Happy Bacardi Show Birthday greetings go out to Mr. Patrick McGoohan. McGoohan starred and was very memorable in a number of TV programs and films over the last forty years, running the gamut from Disney movies like the Three Lives of Thomasina (not a bad flick, actually) to Mel Gibson's Oscar winning Braveheart to television series like the Prisoner, Secret Agent AKA Danger Man and my personal favorite, the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh. That's a picture of McGoohan as Dr. Syn, alias the Scarecrow at right. It was stolen shamelessly from a wonderfully complete Scarecrow website by one Tom Hering. Click on the preceding link to go there.

Just finished my second 80s CD. Here's the tracklist:

Marshall Crenshaw-Someday, Someway
Madonna-Like A Virgin (featuring the amazing drums of Tony Thompson)
Adam Ant-Strip
Godley + Creme-Cry
Prince-Alphabet St.
Duran Duran-A View To A Kill
The Art of Noise-Close To the Edit
Crowded House-Don't Dream, It's Over (one of the best pop songs ever written, in my humble opinion)
Fleetwood Mac-Big Love
Human League-Human
Herbie Hancock-Rockit
Debbie Gibson-Foolish Beat (yeah, that's right, Debbie Gibson. This has a great melody and I've always liked it in spite of myself.)
Dream Academy-Life in a Northern Town
Kate Bush-Running Up That Hill
Tom Tom Club-Genius of Love
Frank Zappa-Valley Girl
RUN-D.M.C.-It's Tricky

I don't know, but I might wind up listening to this one more than the first...

Clicking around on the ol' web this morning (while I should be working, I know, but there's nothing to do right now), I noticed an article on Ain't It Cool News about the upcoming 2004 film Van Helsing, which stars Hugh Jackman as the famed vampire fighter in his youth. Apparently he will encounter and battle all sorts of classic monsters, including Frankenstein's. It's by the fellow who made the recent Mummy films, which I liked OK, the first more so than the sillier, broader sequel.

This has the potential, methinks, to be either a colossal cluster fuck or one of the greatest action/adventure/horror/fantasy films ever. I flat out love the basic premise. I'll keep my fingers crossed that they're able to remain on track and it doesn't become a debacle like the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen film seems to have become.

Well, I suppose I should do my Blogging duty and comment on Dubya's "Yew got forty-aight airs tew git outta Dodge" speech. Problem is, I didn't watch it. I was doing some stuff on the computer and didn't feel like stopping. Besides, I pretty much knew what he was going to say. It was inevitable– he's bound and determined to joust with that windmill and will brook no interference.

Maybe it's just the bleak mood I've been in lately, but I just don't see how we as a country are going to come out of this one without being as shaken up as we were by 9/11. Perhaps this was the long range goal of Bin Laden after all, who knows. Between the cost to our economy, and the cost of young lives on foreign soil, the cost of personal freedoms here at home, and the cost of our stature in the international community...I just hope it's worth it, that's all I can say.

Like the Stupid Evil Bastard says, "If you didn't have a good reason to get drunk before you sure as hell do now!"

Checked out Bill (Fables) Willingham's rebuilt site earlier this evening, see link at right, and was led to a seperate Fables site...which in turn led me to the web site of cover artist James Jean. That be some good shit, mon, check it out.

According to the good ol' Diamond Shipping List, I'm getting the following tomorrow:

LUCIFER #36
SLEEPER #3
THE TRUTH: RED WHITE and BLACK #5

That's (as the pig says) all, folks! I might take advantage of the light haul to pick up the two issues of Captian America: What Price Glory that I don't have, but I doubt it. If I had an extra 50 simoleons, I'd snag that Golden Age Spectre Archive, but I don't so I won't. C'est la vie. Rest assured this paltry haul will be reviewed, whether anybody wants me to or not.

