123, “Scared But Not That Scared” single. The A-side begins much differently than what it becomes, from one of those common jangly pop openings into a weird David Essex-esque vocal. Unexpectedly gritty, yet there are still those modern-pop underpinnings. The other two songs, “Gun Master” and “Machine” are similarly unprepossessing pop with surprises. ”Machine” even yodels a bit.

The Lives of Sacco & Vanzetti
By Rick Geary (NBM, 2011)
I’ve been a Rick Geary fan for decades, and that means following him in some odd directions—his National Lampoon pages, his spin-off of Bob Burden’s Flaming Carrot… but longform delineations of historic murder trials is what he does best, and it’s a pleasure to see him doing it now with long drawn-out complicated cases, slickly printed between hard covers.
Geary did a compendium of Victorian murder cases some years ago, but I think his style is better suited to post-Industrial America. His people have the roundness of John Held Jr. characters with the pockmarked detail of old black-and-white photography. His new full-length graphic novel series has allowed him to sink his teeth into the Lindbergh kidnapping and now the multi-faceted, heavily politicized travails of Sacco & Vanzetti. Geary really sinks his inky teeth into all the conspiracy theories and contradictory evidence, but lays the initial facts out cleanly and maintains a tricky balance between reality and courthouse conjecture. A lot of what’s he’s illustrating is trials rather than crimes, and you marvel at the variety of tools he’s developed to enrich his storytelling even when there’s little or no action.’
You come away from this slim, packed volume knowing all the basics of the Sacco & Vanzetti case and quite a lot more. You get a sense of how passionate people got about the pair’s guilt or innocence, how differently the men behaved, how constant the biases and tampering with evidence were among those sworn to uphold justice. Above all, Geary’s chosen medium suits the swollen, cartoonish tale he’s telling. He’s at home in the era—no corny ‘20s clichés in his art, just period suits and hairstyles—and in command of his subject: the art of celebrated killings.

John DeStefano should get Ron Smith to deliver all the mayoral speeches for him. It would mean that the right words in the text get punched, that the appropriate pauses for applause and reflection would be granted, and that rallying phrases might actually rally a few people. When DeStefano gives a long speech, he rushes through key phrases, misses opportunities for driving home main themes though emphasis and repetition, looks down at the paper constantly, and generally looks like he wishes the speech were a lot shorter.
Ron Smith, on the other hand, preaches and rages righteously.
But the main reason that Smith should give DeStefano’s speeches is so Smith would be distracted from giving any speeches of his own. Smith hogged the limelight at Hill Career High School, first in a rambling intro to his duty of certifying the election results, then again when sworn in as city clerk.

Other observations of the inaugural festivities: other than a trite and terse “look forward to working with all of you” from the mayor, there was no acknowledgement of the horde of brand-new alderpeople sharing the stage with the longterm mayor (beginning his tenth term) and city clerk (beginning his fifth). In fact, no big deal was made of the other exceptional aspect of this year’s elections—DeStefano’s record-breaking run in the office. All was cliché and platitude, so bland that small missteps and omissions (DeStefano reeled off a long list of local and state politicians in attendance at his inaugural, but neglected to mention Toni Harp, who was there as well) seemed to take on major significance. Yet I don’t think these speechifiers are capable of subtlety and mild digs. That gives them too much credit.

There was so much talk of God—Smith’s remarks plus the two reverends doing the invocation and benediction plus Rev. Boise Kimber swearing in Smith—that it made the very concept of separation of church and state seem laughable. That was the spirit of the room. Which explains why Smith got cheers instead of “Because it’s unconstitutional!” catcalls when he said “You want crime to go down? Put prayer back in schools.”

From the stories and gags within Archie Comics Digest Magazine #80, October 1986.
Treasure Pleasure
Hitter Titter
Instant Insight
Sculpture Scuffle
In a Lane Vein
Esacpe Caper
Handy Dandy
Team Scream
Play Plight
Female Travail
Vote Tote
Lotion Notion
Date Fate
Strike Streak
Spot Spast
Switch Hitch
Stunt Stint
Rock Yock
Precision Vision
…and the surfing gag Rave Wave.

