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Archive for the ‘Ongoing’ Category

Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover–Bandette: Volume One: Presto! (2014)

Posted in Adventure, Colleen Coover, Graphic Novel, Ongoing, Paul Tobin, Sex, Short Books, Tiny Desk Concert, YA Books on August 17, 2014| Leave a Comment »

bandetteSOUNDTRACK: ERNEST RANGLIN-Tiny Desk Concert #382 (August 16, 2014).

ernestErnest Ranglin is a pioneer in ska, by mixing elements of reggae and jazz.  And at 82, he still plays a great guitar.  The solo at about 3 minutes in is really fun and interesting.  What’s interesting about this concert is that Ranglin is playing with a group of very young (compared to him) people.  The backing band is called Avila  and they hold down the beat and the rhythms for the master, sounding like a perfect fit.

They play three songs in fifteen minutes: “Surfin'” and “Jones Pen” which are longish ska instrumentals (“Jones Pen” features a keyboard solo) and “Avila (Oscar’s Song),” which is a more mellow jazzy instrumental.  Sometimes it’s nice to hear some good musicians jamming out with no vocals to complicate what they’re playing, and this is a good example of that.

It’s a lot of ska in one session, but if you like the genre, it’s hard to beat this concert.

[READ: August 1, 2014] Bandette

Sarah brought this book home and said I would like it and she was very much correct.

Bandette is a young thief living in Paris.  She is adorable and sprightly, wearing a black mask, a red wig and a yellow and black cape.  Even though she is a thief she is a good thief–stealing wonderful things but usually from bad people.  But her charm comes mostly from her fun banter and delightfully light personality.  The story is delightful and the art by Colleen Coover is fantastic–I need to see more from her (and I can, at her website).

As the story opens we see her sneaking into a fancy house where she is accosted by an adorable little doggie whom she asks “Want to come along with me on a robbery?” When the dog bounds off with her, she says “Really! You do you naughty dog! You are as bad as a cat”  She easily finds the target–four small drawings.  But she stumbles upon the owner in bed with a woman (the book just crosses the line out of kid-friendly territory).  He calls for the guards to chase her.  Her acrobatic escape is at once exciting and charming.

As she makes her escape, she calls on her cadre of helpers, assistants and urchins.  These kids love Bandette and help her however they can.  There’s the three ballerinas, there’s the group of street urchins and there’s Daniel, a delivery boy for the awesomely named Rad Thai.  He has a huge crush on Bandette and will help her in any way.

We also see that Bandette is sort of working in league with the police.  Inspector Belgique knows that Bandette is a thief, but he also knows that she can help him with more serious crimes.  Like the one he is currently involved with–a group of men breaking into the bank (real thieving).  The inspector asks Bandette for assistance and she helps in the most unlikely way she can.
(more…)

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E.K. Weaver–The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal : Volume 1: Poor Boys and Pilgrims (2012)

Posted in E.K. Weaver, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, LGBTQ, Marriage Trouble, Ongoing, Sigur Rós on December 6, 2013| Leave a Comment »

tj amalSOUNDTRACK: SIGUR RÓS-Ágætis Byrjun (1999).

AgætisByrjunCoverIn this book, Amal is listening to Sigur Rós and TJ says “Sounds like nature vomiting.”  This is not a totally inaccurate description of the band, but I mean it in a good way.  Weaver says one of her friends described the band this way and while she disagrees, she thought the quote was too good not to include.  This was Sigur Rós’s first well-distributed album (and the one that shot them into the stratosphere.)

The disc opens with “Intro” (it’s funny to think of a 9 minute symphonic track as needing an intro, but there ya go).  I believe the song is backwards music.  The vocals may be backwards, but it’s so hard to tell.  It morphs into “Svefn-g-englar” which is just stunning (and reviewed a few days ago).  “Starálfur” opens with a beautiful string section over some washes of keyboards.  It’s a pretty melody.  Then the middle of the song switches to what sounds like an unplugged electric guitar strumming. The “solo” is a big string section, and the song ends abruptly with more of the unplugged guitar.  It’s an amazingly different kind of song.