The winter of 1974-1975 was a significant period in developing my musical tastes for many years. Back then, in my town, there was a Ben Franklin five & dime store and a drug store, and both carried LPs and eight-track tapes. It was at about this time that I started getting a significant allowance, and of course much of it went for records...God forbid I should actually save it or something like that. Anyway, over that winter I received as Christmas gifts or bought with my own money such albums as Van Morrison's Veedon Fleece, George Harrison's Dark Horse, Ringo Starr's Goodnight Vienna, Mott The Hoople Live, Jefferson Starship's Dragon Fly, Yes' Relayer, Rod Stewart's Smiler, Lou Reed's Sally Can't Dance, John Lennon's Walls And Bridges, Leo Sayer's Just A Boy, and the album you see above: Traffic's When the Eagle Flies.

I remember picking this up at Caverna Drugs on a cloudy, bitterly cold January day. Back then, whenever I needed to go to town I walked (it wasn't that far) and took in the scenery, walking through and by open fields and streets lined with trees and old houses between my house and town. The album cover caught my eye– an atmospheric two-part spread (I don't have a scan of the back cover, sorry) done in pen-and-ink with the band members standing on a rustic hillside, eagle flying overhead, factories and a cityscape off in the distance on the back. It's a wonderful illustration, complete with a seperate descriptive illo for each song next to the lyrics on the inner sleeve, and this has long been one of my favorite covers. I distinctly remember walking home that grey January afternoon (couldn't have been much over 20 above) observing the skeletal trees and grey skies (looking a lot like the album cover). I placed this on the turntable while my Mom (probably fussing at me for not wearing a hat) fixed some soup when I got home, and I was entranced by the music I heard...I honestly hadn't been exposed to much jazz-rock, let alone jazz before, the early Chicago being the sole exception. I risk boring you with all this because rarely have I ever heard music that captured the mood around me like that. It's these sort of memories that tend to color my perception of certain albums, I'm afraid.

When the Eagle Flies was the last album by Traffic's original lineup. I seem to recall reading somewhere that Steve Winwood had originally intended it to be a solo album, similar to the way he had written 1970's John Barleycorn Must Die as a solo effort. I also seem to recall that he was ill before and during the sessions, which may explain a few things about why WtEF turned out the way it did. For more background on the convoluted history of Traffic, please go here. While they had been touring previously with as many as eight members just a year before, WtEF was recorded with a nucleus of four members: Winwood, drummer Jim Capaldi, flautist Chris Wood, and bassist Rosko Gee, and the songs (with one exception) turned out more succinct and less drawn out than in the past. The general sound of the album is jazz-rock, with a definite prog flavor to some of the tracks thanks to the judicious use of the Mellotron on several cuts. And I'll admit straight up that the album often has a listless, wan feel, perhaps due to Winwood's illness and perhaps to copious amounts of drugtaking. I wasn't there, can't say for sure. Still, this listlessness adds, in my opinion, invaluably to the mood of this music and is a big reason why I have responded so strongly.

Track-by-track: the opener, Something New, features a horn section which makes it sound a lot like Blood, Sweat, & Tears or early Chicago, and is probably the most uptempo cut on the entire album. Essentially a relationship song, it almost feels like a warm-up number. The next cut, Dream Gerrard, sported lyrics by the Bonzo Dog Band's Vivian Stanshall and is a surreal, clever and lengthy statement about imagination vs. realism. It's the one cut in which this incarnation of Traffic actually cuts loose and improvises over a jazzy, mellotron-enhanced landscape. While it may have tested the patience of some, I have always found it mesmerizing and it never fails to conjure up memories of winter in my mind. Cut 3, Graveyard People, is similar in its feel but nowhere near as long. Essentially an observation about types of personalities, it also features a bit of jazzy improvisation and liberal synth licks. Track 4, Walking in the Wind is another rumination on people and living and features a great jazzy bassline underpinning as well as a swelling chorus that brings the song to some nice peaks. Memories of a Rock 'n' Rolla is next, and is written from the point of view of an aged musician who's had it all, lost it, and is looking back on his life and what music means to him. Perhaps Capaldi's feeling sorry for himself, don't know, but taken on its own terms it's actually quite touching and features a nice up-tempo horn part at the end, in contrast to the meandering first three quarters of the track. Next to Gerrard, this is to me the best song on the album. Love is next, and it's, well, a love song with nicely played flute accompaniment by Wood. Not a particularly outstanding track, but not bad and it totally fits into the mood. The album's title track and finale is driven by a rolling piano riff and is essentially a plea to help the ecology, livened by Winwood's impassioned cry "Do you hear me...Mother Nature" which abruptly comes after an apocalyptic-sounding montage of radio effects and noise about three-quarters of the way through the song.

