Black Eyed Peas

Ok, I'll talk about a current band for once. I really dig on Black Eyed Peas. It's funny because I'm not the hugest rap fan in the world. I do like the Old School stuff like "The Message" and "Rapper's Delight", but overall dropped off the rap train when it ceased being fun like DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince and got into hardcore gangsta rap.

Anyway, Black Eyed brought the fun back. And with their latest album "The E.N.D." (issued in 2009) they received inspiration from one of my favorite groups, Kraftwerk.

I don't have Black Eyed Peas first two albums because Fergie isn't on them, but maybe someday I'll try them out. In the meantime, I love the three later albums and Fergie's solo album. I need to see them in concert...

Erasure

Ok, so yesterday I wrote about INXS. Another fave group of mine is Erasure, especially their early albums from the 80s and early 90s. More recent stuff by them have a "sameness" about them, but their classic stuff still holds up. My favorite songs are "Chains of Love" and "Breath of Life".

Of course, they've had many, many other hits. For the uninitiated, I would suggest getting their "Pop!" album of 20 greatest hits.

They are still highly active today, with their most recent album coming out in 2007.

INXS

I went and rediscovered INXS. I used to LOVE this group, then Michael hanged himself and it put a damper on my interest. I even went so far as to SELL all my INXS CDs! Well, now I've repurchased all of them (at a fraction of their original cost I might add), and am enjoying them all over again.

I even purchased the revamped INXS CD called "Switch". While no where near their best CD ("Kick"). It is no where near their worst ("INXS"), either.

Wonder if they'll do another one. In the meantime, I'm enjoying it all over again. My favorite INXS song? Hands down it is "I Send a Message" from "The Swing"...

Something Fun I Got

I went to a thrift store the other day and picked up the Charley Weaver drink maker toy for only 15 bucks! It didn't have the original box, but oh well.

I wasn't sure if it worked, but when I got home, I put in two "D" cells and it worked!! Charley mixed a drink, drank it, turned red and smoke came out of his ears.

Great stuff!

Obscure Comedy Albums for 98c

I went to Fry's the other day. I am a big fan of the "Blue Collar Comedy Tours", even though admittedly the humor of Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall and Ron White are sometimes an acquired taste for some as some of their humor is either too sophomoric or too cute or both.

Anyway, there was a "Next Generation" Blue Collar Comedy Tour. I wasn't interested in these new guys, but for 98c, I figured that I would give it a shot. Three of the four new guys were pretty bad. It was almost like Open Mike Night at a local club. Only one of the four really shone among the deep pile carpet clippings and that was John Caparulo. He was just totally funny and I found myself laughing out loud.

My favorite gag: John: I'd like a Coke. Waiter: Is Pepsi ok? John: Is Monopoly money ok?

I've got to get his solo CD called "Meet Cap".

"Hot Stuff" Book is Out

The "Hot Stuff" book is out now (issued last Wednesday), and unlike the version of the cover shown here, there is no Herman & Katnip anywhere in sight. I knew that it was probably a preliminary cover.

If you picked up the recent "Casper" volume, this is more of the same, meaning that the size is slightly smaller in dimension to that of standard comic books, but larger than an Archie Digest. It is the same size as Dark Horse's "Little Lulu" books and is also in full color.

Let's hope for future volumes!

TTV is 50 today!

Today is the 50th Anniversary of TTV!!! "King Leonardo and his Short Subjects" debuted on NBC with "King and Odie", "The Hunter" and "Tooter Turtle".

As you may or may not know, I am the author of "Created and Produced by Total TeleVision productions: The Story of Underdog, Tennessee Tuxedo and the Rest".

125!

I had 125 hits on my blog on October 11, 2010. Woo-hoo! Readership is growing!

Information Society

Does anyone remember Information Society? According to Wikipedia, the band was around from 1982-1997 and have staged a comeback since 2006. Their biggest hit was "What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)?" in 1988 and they had hit albums in 1988 and 1990. I just recently purchased their 1992 CD called "Peace and Love Inc.". It was a flop, but is actually a very good album!

