My White Heaven

Wonderfully retro and absurdly ethnocentric art depicting an idealized American empire on Earth and in Heaven from Bible Readings for the Home (Pacific Press Publishing Associates, 1963). The art of these books was incredibly sanitized and differed greatly from the Basil Wolverton style, who for his work with the Worldwide Church of God insisted on a "warts and all" approach to scripture.

The PPPA Bible series of books were ubiquitous and were to be found in just about every home, doctor's office and transmission repair shop customer lounge in America back in the 1960s. Anywhere there was a waiting room or lobby odds were good one of the PPPA volumes and a copy of Highlights for Children was on a table nearby. As a child I recall getting one of these volumes at the supermarket for the low, low price of 68 cents every time the family bought laundry detergent. One of the more morbidly humorous and shocking (to anyone not looking at life through the Unreality Filter) themes that run through the books is the death of a child. Typically, a young child would be portrayed about to experience horrible death while an all-powerful Angel looks on, presumably choosing not to intercede and only being present to escort the dead soul of the child to Heaven.

While today some people look back on the imagery of the PPPA series with amusement it should not be dismissed that the series represented, however intentional or through obliviousness, a very real difference about modern life in what was reality versus what was perceived as real. The series has been accused of being exclusionary to the point of being racist. If you were white, middle class and lived in the upper Midwest from 1954-1956 then these books probably closely reflected your actual life experience. Outside of that narrow demographic the real world was noticeably different and far, far harder to manage.

This volume also addresses the Cold War, Nuclear Armageddon and has lots of other images worth posting. More to follow.

Like A Brick Outhouse

You know what's hot? Chicks who were those short, too small t-shirts that expose the bottom part of their breasts and a whole lotta cleavage. Dude. You know what I mean?

I mean, DAMN. Lookit that. Strata is fine. She's so good, the usually too cool Querl Dox just had to have a piece of that. In a way Strata covering up the goodies just a little and teasing everyone is way hotter than when she ran around topless for a couple of years.

R.E.B.E.L.S. #4 (July 2009)

In Demand

Other than the usual 3-minute tales of romance both won and lost there are a few Texas tunes with another common theme, that of abandonment when the chips are down. The tune So-Called Friend and this weeks' featured song In Demand being two of them. While this just might be a case of going to the same creative well as other performers do for romance it is otherwise interesting to me that more than a few songs address this theme. Since I have never read about why this subject might be important to the band I can only speculate that this might have its origins the waning popularity and career changes of the band members who moved from Altered Images. The members of a once-popular band labored in relative obscurity for a few years and had to overcome the challenges of a changing market until they found new and moderate success with Texas.

The several tunes that deal with fair-weather people goes into even further detail, remarking that there are people who only want to be associated with the band or an individual only after they gain some notoriety. It is not unreasonable to think that the support of fans and business contacts would vanish with new directions in music or the first poorly selling album, only to be inundated with well-wishers, friends and parasites when later a single climbs the charts.

In Demand was a pretty respectful hit for Texas back in 2000. The song performed well even in countries it was not officially released in, undoubtedly reaching a wider audience through various online resources. The music video is notable for featuring popular actor Alan Rickman, who didn't appear too bewildered (as most movie stars do when appearing in music videos) and there is little reason not to suspect his part in the video helped promote the song.

From the compilation Texas The Greatest Hits is In Demand, featuring lead vocal Sharleen Spiteri fleeing from the Papparazzi and flirting like crazy with Hans Gruber.

Want To Hold My Toad?

Rare, possibly uncatalogued Hank Ketchum illustration featuring Dennis the Menace characters for the Childcraft: The How and Why Library series of reference books.

Childcraft: The How and Why Library, vol. 7, How We Get Things (1964). Original image 1963 by Hank Ketchum.

BURN!

From the Roswell Daily Record, Former President Bush gave a speech to a bunch of High School kids receiving scholarships. He mentioned how good it felt to no longer be the President. I think we can all empathize with that.

"I no longer feel that great sense of responsibility that I had when I was in the Oval Office," he said. "And frankly, it's a liberating feeling."