This album has had an unusual history. I seem to recall that it came out on Asylum Records in the US at first; it was part of a multi-label transaction between Columbia, Island (Traffic's usual label), and Asylum that also resulted in Bob Dylan's Planet Waves album being released on Asylum as well. Possibly as a result of its complicated label situation, it has never been officially released on compact disc over here, available only as an import. I don't want to tell you what I paid for my copy, which I really wanted despite the fact that I already had the vinyl. When all the Traffic albums were released on CD in the late 80s WtEF was conspicuous by its absence. These days it seems to be mostly unknown to all but the most ardent Traffic fans, despite the fact that it was a gold album and hit the top 10 in the USA!

When the Eagle Flies got under my skin back in 1975, and has never left, despite the fact that everything Winwood's done since has been mediocre at best and horrible at worst. That's the way it always seems to work for me. I usually always cite it as one of my absolute favorite albums, and this is my way of trying to explain and justify it. If you haven't heard it, I hope you can get the chance to someday. I doubt that it will affect anyone the same way it has me, but hey, you never know.

From all of me to all of you, happy St. Patrick's Day.

Bacardi Show Birthday greetings all around to, from l-r:

Ry Cooder, slide guitarist, music historian, and soundtrack composer extraordinaire. While I must admit that I've always enjoyed Ry more as a session man than as a solo artist, he's still an overlooked great.

Sly Stone, who helped expand my young mind when at the age of 12 I prevailed upon my parents to buy me a copy of Sly and the Family Stone's Greatest Hits. Personal excesses dulled his edge and his talents, and he lives as a sorely missed recluse these days. Happy birthday to ya anyway, Sylvester.

Sananda Maitreya, AKA Terence Trent D'Arby. Speaking of gifted recluses, it's been many a moon since a TTD CD has graced American stores. While I liked a track or two off his debut, it was his second album, "Neither Fish Nor Flesh" that grabbed me and made me a fan. He changed his name in 2001.

Well, here it is, 9:30. And I apolgize. I got nothin. To use a Steve Winwood lyric, "sometimes I feel so uninspired" and tonight's one of those nights. So I hope you'll all give me a mulligan and tune back in tomorrow. Hopefully my drunken crack whore muse will return and hit me over the head with her bottle of Thunderbird, enabling me to write something interesting. I'm mulling over a piece about an obscure Traffic album I love (isn't it neat how I worked that Stevie WInwood ref in above?) and an overlooked Marvel/Epic comics series I'm hoping to re-read tomorrow, as soon as I can get over to me Ma's where my collection is.

In the meantime, here's a link I found at Brendan aka the Leptard's site: The Van Morrison Website. It's quite thorough. Also, here's the Michael Lark (Gotham Central, Scene of the Crime) page at Splashpageart.com. You can spend an evening clicking on and enjoying (and even buying if you've got the chedda. I don't.) page after page of his original art from several of the comics he's worked on for the last few years, including Gotham Central and Terminal City. It's interesting to compare the clean art of Terminal City with the way his stuff looks now on Gotham. Curiously, no Scene of the Crime pages. Guess he doesn't want to let them go.

Oyasumi Nasai.

Friday Five time.

1. Do you like talking on the phone? Why or why not? Depends on who I'm talking to. But mostly, no. I see it as a necessary evil. I suppose that speaks to my immense insecurities.

2. Who is the last person you talked to on the phone? a fellow named Bobby Madison, here at work. He needed an object scanned.

