• Beatles - Yellow Submarine [DVD reissue/Blu-Ray debut]
• Billy Bragg & Wilco - Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions [3 CD/1 DVD] [first two discs are reissues; 3rd CD is previously unreleased material]
• Phil Collins - Live in Montreux 2004 [2 DVD]
• Crosby Stills & Nash - CSN 2012 [2 CD or 1 DVD live set, or sold as a DVD/CD combo]
• Mickey Dolenz - Remember
• Bob Dylan - Tempest
• Duane Eddy - Duane Eddy [CD reissue of 1987 album, with 2 bonus tracks]
• Electic Light Orchestra - Electric Light Orchestra [CD/DVD reissue of debut album with bonus cuts & video]
• Art Garfunkel - The Singer [2 CD retrospective including two new songs]
• Genesis - Spot the Pigeon EP [vinyl reissue of 1977 release]
• Nanci Griffith - Intersection
• George Harrison - Living in the Material World [documentary on DVD]
• John Hiatt - Mystic Pinball
• Elton John vs Pnau - Good Morning to the Night
• Knack - Havin' a Rave Up: Live in Los Angeles 1978
• Knack - Rock and Roll is Good for You: The Fieger/Averre Demos [previously unreleased demos recorded prior to the Knacks debut LP]
• Gordon Lightfoot - All Live
• Aimee Mann - Charmer
• George Martin - Produced by George Martin [DVD documentary]
• Paul McCartney - Ram [reissue, released as 1 CD, 2 LP, 2 CD, or 4 CD/1 DVD, each with more bonus material]
• Willie Nelson - Heroes
• Paul Simon - Graceland [reissue with bonus cuts & DVD documentary "Under African Skies"]
• Paul Simon - Live in New York City [2 CD/1 DVD of 2011 concert]
• Regina Spektor - The Prayer of Francois Villon [45 RPM single]
• Regina Spektor - What We Saw From the Cheap Seats
• Loudon Wainwright III - Older Than My Old Man Now
• Joe Walsh - Analog Man
• Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Americana
• Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace [book]
• various - Quiet About It: A Tribute to Jesse Winchester [iTunes only tribute album, includes Elvis Costello]

Upcoming Releases

• Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour [DVD reissue/Blu-Ray debut] [10/8]
• Beatles - Box set of all original albums remastered on vinyl [11/13]
• Beck - Song Reader [this new release will only be available in sheet music form; no audio] [12/11]
• Johnny Cash - The Complete Columbia Album Collection [63 CD box set] [10/30]
• Iris Dement - Sing the Delta [10/2]
• Jeff Lynne - Long Wave [10/9]
• Jeff Lynne - Mr. Blue Sky - The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra [new recordings of ELO hits] [10/9]
• Paul McCartney - Live Kisses [DVD] [11/13]
• Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Psychedelic Pill [10/30]
• various - Holidays Rule [Christmas compilation of new music including Paul McCartney]

On Tour in the Tri-State

• America - Carmel - 10/6; Newark - 11/15
• Iris Dement - Cincinnati - 11/15; Nelsonville - 11/16
• Stacey Earle & Mark Stuart - Eaton - 11/28; Barnesville - 11/30
• Firefall - Columbus - 10/12
• Fresh Beat Band - Cleveland - 10/13; Evansville - 10/24
• Jim Gaffigan - Indianapolis - 11/3
• Amy Grant - Indianapolis - 10/5; Cincinnati - 12/7 - 12/9
• Indigo Girls - Cleveland - 11/1; Bloomington - 11/2
• Huey Lewis & the News - Lexington - 10/19; Cleveland - 10/21
• Aimee Mann - Columbus - 11/8; Cincinnati - 11/9
• Monkees - Cleveland - 11/19
• Moody Blues - Cleveland - 12/3; Indianapolis - 12/6; Louisville - 12/7
• Leon Redbone - Cleveland - 10/19
• Regina Spektor - Cleveland - 10/12
• Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band - Louisville - 11/3
• The Who - Louisville - 2/16; Columbus - 2/17
• "Weird Al" Yankovic - Louisville - 10/14
• Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Cleveland - 10/8

Guest Reviews!

