Your Tattoo Sucks.com

Check out www.yourtattoosucks.com it's HILARIOUS! Here are some of my favorites. What the hell were they thinking?

... and my personal favorite -- Cpt. Kirk gets spanked...

KOZMO! KOZMO! KOZMO!

www.kozmoofthecosmos.com

Goodbye Doc Watson, 89

Doc Watson was probably the best acoustic guitarist I've ever heard. He also had one of the most beautiful singing voices I've ever heard. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you download the great double album "The Essential Doc Watson" from itunes. It's been a favorite of my family ever since we bought it on vinyl back in the early 1970's. At the very least, check out his beautiful vocal on "Alberta" on that album.

Man Goes to Hospital Learns He's A Woman

One version of this story (which I can't find back) has the wife quoted as saying, "When I first met him I thought he runs like a girl." I'm not making that up. 

Colorado photographer Steve Crecelius was admitted to the hospital five years ago for a kidney stone and received surprising news from the nurse, who told him he was actually a woman.

Crecelius, who now goes by Stevie, found out she was born intersex, with both male and female sex organs, according to Fox News. A trip to the emergency room for the kidney stone was what revealed what Crecelius had questioned her whole life.

"The nurse [in the ER] is reading the ultrasound and says, 'Huh, this says you're a female,'" Crecelius said to Fox.

According to ABC News, Crecelius said she felt a little different all her life.

"When I was about six years old, I started having these feminine feelings, but that was in the '60s. Wearing my mom's makeup, I thought I looked pretty," Crecelius told ABC.

The Denver Post reported that Crecelius's wife, Debbie, and their six children have accepted her new identity.

"We told them individually. Some were in person and some weren't," Crecelius said to ABC, referring to how she told her children about her transition to becoming a woman. "Every one of them said, 'We don’t care one way or the other. We love you for who you are and you're still my dad.'"

Even though it wasn't always easy, Debbie has stayed with Crecelius since receiving the news five years ago.

"I didn’t sign on for this, but who signs on for anything?" she said to Fox. "She's the same person she was as a he on the inside."

A Man a Zebra and a Parrot Walk Into a Bar...

... so the bartender says, "We don't get a lot of zebras and parrots in here."
And the Zebra and the Parrot say, "At these prices we can see why."


Actually, this is not a joke. It's a news item that happened in (roughly) my neck o' the woods. 


DUBUQUE, Iowa - It sounds like the beginning of a joke. A man, a zebra, a parrot walk into a bar. 


A Cascade man was arrested outside of a Dubuque bar on Sunday night with a pet zebra and a macaw parrot in the front seat of his truck. 


Officers charged Jerald Reiter, 55, with OWI. Police reports say officers stopped him in the parking lot of the Dog House Lounge as he drove away in his truck. According to police, field sobriety tests showed Reiter had a blood alcohol level of .14. The legal limit in Iowa is .08. 


Reiter tells KCRG.com that he and his girlfriend, Vickey Teters, see the animals like their kids and often take them for rides. On Sunday night, they say they took the zebra and the macaw to the bar because it often lets people bring their animals inside. 


Reiter says the owner told him they were serving food that night and he couldn’t bring a zebra inside the bar. Bar owners tell KCRG.com that no animals are ever allowed inside the establishment. 


At that time he went outside to put the animals in his truck and several people were in the parking lot taking pictures. He believes one of those people called police. 


Reiter disputes the charges and says he realized he was too drunk to drive and was about to let a passenger in the truck to take the wheel when he was arrested. 


Online records show Mr. Reiter was released from the Dubuque County Jail May 21, 2012. 

Classic Art from The Residents

The Residents get their mojo mojonatin' on The wicked, wicked, wicked Wilson Pickett's "Land of 1000 Dances". Later, it's "Telstar" & "Wipe-Out". Is that noise in between "Revolution #9"? From 1972!

Amanda Kronlage -- Check out the Great Art by this Great Young Artist!

Just click this link  http://amandakronlage.wordpress.com/proprioceptive-2012/

So long Peter Bergman.(Bad News Travels Slow)

Peter Bergman (left)

The other day, it occurred to me that I hadn't looked at the Firesign Theater's website for a few months. When I checked it out, I learned that their founder Peter Bergman had passed away March 9th, of leukemia. For once I had written about someone when he was still alive. Check out the Blog on this site from 08/20/11 to read more about Bergman and his fellow Firesigns. As a skeptic, the team gave me my favorite expression, 

"There's a seeker born every minute!" 

Oh Susanna! (Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles)

Will the Real Napoleon Dynamite Please Stand Up?

Major perpetrator of the alleged "comedy"

The only good songwriter to emerge during the '70's*

He may not have money, but he has great taste in sobriquets!

