fasstrack

Remember it well. That was Mort Drucker, right? I can see his work in my head even as I write this. His stuff was great. Did he do East Side Story? That one panel of Krustschev with the black leather jacket scaring the Dutch ambassador......too f'ing much!

Yup. Don Martin. I remember "the new dart set". Also, Sergio Aragones, the "Brazil Nut", and his 'drawn out dramas' are as good as it gets, and all in a little margin! Anyone remember "horrifying cliches"? They were one-panel cartoons featuring cliches turned into monstrous creatures. Like 'nursing a grudge' with a nurse ministering to the needs to this hairily humongous, wild-eyed thing

From The Lighter Side of Business: Dave Berg (as per usual as Roger Kaputnik) to himself at his kid's party: "Gee this kid's party is sure costing a fortune. I wish I could think of a way to get it back". To a kid: "Hey kid, ask me how's business". "Sure. How's business?" "It stinks" To himself: "Good. Now I can write the whole thing off as a 'business conference' " .

http://mydamnforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1856 Sorry, don't know how to copy photos. Just open the link. It's from this past April.

I just remembered the funniest part of that fighter flick parody: In one of those 'transition scenes' the fighter is seen to slowly morph into the wolfman. Then, the punchline written in boldface as was Mad's wont, he says 'somebody goofed. It's the WRONG TRANSITION SCENE' I took that panel and copied it, then whited out the dialog balloon and wrote "Wow. DYNAMITE MINOXODIL!! It's still hanging on my wall

They really hold up for me. Maybe because I think everyone's basic core tastes and values form early in life. People either stay open or don't after that, but the basic ducks line up kinda early in the game. I want to get reissues of my favorite Mad 'zines. I still have a few, including the fight movie parody where the guy's playing the ocarina in the beginning. When he starts making a name for himself a gangster looking like a sawed-off Buddy Hackett approaches him and, naturally, says: "I wanna buy a piece of you". The fighter rejoins: "Which piece do you want? I can let my ruptured spleen go for very cheap...". Also his girlfriend is always finishing his sentences and thoughts. "You're probably wondering..." At the end he's about to propose and she says: "You're probably wondering if I'll marry you, right?" "Yeah, but first...." Bam, he knocks her ass out and in the final panel she flies out of the ring.

I was a voracious reader of all I could get my hands on as a child. But I mostly grew up on Mad Magazine. It's still around but not at all the same and they caved in and started taking advertising. That was the beginning of the end. If you follow their history, though, it's pretty amazing. If started as comic books, then there were the pulp formats. One early and brilliant contributor was Bill Elder. An early classic by him was Starchie, a vicsous (sp?) and dead-on parody of America's 'typical teenager' Archie Andrews. In it Starchie's family were gypsies, Betty and Veronica (here 'Biddy' snd Salonica') both had bad acne, and Reggie was a bully and a shakedown artist. Starchie's dad was a drunk who was always yelling about the noise: 'who makes noise in my teenage house?' I think old Miss Grundy even had a racket going, maybe selling it on the side . At the top of the list of the funniest stuff to me was the Broadway musical parodies. I remember when the movie West Side Story came out we went and it

Opinioned and at times intentionally provocative, yes, rude no, at least not intentionally. Manners are very important to me and I try not to cross the line with personal attacks. If anyone feels bad I feel bad. I've had some real sickos dump on me on the Web in language and visciousness that makes anything I ever wrote or read here or anywhere else seem like Sunday School teachers' importunings. I'm still here and sort of like the way I choose to express myself. I can take the heat because I know I use strong language and will sometimes get as good as I give. And I do listen and learn from anyone with anything intelligent to say. The Internet is a weird place to debate or even discuss things. A lot of misunderstandings and even ill will crop up because IMO it's a very limited and atomized mode of communication. You can't hear a voice or see a face and a lot of the subtelty of 'actual' conversation is lost. And people, myself included, do take things personally. Plus, the honor system that's sort of in place can be subverted by all kinds of people who lie, steal identities, etc. That's why Branford Marsalis's forum eventually closed, and he did a valiant job of believing in democracy and peoples' ability to sort things out. This place is eminently civil by comparison, the people are by far the most knowledgeable about jazz I've encouintered on the web, and I will continue to post and just lurk and read here. I saw what I saw in that clip and people reserve the right to disagree. However IMO not to see the larger issues exposed there re the patterns that have cropped up vis a vis race and treatment of jazz musicians on commercial TV is to suffer from tunnel vision. But anyone who thinks I read too much into it is entitled to think so and prove their points in the tradition of civil discourse. I'm listening.