3. About how many telephones do you have at home? At last count, three, not counting cell phones.

4. Have you encountered anyone who has really bad phone manners? What happened? Not that I recall. But I do hate it when people call you and just say "HEY" or whatever, just assuming that you know who it is from their voice. I'm terrible at identifying people by their voice alone.

5. Would you rather pick up the phone and call someone or write them an e-mail or a letter? Why or why not? Again, it depends. If it's a long distance call, and emailing is a possiblity, then I would prefer to go that route. But if it's someone nearby I'd rather call (Unless it's somebody else's wife or girlfriend. Those situations can be so uncomfortable). It's quicker, and life is short.

Friday Five COMPLETE! Woo hoo!

NPR will be airing the Lost Beatle Tapes tomorrow at 2 PM EST. Think I'll try to tune in if I can.

You'll also notice that the annoying white space at right has retreated back into its normal allocated area. Many thanks to the tireless efforts of the Johnny Bacardi Tech Support crew. Stalwart lads all.

Well, OK, actually it's only me. Saw right through that one, dinja.

This would be as good a place as any to acknowledge the help and assistance of Ted Eysenbach, one of the Internet guys where I work. Since I don't know how to write code, I've had a lot of questions and run into a lot of problems maintaining this blog since day one and he's the guy I pick on. He's always been helpful and knowledgeable, and he's a cool dude as well. So if there is a JB Tech Support technician, he am it. Thanks, Ted!

Like many Buffy fans, I've watched the last two weeks' worth of its spinoff series Angel, mostly due to its connections to BTVS via the return of the Faith character. After two episodes, all I can say is that I don't know what to think. When the Angel series premiered, my cable company did not provide us with a WB affiliated network so I missed the first season (as well as most of two seasons of BTVS). By the second season, we had a WB channel but I decided not to watch the show, mostly because I didn't want to have to figure out what I had missed previously. So before last Wednesday, I had never watched a single episode. However, the allure of Eliza Dushku was too much for me to resist, so I tuned in.

It seems like the underlying plotlines of the two shows are similar; a malevolent force is able to assume the shape of one of the trusted inner circle and cause problems. The apparent difference being that Buffy's First Evil only impersonates dead people, and Angel's villain seems to possess living people, specifically Cordy. I don't think she's dead, anyway...I wouldn't know. It would be cool if the two shows would be interrelated like that; I find it far fetched that there would be two Ultimate Evils, one in LA and one in Sunnydale, both independent of each other. I like the basic cast OK, although I still don't understand the interrelationships, like the apparent triangle between Wesley, the girl with the glasses and the young bald guy. The kid who's supposed to be the offspring of two vampires (although I'm a bit at a loss as to how he has demon blood, too) is an interesting character. I miss Faith the way she used to be, a impulsive badass instead of the weepy punching bag she is at present. The scene where she punches out the shower wall was...diverting, I guess, but I kept thinking what a bitch it would be to be stepping on broken tile and concrete while showering. I remember Angel from BTVS as whiny, brooding lunkhead except, of course, when he lost his soul for a while there and became an annoying, obnoxious, overbearing loudmouth asshole. Pleased to report that characterization hasn't changed. These last two episodes have had me gritting my teeth, he's so annoying. An intriguing possibility, though, is the one that Bill Sherman brings up: He's faking, since he hasn't really killed anybody yet. He's only beat them to a pulp while running his mouth constantly. Could be. Hope so, actually, but I also hope that one of the LA Scoobies kicks him in the nuts for being such a jerk when it's all over.

Next week looks promising due to the guest appearance of Willow. Maybe if more of the Buffy cast ends up on the show, then I'll watch after this crossover event is done!