I Was Just Trying to Help - Sit Down Servant!!
by Jim Bates

The blues has a long tradition of Saturday night music and Sunday morning songs.  Saturday night blues are all about the carnal pleasures of sex, drinking, and broken hearts; but Sunday morning blues are much more subdued and spiritual, time to repent for the activities of the night before.  Up until now, Gordie Johnson has focused on Saturday night music with his reggae-rock hitsters Big Sugar and his heavy metal blues band Grady.  But with Sit Down Servant!!, Gordie has found himself immersed in the gospel blues; of course, with some dub touches along the way.

The album is a mix of traditional spirituals and Johnson originals, featuring Johnson on guitar and lap steel and Stephane Beaudin on drums.  While the Black Keys and Jack White have found that they need a bass player, Gordie has done without, using Moog bass pedals to keep down the bottom end.

The album starts out with the traditional “In My Time of Dying” and both the dub and slide guitar are full force.  Rather than the Zeppelin force many expect, this song is languid and laid back...more a prayer than a demand.  “If You Think Your God Is Dead” rocks out with the funk and is both hugely enjoyable, with its “If you think your God is dead, try mine, he’s still alive” chorus a good life lesson.  Things get all slide guitar and bluesy with “Wrapped Up, Tangled All Up In Jesus.”  A spiritual experience indeed...  Things continue on with a cover of “This May Be The Last Time” and Gordie revisits “Motherless Children” and makes the original Big Sugar cover redundant.  The originals kick in with “Old Landlady Blue” which recounts two plights of the common man...paying the rent, and the worrying that his woman will only love him forever if he can keep it together.  “Blackbird Bakey Pie Blues” moves things to the secular side of the blues with a sexual plea.  (Look, even a man trying to walk the righteous path needs sex...)  We return to the spiritual with the dirge “Between Heaven And Dripping Springs” before Gordie revisits Big Sugar’s “Tired All The Time.”  Things close out with the slide guitar infused “Don’t You Miss Me When I’m Gone.”

Being both stripped back, and with lesser volume than normal, this project allows Gordie’s passion and slide guitar to shine.  That it also brings a sense of joy is an added bonus.  “I Was Just Trying to Help” once again demonstrates that traditional songs and music styles can still be appropriate in our modern world when treated as living and breathing organisms, and not just as museum pieces.

Big Moon Ritual - Chris Robinson Brotherhood

by Jim Bates

You have to pity the Grateful Dead-inspired jam bands; you know those groups that are so much better live.  When they do find the time to get off the stage and hit the studio, often the results are left wanting.  Sadly, the Chris Robinson Brotherhood’s first album is just another example of this phenomenon.  Maybe it is because I had seen the band play most of these songs in person, at four different shows, before I got the album, but the recordings leave me feeling lukewarm.  Honestly, I’d rather listen to them on the live albums.  This is not to say it is a bad album.  It actually is really good...it is just...well...you know...better live.

Listener’s Note:  There are seven songs on this album and the shortest is 7:08.  This may drive fans of three minute songs crazy.  The rest of us wish they were longer...

Things start out with “Tulsa Yesterday” and this is the major misstep on the album.  Cool song, cool jam, but what is the deal with the choice of effects on Neil Casal’s guitar for the solos?  Odd and really distracting  “Rosalee” is kick-ass trippy funk which asks the important question “Is the air getting thinner or am I getting high?”  The song is propelled by Adam MacDougall’s clavinet and is always a highlight of the live set.

Query:  How is a guy...Adam MacDougall...who seemed rather perfunctory playing keyboards with the Black Crowes, such a monster on this album? In fact, he is close to the highlight of both the album and the band.  He certainly deserves the keyboard wizardry tag of the liner note.

“Tomorrow Blues” is also driven by a MacDougall groove, this time on Moog.  Again, great song...better live.  Further proof of the curse is found with the evidence of “Reflections on a Broken Mirror” and “One Hundred Days of Rain.”  These are the two songs I had not previously heard in person and they are my two favorite performances on the album.  Really cool songs...but I wonder if I would have said they were better live, if indeed I had heard them live before I got the album?

So to sum it up, a damn good album by a really great band.  There are cool songs, cool jams, some really nice lyrics, cool grooves, and great vocals by Chris Robinson...but you know what?  I’d rather see them live...

Scott Lucas & The Married Men - Blood Half Moon

by Lucas Hardwick

 

This album came branded with a big, red sticker that read something like “Rock music for fans of alt-country,” which isn’t too much of a stretch.  If that wasn’t enough to ease alt-country concerns, said sticker assured (or possibly warned rock fans) that the tunes contained within were backed with violin, accordion, piano and organ.  Rest assured, this second full-length album from Scott Lucas & The Married Men is a much heavier sound than the group’s debut -- “George Lassos The Moon.”

