Here's the Fundamental Problem with DC Comics.
I've only done one guest blog. This is my second. Chris Sims of Comics Alliance nails it. Absolutely nails it. Enjoy.
http://www.businessinsider.com/dc-copies-marvel-2014-6
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Thursday, June 12, 2014
(Part Two of) Come and Watch Us
Sing and Play
The Monkees at the
Fabulous Fox Theater, June 5th, 2014
The concert started with the
screen tests aired as bits during their TV show (there were no
never-seen-before bits on the screen), followed by the theme song and opening
video of their show. I’m kind of glad they didn’t perform it.
1. Last Train to Clarksville
2. Papa Gene’s Blues (from The Monkees - first album)
3. Your Auntie Grizelda (from More of the Monkees)
4. The Kind of Girl I Could
Love (from More of the Monkees)
5. She (from More of the Monkees)
6. Sweet Young Thing (from The Monkees - first album). This was the
first of many times Pete played banjo. Ironically, days before I was listening
to George Harrison’s Wonderwall Music
on which Peter played the banjo. Legend says his track was not included on the
album - but it was in the movie - but I hear banjo...)
7. I’m a Bleeder – er –
Believer (from More of the Monkees)
8. (I’m Not Your) Stepping
Stone (from More of the Monkees)
Here was the first
“break” featuring many video clips of the show – including Mike’s rapid-paced
singing of his own “Different Drum”.
A wonderful part of the
show was dividing the sets into their respective albums. The next set featured
(mostly) songs from their most popular album Headquarters, unless otherwise noted:
9. You Told Me
10. Sunny Girl Friend
11. You Just May Be the One
12. Mary Mary (from More of the Monkees) (with this song
Mickey took over the drums - I watched and he did very well - and the other
drummer did percussion)
13. Girl That I Knew Somewhere (B-side
of A Little Bit You, a Little Bit Me)
14. Shades of Grey (this song
had a particularly great video montage – although it did distract from the band
– it was here Mickey’s teasing Pete’s hair during the chorus). This was the
first Davey song, although he co-sung it with Peter.
15. Randy Scouse Git (this was
preceded by the clip from the British TV show Til Death Do Us Part that inspired the title. The show was
Americanized by Norman Lear and renamed All
in the Family. So during a trivia night if you ever want to link the
Monkees with Archer Bunker ... here is it!
16. For Pete’s Sake
17. No Time
Video clips during this
set break were clips of the show in Spanish.
18. The Door Into Summer (from Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd
... pant pant, hereinafter “Pisces”)
19. Words ((from Pisces)
20. Tapioca Tundra (from The Birds, the Bees and the Monkees)
21. Going Down (B side of
Daydream Believer)
The video screen showed
clips of their movie “Head” ... oh dear god in heaven are they going to do
songs from “HEAD”!!??
The movie was awful, but
the soundtrack was the best thing they ever did. It should air with Sgt. Pepper as examples of sixties
pop/rock. I’m not kidding.
This was the best part of
the show.
22. Porpoise Song. Oh my god,
they did the Porpoise Song. If anyone recorded this that loud voice in the
audience singing along was me.
23. Can You Dig it
They showed the video of
Nilsson’s Daddy’s Song with Davy singing. The CD has a bonus track of Mike
singing it. I liked that version better. So much so that I forgot that the
“official” singer was Davy!
24. CIRCLE SKY!!! (caps
intentional - by now my sister and nephew asked me to sit down and stop
embarrassing them. I never. NEVER. thought I would hear this song live. I hoped
that someday I might see a solo set by Mike Nesmith, but this was a thrill.)
25. As We Go Along (and by now
the people sitting next to me were reacting and ushers had to be called. This
is one of my favorite “deep tracks” by the Monkees. Hardly anyone knows about
this beautiful Toni Stern/Carol King tune)
26. Long Title: Do We Have To Do
This All Over Again
After this wonderful set
more videos aired as we headed for the big finish...
27. What Am I Doing Hanging
Round? (from Pisces. THIS is my
favorite Monkees song. I was sooo glad they did it. Plus they did it at a
slower tempo than the original. Overall the “new” live arrangements were
superb, sometimes better than the originals)
28. Daydream Believer (from The Birds, the Bees and the Monkees).
This was sweet. Each of the surviving members took a verse, with Mike Nesmith
taking the last. His velvety voice fit perfectly.
Encore:
29. Listen to the Band (from The Monkees Present) (this was accompanied
by a video of the song that I never knew existed)
The band members were introduced.
30. Pleasant Valley Sunday (from
Pisces). You knew this song was
coming. It was one of their biggest hits and one of my favorites. Damn fun to
play on the guitar, too.