Anyway, I like bouncy synth pop like this and figured I should blog a bit about one of my favorites.

"New" Car

I may be able to buy a "new" car (2007 Saturn), after piecing together my jalopy (1993 Toyota Camry) for so long. Stay tuned...

Does anyone want to buy a 1993 Toyota Camry worth $1680 in Kelley Blue Book? I'll take best offer!

Comedy Albums on CD or DVD

Ok, I'm going to play dumb here. As most people who are close to me know, I don't have cable and have not for the past 12 years. As a result, I miss out on a lot of stuff, but manage to see things by buying comedy CDs and various TV show season DVD sets.

What I want to know is, who you think are the funniest of the current crop of comedians? Note: they must have put out a CD or DVD or something so I can see them, so "live only" doesn't count.

Anyway, I go to the store and see a lot of comedy CDs by artists I don't know, and don't want to take a chance on them for fear that they might not be funny.

Please let me know.

In Honor of my Mother, Jean Arnold, 1943-2008

My mom passed away two years ago, today. She would have been 67 now had she lived. A moment of silence, please.

I Got a New Phone!

I was reluctant to get a new phone, but I ended up getting a Casio Exilim 5.1 which is touted as a camera with a phone. I like it because now I don't have to carry a separate camera. Boy, am I getting techie. From just a couple months ago, when I still had no texting, which annoyed the hell out of a lot of my friends, now I have a data package and everything.

I'm still reluctant to go full force with a Blackberry, because as a writer, I would rather have a laptop than a phone with a keyboard, and I hate touchscreens with a passion. I am also a fast typist, not a fast texist.

Ultimately, I got this for free (had to pay for taxes) because I renewed my contract for another two years, which is no problem as I have been a happy Verizon (and GTE) subscriber for over 12 years.

"The Social Network" Review

I saw "The Social Network" last night and really enjoyed it. It's not the best movie ever made, but was very watchable and interesting. I am wondering how accurate it really is, but in truth, it doesn't really matter.

It's amazing to me that Facebook made a name for itself since MySpace had the market share already. What Facebook DID do was to basically "clean up" MySpace. I am not meaning making it G-rated. Rather, Facebook always looked "clean". All photos are the same size and very uniform. The backgrounds are white and not black.

Overall, it's the boring sameness in looks that attracted older viewers like even my dad to become Facebook members.

My favorite feature of Facebook vs. MySpace is that Facebook sends you the email message that someone has typed in, so you don't HAVE to log into Facebook to read or respond to it. MySpace forces you to log in to read your mail. That was the "selling point" for me.

I originally signed up in 2005, shortly after I signed up and was enjoying MySpace. At the time, Facebook really had nothing going for it. I had to sign up acting like I was still going to San Francisco State, but none of my friends from State were there at the time, so I ignored it until about 2008, when I looked again and saw a LOT of my friends. What a difference three years makes.

Incidentally, I still have my MySpace account, but rarely log into it and wonder if anyone is even watching the show anymore over there.

Interestingly, the movie ends about the time when I signed up, as they were just expanding beyond the US and schools, and then the lawsuits began.

It's ultimately amazing that Facebook works so well and people actually got rich and are getting rich off of it. By you reading this blog (assuming you're not reading it on Blogspot where it was originally written), supports Facebook and justifies their cause.

John Lennon 70 on Saturday

John Lennon would have turned 70 on Saturday. People often speculate what would have happened had Lennon not been shot at 40. I think he would have turned out a few more albums, but I honestly don't think he would have been as prolific as he was pre-1975. Some people disagree with this.

Honestly, of the four Beatles, Paul McCartney has always been the "workaholic". The only reason that the four ex-Beatles churned out so much music after they broke up from 1970-75 is that they were contractually obligated to do so. After 1975, except for McCartney, all of them took long breaks. It's only in recent times that Ringo has upped his output while Paul has kind of slowed down.

It would have been nice if Lennon had lived to see him on his planned 1981 tour. I would have definitely gone. I think that Lennon would have done the "Anthology", but if there were a proper Beatles reunion, it would have been very short-lived, and in retrospect, what did come out was probably more than what would have happened had Lennon survived.

