Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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Free speech reigns supreme, once more, as we re-encounter the feature in which the first person to comment gets to decide the blazing hot topic of the day.
It could be sport, art, films, books, cooks, nooks, rocks, music, mucous, fairy tales, fairy lights, Fairy Liquid, fairy cakes, Eccles cakes, myth, moths, maths, magic, tragedy, comedy, murder, mystery, mayhem, May Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Doris Day, the Equinox, sofas, sodas, sausages, eggs, whisky, broth, Bath, baths, Garth Marenghi, Garth Brooks, Garth Crooks, Bruno Brookes, Bruno Mars, Mars Bars, wine bars, flip-flops, flim-flam, flapjacks, see-saws, jigsaws, dominoes, flowerpots, flour pots, bread bins, bin bags, body bags, body horror, doggy bags, bean bags, cola, pancakes, pizzas, baking soda, sci-fi, Wi-Fi, Hi-Fi, sewage, saunas, suet, Silurians, Sontarans, sins, suns, sans, sense or sandcastles.
Or something else altogether.
That is entirely up to you.
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16 comments:
Hi Steve! Home from work today after getting injected in my hands- that Annoying Arthritis again. Looks like the field is open, so I'll give it a shot...
The general stereotype of folks our age is that we're rather locked into the familiar and routine. I say thee Nay! So....to what extent do we as individuals 'step outside our comfort zones' in terms of pop culture?
My answer reflects both comics and music. Regarding comics, in my youth my reading and collecting was pretty limited to Marvel and DC superheroes. Occasionally sampling some humor books, but little else. Yet over the last several years, I've been reaching out into other genres: picking up vintage horror comics, war comics, Disney books, Little Lulu, Casper, 1950's Archie's, even romance. To be honest, I've not added much 'superheroic' material in awhile. Perhaps it's a desire for the Unexplored?
The same tendency holds true for music. I mentioned in your last column, Steve, that I've been amassing cds. Those acquisitions, while largely 70s and 80s pop and New Wave, also include copious amounts of Jazz, Blues, Lounge, Electronic, and other genres. The great thing with this- the cds are still so inexpensive, generally, that you can gamble a buck or two on something unknown and perhaps discover a gem. And unlike streaming, having the physical disc prompts you to give it several plays, whereupon some tracks may grow on you.
And thus I try to keep learning, keep stretching, and keep busy at the flea markets. Anybody else?
Red, your enthusiasm for CDs is not shared by my local Tesco supermarket which recently stopped selling them (and DVDs and Blu-Rays).
Charlie stepped outside his comfort zone watching Shitts Creek. It was incredibly funny but come season 3 (or 4?) he had to retreat back to his comfort zone, lol.
Charlie still listens to the radio which is way outside the spotify bubble most live in. And while not outside Charlie's comfort zone per se, Charlie is exposed to current music via the radio (e.g., 93.1 WXRT). when he is not listening to 87.7 MeTV FM which is 50s - 80s.
But most of Charlie's forays into other aspects of Pop Culture have been instigated here! E.g., Sean mentioned the music "Streets of Bombay" last week and Charlie has listened to it several times.
Also, you (red) and others here got Charlie into reading John Byrne's Fantastic Four, currently on the 40-years-ago today SDC hit parade. Charlie never would have picked that up, having pretty much ignored the 1980s' comics due to college, military, wife...
Great question, Redartz. Unfortunately, my answers to it shine a bright spotlight on what a truly boring old fart I’ve become.
My taste in music calcified around 1995. After that I just stopped listening to modern music. I’ll occasionally hear acts via General Zeitgeist Osmosis, and I’ve liked some of their songs — The Killers, Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish, My Chemical Romance, Lizzo, Silversun Pickups, to name a few — but I haven’t bought an entire album of new music by a currently active artist or band in, jeez, I don’t know how long. Might have been ‘The Odd Couple’ by Gnarls Barkley. That was in 2008!
So, music-wise, I mostly listen to albums by Old Favorites, and I’m actually fine with that.
Comics — hmmm. I don’t buy many current comics. Again, there are a few writers and artists whose works I’ve liked over the past ten years or so, but nothing that I make the effort to read on a regular basis.