BEST OF THE WEEK
Time now for
COMICS REVIEWS!
What I bought and what I thought, week of March 12

1. BATGIRL YEAR 1 4 In which young Barbara is given an audition of sorts by the head Bat himself, with somewhat unexpected and charming results. I've been buying a lot of Bat-books over the last few years, and I think this is one of the best I've ever read...and that includes many of the fine Rucka/Martinbrough Detective Comics stories. Special kudos to the artists, Marcos Martín and Alvaro Lopez, for their superlative renditions of Batman and Batgirl. A

2. H-E-R-O 2 Sockamagee! By smartly approaching this from a character-driven, rather than plot or gimmick-driven angle, Will Pfiefer gives us a interesting new take on this hoary old DC staple. I'm really liking the art of this Kano fellow, which looks something like Duncan Fregredo mixed with John Paul Leon, with a dash of Will Eisner to add spice. I don't know why I didn't pick up #1– just overlooked it I suppose, and now it's probably too late unless I'm willing to pay out the ass, but I do know this-I'm on board now until the inevitable cancellation, which I figure to be around issue 9. A

3. GOTHAM CENTRAL 5 Hugely satisfying finale to Ed Brubaker's run, with all the plot threads tied up nicely and many things which didn't read right to me at the beginning getting clarified. Again, well drawn by Michael Lark, who seems to be growing into this sloppy style he's adopted. Rucka's got a hard act to follow! A

4. ULTIMATES 9 I don't read the Ultimate-bashing message board threads anymore, but I can imagine that the haters are still out in force and they won't be placated by this issue. On the one hand, you've got Cap acting like a sanctimonious prig at the outset, only to get shot down and embarrassed by the Wasp at the end. I liked the latter and hated the former– But you know, that's OK. These aren't your father's Marvel Super Heroes (or the ones from my youth, for that matter!), and these events are perfectly logical and consistent with what's been laid down before in this title. It's all about context. I suppose Giant-Man had it coming, and it pains me as a longtime fan of the character of my childhood to see this. But as it was from day one, the characters are diverse, multi-dimensional, and come across as real like 'em or no and I will always appreciate that approach. What I don't like is feeling that I have to justify my support of this book every time I review an issue! The art? The art is, as usual, great. A

5. FABLES 11 In which Bill Willingham cobbles a story out of old Civil War, hillbilly, and plantation legends, and pretty much gets away with it, although he needs to work on writing out southern dialect, fake or not. I've never been a fan of Bryan Talbot's stiff and mannered art, and nothing I see here changes that. B+

6. THE FILTH 9 I think next time Grant Morrison decides to do a "getting the reader up to speed" issue, he would be better served by having much of the exposition voiced by a character that doesn't speak in such a deep Scottish brogue. 'Twas damn near unreadable, it was. Weston and Erskine did a nice job, especially on the more hallucinatory aspects of the script. That's got to be a hell of a task, illustrating Morrison's wacked out ideas... B+

7. HELLBLAZER SPECIAL: LADY CONSTANTINE 4 Take a character with zero charisma, put her in a story that's not terrible in itself but seems stitched together from all sorts of sources, illustrate it in a pedestrian manner, and this is what you end up with. I had a feeling I wouldn't like this very much when it first came out, and I wasn't wrong. I've got to learn to pay attention to my instincts more. C+

8. JSA 46 This series seemed to be on the upswing a month or two ago, but that momentum is gone and I will be soon as well. Dumb, dull, cliche-ridden script that features way too much expository dialogue and has characters constantly referring to themselves by their names (a pet peeve of mine) along with busier than usual and sloppily inked art. The only reason I'm hanging around is to see the return of a longtime favorite character, Eclipso (although I don't think I'm gonna be too happy at the way he's written-call it a hunch)...then I'm outta here like Vladimir, but not before they soak me for a double-size #50, I'll bet! C

9. KILLRAVEN 6 That I ranked this below JSA should give you an idea about what I thought of it. On its own terms, this was a well drawn, poorly scripted Mad Max knockoff that existed merely as a bargaining chip for Alan Davis to get more scripting work as well as art assignments. Problem is for me, this isn't like some obscure Marvel character I never cared about, this is a concept, character and series that meant a lot to me growing up and so I'm inclined to judge it unfairly. I probably shouldn't have bought it in the first place...but like I said in one of the first reviews I wrote of this series, KR was a friend of mine, and I felt like I needed to be there for him through good times and bad. C-

I'm still a ways away from having comics reviews ready, but one of the best that I read was the new DC series H-E-R-O, and here's a link to a short interview with its writer, Will Pfeifer, who also wrote another quirky series I liked, Finals with Jill Thompson.