Okay, I’m dwelling too much on Elvis Costello --- What can I tell ya? The guy is great!
On April 10^th, the day it was released, I bought the DVD “Elvis Costello & the Imposters; The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook”. For the last several weeks I’ve resisted writing about it, since every time E.C. releases something I will just want to write a predictably glowing review of it and it’ll get boring. Since then, though, it’s occurred to me that there is some interesting (interesting to me at least) trivia surrounding the project.
TRIVIA:

Will the real Napoleon Dynamite Please stand up? Most people recognize that name as the name of a gawdawful “comedy” film that was released in 2004. It was co-written and directed by Jared Hess and Jerusha Hess and stars Jon Heder as the title character. The film's total worldwide gross revenue was $46,140,956 – proof positive that you’ll never lose money underestimating the taste of the American public. (No wonder all my art projects are flops – I HAVE TOO MUCH GOOD TASTE! Heh, heh) Apparently, two days before completion of the film, a teenage extra informed the director the title was a nickname for Elvis Costello. The filmmaker insists he had no idea he “stole” the title from The Great One. Considering the randomness of the name Napoleon and the word Dynamite becoming conjoined by two independent people by sheer coincidence seems virtually impossible. As Costello points out, “it's two words that you're never going to hear together.” However, there is a plausible explanation. Hess claims that around the year 2000, he was doing missionary work for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, around the Cicero Illinois area. There he met a homeless man who referred to himself as Napoleon Dynamite. Like all writers, Hess was undoubtedly always keeping an ear open for “found” poetic phrases to use in his work and incorporated it thusly. You can’t blame him – every writer does it. (“We are normal and we want our freedom!” “Giant pterodactyls are flying into Arizona and carrying off Buicks!”) By some accounts, Costello was christened with the nickname by one of his girlfriends. Elvis used the pseudonym as early as 1982 for his 45 single b-side “Imperial Bedroom” – a song which, curiously, did not appear on the album of the same name. The credits to his 1986 album “Blood and Chocolate” only refer to him as Napoleon Dynamite. So, unless Elvis met the homeless man from Cicero prior to 1982 and stole it from him, E.C. is the true Nappy D!

Look at the man that you call Uncle

Elvis performs a solo acoustic “intermission” in these live shows. The Segment is called Napoleon Solo. Napoleon Solo was the name of a character on the 60’s spy TV show “The Man From Uncle.” It just occurred to me – the two songs that he sings in this segment both refer to Josephine – so it is Napoleon singing love songs to you – know- who.

Love for Tender / Clean Money

I believe I paid sixteen bucks for the DVD, and around ten bucks for the audio CD (which I purchased separately.) A combination CD / DVD set was released late last year and retailed for the princely sum of $265.00! The price was so steep, even the official Elvis Costello website refused to sell it. Hey, I love Elvis, but only when he’s a cheap date!

The joint was rockin’, goin’ ‘round and ‘round.

For The Spectacular Spinning Songbook E.C. and the band have a big roulette wheel on stage, listing 40 songs. Lucky audience members are pulled “from their place in the stalls to their place with the stars” and are allowed to spin the wheel – randomly determining the next song the band will play. The lucky participant is allowed to stay on stage while the band plays the selection. While listening, the fan may have a mixed drink, or dance in the on – stage go go cage.

More Bangles for your buck!

Back in 1986, Elvis and his band were going through a period of interpersonal tensions. Considering Elvis is one of the most acrimonious songwriters of all time, performing that material probably did little to alleviate the tensions. Elvis came up with the game show like concept, for a fun series of concerts that should (and did) lighten the atmosphere. One particularly memorable show that year was in L.A. at The Wiltern. (The Will Turn – am I imagining symbolism everywhere I look?) Special guests that evening were the sensational girl group of the era, The Bangles. Susannah Hoffs is still a fabulous babe! (the vintage video above should be considered REQUIRED VIEWING FOR ANYONE WHO DIGS HOT CHICKS! YOW!) Now, with the return of the Fabulous Singing Songbook, 25 years later, The Bangles join him on stage again. Turns out The Bangles  broke up in the late 80’s and regrouped in 1998. Coincidentally, in 2002, they scored a number one hit in Germany with Elvis’ composition “Doll’s Revolution”, which they perform vocally here, backed by E.C. & The Imposters.

Earthbound

The DVD includes “Earthbound” a great, never previously released Costello composition from  1993. He co – wrote it with Cait O’Riordan, his wife of the time, for a promising up and coming singer named Wendy James. In fact, they wrote Wendy’s entire album “These Ain’t the Time for Your Tears” in something like two weeks – on a bet!   

