Tuesday, July 27, 2004

Although I'm actually encouraged by the comics blogsphere, if for a different reason. I like the idea that the folks who go on every day and write and rant and comment are doing it for no other reason than they seem to be compelled to put their thoughts down in some sort of permanent record. I like that commitment to flying your flag to see who salutes it. I mean, it's not like anyone's paying them to do it. On my better days, I have to believe the blogs are all about passion, and I can dig that.

Joe Casey sums up the reason why I continue to bring you the Show, in a new column appearing at CBR by him and Matt Fraction, "The Basement Tapes". Official theme song of this column: "Million Dollar Bash".

Years ago, I once read something about Axl Rose, of all fucking people... how he'd read CIRCUS Magazine (not exactly ROLLING STONE or CREEM in rock journalism spheres) as a kid, filled with depthless articles and insipid interviews with Elton John or Robert Plant or whoever... and he'd take that shit seriously. He didn't know any better? he didn't know that CIRCUS was mainly the home of mindless fluff pieces extolling vapid musical virtues and the perception of the "kewlness" of the rock n' roll lifestyle. The way lil' Axl perceived it was, as you say, gospel without irony. That informed his worldview, and that gave us the Axl Rose we all know and love today...

I love this observation as well. I used to read Circus, and actually enjoyed it to a point, but around 1975 or so I had also begun to read Creem, Crawdaddy, and Rolling Stone (it was worthwhile back then, trust me)...and I knew right away that Circus wasn't quite in the same league as the others, so I stopped. Some do this with a lot of information sources, many don't...and that's why we get so many folks who are geared to the average rather than the exceptional. I vividly recall friends asking me, back in our teenage years, "How do you know about these people? These Mott The Hooples and Pentangles and Lou Reeds? I ain't never heard of them!" The answer was simple, I said...I read about them, they sounded interesting, so I bought something. This was usually greeted with a blank stare, or a reaction like I had told them that they should eat broccoli.

Anyway, an entertaining column, and one I look forward to reading each week or month or whenever they put it out.

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