I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: X-More Fun in the New World (1983).

This is one of the first CDs I ever bought. When CDs first starting coming out, I was a freshman in college. There was a woman in a nearby dorm, Anita, who was super cool and had great taste in music. I, of course, had a major crush on her, but never said or did anything about it. Oh well…we’re each happily married now, so all is well. Before college I was big into…the metal. High school was all about getting into as many metal bands as I could. When I got to college, my eyes were opened to all kinds of interesting music. And, even though I liked punk as well as metal, I had never heard X before. Anita had some older brothers and they taught her well, and she, in turn, passed on the joys of X (and, interestingly, Cat Stevens). So, when I got my first CD player, I rushed out and bought a Rush CD and More Fun in the New World. Part of the reason I bought this was because I didn’t want to get something I already had on vinyl. And, over the years it has become a hugely favorite CD for me.

More Fun in the New World is a great bit of Reagan-era punk. I mean how great an opening line is: “Honest to goodness, the bars weren’t open this morning. They must’ve been voting for the president or something.” Or, an even better chorus: “It was better before before they voted for whatshisname. This was supposed to be the new world.” The saddest bit is how relevant the lyrics still are today. This song was recently reintroduced to me on the Pearl Jam Live from Easy Street EP, when John Doe duets with Eddie Vedder and they ad lib “It was better before before they voted for whatshisname (and his dad).”

Some interesting things about X are their country roots (they created a side project called The Knitters, that was much more countryesque than X) and the great duets of John Doe and Exene Cervenka. They brought great off-kilter harmonies to their songs of despair and longing.

Despite the “punk” label, the songs are only punk in attitude, not music. They certainly aren’t hardcore, heck, Ray Manzarek of the Doors produced their records. I suppose in the 80s their music was weird and willful, but by now they’re practically tame. Nevertheless, the songs are simply fantastic overall. Its hard to be descriptive of an album that is simply full of great rock songs, so I’ll leave it at that. Looking for something different and awesome…find some X!

[READ: May 8, 2008] Clubbing

I have enjoyed Andi Watson’s books for many years now. Whenever he has a new series out I try to pick it up; Breakfast After Noon and Geisha were really fantastic slice-of-life stories. However, I have been remiss on my comic intake these last few months; I really don’t know what’s happening in the graphic world. So, when I went to my local shop Comic Fusion in Flemington, NJ, I was delighted to see a new Watson one-off. Interestingly, it’s put out by Minx, a publisher who has done several books that I’ve really liked lately…so keep an eye out for Minx titles, I guess.

This one is called Clubbing. Watson didn’t do the artwork, which is something of a shame, as I like his drawing style very much; however, the guy who does the work, Josh Howard, is pretty fine himself. He has an interesting style–sort of manga-lite–which is suited to the goth/party nature of the story.

The story is fairly straightforward: Charlotte, a London goth girl gets caught with a fake ID at a West End night club. Her parents send her to her grandparents’ country club for the summer. So, you see the clever play on the title? There’s also golf at the country club…so, yet another form of clubbing. Well done, Andi.

What starts out as a simple story of a girl getting sent off to lame-land turns into a sordid murder mystery, with her grandfather as the prime suspect. Charlotte enlists the help of local hunk, budding golfer and all around good guy, Howard. Despite Charlotte’s grandfather’s apparent guilt, Charlotte tries to get pretty much everyone in town arrested before she is willing to face facts. But after some astrological work, she and Howard come to realize that there may be a demonic presence that is causing all of the trouble. Yup, the story is something like a Buffy–or if you prefer–a Hex episode. It’s got a nice supernatural element, and the stuffy setting plays nicely as a contrast. And there’s a gleefully dark twist at the end.

Watson usually writes much more down-to-earth stories, so it’s fun to see him branch out into something weird. It’s a really fun story, especially with the mocking of all of the subcultures–musical, golfing, etc. There’s a even a handy Brit-US translation guide in the back.

A good book if you’re looking for non-super-hero comics.