REVIEW:

This is Elvis’ best DVD. Most people become Costello fans based on his early, ferocious, garagey rock ‘n’ roll. Fans get a little frustrated since he frequently seems to be avoiding rock ‘n’ roll on his records – probably so he doesn’t paint himself into a corner stylistically. This time, though, Elvis gives ‘em what they want, proving that he and his band can rock out like few others. Although they are not generally known for their jamming, highlights include a seven minute “(What’s So Funny) ‘Bout Peace Love and Understanding”, an eight minute “I Want You” and especially a six minute forty-five second “Stella Hurt”. Their music is wild, garagey, trashy, vicious, ominous, occasionally elegant, and never short of breath takingly inspired. I would recommend this for anyone who wants an easy introduction to Elvis.
  

   

    


*OK, the guys in Squeeze were good too.

Elvis Costello -- Radio Radio

SUCKING IN THE 70's PART 5

“You either shut up or get cut up.

They don’t wanna hear about it

It’s only inches on the reel to reel

And the radio is in the hands of such a lot of fools

Trying to anesthetize the way that you feel

Radio is a sad salvation

Radio is cleaning up the nation”

-- Elvis Costello

“Radio Radio”

1978

Alicia Bridges – She loved the nightlife – she loved to boogie

On the disco ‘round – oh yeh.

          My friends and family give me a lot of (good natured) crap about my insistence that I hated all the music that was popular when I was growing up, and my further insistence that the 1970’s was the first truly worthless decade for hit music. The subtle implication seems to be ‘If you were reminded of all the songs that were hits in the 70’s you would be overwhelmed by how much stuff YOU REALLY LIKED that you have conveniently forgotten.’ The other day I found a web site that lists the top 100 songs of each year going back to the 1940’s.  I did find that the early 70’s were a bit less putrid than the late 70’s, but that would fit with my theory, since I was a little kid in the early 70’s, and I was in my “formative  years” in the late decade, so my negative emotional reaction would be stronger to those newer songs.  

          Rather than write a comment on each song, I have come up with a handy color coding to rate my feelings toward these songs. Songs in red, I admit I DO NOT HATE. I actually LOVE “Heart of Glass” by Blondie & “I Want you To Want Me” by Cheap Trick, because I thought the New Wave fad might have been leading to a better decade ahead for pop music. I couldn’t care less about “The Sultans of Swing” or ‘Billy  Joels’ ‘My Life’, but hey – I’m a nice guy – I can’t hate everything. The songs in green I don’t even remember. I suppose you could argue that if I heard them again I might remember I loved them. Let’s face it – if these were the 100 most played songs (on top 40 radio, at dances, on TV) when I was 15, 16 & 17 AND I DON’T EVEN REMEMBER THEM, they must be pretty damn forgettable. After all, POP MUSIC is about creating MEMORIES. ‘Shadow Dancing” was the No 1 song of the year when I was a high school sophomore and junior and I don’t even remember it? The ones in white I really hate. I say hate, because I imagine dozens (hundreds?) of genuinely creative and talented musicians struggling to make it and never getting anywhere because people were just listening to THIS WIMPY CRAP. You’re telling me there were NO BETTER SONGS that could have been played on the radio at that time?     