Sunset at Mammoth Cave National Park, not far from where I live, last Saturday. Photo taken by my son. Ain't it purty?

Socialist - You believe the free market can be
beneficial, but that a large and powerful state
is necessary to redistribute the wealth of the
top classes to those of the bottom. You also
think that basic utilities and trasportation
should be publicly owned. Your historical role
model is Eugene Debs.


Which political sterotype are you?
brought to you by Quizilla


I was an art major in college, not political science, so I have no clue about who this fellow is. Subject for further research, to be sure.

I gots some mad links to drop on yoass. Mondo Linko.

First, wonder of wonders, the Stones are bad boys again, thanks to the Chinese government! Go here.

Next, Pete Bagge is at it again with another amusing strip at Reason Online. Found at Egon.

While clicking around for online images of that amusing l'il fellow from the underground comics of the 60s, the Checkered Demon, I ran across this interview with his creator, S. Clay Wilson, which originally appeared in Goblin magazine. Another interesting piece was this interview with former Fug Ed Sanders, as well as this piece on the Fugs themselves. I really wish I had those old Fugs albums...my sole listening experience with them is through those Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders albums of so long ago.

At the same site from whence the Virginia Lee Burton profile came is this profile of Wanda Hazel Gag, whose work interests me a lot. That name is so familiar to me, I know I read one of those books cited in the profile as a child, but none of them ring bells. Oh well, maybe they'll ring yours.

From the Political Desk comes this and this, which I think most of you have seen, but if not...

Finally, when reading about the passing of Pete Millar over at Flat Earth, I was directed via Journalista! to a couple of sites that referenced the magazine that Millar co-founded and did a lot of work for during my formative years: CARtoons. Here's another site of a CARtoons contributor, George Trosley. There was some great stuff in that magazine, and I wish that A. I had been able to buy more of them and B. that I had kept what I had in better shape!

That's it for now!

Today's birthday of note is that of the pride of Massachusetts, singer slash songwriter James Taylor. Never really listened to his music growing up, although it was all over the radio...you know, Fire and Rain, You've Got A Friend, Handy Man, Shower The People, etcetera, etcetera. It wasn't until 1979 when, at the prompting of none other than Bill Lloyd, I checked out his then current Flag album, and it blew me away. It's much better than AMG would have you think. As is my wont, I then proceeded to fill in the gaps in my collection acquiring such excellent records as Gorilla, In The Pocket, JT, and of course Sweet Baby James, all in that fine (to me) early to mid 70s L.A. singer-songwriter style. I even scored a copy of his hard-to-find first album on Apple (Apple record collector me), and found myself a fan ever after. One teensy problem– after that, Taylor lost the plot and didn't make another record half as interesting as Flag and its predecessors... and while there was an occasional nice tune (Copperline) by the 90s I had pretty much lost interest in the creative endeavors of Mr. Taylor. Too many slickly produced and bland albums. That happens to me a lot, it seems...I finally discover an artist based on his or her current release, then nothing he or she does thereafter that comes close to being as good in my mind. Sigh.

Anywho, happy BSBD to ya, James.

Oh- I was very impressed and enjoyed very much a recent special on CMT, of all places, in which Taylor performed live with the Dixie Chicks. They did a version of "Wide Open Spaces", with Taylor singing lead, that was outstanding and quite moving. Again, the older I get, the more of an old softie I become I guess.

After reading this latest bit of silliness from the Leaders of the Free World, I'm wondering whether the next time I throw the ol' flying lip lock on Mrs. Bacardi I should call it "Freedom Kissing". Or maybe a "miraculous event". Whatever.