The Johnny Bacardi Show

So what happens when I get home? No writing then, either. It's 9:06 CST and I'm getting ready to read comics in the easy chair until Futurama comes on, then I'll go to bed. Anyway, we were, like I said, crazy busy today at work, with several spinoff publications of the Snooze all coming due, and I barely had time to check my email, let alone blog. I go to my comics shop after work, and get the books I listed below...but no Absent Friends or Deep Sleeper. That's what I get for trying to get copies at the last minute. They're coming, though...Matt (the boss guy) tells me that they've got more copies on the way, and they only got copies of those books for people who pre-ordered them. Understandable. And wonder of wonders, he tells me that a copy of Gotham Central 15 is on the way, too! Fanboy glee! So in addition to my prescribed haul, I found all four issues of the previous Sandman Presents mini featuring the Thessaly character, The Thessaliad, so I put #'s 2-4 back in my folder and bought #1 tonight. I'll buy one issue each week, and see how it reads like that. Like this, y'all, like that y'all...

Sorry. Didn't mean to bust into mad rhymes there on all y'all..but I'm in the mood since I sat and watched the surprisingly good 8 Mile just a minute ago. That's what I did when I got home. I'll try to write a little more about it later on, probably with a bunch of other movies that I haven't watched yet, kinda like I did in my post about four back. I forgot to include another Paul Newman flick I watched recently, 1956's Somebody Up There Likes Me, so I'll write a little about that one, too.

I'm just about ready to spring the long-threatened, I mean, long-delayed Mondo Vinyl-O on y'all...in fact, I've been listening to a lot of David Bowie recently and have been contemplating doing something I haven't done in a while, write a list of favorite albums by one artist rather than several different ones. I've especially been spinning Diamond Dogs a lot, for some reason. We shall see. I did get a CD the other day, with bonus points earned through Columbia House: the remastered, repackaged Rhino re-release of T.Rex's Electric Warrior album, which is a very nice package indeed, being loaded with such neat bells and whistles as a tiny reproduction of the poster which came with initial pressings but I never got; a booklet with an essay about the tracks and some commentary on the state of T.Rextasy circa 1971 as well as some excellent bonus tracks like b-sides "Raw Ramp", "King of the Mountain Cometh", and his second hit single in the UK, "Hot Love". Rounding out the disc is a heretofore unreleased live version of Warrior album cut "Planet Queen", and a fifteen minute interview with Bolan by an American DJ, right about the time the album was released. All in all, a great reissue, and it certainly makes up for the bare-bones, no-frills copy that Warners has steadfastly and stubbornly kept out there for damn near 17 years now, even as other companies were releasing the rest of Bolan's catalog with lyrics, bonus tracks, and all other kinds of stuff. Warrior was Bolan's first serious attempt at merging his Tyrannosaurus Rex-style acoustic Donovanisms with Chuck Berry guitar riffs, doo-wop chorus BV's courtesy of Flo & Eddie, among others, and Elvis-style attitude. His first attempt, 1970's tentative T-Rex, was a great first step and contains some excellent songs, but it's nowhere near as focused and as nuanced as its follow-up. In fact, Bolan was rarely as focused or nuanced afterwards, either- Warrior's follow-up, 1972's The Slider, quickly recorded and released at the height of his fame, had its share of outstanding songs but a certain slapdashiness had begun to creep in...and as his star grew dim and drugs and personal excess dulled his edge, subsequent albums (while still good, in their way) were pretty hit-or-miss affairs, with Marc flailing about this way and that, trying to rekindle the spark which had apparently left him for good.

Well, hell. That kinda turned into a review, didn't it? I always think of Bolan when I think of Bowie, because the two kinda came up through the ranks together and had a friendly enemy thing going on which never really got resolved until right before Bolan's death. I spent some time reading the new Mojo magazine Bowie Special the other day, and one of the articles I read was about Marc & Dave's relationship. Bolan played on the original version of "The Prettiest Star", which was eventually redone on Aladdin Sane, and Bowie wrote at least two songs with him in mind: Ziggy's "Lady Stardust", and "Black Country Rock" from 1970's The Man Who Sold The World, which has also been spending some time in the Bacardi Show CD player. Of course, since Marc hit it big first, he wasn't as obligated to reciprocate, but it's pretty common knowledge that he took the name "Zinc Alloy" upon release of the 1974 album of the same name in tribute to Bowie, and Warrior's "Girl" is also very much in the Man Who... and Hunky Dory style.

Boy I do ramble on, don't I. Hey! Led Zeppelin reference! Anyway, I'm done for tonight. More tomorrow. Hopefully.

And lest I forget- I had in excess of 400 hits yesterday, almost as many as I usually get in a week! Thanks to everyone who namechecked me over the last couple of days and caused this surge, like Dirk, Sean, and anyone else that I may be unaware of.