Bush told the soon-to-be-graduates that it was a strange experience walking his dog Barney in his new neighborhood after he moved back to Texas.

"I realized this was the first time I'd been walking in a neighborhood for 14 years," he said. "It's not all that hard, by the way. You take one step, and then you take another."

I wonder how far he walked? If I recall correctly the last time he tried to take 12 steps he didn't finish.

Most terrifying horror illustration ever

I would totally crap my pants, shriek like a little girl and then die of a massive heart attack if I was walking around a dark, creepy old house and was surprised by that duck. Don't lie and say you wouldn't, either.

The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle (Story and art by Hugh Lofting, Publisher F.A. Stokes, 1922).

Release the hounds!

Nice classic good girl cover art with a creepy theme from the Photo Club era of magazines when pervs gained a short-lived bit of main stream legitimacy. I think I should know who the cover artist was but I can't read the name and the parts I can make out doesn't look familiar.

Glamour Photography (Summer 1957).

Now with more lens flare

Got this Beam-Me-Up Star Trek movie tie-in badge in my dinner cereal last night. Not that I'd ever wear it, red is Engineering and that's what division Security is under, right? Wearing anything associated with a Redshirt is just asking for it.

Besides, there isn't any way to attach the badge to a shirt short of using a hot glue gun. I don't know what this thing does other than light up behind the insignia and at the tip and then only if you press the button pretty hard.

The picture on the box led me to believe there was a base for the badge included so it could stand up and look cool on a desk. But there isn't. Unfortunately, all it does is lay there. As far as promotions go the badge is kind of lame even as a flashlight. It would have been geek-cool if it had sound FX, could stand on it's side without falling, a clip to attach to your underwear or even a little hole in the body somewhere to run a chain through so you could attach it to your keys. Like the movie, the badge has potential and seems like it was intended to do something cool, but the company gave up somewhere between the licensing and the design stage.

Truer words never spoken

Strange Adventures #8 (May 1951).

Because sometimes you have to post a comic book page of astronauts massacring cuddly space-bears

Escape to the Stars #1 (1987).

Best Seller

Huh? See here.

Isn't that always the way?

Nice illustration from Glamour Girl Photography (October 1959) an otherwise sleazy kind of mag typical of the photo-club era.

Winter's End

The 1993 album Ricks Road by the Scottish band Texas is the collection that is most influenced by American music. The entire album is about as Country as they get and is full of good old down home Blues, or at least a European interpretation of what American Blues sounds like. Most of the tracks sound heartfelt and like most gospel tunes have pleas to a higher power for salvation and succor. Lead vocal Sharleen Spiteri doesn't really reach too far or work to hard in this production and saves the wild talent and passion for only a select few tracks.

While a few of the tunes would easily be accepted during a church service the track Fearing These Days would not be out of place as background music for a politician on the campaign trail. The breakout track from Ricks Road is the song So-Called Friend, familiar perhaps to most Americans as the theme song to the 1994-1998 Ellen DeGeneres sitcom Ellen. Amusingly, Sharleen Spiteri's usually non-existent brogue momentarily sneaks into the song Fearing These Days and it is noteworthy because she typically speaks and sings in English with no discernible accent (at least to American ears). It was just humorous to notice because for a second it made me think of Groundskeeper Willie from The Simpsons.

Ricks Road was not their most well-received album and admittedly there are a few creative missteps that as a fan I can overlook far easier than a professional critic is willing to do. Often the band explores certain musical styles and with White On Blonde and The Hush it worked to great effect. But with Ricks Road it appears that the band is still trying to find a direction beyond trying too hard to garner a hit by sounding like any number of other contemporary pop bands of the time. Still, I generally enjoy most of the tunes on any given Texas album and Ricks Road is no exception.

As usual there are not many Region 1 videos of the band available so I cobbled this one together featuring Winter's End, a nice little Bluesy-pop tune. Enjoy.

Land Without Pity

Success is 99% other people's inspiration

I'm usually a person who supports the proliferation of greater amounts of Hayley Mills merchandise. But this image from a users' personal online store of Hayley and a Sleestak on a t-shirt caught my attention this morning.

