TOP 5 ALBUMS OF 2008

It's been a somewhat mild year in music, but as always I've found plenty of new stuff to enjoy. The last two reviews are copies of earlier reviews by fellow blogger A Scale Canadian and are reprinted with permission. The 'Vagabonds' review is also reprinted from my own bi-annual Music Report. In an interesting 2008 twist, all of these releases are also available on vinyl LP.

JOHN HIATT - SAME OLD MAN - I initially wasn’t all that thrilled with ‘Same Old Man’. Hiatt’s voice seemed rougher and more strained than even a couple of years ago, the songs made me recall songs of earlier albums, and “On With You” seemed to borrow too much from “All Along the Watchtower” to be considered an original composition. All my complaints fell away on the second listen, with his odes to love and aging struck a chord with me (though only in my mid-thirties, I’ve always felt like an old man). The set opens with “Old Days”, a humorous autobiographical ramble of his early career, spent opening for blues greats like Sonny Terry and John Lee Hooker. The rest of the album is full of love songs: love’s desired (“Let’s Give This Love A Try”), love’s regret (“Love You Again”), love’s forged over time (“Two Hearts”, “Same Old Man”). Another love song, “Our Time”, features some of his cleverest lyrics in awhile:

I traded your arms as you laid spread out on the Sunday paper.
Looked like the crime scene of an angel ghost.
I heard the gate clatter to on the elevator.
I wrapped myself up in it like a cold beef roast.
Fell asleep, was cooked medium and placed on a dining room table in Brooklyn.

THE FIREMAN - ELECTRIC ARGUMENTS - I originally panned this album, but did it before I ever heard a note. The two previous Fireman albums were Paul McCartney’s ongoing collaboration with Youth in making ambient/electronica/experimental music that sounded nothing like normal McCartney or like anything the public wanted to hear. They were primarily anonymous in that you had to be a Macca devotee to know that he was the man behind it. I was puzzled by this release because the patina of secrecy was wiped off and Sir Paul was promoting the album in interviews and on his website

McCartney kicks off with a bluesy rocker, letting the listener know right away this isn’t their weird uncle’s Fireman. He follows with “two magpies”, a quiet acoustic song that would have been at home on the recent ‘Chaos & Creation in the Backyard’ and is a direct descendant of “Blackbird”. The third track is a pop song, and any pretense of hiding behind the heavy coat of the Fireman has sloughed off. That’s not to say it’s your typical solo McCartney, either. There are soundscapes, funky double-track harmonizing, whale song, dog growls, and landing alien craft. On the fourth song, “traveling light”, I swear he’s using the old Beatle mellotron (he owns it). So, while there are flights in to the bizarre, there’s also some classic Macca. The song “highway” sounds like a refugee from the ‘Driving Rain’ album. In fact, I’d put this up ahead of ‘Driving Rain’ in the catalog. Bottom line – McCartney is in a particularly joyful mood that passes through to the listener.

GARY LOURIS - VAGABONDS - Gary Louris has created his own kind of gospel, but they are hymns for the desperate corners of life. They’re not just about the drifters and drug abusers, but folks like you and me, some drifting through life. The occasional use of a small choir, which includes Jenny Lewis and album producer Chris Robinson, elevates the emotional timbre, particularly on “She Only Calls Me on Sundays”, where it seems in conflict with the song’s subject. The album at times feels depressing, but the arching message is uplifting, as represented in the snippets of lyrics below and summed up by one song’s title lyric “We’ll get by but we don’t know how.”

Some folks look for saviors
Some for missing pieces
Some for earthly ecstasy
Some they look for Jesus
- “Omaha Nights”

I want to laugh or say a prayer
I never had a cross to bear so beautiful
- “To Die a Happy Man”

Find a way
Feel without a trace
Feel fulfillment in this small corner
- “True Blue”

MUDCRUTCH - MUDCRUTCH - I have no idea what possessed Tom Petty to reunite his early 70s band Mudcrutch, but boy am I thankful that he did. Recorded mostly live in 10 days Mudcrutch’s decades late debut album has an early start as one of the best albums of 2008 and in many ways it adds a new chapter to Tom Petty’s storied career.

To catch you up on the story, Mudcrutch was formed in 1970 in Gainesville, Florida. Moving to California they signed with Shelter Records and recorded a single. In 1975 the band broke up and it appeared they would be best remembered as Tom Petty’s first band. However, here we are in 2008 with a Mudcrutch album. Mudcrutch is Tom Petty on bass and vocals, Mike Campbell on guitar, Randall Marsh on drums, Tom Leadon on guitar and vocals, and Benmont Tench on keyboards and vocals.

