October 5, 2011

Hiatus No More!

Crrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeak!

Well, that door could certainly use a touch of oil...Now where is that consarned light switch? Ah!




Much better! Well, the old place seems to be pretty much as I left it. A few cobwebs here and there. No biggie.

Y'know, I have a pet peeve about bloggers who don't blog for a while and then feel it is necessary to apologize and then explain the reasons for their absences in excruciating detail. It is my opinion that a blog should never stray too much from it's topic(s), and so I will spare you the details of my sabbatical, the moving to a slightly bigger apartment, the job promotion, etc. I will certainly not bore you with anecdotes about my recent trip to Harrah's Cherokee Casino and the 50 free spins I won on the Lancelot slot machine or how my girlfriend actually made bodily contact with her beloved Rick Springfield at a concert that was louder than an A-Bomb blast. I will not be sharing the details about the renewed focus on my songwriting endeavors which will soon yield actual recordings that you will actually be able to hear with your actual ears on my actual new songwriting blog.

What I will say is that I truly missed the company of my pop culture loving brethren. I am delighted to see more and more bloggers appear on the scene to share and celebrate the products of inspired creativity. Art, in all forms, is fuel for the positivity that shields us from the weapons of apathy and despair. Whether you follow this blog regularly, or just now stumbled upon it accidentally, I hope you will find something here to inspire you.

PYTHON IN THE MORNING DEPT.

What do you get when you cross a legendary British comedy troupe with an American morning show? This 1975 clip, submitted to YouTube by "FirstNews8," gives us a taste of Holy Grail-era Monty Python, minus John Cleese, practically taking over AM America, ABC's precursor to Good Morning America. Peter Jennings' interspersed reports on the fall of Saigon add an additional ingredient to this weird cocktail.




MUSIC TO MY EARS DEPT.

In the last 24 hours, I have become the newest ardent admirer of Curt Boettcher, a name synonymous with the California Pop sound of the 60's. My first dose of his greatness comes in the form of a 1968 album called Begin, the only LP effort from his band  The Millennium. Here is a small taste, contributed by "GuyLiguili."



Much more information about the visionary sounds of Curt Boettcher can be found on Spectropop.

THE MOPPET SHOW DEPT.

Longtime readers of this blog will be familiar with my fondness of the cartooning work of Sheldon Mayer. Thus, I simply must point you in the direction of the first ever book collection devotely solely to his work. The Sugar and Spike Archives Vol. 1 is 240 pages of whimsical brilliance, guaranteed to delight young and old alike. The book reprints the first ten issues of this charming, but oft-overlooked masterpiece. You'll scarcely be ten pages in before you forgive the garishness of the way-too-pink cover.



NECESSARY QUOTATION MARKS DEPT.

"You know that being an American is more than a matter of where your parents came from. It is a belief that all men are created free and equal and that everyone deserves an even break." - Harry Truman

Ch-ciao!





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