Thursday, January 25, 2018
Thursday, December 28, 2017
MA-126 - 45s & Favorites, Disc 19
For our last post of 2017, and our final compilation in this month of sharing and reminiscence, here’s another bunch of my mostest favoritest songs ever.
01 - Do You Remember - Long Tall Ernie and the Shakers - 1977 (4:34)
02 - You're So Strange - The Zippers - 1977 (2:46)
03 - The Loneliest Man in the World - The Tourists - 1979 (4:06)
04 - Assassin - Intimate Obsessions - 1985 (4:24)
05 - Chinese Graffiti - Blue Peter - 1982 (3:32)
06 - Bus Full of Nuns - Dan Barr - 1983 (3:37)
07 - Change Partners - Stephen Stills - 1971 (3:12)
08 - 5-7-0-5 - City Boy - 1978 (3:11)
09 - I'm Weird - The M 80's - 1979 (3:12)
10 - It Was the Whiskey Talkin' (Not Me) - Jerry Lee Lewis - 1990 (3:40)
11 - Mushmind - Jet - 1979 (2:55)
12 - I Wanna Be with You - The Raspberries - 1972 (3:00)
13 - Nostalgia - Penetration - 1978 (3:44)
14 - My Brain Hurts - Fine Art - 1978 (3:33)
15 - Wot a Wally - Sharon - 1983 (2:50)
16 - Where's Captain Kirk - Spizzenergi - 1979 (2:17)
17 - I Love Playin' with Fire - The Runaways - 1977 (3:18)
18 - Connection - Elastica - 1994 (2:19)
19 - One Track Mind - The Knickerbockers - 1964 (2:20)
20 - Weight of the World - Ringo Starr - 1992 (3:52)
21 - Little Miss Proper - Susan Rhee and the Orientals - 1983 (4:05)
22 - Only Death Is Fatal - Garbo's Celluloid Heroes - 1978 (2:37)
23 - Tell That Girl to Shut Up - Holly and the Italians - 1979 (3:01)
24 - Rock and Roll Birthday - The Beatles - VM - 2009 (2:50)
Our first track is frankly nostalgic, a fun and cheesy hark-back to some of the biggest music legends (regardless of musical quality).
Track 8 is one in a long line of phone-call songs.
Track 9, of course, could be the theme song of many.
Track 10 was recorded for an album tied into the 1990 Dick Tracy film. Not only fun, it sounds awfully close to the bone when you consider the artist.
Track 17 could be a teen anthem for half the western world.
And the final track is another stupendously fall-down-great cut from VM of the Beatles Remixers group. Ka-WHAM! Talk about going out with a bang! Happy New Year!
... Happy New Year! We're taking the month of January off. See you back here on Monday, February 5th, 2018!
Thursday, December 21, 2017
D-Day Is Here! MA-118 – ’80s Armageddon
As everybody knows, a few years ago there was another one of those dumb flurriesof worry that the world would end -- this time is was supposed to be on December 21, 2012.
Now, something momentous DID happen on that date -- a grandson was born to us.
Chicken Little-like cluckings and hysteria about impending doom have always been with us, even in fiction ... vide the Monster Shouter in Stephen King's The Stand, or Rorschach's secret identity in Watchmen.
This week our compilation is not only from the 1980s, but songs from the 1980s of a certain pessimistic slant. These performers had a lot of nuclear angst.
What do creative people write and sing about when they’re afraid the End Is Near? They perform songs about the fear that humanity is just about ready to “Bite the Wax Tadpole.” WAIT, that didn’t mean doomsday, just a bottle of Coke.
Anyway, here are the songs.