The image of a Sleestak posing with Hayley Mills that is used on the shirt and poster is from a quick-and-dirty photo manipulation I did for the for the blog back in back in November 2005. The only change to the original image I posted is the addition of some text at the bottom commemorating a fictional band and concert. I don't know how long the t-shirt and poster have been for sale. The seller information says 2007 but I regularly search for Hayley Mills and Sleestak references and this is the first I have seen of it.

While I don't own the original image of Hayley Mills and her father that I pasted a Sleestak head into, I don't make any money off of it either. I use it for review, parody and unabashed fan purposes. The image isn't a secret as you can find the original on the web. Heck, there is even a colorized version a friend fancied up for me.

This guy is charging a lot of money for a t-shirt where 99% of the product is from work done by someone else. The thing is, anyone can make their own customized t-shirt at much less expense. The website he is using is only one of many custom clothing sites that are available. Furthermore, anyone with a printer and an iron can make their own and far more original hipster pop-culture t-shirt at home for even less.

Now I know how Tony Abruzzo must have felt.

Redshirt Blues

At last! A "Redshirt" speaks out about his lot in life.

Yeah, he's pretty dead. From Star Trek: Mission's End #3 (May 2009).

And not to be missed by any Star Trek fan, 2001's Redshirt Blues by David O. Rogers. A fun look at what those poor security troops have to deal with on a day to day basis in the Trekoverse.

Dry those tears, I'm gonna be rich!

Cool panel from a story found in My Own Romance #9 (October 1949). I cleaned up the panel, added fresh color and threw in some Benday dots for that nifty pop art effect. I think it came out pretty sweet. The original artist probably got something like less than $15 a page for the entire job. Yet like Lichtenstein, I am prepared to sell a print of this for hundreds, maybe thousands of times what the original artist was paid for the original work.

Art is cool.

Surfbunnies!

Young Romance #156 (Oct-Nov 1968).

Jerks

"We were in the neighborhood and thought we'd drop by to rub your nose in our happiness."

True Secrets #12 (December 1951).

Mother's Day in Gotham City

Nobody forgets Mother's Day in Gotham City. You see, if sonny-boy don't make with the gifts those Gotham mommies will fill ya full of lead.

Batman: The Long Halloween #8 (July 1997).

Under Your Skin

Sunday is always Don't Mess With Texas day!

Several years ago one of the duties I performed to help out at a job I had was to transport cruise or merchant ship crew from the dock to their hotel or airport and back again. During layovers some employees or crew stayed off-ship or used air travel to get back home. Due to customs and immigration laws all the crew were supposed to stay at their lodgings but few of them did. Many hit San Diego for the nightlife (what little there is of it) and sometimes when it was time to go back to work I had to detour to pick the crew up at bars instead of their hotels. The most interesting group I ever transported were about ten Aussie sailors from a merchant ship. Crazy bastards all. I nearly got arrested twice driving them the 6 miles from the dock to their hotel.

One time I drove a group of about six sailors from the Philippines to a cheap hotel in the Sports Arena area where they would stay for a few days. I didn't speak their language (as far as they knew) and they didn't speak mine (as far as I knew) but I think I managed to round up all the correct crew members for a ride to their designated lodgings.

This was the year 2000 and I typically carried about ten CD's with me to play at work and in the car. About that time I was pretty heavy into Jazz, Show Tunes and Big Band music and rotated the albums out frequently. But no matter what CD's I carried around at least two of those were from the band Texas and those were usually White On Blonde and The Hush. Nobody else I knew admitted liking the band enough to buy a CD but not being a hipster who has their entire self-worth contingent on what other people think of them I didn't really care. I was always annoyed that Texas never toured in the Unites States but the reality is that there wasn't a market for them here.

