The Johnny Bacardi Show

Mellow greetings, fellow travelers! Just wanted to let you know that my latest LAST CALL column is now up over at Comic Book Galaxy. Reviewed this week: COURTNEY CRUMRIN TALES #1 (Yes! I finally got my copy!), LIVEWIRES #6, DEFENDERS #2, TOP 10: BEYOND THE FARTHEST PRECINCT #1, SEVEN SOLDIERS: KLARION #3, LUCIFER #65, and what has to be in the running for the what-the-fug book of the year so far, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING!?. Go, read all you want- I'll make more. Then go and comment at will at the CBG Last Call Forum! The redoubtable Chris Allen is also on hand with another interesting Breakdowns column, in which he takes a look at another of my MIA books, Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires.

And now, for something completely different. To coin a phrase.

I was listening to RadioIo 70s on Wednesday, and heard a great cut from the album at left (clicky-click to see it all big like)- Baron Von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun, a 1973 release by Paul Kantner, Grace Slick & David Freiberg, aka What Was Left of the Jefferson Airplane. Also featuring the great Papa John Creach on violin, after this album Kantner, Slick and Frieberg recruited some other musicians and reformed as the Jefferson Starship, releasing their magnificent 1974 LP Dragon Fly, a longtime favorite of mine. I never have really dug very deep into the Airplane/Slick/Kantner/Starship catalogue, probably because I hated the next Starship release, 1975's Red Octopus (just too much Marty Balin- can't stand his voice) and things went downhill from there. The pre-Starship post-Volunteers releases got slammed critically, as well, further dimming my enthusiasm and curiosity...so I clutched my well-worn copy of Dragon Fly and continued to say "Gee, if only...". Perhaps the Tollbooth album will be a good starting point, so I'll monitor eBay for a good quality vinyl copy and go from there. Think I'll look for Slick's 1974 solo release Manhole as well; anything from this collective in that 1971-74 period interests me greatly.