Billboard Hot 100 1978

01. Shadow Dancing » Andy Gibb
02. Night Fever » Bee Gees
03. You Light Up My Life » Debby Boone
04. Stayin' Alive » Bee Gees
05. Kiss You All Over » Exile
06. How Deep Is Your Love » Bee Gees
07. Baby Come Back » Player
08. (Love Is) Thicker Than Water » Andy Gibb
09. Boogie Oogie Oogie » A Taste Of Honey
10. Three Times A Lady » Commodores
11. Grease » Frankie Valli
12. I Go Crazy » Paul Davis
13. You're The One That I Want » John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John
14. Emotion » Samantha Sang
15. Lay Down Sally » Eric Clapton
16. Miss You » Rolling Stones
17. Just The Way You Are » Billy Joel
18. With A Little Luck » Wings
19. If I Can't Have You » Yvonne Elliman
20. Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah) » Chic
21. Feels So Good » Chuck Mangione
22. Hot Child In The City » Nick Gilder
23. Love Is Like Oxygen » Sweet
24. It's A Heartache » Bonnie Tyler
25. We Are The Champions / We Will Rock You » Queen
26. Baker Street » Gerry Rafferty
27. Can't Smile Without You » Barry Manilow
28. Too Much, Too Little, Too Late » Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams
29. Dance With Me » Peter Brown
30. Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad » Meat Loaf
31. Jack And Jill » Raydio
32. Take A Chance On Me » Abba
33. Sometimes When We Touch » Dan Hill
34. Last Dance » Donna Summer
35. Hopelessly Devoted To You » Olivia Newton-John
36. Hot Blooded » Foreigner
37. You're In My Heart » Rod Stewart
38. The Closer I Get To You » Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway
39. Dust In The Wind » Kansas
40. Magnet And Steel » Walter Egan
41. Short People » Randy Newman
42. Use Ta Be My Girl » O'Jays
43. Our Love » Natalie Cole
44. Love Will Find A Way » Pablo Cruise
45. An Everlasting Love » Andy Gibb
46. Love Is In The Air » John Paul Young
47. Goodbye Girl » David Gates
48. Slip Slidin' Away » Paul Simon
49. The Groove Line » Heatwave
50. Thunder Island » Jay Ferguson
51. Imaginary Lover » Atlanta Rhythm Section
52. Still The Same » Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
53. My Angel Baby » Toby Beau
54. Disco Inferno » Trammps
55. On Broadway » George Benson
56. Come Sail Away » Styx*
57. Back In Love Again » L.T.D.
58. This Time I'm In It For Love » Player
59. You Belong To Me » Carly Simon
60. Here You Come Again » Dolly Parton*
61. Blue Bayou » Linda Ronstadt
62. Peg » Steely Dan
63. You Needed Me » Anne Murray
64. Shame » Evelyn "Champagne" King
65. Reminiscing » Little River Band
66. Count On Me » Jefferson Starship
67. Baby Hold On » Eddie Money
68. Hey Deanie » Shaun Cassidy
69. Summer Nights » John Travolta & Olivia Newton-john
70. What's Your Name » Lynyrd Skynyrd
71. Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue » Crystal Gayle
72. Because The Night » Patti Smith
73. Every Kinda People » Robert Palmer
74. Copacabana » Barry Manilow
75. Always And Forever » Heatwave
76. You And I » Rick James
77. Serpentine Fire » Earth, Wind & Fire
78. Sentimental Lady » Bob Welch
79. Falling » LeBlanc & Carr
80. Dont Let Me Be Misunderstood » Santa Esmeralda
81. Bluer Than Blue » Michael Johnson
82. Running On Empty » Jackson Browne
83. Whenever I Call You "Friend" » Kenny Loggins
84. Fool (If You Think It's Over) » Chris Rea
85. Get Off » Foxy
86. Sweet Talking Woman » Electric Light Orchestra
87. Life's Been Good » Joe Walsh
88. I Love The Night Life » Alicia Bridges
89. You Can't Turn Me Off (In The Middle Of Turning Me On) » High Inergy
90. It's So Easy » Linda Ronstadt
91. Native New Yorker » Odyssey
92. Flashlight » Parliament
93. Don't Look Back » Boston
94. Turn To Stone » Electric Light Orchestra
95. I Can't Stand The Rain » Eruption
96. Ebony Eyes » Bob Welch
97. The Name Of The Game » Abba
98. We're All Alone » Rita Coolidge
99. Hollywood Nights » Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
100. Deacon Blues » Steely Dan

