At the Turning of the Year...

I have no real complaints about how things went in 2010, but my lack of reflection on events or the significance of anniversaries is odd for me. This year I finally was able to really reconnect with my oldest son who grew up in Florida. It marked the 10th anniversary of Tracy’s and my move back to Ohio after a decade away. And we celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary and my 40th birthday. Yet, for some reason, I have struggled with writing – or even journaling – about these events and milestones. I have been out of sorts for months really. Freelance writing job deadlines sandwiched between a family vacation in August and a month of work travel in October threw me completely off my game.

There has been plenty to chronicle, but the last half of the year knocked me out of any sort of writing routine. If this were any other year I would have been reflecting on my blog and in my personal writing, talking endlessly about how much more of a milestone turning 30 felt like ten years ago than turning 40 did this past year. I’d be exploring my thirties and how they treated me and what I hope for from my forties. Our August trip included Star Wars Celebration V, and warrants a write-up that I have yet to find the motivation to tackle.

There was the piece I started to write about the tenth anniversary of the release of U2’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind and the importance of that album on me. My “End of the Eighties” track-by-track review was sidelined by my own distractions, and I never really recovered. There were book reviews and thoughts on comics and all other sorts of pop culture seeds that were planted but never really took root over the last half of the year.

The reconnection with my son Mikee has been amazingly rewarding, but the emotional experience for our family is incredibly personal. Not necessarily something appropriate for the wider audience. We are blessed to have him in our lives again and able to share this new chapter together. There are things to be recorded, but form and format are a curious animal I’ve yet to get my arms around.

I guess if I have a new year’s resolution, it’s to get back to writing regularly. Writing for me, for my family, for my friends and extended family. Finding my voice again and using it, whether it’s a personal journal entry, a blog post, a letter to a loved one, or organizing book ideas.

Book List 2010

Non-Fiction

1. The Ground Truth: The Untold Story of America Under Attack on 9/11 - John Farmer (Not as good as I was hoping for.)
2. Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin - Kathy Griffin (Fantastic read from one of my favorite performers!)
3. I am the New Black - Tracy Morgan with Anthony Bozza (Ditto.)
4. Shooting Stars - LeBron James and Buzz Bissinger
5. The U2 Reader: A Quarter Century of Commentary, Criticism, and Reviews - Hank Bordowitz (A re-read. Whenever I need some music journalism inspiration, this is always a good pick-me-up.)
6. Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime - John Heilemann and Mark Halperin (A page-turner, though it really focused on the Democrats and kept McCain and Palin as footnotes, and I was hoping for a complete picture across the aisle.)
7. The Happiest Days of Our Lives (audio) - Wil Wheaton (I have read this book and listened to the audiobook many times, though I admit I probably prefer his keynote address at PAX better than anything else he’s written or performed.)
8. Comic Wars: How Two Tycoons Battled over the Marvel Comics Empire - And Both Lost - Dan Raviv (Was hoping for a comic industry version of Storming the Magic Kingdom and was really let down. Had to slog through this one.)
9. The Men Who Would Be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies, and a Company Called DreamWorks - Nicole Laporte (A nice coda to DisneyWar.)
10. Lips Unsealed: A Memoir - Belinda Carlisle (I couldn’t put this book down. Fantastic read.)
11. Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man’s Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut - Rob Sheffield (My first Sheffield book. Amazing.)
12. The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebooook – A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal - Ben Mezrich (Like most of Mezrich's books, perhaps this book should have been on my “fiction” list instead?)
13. Just Kids - Patti Smith (The story of the friendship between Patti Smith and Robert Maplethorp is stunningly beautiful. Cannot recommend this book highly enough.)
14. Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son - Michael Chabon (Chabon’s books have never taken hold of me like this one did.)
15. Bicycle Diaries - David Byrne (An interesting take on sustainable transportation from former Talking Heads frontman.)

Fiction

1. A Gentleman’s Game: A Queen & Country Novel - Greg Rucka (I loves me some Q&C.)
2. Lost Horizon - James Hilton (A classic. One of my all-time favorite novels.)
3. Night of the Living Trekkies - Kevin David Anderson and Sam Stall (I was skeptical of this one, but ended up not being able to put it down.)
4. Flawed Dogs: The Shocking Raid on Westminster - Berkeley Breathed (Oh, how I miss Bloom County. But this was a nice reminder of the magic Mr. Breathed is capable of.)