What's the point of taking it that way? It wasn't intended like that. I also was never rude and took pains to say any dissenting opinion is as valuable (or meaningless) as mine. I see where this is going, has gone, and it's not important for me to be right, just to point out what's obvious to me. Sorry if you were offended. I'm outta this discussion but will read the opinions of black musicians especially who might have been around then and can teach us all about these things/ Let's all have a nice day. And let's all lighten up. Please.

(Yawn) Any black people care to comment and give the real inside skinny? Last comment from me on this.

Ahhh, chaddup, all of yiz. And me, too. Like Mammy Yokum, 'I has spoken'. I really think blacks on this forum should comment and we should listen and not talk anymore. I'll start.

Wow. Thanks for that info from the bottom to the top. This is what the Web should be about.

No need to. You have your opinion, I have mine. I base my opinion solely on what I see on the screen, as I would hope that you do. Wilson was a newspaper columnist, not a TV host, so to place him as representative of the TV establishment is inaccurate. In 1951 there was hardly any TV establishment to speak of, anyway. The industry was in its infancy. I don't deny that jazz musicians were denied access to TV for decades, but I think it was more for commercial reasons than for any racism, intentional or not. He was a TV host beside his column, just as Ed Sullivan was. To say that racism in America, especially on the white owned and controlled medium of TV, and double-especially back then played no role in programming or shutting people out of the medium strikes me as nothing less than incredible, frankly. Can you not see what is obvious to me, namely that commercialism, racism and control by the few of TV---early or late---are all heads on the same monster? For but one of countless examples, Nat Cole, by the time he was ready for TV was a middle-of-the-road entertainment sensation (and a great performer at or away from the piano). But his above-average 15 minute show 'went quietly into that good night' after a short while. Reason: He couldn't get a sponsor. One lipstick company tapped said "but Negroes don't use lipstick, do they?". Cole's comment, according to his wife, was "Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark". BTW Cole's failed TV gambit was roughly contemporaneous (perhaps a few years later) with the Parker-Wilson imbroglio. You gotta be kidding me, man. Or else we're living in different countries that one of us mistakenly thinks is America... Will some black people please come on this thread and straighten these nice and well-meaning but, sorry-to-say clueless (on this issue) people out? I'm white and Jewish and even I know this stuff. Someone that has to go through this shit daily in 2006 America could speak far better than I. Maybe someone of color who actually has worked in TV?

Jack Lesberg is the bass player enjoying all this. Dick Hyman was on piano. Right. I remember now it was Dick Hyman. I think I've even heard him be interviewed about same.