01 - Political Games - Day After 1984 (3:03)
02 - 1985 - Out of Data 1985 (3:13)
03 - Drop the Bomb - 24 Hours 1981 (1:39)
04 - Instant Annihilation - Stereo-Types 1986 (3:43)
05 - Wardance - Art Interface 1984 (4:27)
06 - Atomic War - Leo Keling 1980 (3:04)
07 - Ask - The Smiths 1986 (3:07)
08 - This Mourning - Chalk Circle 1987 (3:32)
09 - Atomic Age - Elli & Jacno 1981 (4:02)
10 - This Is Not a Test - Christmas 1989 (3:07)
11 - Chernobyl Baby - Baby Amphetamine 1987 (2:49)
12 - We Got the Bomb - The Conservatives 1983 (2:55)
13 - Beat the Bomb - Alex Space 1981 (3:10)
14 - Love Missile F-11 (single version) - Sigue Sigue Sputnik 1986 (3:45)
15 - Humatomic Energy - Slickaphonics 1985 (4:01)
16 - Gonna Put My Face on a Nuclear Bomb - Mojo Nixon and Kid Roper 1986 (2:36)
17 - Hydrogenic - Bohemia 1981 (3:10)
18 - Images of Fire - Fatal Charm 1986 (4:11)
19 - Watch the Skies Go Red - Forever 19 1985 (3:59)
20 - She's a Nuclear Bomb - The Dull 1986 (4:30)
21 - Atomic City - Plastic Money 1984 (3:19)
22 - Z-Bomb - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission 1980 (3:35)
23 - Isotope Tan - Transport 1982 (3:14)
Despite the mostly pessimistic viewpoint, these are some *ahem* KILLER songs (get it?). Hope you can dig ’em!
See you back here next Thursday, friends, with perhaps a more cheerful outlook ...
Monday, December 18, 2017
Welcome to the Fortress of Markitude! #6
NOTE: all of these pictures were taken a few years
ago when the place was less cluttered.
All text is in the present tense anyway.
For this
instalment we’re focusing on more items on the westside shelf of glasses and
stuff.
From the
left we have a Thermos from a Superman: The Movie Aladdin lunchbox
set, the Superman Slurpee cup, and the “Superman holding the world” mug. To the right are two Pepsi / Pizza Hut
glasses, and another Aladdin Thermos, this time from a Super Powers lunchbox
set.
Here’s a
close-up of the next item, a “Super Smurf” mug.
Next is a
Supergirl Pizza Hit glass and another of Supes.
Between them you can see a DC Direct Bizarro.
Stacked
atop each other are two thermal photo mugs for Superman: The Movie. To their right is an odd paint-it-yourself
Superman statuette.
This has a copyright date of 19*78, so we must assume it was
released as a tie-in for the movie. It’s
not hollow, it’s got a hole in the bottom like those bathtub squeaky toys,
although Superman doesn’t squeak. (How
dare you insinuate such a thing.)
Next we have a Superman Soakee-type of bath soap (from the
1980s), flanked by a Superman-vs-Darkseid version of Rock-’Em-Sock-’Em-Robots. Perhaps in times to come we will zoom in on
this little jewel.
Well, that’s the extent of your guided tour THIS week,
little friends! We’ll see you Thursday for
another new music compilation in this month of sharing!
Thursday, December 14, 2017
MA-106 – Uppin’ Atom!
Welcome back to the month of comp-sharing. This week we’ve got another amalgamation of
atomic angst, from all camps of popular music.
The tracklist , in chronological order, extends from the beginning of
the 1950s to the Double-Oughts.