Trade Paperbacks and Hardcover Collected Editions

1. Spider-Man: Blue - Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale
2. Hulk: Gray - Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale
3. X-Men and Spider-Man - Christos Gage and Mario Alberti
4. Marvel Divas - Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Tonci Zonjic
5. Marvel 1602: New World/Fantastick Four - Greg Pak and Peter David
6. Queen & Country: Definitive Collection, Volume 3 - Greg Rucka (Another fantastic volume!)
7. Iron Man: Enter the Mandarin - Joe Casey and Eric Canete
8. Wolverine First Class: The Rookie - Fred Van Lente
9. The Immortal Iron Fist Omnibus - Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, David Aja (Possibly my favorite Christmas present from my wife last year, and maybe the best omni Marvel has produced.)
10. DC and Marvel Present: Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk - Len Wein, Jose Garcia Lopez, Dick Giordano
11. Afrodisiac - Jim Rugg, Brian Maruca (A must read!)
12. Daredevil Omnibus, Volume 2 - Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev (Bendis and Maleev’s run on DD is topped only by Frank Miller’s legendary run.)
13. Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. - Warren Ellis, Stuart Immonen
14. Air, Volume 2: Flying Machine - G. Willow Wilson, M.K. Perker (Meh. I ended up skipping volume 3 altogether.)
15. Dead @ 17: Afterbirth - Josh Howard (I’m a sucker for this series. Always a fun read!)
16. Spider-Man: The Death of the Stacys - Stan Lee, Gerry Conway, John Romita, Sr., Gil Kane
17. Batman: Year One, Deluxe Edition - Frank Miller, David Mazzucchelli (Wow.)
18. Robot Dreams - Sara Varon (Wonderful storytelling.)
19. The Astounding Wolf-Man, Volume 2 - Robert Kirkman, Jason Howard
20. New Avengers/Transformers - Stuart Moore
21. Cloak & Dagger: Child of Darkness, Child of Light - Bill Mantlo, Rick Leonardi (A key limited series from my childhood that has stood the test of time.)
22. The Losers, Volumes One & Two - Andy Diggle and Jock
23. Empowered, Volume 1 - Adam Warren (Fun read!)
24. Uncanny X-Men: Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire - Ed Brubaker (I love so much of Brubaker’s work, but this left me a little cold.)
25. Star Wars Adventures, Volume 1: Luke Skywalker and the Treasure of the Dragonsnakes - Tom Taylor (Fun stuff recommended by my kiddo.)
26. Star Wars: Tag & Bink Were Here - Kevin Rubio, Lucas Marangon (Again, one of my kiddo’s favorites!)
27. Mercury and the Murd - Shawn Pryor, Chad Cicconi, Dave Dwonch
28. Athena Voltaire: Flight of the Falcon - Steve Bryant, Paul Daly
29. Blacklisted - Adam Witt, Pat Loika
30. Star Wars: Infinities, A New Hope – Various (Another recommendation from my kiddo.)
31. Nova, Volume 3: Secret Invasion - Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
32. Nova, Volume 4: Nova Corps - Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
33. Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 1: Legacy - Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
34. Catwoman: Crime Pays - Will Pfeifer, David Lopez, Alvaro Lopez
35. Ms. Marvel, Volume 4: Monster Smash - Brian Reed
36. The Walking Dead, Book Five - Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn (The brilliant series continues.)
37. Indiana Jones Omnibus: The Further Adventures, Volume 2 - Various (Childhood revisited.)
38. Daredevil - Visionaries: Frank Miller, Volume 2 - Frank Miller (Re-read it for the Elektra piece I wrote for an upcoming issue of Back Issue. So entertaining. This is the best DD has ever been.)
39. Daredevil - Visionaries: Frank Miller, Volume 3 - Frank Miller (Ditto.)
40. Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK’s 11 - Fred Van Lente, Francis Portela
41. Ms. Marvel, Volume 5: Secret Invasion - Brian Reed
42. Elektra Omnibus - Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz (Another Christmas present from my wife last year. Amazing.)
43. Y: The Last Man - The Deluxe Edition, Book Three - Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra (A must-read series!)
44. Avengers: Hawkeye - Mark Gruenwald (More of my childhood reading captured for posterity. Probably my favorite four-issue limited series of the ’80s.)
45. Avengers: West Coast Avengers Assemble - Roger Stern
46. Iron Man: Demon in a Bottle - David Michelinie and Bob Layton
47. Powers: The Definitive Hardcover Collection, Volume 3 - Brian Michael Bendis, Mike Avon Oeming
48. Star Wars Adventures, Volume 4: The Will of Darth Vader - Tom Taylor (Another kiddo recommendation.)
49. Spider-Man: The Gauntlet, Volume 1 - Various
50. Ms. Marvel, Volume 6: Ascension - Brian Reed
51. The Astounding Wolf-Man, Volume 3 - Robert Kirkman, Jason Howard
52. Dark Rain: A New Orleans Story - Mat Johnson and Simon Gane (A captivating story.)
53. Proof, Book 1: Goatsucker - Alexander Grecian and Riley Rossmo (Recommended by my friend Vince and others. Enjoyed every volume of it!)
54. Proof, Book 2: The Company of Men - Alexander Grecian and Riley Rossmo
55. Proof, Book 3: Thunderbirds Are Go! - Alexander Grecian and Riley Rossmo
56. The Invincible Iron Man, Volume 1 - Matt Fraction, Salvador Larroca
57. The Avengers: Vision and the Scarlet Witch – A Year in the Life - Steve Englehart
58. Revolver - Matt Kindt
59. The Amazing Screw-On Head and Other Curious Objects - Mike Mignola (One of the best books of the year. Period.)
60. New Avengers: Luke Cage - Town Without Pity - John Arcudi
61. Dan Dare - Garth Ennis, Gary Erskine
62. Chew, Volume 2: International Flavor - John Layman, Rob Guillory
63. Spider-Man: The Gauntlet, Volume 2 - Various (Not as good as the first or third volumes.)
64. Marvel Essential: Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man, Volume 3 - Roger Stern, Bill Mantlo (Loved every minute of this trip down memory lane.)
65. Guerillas, Volume 1 - Brahm Revel (Really dug this fascinating look at war.)
66. Y: The Last Man - The Deluxe Edition, Book Four - Brian K. Vaughan, Pia Guerra (This series gets better and better with each volume. So sad the story is going to end for me soon with the final volume finally solicited.)
67. Daredevil Omnibus, Volume 1 - Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark, Stefano Gaudiano (Not as good as Miller or Bendis’ runs, but certainly in the top three.)
68. Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2: War of Kings, Book 1 - Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
69. War of Kings - Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning and Various
70. Nova, Volume 5: War of Kings - Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
71. Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 3: War of Kings, Book 2 - Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning
72. Torso - Brian Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyke (I love these kinds of stories that are rooted in non-fiction and set in places I’m familiar with.)
73. Spider-Man: The Gauntlet, Volume 3 - Various
74. Captain America/Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers - Reginald Hudlin, Denys Cowan
75. Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America - Jeph Loeb, Various
76. The Immortal Iron Fist: Immortal Weapons - Various
77. Daredevil Omnibus, Volume 2 - Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark, Stefano Gaudiano