“Lover The Lullaby” gets things started with a catchy whistling melody, and while not exactly a lullaby, it sounds more like a pirate ballad for the Old West.  Once violin and all the backing instruments promised on our sticker show up, the album is off to a rustic rock & roll start that accurately sets the tone for what’s ahead.

The slow and thoughtful “Blood Half Moons,” which seems to suggest finding oneself in lonesomeness, and the cover of the traditional, apocalyptic and biblically injected “There Ain’t No Grave (Gonna Hold My Body Down)," are naturally the main highlights of the album.  The latter is an eight minute build that shouldn’t be played anything short of 11, and seems too short even for Lucas who continues the chorus long after the music stops.

“Steady Gaze” will snag most listeners right out of the gate and is probably the catchiest song on the album, with one of the best lyrics:  “tell the oft-told tale of girl and boy / where we wind up chewed up puppy toys.”

The promise to alt-country fans is fulfilled with an easy sway in “Old Worries.”  About halfway through, the “alt” kicks in and the sway seems to soar with a steady rock.

“Out Of The Boat” could easily be a criminally overlooked track, with a very slow, string-plucking melody that is ever so slightly reminiscent of good Neil Diamond.  The chorus is repeated enough early on that listeners won’t be able to resist tagging along for the latter half of the song, singing “You don’t know how to feel / you don’t know how to feel / you change your mind / you’re freezing time / it’s too real.”  After about four and a half minutes the song has sped up, gained the rest of the band’s vocals, and simply bleeds rock & roll for the last five.

Of course the elephant in the room is if this alt-country stuff will appeal to fans of Lucas’ other group, the alternative rock duo Local H.  Fair-weather H fans will likely be on board with Lucas’ songwriting and the casual hooks that could be hints to the frontman’s other hobby, but die-hards may not be hip to the “country” influenced sound that’s laced throughout the album.

Filled with songs suggesting darker subject matter, most of the melodies are upbeat and are very genuinely pop-rock, if not just as rustic.  The juxtaposition of tune to lyrics seem to suggest at times simply that “everything will be okay.” Likewise, listeners on the fence can accurately heed the sticker’s cautionary tale.

NEIL ARMSTRONG AND CANIFF

Neil Armstrong passed away on August 25th at age 82.  I don't think he and Caniff ever met, but their stories managed to intersect in other ways.  It's no surprise that this aviation legend would have connections to Milton Caniff, aviation's biggest booster and enthusiast.  Like Caniff, Armstrong was born and raised in Ohio.  Both were Eagle Scouts, and later each received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.  Above is the official portait of Neil Armstrong in the National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF).  I recommend a visit to the Hall in Dayton to see this and the other portaits of the enshrinees.  The majority of them are by Caniff, who did the portaits up until his death in 1988.  



The NAHF also annually dedicates the Milton Caniff Spirit of Flight Award to an organization that has made sustained, significatnt contibutions to aviation and the space program. In 2004, the award was given to the Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA), with Neil Armstrong as presenter.

Dr. Russell Rayman and Dr. Melchor Antunano of the AsMA with the award.

In 2009, the Spirit of Flight Award was given to the Apollo Astronaut Crews, resulting in a rare reunion of 12 Apollo astronauts, Armstrong included.

The Apollo Astronauts (Armstrong 4th from right)

This is one of my favorite pieces by Caniff.  It's an envelope cachet for the launch of the Apollo 11 commemorative stamp.  I've tried for years to get more information on the background of this piece, without much luck.  If any philatelists can clue me in, I'd love to hear from you!

Neil photo by Ron Kaplan

Drs. by John Shannon

photo by Robert Cunningham
Armstrong 4th from right
July 17, 2009


More information on Spirit of Flight
http://www.nationalaviation.org/SOF/

MARVIN HAMLISCH

Years ago when I did some entertainment writing I had the good fortune to interview Marvin Hamlisch.  He was generous with his time and I was sorry to hear of his death this month at the age of 68.  It's got some dated references, but here's the piece I wrote in what I've deduced was late 2001:

“Mem’ries light the corners of my mind.  Misty, water color memories of the way we were.”  The lyrics to “The Way We Were” may be pretty, but it’s the music that makes them memorable.  The man behind that music, and so much more, is Marvin Hamlisch, and he’s bringing his famous stage act to the RiverPark Center.  If you can find a negative review of his performances, please mail it into News4U, because our crack staff couldn’t find one.  We called Marvin Hamlisch to ask him about his long career and about the show he’s going to present:

            “This will be me, piano, and a singer.  We’re going to do different music, some of it that I’ve written, some of it that I haven’t written. We’ll probably do some Richard Rodgers, and we’ll do some things that I’ve written like ‘Ice Castles’, we’ll do the Rag, we’ll do ‘A Chorus Line’.  We do a thing that’s a lot of fun, which is called “rent-a-composer”, where I make up songs on the spot.  I ask the audience to come up with titles.  They give me a brand new title and I write the song.  So, it’s a lot of fun.  It’s a concert that’s particularly good if you want to bring your family.  Sometimes people always say, ‘Where can I bring my kids?  I can never take them here.  I can never take them there.’  Well, in this situation you can, and they can have a good time.”

            The award-winning music of Marvin Hamlisch has accumulated over a long career that began when he was only six years old.  Hamlisch’s parents were Austrian immigrants who fled to America in the ‘30s to avoid Nazi control and the persecution of Jews.  His father was an accordion player, but he didn’t teach his son the piano.  Young Marvin Hamlisch picked it up by ear, and was accepted to the well-known Juilliard School of Music after playing the same song in any key requested.  As a teen he attended the Professional Children’s School, where he met Liza Minnelli and started a friendship that continues today.  Contacts through Liza (with a “Z”) led to a job as a rehearsal pianist in his dream venue, Broadway.  Hamlisch had a passion for Broadway musicals, and his favorite was ‘Gypsy’, with music by Jules Styne.  The musical Hamlisch would be working on turned out to be ‘Funny Girl’, with music by none other than Styne.  Hamlisch was amazed to be working with his idol.

            “He was such a dynamo.  He was just this small guy with this incredible energy.  I always wondered did he ever fall asleep.  It was wonderful.  It was great to work with him because he was a very giving man and I learned a lot about the profession.  So many of the things that I’m doing now I learned from Julie.” 

            Hamlisch also met a young Barbra Streisand on the set of ‘Funny Girl’.  Years later he would score her film, ‘The Way We Were’, and write the music for the title song, which was Streisand’s first #1 hit.  In the past decade, he was the musical director for her 1994 tour and her Millennium concerts, which are reputed to be her last.

            His piano work for Broadway led to a gig playing at a party for movie producer Sam Spiegel, known for big films like ‘Bridge on the River Kwai’ & ‘Lawrence of Arabia’.  Feeling that playing for parties was a step down in his career, Hamlisch took the job only in hopes of helping his career.  It led to work as a composer for his first film, ‘The Swimmer’, starring Burt Lancaster.  Though the film was not a hit, it did lead to more work, including the first two films of Woody Allen, “Take the Money and Run” and “Bananas”.  Hamlisch wrote in his autobiography, The Way I Was, that a problem he found with working for Allen was lack of communication.  But if we fast-forward 30 years, we may see the two collaborating again, this time for a Broadway version of Allen’s 1994 film, ‘Bullets Over Broadway’.

            “We don’t have the green light on that yet.  We would love to do it.”

            But is it easier than it used to be to work with enigmatic Allen?

             “Oh, he’s wonderful.  He’s just fantastic these days.  He’s really great, so I’m very happy about that.  Since he got married he’s been really quite wonderful.”

            In-between scoring films, Hamlisch found himself playing for Ann-Margret in her Vegas act, and working for famous film comedian, only one whose career was not being born, like Woody Allen’s, but was in its twilight – Groucho Marx.  Hamlisch found it hard to play straight man when everything was so funny.

            “Groucho once said to me…you know, he used to tell all these jokes, all the time.  They would come at you at record speed.  He said to me once, “I bought an anklet for my girlfriend.”  And I said, “What’d it say?”  He said, “Heaven’s above.”  They would come at you that fast.  That business of going out and finding out how much the world really loved him and doing concerts was really invigorating for him.  I think it held back his fragility and senility for awhile.”

            After scoring ‘The Way We Were’, Hamlisch was asked to adapt Scott Joplin’s ragtime music for the soundtrack to ‘The Sting’.  The two-film combination garnered him 3 Oscars.  His rendition of Joplin’s “The Entertainer” was a surprise #3 hit, and he found himself winning the Grammy for Best New Artist in 1974.  Hamlisch recognized the off-the-wall nature of his pop success, and knew his destiny lay elsewhere.