Hot 100 1979

01. My Sharona » Knack
02. Bad Girls » Donna Summer
03. Le Freak » Chic
04. Da Ya Think I'm Sexy » Rod Stewart
05. Reunited » Peaches & Herb
06. I Will Survive » Gloria Gaynor
07. Hot Stuff » Donna Summer
08. Y.M.C.A. » Village People
09. Ring My Bell » Anita Ward*
10. Sad Eyes » Robert John
11. Too Much Heaven » Bee Gees
12. MacArthur Park » Donna Summer
13. When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman » Dr. Hook
14. Makin' It » David Naughton
15. Fire » Pointer Sisters
16. Tragedy » Bee Gees
17. A Little More Love » Olivia Newton-John
18. Heart Of Glass » Blondie
19. What A Fool Believes » Doobie Brothers
20. Good Times » Chic
21. You Don't Bring Me Flowers » Barbra Streisand & Neil Diamond
22. Knock On Wood » Amii Stewart
23. Stumblin' In » Suzi Quatro & Chris Norman
24. Lead Me On » Maxine Nightingale
25. Shake Your Body » Jacksons
26. Don't Cry Out Loud » Melissa Manchester
27. The Logical Song » Supertramp
28. My Life » Billy Joel
29. Just When I Needed You Most » Randy Vanwarmer
30. You Can't Change That » Raydio
31. Shake Your Groove Thing » Peaches & Herb
32. I'll Never Love This Way Again » Dionne Warwick
33. Love You Inside Out » Bee Gees
34. I Want You To Want Me » Cheap Trick
35. The Main Event (Fight) » Barbra Streisand
36. Mama Can't Buy You Love » Elton John
37. I Was Made For Dancin' » Leif Garrett
38. After The Love Has Gone » Earth, Wind & Fire
39. Heaven Knows » Donna Summer & Brooklyn Dreams
40. The Gambler » Kenny Rogers
41. Lotta Love » Nicolette Larson
42. Lady » Little River Band
43. Heaven Must Have Sent You » Bonnie Pointer
44. Hold The Line » Toto
45. He's The Greatest Dancer » Sister Sledge
46. Sharing The Night Together » Dr. Hook
47. She Believes In Me » Kenny Rogers
48. In The Navy » Village People
49. Music Box Dancer » Frank Mills
50. The Devil Went Down To Georgia » Charlie Daniels Band
51. Gold » John Stewart
52. Goodnight Tonight » Wings
53. We Are Family » Sister Sledge
54. Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy » Bad Company
55. Every 1's A Winner » Hot Chocolate
56. Take Me Home » Cher
57. Boogie Wonderland » Earth, Wind & Fire
58. (Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away » Andy Gibb
59. What You Won't Do For Love » Bobby Caldwell
60. New York Groove » Ace Frehley
61. Sultans Of Swing » Dire Straits
62. I Want Your Love » Chic
63. Chuck E's In Love » Rickie Lee Jones
64. I Love The Night Life » Alicia Bridges
65. Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now » McFadden & Whitehead
66. Lonesome Loser » Little River Band
67. Renegade » Styx
68. Love Is The Answer » England Dan & John Ford Coley
69. Got To Be Real » Cheryl Lynn
70. Born To Be Alive » Patrick Hernandez
71. Shine A Little Love » Electric Light Orchestra
72. I Just Fall In Love Again » Anne Murray
73. Shake It » Ian Matthews
74. I Was Made For Lovin' You » Kiss
75. I Just Wanna Stop » Gino Vannelli
76. Disco Nights » G.Q.
77. Ooh Baby Baby » Linda Ronstadt
78. September » Earth, Wind & Fire
79. Time Passages » Al Stewart
80. Rise » Herb Alpert
81. Don't Bring Me Down » Electric Light Orchestra
82. Promises » Eric Clapton
83. Get Used To It » Roger Voudouris
84. How Much I Feel » Ambrosia
85. Suspicions » Eddie Rabbitt
86. You Take My Breath Away » Rex Smith
87. How You Gonna See Me Now » Alice Cooper
88. Double Vision » Foreigner
89. Every Time I Think Of You » Babys
90. I Got My Mind Made Up » Instant Funk
91. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough » Michael Jackson
92. Bad Case Of Lovin' You » Robert Palmer
93. Somewhere In The Night » Barry Manilow
94. We've Got Tonite » Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
95. Dance The Night Away » Van Halen
96. Dancing Shoes » Nigel Olsson
97. The Boss » Diana Ross
98. Sail On » Commodores
99. I Do Love You » G.Q.
100. Strange Way » Firefall

* Yes, I like this song – ya wanna make somethin’ out of it?

Songs THE CRAMPS Taught Us

LUX & IVY’S FAVORITES

I can’t recommend these FREE DOWNLOADS too highly!*

Here’s the link;

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2009/02/lux-and-ivys-favorites-mp3s.html

          Even though Atomic Boogie Radio has bombed, I am still trying to find a way to shove weird (but great!) music down your throat.  

          When my family was celebrating Easter, I mentioned to my niece’s fiancé that I was starting my vacation, and wished I could find some big, lavish boxed set of CDs to listen to on my two weeks off. Josh (that’s his name) suggested I download LUX & IVY’S FAVORITES (which I hadn’t heard of) off the internet. What a perfect suggestion!

          Lux Interior and Poison Ivy Rorschach were the leaders of the great punk / garage rock / psycho-billy band The Cramps. (Lux died a few years back, doubly tragic because these two were obviously true soul mates.) It seemed they devoted their lives to collecting wild, ultra- obscure old rock ‘n’ roll records. They gave frequent, lengthy interviews and seemed to drop a record name and recommendation in practically every sentence.

          Thank heavens some obsessive fan has tracked down practically every record they’ve mentioned in those interviews and complied them into a series of eleven downloadable collections.

          If you love rock ‘n’ roll, you’ve gotta hear this stuff!

          As The Cramps used to say, Stay Sick!!!

* Normally I wouldn’t say anything, but since this Blog is connected to a very G Rated comic strip, I guess I need to be an old fuddy duddy and mention that the collections do contain a couple (hilarious!) utterly filthy R&B songs – and NOT in the usual double entendre style – these can only be taken one way!      