This is Tom Petty and company at their most country rock. They seem to have more energy and passion then seen in the last few Petty albums. It sounds like everyone is having fun. Apparently the loose fun breeds success. Standouts include the opening folk cover “Shady Grove,” the first single “Scare Easy”, and the Stills inspired “Bootleg Flyer.” You many not be surprised from the titles that these are story songs. “Crystal River” finds a way to be pretty, psychedelic, and hypnotizing. Petty tends to keep it tight on his records, but in “Crystal River” the band jams and stretches out. “Oh Maria” recalls the Almond Brothers and tells a tender love/stalker story about a drug dealer. “Topanga Cowgirl” makes me want to move to Topanga Canyon right this minute. Benmont gets to take lead vocals on “This Is A Good Street. Hey Ben…that is a good song…you should get to write and sing more often. Clearly the highlight of the album is a rocking cover of the Byrds “Lover of the Bayou.” In fact this album seems Byrds inspired. Not the early Byrds Petty usually references, but the later Sweetheart of the Rodeo and beyond Byrds. The album’s only misstep is a cover of “Six Days on the Road.” Not that it is bad, but the world just doesn’t need another average cover of “Six Days.” Note to rock bands…forget this song…

Tom Petty sounds rejuvenated and has crafted the most enjoyable album of 2008 so far. I wonder if we will ever hear from Mudcrutch again? [Matt's note - since this writing, Mudcrutch have toured and released a Live EP]

JENNY LEWIS - ACID TONGUE - In 2006 Jenny Lewis broke free from the reins of Rilo Kiley and released 'Rabbit Fur Coat', not only one of the best albums of 2007, but also one of the best solo debuts of all time. 'Rabbit Fur Coat' was a flowing masterpiece of county rock/folk singer-songwriter tunes with great lyrics and nice harmonies provided by the Watson Twins. After the success of 'Rabbit Fur Coat', Jenny returned to Rilo Kiley for an attempted pop cash-in with 'Under the Blacklight'…a highly uneven effort with both some great songs ("15" and "Smoke Detector") and some bad (the woeful "Dejalo") Now, Jenny returns with her next solo album, 'Acid Tongue'. It doesn’t have the flow of her debut and at times comes across as a disjointed set of songs.


Jenny opens up the album with her little girl voice on the pretty "Black Sand". "Pretty Bird" could be a Neil Young and Crazy Horse song…but without the guitar freak-outs…and…well, with a girl singer. Next up is the slinky and shape changing "The Next Messiah". Here, Jenny drops the little girl voice and starts to rock out. The song is eight minutes and forty seconds of Bo Diddley beat rock and male/female sing-alongs. If Jenny wanted to be less generous it almost could have been broken up into two or three songs. Other highlights include the “interesting family dynamic” tempo-shifting rocker "Jack Killed Mom", and the energetic country-rock pop of "See Fernando"…no not the ABBA tune. "Carpetbaggers" starts out strong and only stalls when Elvis Costello starts mumbling his way through the second verse. Jenny recovers, but she really should just have excised Elvis from the song. Also, don’t miss the stunning title track with Chris Robinson on backing vocals. Here Jenny strips down to just acoustic guitar and vocals and comes out with an amazing song about a hole in her shoe, liars, acid, and love. A few of the lesser songs echo 70s pop/rock/country/jazz with a few chamber music touches…nothing bad, they just aren’t that memorable.

This is a good album and it is growing on me, I just don’t think Jenny has equaled Rabbit Fur Coat…yet.

TOP 10 COMICS OF 2008

numbered, but in no particular order...

1) SECRET INVASION: After last year's 'Civil War' comic event lost me amid its ridiculousness, this year's Secret Invasion not only found me, it brought back that 11-year old in me who was knocked out by 'Secret Wars' 25 years ago (btw, just typing the phrase "25 years ago" in relation to my life scares the crap out of me). Writer Brian Bendis gave us surprises aplenty, bringing together elements over three years in the making, and making this fanboy, as my pal Ted might put it, all 'gooby'. Now, I don't think you have to buy the whole thing, all the tie-ins and such, because that will run you about a kabillion dollars. If you stick to the main series and the other Bendis-written series, 'Mighty Avengers' and 'New Avengers' you'll be ok. Avoid the other stuff, like 'Improved Avengers...now with 30% more Avenging'.

2) CAPTAIN AMERICA: Consistently the most exciting, well-written monthly superhero title, courtesy of Ed Brubaker and the consistent, underrated knockout art of Steve Epting. The original Captain America, Steve Rogers, has been "dead" for over a year now, and the book suffers not. It's incredible that 60+ years on, there are still satisfying Red Skull stories to be written and read. The best part is that Brubaker didn't have to detour a great storyline to match up with the 'Secret Invasion' event. These company crossover deals tend to muck with the regular comics. Kudos to Marvel editorial for letting Cap's creative team do their thing.