I’ve always been more into Marvel than DC and as I became an adult with a steady income, I spent several decades filling in my collection of Silver and Bronze Age books. Except for the very earliest issues of certain ‘key’ titles, I have complete runs of most of the Marvel books from those years. But there are HUGE gaps in my DC books. Occasionally I find myself picking up odd DC titles on eBay when they strike my fancy (and if I can get ‘em cheap). Last year I bought all 6 issues of ALL-OUT WAR, a short-lived Dollar Comic from 1978 featuring DC War heroes you’ve never heard of, like the Black Eagle, Force 3 and the absolute bat-sh!t bananas Viking Commando. Money well spent! I occasionally pick up anthology books too — Romance and Horror titles from DC and Charlton. I’ve been buying those for years and years but there’s still plenty of individual issues I don’t have. Lately I’ve been eyeing some of those early MANY GHOSTS OF DR. GRAVES comics with Ditko art….
b.t.
Thanks for the topic, Red.
I make some vague attempts to keep up with modern music and have, thus, listened to albums by he likes of Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish and others. They're OK but I can't say any of them would make a list of my favourites.
What has increased in recent years, thanks to the internet, is my knowledge of ancient bands. Before the World Wide Web, I barely knew any tracks by the likes of Led Zeppelin, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Jethro Tull. Now, although I still don't actually like any of those bands, I'm no longer in total ignorance about their back catalogues.
I've also had the chance to listen to albums by all those acts Roger Dean used to do covers for, like Budgie, Uriah Heep and Osibisa. I have, admittedly, come to the conclusion that the covers are better than the records.
I suppose I’m still grounded in the music and comics from my youth but that doesn’t mean that I don’t venture into new territory but it’s not that comfortable being one of only a handful of “crinklies” at a gig full of 18 -25 year olds 😊.
I can’t stand 99% of today’s chart music, for me its bland, unchallenging and for the most part just poor but there are great traditional rock bands out there that don’t chart and I do listen to them as they seem to play in pubs and smaller venues which I regularly attend in the Glasgow area. Although not that far removed from 1970s rock I have gotten into Southern rock (Red stone cherry, Futurebirds, Drive by Truckers etc) - I also enjoy some blues music (old and new artists) and a wee bit of jazz which I had disliked since I was a teenagers. I have also picked up lots of old music by bands from my time that I missed or didn’t appreciate at the time like Uriah Heep, Big star , Little Feat ,The Adventures, The Trash Can Sinatra’s, Microdisney, Teenage Fan Club etc. Saying that my next concert at the end of April is to see Nick Lowe in Edinburgh (late 1970’s/80s pop artist for those that haven’t heard of him) I expect a sea of grey hair and the aroma of "Deep Heat" at that gig!.
Comics: I still pick the odd new comic up just to check them out (or more often than not I buy those packs of 3 or 4 comics for £2) but I rarely read them other than the occassional copy of Usagi Yojimbo and BPRD. My comic book interest are pretty much centered on old comics I missed or comics I used to won but lost/gave away (US and UK).
Seems a lot of us like charity shops!
Thanks for the comments, guys!
Colin- yes, it's harder to find cds in regular retail these days. We have a nationwide chain called Target that still carries a selection. In fact I just picked up the new Tears for Fears disc there.
Charlie- Schitts Creek was a kick for my wife and I. Admittedly it took several episodes to start getting my interest, but it seemed to get more wacky as it progressed.
And you certainly have some expansive tastes, musically and comic bookily (is that a word? )
B.t.- you too have a pretty wide array of tastes, really. Oh, funny you mentioned Charlton's "Dr. Graves". The other day I was leafing through a pile of coverless comics and found an issue of that very title. No Ditko but still a pretty solid book, and the stories were more engaging than many Bronze Age Marvel horror books I've seen.
Oops, out of lunch time. More to come later...
Steve- that's definitely an advantage we have today, the easy availability of all that vintage material that didn't interest us before and fails to impress us today!