ATOMIC BOOGIE RADIO goes Bye Bye

          As of April 30^th, ATOMIC BOOGIE RADIO expires and goes to heaven. I know it didn’t last very long. We were going to put five more hours of stuff on it this weekend, but during last week’s show we were so disappointed we just decided not to bother any more.

          The website it appeared through is called LOUDCASTER. The main thing they do is allow customers to upload MP3s and assign them to playlists which their service then plays back over their website at a time scheduled by the customer. BUT THEY CAN’T EVEN GET THAT RIGHT! They always dropped out songs, or played them back in the wrong order. I know that probably doesn’t sound that serious, but it meant a lot to us to have things presented IN THE WAY WE WANTED! If listeners didn’t like it, OK, we at least would have been allowed to try it our way and fail doing it the way we wanted.

          For example, last week’s show, for tax week, was called “The Money Program”. All the tracks for two hours were about money. After The Beatles’ “Taxman”, we had scheduled a National Lampoon parody of an H&R Block commercial. We had six of these H&R Block parodies that were scheduled to turn up at various times throughout the first hour, creating a running gag about taxes. LOUDCASTER just dropped all of them! We had two songs about money trees – “Money Tree Blues” by Willie Dixon, followed by “Money Tree” by Jumpin’ Bill Carlisle. They moved the Carlisle song to later in the show, no longer playing up the thematic link between the two songs. The end result was just a random bunch of songs about money with no other continuity and displaying virtually NO SENSE OF HUMOR! We had about 50 hours of programs all worked out, and we thought they were pretty clever and entertaining, but LOUDCASTER edited and resequenced all the cleverness out of everything we’ve tried so far, so we quit!.



Don't Forget Kozmo!

04/15/12 This week on Atomic Boogie Radio

PROVIDING FREE ENTERTAINMENT ON TAX DAY! (And every day!)

THIS WEEK ON ATOMIC BOOGIE RADIO

7:00 (All times Central) THE MONEY PROGRAM

We celebrate (celebrate!?!?!?!) tax week, with two hours of songs and skits about filthy lucre. Includes The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Monty Python, The Who, The Kinks, The Everly Brothers, The Drifters, Funkadelic, The Turtles, The Lovin’ Spoonful and many more!

9:00 BLUEGRASS

Marvel at an hour of wild pickin’ and high lonesome harmonies from some legendary virtuosos of Bluegrass music. You’ll hear; Dolly Parton, The Byrds, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, John Hartford, Bill Monroe, Andy Griffith, The Dillards and more!

10:00 NRBQ

These guys are the best pop/rock band since the Beatles! But don’t just take my word for it – their fans include Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, Bonnie Raitt, Elvis Costello, Drew Carey, Penn Jillette and thousands of non-famous people. These two hours present only the tip of the iceberg of great stuff they’ve recorded from 1969 to 2004! Check it out – you may end up with a new favorite band!

The songs will continually repeat throughout the week – but probably not as listed above.

Click on the link to hear it  http://loudcaster.com/channels/1245-atomic-boogie-radio



Harvey Kurtzman -- The Original MAD Man

Harvey Kurtzman cover illustration for "Two Fisted Tales".

I have not yet seen the show "Mad Men". From what I hear, it is something of a satire (or, at least, a mordant take) on the lives of ad man of the early 1960's. There was a guy who was satirizing the world of advertising as early as the 1950's! He was the great Harvey Kurtzman. He founded MAD Magazine, whose home office was on Madison Avenue, back when that address was synonimous with advertising because that's where all the major ad agencies were located. Clearly, Harvey saw this world and it's crazed inhabitants first hand every day he worked. Per Wikipedia;   

Harvey Kurtzman (October 3, 1924, Brooklyn, New York – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and the editor of several comic books and magazines. Kurtzman often signed his name H. Kurtz, followed by a stick figure (i.e., H. Kurtz-man).
In 1952, he was the founding editor of the comic book Mad. Kurtzman was also known for the long-running Little Annie Fanny stories in Playboy (1962–88), satirizing the very attitudes that Playboy promoted.
Because Mad had a considerable effect on popular culture, Kurtzman was later described by The New York Times as having been "one of the most important figures in postwar America."^[1] Director and comedian Terry Gilliam said, “In many ways Harvey was one of the godparents of Monty Python.”^[2] Underground cartoonist Robert Crumb asserted that one of Kurtzman's cover images for Humbug "changed my life,"^[3] and that another Mad cover image “changed the way I saw the world forever!”^[2] Writing for Time, Richard Corliss touted Kurtzman's influence:

Mad was the first comic enterprise that got its effects almost entirely from parodying other kinds of popular entertainment… To say that this became an influential manner in American comedy is to understate the case. Almost all American satire today follows a formula that Harvey Kurtzman thought up.^[4]