“Flugufrelsarinn”  opens with noisy guitars that don’t sound like guitars.  Although overall this is the most conventional songs.  It’s got a steady beat and Jonsi’s vocals are mixed pretty loud and (relatively) deep.  “Ný batterí” opens with quiet horns for 90 seconds.  Then a bass line emerges.  At 2:30 the vocals kick in and the song builds gentle swells until the really loud drums kick in–its a great use of drums for drama.  “Hjartað hamast (bamm bamm bamm)” opens with a harmonica and a Hammond organ!  It’s got drums and loud guitars with lots of bass and, again, Jonsi’s more growly vocals—there’s unexpected diversity in sound for this track. Especially when the guitars roar into distorted crackling.

“Viðrar vel til loftárása” was also reviewed with the above single.  “Olsen Olsen” opens with distant vocals and drums then some very loud bass guitar.  “Ágætis byrjun” is a mellow ballad, with acoustic piano and guitars.  There’s nothing over the top or dramatic about the song, it’s a pretty standard ballad (except that it’s 7 minutes long).  And it works as a perfect ending to the disc.  There is actually a final track called “Avalon.”  It is electronics and other noises—a clear denouement for the record.

This is an amazing statement of what the band is all about.  It’s over 71 minutes, and the shortest song is 6:46, except for Avalon and Intro (4:01 and 1:36 respectively).  And they would perfect this palate over their next several albums.

[READ: September 24, 2013] The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal Volume 1

This book came across my desk the other day and I was instantly attracted to the style of drawing.  And then I read the summary: “In one night Amal calls off his arranged marriage, comes out to his parents, goes on a bender and wakes up next to a dreadlocked guy named TJ. Who says they’ve agreed to travels across the country together.”  Who could pass that up?

And man, is it an enjoyable story.

I was right about the art, E.K. Weaver is a masterful artist, conveying a great range of emotion with her characters.  She also has an excellent rendering skill for places and locations.  The streets and highways are recognizable and the occasional scenes of nature are very pretty as well.

But I was also won over by the story.  It opens with Amal storming out of the house, heading to a bar in Berkeley and blacking out.  When he wakes up, a white, dreadlocked, hippie dude is making eggs in his kitchen and smoking.  Amal is confused about the guy, pleased about the eggs and pissed about the smoking.  But he has too much else going on for him to worry too much about this guy who seems nice enough, and obviously didn’t kill him or steal from him (although Amal has to confirm that they didn’t have sex).

And then TJ, for that is the dreadlocked man’s name, explains that they are both heading east (Amal’s sister is graduating from Brown and TJ keeps mentioning Graceland, but that doesn’t seem to be where he is going) and last night Amal agreed to drive him if TJ paid for everything.  TJ proves to be very cool about it—allowing Amal to back out if he wants to, but Amal says he’ll do it.  He gets some stuff together and off they go.

On the road trip we learn a bit about Amal—how his parents arranged his marriage and have now disowned him because he is gay.  We don’t learn very much about TJ though.  And while he seems to be on the up and up—he indeed pays for everything and is very generous, there are some shifty-eyed moments where we know something is unusual with the guy. (more…)

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Joey Weiser–Mermin Book One: Out of Water (2013)

Posted in C., Children's Books, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Joey Weiser, Ongoing, Oni Press, The Amoeba People on October 25, 2013| Leave a Comment »

merminSOUNDTRACK: THE AMOEBA PEOPLE Kickstarter Campaign (2013).

amoebaIf you don’t know Kickstarter, it is a site for creative types to raise money for projects.  On the whole, the site seems to work, although of course there have been failures as well.  For a detailed look into Kickstarter, check out this Fast Company article, the crux of which says that artists’ projects like films and CDs seem to work quite well, whereas more technologically sophisticated projects seem to be prone to glitches.  I have funded three projects on Kickstarter–I have not seen results from them yet, because none of them are due before the end of the year.  Thus I can’t guarantee the success of any of them (most of my pledges were quite small).

All of this is a caveat that while I am endorsing this campaign, please don’t take my word for its awesomeness or its reliability or anything like that–if you don’t think it’s a good idea I won’t try to persuade you otherwise.  But if it seems like a worthwhile investment (and they don’t charge you unless the whole thing is funded), then I’m happy to point this out.  And, the nice thing is that unlike some campaigns, in this case the “gift” you get for pledging is a CD, something they already have, so there’s no issue with the items not being made.

So what the hell is it?  To quote the campaign:

We are creating the greatest MUSICAL SCIENCE PROGRAM ever produced on Earth. We are asking for your help to fund PHASE ONE.

We are trying to raise $4,000 dollars to help us shoot a 10-minute “sizzle reel” which we will use to pitch our TV show idea to humanoid programming executives.

