As Chicago Said ...

On their third album, Chicago presents a lengthy diatribe common to the 1970s, of resentment against The Man for ruining life for these overprivileged kids with a recording contract.  The shared emotion with the underclass might have been real, but there's some disingenuousness somewhere in there.  Not that I am any more pure than them ... I've simply admitted it and received forgiveness.

The words I'm referring to are from the Third Movement of "It Better End Soon," when the vocalist spits out, "You'll see that we got a raw deal ... "

Probably few guys in recent history got a more raw deal than President Kennedy.  Murdered long-distance by a bunch of sneaks?  That's a raw deal!  The guy was not morally pure or 100% a Good Guy ... but IMO civilized life might have been incinerated in the 1960s by a nuclear exchange if JFK (and RFK) hadn't resisted the impulses of the generals and other who wanted to nuke Russia or Cuba during the Missile Crisis.

Such willfulness might ... might ... have been one of the factors which led to the participation of government employees in the murder of JFK (and its ensuing cover-up).  Not that I necessarily give credence to the following article about George O'Toole's use of a voice analyzer on Oswald's arrest statements.

This is from the April 1975 issue of Penthouse.

As always, the management does not endorse nor guarantee any of the products advertised in the above images.

What do you think?  To me it's clear that Oswald could not have been the "sole" assassin.  And he could not have been upstairs in the Book Depository firing his alleged shots.  Because less than two minutes after the shots, a cop encountered Oswald in the first-floor break room drinking a Coke.  The elevator was occupied, and the stairs likewise contained people who would have encountered Oswald if he'd come down from the supposed "sniper's nest."

But "innocent"? Probably not.  He was likely a misfit Army guy recruited by the CIA to mock-defect to Russia.  After that, who knows?

Decide for yourself -- that's the American way!  See you Monday.

  

Mysteries Above and Below!

Here are some more book covers from my library, all tomes about things some of us wonder about (besides girls).

In January I reread this intriguing bit of "can you explain that?".  Sanderson lays out a lot of things observed in and under the watery kingdom, which bespeak either an organizing mind, or a category of self-organization PLUS obscurity on the part of Nature which we haven't acknowledged yet.

The above 1976 tome is in parts fass-kinn-ate-in' (as Popeye would say) and so, so dreary.  Smith goes to soporific length in quoting long prose bits regarding visits to vast underground places, usually in South America.  But only 10% of such wordage really applies to a useful description about these subterranean realms.

The topics on the cover finally get around to being discussed, but this Zebra paperback would benefit from a radical diet to about 50% of its body weight.

This 1977 Berkley paperback is full of breathless speculation about the supposed disappearances of nearly everybody but you and me.  And I'm not so sure about you, podner.  After awhile, even the most jaded of us gets tired of "could it be ... ?" and "perhaps ...?" and the like.

Well, it may be a mystery to you why I accumulate these things.  It's just one part of a brain which, like ole Sherlock Holmes, craves stimulation.  As decades have passed, however, I've come to realize how much I will never know.  And I've decided to weed out some of the clutter, like some books which pose few helpful explications.  (The Sanderson book is the most fun and absorbing of the lot.  I'm gonna hang onto it for another decade or two.)

See you Thursday, fellow mysterions!

  

Living with Kubla Khan

I don't know when I first encountered Coleridge's "Kubla Khan," but fer shure I studied it in college at OCU (Oklahoma City University), for Bob Danek's "English Literature" class.

I know this because on my way back from class on Monday, February 24, 1975, I was struck with musical inspiration.  I ran into the lobby of the dorm and groped about at the piano, coming up with music for the first few lines.  Over the next few days, finishing on March 1, I wrote music for the rest of Coleridge's masterwork.  But that's not important now.  

Above is an article from the February 1962 English Journal about "Kubla Khan."

For a Fall 1977 class called "English Literature -- Romantic Poetry, I wrote the above brief paper.  (I was more proficient in student-speak back then.)  The notes, corrections, and A-minus grade are from the longsuffering Harbour Winn.

That same semester, for my student teaching at OKC's Northwest Classen High School, here was my lesson plan for introducing "Kubla Khan" to 11th-graders using a Jethro Tull song as a gateway or cross-reference.

PS remember the Star Trek TOS episode about the Salt Vampire, "The Man Trap"?  Well, one of the early titles for that story by George Clayton Johnson was "Damsel with a Dulcimer," referring to the Salt Vampire's ability to enchant its prey.

If you haven't dived deeply into Kubla Khan, you're missin' out on dreamy, fascinating', charming, and creepy poesy.

  

Only a Myth?

This interesting take on our favorite Man of Steel is from the July 1991 mag Plain Truth.