3)THE COMPLETE TERRY & THE PIRATES Volumes 2-5T: Drama, humor, and action combined with masterful illustration. We get to see the main character, Terry Lee, grow up along with the skills of his creator, Milton Caniff. He showed everybody how adventure comic strips could be done, and nobody did it better. These volumes are essential to any library. The 6th and final volume is due next month.



4) SCORCHY SMITH AND THE ART OF NOEL SICKLES: Sickles was Caniff's close friend and one-time studio partner, and both formed a mutual admiration society. But while Caniff saw the comic strip as a lifelong avocation and a business, Sickles just loved to draw, and tired of his own strip, 'Scorchy Smith' after a couple of years. Sickles' entire run of the strip is reprinted here, bookended by the artist he replaced and the one who replaced him. The real bounty of the book is in the first half, which includes the first full biography of Sickles as well as the only extensive reprinting of his post-Scorchy illustration work for magazines and advertisers. There's still a good deal for it on.

5) DAVE SIM: Sim had a wildly divergent year when you compare his launch of the 'Glamourpuss' series and the 'Judenhass' graphic novel. Glamourpuss, which I wrote about here is an odd hybrid of fashion illustration, fashion parody and study of comic strip illustration. Judenhass is an historical look at anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. I believe 'Glamourpuss' will appeal to an esoteric handful, while school systems should be ordering 'Judenhass' by the crateload.

6) CHUCK DIXON: Dixon was hurriedly dumped by DC this year, apparently for writing some great comics. Memo to DC, after you dropped Dixon, I dropped 'Robin' and 'Batman & the Outsiders'. Outside of DC, Dixon continues to give us clever, episode-worthy stories in 'Simpsons Comics'. He also snuck in a Western, 'Wyatt Earp vs the Cisco Kid', from Moonstone. I haven't read his war mini-series, 'Storming Paradise', but Beau Smith, and that's good enough for this hombre. I'll also mention that Chuck wrote an adaptation of Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Prodigal Son. There are many problems with cramming a novel into a comic book series. It seems like there aren't enough issues to get everything in and I keep forgetting who is who. It's a five issue series, but the ending doesn't resolve anything and we're told to stay tuned for the second volume of the series. Chuck's a pro's pro, and I know he's doing his best to keep it all straight for us, but this one's lost me. Maybe it's the artist who seems to draw most male characters with the same face.

7) ACTION COMICS: Marvel artist Gary Frank defected to DC late last year to draw a run of 'Action Comics' with writer Geoff Johns. Frank's Superman is decidedly Christopher Reeve-ish and in doing so was able to capture some of the magic of 'Superman: The Movie'. Perhaps that's the influence of Johns' recent collaborator, Richard Donner. Johns is keyed into Superman's comic heritage, showcasing Frank's art with a Legion of Super Heroes story followed by a Brainiac/City of Kandor story. The only downer? Somebody decided it was time to kill off Pa Kent...again.

8) SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN v.1 - In the not-so dim past (the 1970s), a popular format for comics were monthly magazines, geared for *gasp* adults. 'Savage Sword' was a long running mag featuring Conan the Barbarian. I picked this up thinking it was going to reprint the magazines in their entirety, but it only has the Conan stories. Initially disappointed, I was soon captured by the timelessness of the tales, and John Buscema's art has never looked better. Like the magazine, the stories are in black and white. At 500+ pages, you won't find a better comics bargain for $17.95.

9) BAT LASH - I've never read the original 'Bat Lash', the short-lived series from the late '60s by Sergio Aragones, Denny O'Neil and Nick Cardy, but it's always come up as one of those obscure but outstanding series that's remembered with reverence. So I was excited for this new 'Bat Lash' series, again co-written by Aragones and drawn by living legend John Severin. Both add nuances to the story of an outlaw-ish ne'er-do-well who falls for the beautiful daughter of the powerful villain who controls the town. To see Severin, now in his mid-80s, turning in a story that lacks none of his skilled craftmanship, is reason enough to give this a look.


10) THE COMPLETE PEANUTS, 1967-1968 and 1969-1970 by Charles M. Schulz - There's so much of these books that's ingrained in my childhood. It's impossible not to love events like the introductions of Franklin and Woodstock, Snoopy as the Masked Marvel, Snoopy goes to the moon, the kite-eating tree, and Lucy at her crabbiest. There was also a run where it seems Schulz thought the word "blighter" was funny. (click the strip to view the whole strip)
and this strip blew my mind...
ok, I could post these forever, but does it get any better than this?
and one of my favorite Sundays...