We have already recorded the music, enlisted the help of musical thespians to fill all the roles, built a massive computer console for the set and now all we need is some human currency to shoot and edit it. We are calling this first step toward television PHASE ONE.

Our series will have a strong emphasis on geology and the earth sciences as well as cosmology, biology, and the stories behind some of the greatest scientific discoveries in human history.

The premise: The Amoeba People, musical ambassadors from the planet Crouton, have been sent to Earth to investigate the source of radio signals sent from that planet. Their mission: to gather scientific data about Earth and its inhabitants and to transmit that data back to Crouton in the form of über-awesome and highly danceable songs.

Not heard of The Amoeba People?  Well, that’s hardly surprising.  They are a children’s music band from California, whose song “Cosmology, Your Futon and You” is wonderfully smart and funny.  I’m a fan of their stuff and I’m excited at whatever this sizzle reel might result in.  So check out their campaign, and if it sounds appealing, chip in.  And if it sucks, I apologize, but they should apologize more.

<iframe width=”480″ height=”360″ src=”http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/997214944/the-amoeba-people-phase-one/widget/video.html&#8221; frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”>

[READ: October 10, 2013] Mermin: Book One

I brought this book home for the kids and wound up enjoying it quite a lot myself. It was only after reading it that I realized it was from the awesome Oni Pres.

The story starts with a squat green amphibian-looking creature waking up on the beach.  Some humans find him and start wondering what he is . But before he can answer them he is excited to feel that he is on dry land!  The excitement is short-lived because the kids really need to know what he is.  We learn that he is named Mermin.  He seems friendly enough so the kids start playing with him.  But when he punches the beachball it goes rocketing up into space.  Which the kids think is awesome.

Shortly after, when one of the kids goes in for a swim, a shark chases after him.  Mermin sees this and comes to the rescue, kicking the shark in the snout. Before swimming away the shark talks to Mermin—he knows who he is–and says that the whole village is looking for him. (more…)

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Ross Campbell–Wet Moon 5: Where All Stars Fail to Burn (2009)

Posted in Canadian Music, Death, Drinking, Fears, Friday the 13th, Fucked Up, Ongoing, Oni Press, Pregnancy, Punks, Racism, Ross Campbell, Sex, Threats, Universities, Violence, Wikipedia, Yuck! on June 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: FUCKED UP-Couple Tracks: Singles 2002-2009 (2010).

I knew of Fucked Up from a cover shoot on Chart Magazine. Clearly, they are aiming for major pop success and massive radio airplay.

Their live shows sounded amazing.  And, of course, everything about them seemed unpredictably wonderful.

This is a collection of singles (although not singles in the “pop chart” sense).  Fucked Up released more singles than anything else.  In fact their discography is borderline impossible to keep straight, they have so many small releases on so many small labels.

There is definite growth over these two discs (maybe not maturity, but growth).  The first track, “No Pasaran” is an ugly shouty noisy mess (pretty much straight hardcore). Over the course of these singles, Pink Eyes, the singer, refines his voice and he sounds a bit like Dicky Barrett of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones (still rough, but more melodic).  The music on the other hand pretty well stays in the hardcore mold.  But by the end (and it is most notable on disc two) the band’s energies branch out into guitar riffs and notable melodies.

The rest of the band includes Concentration Camp and 10,000 Marbles on Guitars, Mr Jo on Drums and Mustard Gas on Bass.

This collection of singles includes most of their shorter tracks (since they were on 7″ vinyl).  But on their 2006 release Hidden World (which I have not heard), most of the songs are over 5 minutes, with one reaching 9.  So they’re even fucked up by hardcore standards.  Cool.

This collection is definitely not for everyone, but it’s worth checking out if you like your core hard and weird.

[READ: May 27, 2010] Wet Moon 5

Holy cow!  This book ends on an amazing cliffhanger!  Beloved Trilby is put in mortal danger, and from what we see, I can’t imagine how she’ll survive.  Gasp!

By this time, Campbell is well on his way to a long, twisted epic series.  One only wonders how long he has this story arc planned out.  It seemed so simple at first: a buncha goth girls hanging around a college, with the worst thing that happens is someone puts up a flier about you or your cat goes missing.