After loading up all the gear the Philippine sailors piled into the van and I prepared to drive them to their hotel. I ejected the Martha Tilton CD from the dashboard player and inserted a random CD. It began to play and it just so happened to be The Hush, the most recent Texas album. The music started and my passengers yelled and started screaming "TEXAS! YEAH!" over and over. By the time I drove onto the highway they were all singing along to the tracks. I didn't know if I should be pleased or not. Texas couldn't get arrested in America yet these hard-working sea-dogs who walked down a rusty gangway from an equally rusty foreign cargo ship without wearing shoes on their feet knew all the lyrics by heart. Music, like hate, truly is a universal language. Not that we had any real trouble communicating. It was a thing, had to be there.

The following featured clip Under Your Skin is from Texas' 2003 album Careful What You Wish For. If I didn't already know the song was from Texas I'd swear it was a lost track from the Parallel Lines-era Blondie.

Retailer Incentive Cover

I'm usually not down with the photo reference art. Don't get me started on Greg Land.

This one by Adam Hughes is particularly screwing with my childhood memories.

Power Girl #1 (July 2009).

Alibi verified

The man previously arrested for an assault on a Linda Vista woman has been released pending further investigation after his alibi that he was at work during the incident was confirmed via time card punches and video. It is good that he is free.

This means, and always has, that there is a very bad person still out there. Let's hope the San Diego Police have some solid leads and will apprehend the right guy. Anonymous tips can be sent in via the San Diego Crime Stoppers site.

Read the story here.

Can't Do Attitude

Where's that famous Gale Allen and her Girl Squadron can-do spirit? I'm sure Gale could butcher everyone if she tried hard enough. I should read the story and see if the Boy Squadron saves her.*

Planet Comics #29 (March 1944).

* Yep, they do.

Three

Three albums that no mid-60s household in America went without.

Say What You Want

Sunday is always Don't Mess With Texas day!

Though I had heard a few tunes from the band Texas prior to 1995 via my interest in imported music I had never really payed much attention to them. That changed when one day I was idly browsing the directory of a promotional CD given to me buy a car salesman. Not wanting to load the bloated proprietary adware that was surely bundled along with the information about a car I was interested in buying I poked around through the various folders. Looking for Easter eggs on a CD was one of those nerdy things I did back then.

Several years before companies thought it necessary to protect their product with nothing more than a warning they thought nothing of releasing promotional materials that contained free songs, videos and photos of musical bands stored in standard formats. For the most part these promotional materials were not recorded as data that could only be read via proprietary media players and files could be easily viewed and copied. Most companies did not anticipate, understand or could cope with the emerging peer-to-peer technologies and were unprepared for what could happen to their intellectual properties and how it would, for a short time, affect sales. A few years later the label that carried Texas would make them one of the first bands to flood the peer-to-peer networks with fake music files to discourage unauthorized downloading). Quite often fun and interesting stuff (relatively, that is) could be found in the folders of the random compact disc.

In one folder I found some video files and opened them. One video was an annoying animated squirrel that hosted the section featuring a car and one was random video of the car I was test driving. A few other files were interesting and were just CD extras of some sort. One was an an audio interview with the band The Cardigans and one was a music video from Paris Hampton. The final video was from the band Texas, it was 60mg big when most computers had trouble holding that much information on an entire hard drive and I played the hell out of it. I still have the original CD in storage and may be most noteworthy today for containing the only remaining existing recording of Paris Hampton performing her signature song Old Ghost.

Heavy with CGI that must have been scary expensive back when it was created in 1995 the Texas video was the song Say What You Want from their White On Blonde album. I had actually heard the song a few times before on the radio but it was the video that helped make me a Texas fan. For those who are influenced by that aspect of it in choosing your music, in the video Sharleen Spiteri has evolved from the young, scruffy-cute New Wave garage band performer into the sexy and hot woman that would be later be promoted so heavily in materials for The Hush era album. One could also see in the video the inklings of why Sharleen has such a large lesbian following.

The song received some respectable though short-lived American airplay back in 1996, possibly aided by being on the soundtrack of a movie. The Wu-Tang Clan also collaborated on the song for a later release and it was that version that was played in concert when Texas was touring.

Here is the video for Say What You Want, from their official channel.

Thank you for your interest in our company

Thank you for your interest in our company and for submitting your resume for our review. Should our hiring managers have an interest in your skills and capabilities, they will contact you directly. In addition, we will keep your resume on file for 90 days.