All of these books are available at your local comic shop. I go to this one.

COMICS-RELATED DEATHS 2008

I've compiled a list of folks in the field of comic books, strips, animation, illustration, etc. who have passed this year. If you see that I've missed someone, please let me know and I'll update the list! The formatics is kind of goonie with pictures being separated from the obit due to conversion from Word to .pdf. I'm sure there's a fix, but I'm challenged in that area. Special thanks to Mark Evanier and The Beat who did the first (and best) reporting on a lot of these individuals.COMICS 2008 Update 2

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

CHRISTMAS HAM 2008

I was pleased to be a guest on "Northern Kentucky Magazine" last week and play this song that I wrote ten years ago and first performed on the show in 2001. I hope I didn't make too many mistakes! Enjoy and Merry Christmas.

BOSTON TEA PARTY

December 16th, 1773, as seen by John Severin (from Cracked Magazine #230 (9/87)...click to enlarge

BETTIE PAGE (1923-2008)

Just a few words about Bettie Page, '50s pin-up extraordinaire, who died this week at the age of 85. Most of you know that revived interest in Page was the result of Dave Stevens including her in his 'Rocketeer' comic in the mid-1980s. I encountered her image frequently during my years working at Comic Quest. There was no end to folks capitalizing on her image, whether is was via trading cards or old burlesque films like 'Teasearama' -

Page was also a recurring subject of the artist Olivia, and during the non-sport trading card craze of the early '90s, her image was hard to miss. It didn't seem strange then, but looking back now it's interesting to me that Bettie Page was embraced and beloved by comic book fans moreso than any other model, even Marilyn Monroe. Her clean, girl-next-door looks mixed with the 'anything goes' style of her fetish pictures give viewers the idea that she can be anybody.

After a couple of decades of obscurity, poverty and mental institutionalization, the revival of interest caught up with Page herself. She submitted to interviews, but declined to be photographed and had her face blacked out for TV. She hired an agency to pursue remuneration for the myriad uses of her image. I was shocked to see her on "The Girls Next Door", showing up as a guest at a Playboy mansion party (she was a 1955 Playmate (NSFW). In her last years she was able to receive the respect and reverence given her work a half-century ago, giving the Bettie Page story a happy ending.

from Noah, too!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

BYE-BYE, BOSTON LEGAL

I came in late to the "Boston Legal" tea party. Though I had never watched it’s parent show, "The Practice", I had always meant to watch the spinoff since I heard William Shatner talking about it on Howard Stern (when the new series had the working title of "Fleet Street"). I caught it midway through season two, and then it wasn’t for series stars Shatner, James Spader, but episode guest star Michael J. Fox. To my pleasant surprise, the series regulars included some old TV friends: Rene Auberjoinois (“Benson”), Candice Bergen (“Murphy Brown”) and the delicious Julie Bowen (“Ed”). So I stuck with it, and enjoyed the three seasons to follow.

“Boston Legal” ends Monday night with back-to-back episodes on ABC, ending an abbreviated fifth season. It’s a leaner cast, down to just six lawyers from last year’s nine. Cast changes were the norm, and the only survivors from season one are show stars William Shatner and James Spader. Their roles brought both actors their largest acclaim, with five Emmy nominations and two wins for Shatner as Denny Crane, four Emmy nominations and three wins for Spader as Alan Shore. My wife, Jill, always asked me while I watch this show. It's the polar opposite of my politics. In fact, it continually assaulted and insulted my beliefs and ideals. It went out of its way to make liberal ideas and causes seem like the obvious choice and those who do not agree are idiots. This was particularly on display when Alan Shore made his extensive closing arguments. I've fast-forwarded through most of them. The only right-wing character is Crane, portrayed often as a buffoon who's losing his mind.

That said, what keeps me watching are the people, not just the regulars but the recurring wacky judges (like Henry Gibson and Shelley Berman) and Betty White as a perpetual scofflaw. But "Boston Legal", for all it's in-your-face politics, is really the love story of two men, two friends, Denny Crane and Alan Shore. There friendship is implausible, unconventional, but honest and uplifting to both. It's also been a great showcase for Candice Bergen (Shirley Schmidt) and John Larroquette as the sane wardens of a bin of lawyer loonies. The best character, for me, is Christian Clemenson as Jerry Espenson. Jerry started out as a recurring character nicknamed 'Hands', because he was most comfortable always keeping his hands on his thighs (even while walking). He went from taking a senior partner hostage at gunpoint to becoming a partner himself with the firm. Clemenson's Emmy-winning portrayal of this sympathetic, troubled man gave us a character for the viewer to root for each week.