T-Shirt Time Machine

I had to get some stuff out of a box on the top shelf of my closet the other day and accidentally knocked over another box. It damn near hit me on its way to the floor, and when it popped open two things fell out: a pair of t-shirts. T-shirts that are well past their shelf-life. Their designs are either faded or completely gone. They are threadbare and worn, and I can see my hand through the fabric when I hold it up inside the shirt. I’ve hung on to them for purely sentimental reasons. Though from two different eras of my youth, both of them were incredibly important to me in their day.

The first shirt, my John Lennon shirt, was purchased for me by the girl I dated my senior year of high school. She was the one who really pushed my limits creatively and expanded my horizons musically. It was a tragic and doomed relationship from the start, I suppose (as is most everything rooted in adolescence). She was a year older than me and had attended a different high school, but we met at work and it grew from there. The summer after my senior year, she moved to San Francisco to be with her old boyfriend, and I moved into a dorm on the campus of Bowling Green State University with my buddy John. The shirt I wore thin, yet saved, celebrated the release of Imagine. The front image of the shirt is mostly gone, but there are hints of color that was the logo from the John Lennon biopic. The back is completely empty now, with just the ghosts of what was the lengthy movie description: “Discover John…the angry youth, the musician, the radical, the husband, the father, the lover, the idealist…through his own words and personal collection of film and music.” My love for this radical artist mixed with young love for a girl has proved to be a potent combination… one that has me holding on to a t-shirt-turned-rag 21 years later.