I asked my sister how the
show compared to the others. I expected the ones with Davy to be more Vegas-y.
Lots more showmanship, horns, dancing, etc. I pointed out Mickey’s dancing
during “Going Down” as an example of “Vegas-y”.
No, she said, those
featured rock bands and were done in similar styles as this. The first tour
with Mike Nesmith featured some of his solo songs. Ooo, I would have liked to
hear some Nesmith tunes - Joann, for example.
She said there was more
banter between the band members in their 2012 tour. There was some here, but
not as much. I don’t mind that - I go to a show to watch them play. They can
banter on Letterman...
The audience went bananas
throughout. And there was quite an age mix - older men and women and small
kids. Nothing like the Wiggles show, mind you, but there were kids under ten
there. They used to introduce “...Believer” with “we used to do this before
Shrek did...”
We need to start a
petition to either make them put out a live album or a studio album of these
arrangements pronto. Who’s with me?
Gentlemen, you were never
jokes; you were never Beatle rip-offs. Bravo for Peter’s jibe about “we were
accused of not being the Beatles, along with three million other bands...”
Thank you for nearly
fifty years of wonderful music. And thank you for performing it for one night!
I am so glad I went -
what a wonderful show. If you can, go see them. As Davy Jones’ death proved, we
might not have many more chances to see them. In other words - you’d better get
ready; they may be coming to your town.
Here’s another great
review of the show: http://www.thetelegraph.com/news/lifestyle-news/1414036/The-Monkees-turn-back-the-clock-in-fun-energetic-show
Copyright 2014 Michael Curry
Monday, June 9, 2014
Come and Watch Us
Sing and Play
The Monkees at the
Fabulous Fox Theater, June 5th, 2014
Part One
This was my sister’s
fourth Monkees concert - two with Davy and now two with Mike. This was my
first. I was a Monkees fan before I was even a Beatles fan - the pre-Fab Four’s
TV show reruns on Saturday mornings helped their songs to be as familiar to me
as the theme songs to HR Pufinstuf or Scooby-Doo.
With some exceptions I
have retired from concert-going since 1992. Shows were expensive even back then
and my poor ears were suffering from enough tinnitus I didn’t need to aggravate
it. I wore earplugs to my last shows - even Bob Dylan. During one, ZZ Top, I
pulled out an earplug just to see how bad it was. I winced. Not at the music - they
were in good form and supporting a great album - but at the volume.
I’ve come out of
retirement twice not counting this show - Ringo Starr playing free at the VP
Fair in St. Louis (a Beatle for free? Yes, I will come out of retirement to see
a Beatle for free) and Rik Emmett playing a solo show in San Antonio
Until now.
The Monkees concert was a
gift from my sister in exchange for purchasing some DVDs for her at Comic Con. She
took her ten-year-old son and asked if I wanted to go.
They’ve toured
extensively over the past eleven years; but I had to ask myself: “when am I
ever going to get to see the Monkees again?”
Their story is familiar:
NBC wanted a TV show to cash in on the success of the Beatles and capture the fun
of their movies “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Help”. The execs thought about
getting an actual group - legend says the Loving Spoonful was considered - but
decided to cobble together a group from actor/musicians. Stephen Stills tried
out and convinced his friend Peter Tork to do likewise. Mike Nesmith was
another budding musician. Davy Jones appeared on the famous Ed Sullivan show
featuring the Beatles’ first appearance along with his fellow cast-members of
“Oliver”. Mickey Dolenz was also child actor.
The plots of the show
dealt with an up-and-coming band playing gigs and getting into various zany antics
- spies, monsters, gangsters, and mistaken identities - the gamut of 1960’s
sitcom fare.
But the music set it
apart. During this show the band showed their admiration for the many wonderful
song-writers they used and named them - Goffin/King, Neil Diamond, Neil Sedaka,
Harry Nilsson, etc. And rightly so...
At the time the songs and
the Monkees - although very successful on the music charts - were written off
as bubblegum music. Well, that term came a few years later, but the criticism
was the same.
The Monkees were mocked
for not playing their own instruments on their songs and albums. The band
members complained about this too, and were allowed to do so beginning with
their Headquarters album.
Eventually the show was
cancelled, their movie and TV special each bombed and their albums and singles
failed to chart. One by one they left the group to do their own thing.
Their popularity grew as
new fans discovered their show’s reruns on Saturday Morning (me) and in the
1980s on MTV (my sister). Their detractors were silenced over time as their music
aged well. Very well.
They would reunite
throughout the decades, usually Mike being the hold-out as his career was moving
along and his participation was not necessary.