Everyone thinks Lennon was all happy about bringing The Beatles back. Sure, in a deposition made shortly before his death, Lennon revealed that there were plans to eventually reform The Beatles in some capacity to finish work on "The Long and Winding Road" (which became "Anthology"), but who knows when or if that would really happen. Lennon was just covering his butt and protecting The Beatles name and image, so that no one could take it away.

Ultimately, in life or in death, they are all tied together and since it doesn't really matter anyway what WOULD have happened, I just say, enjoy the music that Lennon did create and listen and/or buy the umpteenth greatest hits collection or remaster in honor of what would have been his 70th birthday, or go pull out an old scratchy vinyl and listen that way...

Saturday Night Live Sixth Season

Finishing up watching the fifth season DVDs of "Saturday Night Live" and wondering if they will bother issuing the sixth season onto DVD. Granted there were some great musical acts on the sixth season and Eddie Murphy made his debut (as did Gilbert Gottfried and Joe Piscopo among others), but the writing was deplorable.

Even the fifth season writing wasn't the greatest, but I somehow managed through it.

So here's the cast from then...what do you think? Would you buy this?

More From Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon

Former Harvey Editor Sid Jacobson and former Richie Rich artist Ernie Colon have teamed up yet again to bring you their fourth book, a graphic novelization of "The Diary of Anne Frank". This follows hot on the heels of last year's graphic novelization of Che Guevara's biography, and the two books they did about the 9/11 tragedy.

Their first book on the 9/11 tragedy garnered Jacobson and Colon a lot of press and a lot of awards and was a "New York Times Best Seller". The sequel was an unfortunate flop. The reason for this is that the original book was based on straight fact, while the sequel was merely speculative.

I'm not sure how "Che" did, but probably not well as I never heard of it until I find out about the "Anne Frank" book. The "Anne Frank" book looks very promising for the team and promises to be another success for the team, maybe not in the league of their first 9/11 book, but successful, nonetheless.

All are available on Amazon and in most major bookstores. Covers to "Che" and "Anne Frank" pictured above.

Finishing Up "THFT!" #75

I just completed work on "The Harveyville Fun Times!" #75, my final issue as Editor and Publisher. All I have to do now is proof my graphic artist's work and print and mail out copies. Should be ready by early 2011 at the latest.

Happy 60th Anniversary "Peanuts"

The comic strip "Peanuts" debuted 60 years ago today. It is too bad that Charles M. Schulz didn't live for this or even the 50th Anniversary of "Peanuts" as he died in February 2000.

One wonders how "Peanuts" would be if he had continued it these last 10 years. The strip went into such a decline during the 90s that it was getting harder and harder to like.

Also, would Schulz have approved "The Complete Peanuts" book series from Fantagraphics. Probably not, as he was never very fond of his early work, which I find quite fascinating. Incidentally, that series is complete up through 1978 with another 11 volumes to come over the next six years.

Tony Curtis

I feel fortunate to have met Tony Curtis. He was at a function about 7 or 8 years ago receiving one of probably many lifetime achievement awards at a local film festival. He was a treat to be around and I did get his autograph which I cherished then and of course I do now.

"Some Like it Hot" is one of my favorite films and in fact, I got a free copy of it at this same film festival. I had met Jack Lemmon years earlier, but did not get his autograph, but I am glad that I was able to meet the main stars of this great film that were alive during my lifetime.

I also love Tony in films like "Trapeze" or "Houdini", which he did with his first wife, Janet Leigh. Of course, he did many, many films and he was good even in lame stuff like "Lepke" (look it up).

Anyway, as always he will be missed, and missed a little more by me as he was so gracious when I met him.

"Veronica" #202 at Borders!

So, I finally broke down and bought a copy of "Veronica" #202 which came out bout three weeks ago in comic book stores and was a sell out. The newsstand copies are now out and I found a couple copies at my local Borders store, so I picked them up for me and a friend.

If you aren't aware, this is the issue that introduces Archie's first openly gay character, Kevin Keller. (Sorry, Jughead doesn't count.)