01 - Got My Call Card - LB Lawson and James
Scott Jr 1951 (3:27)
02 - Uranium Miner’s Boogie - Riley Walker and His
Rockin-R-Rangers 1954 (2:53)
03 - Atomic Bounce - Johnny Latorre and
the Rhythm Rockets 1955 (2:31)
04 - The Merry Minuet - Bud & Travis 1960
(1:53)
05 - Overseas Blues - Memphis Willie
Borum 1961 (3:10)
06 - It's Good News Week - Hedgehoppers
Anonymous 1965 (2:04)
07 - Thirteen Women - The Renegades 1966
(3:28)
08 - The World Beyond - Bobby Goldsboro 1968
(2:17)
09 - Fireside Favourite - Fad Gadget 1980
(4:22)
10 - Man at C&A - The Specials 1980
(3:35)
11 - Yes to the Neutron Bomb - The Moderates 1980
(4:15)
12 - Final Day - Young Marble
Giants 1980 (1:40)
13 - Last Rockers - Vice Squad 1981
(4:16)
14 - Our Condition - FK9 1981
(2:38)
15 - Back in 1984 - Cerebral
Hemorrhage 1984 (4:58)
16 - Pictures - Atoms for Peace 1985
(3:44)
17 - Atom Drum Bop - The Three Johns 1986
(4:10)
18 - Yellow, Black and Rectangular -
Negativland 1987
(2:14)
19 - Discussing Missile Size - Dada 1988
(2:51)
20 - Symbols of Our Fear - Rage 1988
(3:31)
21 - We're So Small - The Epoxies 2002
(2:41)
22 - Nuclear War (On the Dance
Floor) -
Electric Six 2003 (1:16)
23 - Safe - M83 2004
(4:12)
24 - Miss Atomic Bomb - The Killers 2012
(4:49)
Have a fine
week, see you back here next Thursday for another comp!
Monday, December 11, 2017
An Open Secret, Part 4
An Open Secret
PART 4
by Mark Alfred
9) In June, 1968,
the Secret Identities of both Batman and Superman collapse before a relatively
simple trick of technology. As told in World’s
Finest #176, the brilliant scientist Desmond Jason lets his actor
brother Ronald in on an astounding discovery:
“I’ve been working with voice prints ... which are as distinctive as
fingerprints!” The researcher’s simple
comparisons have proved that Clark Kent is Superman, and that Batman is
secretly Bruce Wayne.
As if in fateful retribution, an unstable radioactive
element in Desmond’s lab explodes with horrific results. The dying scientist gasps to his brother,
“You can’t help me ... or yourself!
Radiation will kill you ... within four weeks! No cure ...”
Holding his brother’s body, Ronald Jason resolves to use
this blood-bought, unsought knowledge to “make these last weeks the most
exciting of my life! I planned a
performance to fool Superman and Batman!”
By the end of the story, Jason’s deceptions involve dual impersonations
of aliens, while bringing Supergirl, Robin, Batgirl, and Jimmy Olsen into the
mix.
Jason’s affliction finally brings a collapse. He confesses his ruse, dying in happiness at
his bizarre achievement. After he’s
gone, Superman and Batman declare, “He’ll always be remembered for his great
screen roles! But his greatest
performance was a private one ... just for us!
That’s a memory we can all treasure!”
Just between thee and me, dear reader: The heroes are much more forgiving of this
heartbreaking con, than I would have been.
I might have wished I could bring this jerk back to life, just to kill
him again. What right did he think he
had, to cause such an Identity Crisis, just to serve his twisted, vainglorious
urge for duplicitous double-dealing?
Such turncoat treachery! Such
conniving counterfeit! Such
alliterative aberrance
10) In
November, 1973, Clark Kent comes across a very unsettling thing, in a most
prosaic place. As told in Action
#429, Clark is visiting the Daily Planet “morgue” and its
curator Ryan Lowell. On impulse he uses
his super-vision, reading his own file.
What a shock when he discovers that:
“the file holds an obituary for Clark Kent – in Kryptonese language –
which includes an entire life history ... and detailing every event in my
‘double’ life up to the present.” How
hipsterly recursive, I say!
Superman investigates and learns that Lowell’s news
ticker has somehow become “linked to my diary through an electronic
fluke.” After teaching himself
Kryptonese via English transliteration, Lowell has been updating this chronicle
of Superman’s feats. As the story
concludes, Superman asks the fellow, “What do you suggest I do about the fact
that you know my Secret Identity?”
“Why do anything?” Lowell replies. “After all, I’ve known it for a long time!
... A good reporter doesn’t tell privileged information for any reason.”
In a response entirety consonant with this story’s
Watergate, power-to-the-pen era, Superman surprisingly agrees. “If I can’t trust a fellow journalist, who
can I trust?”
Similarly, it was a good bet to trust this tale of
meta-commentary to the scribes Elliot S! Maggin and Curt Swan.