I'm glad we got a last chance with these characters. We even got the contrived TV Thanksgiving episode where the co-workers have dinner together, causing Shirley to exclaim, "Do we have to fight? Can't we just eat and make small talk and pretend we like each other?"

CANIFF AND THE 10-CENT PLAGUE

The Beat hipped me to the fact that you can now search the photo archive of LIFE Magazine via Google. I'd link to it right now, but you'd go there and never come back. The archive includes pictures labeled "comic book hearings". Several hearings were held in the 1950s to study the supposed link between juvenile delinquency and the negative effects of comic books. Last year's book by David Hajdu - The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America - explored these attacks on comic books, highlighting the scary consequences of the mob mentality, such as comic book burnings that were held across the country. This comic book fervor caught the attention of civic groups and eventually Congress, who felt something must be done about these comic books for the sake of the children.

Milton Caniff and his fellow artists of the National Cartoonists Society became concerned about the implications of this witchhunt. While they toiled in comic strips, not comic books, there was some crossover of material. Indeed, the first comic books were simply reprints of comic strip dailies, and Caniff's own strips, 'Terry & the Pirates' and 'Steve Canyon' had been adapted into the comic book format. Per Hajdu's book, Caniff testified at hearings in 1950 and 1954. However, these pictures create something of a mystery. They are dated December, 1951. Hajdu wrote that Caniff testified before Senator Estes Kefauver's committee in 1950 and that Kefauver's report was issued November, 1950. In R.C. Harvey's Caniff biography, Meanwhile..., Harvey writes that Caniff went to another hearing in New York in December 1951. This was the New York State Joint Legislature Committee to Study the Publication of Comics hearing. New York was at the forefront of the war on comics, with the legislature passing a bill to have comics approved before distribution by the state's board of education. Per Hajdu, the committee was established after the governor vetoed the bill. Per Harvey, Milton Caniff did not testify at this hearing. He was merely accompanying fellow artist Alex Raymond as representatives of the National Cartoonists Society. But in these pictures, Caniff is clearly testifying.

LIFE's full gallery file of pictures from the hearings can be found here. So, I need your help, dear readers. If you can identify other folks in the pictures, please let me know. It will aid in narrowing down the events taking place. I like them because they depict the normally jovial Caniff looking very pissed off.




All photos are by Yale Joel for LIFE Magazine. LIFE Magazine's photo archive on Google can be searched here.

CANIFF OHS EXHIBIT - A Year Later

...And here my blogging began


About a year ago I started this blog after I visited Hillsboro, Ohio, the Ohio Historical Society and the Cartoon Research Library. OHS and OSU both had exhibits on Hillsboro-born cartoonist Milton Caniff. Last week I went back to Columbus. OHS still has their Caniff exhibit running and the Cartoon Research Library is home to Caniff's personal collection of letters, papers and artwork.

At the Ohio Historical Society, I talked with Connie Bodner about the Caniff exhibit. Bodner is the Director of Education and Interpretive Services. One of the things that struck me about the OHS exhibit is the lack of artwork, which seems odd for a famous artist. Bodner explained that the museum was more geared toward 3-D objects while the Cartoon Research Library excels at displaying art. Whatever Caniff art they had is now at the Library and the 3-D objects the Library had were transferred to the museum. The OHS exhibit, 'Spotlight on Milton Caniff', is really about the man. Included are furniture, toys and other objects from his childhood, as well props and apparatus used in drawing. Bodner told me that when school groups come through they focus on Caniff as a famous Ohioan. The children relate to the childhood objects (apparently Caniff's mother saved everything) and learn about a little boy who loved to draw and was able to make a career out of it.

Complimenting the Caniff exhibit are new exhibits on Currier & Ives prints and Norman Rockwell's magazine covers. I'll admit that I knew zippity-zoop about Currier & Ives, other than their namecheck in "Sleigh Ride". I knew they made prints, but I didn't know they weren't the artists. I learned that Nathaniel Currier was a lithographer who, in the 1830s, started making making artistic renderings of current events into prints for newspapers and public consumption. Hiring accountant James Ives, the two began a successful partnership of selling decorative art prints to the masses. These hand-colored prints look remarkable for their age. Witness the vibrancy of the print shown here, which is over 150 years old. It's interesting to me that the successful use of photography in newspapers didn't come of age until the 1930s. Papers were still using a staff of artists to depict the news and newsmakers of the day. This is how Milton Caniff got his break. Aside from cartooning, he was also doing spot news illustrations for the Columbus Dispatch and then the Associated Press.