He was inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1989
As a child he drew Ikey and Mikey, a regular comic strip done in chalk on sidewalks. In 1939, Kurtzman entered a cartoon contest in Tip Top Comics, winning a prize of one dollar. Kurtzman attended New York's High School of Music and Art, where he first met future collaborators Will Elder, Harry Chester, Al Jaffee and John Severin. After graduating from Cooper Union, he freelanced for such second-tier comic book companies as Ace and Timely. It was at Timely that he drew his first humorous "Hey Look!" one-pagers, which Timely used whenever an issue was a page short. Kurtzman also produced a comic strip, Silver Linings, which ran in the New York Herald Tribune from March 7 to June 20, 1948. He was strongly influenced by the English cartoonist H. M. Bateman.^[5]
Kurtzman found his niche at Bill Gaines' EC Comics, editing the war comics Frontline Combat and Two-Fisted Tales. Kurtzman was known for a painstaking attention to detail, typically sketching full layouts and breakdowns for the stories he assigned to artists and insisting they not deviate from his instructions.^[6][7] Despite (or because of) his autocratic approach, Kurtzman's early 1950s work is still considered among the medium's finest.^[8][9] With Mad he satirized genres in the first issue but then introduced specific media parodies in the second issue, spoofing one of Chester Gould's Dick Tracy villains with "Mole!" This tale of prisoner Melvin Mole's escapes, digging a tunnel with a nostril hair, left readers eager to see where Kurtzman's new comic book was headed. With "Mole!", illustrated by Will Elder, Kurtzman had created a turning point in American humor, and the circulation increased as more parodies of comic strips, films and television shows appeared in the comic book.
This evolution of Mad paralleled Kurtzman's recognition of his own value and talents. The comic book owed its existence to Kurtzman's complaint to publisher Gaines that EC's two editors — himself and Al Feldstein — were being paid substantially different salaries. Gaines pointed out that Feldstein produced more titles for EC and did so more swiftly. The men then agreed that if Kurtzman could create a humor publication, Gaines would raise his pay substantially.
Four years later, amid an industry crackdown on the comic books that EC was producing, Kurtzman received an offer to join the staff of Pageant. When Gaines agreed to expand Mad from a ten-cent comic book to a full-sized 25-cent magazine, Kurtzman stayed with EC.^[10] Although retaining Kurtzman was Gaines' prime motivation, this 1955 revamp completely removed Mad from the Comics Code Authority's censorious overview, thereby assuring its survival. Kurtzman remained at the helm of the magazine for only a few issues, but it was long enough to introduce the image soon named Alfred E. Neuman, the publication's famous mascot.
During the early 1950s, Kurtzman became one of the writers for the relaunched Flash Gordon daily comic strip. Soon after, the strip would become one of Mad's targets, when his 1954 "Flesh Garden!" parody was illustrated by Wally Wood.
In April 1956, with Mad sales increasing and all of EC's other titles cancelled, Kurtzman demanded a 51% share of Gaines' business. Gaines balked and hired Feldstein to replace Kurtzman as editor.^[11] The incident has been a source of controversy ever since. There are some^[who?] who feel the magazine critically peaked under Kurtzman and never again regained its magic, settling into a predictable formula. There are others^[who?] who think Kurtzman's own formulaic tendencies would have worn out their welcome more obviously, if not for his early and sudden exit. Kurtzman's departure may have allowed his fans to fantasize about a magazine-format Mad that never was, in which his satiric eye never fogged, as it did outside of Mad.^[12]
The "art vs. commerce" showdown between Kurtzman and Gaines (in which Kurtzman had the hero's role of David while Gaines played the vulgarian Goliath) has long been a compelling characterization for some. But it's likely that no 1950s publisher other than Gaines would ever have printed Mad in the first place.^[13] Even so, when Kurtzman and Feldstein were producing humor comics at the same time (Feldstein edited EC's lesser sister humor publication Panic), it is generally recognized that the difference in quality was vast. Thus, Feldstein got a reputation as the craftsman who replaced the genius.^[14]
However, it is inarguable that Mad's greatest heights of circulation and influence came under Feldstein,^[15] while Kurtzman never again recaptured his share of the public's support or edited another magazine of equal success. Nothing Kurtzman produced after his original Mad run approached it for observational wit. In the end, and for all his substantial achievements, Kurtzman's career was forever colored by a sense of "what might have been."^[16]
Kurtzman was also the editor of Trump, published by Hugh Hefner in 1957. It presented Kurtzman's Mad sensibilities in a glossy, upscale magazine format. Trump only lasted for two issues. They reportedly sold well, but were expensive to produce, and publisher Hugh Hefner shut down the project during a costcutting crunch. Kurtzman later led an artists' collective of himself, Will Elder, Jack Davis, Al Jaffee and Arnold Roth in publishing Humbug. Despite their efforts, and those of business manager Harry Chester, Humbug failed to overcome distribution and financial problems.^[17] It folded after 11 issues.
After the demise of Humbug, Kurtzman spent a few years as a freelance contributor to various magazines, including Playboy, Esquire, The Saturday Evening Post, TV Guide and Pageant, the magazine that had made a fateful job offer to Kurtzman in 1955.
Kurtzman's last regular editorial position of note was at the helm of Warren Publishing's Help! from 1960 to 1965. Relying heavily on photography, Help! gave the first national exposure to certain artists and writers who would dominate underground comix later on, such as Robert Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, Jay Lynch and Skip Williamson. The magazine also provided a brief forum for John Cleese and Terry Gilliam, who first worked together under Kurtzman's direction, years before Monty Python. In his 1985 film Brazil, Gilliam gave Ian Holm's character, the boss of protagonist Sam Lowry, the name "Kurtzmann". The assistant editor of Help! was Charles Alverson, who later collaborated with Gilliam on the screenplay for Jabberwocky (1977).
The most notorious article to appear in Help! was "Goodman Beaver Goes Playboy!", a ribald parody of Archie Comics that resulted in a lawsuit from Archie's publisher. Despite a talented roster of friends and contributors including Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Gloria Steinem and Gahan Wilson, along with the above names, the magazine folded after 26 issues.
Kurtzman's career remained eclectic. His Little Annie Fanny began its 26-year run in Playboy in 1962, though some admirers felt it was "known more for its lavish production values than its humor."^[2] He co-scripted the animated film Mad Monster Party, which was released in 1967. In 1973, Kurtzman produced several animated shorts for Sesame Street,^[7] and that same year he appeared in a Scripto TV commercial drawing Little Annie Fanny on the wall of a prison cell. A series of reprint projects and one-shot efforts appeared in the 1970s and 1980s, including Kurtzman Komix, published in 1976 by Kitchen Sink Press.
In his later years, Kurtzman continued to work on anthologies and various other projects, as well as teaching a cartooning class at the School of Visual Arts. Beginning in 1988, the Harvey Awards, named for Kurtzman, were first given to the year's outstanding comics and creators. In the years before his death, Kurtzman returned to Mad for a brief stint, along with long-time collaborator Will Elder. Their pages were simply signed "WEHK".
Kurtzman died of liver cancer at the age of 68 on February 21, 1993.
In the end, Kurtzman's critical reputation has outlasted his career valleys and the formulaic or disappointing projects. He is routinely celebrated for his visual verve and artistic successes and is often cited as a key influence by many leading cartoonists. In its much-critiqued 2000 list of the century's Top 100 comics, The Comics Journal awarded Kurtzman five of the slots:

• 8. Mad comics by Harvey Kurtzman and various
• 12. EC's "New Trend" war comics by Harvey Kurtzman and various
• 26. The Jungle Book by Harvey Kurtzman
• 63. "Hey Look!" by Harvey Kurtzman
• 64. "Goodman Beaver" by Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder

Comics Journal publisher Gary Groth noted that Kurtzman's style "...achieves some sort of Platonic ideal of cartooning. Harvey was a master of composition, tone and visual rhythm, both within the panel and among the panels comprising the page. He was also able to convey fragments of genuine humanity through an impressionistic technique that was fluid and supple.”^[2]
Along with Will Eisner, Jack Kirby, Robert Crumb, Gary Panter and Chris Ware, Kurtzman was among the artists honored in the exhibition "Masters of American Comics" at the Jewish Museum in Manhattan from September 2006 to January 2007.^[18][19]
In 2009, The Art of Harvey Kurtzman: The Mad Genius of Comics, a comprehensive 256-page survey of Kurtzman's drawings, paintings, comic strips, graphic stories, comic books, magazines and paperbacks, was published by Abrams. Written by Denis Kitchen and Paul Buhle, the book includes both preparatory work and finished pieces. Kitchen commented:

Too often, especially with the collaborative work, Kurtzman’s contribution is quite literally unseen. Harvey was masterful with compositions and the interaction of figures. Since he often worked with brilliant cartoonists like Will Elder, Jack Davis, Wally Wood, Al Jaffee and others, it’s easy for a casual reader to assume they were responsible for the imagery and Harvey "just wrote" or "just laid out" the stories. By showing how complete and vigorous his layouts are, it’s much clearer that he was a true director of the finished work.^[2]