As you have learned by now, friends and acquaintances, as
well as total strangers, have come across Superman’s secret. His three closest friends on the planet – and
on the Planet – have also uncovered the truth from time to time. Of course, for continuity’s sake the
revelation can’t hang around for long. A
few examples:
In Action # 297, cover-dated February,
1963, Perry White has gone undercover for a story, only to be stricken with
amnesia. An underworld kingpin
recognizes White and takes him into his employ, figuring, “He could be just the
man we’ll need to uncover Superman’s Secret Identity!” Astoundingly, Perry accomplishes the
assignment; he unmasks Clark in Metropolis’s Hall of Fame, as shown on this
issue’s cover. But Superman’s desperate
ruse (involving the levitating statue of “Great Caesar’s Ghost”) snaps Perry
back to himself, and out of his discovery.
Clark ruminates, “Little does he realize that he had the greatest scoop
of all time ... and now he’s forgotten it completely!”
Lois Lane has likewise caught onto the Secret, and more
than once. As told in the September,
1958 story “Mrs Superman” (Superman #124), Lois and Clark
become trapped on a small island, surrounded by a Kryptonite cloud which
prevents Superman’s departure. “I’m
marooned here for life!”, Clark quickly decides, and immediately proposes. He convinces Lois he’s really the Big “S” by
showing off his weakened powers. Soon
afterward, of course, the Green-K cloud dissipates and Superman must come up
with a way to prove his confession a lie.
In issue #35 of her own magazine, Lois stumbles across
the secret – twice! In one story, a
super-computer devised by Professor Potter deduces the secret in order to help
her marry Superman; but the crucial paper printout blows away just before
anybody can read the thing! In the
second tale, one of those pesky blows on the head transmogrifies Our Girl into
the alter ego Sheila Dexter, who comes on to Clark and despises Superman. The Kryptonian Crusader decides that the best
therapy is an overdose, so he snatches Lois/Sheila to his Fortress, where he
boggles her mind with quick-changing between identities. This snaps her back to herself – “And, just
as I’d counted on, she doesn’t remember anything that happened during the
period of amnesia!” It seems that
on-again, off-again, instant amnesia was as popular in the 1960s as the evil
twin became in the 1980s.
Of all Superman’s friends, Jimmy Olsen may have learned
and lost the secret more times than any other.
The August, 1957 issue of Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen, #22, included
“The Super-Brain of Jimmy Olsen,” a story later reprinted at least twice in
latter comics. an Evolution Accelerator
gives James the intellect of a man from 1,000,000 AD. Along with such powers as levitation and
telepathy, he also acquires X-ray vision.
This enables him to blackmail Superman, to avoid an earth-shattering
“kaboom.” In Jimmy Olsen #81, the
Transparo-Scope, a Professor Potter device, bestows X-ray-like vision powers, unveiling
a Superman/Clark switch to the lad.
While in “Super-Brain,” the Secret fades when the future mind fades, in JO
#81 Jimmy gallantly takes some “amnesia drops” to forget the whole thing.
In the cover story of Jimmy Olsen #121, Jimmy
extracts one of those tell-a-dying-man revelations from his Super-Pal. But a swift recovery jeopardizes their
friendship as well as the Secret, until Jimmy jumps to a helpful assumption as
to why the confession happened in the first place.
As you’ve seen from this brief survey, some of the tales
are more-or-less light-hearted, some more somber. In some, the big reveal is a central plot
element; in others, it’s merely a bridge to spotlight the character who has
possession of this bit of inside knowledge.
What makes the Secret Identity trope so resonant? I think part of its fascination lies in the
fact that Superman’s situation is the reverse of our own.
After all, each of us at times fancies himself a hero, a
noble being, whose true worth is hidden inside.
If only we could reveal our best side to the world! If only I could behold the true hero at the
heart of your best intentions!
Superman’s state is the converse. He cloaks his surpassing abilities with the
persona of the humdrum Clark Kent. Ironic, isn’t it?
And how wonderful if the hero inside us could be revealed
by a simple change of clothes! Wouldn’t
we have it made?
The
End
See you on Thursday with a new music compilation!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