The Norman Rockwell exhibit, Rockwell's America, was a thrill for me because I was nuts about his art back when I was in high school. You might infer, then, that I was one of the popular kids, but you'd be wrong. I read his autobiography, asked for books of his art of Christmas and did my junior history fair project on his work. My Rockwell fervor has abated since then, but was reinvigorated by this exhibit. The Rockwell illustration work that is best known are the 322 covers he painted for the Saturday Evening Post, a weekly magazine founded by Benjamin Franklin. The exhibit uses these iconic images to tell the story of the technological and social changes in America from World War I to JFK (Rockwell's tenure on the Post). Some of the covers are recreated in statuary (see the cover the picture came from here. There are even some live performers, like Rosie the Riveter (below).
There's no original art in the exhibit, but rather the atmosphere of being inside Rockwell's paintings and his vision of American life. The most impressive part to me was the gathering in one room of the 322 Post covers, hung chronologically.


'Spotlight on Milton Caniff', 'Currier & Ives: Illustrating America' and 'Rockwell's America' all run through March 1st. To plan your visit, check out the Ohio Historical Center's website. And if art isn't your thing, they still have the two-headed calf...

BEATLES NEWS ROUNDUP

PAUL McCartney was the recipient of the Ultimate Legend Award from MTV Europe, in a ceremony that took place at the Liverpool Echo Arena. This is unlike the time in 2002 when Michael Jackson accepted the Artist of the Millennium award from MTV, only the award didn't exist and they weren't giving it to him.

'ALL Together Now' is a documentary about the Cirque Du Soleil show 'Love', a collaboration with the Beatles. The film had limited release in theaters and is now available on DVD, exclusively from Best Buy. The documentary includes Paul, Ringo, George Martin, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison.



Can you hit buttons on simulated musical instruments at the same time the Beatles played notes? You'll get your chance as the video game Rock Band has just licensed the Beatles' music for their video game, due Christmas of 2009.




JOHN Lennon: The Life is a new biography by Philip Norman, author of the 1981 Beatles biography, Shout!. Adding to the pile of a kabillion Beatle bios, this one made headlines with Norman's assertions that Lennon had a thing for his own mum. The book has already been panned by Yoko, Macca and Lennon's sister, Julia, who has her own book, The Private John Lennon", out this year.




MCCARtney has recorded a third album under the name The Fireman, his ambient/electronica side project with Youth. Electric Arguments is out November 25th. I have the two other Fireman albums and I'm warning you - not only is this not for the casual McCartney fan...it's barely for the McCartney completist! Sir Paul also guests on the new album from Indian-born pal Nitin Sawhney, 'London Undersound', due in November. Macca sings the vocals on the track "My Soul".

THE Ringo Starr goodwill tour continues. Having recovered from his badmouthing of hometown Liverpool, Starr gave a special message on his website telling his fans to piss off. Well, not that he doesn't want fans, he just doesn't want to hear from them. "...no more fan mail," says the beleaguered drummer, "It's just going to be tossed." Starr later tempered his statement by saying he was upset by the practice of individuals sending him objects to sign and send back. He did this willingly for his fans, but felt taken advantage of when he later saw the items on Ebay.

PRESIDENTIAL COMICS

With the presidential election finally happening, it's probably past time to take a look at how the leading presidential candidates are portrayed in the comics. The most obvious place to find them depicted is in the editorial cartoons. I chose cartoonists who are among the recent winners (past ten years) of the Best Editorial Cartoonist Award from the National Cartoonist Society. I find it interesting that no matter the political viewpoint, John McCain is jowly and usually angry; Barack Obama is skinny, usually with big ears. I think the now retired Borgman has the best Obama, so it will be worse for us if Obama wins (though that will be the least of our worries).


Comic strips have long been political, 'Pogo' and 'Doonesbury' being notable examples. Comic books, though, are an atypical venue for politics. Unlike this overt example to the left, I think most writers and publishers fear alienating readers. I personally have dropped a title or stopped buying a writer based on their politics. It's not that I think politics have no place in comic books, I just don't need a primer from the Justice League on why they think the Iraq war is bad. There are a few political biographies that have been released in the past month. This is territory no one's covered since 1968 with LBJ and Barry Goldwater.



IDW released 'Presidential Material' last month, with an issue for Obama and one for McCain, as well as a two-sided flip book with both stories. Each comic is well-researched and portrays the life story of each man. I think both are fairly balanced, though not without bias. Entire speeches by Obama are reprinted, while McCain's story is told almost totally in narrative. Obama, after overcoming childhood adversities, is almost squeaky clean. McCain, however, is rocked by scandal and controversy, with almost as much ink given to the Keating scandal as it is to his POW term.