The sell out has made Archie Publications create their first second printing on a comic book in the company's history. Such second printings are commonplace for the likes of Marvel and DC who have done numerous second prints over the years for things like the death of Captain America and Superman, but this is a first for Archie.

Anyway, for those wanting the first print, check your Borders or Barnes and Noble, or be prepared to pay a premium on Ebay.

Woo-Hoo! My Blog Broke 100!

Readership is up on my blog and on September 27, 2010, I broke 100 visitors in a single day with 101 unique views!!!

This month is also a record with over 1800 visitors so far, so thank you all my loyal and new readers!!!

More Smothers Brothers!!!

Laugh.com does it again. They are now issuing "Think Ethnic" on CD. I was going to order a copy of this elusive, exclusive CD, but there were no order buttons on the website.

I got a man on the line and asked him about this and other Smothers issues. He said he's currently working on "Mom Always Liked You Best", and that that would be it as far as Smothers reissues were concerned. I was disappointed.

"What about "American History"? My favorite Smothers album?" I asked.

"Does that exist?" came the response.

I explained that "American History" was one of the funniest ones with Tommy's description of various events of history in his typical style and it had the classic "Mediocre Fred" on it.

The man said that he could definitely get that one out. I asked about other releases, but he says the likelihood of "Smothers Brothers Play it Straight" and Dick Smothers solo album are unlikely to come out since they are basically non-comedy. "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" couldn't come out due to it being TV soundtracks. Fortunately, Smothers DVDs have come out, negating the need for this CD.

I also asked about "Golden Hits, Vol. 2" and he said that this one might be more difficult as it was a compilation. I explained it was a compilation of new performances, but he still wasn't sure. Fortunately, a lot of tracks from this release are already on "Sibling Revelry".

So, I will take credit that I helped the man remember "American History"....

"Looney Tunes Treasury"

I've got to get my hands on this book. It's written by my good friend, Andrew Farago of Cartoon Art Museum fame! I've only seen the cover and I know that you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I take exception here. If the cover's this good, it's got to be better inside!

Hopefully, I'm correct...

New Cracked.com Book

My "Cracked" book may not be ready until February, but you can buy this "Cracked.com" book starting in December. It's the first "Cracked" anything in print since they ceased publishing the three-issue "Maxim"-type series in 2007.

New Casper Greeting Card!

Every Halloween I search for something new with Casper on it, because I feel that he's the most natural Harvey character to have out every Halloween. For the past few years, my search has been in vain, although they did have a few puzzles out a couple years ago.

This year I found a Halloween greeting card at Target for only $2.99. Here is the card with the envelope. The inside of the card reads: "Because you are so loved, and so special, that's why! Happy Halloween". It's from Carlton Cards.

More Political Humor

Ever since Obama got in there, I've pretty much refrained from taking any political stance in my blog, because it's business as usual for me, which means no comments at all. Bush, Jr. has been the ONLY political figure in my lifetime that has really pissed me off on the way he has done things. A close second was former California Governor Pete Wilson, but I didn't have a blog then to vent.

I am making a happy exception here. For those who don't know, Arnold Schwarzenegger's two terms as Governor of California are finally at an end. He was basically useless as a Governor. So, now we are faced with two new choices, Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown.

Brown was Governor before and he was essentially harmless, but more effective than Schwarzenegger and Wilson, so he earns my vote, not necessarily for what he can do, but because he's a better choice than Meg Whitman for one solid reason.

Whitman has spent millions of dollars of her own money in order to become Governor. In her campaign, she cries that she will fix all of these problems with California, yet continues to spend, spend, spend.

A better solution for Whitman would have been to spend the same amount of money and give it directly to the people that she is purporting to want to help once she becomes Governor, like teachers. She could have been viewed as a great philanthropist, but her incomprehensible need to be a leader, has shown me that if she can't manage her own money, how is she expected to manage mine?

Whitman's big strong point is that she led Ebay to be what it is today. The problem with her statement is that she basically did nothing. Ebay was already on the upswing before she came along, so all she really did was hire more staff, and I'm sure she didn't do it, directly. She most assuredly delegated this work.

