NLannon, “Hazy Shade of Winter.”
First version of this song I could stand all the way through, and that includes the Simon & Garfunkel. Alternately sweet and creepy, this version doesn’t so much grow on you as suck you in, with lo-fi psychedelics and unfussy vocals. Starts with fancy picking then descends into electric keyboards and up-front percussion. None of that wimpy folk S&G headbanging.
We hear all our stuff has been stolen from the Glee Club shack.
Big Archie Comics announcement last week: The company’s flagship comic, Archie, will be relaunched, and its issue numbering reset from #666 (or thereabouts) to #1. The impetus is the participation of two major comics talents, writer Mark Waid and artist Fiona Staples.
The recent history of Archie is of attention-getting stunts that assure big sales of the first few issues but which have debatable longterm impact. The more realistically drawn “New Look” phase lasted a couple of years and was confined to the digest and trade reprint formats, not imposing on the major Archie titles. The various grown-up Archie series—“Archie Marries Betty, Archie Marries Veronica, Archie Marries Valerie, the Life With Archie magazine, et al.—ended a few months ago with the Death of Archie finale. The zombie comic Afterlife with Archie is currently still hot, on its seventh issue and boasting a new spin-off, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. The author of those comics, playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, was recently given the title of Archie Comics’ Chief Creative Officer.
So, this could just play out as another easy-hype quick-fix.
But it should be said also that rebuilding Archie’s flagship title right now is not such a bad idea.
This is far from the first time that Archie has been reinvented. The original 1940s stories drawn by Bob Montana seem harsh and grotesque compared with the willfully softened renderings of Riverdale by Joe Edwards and others starting in the 1950. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, Archie employed two superlative comic artists, Harry Lucey and Dan DeCarlo. DeCarlo’s influence was particularly widespread, and many later Archie artists willfully aped his style. The other supreme Archie artist was Stan Goldberg, a giant in the teen-comic genre who did Archie knock-offs for both DC (Binky & His Buddies) and Marvel (Millie the Model) in the 1960s before spending 40 years doing the real thing. The main Archie comic belonged to DeCarlo and Goldberg for most of the last 40 years. They are the titans.
But DeCarlo, godlike as he was, died in 2001, not long after a tragic falling-out with his longtime employers over rights to the Josie & the Pussycats characters. Goldberg, who was Archie’s ace delineator for the last decade, trusted with major projects like “Marries…,” passed away at the end of August. Some DeCarlo and Goldberg disciples still exist in the Archie stable, but only Jeff Schulz comes close to nailing that style which has defined the Archie characters since the early ‘60s.
There have been some inroads made in finding a new Archie art style. I’m partial to the work of the artist known as Gisele, who drew the instant-classic “Reversedale” tale in which Archie and the gang switched genders.
Fiona Staples, who’s been entrusted with Archie’s latest new look, may be able to make hers stick. She did an awesome Josie & the Pussycats poster—it hangs in our home—and did some excellent alternate covers, ones so good I bought the same issue twice. She draws teens as rough-and-tumble rock-and-rollers. There’s an energy to her work that rumples up the old clean-cut Archie to good effect. As for Mark Waid, he has a loyal following for his Marvel Comics work, and did a bang-up job reinventing The Fox for the revival of Archie Comic’s old Red Circle imprint.
It seems, unfortunately that the Archie makeover team is only contracted for a few issues. Hard to know if this will really get the ball rolling. The Life With Archie magazine, which came hot on the heels of Michael Uslan’s ingenious Archie Marries… saga, foundered quickly due to convoluted plots and lack of direction. Hopefully there’s a long game plan for the new Archie. The Archie #1 announcement suggested that whatever transpires will be lasting, that the renewed Archie comic will differ from the classic Archie that will persist in the digests and reprint books.
Changing times, bold measures. Archie used to exist in order to explain what a teenager was. Now teens rule the planet. A new Archie is indeed in order. The thesis here is sound. But can they deliver?
…and, if you don’t mind me asking, wherefore Jughead? His eponymous comic was put on hiatus ages ago due to its own rumored makeover. Hate to be greedy, but…
In Paradisum, a religious a cappella ensemble from the college on the hill, opened for Der Flay, the basement metal band, Thursday at the Bullfinch.