In a brief perusal, I didn't notice deviation from general Protestant biblical doctrine.  The mag was originated by Herbert W Armstrong's organization, which was into British Israelism.

See you on Thursday, campers!

  

Superboy TV, Part 5

More of the promo folder for Season Two of Superboy, aired in 1988-89.

The motif is pages from a phone book.  Like a phone book in a phone booth.  Like a phone booth that somebody might go into to change clothes.  Right?

They might be "photos," but they're slides.

Did TV stations of the 80s and 90s use slides, not photos, in their promos?  I don't know.

BTW, this treasure of Super History was courtesy of the gentle giant Mark Barragar, 1959-2011.  We still love ya and miss you, my friend!

See youse guys Monday.

  

I Gotcher Details Right Here!

I came across the wondrous little tome at a book sale at my alma mater, OCU (Oklahoma City University).

This quick-reference little book, copyrighted 1934, is stupendous in its brief scope.

The inside front cover is above.

The copyright page.

Even the Intro is punchy and concise!

The first working page, next to my pica pole, to show the scale.

A random spread to show the brevity and depth.

The inner rear endpapers.

Isn't this book a thing of beauty?  If only you could riffle its pages yourself and marvel at the depths of factitude at your fingertips.  It ain't exhaustive, and modern-day magic computer tech makes you want to scoff, but to me this little book is a wonderful example of digested knowledge and helpfulness.

See you Thursday.  Don't take any wooden facts!

  

Superman Evolves! (Until 1983)

It's been more than a decade since I stopped buying new Superman comics.  Frankly, I felt dicked around as a reader by folks who were chasing ephemeral boss dictates or demographic phantoms than seeking to entertain and/or inspire people who wanted to read about Truth, Justice, and the American Way.

This article is from Comics Collector #1, dated Spring 1983.  It's a fine survey, with plenty of clipped-out figure illos, of the progression of the Man of Steel from radical strongman to beloved institution, to "old hat" seeking relevance.

See you Monday.  Have you got any comments on Superman's Evo/Devo-lutions?

Give My Creation LIFE!

Yes, it,s MA-80, Boneyard Bash.  Dead for a few years, resurrected just for you!

01. Reveille - American Military Bugle Call (0:21)

02. Danse Macabre (Franz Liszt piano transcription) - Camille Saint-Saëns   (9:53)

03. Graveyard Dance - Ray Sanders (1:45)

04. March of the Trolls - Edward Grieg (2:48)

05. Zombie Stomp - The Del-Aires (2:05)

06. Dance in the Graveyards - Delta Rae (3:39)

07. Laurie (Strange Things Happen) - Dickey Lee (3:05)

08. The Skeleton Dance (1929) - Carl Stalling (5:35)

09. 'Til the Following Night - Screaming Lord Sutch with The Savages (3:42)

10. Spookie Boogie - Cecil Campbell and His Tennessee Ramblers (2:25)

11. Zombie Jamboree (Back to Back) - Harry Nilsson (2:55)

12. Yodeling Ghost - Patsy Montana (3:03)

13. She Came Out of the Cold (1967 demo) - The Iveys (2:14)

14. The Cat - Rod Willis (2:22)

15. Tennessee Hillbilly Ghost - Terry Preston (Ferlin Husky) (2:23)

16. Cha Cha with the Zombies - The Upperclassmen (2:36)

17. Skeleton Frolic (1937) - Joe DeNat (7:07)

18. The Way Out Mummy - Bob Ridgley (1:58)

19. Rigormortis Rock - The Gazmen (2:13)

20. Pet Sematary - Ramones (3:29)

21. Misty Water Woman - Rick Springfield (4:35)

22. The Ghost Song - Salty Holmes (2:50)

23. Flip Top Box - Dickey Doo and The Don'ts (2:08)

24. Dead Shall Rise - The Dark (3:52)

Included are exclusive liner notes about the selections. I must comment on the brilliant Carl Stalling score for the 1929 Silly Symphony Skeleton Dance. In all commercial releases, there's a small audio dropout about one minute in. I fixed it with a little mad-doctor stitching.

Well, this concludes our month of fun of BLOG-O-WEEN on the Super Blog and SPOOKY SPOCK-TOBER on the Record Round-Up.

Seems I forgot the link.  Sorry about the trick!  https://www.filefactory.com/file/2ca3iimw7lde/MA-80_-%202023.rar

See you on Thursday for our regularly scheduled silliness!

   

Hometown Monsters?

Out here in the supposed boonies of Oklahoma, any kind o' critter is likely to pop up!

It's from the August 3, 2006 Oklahoman.  PS I don't know how big a foot is required, to qualify for that moniker.  I mean, I got family members who wear size 14!

See you tomorrow, HALLOWEEN, for the resurrection of a long-dead music comp, just for my fiends!