Now the stakes are higher.  I’m not entirely sure that I like the path that this story is following.  I mean, don’t get me wrong it is super exciting.  I just don’t want Wet Moon to turn into Friday the 13th or some other kind of “crime & superhero” story.  What happens to Trilby is pretty intense.  I just hope it won’t destroy all of the characters. (more…)

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Ross Campbell–Wet Moon 4: Drowned in Evil (2008)

Posted in Abba, AC/DC, Boredom, Corporate skewering, Fears, Goths, Graphic Novel, LGBTQ, Metallica, Ongoing, Oni Press, Punks, Romance, Ross Campbell, Threats on May 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: WALLER NOT WELLER blog.

WallerNotWeller found me when I reviewed Metallica’s Kill ‘Em All.  I went to his site and I adore it!  He writes some great reviews of concerts, CDs and singles.  His current project is the best singles and discs of 1983.  But while he’s working on that, he’ also reviewing a bunch of concerts that he’s been to recently.

What I love best about this site is his amazing breadth of appreciation for music.  There’s been a flurry of activity as he is completing the Top 50 list.  And, since I subscribed by email, I love that my Inbox has been inundated with reviews of this diverse collection: AGNETHA FALTSKOG (She of Abba fame), ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN, MINUTEMEN, MISFITS, The B-52’S, DAVID BOWIE, DANIEL JOHNSTON, THE CARPENTERS, JOHNY CASH & AC/DC.  Now that’s breadth!

His reviews are a bit more comprehensive than mine (which I think means he points out a number of negatives that I don’t), but he and I see eye to eye on a lot of these discs.  It’s quite a treat.  And, he’s British, so his viewpoint is slightly different than mine…it’s a good eye-opener!

[READ: May 23, 2010] Wet Moon 4

With each new volume of this series, Campbell changes the appearance of his characters more and more.  Most of the characters now have softer features and big round eyes.  I find it more and more disconcerting, especially since the thing I loved about the book was the utter realism of his characters.

Fortunately the bodily features of the characters haven’t changed: they’re still believably shaped and realistically drawn, it’s just the faces are so weird (Trilby is so soft-looking now, oh and Cleo has a mohawk!).  But at least  the look is consistent throughout the volume.

So Wet Moon, the town, continues to thrive with this strangely intense goth subculture.  Yet this volume seems to introduce an “outsude” world too.  There’s a woman who recoils at two gay men sitting in her booth at a coffee shop. There’s even talk of homophobes attacking gays in the area.  And here I thought that Wet Moon was an idyllic place where all kinds of subculture thrives happily. (more…)

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Ross Campbell–Wet Moon Book 3: Further Realms of Fright (2007)

Posted in Bella Morte, Demons, Drinking, Goths, Graphic Novel, Humiliation, LGBTQ, Meat Loaf, Ongoing, Oni Press, Ross Campbell, Sex, The Sisters of Mercy on May 12, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SISTERS OF MERCY-Floodland (1987).

Since I’m reviewing a goth book, why not talk about a goth record?  Back in the day, I really liked Floodland (and still think it’s pretty cool).  The album is over the top, but it’s quite apparent that I’m really drawn to theatrical music.

It’s opens with a wonderfully driving medley of “Dominion/Mother Russia” (I can recall singing “Doh-Min-E-Un!” at the top of my lungs on many a car ride.)  The second epic track, “Lucretia, My Reflection” is another great over the top ode to darkness.  I get that melody in my head and it doesn’t leave for days.

“1959” is the odd track on the disc: a straightforeward piano ballad.  It shows Andrew Eldritch’s voice works well solo as well as when he’s emoting with the “band.”  This is followed by the great spooky chorus of voices that open “This Corrosion.”  This song, which starts out so theatrically, morphs into a keyboard based bouncy dance track.  The chorus keeps coming back, giving this a delightfully operatic quality.  (I was going to make a comment in the first paragraph about liking theatrical artists like Meat Loaf, and when I looked this disc up I learned that this track was produced by Jim Steinman, Meat Loaf’s major producer guy.  Huh).

The end of the disc can’t reach the extreme heights of the earlier portion (although the guitar lines of “Flood” are quite nice).  But after the trio of  “Dominion,” “Lucretia,” and “Corrosion,” you’ve easily satisfied anyone’s criteria for great goth disc.

[READ: May 9, 2010] Wet Moon Book 3

I can’t believe it took me this long to read the continuing saga of Cleo and friends.  When I finally had a window, I devoured almost the whole book in a sitting.