I guess the election has captured many imaginations. Alex Ross has given us this image, now available on posters and t-shirts. I guess he's fighting the forces of capitalism, or something. "I'm off to spread the wealth...up, up and awaaaaay!!"

MATT'S MUSIC REPORT

Recent Releases of Note - for titles in red, there is a review in the last section of the post.

• Beatles - All Together Now [documentary DVD]
  
• Beck - Modern Guilt
  
• Johnny Cash - Christmas Specials 1976-79 [4 DVD]
  
• Johnny Cash - I Walked the Line [book]*
  
• Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison [2 CD/1 DVD – 10/14]
  
• Elvis Costello - Taking Liberties [digital reissue]**
  
• Elvis Costello - Out of Our Idiot [digital reissue]**
  
• Elvis Costello & the Impostors - Momofuku
  
• CSNY - Déjà Vu Live
  
• CSNY - Déjà Vu [DVD documentary]
  
• Bob Dylan - Tell Tale Signs: Bootleg Series v.8
  
• Stacey Earle/Mark Stuart - Town Square [StaceyandMark.com]
  
• Genesis - 1970-1975 [7 CD/6 DVD box]
  
• Mitch Hedberg - Do You Believe in Gosh?
• John Hiatt - Same Old Man
  
• Billy Joel - The Stranger [2-cd reissue]
  
• Billy Joel - The Stranger [2-cd/2-dvd box]
  
• Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
  
• Nils Lofgren - Yankee Stadium [nilslofgren.com]
  
• Moody Blues - reissue of original 7 albums***
  
• Move - Looking On [reissue w/bonus tracks]
• Mudcrutch - Mudcrutch
  
• Graham Nash - Songs for Beginners [CD/DVD reissue]
  
• Willie Nelson - Stardust: 30th Anniversary Ed.
  
• Willie Nelson/Wynton Marsalis - Two Men with the Blues
  
• Randy Newman - Harps and Angels
  
• Roy Orbison - Soul of Rock and Roll [4-cd box]
  
• Amy Ray - Didn’t It Feel Kinder
  
• Frank Sinatra - Nothing But the Best
  
• Frank Sinatra - Sinatra at the Movies
  
• Bruce Springsteen - Magic Tour Highlights [iTunes]
  
• Mark Stuart - Left of Nashville
• Loudon Wainwright III - Recovery
  
• “Weird Al” Yankovic - Whatever You Like [iTunes]
  

Upcoming Releases

• Beatles - Monopoly [board game – 11/20]
  
• Johnny Cash - Johnny Cash’s America [CD/DVD – 10/28]
  
• Stacey Earle - The Ride [TBA]
• Indigo Girls - untitled [Feb ‘09]
  
• Elton John - The Red Piano[2 CD/2 DVD–10/28]
  
• Alison Krauss - A Hundred Miles or More [DVD-11/11]
  
• Mudcrutch - Live EP [11/11]
  

On Tour in the Tri-State

• Micky Dolenz - 11/22–Grand Victoria
  
• Stacey Earle & Mark Stuart - 3/6 – Louisville; 3/7 – Lexington
  
• Jim Gaffigan - 12/12 – Louisvlle; 12/13 – Clevlnd
  
• Nanci Griffith - 11/15 – Kent
  
• Herman’s Hermits - 10/31 – Cleveland
  
• John Hiatt - 2/14 – Danville 
  
• Gordon Lightfoot - 3/14 – Belterra 
  
• Willie Nelson - 12/7 – Evansville
  
• Amy Ray - 10/31 – Cleveland
  
• Jerry Seinfeld - 11/5 – Columbus
  
• Smothers Brothers - 11/15, 11/16 – Indianapolis 
  
• B.J. Thomas - 1/23 – French Lick
  

footnotes

*This is an autobiography of Johnny Cash’s first wife, Vivian, who felt herself unfairly portrayed in ‘Walk the Line’. She and daughter Roseanne thought she came off as a nutjob. I thought she was more a wife at her wit’s end with an immature husband who treated her like crap.

**Costello issued two albums of his own rarities – Taking Liberties (1980) and Out of Our Idiot (1987). They’re out of print on CD but are made available again as download-only albums. The collections were basically obsolete when all of the tracks were made available as bonus material when both Ryko and Rhino reissued the entire Costello catalog. If you didn’t get those reissues, these are worth a listen.

***The Moodies celebrated original seven albums have been reissued yet again. Not to be confused with the 1997 remastered reissues or the 2006 Europe-only 2-disc reissues from Universal. These are apparently improved remasters with bonus tracks. It’s hard to make a recommendation. On one hand, the 2-disc imports are out of sight, price-wise, but on the other, U.S. fans are getting cheated out of more bonus material.

