James Rhodes Iron Man/War Machine

When Tony Stark was battling his alcoholism his friend James Rhodes took over as Iron Man. While he did a good job he started to get headaches and have attacks of erratic and violent behavior. It was reveled that the reason was because the armor was tuned for Tony Stark’s brainwaves only. Tony was still recovering and not able to wear the armor but he did what he could to help Jim maintain his sanity. However, he grew more paranoid and Tony had to put on prototype armor to stop him. Tony eventually took over the armor again and designed a suit of armor for Jim Rhodes that he wore and called himself War Machine. He fought side by side with Iron Man till Tony Stark had to fake his own death. When Jim Rhodes found out he was alive it ended their friendship and Iron Man and War Machine went their separate ways.
During a solo adventure War Machine got some alien armor. When it seemed that Stark had died for real Jim Rhodes went back to Stark Enterprises. He used his armor to erase any trace of the Iron Man armor from the computers memory to keep it out of enemy hands. After this Jim Rhodes gave up his superhero career.
Later, when it turned out Tony Stark had not died, Jim and Tony became friends again and fought together against a villain who was calling himself War Machine. Currently Jim Rhodes is head of Sentinel Squad O*N*E. He wears armor that they made from Sentinel technology.

You can go to the site to get the comic book above if you click on the title.

1974 and the Punisher

1974 was a year that changed how action was handled in comic books. Mainly it was because of the creation of two characters. Those characters were the Punisher and Wolverine and both were from Marvel comics. Both first appeared in 1974 and at that time it seemed that they would only be guest stars in the Marvel books. I don’t believe that their creators had any conscious intentions to make comic books more violent but in many ways that was the end result. Mostly I will talk about the Punisher as this month is the anniversary of his first being published in Amazing Spider-Man #128. The Punisher was created by Gerry Conway and Ross Andru. John Romita Sr. was Marvel’s art director and helped Gerry Conway create the design of the Punishers costume. All comic book fans know that Frank Castle was an ex-Marine who was out on a picnic with his family when they witnessed a murder and those crooks shot them to keep them quiet. Frank lived and became the Punisher to stop all criminals to have revenge for the murder of his family. While this feeling is understandable and can make for a great action/adventure book Frank, by killing his enemies does them and perhaps his world a great injustice. He takes away any chance for the criminals to change. They can no longer pay any debt to society that they owe and become good citizens. Also, what if one time it turned out he was wrong about a person and he killed someone who was innocent? His whole publication history is filled with violence, revenge and at times insanity. In many ways he is Batman gone one step too far. Bruce Wayne has only been known to kill to save his life or someone else’s life. For a time they tried to make readers believe that the Punisher was only knocking them out with what he called mercy bullets. A young and naïve child like myself at the time believed that. It really is to their credit that they did this but after awhile that was gone. When I was younger if Punisher or Wolverine would say they took care of the guard I thought they had just knocked them out and tied them up. After awhile they started to indicate that it meant that they killed the guard.
In his first appearance Frank Castle is hired by the villain the Jackal to kill Spider-Man. Believing the editorials of J. Jonah Jameson in the Daily Bugle that Spider-Man is a menace he takes it not knowing the Jackal is really the bad guy. Once he sees the truth he lets Spider-Man go but warns him if Spidey does change sides that the Punisher will come after him.
The Punisher was a hit and made many guest appearance in the Spider-Man family of books. In the 1980’s he was finally given his shot in a mini-series. Marvel did it reluctantly as he was really a cold blooded serial killer. But Mike Zeck and Steve Grant pleaded their case and won. The series was a hit and soon he had his own ongoing series. It ran for 104 issues before being canceled in 1995. It also spawned two other series The Punisher War Journal ran from 1988-1995 and The Punisher War Zone ran from 1992-1995. He even had a couple of black and white magazines that were for more adult readers. They were The Punisher magazine and The Punisher Armory. Since the cancellation of all of his books he has been a guest in books like Daredevil, Captain America, the Nam and the hard to believe cross over with Frank Castle meeting Archie Andrews. He has had his own mini-series again and was a staple of the Marvel Knights family of characters. Recently he has been in the Civil War series as a reluctant solider following Captain America’s orders.
None of this is to say that violence in comic books stared with the Punisher. When comic books started many of the heroes were pretty violent. Batman even carried a gun for awhile. However, most of the heroes had to have a good reason to use violence. Most of the violence was acceptable since many of the heroes were helping to fight World War II. Since the 1950’s and the creation of the Comics Code Authority most violence was kept in check until the 1970’s. It is just my humble opinion that you could point to 1974 as the year when unnecessary violence started to make its comeback with the creation of the Punisher and later Wolverine. Don’t get me wrong I was like a lot of people. I bought many of the Punisher books and some of the copy cats that later appeared. Many of my family and friends thought it was odd that a non-violent person that I was would enjoy these books. Like I said before it was pretty good fiction for adults. I just hope a younger more impressionable reader didn’t think this was the way justice or law and order should be handled in real life.