The biggest change in the book is in Cleo’s eyes.  They are suddenly HUGE!  They’re very cartoon-like (specifically like Bugs Bunny’s nephew Clyde).  It’s very disconcerting since everything else is so meticulously true to life.  Contextually, it can be argued that at the end of book two, when Myrtle kissed Cleo for the first time, her eyes popped out of her head, but that’s stretching it, I think.

Aside from that incongruity, the rest of the cast remains the same.  I was delighted to have a flashback to high school, where we could see a young (evil) Cleo, and a young Trilby (with hair!). (more…)

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Matthew Loux–Salt Water Taffy 3: The Seaside Adventures of Jack and Benny: The Truth About Dr. True (2009)

Posted in "Weird Al" Yankovic, Adventure, Barenaked Ladies, Boredom, Canadian Music, Children's Books, Death, Funny (ha ha), Geddy Lee, Ghosts, Gord Downie, Gordon Lightfoot, Graphic Novel, Lyle Lovett, Martin Tielli, Matthew Loux, Mystery, Ongoing, Rheostatics, Rush, Short Books, Summer, Supernatural, Trilogy on March 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BARENAKED LADIES-Snacktime (2008).

The Barenaked Ladies have always been like naughty kids.  So, it seems almost too obvious for them to make a kids’ album.  But almost as if they want to continue being naughty, this kids album is quite smart, not just a collection of cute kids songs.

There’s a wild mix of very specifically kiddie-aimed tracks and other amusing pop cultural commentary (or jokes from kiddies past).  For instance, the opening track “789” plays on the wonderful joke of why was 6 afraid of 7.

There’s also a lot of the more delicate sounding BNL songs that came to dominate their later albums: “Pollywog in a Bog” is a cute upbeat little ditty, “Here Come the Geese” is a pretty typical Kevin Hearn track (even his adult songs sound like children’s songs).

But I think the highlight comes from when Ed Robertson and Steven Page join forces.  Robertson is the king of the goofy guys and Steven Page’s songs are always wonderful, but typically less silly.  So “I Don’t Like” is a serious look at things we don’t like (salmon, heights), while the fantastic “Crazy ABCs” is a funny and clever look at words that start with silent letters: “D is for djinn E is for Euphrates F is for Fohn etc.”

I also enjoy Roberston’s solo songs like “There’s a Word for That.”  Robertson is clearly a fan of wordplay, and this song highlights that: “There’s a word for that…little dented skin between my upper lip and nose.”

My favorite song of the disc is “The Canadian Snacktime Trilogy.”  All kinds of famous (and non famous) people tell us what their favorite snacks are.  The contributors are listed here, and they include: Geddy Lee, barbecue potato chips; Lyle Lovett, watermelon; Martin Tielli, olives; Gordon Downie, peanut butter & crackers; “Weird Al” Yankovic, honey roasted peanuts and Gordon Lightfoot, pasta.  What fun!

It’s an overall enjoyable album for kids, full of mostly hyper songs and sounds quite a lot like a typical BNL effort.

[READ:February 27, 2010] Salt Water Taffy: The Truth About Dr. True

I have yet to mention the website for this series.  So, now I’m mentioning it, and I’m also mentioning Matt Loux’s page too.  It’s a great resource for all of the books and has many sample images and pages.

I adore this children’s graphic novel series.  Each story adds amazing depth to this seemingly quaint seaside town.  Eleven year-old Jack and 8-year-old Benny are on vacation at a boring seaside town.  But mysterious things are always coming up when the kids go snooping.

In this case Benny uncovers an ancient (empty) bottle of Dr. True’s magic elixir.  (I love that Jack sneers at Benny for digging in a garbage pile, when he would have really loved to be digging in it, too).  Dr True is the ancestor of True’s Taffy shop.

While this history of the island is unfolding, we also hear the history of another famous island resident: Captain Holister.  The captain is Chowder Bay’s real hero, with a statue of him erected in the town square and everything.  The boys’ favorite new friend, fisherman Angus is directly related to him.  (more…)

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Ross Campbell–Wet Moon 2: Unseen Feet (2006)

Posted in Arcade Fire, Austin City Limits, Boredom, Canadian Music, David Lynch, Demons, Drinking, Funny (strange), Goths, Graphic Novel, LGBTQ, Oddities, Ongoing, Oni Press, Ross Campbell, Set at School, Sex, South, The X Files, Twin Peaks, Universities on February 12, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: ARCADE FIRE Austin City Limits (2007).