            “It didn’t really matter because I knew that I was not going to continue in that world.  It’s not like getting the Artist award and knowing that you have a record deal and you’re going to be an artist for the next 20 years.  I knew that my record career was as short as…that was it!  I made a record, or two, and that was it.  No career in that for me.  I think they probably wasted the award because I wasn’t going anywhere with that.”

            He was Broadway bound, to compose the show that is arguably his masterpiece, ‘A Chorus Line’.  But it is a shared victory of a show conceived, directed, and choreographed by Michael Bennett, with lyrics by Edward Kleban.  The show would have a phenomenal run of about 20 years and would win, among other awards, the Pulitzer Prize.  Besides the appeal of great songs like “One”, Hamlisch has his own insight into what makes the show successful.

“I think it’s very empathetic.  I think people see the show and they see themselves in it.  I think that that’s one of the things that pulls them in.  I think it has that going for it, that connection to an audience.”

            Another association that bore many fruits was working with Neil Simon.  Simon first wanted to turn his play “The Gingerbread Lady” into a musical.  They couldn’t work it out, but it did lead to Hamlisch scoring four of Simon’s films, and a successful musical collaboration, ‘The Goodbye Girl’.  Hamlisch’s other well-known film scores include ‘Ice Castles’, ‘Sophie’s Choice’, and ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’, for which he co-wrote the Carly Simon hit, “Nobody Does It Better”.  But Hamlisch likes to work in the present, not dwell on past triumphs.

            “I’m very pleased with what we’re doing with John Guare on a show called ‘Sweet Smell of Success’ which opens in about 10 months.  We have John Lithgow as our star, so we’re very excited.  I tend to look forward instead of thinking backwards.”

            That doesn’t mean he doesn’t enjoy revisiting a careerful of great music, especially when he feels the lure of the road.

            “One allure is the fact that when you’re writing music, you’re basically writing with a lyricist.  It’s very lonely work, two people in a room.  So, you get a chance to meet more people and get feedback, which is fun.”

            We may even get to hear “The Entertainer”.  But was it the wacky ‘70s that made that song a hit?  In the age of Limp Bizkit & N’Sync, could something like that happen again?

“Listen, you can always get something off the wall from a movie.  So tomorrow if Disney comes out with a movie and there’s a song about a banana who falls in love with an ostrich, and Mariah Carey sings it with, uh, what’s-his-name, whoever, then yes, of course it could happen.  It could always happen.”  

End Notes: 

Barbra Streisand toured again in 2006-07.

Official plans for a "Bullets Over Broadway" musical were just announced in February.  Woody Allen plans to use existing music from the 1920s and 30s. 

"The Sweet Smell of Success" was a hit in 2002 and it's star, John Lithgow, won a Tony for his role.

Hamlisch's last work was the music for a musical version of the original "The Nutty Professor" movie, directed by Jerry Lewis.  The show played Nashville as a tryout, hoping to work out any kinks before they take it to Broadway.

JOE KUBERT - REST EASY

Joe Kubert passed away on August 12th, and so the search for the greatest living comic book artist begins anew.  I'm stunned and saddened by the loss of this man we always thought would be with us.

I had the good fortune to meet and interview Joe Kubert several times in the past few years.  Here are links to those previous writings:

Joe Kubert talks about Robin Moore and "Tales of the Green Berets."

What might have been...Kubert's "Terry & the Pirates."

What also might have been...Kubert's "Superman vs. Muhammad Ali."

Convention encounters:

Mid-Ohio Con, October 2008

C2E2, April 2012

A couple of years ago he won the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Cartoonists Society.  I asked Joe about Caniff, who he loved as a kid and later got to know as a professional.

Kubert on Caniff:

There were three idols with whom every guy who started at the same time as I did were their acolytes: Caniff, Foster and Raymond. Caniff was the guy who enabled people like myself to recognize and adapt and adopt a little bit of his style. I believe that we’re all influenced by everything and everyone that we see and/or admire. Whether we realize it or not, we’re influenced by them. I sure as hell was. I was completely conscious of the fact that at one time or another I was sure influence by Milt, by Milt’s stuff. What that did, because he worked with such incredible, bold strokes with the brush, I found that doing the stuff with that kind of a style – simplifying the art – enabled me to get it done a hell of a lot faster, as you know.  If you can still maintain the kind of quality that you’re looking for, and find a way to get it done a little faster, that was quite an achievement. So, for some time I think Milt’s influence showed very clearly on a lot of the stuff I did.