MITCH HEDBERG – DO YOU BELIEVE IN GOSH? – A few years ago, I went to a local comedy club to see my then-favorite comedian, Mitch Hedberg. The sign on the door said the show had been cancelled. It would have been my only chance to see him, as he died of a drug overdose not long after. Until now, all we had left were some late night appearances on YouTube and two comedy albums. This posthumous release is a welcome listen, though it falls short of the other two in terms of laughs. Hedberg’s best bits here are interactions with the crowd, calling himself out on jokes that don’t work and flights of fancy (“What if a drummer accidentally picked up two magic wands instead of drum sticks?”). Someday someone smart at Worldwide Pants will put his ten Letterman appearances on DVD.


RANDY NEWMAN – HARPS AND ANGELS – Newman caused a minor stir last year when he released “A Few Words in Defense of Our Country”, a downloadable single that was excerpted by the New York Times. I found it odious, with it’s comparison of George W. Bush to Hitler and Stalin, as well as it’s insulting of Clarence Thomas and, by extension, conservative blacks. It’s included here in this otherwise enjoyable set of ten songs, in which Newman satirizes immigration, class warfare and his own aging and mortality. The only song where he hits the satirical mark spot on is “Korean Parents”, in which he *gasp* blames parents for poor performing children and suggests they hire Korean parents to make their children study hard. Newman also finally gets around to recording “Feels Like Home”. It was written for his 1993 musical, ‘Faust’, where it was performed by Bonnie Raitt (it was also my first dance with my wife at our wedding reception). Newman has said his non-satirical love songs, like this one, will probably be the ones that endure the passage of time.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – MAGIC TOUR HIGHLIGHTS – I’ve seen the Boss in concert, so I know this mixed bag of four tracks couldn’t have been the highlights of his latest tour, particularly the one supporting ‘Magic’, the best album of 2007. Rather, the first three tracks have Bruce inviting a surprise guest onstage. “Always a Friend” with Alejandro Escovedo is the best of these, with Bruce and the E-Street Band basically backing Escovedo on his own song (from 2008’s ‘Real Animal’). Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello guests on “The Ghost of Tom Joad”, which begs for spare treatment and flounders under Morello’s squealing guitar and cue card vocals. There's also a cover of "Turn! Turn! Turn!" with Roger McGuinn himself which I initially judged to harshly as 'unlistenable'. Now I'll just categorize it as 'would've been better 20 years ago'. The only real keeper is the version of ‘Sandy’ that prominently features E-Streeter Danny Federici on accordion. Federici died from cancer the next month after this show.

JENNY LEWIS - ACID TONGUE (by guest reviewer Jim Bates of A Scale Canadian) In 2006 Jenny Lewis broke free from the reins of Rilo Kiley and released 'Rabbit Fur Coat', not only one of the best albums of 2007, but also one of the best solo debuts of all time. 'Rabbit Fur Coat' was a flowing masterpiece of county rock/folk singer-songwriter tunes with great lyrics and nice harmonies provided by the Watson Twins. After the success of 'Rabbit Fur Coat', Jenny returned to Rilo Kiley for an attempted pop cash-in with 'Under the Blacklight'…a highly uneven effort with both some great songs ("15" and "Smoke Detector") and some bad (the woeful "Dejalo") Now, Jenny returns with her next solo album, 'Acid Tongue'. It doesn’t have the flow of her debut and at times comes across as a disjointed set of songs.

Jenny opens up the album with her little girl voice on the pretty "Black Sand". "Pretty Bird" could be a Neil Young and Crazy Horse song…but without the guitar freak-outs…and…well, with a girl singer. Next up is the slinky and shape changing "The Next Messiah". Here, Jenny drops the little girl voice and starts to rock out. The song is eight minutes and forty seconds of Bo Diddley beat rock and male/female sing-alongs. If Jenny wanted to be less generous it almost could have been broken up into two or three songs. Other highlights include the “interesting family dynamic” tempo-shifting rocker "Jack Killed Mom", and the energetic country-rock pop of "See Fernando"…no not the ABBA tune. "Carpetbaggers" starts out strong and only stalls when Elvis Costello starts mumbling his way through the second verse. Jenny recovers, but she really should just have excised Elvis from the song. Also, don’t miss the stunning title track with Chris Robinson on backing vocals. Here Jenny strips down to just acoustic guitar and vocals and comes out with an amazing song about a hole in her shoe, liars, acid, and love. A few of the lesser songs echo 70s pop/rock/country/jazz with a few chamber music touches…nothing bad, they just aren’t that memorable.

This is a good album and it is growing on me, I just don’t think Jenny has equaled Rabbit Fur Coat…yet.