'Dirty Girls'
There's a lady plays her fav'rite records/On the jukebox ev'ry day/All day long she plays the same old songs/And she believes the things that they say/She sings along with all the saddest songs/And she believes the stories are real/She lets the music dictate the way that she feels.
I think Gary let me do the interview because he knew Mike would go on and on with very little prompting. Very interesting guy, though. I also got to ride back from the San Diego Comic Con one year with Steve Rude.
I don't suppose there's a copy of that interview online somewhere?
I just had an epiphany which I must share. "Honky-tonkin'" is a gay-boyfriend song!
when you and your baby/have fallin-out/just call me up sweet darlin'/and we'll go steppin' out ...
Now I seriously want a disco version.
"Honky-tonkin'" is a gay-boyfriend song!
Of course it is. It's the favorite song of gay astronauts!
I don't suppose there's a copy of that interview online somewhere?
I sincerely doubt it. But I've got a copy of it buried somewhere in my magazines and comic book boxes. Next time I go through those, I'll pull it and make a copy for you if you like. It's mostly (intelligent) ranting about the nature of the comic book business back in the mid-80s, though there's a fair amount about his writing process which is interesting. To paraphrase: "When I was creating Nexus I knew I needed an instant hook. People love characters that kill, so I knew immediately he'd be a killer. But then I had to figure out a way to make that narratively interesting. So I added the idea of a man compelled to kill out an alien's twisted sense of justice."
He was also a huge fan of Carl Barks as a storyteller and referred to Scrooge McDuck a lot.
He was a very interesting guy. He'd been working in alternative journalism (Boston Phoenix etc.) for years before he switched over to comics. It was a very conscious decision on his part and he had real strategy for making it in that world.
It bugs me that so many of the great genre comics of that era are forgotten because they don't belong to DC or Marvel continuity. Nexus was a great, great comic. Had probably the best superhero artist of the age working on it in Rude. And Baron took Whedon-like risks and consequences with his storylines. And the characters were spectacularly cool and interesting. Where are the Judah Maccabee fans of today?!?
"Honky-tonkin'" is a gay-boyfriend song!
Little known fact: "Lefty" Frizzell got his nickname from his reacharound technique.
Nexus was a great, great comic. Had probably the best superhero artist of the age working on it in Rude. And Baron took Whedon-like risks and consequences with his storylines.
I think we've elsewhere shared admiration of Nexus before. I'm glad I was exposed to a wide array of indy comics early. It meant I caught a lot of good stuff while it was happening.
Where are the Judah Maccabee fans of today?!?
t performs secret Judah Maccabee fan handshake.
No access? Why not?
Er, just that I don't have login what-have-you?
shrift, I can enthusiastically second Hec's recommendation of Kelly Hogan. Her album Because It Feel Good is killer. And you've got to have some Emmylou Harris
Thank you kindly, Kate!
This is so funny, especially for music geeks: Nick Sylvester pretending to be Robert Christgau doing an overview history of Pazz and Jop over Trapped in the Closet.
Love it. New tag!
I'm trying to research and enter recording dates in for my '20s and '30s stuff that's on reissues. This is very time-consuming. But if I'm going to make a smart playlist to help me select repertoire by decade (which I currently need to do when I perform at Crooners & Songbirds), I gots to do it.
Data entry hell.