Also, she hasn't voted in 28 years, so her knowledge of what's going on is not very good. And, her early ads made her sound like a Democrat, until her handlers told her about this, and then suddenly her ads changed to sound more Republican with stronger restrictions to immigrants and for welfare recipients.

She does have her followers, however, and this old "Richie Rich" panel which was modified by my friend Richard, kind of shows what's happening.

The funniest thing is that Brown has only started to spend recently. Yet while he wasn't spending and Whitman was overspending, they were still neck-a-neck...

Is This the New Al Jaffee Book?

Flipped through but haven't officially purchased the new Al Jaffee book, entitled "Al Jaffee's Mad Life". It's still sitting in my saver at Lee's Comics, but I will be purchasing it shortly after I get a little more money in my life.

Anyway, it's a great book full of classic and brand new Al Jaffee drawings, so this was done with his complete cooperation and is basically an autobiography.

Jaffee is the king of the Fold-In and has been a "Mad" mainstay since 1958. He appeared briefly at "Mad" in 1956 and then defected to "Trump" and "Humbug" before his return. What isn't mentioned is his brief tenure at "Cracked" in 1958 before returning to "Mad".

Jaffee himself did not remember working for "Cracked" when I interviewed him last year, but I sent him a few scans and he admitted, "I guess I did!"

Strangely, this "Cracked" detour is not mentioned in this new book, which gives the impression that he went back to "Mad" immediately after the failure of "Humbug". The reality is that not only Jaffee, but Jack Davis and Bill Elder all went to "Cracked" as "Humbug" met its demise. Harvey Kurtzman and Arnold Roth went back to the safety of "Playboy".

Of course, Davis, Elder and Kurtzman eventually returned to "Mad" as well (Davis in 1965; Elder and Kurtzman in 1985). The closest Roth got was "National Lampoon".

Finally, there is an art exhibit at the MoCCA in New York called "Is This the Al Jaffee Art Exhibit?" from October 5th, 2010 - January 30th, 2011. I hope to attend. but probably won't be able to.

"Casper and the Spectrals" #3 is out...

This is an interesting series. It's different than anything you've seen before regarding Casper, Hot Stuff and Wendy, so that some longtime Harvey fans hate it. I find it much more intriguing and hope that this has long-term potential.

Unfortunately, there was a year-long gap between issue 1 and 2 that I don't think that this has found its audience. The wait between 2 and 3 has been much shorter (about 2-3 months), but still...

If you do get a chance to get the series (or potential trade paperback) please do, and let me know what you think...

Danny Kaye

I love Danny Kaye. Whom don't I love that I talk about here on this blog? Anyway, I just watched "On the Riviera". Not the greatest Kaye movie, but it contained a documentary about Kaye that was really fascinating.

Kaye seemed to delve into anything that interested him with relish and didn't seem to mind that he was a high school dropout and had no formal training for his pursuits. As a result, he became a Chinese food chef and an airplane pilot and an orchestra conductor and did all of them well!

Amazing...

For those who haven't experienced Kaye in the movies, I'd highly recommend "Wonder Man", "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", "The Inspector General" and "The Court Jester" among others. All are available on DVD, though the first two are quite hard to find nowadays.

Kaye is perhaps best known to today's audiences for his work in "White Christmas", but he did so much more than that, and you should take it upon yourself to expose yourself to more of his work.

Just a reminder...

...that my Beatles blog is at THIS LOCATION. Take a look.

Song to Woody by George Harrison – ***

Unreleased.

George performs a version of this Bob Dylan track in 1970.

"The Hurt Locker" Review

Finally saw "The Hurt Locker". This is an excellent movie. Some people didn't like the ending, but I found it to be a in-depth study of how real troops can start to treat their tours of duty like it's a video game. Also, it features the bizarre and strange ways that terrorists can hide bombs.

Personally, I would never want to see active combat in my lifetime, and I don't really understand war, in general, but I find war movies, particularly ones like these to be intriguingly fascinating. This actually deserved its Best Picture Oscar win.

My highest recommendation.