I am a big fan of
Nesmith’s solo music and a subscriber to his video ranch productions. Check it
out: http://www.videoranch.com/
Nesmith appeared on stage
with the other three on occasion and helped with the album and TV special for
their last album “Justus” in 1996. But otherwise, when the members were not
doing solo shows or participating in “Teen Idol” festivals, the Monkees toured
as Davy, Mickey and Peter.
Davy Jones died in 2012. Mike
agreed to tour with Peter and Mickey in 2012 and again this year. Among the
excellent band members were Mike’s son Christian on guitar and Mickey’s sister
as one of the back-up singers. The other back-up singer, Circe Link and
Christian are in a band called “Circle Jerks” and the bass player is their
manager - so there was a lot of family up on the stage.
The musicians were
wonderful. They rocked even during the more poppy numbers. Throughout the show
I was amazed at how well these songs have aged.
And the Monkees
themselves have also aged well. Mickey can still hit the high notes -
particularly on “Words” and “Randy Scouse Git” and only rarely being unable to
hit the higher ranges - most notably on “She”. Mike still sang with a caramel
smoothness. Peter suffered the most from comparison, but then, he was never
known for his strong vocals.
Recommendation: the
Monkees should think about making a studio album of their live set to show off
their musicians and the new, wonderful arrangements of their classic songs.
Their version of “Daydream Believer” will likely make the charts, or at least
be a popular download.
A video screen above the
band showed constant clips of the TV show, their movie and TV special. At times
I found it distracting. I’m there to watch the show, not clips from “The
Monkees' Paw”. But it helped give the band a break during sets and keep the
audience cheering.
Next: Part 2 - the set
list!
Monday, June 2, 2014
PAPPA’S GOT A BRAND NEW
BLOG!
http://michaelgcurry.com/2014/06/03/321/
If you have linked to my blog from one of my Facebook or Google or Twitter links, and are a regular viewer, you may have noticed something different.
(If this is your first look at
my little set of blogs - either through a random search or through Wordspace,
welcome!)
I have redone my blog through
Wordpress where I also started a web page - http://michaelgcurry.com/. So far it leads to my blog posts from
Blogger - I imported all of them - has links to my Twitter feed and Facebook
page and a cute link to Goodreads and I hope I can get a link (called a widget)
to Librarything.
I don’t like the transfer of my
blogs from Blogger to Wordpress - it has some errors, particularly lack of
spaces between words, misaligned margins, etc. Minor quibbles, I suppose.
A fun and interesting addition
will include tags and topics - I look forward to seeing which tags grow in size
reflecting the common topics of my blog entries. I expect “comic books” will
dominate haha.
I like Blogger and will continue
to post there as long I get enough hits. Perhaps in the future I can link the
two - clicking on one leads to the other. But I wanted to expand my options and
give myself an actual website for potential readers to view.
Why do I need better access to
readers? Why do I need an “intro” website to my blog?
Because I do not intend the
website to be only a doorway to my blogs...
... are you ready? ...
In a few weeks I will be
publishing my first book.
I am publishing “Abby’s Road,
the Long and Winding Road to Adoption; and how Facebook, Aquaman and Theodore
Roosevelt helped”.
I am using the company
Createspace to self-publish my book through Amazon and its affiliates. When I
have a cover designed I will then upload the book through Smashwords to publish
it through Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, and other venues Createspace does
not use.
I have updated my Facebook page
(and created an author’s fan page), Twitter, Google + and LinkedIn to use as my
link to readers for marketing my book. I hope “Abby’s Road” will do well enough
to help pay for itself and my next book about children’s television - which I
hope to be published in November. With Smashwords I will be able to publish the
short stories I have written through the years. Some will be free; some will be
a dollar.
This isn’t vanity publishing,
although that still exists; this is the trend of the future: bypassing the
traditional - sometimes insurmountable - wall of traditional publishers.
Independent publishing - the
wave of the future. The last thing I would associate myself with is being on
the crest of a wave of the future.
Future blogs will discuss how I
came to write the book and my experiences in publishing it. I also have a few
ideas about sharing my current health issues and my attempts at overcoming
them. Plus the usual movie, book, TV and comic book reviews; don’t worry my
fellow nerds - I am still a geek at heart!
So wish me luck and please be
patient with this old Luddite when it comes to browsing my web pages. I’ll do
my best! And I’ll keep posting!
Original material copyright 2014 Michael Curry
(noticed I dropped my
middle initial “G” in all this? Smashwords recommends eliminating middle
initials to allow people browsing authors to find my name easier ... who am I
to argue?)
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