While I can pinpoint a specific era that the Imagine shirt was purchased and received, I can tell you the exact place, day, and year I purchased the other shirt. I became a fan of Anne Rice's work after discovering it in high school. A few years later, I was living in Central Florida, where my life was in a bit of upheaval. I was working the graveyard shift at a Disney resort, which allowed me to do some daytime events when the opportunity presented itself. This was the case on November 22, 1993, when White’s of Lake Buena Vista hosted Anne Rice on her book signing tour for Lasher. I stood in line and had my copy of the book signed, along with one of the little postcards she had. I also bought a t-shirt that day… with the cover of the new book on the front and the date and bookstore name in small print under it. I wore the shirt relentlessly (yes, relentlessly), and it was strangely important to me. It was a link between my former life in Ohio, the relative innocence of high school and my punk phase that I associate with discovering Rice’s books, and my reeling then-present life that was slightly off the rails. Seventeen years ago, the t-shirt somehow helped ground me.

(Side note: The Anne Rice book stop in Central Florida was a part of a larger, nationwide tour. I know this because my dear college friend Jen saw her at a Columbus, Ohio, book signing and sent me the postcard Rice had signed for her as a makeshift Christmas card that same year. Which I have also saved for all these years and knew right where to look to find it.)

This inexplicable link to the past, in the form of t-shirts I’ll never wear again, makes no sense to me. But in the end, I still couldn’t bring myself to ditch them. I put the two t-shirts back in the same box they fell from, and put that box back on the top shelf of my closet to be rediscovered at some future date, when I least expect it.

We Eat Ham and Jam and Spam a Lot!

Monty Python’s Spamalot
09 December 2010: EJ Thomas Hall, Akron, Ohio

Along with our good friends Greg and Karen, Tracy and I are Broadway in Akron subscribers. We still see shows up at Playhouse Square regularly, but we are always happy to have and support theater a little more locally in Akron. It’s a short, four-show season at EJ Thomas Hall on the campus of the University of Akron, but the selection this year is great.

Because of work travel back in October, I missed the first show of the season, A Chorus Line, so Tracy ended up taking her mom as her date with Greg and Karen. This month, however, there was no way I would be missing the show… Monty Python’s Spamalot! Tracy and I had seen the show back in 2006 up at Playhouse Square, and the production has retained every bit of its irreverence and humor.

I know the source material backwards and forwards – it was (and still is) a staple of my everyday lexicon. But I had forgotten much of the musical in the four years since I’d last seen it. Where The Producers (another fine movie and adapted musical) is Mel Brooks’ skewering of Broadway, Spamalot is the Python’s – or, more specifically, Eric Idle’s – take on the Great White Way. Oh, sure. The roots of the movie and the parody of Arthurian legend remains, but make no mistake this musical is poking more fun at the theater than the off-the-street Python fan might be expecting walking into the show blind.

It’s kind of Python-lite. Sure, there’s a little something to offend everyone in there, but it’s designed for mass consumption. And Python has always been an acquired taste, particularly in the States. Act 1’s “Knights of the Round Table” features a monk and a nun in a seductive dance counterbalanced by act 2’s “You Won’t Succeed on Broadway” roast of Jews. But by and large, it plays broad.

New this tour is the insertion of local references into the show based on the city the performance is taking place in. Falling somewhere between your favorite band shouting “Thank you, [insert city name]! Good night!” and Bono referencing a long-gone dive bar the band played in your town 30 years ago, it’s still a nice touch that makes the show unique to each city the tour hits.

I enjoyed Spamalot and the night out with Tracy and friends, but I definitely felt a different sensibility about the production compared with what I remembered feeling last time. Maybe it’s too much of the “Mel Brooks Effect” – the penchant for movie property owners to turn their product into musical theater – that is coloring my response this time around.