Recorded in support of Neon Bible, this concert blew me away.  I enjoyed Neon Bible quite a lot, but seeing the band in this concert setting was really amazing. The band was so exciting live.

From Win Butler’s intense performance (both on stage and in the audience) to his wife, Régine Chassagne’s multi-instrumental extravaganza (even if she does look like Susie Essman when she’s about to go off on a foul-mouthed tirade).  To the exhausting and exhaustive rest of the band.  They never stop.  Even when they’re not playing anything, the are happy to join in on a random drum or cymbal.

Plus, how many bands do you get to see play the hurdygurdy?

There’s just so much going on onstage with this band (and of course they throw in little video screens as well!).  And when Win grabs his mike stand and moves literally into the audience to finish one of the last songs, it was really invigorating (and would have been very exciting to have been in the front row there).

Even though it was televised, I felt like I was there.  Oh, and it wasn’t just the theatrics, the band sounded amazing too.  If I ever get the chance I hope to see them live, myself.

[READ: February 11, 2010] Wet Moon 2

I finally received Wet Moon 2 & 3 in the mail the other day.   I was quite excited to get to them.  And Volume 2 did not disappoint.

It is very apparent from Volume 2 that Campbell is in it for the long haul.  Which is one way of saying that not very much “happens” in this book.  Several plot threads from book 1 are teased out a bit, but nothing conclusive happens anywhere.

But that’s not to say that nothing happens at all.  We learn the identity of the long-haired person whom Cleo runs away from in book one (an ex). We learn a little back story (and about a curious upside-down contraption from the person with no hair (who is named Fern).  We learn that Wet Moon is full of more and more bizarre characters, and that there’s an FBI agent around town.  We also learn that another Cleo Eats It sign has been found, although we don’t know anything more about who did it.

(more…)

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Matthew Loux–Salt Water Taffy 2: The Seaside Adventures of Jack and Benny: A Climb Up Mt. Barnabas (2008)

Posted in Adventure, Bruce Cockburn, Canadian Music, Carole King, Children's Books, Eliza Gilkyson, Gord Downie, Graphic Novel, Greg Brown, Guy Davis, John Gorka, Lucy Kaplansky, Lynn Miles, Matthew Loux, Nature, Neil Young, Ongoing, Oni Press, Steve Earle, Summer, Supernatural, The Wailin' Jennys, Tom Waits on February 3, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK—DOWN AT THE SEA HOTEL (2007).

This has rapidly become one of my favorite CDs for our kids.  It’s a collection of lullabies written by some great artists with performances by: Guy Davis, Lucy Kaplansky, John Gorka, Eliza Gilkyson, The Wailin’ Jennys and Lynn Miles.  They play either solo or in groups to create a wonderful collection of tracks which maintains an overall cohesive sound.

It’s nice to have a collection that, although it contains many different singers, retains a similar style, a style that feels like a group of folk singers playing together just to get you to relax.

The songwriters include: Greg Brown, Tom Waits, Bruce Cockburn, Gord Downie, Neil Young, Carole King, Steve Earle and more.  It’s a magical collection of songs. Perfect for any bedtime routine.  The only problem with it is that my daughter usually falls asleep before we get to the end, so I don’t know the last five or six tracks all that well (but I know the first batch from start to finish).

I also recently learned that you can get a very cool edition of this CD in a book format. It is an illustrated edition of the title song and it comes complete with the full CD attached in the back. The book is quite beautiful (and I wish I had gotten that version instead of just the CD).

[READ: January 26, 2010] Salt Water Taffy 2

This fantastic kids graphic novel series just gets better and better.  I enjoyed this story so much that I decided to read it to my 4 year old son.  I removed a few paragraphs and edited for length but he really enjoyed the story…leading him down a garden path to comic book enjoyment.

This book continues the story of 8 year old Jack and 11 year old Benny on their family summer vacation in the seemingly dull seaside town of Chowder Bay.   The first volume laid out enough backstory for you to know that the town is boring as all get out for the kids, with no TV even!  But the locals have plenty of adventure for the kids to get up to.

As this book opens, the family is on a nature hike.  The boys are collecting feathers to compete with Fisherman Angus’ fantastic collection of a feather from every (species of) bird on the island.  But they are easily distracted from this quest when their dad reveals that Angus isn’t the only one on the island with good stories.  For indeed, he himself once climbed to the top of Mt Barnabus (the tallest mountain around) where he fought Barnabus, the giant eagle, for the hat that he is wearing at this very moment.