The pairing was repeated, with different repertoire and band order, Sunday at In Paradisum’s school recital at the campus chapel.
Well, who hasn’t heard hi-falutin’ classical chords and angelic voices as intro music to savage rock shows? This just made that blend more human.
The classical chorale wore the traditional choral cassocks and cottas. So did Flay frontman Master Ratzenberger, who was clearly concerned about how his new collegiate classical pals would relate to his sinister scenester acquaintances. Ratz needn’t have worried. The choir drank the Flaymeisters right under the table.
Tonight: CYO at the Bullfinch… Yes Penguins Fly at Hamilton’s… D’ollaire’s is closed for repairs (we’ll explain sometime)…
Purchased this box of tea at a Bed Bath & Beyond in Massachusetts
and of course thought of this:
and this:
At the end of it, they met Bob Dylan in the idyllic San Francisco of the mid-60’s, and he introduced them to a strange substance that was to have an enormous effect on them: Tea. Despite the warnings that it would lead to stronger things, the Rutles enjoyed the pleasant effects of tea. And it influenced enormously their greatest work, “Sgt. Rutter”. 
The Gravel Pit, Serpent Umbrella (DeeVeeUs Records)
I saw The Gravel Pit play live over a hundred times back in the 1990s, as they honed their quirky hard rock in such New Haven venues as the Poco Loco, Cafe Nine, Toad’s Place, Cheri’s, the German Club at the University of New Haven and the old Rudy’s Bar & Grill (across the street from the band’s practice space in the Rochdale Co-op). The band moved to Boston, which they ruled for a few years, and even gained a touch of national fame. Other projects intervened—frontman/songwriter Jed Parish’s solo albums, bassist Ed Valauskas’ day job at Q Division studios, the club rock band The Gentlemen which most of the Pit took part in—and The Gravel Pit gradually vanished.
This reunion album is well overdue, since the band members have stayed friends over the years and done a number of live reunion shows. This is The Gravel Pit’s first recording since they contributed a cover of “Closer to the Wall” to the 2009 Mark Mulcahy tribute project Ciao My Shining Star, and the first full-length Gravel Pit album since 2001’s Mass Avenue Freeze Out.
At first listen, Serpent Umbrella sounds closer to a Jed Parish solo album with full band backing than it does to classic Gravel Pit. That has something to do, I’m guessing, to the band members now being middle-aged. This was always a smart, literate band, but in its heyday it was also tough and bombastic, the pithy lyrics shouted over mighty power chords. Jed uses his falsetto more than his yowl here, but the songs remain intelligent and excitable.
The numbers that remind me most of The Gravel Pit I knew way back when are “Crybaby Vampire” (latest in a line of supernaturally themed Pit songs such as “Teenage Witch”), “Glimpses of the Underdog” (which has the quiet menace of “Time to Leave the Cradle” and other reflections on cruel society) and “Power Broker Blues” (an electrioc blues-rock work-out which reminds me that in the band’s infancy The Gravel Pit used to love covering “Tom Sawyer” by Rush).
On earlier albums, there always were songs that started slowly and lyrically. Many of them changed tone and became blaring anthemic rock bludgeons. Most of the songs on Serpent Umbrella stay on the softer side. Nothing wrong with that, and the production quality is better than on many of the older Pit albums.
You can hear Jed Parish’s still-impressive, still-defiant lyrics, still bitter about politics, corporate power games and upper class mores. You can assess the detail in Lucky Jackson’s guitar work for a change. You can admire the steady rhythm section of Ed Valauskas and drummer Pete Caldes. And you can imagine how The Gravel Pit might have progressed as a band without a 12-year interruption between albums. Would they have mellowed naturally and gradually from disk to disk, yielding this same result? Would they have become grizzled hard rockers, using cheaper sonic tricks to exhort crowds to get up and listen? Again, nothing wrong with this thoughtful new Gravel Pit album. But for those who saw this band in their explosive youth, this is like a ‘90s New Wave “September Song.”
On the phone all day with people who don’t want to rent to me and Mar, even if they act like they might want to.