Still Working on That Old Beatles Book

Just did a few more entries to take me through the "S's" in my upcoming Beatles book. I am at "So" right now. Just a little bit more and then I will tackle "T" through "Z", and then I can publish. Yay!

Still accepting art submissions in exchange for a free copy of this book. I really need early Beatles and post-breakup Beatles drawings.

Allan Sherman Golf Album?

I am a huge fan of Allan Sherman and recently Mark Evanier has been posting a lot about him with various video clips of him on "The Tonight Show".

Sherman died in 1973 and was active until the end. One of the last things he did was write a book called "The Rape of the A.P.E.". It is an excellent and funny read if you haven't had the chance to read it yet.

Also, near the end of his life Sherman voiced The Cat in the Hat for at least two animated cartoon specials by DePatie-Freleng.

One thing I don't know about is his album of golf stories. Rhino Records makes mention of this unreleased album that was supposedly recorded in 1973, on some of their liner notes of Sherman reissues and greatest hits collections.

What I want to know is, was this album ever recorded and if so, why hasn't it been released? When "My Son, The Box" came out a few years ago, I was hoping that they would finally release a bit of it, but maybe it doesn't even exist. Does anyone actually know? Mark?

Stanford Theatre Adds to Schedule

For my local friends, there's been a last minute schedule addition for The Stanford Theatre: "War and Peace" on Sept. 18 and 19 and "Anna Karenina" with "We Live Again" on Sept. 25 through 27. These movies weren't listed on the last printed schedule. Here's theater owner David Packard saving a seat for you in his currently empty movie house!

Stanford Theatre
221 University Avenue
Palo Alto
650-324-3700

Here's the Hot Stuff Book Cover

As a companion piece to my Casper book blog entry, here's the cover for the upcoming "Hot Stuff" volume, to be released by Dark Horse in November.

The New Casper is Out! The New Casper is Out!

After numerous delays, the first ALL-COLOR volume of Casper reprints from Dark Horse is out today. This is a welcome relief to those who seemed to have hated the five-volume "Harvey Comics Classics" series which featured many pages in black and white.

This isn't the first all-color Casper. Some may remember the short-lived volume produced by Sid Jacobson a few years ago, but this one is more in line to what Harvey fans really want and an excellent companion series to the now all-color "Little Lulu" and "Tubby" series.

"The Harveyville Fun Times!" #74

At long last, the 74th issue of "The Harveyville Fun Times!" is available. Why is this so important? Because this is the biggest issue ever at 60 pages!!!

As a result, everything took a LOT longer. Why the huge issues? Because the next issue #75 will be my last as Editor and Publisher. Ben Samuels will be taking over with #76.

If you are interested in securing an issue, please let me know...

More About "South Park"

Still catching up on my "South Park" episodes. Now I am watching season 13 and season 9 in tandem. I tend to like season 13 better with the Britney Spears episode among my favorites of all time.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone said on their commentary that this is one of those polarizing episodes. Either you are on the train or you are not. I guess I'm on the train, because I found it an hysterical commentary about celebrity. Perhaps I found it more funny because I have been guilty of being "paparazzi" on occasion, though I didn't enjoy it.

I love doing celebrity interviews, but I don't like harassing people for them, and I've seen and met photographers like they showed in this cartoon.

Dr. Seuss

I went to an art gallery last night promoting the artwork produced by Dr. Seuss not intended for the general public.

I love Dr. Seuss. Currently, I am in the process of buying early printings if not the first printing of many of his books. Amazingly, I managed to secure a first printing of "The Cat in the Hat" and I didn't plan it.

Where I purchased it, apparently did not know what they had and I bought it for about three bucks. First editions now go for a few hundred dollars, if not more.

Saturday Night Live Season Five

Finally broke down and purchased Season 5 of the "Saturday Night Live" series. The reason I hesitated for so long was partially financial, but mainly because my memories of Season 5 weren't that favorable.

I am still correct, but there are still some excellent gems. I know that they were really coasting as evidenced by the fact that out of 20 episodes, half of them had hosts that had hosted before and of those, half of those were hosted by the same person twice.

