BruceH

Terrible news.

Wonder if Mulligan played the bass clarinet.

My older son went to see it last weekend and had a good time. In fact, he said it was better than he expected. Well, sure! After three or four weeks of my bad-mouthing the project, he had to go in with quite lowered expectations. Another job well done.

Wow---"Paved the way for Yes"---I think you've discovered Brubeck's true claim to fame.

Good God, I remember "Clifton"!!! I can't believe he's passed away! What the hell? If you are interested, there is a thread in the "About the Bulletin Board" section of the AAJ forum, about Clifton's illness, treatment, passing away, and the reactions of many people. Thanks.

Good God, I remember "Clifton"!!! I can't believe he's passed away! What the hell?

Thanks for reminding me of this excellent album! Threw it on last night. Wonderful.

Congratulations!

Anyone remember Cracked? (Or was it Sick. I'll go with Cracked). I never read it, but even to my 12-year-old sensibilites it seemed an obvious rip-off. Anyone read it then? I remember it. It always looked like a painfully obvious and inferior rip-off of Mad, so I never bothered to read the thing, but I used to see it at the local Rexall drugstore sometimes.

Why do I keep picturing the star of that show standing in front of a mirror thinking "do I look enough like Steve McQueen?" I keep picturing him fighting Germans in WWII.

Hey, I got it! The folks who don't probably don't know who the Little Rascals are, either.

That's your opinion, and you are certainly entitled. Scan, if you would, the citations I, and others, made here of brilliant parodies of our society and especially the cold war by Mad----under Willaim Gaines' stewardship---in the 60s. If you still disagree-----then we will both agree to do that. Perhaps I am wrong here, but I think part of this---and the criticism of Mad post-60s by myself, post 50s by yourself, and comments made here by more than one---may well be the age-old defensiveness of one's generation over the following one. Human nature....... Anyway, why take Mad so damn seriously? Let's frickin' lighten up. I mean: WHAT, ME WORRY? I'm familiar with the later-day MAD up to a point. Nicely done as they were in many respects, the Mort Drucker, and Drucker-like, parodies of movies and TV shows exemplify the difference IMO. The impulse behind the Elder, Wood and Jack Davis stuff, with Kurtzman in each case as key behind-the-scenes collaborator, was ... well I don't know if "anarchic" even goes far enough. It was a matter of size and potentially wholesale substitution of assumptions; the given material -- Superman, Archie, Flash Gordon, Sherlock Holmes, The Lone Ranger, Blackhawks, Terry and The Pirates, Mandrake the Magician, et al. -- was merely the ground-base for extravagantly surreal riffing whose goal was not so much to parody the given universe but to flee it/replace it/blow it up. Yes, the vintage MAD at best was insanely funny, but to be insanely funny in those ways at that time also seemed kind of serious to us kids on the receiving end. For one thing, it was just about the only thing of that sort that the culture was coming up with at that time on any level, let alone one that was available to and largely aimed at 10-year-olds. I mean, Lenny Bruce wouldn't be up and running for at least another FIVE years. Yes, it must have been something to encounter in it's heyday of the early-to-mid-50's, back when satire/parody of earlier pop-culture wasn't so omnipresent. In fact, parody of just about everything seems to be the default mode in present-day pop culture. The early Mad stuff that I read as paperback reprints in the early 70's was STILL damn funny, not to mention anarchic, as Larry points out. Some of the references were older things that I had no prior knowledge of, like Mandrake the Magician, and it was odd to learn of something through its parody first. That's a syndrome that I think has become more and more common over time, as generations of kids have first encountered many things through parodic references on the Simpsons and the like. There should be a word for it, and probably is. Speaking of Kurtzman, anyone else familiar with his other great work of the 50's, the editing of Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat for EC? He even did the art for some of the stories and had a hand in scripting a lot of them. Some of the best "war comics" of all time.

I also remember it from some 70's Mad reprint (maybe one of those ubiquitous paperbacks) along with "Super-duperman" and many others. The early, and some would say 'best', stuff was eventually reprinted in a huge, hardcover box set that cost a small fortune, but was kinda worth it. One of the things about the "Starchie" parody that stood out for me at the time (the early 70's) was that it pointed out that Betty and Veronica were physically identical except for their hair color. The fact that I'd failed to notice this up 'til then made me feel like a complete dimwit.

God, that comes to, what, more than 200 dollars? That's just plain silly.

Just a slice.

Indeed. "Supposed" to have been re-issued is right.

Get ready!! Tomorrow is Einstein's birthday AND Pi Day (3-14)! I'm gonna take me a long elevator ride and think about numbers that go on forever.

"The Little House" by Virginia Lee Burton. Probably well-known at one time, but rather obscure now.

By the way, Mike, you DO have some Treniers material, right?

Oh, yeah! I think I can see where you're coming from. "Jump blues" long ago struck me as very similar to early rock'n'roll in some ways---wonderful in small doses, but in large doses, kind of numbing.

As Johnny Carson would say, "Weird, wild, funny stuff!"

Well, all I can say is Byrne's Superman art really left me cold.

Yes! Also: Donald Fagan

And all this time I thought he was a blues shouter.

...Just as long as you've got a heapin' helping of Louis Jordan and Wynonie Harris.