Lennon's final live performance.
Twomorrows previews its American Comic Book Chronicles
Twomorrows Publishing, producer of the excellent Alter Ego, Jack Kirby Collector and Back Issue comics-history mags is launching a series of hardcover books charting the history of American comic books.
The first volume, which focuses on the superhero revival years of 1960-64, is out this month. You can check out a generous, 50-page preview here. Looks good!
Here's what Twomorrows has to say:
The first volume, which focuses on the superhero revival years of 1960-64, is out this month. You can check out a generous, 50-page preview here. Looks good!
Here's what Twomorrows has to say:
The American Comic Book Chronicles features TwoMorrows' top authors documenting every decade of comic book history from the 1940s to today! John Wells leads off with the first of two volumes on the 1960s, covering all the pivotal moments and behind-the-scenes details of comics in the JFK and Beatles era! You'll get a year-by-year account of the most significant publications, notable creators, and impactful trends, including: DC Comics' rebirth of Green Lantern, Hawkman, and others, and the launch of Justice League of America and multiple earths! Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's transformation of superhero comics with the debut of Marvel's Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Hulk, X-Men, Avengers, and other iconic characters! Plus Batman gets a "new look", the Blue Beetle is revamped at Charlton Comics, and Creepy #1 brings horror back to comic book form, just as Harvey's "kid" comics are booming! These are just a few of the events chronicled in this exhaustive, full-color hardcover.1960-64 Volume: (224-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $39.95(Digital Edition) $11.95 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-045-8 • NOW SHIPPING!COMING IN MARCH:1980s Volume: (288-page FULL-COLOR HARDCOVER) $41.95(Digital Edition) $12.95 • ISBN: 978-1-60549-046-5 • Diamond Comic Distributors OrderCOMING SOON:1950s Volume: Ships Summer 20131970s Volume: Ships Fall 20131965-69 Volume: Ships Spring 20141940-44 Volume: Ships Summer 20141990s Volume: Ships Fall 20141945-49 Volume: Ships Spring 2015Taken together, the series forms a cohesive, linear overview of the entire landscape of comics history, sure to be an invaluable resource for ANY comic book enthusiast!
Pop culture roundup: Amoeba's vinyl vault; Bradley Wiggins and the Who; Everly Brothers nuggets; Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan interviewed; Beatles
One of the world's great remaining record stores, Amoeba in the Bay Area, has launched a new download service of digitized vinyl rarities. Check out here. Some background from Boing Boing:
Olympic cyclist and mod Bradley Wiggins has scored free tix to an upcoming performance of Quadrophenia by The Who.
As a tie-in to an Everly Brothers article in its latest issue, Mojo mag has posted a pretty cool playlist of off-the-beaten-path tunes by the glorious duo. Listen here.
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Via Dangerous Minds: A 1970 interview of British comics and Goon Show stars Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers.
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The former HQ of the Beatles' Apple Corps, and site of the Fabs' famous rooftop concert, may become an Abercrombie & Fitch.
"We've been digitizing a lot," says Jim Henderson, who owns Amoeba along with partners Marc Weinstein, Karen Pearson and Dave Prinz. "What you see now is the lost-between-the-cracks, underappreciated, undervalued (music) from dead labels, (obscure) artists, stuff that we really stand behind. It's mostly in the rock genre, with a lot of jazz, a lot of blues, some country, some spoken word. There are some oddities for sure."
Many of the LPs have been getting remastering upgrades from the original vinyl and shellac sources. Currently, there are only about 1,000 titles for sale, but Amoeba is adding 10 or 15 more every day.
Some Vinyl Vaults artists are readily familiar, and in some cases Amoeba's source material emanates from its owners' own collections. Some of Prinz's rare Louis Armstrong 78s were digitized and are being sold as downloads, while Weinstein's prized collection of 144 Sun Ra albums has also been ripped.-----
Olympic cyclist and mod Bradley Wiggins has scored free tix to an upcoming performance of Quadrophenia by The Who.
The band are a big favourite of cyclist Wiggins, who also won the Tour De France in 2012 and took home the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. Revealing that they are yet to meet but establishing plans to get together later in the year, Roger Daltrey of The Who said: "He is invited to any of our shows,” says Roger. “I’ve written and told him that. I’m sure we will meet him - he has a free pass to any show he likes."-----
As a tie-in to an Everly Brothers article in its latest issue, Mojo mag has posted a pretty cool playlist of off-the-beaten-path tunes by the glorious duo. Listen here.
-----
Via Dangerous Minds: A 1970 interview of British comics and Goon Show stars Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers.
The former HQ of the Beatles' Apple Corps, and site of the Fabs' famous rooftop concert, may become an Abercrombie & Fitch.
BBC Radio this week: The Jam; History of the LP; Brian Aldis Presents; The Goon Show
Click the links to hear the following programs.
The Jam on the BBC Johnnie Walker introduces a portrait of The Jam and lead singer Paul Weller, drawn entirely from BBC archive interviews and performances.
Long Players Just over sixty years ago an invention was launched that was to change the music world forever: after years of being restricted to 4 minutes a side, artists suddenly had 40 minutes to play with: this was the birth of the album. David Quantick tells the story of the LP and puts into its social context from vinyl to i-pod and back.
Brian Aldis Presents: The Cage Britain's leading sci-fi exponent selects Bertram Chandler's story. How to prove you're rational. Read by Catherine Cusack.
