Hot Trax '71: Isaac Hayes, The Band, Sonny and Cher, more!
New records on the charts 50 years ago this week. Listen on Spotify.
Isaac Hayes - Theme from Shaft
Santana - Everybody's Everything
The Five Man Electrical Band - Absolutely Right
Bobby Sherman - Jennifer
Martha Reeves and the Vandellas - Bless You
The Band - Life is a Carnival
The Staple Singers - Respect Yourself
Nolan - I Like What You Give
Mark Lindsay - Are You Old Enough
Sonny and Cher - All I Ever Needed Was You
Peter Nero - Theme from The Summer of '42
Olivia Newton-John - Banks of the Ohio
Donnie Elbert - Where Did Our Love Go
Pop Diary: Maid, Natalie Bergman, Meet Me at the Hop
What I'm watching, hearing, drinking, etc.
Maid (Netflix). Margaret Qualley's performance in the title role is the best thing about this limited seres about a young mother's desperate efforts to make a home for her daughter and a new life for herself after becoming trapped in an emotionally abusive relationship with her alcoholic boyfriend. Fleeing for safety, Alex has no money, no job, no home and no one to help her.
As Alex, Qualley is frustrated, angry and lost, but also smart, warm and surprisingly funny. I was ready for this show to be a long, grim slog that highlights all the ways in which our so-called safety net fails to help people while ensnaring them in bureaucracy that prevents them from moving forward. Yes, the show is all of that, but it's also richly human and humorous.
When Alex loses a job, or a place to live, or when the housing she does find is contaminated with black mold that so sickens her daughter that she can't go to daycare, meaning that Alex can't go to work to pay for housing (or daycare), we feel her distress, but also share in her appreciation of the absurdity of it all. How much more f-ed up can things get? Quite a bit more, actually.
On top of her own challenges, Alex's mom (played a little too much by Qualley's real-life mom, Andie MacDowell) is mentally ill, off her meds and in need of care. Her estranged dad is no help, and the ex-boyfriend keeps turning up to make things that much more difficult. Portions of the series enter more conventional TV territory via some of these side dramas, but improve whenever Alex is the focus.
Through the course of the show, we're thoroughly caught up in her many challenges, rooting for her success and more sympathetic to others going through challenges like this. It's an important show for that last reason, and a richly moving one thanks to Qualley's portrayal of Alex, who seems completely real. How could you not want her to succeed?
Natalie Bergman - Mercy. Jesus rock on Jack White's Third Man label? I guess so. Bergman's LP is unashamedly spiritual and full of praise for the divinity she sees as having led her out of depression following the deaths of her dad and stepmother, who were killed by a drunk driver in 2019.
The songs exhort us to talk to the Lord in times of need, ask Jesus to shine His light on us, and shower Him with praise, and it all works fantastically as contemporary indie pop. Whether you enjoy it or not likely varies on how open you are to Bergman's message, but I like it quite a bit. It's melodic, different, thoughtful and it has heart. Test here:
Meet Me at the Hop (Bear Family). Another big bang for the buck from Germany's excellent reissue label. So much to like here: R&B from Lavern Baker and Hank Ballard, doo-wop from the Flamingos and the Three Pennis, teen rock from Fabian and Ricky Nelson, and instrumental grit from the Viscounts. It's like having a stack of nickels and access to a great jukebox. It'll send you, even if you were never there.
Drinking:
New music out this week: The Beatles, Norah Jones, Velvet Underground, more!
Our picks for the week. Click the links to order from Amazon.
Pop Culture Roundup: Velvets, Tennant, Psycho Jamie, more!
ITEM! NPR checks out the new Velvet Underground documentary.
ITEM! David Tennant doesn't say "no" to a return to "Doctor Who."
ITEM! Jamie Lee Curtis turned up to the premiere of the new "Halloween" film dressed as her mother's character in "Psycho."
ITEM! Courtney Barnett provides the theme tune to the new "Harriett the Spy" animated series.
ITEM! Neil Young is releasing a new Crazy Horse LP.