Rea Charge left the stage to get a drink, got into a conversation, and waved blithely at the small crowd once too often. So Ginger Grip got onstage, grabbed the mic and took over the set. The audience huzzahed, loudly thanked her, and turned on fair-weather entertainer Rea Charge when she attempted to remount the stage.
Ginger performed a cappella. Seven songs, two of them covers, one of them made up on the spot. Lyrical, wistful, rangy, pure, captivating. The response could not have been more encouraging, especially considering how unexpected the change of format had been.
Ginger performance method turned out to be important when a pissed Rea charged that Ms. Grip had “stolen” the limelight, as well as her “equipment.” Bullfinch band booker Q confirmed for me that the PA and mic—everything onstage save for Rea’s guitar, which Ging didn’t touch—belonged to the club.
The switch-up set the stage for a debate on territorial rights which remains a frequent topic of conversation at the Bullfinch, whenever a band dawdles too long mid-set.
The consensus is that Rea relinquished the stage not due to her leaving it but due to her dismissive attitude. Nobody’s eager to see the Bullfinch stage become the playing field for a King of the Hill tournament. But we do applaud the game concept of staying connected with one’s audience by playing music, and realizing that when the music stops your chair might not be there anymore.

100s of Charges, with QC Passed opening, at the Bullfinch… NIMH AAs at Hamilton’s, with Not Included… A potentially long Evening With Energizer Holdings at D’ollaires. The reunited band reportedly has several sets of new material they want to try out…

Call home. Nobody’s home.

Black Bananas and Kurt Vile, “Before They Make Me Run.” Lackluster cover of the Jagger/Richards tune, clearly in the thrall of the original if the ridiculous guitar solos are any indication yet so deadpan and monotone in the vocals that you wonder what the concept is here. Is it cool to sing stiffly now? ‘Cause you know what an arbiter of cool Kurt Vile is.

The brief text intro for the latest issue of World War 3 Illustrated (#42) proclaims “Nothing has given us more hope than the uprisings we have seen taking place around the world this year.” And the mag was put together before the Occupy movement even happened!
A lot of the American content in the issue has to do with the occupation of the government building in Wisconsin. But protests and injustices in other countries are also delineated: the bulldozing of a village in Egypt; a “kiss-in” in Lima, Peru; an uprising in Tunisia. Egypt’s revolution in January gets special attention, including a new seven-page strip by graphic novelist Magdy El Shafee (for which WW3I prints the pages right-to-left in the Arabic comic fashion). Movements connect in thought pieces such as Susan Simensky Bietila’s “Wisconsin: Walk Like an Egyptian.” There’s a story of the downside of corporately managed charter schools, and another in which the speeches of 19th century black leader Frederick Douglass’ about the “the nature of power” are given contemporary urgency and relevance.
There’s a collective feel to World War 3 Illustrated that always makes the journal (which has been an annual affair for the past bunch of years) more than the sum of its parts. Many of the contributors—especially editorial forces Seth Tobocman and Peter Kuper—reappear issue after issue, but they often change up their styles and concerns, and there are always some fresh talents to offset the more familiar provocateurs. Sometimes the artwork leads the text, sometimes the words take hold more. The range of styles can cause visual whiplash, but the mood of thoughtful rebellion is consistent.
You could say World War 3 #42 Illustrated missed a major opportunity in being released at the peak of the Occupy movement and not having been able to comment on it. But that’s always been the wonder and grace of this magazine—it shows us, through conscientious and time-consuming assemblages of text and art, that public political demonstrations have lasting impact, and waiting a year to read about them isn’t silly. It’s other virtue is showing us some of the less obvious uprisings around the world, the ones that eluded the attention of mainstream media. Timeliness is a minor factor here. World War 3 Illustrated is always active.

Got a city robocall about Christmas tree collection. Don’t recall the details because for the past ten years we’ve simply been putting our trees (generally purchased at Broken Arrow Nursery in Hamden) in the backyard when we’re done. We lean them against the chain link fence which separates from the parking lot for the co-op apartments behind our house, where they provide shade, bird perches and—once they’ve dried out, which is around the time the next tree hits the yard—firewood for our woodstove
Household tradition holds that the tree doesn’t leave the living room for the long slog through the kitchen to the back yard until after Three Kings Day. Ditto the creche. Then we finally get to reorganize the furniture as we’ve been wanting to since, well since the Christmas tree arrived and we started rethinking the layout again. Maybe some of that furniture will join the tree in the backyard.

My daughter Mabel suggested this theme: Songs with the word “Face” in them.

1. The Gershwins, “Funny Face.”
2. The Who, “I’m the Face.”
3. Bye Bye Birdie soundtrack, “Put on a Happy Face.”
4. Lady Gaga, “Poker Face.”
5. Electric Light Orchestra, “Face the Music.”
6. New Kids on the Block, “Face the Music.”
7. George Duke, “Face the Music.”
8. Moss Hart & Irving Berlin, “Face the Music.”
9. Hoobastank, “Face the Music.”
10. Irving Berlin, “Let’s Face the Music and Dance.”