The Black Hood

The Black Hood was really a hero from Archie Comics. However, Archie had a hard time reintroducing comic book buyers to their superheroes. They had been trying for years but with no luck in gathering interest in them. So in 1991 they licensed them out to DC Comics in hopes they could have better luck. However, DC didn’t do very well with them either. It isn’t, in my opinion, that they were bad. Some of them were pretty good. I think the problem lay in that they didn’t add them into the DC Universe. Instead they started a sister line of comic books with Impact Comics. The one I found most interesting was the Black Hood. It seems that the hood that was worn to mask the face of the crime fighter was enchanted. No matter who wore it they were always filled with the notion to fight evil and all of their abilities and talents were enhanced. Wearing of the hood was also addictive. Once a person wore the hood they had a hard time not putting it back on. The hood had existed for centuries and had been worn by a French woman who was much like Joan of Arc and a western crime fighter whose adventures inspired the creation of the Lone Ranger. My favorite was when it was wore by an African-American gangster named Giles “Hit” Coffee. He was a main man on many crimes in town and for a few issues he came into possession of the hood. No matter how hard he tried he always put on the hood and stopped the crimes that he had helped to set up. It was driving his the other criminals crazy on how the Black Hood knew where to be to always stop them. Eventually he was successful in taking off the hood and it wound up with a teenage boy. The teenager eventually became a younger version of Marvel Comics the Punisher who was very popular at that time.
I think they should have stayed with “Hit” Coffee as the Black Hood. It would have been fun to see him bring down the cities criminal organization from the inside. It would have also been fun to see how he kept them from finding out that he was the Black Hood. Either way for a few issues Giles “Hit” Coffee qualified as a black superhero in the history of comic books.

The Impact Black Hood ran for 12 issues and one annual before all of the Impact books were canceled.

God is always willing to forgive us

And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.
Luke chapter 17 verse 4 KJV

Since forgiveness is an expression of love, a person whose life has an endless supply of love should be demonstrating an endless supply of forgiveness. We can experience unlimited love in our relationship with God. It is this resource that makes it possible for us to forgive others again and again. First, we recognize that God forgives us time and time again. Second, we want to express God's love in a world that needs desperately to witness it.

Black Goliath

Black Goliath is really the second Giant-Man. The first Giant-Man was Dr. Hank Pym. Dr. Bill Foster was his assistant and was introduced in the Avengers #32 in 1966. He did not become the superhero Black Goliath until 1975. His first appearance as that character was in Power Man #24.
Dr. Foster got Pym particles while in the employ of Hank Pym and it gave him the ability to grow 15 ft. tall and the strength to go with it. As all good men and women of comic books do he decided to use his new powers to fight crime. In 1975 he very briefly had his own series for five issues. He has been a member of various groups such as the Champions, the Defenders and the West Coast Avengers. While with the West Coast Avengers he changed his name to Giant-Man. However, it was soon revealed that Foster was dying of radiation poisoning from a battle with Atom-Smasher years ago. Spider Woman is immune to radiation but when she saves Fosters life with a blood transfusion she looses her immunity. Later, in another battle Bill Foster looses his powers when everyone, except for Hank Pym oddly enough, who came into contact with Pym particles loose control of their powers. Over the years since then other teams and heroes have been able to call on their old friend Dr. Bill Foster for help. Recently he was seen in the mini-series Civil War as an undercover agent on the side of Captain America as a member of the anti-registration Secret Avengers. In issue #4 of that series Black Goliath was killed by a clone of Thor. His final words were oddly prophetic. He said “Get ready for the shortest comeback in history Thor.” With his death many on Iron Man’s pro-registration team changed sides. They started to question Iron Man’s cause. However Tony Stark did pay for his burial. He had to buy 38 plots as they could not shrink him back to normal size. The character of Bill Foster was created by Stan Lee and Don Heck but his identity of Black Goliath was created by Tony Isabella and George Tuska in Power Man.