Matthew- ah, a fellow art aficionado! It's always the visuals that grabbed me first when considering a comic. I'd agree with you regarding rough, scratchy styles art. But I do love looser art if nicely done, even in a 'cartoony' style: say, Bruce Timm. Great thing about art, styles aplenty to appeal to all...
Oh, and great approach to those cd gambles! Sample them, rip your choices, and donate. Adds to your music while avoiding the accumulation of a bunch of discs you don't want to devote time and space to.
McScotty- must concur with your assessment of current 'chart music'. I try to keep somewhat abreast of it, but so much of it is either excruciatingly auto tuned or just plain boring. But you're also right about the abundance of good music out there right now. My son often tips me onto a good thing- he got me listening to King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.
And if I ever make it across the pond, we'll all have to meet up at a good charity shop or flea market!
Matthew
I've seen Peter Hook and the Light a few times over the years (mainly the Joy Division and early New Order shows) and bald heads and Ben Sherman were certainly the look of choice. Being Brisbane it was easily over 100 degrees, each time, with the inevitable moisture levels ;-) Hooky still very much has it.
DW
Steve, I also try to keep up with current music (although more in the area of jazz than Billy Eilish or whoever). But even so, often reissues are more to my taste.
Frequently those reissues are stuff I haven't actually heard before, as whole areas of music are much more accesible than they used to be.
Like, back in the day it wasn't too hard to get Can or Fela Kuti records if you looked, but now its ridiculously easy to get - let alone just listen to - all kinds of 70s/80s weirdo German or Afrobeat stuff by their contemporaries that used to be impossible to find.
Same goes for comics, and while I try to avoid being a "back in my day"-type bore - its not a good look - I have to admit the recent ones that I've found memorable indicate an aesthetic preference rooted in an earlier time: Alan Moore's 'Providence' and 'The Tempest' (with Jacen Burrows and Kevin O'Neill respectively), Barry Windsor-Smith's phenomenal 'Monsters', Jacques Tardi's 'Streets of Paris, Streets of Murder', Love and Rockets vol 4...
Obviously it makes sense we're going to have an attachment to the kind of thing we were into at an impressionable age, but all the same... it does seem to me that the culture generally - at least in 'the west' - is very backward looking these days.
Perhaps its the result of an ageing society, that a particular era still seems to dominate art/entertainment?
-sean
SEAN tuned me/us into Tardi’s “I was a prisoner of war in a german stalag”. It was a not on my radar at all.
Does Tardi count as a breakout from “nostalgia?” It is a french author but not known widely in the usa, a french graphic novel not comic, fact not fiction, but is about actual life as a french pow in Germany during ww2.
I do recommend to all. It is also in English and on Amazon.
SEAN have tou read the compilation or stories therein to Manchette’s and Tardi’s “Streets of Paris. Streets od Murder.” Thoughts?
I enjoyed it, Charlie - its the kind of thing Tardi does well.
You're right to question whether it counts though, as the stories themselves aren't recent. If I'd thought it through more I'd have listed Stalag IIB instead, which would have made my point better as it actually is properly new stuff.
To be fair though, a story like 'Griffu' - originally published in '78 - holds up better as a read than any 70s Marvel comic I can think of off hand.
-sean
Sean I just re-read my remark about "Have you read Tardi's 'Streets of Paris.'"
It was poorly written.... but I was not fully caffeinated yet, when I wrote it this morning!
It was meant to simply ask your opinion more than it's age. I have read it but it was a few years back and was hoping you'd jog my memory of what I'd read.
I did read the Stalag IIB a few years ago. Quite good. But even now I am struggling to remember... Was the French prisoner Tardi's father? He was a in a tank and taken POW when the Germans invaded in 1940?
Thanks for helping me re-fill in the too many blanks in my brain!
Yeah, 'I, Rene Tardi...' it was about his old man during the war.
If you've read any of Tardi's noirish crime stuff 'Streets...' is kind of what you expect, and doesn't disappoint.
If you're asking a more general question about why some stuff survives on its own terms rather than just as 'nostalgia', the difference between 'art' and 'entertainment'... well, thats a whole Speak Your Brain in itself really.
-sean
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