Also, skits seem a little more bizarre and a lot of times, don't really go anywhere. This set an unfortunate precedent that lasts to this day as the writers and performers of "SNL" know that people will watch even if it is only so-so material and performance.

Looking back on it, I don't think things would have been better had Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi stayed with the cast. I have always felt that "SNL" had reached a peak of sorts on the third season and even though seasons 11-17 are also really good, they have never achieved the heights of 3.

Of course, in comparison to season 6, season 5 seems like genius, and it's the last gasp for the original cast...so take a look.

Writer's Block 3

Again, I don't really have writer's block. More that I don't have time to write a blog entry today. I'll catch up tomorrow.

I Love the Old "Tonight Show"

I regularly read Mark Evanier's blog. See it here. Evanier and I have very similar interests. Recently, he has been posting a lot of old footage from Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show", some with him as host doing his monologue and some with guest hosts such as Allan Sherman or Rob Reiner.

I have been enjoying these clips just as much as he has been writing about them, so I hope he offers more. Of course, most of them originate on YouTube but it's nice when someone takes the time to comment on something really rare and special found on that site, and it's not just someone getting hit in the groin with a football or a screaming bride-to-be.

Anyway, enjoy and please keep reading my blog as well...

Fast Willie Jackson Transcription

I finally finished the first pass on my transcription of the interview I did with Bert Fitzgerald, publisher of the "Golden Legacy" and "Fast Willie Jackson" comic books. I had hoped to get a 20 minute interview with Fitzgerald, but ended up speaking with him for over two hours!!

I now have to do a second pass (much easier) and fill in the gaps where I didn't quite hear what Fitzgerald said or just missed it.

Some of the information is unusable, but overall it was a good interview. The results should appear in "Back Issue" magazine some time in 2011.

Pre-Mad Sergio Aragonés?

Since it's Labor Day and I'm kinda lazy, I'm going to re-post someone else's blog here. To view the original, please click here.

Anyway, without clicking through, this is what the original blog says.

"This morning I set out to fulfill an earlier promise I had made to post some actual Al Kilgore art but was sidetracked by a bit of a mystery. You see, I was seeking verification for a Kilgore tale that appeared in Gold Key's Rocky and his Fiendish Friends #1 when I saw a credit (submitted by Karl Wilcox) attributing a Boris and Natasha 5-pager in that same issue to none other but Sergio Aragonés.

"The more I pored over that tale, the more I believed it to be Sergio's work. Here is one detail that seems to bear his mark:

"A passage from Sergio's official bio states:

"In 1962, he decided to try his luck in America, and arrived in New York with only twenty dollars and a folder bulging with his cartoon work. At first, work was slow in coming and what he did sell didn't pay very well, forcing him to work as a singer/poet in Greenwich Village restaurants and to pick up other odd jobs.

"Rocky and His Fiendish Friends #1 is cover dated October 1962, so this story could conceivably be an example of the work that was "slow in coming." If this is Sergio's art, it predates his Mad debut by quite a few months and might be one of his first efforts published in America, although he had been selling professionally to Mexican publications since around 1954.

"His first Mad piece, "A MAD Look at the U.S. Space Effort", appeared in Mad #76 (January 1963). That piece and the Boris and Natasha piece both revolve around the space program. Intriguing.

"It's only speculation, but perhaps Sergio chose the space program as the subject of the Mad article because he had done research on the space program for the B&N story. That's assuming Sergio DID the B&N story, and since only one person (Karl Wilcox) has made that assertation, I can only say it's a definite maybe.

"Your thoughts?"

My response at the time was/is: "Has anyone bothered to contact Sergio? He could tell you if he did it." I have bumped into Sergio a couple of times since reading this, but asking him about this always seems to slip my mind, so if any of you reading this is in contact with Sergio can ask him and let me know his answer, it would be appreciated.

Again, the original artwork is on the original blog...

Robert Schimmel R.I.P.

I just heard that Robert Schimmel died. Shit! What a sad life. He is/was one of my favorite comedians. While he was exceedingly dirty, he had a class with his vulgarity, which is one of his many charms as a comedian. Happily, I saw him perform twice at the Improv in San Jose.