Empire Records

One thing that struck me over and over watching the first brilliant season of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire was the music. Not the Brian Jonestown Massacre tune used in the opening title sequence (which is gorgeous and epic in and of itself), but the use of music within the show.

Boardwalk Empire is a fictionalized exploration of prohibition era Atlantic City based on the lives of some of the real people who controlled and affected that world. Music was everywhere in the initial 12 episodes, and it was tied to the period. This brought two thoughts to mind repeatedly throughout the season: First, I know nothing about hot 1920s jazz, vaudeville, and nickelodeons. Second, it was a challenge to get my head around the idea that modern music – rock and roll – simply didn’t exist at the time.

The music of the period is gorgeous, and completely foreign to me. But the up-side to a show like this on a guy like me is that I willingly search and explore. And now I know who Sophie Tucker and Eddie Cantor were, and am beginning to appreciate their impact on popular culture. Credit HBO for including music credits for each episode on their site, giving the curious a starting point for digging deeper into the musical archeology of the early 20th century.

As engrossing as the show itself is, when the music stepped to the fore (and music is most definitely a character in and of itself in this show!) I often found myself stopping and thinking how amazing it is that rock and roll as I know it was decades away from even beginning to grow. I love music. Modern music. The result of fifty years of evolution and experimentation. And to conceive of a world where that music doesn’t exist is mind-boggling to me.

And these two notions come crashing in on one another when I realize that the music of the speakeasies was the modern music of the era, the pop music of a generation.

The Value of Original Art

My friend Andy posed this question earlier today:

Should artists sell their original art? Should it be more precious, or it’s just ink and paper, dude?

Andy’s question seems to imply that the act of selling original works devalues its status as art, its “precious”-ness.

I’m sure the reasons artists decide to sell or not to sell their original art is as varied as the artists themselves. Some may feel it’s a personal connection between themselves and the creation, where others may feel it’s simply a job they got paid for. The artist has every right to decide whether or not they sell their original art. Am I disappointed when I discover a favorite artist of mine doesn’t sell his original art? Sure, but I certainly can’t be upset about it. That’s the artist’s prerogative.

On the other end of that transaction, as someone who purchases original art (and has purchased original art from Andy), I would argue that selling it doesn’t inherently negate its value as art. I wouldn’t purchase a piece of original art if it didn’t have value to me – value that warrants me seeking out the art, paying for it, and displaying it.

I may be reading too much into Andy’s question, but I think what he’s truly struggling with is a something only he can answer. And, like much of life, it’s not simply black or white, elevated art or crass commerce. I think Andy's real question to himself is “Can I sell my original art and still feel like both the piece and I still have value beyond the dollar amount attached to it, dude?”

Short Season Shows

This week we watched the season finales of both HBO’s Boardwalk Empire and AMC’s The Walking Dead. Both were short-season shows – Boardwalk Empire at 12 episodes and The Walking Dead at just six.

There is still a delta between premium cable and basic cable channels. Boardwalk Empire was sweeping and lush. Similar to Deadwood (a show I am admittedly biased about because I consider it the best television show ever produced), Boardwalk Empire takes historical figures and plays with them a bit, providing a fictionalized version of them and their world. Steve Buscemi is genius in his main character role, surrounded by a brilliant cast and held up by an engaging story. Although spread over a dozen episodes, they still wrought tension from every episode… not a clunker in the bunch.

The Walking Dead, from the comic book series by Robert Kirkman, was ambitious from the beginning. To bring a zombie tale to the small screen and do it justice is a challenge. The Walking Dead comic series is one of my all-time favorites (and that of a lot of other comic fans I know). It is incredibly well-written and perfectly presented. Just basing a show on this series was enough to get me to watch.

Tracy enjoyed the first six episodes, and I’ve heard the same from others who have no familiarity with the comics. I am able to divorce myself from the source material (particularly comic books) and just enjoy a television show or movie if well done. They are different animals with different audiences and sensibilities. But it was surprising just how far The Walking Dead show chose to depart from the source. It wasn’t that deviation so much as the general meandering of the story that seemed to detract for me. The first season seemed to shamble along like of the undead walkers the protagonists are trying to avoid. The characters didn’t really develop much outside of some rather broad strokes, but I’m willing to give this another season (perhaps the gutting of the writing staff for the second season will help with things?) and see where it goes.