Lots of seasonal shopping humor in the latest issue of Archie’s Funhouse Comics Digest, the still-newish all-purpose Archie anthology book that comes out nearly monthly and is already 10 issues old. Opening story has Reggie giving the same expensive gift to five female classmates, who, in Betty’s words, look “like they’re going to be giving Reggie his lumps” when they discover he meant to give them cheap knock-offs instead of the real thing. They’re mad, see, because his INTENTIONS were dishonorable, even though he actually did give them the pricey versions by accident. It’s the thought that counts. In the reprint “The Dirty Dozen,” Veronica falls asleep under a heat lamp after watching a hysterical TV commercial for Eetdirt cleaning products, and dreams that Christmas is being replaced by Brand X items of equal value. There are numerous other commercialization-of-Christmas tales in the digest, plus some basic old Archie adventures with no seasonal theme whatever, like “Footloose,” in which Archie goes to a school dance in mismatched shoes—one platform and one loafer. Those non-timebound stories may be the greatest gift of all.
We all thought it was good-natured mockery, but it turns out that Jake 10-Ant, the new wave working-class savior of local yore, really did have a chip on his shoulder when it came to higher education.
Jake’s tune “Professor Pits” was released 20 years ago this month. It became an anthem for the 100-watt radio station at the college on the hill, especially around exam time. Jake’s opinion of this success was unknown. His was a one-man-band hermit-with-a-bedroom-four-track operation. He played every instrument on his records and never played out as 10-Ant.
Later on, Jake got social (under his real surname, Tennant) and joined the No One Heres, ultimately taking the band over as a vehicle for his own songs.
So when the class-of-20-years-ago at the college on the hill was planning its reunion party earlier this year, they realized there was a chance to hire Jake and hear their precious “Professor Pits” live at the shindig.
They called and offered real money. Jake said no. Jake said he’d never appreciated the irony of the song getting played on college radio. Said it was a slam on all academia. Wished the students had gotten the message, dropped out, and made a difference.
(We deliver this version of the conversation second-hand. Jake was unavailable for comment due to a recent death in the family.)
College grads can get lofty and superior-sounding when they deal with School of Hard Knocks rabble such as Jake 10-Ant. They blustered and bullied and otherwise insisted. When he continually declined their increasingly less gracious offer, they went to the remaining members of the No One Heres and asked them to do it instead. The band’s guitartist Rick Renkrack (ne Wankrackowicz) took the money and agreed to play the gig, only because he hadn’t been told of Jake’s refusal. When he went to round up the rest of the band and learned the truth, he was stuck. The college reunionizers had anticipated this and drawn up a nasty contract. Jake was immovable, implacable in his convictions.
So how’d the show go? Like a college textbook with a chapter missing. Jake actually played, under a hat and sunglasses, with the No One Heres—on nearly every song. When it came time for “Professor Pits,” the band bowed their heads and put down their instruments. A button was pushed and the original recording of “Professor Pits,” replete with old college-radio tape-pod ID-check intro, blared over the PA. There was a lone complaint from one of the event’s overbearing organizers. Everyone else gave high marks to the maneuver, and took part in a particularly embarassing collegiate conga dance.
Tonight: Heated Hot Hotter at the Bullfinch. Candles will apparently be utitlized for a light show… A.O. Smith & The Naviens at Hamilton’s… An Evening with Bradford White (who of course is nothing without his guitarist Core Noritz) at D’ollaire’s…
Told you yesterday I was gonna do this. All musicians owe a major debt to whoever first thought of collapsing the common phrase “I am going to” into a simple sharp duosyllabic utterance.
1. Operation Ivy, “Gonna Find You.” Not to be confused with Joe Jonas’ “Gotta Find You,” from Camp Rock.
2. “Camptown Races,” Stephen Foster. Because “gwine” is just another form of “gonna.”
3. “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” Bob Dylan.
4. Glen Campbell, “I’m Not Gonna Miss You.” This was Campbell’s swansong, released this past October but originally recorded in Jan. 2013 shortly before Campbell retired due to his continuing issues with Alzheimer’s.
5. “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” Roky Erickson and the Third Floor Elevators, one of the nuggetiest tracks on the influential Nuggets compilation.
6. “Are You Gonna Go My Way,” Lenny Kravitz. He’s still going “gonna,” in his new record “Stand,” where he keeps saying “Are you gonna run again?”
7. “Cups,” Lulu and the Lampshades. Aka “The Cup Song” performed by Anna Kendrick in the movie Pitch Perfect. It contains the classic blues refrain “You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone.”