Furthermore, please stop the daily practice of hand-delivering your art featuring creepy decapitated gnome heads floating on a rainbow in a forest glen that is in the process of being clear-cut by weird otter-beaver hybrids. The sea gull picture is actually very nice and reveals some creative talent but ethics rules prohibit the hiring of persons who give us gifts.

Just FYI, the content of the notes you are leaving with the pictures are making people nervous. Also, please stop addressing the notes to the "Queen Princess Hiring Manager" as she is already insufferable and all the attention is going straight to her head.

On a personal note may I suggest not drinking large amounts of beer immediately prior to a meeting? While I appreciate your assertion that you can "quit drinking anytime" it does not bode well for your job prospects that you drunkenly staggered around and slurred non sequiturs during your visit. As for your stated qualifications I would again remind you that begging for spare change in a parking lot is not actually "cashier experience".

While we encourage people to follow up on their interviews showing up unannounced may necessarily require you to wait until those people with appointments are seen first. Shouting at both the Store and Hiring Managers demanding to know why you were not yet hired with our company is not what I call good networking.

We appreciate your consideration as a potential employer.

Sincerely,

Human Resources

But...

Little more than halfway through ten days of work with no day off and a crazy/busy personal family schedule. We really need a second car. I know how Wambi feels.

Jungle Comics #66 (June 1945).

I Don't Want A Lover

It's Sunday, so that means it's Don't Mess With Texas Day!

Why would a Scottish pop band not focusing on country or western music name their group after the most embarrassing state (after Kansas) in America? Actually, they didn't!

The inspiration for the band moniker Texas came not from the state but rather the 1984 film Paris, Texas. Oddly, there exists a number of pop-culture references to the film by various music groups. It appears that Paris, Texas the film is to musicians what Catcher in the Rye the book is to serial killers. The movie must strike some special chord with creative music types. Singer/Songwriter Sharleen Spiteri is on record as acknowledging that the band name may have diminished their chances to be heard in America as anyone observing the group's title would assume they were a country band and dismiss their work.

I Don't Want A Lover was the first big musical hit for Texas way back in 1989. The rock blues influence of Johnny McElhone (formerly of the New Wave bands Altered Images and Hipsway) and Sharleen was strong on the debut album, Southside. The song I Don't Want A Lover is notable for rising to a respectable place on Top Ten music charts and then several years later unexpectedly breaking into the charts again.

THIS IS WHY TELEVISION WAS INVENTED

TIME-TRAVELING DINOSAUR VS. HELICOPTER

Primeval (Series 3, Episode 18).

Book him, Danno

On April 22nd a suspect was apprehended in the April 18th assault of a woman in Linda Vista. That was fast! I encourage everyone to let the boys in blue know how much we appreciate their good work in finding the alleged attacker.

Story via KGTV 10 News.

UPDATE: He didn't do it.

The Complete Shakespeare for Americans

Shakespeare for Americans has been updated and is now complete.

Doin' the Desert Jive

Whisper #3 (May 1950).

Crime Watch: Linda Vista Road and Fulton Street

Last Saturday on April 18, 2009, shortly after 6:00 a.m. in the vicinity of Linda Vista Road and Fulton Street a female friend was walking to the bus stop on her way to work when she was ambushed and viciously assaulted in what Police are calling an attempted rape.

Her attacker shoved a gun to the side of her head and started to drag her away. She fought back. At least one shot was fired by her assailant that narrowly missed hitting and probably killing her. She was beaten with the pistol and received numerous injuries before her attacker fled the scene. Eventually, she was assisted by some people in nearby apartments.

She is hurt, traumatized and it is likely that she will not be returning to work for some time. She is fortunate to be alive. It is without reservation that I can attest my friend was respected and liked, if not loved by everyone who knew her. Her fellow employees are taking up a collection for her at work. This woman has some healing to do, might be out of work for a while and she and her family should not be worried about whether the electricity will be turned off during her recuperation.

Here is the initial news report: Suspect in Linda Vista Assault Still on the Loose.