The Jam on the BBC Johnnie Walker introduces a portrait of The Jam and lead singer Paul Weller, drawn entirely from BBC archive interviews and performances.
Long Players Just over sixty years ago an invention was launched that was to change the music world forever: after years of being restricted to 4 minutes a side, artists suddenly had 40 minutes to play with: this was the birth of the album. David Quantick tells the story of the LP and puts into its social context from vinyl to i-pod and back.
Brian Aldis Presents: The Cage Britain's leading sci-fi exponent selects Bertram Chandler's story. How to prove you're rational. Read by Catherine Cusack.
The Goon Show Who Is Pink Oboe? Cowardly Captain Seagoon is at war. With Peter Sellers on leave, Graham Stark is enlisted.
Pop stuff: What I'm reading, hearing, watching etc.
Petra Goes to the Movies by Petra Haden
The follow-up to her a capella cover of the entire The Who Sell Out album, Haden's new one features her one-woman-choir versions of 16 film tunes, most of them originally instrumentals.
To replicate the sounds of bands and orchestras, Haden puts her versatile voice to work singing all the interweaving parts. Sure, some of it sounds like a novelty album, which I guess it sort of is, but it's also a masterpiece of singing and overdubbing. Not too many folks could pull this off.
Some of the tunes, particularly those with jazz elements, sound a bit like the Swingle Singers, but mostly Haden sounds just like herself. Anyone familiar with her earlier work will know the twisted mind and fabulous voice behind the rendition of the "Psycho Main Title" found here. That tune is worth the ticket price. Haden also does a nice version of "Goldfinger." Are John Williams' "The Man from Krypton" from the first "Superman" film is also great fun.
Elsewhere, things are prettier and more traditional. Haden sings a lovely straight vocal on "It Might Be You," a nice song from "Tootsie" on which she's joined by the brilliant guitarist Bill Frisell.
On "This is Not America," from "The Falcon and the Snowman," she's joined again by Frisell and by her father, the legendary jazz bassist Charlie Haden. Pianist Brad Mehldau appears on "Calling You" from "Baghdad Cafe." But mostly it's just Haden, and amazingly so.
The Fortune of War by Patrick O'Brian
I've been very gradually working my way through Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels for several years now, but seem to have quickened my pace of reading with each entry. At some point, I'll lose all control and end up reading the rest of the series (20 books in all, plus one unfinished entry) in one mad rush, but I'd hate to see it all end.
These books, as any O'Brian aficionado will waste no time in telling you, are a joy to read.
Set during the Napoleonic Wars, the series centers on the wonderful friendship between two quite different men: Captain Jack Aubrey, an outgoing, jovial, sometimes brash man of action, and Stephen Maturin, Aubrey's ship-board surgeon, who's quiet, sometimes brooding and prone to extreme self-reflection.
There's plenty of action, and nautical lingo, as the duo sail from adventure to adventure and battle to battle, but there's plenty to think about, too. Aubrey and Maturin are among literature's most-fleshed-out, "real" characters. We get to know them better and better as the series goes on. And they change and grow. I like both of these guys. A lot. I celebrate their good fortunes and sympathize when they're injured -- both physically in battle, and psychologically through misfortune and heartbreak.
It took me the first couple of books to get comfortable with O'Brian's use of period language and naval terms, but once it became familiar, my reading of the books sped up and my interest grew and grew.
I highly recommend these novels to anyone who loves good writing, and urge you not to be put off due to the language, or the idea that they are somehow of a "genre" and therefore not worth your attention.
Argo
My wife and I finally got a chance to see this acclaimed film about an offbeat secret operation used to free a small group of Americans during the Iran hostage crisis in the late 1970s.
It's a captivating, entertaining stoty -- one of those that will put you on edge, even though you know the outcome.
Ben Affleck's direction is as subtle as his performance -- quiet, not showy, but very effective. There are lots of nice period touches, right down to the film's titles, that put me back in those times.
Readers of this blog and fans of comics artist Jack Kirby may know that he played a minor, unwitting, role in this odd episode of the American history and the film gives a nod to that, too. Nice touch.
I'm not going to spoil any of the story. I'll just say you should see the film while it's still playing on a few screens nationwide. It's worth of all of the awards it's received and likely to receive.
Video find: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass TV appearances
Can a jazz snob like me enjoy instro-pop like HATB? Heck yeah!
See the Flaming Lips Super Bowl ad for Hyundai
This car ad, with original music and an appearance by the Flaming Lips, will air during the Super Bowl this Sunday.
Watch PBS' Pioneers for Television: Superheroes here!
In case you missed this program on TV last night:
Watch Superheroes on PBS. See more from Pioneers of Television.
Fantagraphics announces Peanuts "Every Sunday" collections
Fantagraphics is supplementing its "Complete Peanuts" collections with a new series of books focusing on just the Sunday strips, in large, color format. The first volume will be out this fall.
Background:
Background:
Designed as a series of ten massive coffee-table quality books, each one containing a half-decade's worth of Sunday strips, Peanuts Every Sunday is a book to be enjoyed any day, not just Sundays. Remembered by Peanuts fans from the original newspaper strips, the striking colors of the Red Baron dashing across the sky to the soft blue hue of Linus' blanket to Woodstock's fuzzy yellow head all grace the pages of Peanuts Every Sunday. Enjoy the secret pleasure of seeing Charlie's original zigzag shirt in many colors before becoming its trademark yellow.
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