Sorry. With all due respect to your feelings and dissenting opinion I'm not buying that. The man's racism and smugness are running amok in that clip. I've seen it perhaps as many times as you and I saw an arrogant little Winchell wanna-be who was outclassed and knew it. So he had to get into the act and in so doing showed the aforementioned plus what a clueless moron he was. Not that he was alone. A long tradition sadly ensued IMO, from Mike Douglas (a nice guy, seemingly, at least) to Merv and beyond. I don't mean to attack 50s-60s TV emcees ad hominem, but rather to point out that many of these people had aspirations at music themselves but often not much talent. When some of these guys had real artists, musical or otherwise, on the shows they would almost to a man either not know shit about them or (in Griffin's case especially) would feel terribly threatened by them. Bob Brookmeyer was in the band and told the story on his website about what a talentless and angry empty suit Griffin was. Also it was rare to see jazz artists on TV then, due again to stupidity, bean counting, and no doubt racism. Remember Roland Kirk disrupting his show? It was for a reason. Merv's and other talk shows used watered-down versions of jazz (or actual charts and good ones) on breaks but would never give a black musician the time of day re exposure. Griffin, to his credit, at least had Bill Evans and Monty Alexander on. But Rahsaan was spot on, IMO. On the other hand, black jazz musicians did have friends in 50s-60s white TV. Bishop Norman O' Connor, Ralph J. Gleason, Robert Herridge, and especially Art Ford come to mind. To get back to Bird, he really nailed what was happening and handled it with dignity and great style with that 'music speaks louder than words' line. One of the all-time great subtle putdowns. And if looks could kill Earl Wilson woulda needed a priest that evening. And it sailed right over old Earl's head, dumb show-biz rat that he was. Thanks for the personnel fill-in, BTW. Much appreciated.

Are you sure? I'm not saying you're wrong but I was always told that was Joe Harris. Where did you learn that? Anyway if I'm wrong about this I've been wrong for years. Wouldn't be the first or last time, I guess. Who's playing bass? I'm clueless, though I can see his face and how much fun he was having in my head right now. That's a hell of a clip whoever's on it. Bird and Diz 7 or so years after the 'revolution' getting some props finally and playing their asses off.

Yeah, Art! This line and 'now I have to hate Bush again' made my day. A funny man and class act for years. Reminds me of a line attributed to Oscar Wilde when he himself was reported to be dying in a fleabag hotel: "This wallpaper is killing me---and one of us has to go" I hope I can laugh like that with the end in sight.

This is actually very well-known, at least the performance of Hot House that follows. It features besides Diz and Bird Dick Hyman, piano; Joe Harris, drums, and I forget the bass player, sorry. The idiot Bird is staring down is one Earl Wilson, a Broadway columnist/show-biz rat of the day. Sort of a low-rent Walter Winchell. He was the host of the show, which was called Omnibus. It's pretty funny how Bird saw right through his moronic blather and addressed it perfectly by saying 'music speaks louder than words'. I've quoted that many times since seeing this years ago). Chan Parker, in a documentary about Bird, said of this clip that you could see how pissed her husband was at not only Earl's stupidity but his racism. She went on to say 'If looks could kill...'

If you have to explain 'em..... BTW, I asked you once before and I guess you never saw it, but didn't you produce a and announce a radio show on WBAI in the late 60s-early 70s? I remember hearing it but you'd have to refresh me as to the content. As I remember there was some blues on it. Thanks in advsnce.

So do I. In 1983 I was helping Barry with one of his concerts over at Nica's and he needed to be alone for a while so he told me to go look at some books or records or something. One of the records he had was a Bill Evans one on Riverside. I can't remember which one but it seemed to be an original pressing. But what was hilarious was that it was one of those that opened up to reveal text, etc. inside and it hadn't been cracked in so long that it was fused shut. It took me a full few minutes to pry it open without tearing the pictures and stuff. When I told Barry this and showed him the album man did we break up.

I hear you. I guess if you catch people at different times they will say different things according to how they feel. He did tell me that though. I think his exact words were "I'm funny that way. Even on my dates I don't know til the last minute". He knows to leave a window for spontaneity (sp?). Most musical artists are unhappy with their work when they hear it, though they probably enjoyed it at the time. Nothing new about that. Perhaps the trick is not to listen unless you evolve enough to listen in the detached (in an ego sense) way a fan would. I guess there's 'remedial listening' too, but most players after a certain time know their weaknesses so well they don't even have to bother with that. And, yes, Barry plays kind of quietly and with an airier sound compared to some other pianists. I could always hear him cut through, though.

Agreed. He set the bar so high with Sounds of Synanon and everything else he recorded for Pacific Jazz in the early to mid-sixties it was almost impossible to top such Mozart-like perfection---though his Virtuoso period playing was great in its own way.