The first follow-up report is mostly about public safety: Protect Yourself from an Attack with Self-Defense Training. I appreciate that the choice to fight an attacker was addressed. She was hurt and could have been killed, but common wisdom states that if taken from the scene of an attack the odds of survival drop precipitously.

The suspect was described as male, of slim build, dark-skinned, in his late 20s and wearing a white, hooded sweatshirt. It was reported that he fled the scene in a dark-colored compact vehicle. This is an initial description and may not be fully accurate.

I'm sure the Police will be doing all they can to apprehend this criminal. If the age of the attacker is as reported it is doubtful this is the first crime this person has perpetrated and he is in a database somewhere. It is during events like the recent attack that one wishes television crime shows were not so fanciful and that DNA tests would quickly identify a suspect in a matter of hours. A check of the San Diego Police Department crime statistics maps reveals a number of sexual assaults in the vicinity over the last month but it isn't possible for civilians to determine if they are related. The stats for that particular area are not any greater or less than those for nearly any section of the city so it would be foolish to speculate and better left for Police to determine.

While often it is the steady hard work of dedicated and trained individuals in Law Enforcement that solves crimes sometimes they are closed by the average person connecting some dots and passing the word along. I'm hoping that if the Police are unable to swiftly resolve this crime then maybe some civilian will help. For example: One could help by noticing that someone matching the description of the attacker and driving a similar car didn't come into work Monday. Then when they showed up on Tuesday had lots of scratches about the face and arms.

Anonymous tips can be sent in via the San Diego Crime Stoppers site.

When We Are Together

Sunday is Don't Mess With Texas Day!

Texas is a band that due in large part to singer/songwriter Sharleen Spiteri has creatively always sought inspiration from decades of music. Their output is somewhat eclectic in nature. They don't just jump on whatever trend that happens to be popular at the time, rather they experiment with different styles. This is typically some time after the music they are referencing has dimmed in the public consciousness. The band has been variously blues, pop, pop-urban and alternative. Sharleen Spiteri cites Motown legend Diana Ross as one of her influences and this is particularly evident in the 1999 album The Hush. Several tunes are direct homages to the vocal styling of Ross. That unique Diana Ross pacing and tone can be clearly heard in the songs When We Are Together and Black Eyed Boy from their album The Hush.

So go ahead and spend a few minutes listening to When We Are Together. Like most music videos ever it's kind of pointless but it does have Sharleen splashing around in a pool, so there is that.

Admittedly, Texas and their music are not everyone's cup of haggis but I usually enjoy their work. I found out a little while ago that Sharleen Spiteri recently released the delightfully retro solo album Melody. While on break from the group in 2008 she worked on her own project. Many of the new tunes on Melody are stylistically reminiscent of the mod atmosphere of Swingin' 60s London. Melody features Spiteri on a trip into the ancient past, accomplished by channeling the artistic spirits of the talents of Nancy Sinatra, Dusty Springfield and even Petula Clark all while retaining her own unique voice.

Happy Birthday, Hayley!

The world was made a better place on April 18th.

Happy Birthday!

Nerd Libs

This solicit has been showing up in the recent DC Comics titles this month. Yes, it's stupid.

I'm cynical enough that I'm convinced comic book companies put out these sort of advertisements just so suckers like me post and comment on them. Yeah, Okay. It worked. Other and far more qualified and caring critics will be commenting on why the members of the JLA are so serious about Supergirl's breasts. I imagine there will be plenty of "Caption What The Guys Are Thinking" contests going around for everyone to play with.

For my efforts though it's going to be interesting to see how people are going to insert their own words in the redacted spaces in the "memo" from Dan Didio to Ian Sattler.

Why do I think it's going to be along the lines of Gang-Orgy, Supergirl and YouTube?

The finger, having accused, points

Illustrations from the May 1945 issue of the National Police Gazette. A time of grand-standing, politically power-crazed Government oppressing the brilliant by crushing dissent, fear-mongering, pandering to the gullible and telling the easily manipulated there was a bogey-man under the bed. People think they have it bad today...