Personally, as a kid I passed over Kubert's work.  It wasn't the clean line of a Byrne or Perez, which I was attracted to.  Thankfully, in my maturity I'd grown to appreciate the skill and technique of artists like Severin and Kubert.  I'm glad I got to briefly know this man who was very generous with his time. He was a man humble in the face of well-deserved praise, unwilling to rest on his body of work, always excited about the latest project.  Joe Kubert was the living history of comics.

CANIFF NEWS - AUGUST 2012

We wuz robbed!  That's all I can say about the results of this year's Eisner Awards.  In April, we let you know about all of the Caniff-related projects that were up for Eisner awards.  Books that contained his art (Drawing Power, Government Issue), one about an artist he influenced (Alex Toth) and one tome about the master himself (Caniff).  Here are the results:

Best Comics Related Book
Caniff: A Visual Biography, edited by Dean Mullaney
Genius Isolated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth, edited by Dean Mullaney
Drawing Power: A Compendium of Cartoon Advertising, edited by Rick Marshall & Warren Bernard
Metamaus by Art Spiegelman winner

Best Archive Collection/Project
Government Issue: Comics for the People, edited by Richard L. Graham
Walt Simonson's The Mighty Thor Artist's Edition winner

We'll have to wait until next year, when the Library of American Comics' "Steve Canyon" and "Genius Illustrated" are nominated!

I've been remiss in reminding you all that Comics Revue, published bi-monthly, continues to reprint "Steve Canyon."  The latest issue (#313/314, June 2012) has the strips from March 19th through April 15th, 1972.  It concludes an Oley Olson/Bitsy Beekman story and starts a new mission for Steve.  This issue also reprints a bonus specialty drawing Caniff did for U.S. Savings Bonds.

"Steve Canyon: The Complete Series Volume Two: The Harvey Years," has been pushed back to a December 11th release date.  The book, originally announced in February, was due out in July.  Note to comics retailers, the book is resolicited in the latest issue of Previews.

Author Ray Bradbury died on June 5th at age 91.  In addition to his award-winning fiction writing career, Bradbury also wrote for television, primarily in the 1950s - early '60s.  One of these teleplays was "The Gift", the Christmas episode of the "Steve Canyon" TV series.  In a letter dated January 8, 1959 to series story editor Sidney Carroll, Bradbury wrote, "the production I saw on "Steve Canyon" made me happier than I have been in years with t-v."  This episode is currently available in Volume 2 of the Complete Steve Canyon on TV DVD set.  You can order that here.

Now for some shameless publicity.  Beginning August 14th, the display case in the lobby of the Green Township Branch of the Cincinnati library will be Caniff-ized.  An exhibit of Milton Caniff items, meant to serve as an introduction/reminder of his work, will be on display.

ALADDIN 1959 LUNCH BOXES

 I was charmed by this vintage ad for 1959 lunch boxes, particularly the top one.  Since the lunchbox pictures aren't sharp, I thought I'd find recent examples of each box. 

Ladies, you don't get cool TV characters, but you do get themes like travel and flowers.

Not in the ad, but also produced by Aladdin in 1959...

Aladdin also tried out their first vinyl box, celebrating the terrible teenager.  I think the boy is watching "Gunsmoke", while his dog holds the phone for him!?!

Aladdin's thermoses were made for adults, too!  Here's the dutiful wife fixing her husband's lunch.  "Enjoy your hot water and apple, honey!"

STRICTLY FOR THE SMART BIRDS

"Steve Canyon in Strictly for the Smart Birds" was one of two comic books from 1951 printed as a giveaway to promote the armed forces.  It's one of the comics being reprinted in the upcoming "Steve Canyon: The Complete Series: Volume Two" due out soon.  The idea of Steve in original comic stories must have stuck, as his appearances in Dell Four Color would start soon after these promotions.

I thought it would be fun to look at some of the original art.  I assumed, as with most of the Dell Four Colors, that the art is by Ray Bailey with Milton Caniff doing the Steve Canyon faces, and it was a popular notion.  However, according to John Ellis of the Caniff Estate, the art is now attributed to Lee Elias, another of the "Caniff School."  13 of the 16 pages were sold in a Heritage auction in 2007, but seem to have scattered to different owners.

ALERT!  Another comics blogger says he had two of the pages and they've been stolen.  Read about it here.