In the Before Times, when music on the radio was not analogous to commercial interruption, a band of musicians had a three-minute window to set the world on fire. Many groups took this responsibility with great gravitas, crafting an introduction to their big number that would grab listeners by the scruff of the neck and pull them uncomfortably close for the duration. These were songs that made turning the dial impossible.
And to state the utterly obvious, they don’t make ’em like this no more.
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Filed under Bad Influences, Faint Signals, Nostalgic Obsessions, Thousand Listen Club
This strip is from ten years ago, and the last panel takes place twenty years ago. I didn’t get into weed heavily until around 1998, though. Sometime around the creation of the initial run of strips, interestingly enough. I don’t know, it’s hazy. Wonder why.
While an art school sophomore, I got a homework assignment that involved duplicating a known master’s art. I chose Rembrandt. This other kid chose Nagel. While the class spread our hard work out on the hallway floor for critique, an eccentric and stout professor (with a wonderfully incomprehensible name) dropped in from next door to speak with our teacher. As he did, he trod upon the counterfeit Nagel, scuffing and mangling it. He played it off like an accident, albeit halfheartedly, but we all knew it was a deliberate mercy killing.
Duran Duran takes their moniker from the Jane Fonda science-fiction ort Barbarella, a film so godawful, the director wisely stuck all the nudity in the opening credits.
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There’s an episode of The Young Ones where they go to a pub, and Madness is performing (“House of Fun”, what else). Rik Mayall asks if the band knows a Cliff Richard song, and Suggs replies “YOU UMMIT, an I’ll smashyafacein.” It’s so horribly delivered, it only makes Rik look like more of a pussy when he backs down.
“Night Boat To Cairo” is probably Madness’s best. The bridge from “Bed & Breakfast Man” was used in bumpers for the ancient “Comedy Channel” show, Stand Up Stand Up.
That story in the second panel is true. It happened in the square behind Oglethorpe House in downtown Savannah. It wasn’t a friendly suggestion, either, it was without a doubt an instance of “haw haw let’s fuck with the weird kid”, delivered after the screeching wail of truck tires braking suddenly.
I’ve been living in Georgia for 25 years. When people from outside the South tell you about Confederate flags, the Civil War, rednecks, racism, and soul food, let me assure you of one thing. They don’t know jack shit about any of it.
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Filed under Bad Influences, Comix Classic & Current, Nostalgic Obsessions
Her righteous comments on Rolling Stone’s poor choice of cover subject are the latest addition to my defense of Sinead O’Connor.
And whatever your opinion of her may be, she still created this song, probably before you were born. Come on, listen to that guitar intro!
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Filed under Bad Influences, Comix Classic & Current, Girls of BIUL, Nostalgic Obsessions
Originally published on Mike the Pod, 12.16.09
I think we can all agree that this has been a mean year. Personally, the sudden and recent death of a close friend has tinged so many things with sadness; favorite movies, toys, books, comics… it feels endless. These are the trying kind of times that make us crave nostalgia, possibly out of a desire to return to when life was just simpler.
It was this craving that resulted in hours of NewsRadio-watching as of late. It was my favorite show when it originally aired, and I was a struggling actor commuting to Hilton Head for puppet shows and murder mysteries where I always ended up playing the killer, back when you could simulate gunplay in a comedy club without causing a serious problem. I had to do caricatures too, which I hated, but the tipping involved was unbelievable; after one particularly crowded gig on that shoe-shaped island, I thought I was going to get jumped on the walk to my car, due to the baseball-sized wad of twenties that was barely contained in my jeans pocket. I wouldn’t trade it for now, but there are certainly moments I recall fondly, often for their quaint simplicity.
But enjoying NewsRadio in 2009 requires a few mental concessions. You have to forget that one of the brightest stars of its ensemble was murdered, in his prime. You have to forget that producer Drake Sather, a talented comedian in his own right, killed himself about six years ago (although it’s possible you didn’t know about this until now, in which case, sorry). And the opening credits, spotlighting a New York that almost looks idyllic, prominently feature a pair of buildings you might have heard about that don’t exist anymore. To really enjoy the show, one has to climb into its 1990s comfort bubble, and revert to a simpler mindset free of the ugly truths we now know. Heck, people still laugh at Hogan’s Heroes, and there’s a whole movie about what that guy did, and what grim fate ultimately befell him. Also, that whole comedy-Nazi bit.
This is why so many folks come back to toys for mental comfort. I mean, sure, that’s what toys are designed for in the first place, but also, toys don’t suddenly snap and commit murder-suicide, or rob gas stations for coke money. Toys don’t join political cliques that make you lose all respect for them and finally come to hate them and their ass faces. Toys don’t make sex tapes, or hang themselves in a closet while beating off. People get attached to toys easier than they do to other people because toys are far less complicated. It’s a piece of plastic; you’re either entertained by it, or you’re not. Continue reading
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Filed under Bad Influences, Faint Signals, Nostalgic Obsessions, Robot Toy Fetish
This song is an evergreen joy of goosebump-inducing perfection:
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Filed under Comix Classic & Current, Nostalgic Obsessions
I offer no apologies for my adoration of mushroom clouds, Indiana Jones 4, and the score to the 1987 teen comedy Three O’Clock High. (Sidebar: its trailer used “Father On The Stairs” from Stewart Copeland’s Rumble Fish soundtrack, which is what initially piqued my interest.)
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Filed under Bad Influences, Comix Classic & Current, Nostalgic Obsessions, Unfairly Maligned
I swear to god I thought I did a strip on Laibach. I had to look all over to make sure I didn’t. I can see it in my head! I can see it!
Okay, for one, I vividly remember this song opening differently, going straight into the dirgelike LOOOOOOOOOOO:
I’ve never found a version different from the one posted. Did I imagine it? Did I hear a remix, or was the CD skipping?
Two, another vivid memory: a high school buddy purchased a Laibach album, back when they came packaged in cardboard “longboxes”. He said the inside of the longbox was lined with swastikas, which prompted a stimulating discussion about the peaceful origins of the symbol. And he was Jewish! I have found no evidence online that this packaging ever existed. What the fricasee, did I goddamn dream it? What would THAT mean?
Thirdly, in my mind, I conflate “White Law” with this similarly-titled song:
Now you share my special level of Hell.
Finally, I’m certain that I’m not the only one who remembers when this turned up on 120 Minutes:
I’m counting this as a strip.
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Filed under Bad Influences, Faint Signals, Nostalgic Obsessions
If there’s one thing I’m certain of, more so than I am that the earth is round, it’s that you and I are different. I don’t know you personally, but I’d bet my bottom dollar we wouldn’t click. I know this from a life of experience. That, and every single person I encounter informs me of thus.
You might think I have a problem with being “different”. I don’t. You do. Out of some deluded sense of camaraderie you felt from one of my comics, you thought I was “like you”. Then, when you realized you were wrong, you attacked me. You all do this. On the internet, on Facebook, to my face. I’ve dealt with this shuck-and-jive routine my entire life. I’m not what you want me to be, so you decide you’re gonna give Big Bad Matty Boy a piece of your mind. Because I’m apparently your little toon-scribbling monkey. Time to bring me down a peg.
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Filed under Bad Influences, Don't Know Don't Care, Nostalgic Obsessions, Site Stuff
Will this be the final post of 2014? Will there be more before 2015? Eh who knows. Happy New Year!
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Filed under Comix Classic & Current, Nostalgic Obsessions
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