8. “Never Gonna Dance,” Fred Astaire. From the Fred & Ginger opus Swing Time.Post-Ramon
9. “Gonna Wanna Tonight,” Chase Rice. This country tune, released this past summer, sets some kind of record for slang contractions.
10. “A Change is Gonna Come,” Sam Cooke. One of the all-time finest pop protest anthems is a gonna song.
11. “You’re Going to Lose That Girl,” The Beatles. Technically it’s titled “You’re Going to Lose That Girl,” but that’s not how they sing it. Other fab “gonnas”: “Nothing’s gonna change our world” from Across the Universe, “They’re gonna crucify me” from “The Ballad of John & Yoko” and “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry.”
12. “Dem Bones Gonna Rise Again.” Greatest gonna song of all time. Incorporates life, death and knowing things.
13. Taylor Swift, “Shake It Off.” “It’s like I got this music in my mind, saying it’s gonna be all right, ’cause the players gonna play, play, play and the haters gonna hate, hate, hate. Baby, I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake it off.”
14. Laurie Berkner, “I’m Gonna Catch You.” A kiddie-song classic. During her live sets, Berkner is actually chased about the stage by other band members.
15. “Mail Myself to You,” Woody Guthrie. “I’m gonna wrap myself in paper, I’m gonna daub myself with glue, stick some stamps on top of my head; I’m gonna mail myself to you.”
16. Shocking Blue, “Gonna Sing Me a Song.” The lesser hit by the Netherlands band responsible for “Venus.”
17. The Fantasticks Original Cast Soundtrack, “Soon It’s Gonna Rain.” Not a lot of “gonna” show tunes out there.
18. The Proclaimers “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles).”
19. Anne Johannsen, “Baby, I’m Gonna Leave You.” Famously covered by Led Zeppelin.
20. Buddy Holly, “I’m Gonna Love You Too.” Covered by Blondie.
21. Joe Turner, “Flip Flop & Fly.” “When I get the blues, gonna get me a rockin’ chair.” Revived in the ‘70s by the Blues Brothers.
22. The Go-Go’s, “I’m Gonna Spend My Christmas With a Dalek.” Not the ‘70s New Wave Californian Go-Go’s. This is a ‘60s British act of that name, featuring the childlike lead vocals of Sue Smith.
23. Ray Parker Jr., “Ghostbusters.” Who is that you are going to call? Steve Wynn’s wondrous band Dream Syndicate made live hay of this song on a 1984 world tour; seven varied versions of Dream Syndicate jamming on the tune can be found at the Dangerous Minds site here: http://dangerousminds.net/comments/sevens_cover_versions_of_ghostbusters_from_the_dream_syndicates_1984_tour
24. The Ramones, “It’s Gonna Be All Right.” The other Ramones “gonna” song is “You’re Gonna Kill That Girl.” This one’s more optimistic. Post-Ramones, bassist C.J. Ramone did a solo number called “What We Gonna Do Now.”
25. Small Faces, “Whatcha Gonna Do About It.” Infamously covered by The Sex Pistols on The Great Rock ’n’ Roll Swindle soundtrack. Neither Faces nor Pistols correctly enunciate “What are you going to do about it?”
26. The Shangri-Las, “Give Him a Great Big Kiss.” “I’m gonna walk right up to him…” or her, in the case of the New York Dolls cover.
27. “Gonna Buy Me a Dog,” The Monkees. From the first Monkees album, in 1966. Peppered with ridiculous vaudeville jokes. Micky misses a cue because he’s giggling and vamping.
28. “Kansas City.” The legendary Lieber & Stoller songwriting duo crafted this R&B staple which relies on both “gonna” and “going to” in its lyrics. The singer is “going to” Kansas City, but he’s “gonna” get him a crazy way of lovin’ (or a crazy little woman), plus he’s gonna be standing on the corner of 12th Street and Vine.
29. “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.” Folk standard covered by everyone from Odetta to The Blind Boys of Alabama to Moby.
30. “Gonna Gonna Go!,” Rainbow. Aka “Gana Gana Go!” That’s the South Korean girl group Rainbow, not the Ritchie Blackmore band Rainbow. Blackmore’s “gonna” song would be his cover of Gene Vincent’s “Gonna Catch Me a Rat.”