Schimmel's life was sad because he conquered so many things like a heart attack, divorce and cancer and then he dies in a car crash!

Actually, my favorite Schimmel joke is not dirty. It's the one where he takes his daughter to Sea World to see killer whales in their natural habitat...yeah, having clowns ride on their backs and jump through fire hoops! Then they serve filet of fish. What are these, the acts that fuck up?

Another favorite is when Schimmel talks about a friend who says that if you're swimming in the ocean and a shark starts bothering you to punch the shark in the face. Yeah, and if that doesn't work, you can poke him in the eye with your stump.

He will be missed...

Dick Cavett Show

I have been watching many of the old "Dick Cavett Shows" on DVD. While the shows are quite entertaining, I still haven't completely warmed to Cavett himself. Cavett always seems like a beginning comedian on open mike night trying out new material as he stutters and stammers through jokes.

The amazing thing is that Cavett is actually quite witty and amusing, but never seems to quite get it across to his audience or his guests. I suppose he's better than Ed Sullivan, but he veers dangerously in that direction. As a result, Cavett does come across as more charming.

Take, for example an episode featuring George Harrison. Cavett doesn't really have anything important to ask Harrison and so George kind of sarcastically goes through the interview, which makes George look good, but Cavett look like he didn't do his homework.

On another episode with different participants of Woodstock, Cavett is sitting next to the Jefferson Airplane's Grace Slick and when Cavett comes up with one of his multiple witticisms, Slick is usually dumbfounded with a "what?" coming from her lips. This is not to say Slick didn't get it, it's more that Cavett is trying SO HARD to be witty that his "In" jokes have "In" jokes and they feed upon themselves and self-destruct.

But, as usual, it is fascinating to see these shows for all of the wonderful guests, and to see them when they're young and/or alive.

Jerry Lewis Telethon

Yes, I am actually a fan of Jerry Lewis. For instance, when Warner Archives put out "Which Way to the Front?" on DVD, I immediately had to buy it, despite it not being available in stores (although I did see it in Amoeba Records in San Francisco, recently). It's not his best movie, but there's still quite a few of his pre-1970 films NOT on DVD.

So, Jerry's going to the host his annual Muscular Dystrophy Telethon...AGAIN, and I'm probably going to watch a little of it, just to see how old Jer's doing. He hasn't looked to well as of late. A few years ago, he was overweight due to some medication and now he just looks kind of feeble, but he keeps plugging away. I miss young Jerry, but I still hope he stays with us for a long, long time.

Admittedly, the Telethon nowadays seems somewhat of a joke. As a child of the 70s, I thought that they would find a cure by now. No fault of Jerry's, it's just that I don't think society makes as much progress on things as they used to, and we also always seem to change our focus. Witness the "South Park" episode from a few year's back where Cartman gets AIDS and holds a benefit, but no one shows up, because cancer is now the new "in" disease.

So, the Telethon carries on, and it is the best time to see Jerry nowadays to say the least as he hasn't made a movie or a TV shows in years.

Allan Sherman on CD

For those of you who missed the limited edition Allan Sherman box set from 2005 called "My Son, the Box", now have a second chance. All of the original Allan Sherman albums have finally been released onto separate CDs. This is only about 20 years too late, but oh well.

I still recommend the box over this because it has tons of extra tracks and is still widely available at a reasonable price ($100 for six CDs), but if you want to piecemeal it, you can buy all of the albums separately for about $12 each. They are:

1. My Son, the Folk Singer
2. My Son, the Celebrity
3. My Son, the Nut
4. Allan in Wonderland
5. For Swingin' Livers Only
6. My Name is Allan
7. Live! (Hoping You are the Same)
8. Togetherness

Beatles - Lady Gaga - Lindsay Lohan - Paris Hilton - Britney Spears

I know I'm just manipulating my numbers, but it's fascinating to see what people search for so I figured I'd do a test. As you can see by the title of this blog entry, I'm determining what would get the most hits based on the name. Most people as of late search for "The Far Side". Let's see what this does. No photos today...