The boys are awed by this and now hold thie rdad in slightly higher esteem.

Later, when the kids are playing (and one of them is wearing that very same hat), Barnabus the giant eagle swoops down and take the hat right of his head.  He proceeds to fly up to his cave on th etop of the mountain.

The rest of the book covers the boys’ decision to climb that mountain by themselves and rescue that hat.  They encounter many many dangers on the way (I edited down the wolf section a wee bit)but what they find at the top of th emounatin is by turns frightening and hilarious.  (I especially enjoyed the cameo of the little lobsters from Book1).

The resolution to the story is great, the drawings are great, and the entire sprit of the book if one of advneture and fun.  It’s a real treat to read, and I’m delighted that there;s a 3rd book already available.

The first story laid out all of the details of where and who they are.  However,

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Ross Campbell–Wet Moon: Book 1: feeble wanderings (2004)

Posted in Alison Bechdel, Books about music, Boredom, Demons, Drinking, Funny (strange), Goths, Graphic Novel, Kiss, LGBTQ, Ongoing, Oni Press, Ross Campbell, Set at School, Toilets, Universities, YA Books, Yuck! on December 30, 2009| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KISS-Dressed to Kill (1975).

I feel like I used to  give this disc short shrift because (horrors) its cover is in black and white.  But, unlike the first two discs which were heavy (poppy, but heavy), Dressed to Kill is very anthemic and, well, a little wimpy.  Despite these caveats, I still know every word to the disc, and I do rather enjoy it.

In fact, the first four songs on the disc are not featured on Alive!.  It starts out really poppy with “Room Service” which has a pretty wild guitar solo.  The next track, “Two Timer” is a Gene-sung slow track which even has Gene getting into a spoken word bit: “That’s the truth baby, you’re a two timer.”  “Ladies in Waiting” is one of those fun Kiss songs that starts out a little off-sounding but ends up being a really poppy singalong.  “Getaway” continues a trend of songs that Ace wrote but which Peter sings.  (Evidently Ace didn’t feel confident in his vocals yet).  The side ends with the cool “Rock Bottom,” a slow, pretty guitar intro opens into a rocking song.

This is the rare Kiss disc where Side Two has more hits than Side One.  “C’mon and Love Me” (an unusual request, frankly) is a fun rocker with a lot of baby baby’s.  “Anything for My Baby” is a really upbeat song which amuses me for all of the things that he swears he would do for her: steal, wheel and deal, crawl or kneel, etc.  Next is “She,” one of the all-time great Kiss songs.  It’s heavy, it’s menacing, it has an awesome guitar riff and a great guitar solo.  The fact that they tucked it away in the middle of side two is really weird.  “Love Her All I Can” is a fast rocker that’s followed by Kiss’ most popular song of all time, “Rock And Roll All Nite.”  At this point in my Kiss listening career I’m a little tired of this song.  It’s a very catchy anthem, no doubt, but it’s really not a very good song as far as Kiss songs go.

The recordings for the Kiss Alive! disc were taken on the Dressed to Kill tour and yet the live album has the fewest songs taken from this album.  It’s kind of funny that their most popular song comes at the end of this disc.

[READ: December 22, 2009] Wet Moon

This is a fantastic goth-inspired graphic novel with the absolutely worst title ever.  Wet Moon is the name of the town the book is set in, but it is never mentioned beyond the welcome sign, and I just can’t imagine what inspired the name.

Okay, actually, I just looked up wet moon on Wikipedia, and found out that it is an astronomical term for when the “horns” of a crescent moon point up, away from the earth (like devil horns).  And so I completely take back my complaint, as I now think the term is pretty cool and very appropriate.

And that is the only thing that I find disagreeable about this book.  (Well, actually I don’t like the lettering either, but more on that on a moment).

The town of Wet Moon is a college town where goths live and thrive (and no doubt many fans of the book wish the could live there).  Our heroine is Cleo, a young, slightly overweight goth with a pierced nose and bottom lip.  She has just moved out of her parents house and is living on campus.  (There is an implication that her house is a dorm, but if so, it is the single most beautiful dorm ever, anywhere, so I’ll pretend it’s an apartment–I mean, there’s a walk-out balcony for cripes sake). (more…)

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