Select Marvel Comics stories will be published as part of the legendary Penguin Classics line
Details from the news release:
Penguin Classics is pleased to collaborate with Marvel Comics to publish a new series, the Penguin Classics Marvel Collection, marking the first time that comics have been published by Penguin Classics. This Collection of carefully curated comic book anthologies presents the original stories and seminal tales of key Marvel characters, and serves as a testament to Marvel’s transformative impact on graphic fiction and icons and stories across popular culture.
The first three books in the series, Black Panther, Captain America, and The Amazing Spider-Man will be published on June 14, 2022.
Each title will be published in black spine paperback as well as a collectible hardcover edition with beautiful gold foil stamping, gold top stain edges and endpapers featuring artwork from the comics. They each include a foreword by a contemporary young adult author and a detailed scholarly introduction, speaking to the enduring significance of Marvel’s iconic creations.
The Amazing Spider-Man includes a foreword by Jason Reynolds, the award-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author of many books including Miles Morales: Spider-Man, Look Both Ways and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You. Reynolds is the 2020-2021 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.
Black Panther includes a foreword by Nnedi Okorafor, the multiple award-winning author of Who Fears Death and the Binti novella trilogy. She has written Black Panther and Wakanda Forever for Marvel Comics.
Captain America includes a foreword by Gene Luen Yang, the fifth National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, and the author of Shang Chi for Marvel Comics and American Born Chinese.
Ben Saunders is the series editor and author of the scholarly introductions for Captain America and The Amazing Spider-Man; he is a Professor of English at the University of Oregon, where he founded the world’s first undergraduate minor in Comics Studies. He has also served as curator for several museum exhibitions of comic book art. Qiana J. Whitted is author of the scholarly introduction for Black Panther; she is Professor of English and African American Studies at the University of South Carolina, and an Eisner Award-winning comics scholar.
The Penguin Classics Marvel Collection will continue with the release of additional titles to be announced at a later date.
For decades, Marvel has published groundbreaking visual narratives that sustain attention on multiple levels: as explorations of the relationship between power and responsibility; as metaphors for the experience of difference and otherness; as meditations on the pain of adolescence and the fluid nature of identity; as examinations of the meaning, and limits, of patriotism; as ironic juxtapositions of the cosmic and the quotidian; as resources for the understanding of political and social history; and as high watermarks in the artistic tradition of American cartooning. For the first time, these classic stories of some of the most iconic super heroes in the history of American comics are Penguin Classics.
Ben Saunders, editor of the series, says, “The comics produced at Marvel in the 1960s can be compared to the most enduring popular music of that same tumultuous decade. Working at tremendous speed in what was widely regarded as a low-status commercial medium, the creators at Marvel initiated and participated in an aesthetic revolution. These comics have now influenced writers and artists across all forms of media — from contemporary novelists to hip hop musicians to Hollywood filmmakers. It is not hyperbole but simply a fact: these classic Marvel Comics are foundational documents of our culture.”
Elda Rotor, Vice President and Publisher of Penguin Classics, says, “When we talk about what makes a classic, we consider the work’s ability to connect with an audience across time, in both universal and individual ways. Marvel’s sustained and rich engagement with generations of readers, one that also provides a critical social lens, a deeply personal reflection of the human condition, and a shared reading experience of such storytelling and artistic innovation, is a super power. For instance, you can just say, ‘Spider-Man,’ and it opens up a whole world of stories and understanding. To me, that makes a Marvel classic a Penguin Classic. To have this opportunity to place the work of Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, Jack Kirby and many other historic Marvel creators on shelves alongside the world’s classics marks a very special chapter in Penguin’s publishing history.”
Sven Larsen, Vice President of Licensed Publishing at Marvel Entertainment, says, “From The Odyssey to The Time Machine, the Penguin Classics list not only recognizes the most important works in storytelling but also places them in their important historical and cultural context. Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Captain America have become the bedrock of countless stories across media, and it's a testament to the genius of Marvel's writers and artists that these characters resonate so strongly today. It’s a remarkable honor to have these important chapters in Marvel history join this esteemed series from Penguin Random House. I can't wait for new readers to discover these stories for the first time, and I'm excited for existing fans to be able to read the new introductions, essays and other material that will provide an even deeper appreciation of these seminal works of graphic fiction.”
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