Firestorm

Firestorm didn’t start out as an African-American superhero. He was at first Ronnie Raymond a teenager who was in the wrong place at the wrong time when a nuclear accident happened and he was able to merge with Professor Stein and together they became Firestorm. Ronnie was in charge of the body because Stein had been knocked out before the accident. However, Stein was able to mentally talk to Ronnie to advise him on what actions to take. Ronnie was able to remember what they did as Firestorm but the Professor was not. When Ronnie saw the toll that it was taking on the Professor’s life Ronnie told him of their shared identity.
As Ronnie Firestorm in some ways resembled Richard Rider who became Nova over at Marvel Comics. In some ways their comic book careers mirrored each other. Both of their series were hits but popularity quickly died. They stayed in the comic book buyer’s eye by being members of superhero teams. Nova was in the New Warriors and Firestorm hit it big with membership in the JLA. Their popularity came back and both were given new series but the Fury of Firestorm lasted the longest. Eventually it too was canceled. It was during Infinite Crisis that we found out that only Ronnie died on their last assignment, investigating the murder of Sue Dibney, but the Professor was still alive in space. He merged with an African-American youth named Jason Rusch. Jason told Stein that Ronnie was dead. After helping him through his grief Jason and Stein became the new Firestorm. His adventures continue to this day and many of them dwarf the adventures that Ronnie had as Firestorm. Mr. Raymond will always be my Firestorm but it is great to know that Jason and Martin will continue in the role.

This Day in Music History: The Beatles and I Want to Hold Your Hand

On February 1,1964, this day in music history, the dividing line between the rock and roll eras in America was completed. On one side of the line was Bobby Vinton who had the last hit of early era and on the other side was The Beatles with the first hit of the new rock and roll era. That song is I Want to Hold Your Hand. Other performers of the early era would still have hits from time to time over the next year or two but today is the anniversary of the beginning of the British invasion.
Brian Epstein, The Beatles manager, thought he would never get his group to have any hits in the USA. For one year the Beatles had become huge stars in England and the next logical step in their careers was to have them go to America. They were on the EMI label in England and he kept trying to get Capitol, the American label that EMI owned, to put them on their label. Their answer was always no. They said they may be a hit in England but you don’t know how to make records for America. So they licensed some of their songs to smaller labels in America like Swan and Vee Jay records just to give them a presence in the States. Mr. Epstein was not going to give up. He tried one more time when he took a trip to New York and gave a demo tape to Brown Meggs the director of eastern operations for Capitol Records. Mr. Meggs thought the record might do well in America. Before he left New York he met another man. He was a talent scout who saw how big the Beatles were when he was in England. He was at the airport in England when he saw a huge crowd greeting The Beatles when they were returning home from Sweden. When he left New York Mr. Epstein had signed The Beatles to Capitol Records and to a television deal to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show.
I Want to Hold Your Hand was released in England on December 5,1963 and went to #1. When American DJ’s saw how big it was they didn’t want to wait for Capitol to release it in the USA on January 13,1963. Some of them had friends who had been to Britain and bought them copies and they started playing it immediately. Capitol advanced their date to December 26,1963. A few weeks later it was #1 in the USA.
If you scroll down you can see a rare photo of the Beatles back stage at the Ed Sullivan Show.

Beatles backstage

Here is a photo of the Beatles backstage of the Ed Sullivan show. Ed is pretty clear and you can tell George is standing in front of him. It looks like John is to his left and I believe Ringo is on George's right. With all the people with hand held cameras and recorders it seems to be the media event announcing their apperance on the show. This is all speculation on my part but that is what I think it is.

Remembering George Harrisons Birthday

I remember reading that George Harrison said that he was born in February 1943 in the book The Beatles Anthology. He didn't say what date it was so I am placing this on here on February 1st. I thought when I was writing last December on the day Lennon died that it seem crazy to celebrate the day someone who's work you liked and respected died. Why celebrate that day? It almost sounds like your glad they are gone. Why not the day they were born? So from now on I plan on posting celebrations of the day those people were born and will try to ignore the day they died. So if any of George Harrison's family comes across this then I just want you to know that he is fondly remembered and he gave all of us a good time with his music and movies.

This Day in Music History: Blondie and The Tide Is High

John Holt originally wrote and recorded the song "The Tide Is High" with his Jamaican band the Paragons. When Blondie was in London someone gave the group a compilation tape and that song was on the tape. When Deborah Harry and Chris Stein of Blondie heard the song they loved it and thought it could be a hit. It was the music more then the lyrics that they fell in love with. Deborah said "The musicality of it was just beautiful-beautiful melody, beautiful treatment. The harmonies on the original are very exciting." The difference between the original recording and Blondies is in the harmonies. Deborah again said that "the harmonies are slightly different because theirs are men's voices, so they are hitting some lower notes then I would hit." While there were many songwriters in the group they decided to record this outside song. It was included on their new LP. Their faith in the song was well founded when it was released as a single in November of 1980. It climbed the chart up to the #1 position on this day in music history January 31, 1981.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home!

The classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon series Wait Till Your Father Gets Home comes to DVD this year but no exact date has yet been announced. Harry Boyle was your typical conservative Dad and he often clashed with his children the smart and liberal daugther, his older but dumb unemployed son and he smart money minded younger son (around 10 years old). The mother was very loving of them all but when there was trouble with the kids she always told them to Wait Till Your Father Gets Home. The show was released locally in first run syndication.

Pre-order season one of WKRP in Cincinnati

One of the funniest shows of the late 70's is now on DVD. WKRP was pretty accurate on what it was like to work at radio station and very funny at the same time. Season one is being released in April. You can click here to pre-order season one of WKRP in Cincinnati on DVD No cover art yet but I will show it to you when I know it is available. Till then I hope you like the TV guide cover.

This Day in Music History: Rose Royce and Car Wash

After years at Motown co-writing and producing hits like I Heard it Through the Grapevine for Marvin Gaye, War for Edwin Starr and many songs for the Temptations like I Can't Get Next to You, Papa Was A Rolling Stone and many more Norman Whitfield proved he was a mastermind when it came to making hit music. In the early 1970's he put together eight men and one woman to form the group Rose Royce. They had a few hits but their biggest was the title song for the hit comedy film Car Wash. Mr. Whitfield was asked to score the film and he asked Rose Royce and the Pointer Sisters to preform some of the non-stop disco/funk music for the film. Mr. Whitfield said he tried to have the music fit the mood of each scene. For example you would have some tense music in the scene where someone tries to talk a man out of holding up the place. With that in mind the opening theme seems like a car going through an automatice car wash. You hear handclaps as the water sprays the car. Then the bass comes in as the brushes are cleaning the car. As the car is finished running through its cycle the music is at its height. All of this came together to make Car Wash the #1 song in the country on this day in music history January 30, 1977.

Do you fall into discouragement after spiritual highs?

Elijah was afraid and fled for his life.… Then he went alone into the desert.… He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die.
1 Kings 19:3-4 NLT

Elijah experienced the depths of fatigue and discouragement just after his two great spiritual victories: the defeat of the prophets of Baal and the answered prayer for rain. To lead him out of depression, God first let Elijah rest and eat. Then God confronted him with the need to return to his mission in life—to be God's prophet.
Elijah's battles were not over; there was still work for him to do. Often discouragement sets in after great spiritual experiences, especially those that produce a high level of emotional excitement or that require a lot from us physically. When you feel let down after a spiritual "high," do what is necessary to restore your inner resources. And remember that God still has a purpose and plan for you.

Marvel in house ad

Remember seeing these ads for King Size books of your favorite comic books? Sure you had to pay twice the price but you knew it would be worth it. Even if the extra pages were reprints from the 40's or 50's chances were that story was new to you. Also, speaking of events you can come here on Feburary 1st for a my event celebrating Black History month when I will be posting character blogs of an African-American superhero each day.

This Day in Music History: Stevie Wonder and Superstition

This day in music history, January 27th 1973, the #1 song on the Billboard charts was Stevie Wonder with Superstition. A few months earlier he was working on his new album called Talking Book. He was certain that the song he was working on for the album, Big Brother, would be a big hit and should be the single released from the album. Motown was certain it should be Superstition. Stevie said he wrote the song for Jeff Beck. He felt it more suited Jeffs style of music. Stevie said he was certain Jeff would release Superstition before he did since he was still working on the album. However, since Stevies version of the song was already finished Motown released his version before the album in November of 1972. A few weeks later it was the #1 song in the country.

This Day in Music History: Ringo Starr and You're Sixteen

On this day in music history, January 26th 1974, Ringo Starr had the #1 song for one week with You're Sixteen. The song had been a hit for Johnny Burnette in 1960 when it went to #8 but Ringo took it all the way up to the top. The song was produced by Richard Perry when he produced the Ringo album for Mr. Starr. Mr. Perry said that working on that album was one of the highlights of his career and that it would be hard to top. Perhaps it was because he got to work with all of the Beatles. No matter what problems they had that caused them to break up the other three always seemed to want to help Ringo. John and George were in Los Angeles where most of the album was recorded so it was easy just for them to call and drive over to help out. George co-wrote with Ringo the song Photograph the albums first #1 song as well as played on it. He also played on "I'm the Greatest" a song that John wrote and preformed on. Too bad Paul was on the other side of the world at the time. If he had been in L.A. we may have had the first full member Beatle reunion. Chances are at that time John wouldn't have shown up if he knew Paul would be there. Still Paul also helped out on the album. Richard Perry was working with Paul on the music for a TV special he was doing in London. At that time he was also producing Ringo's new album and they were recording part of if in London at the same time. Paul was good enough to write a song for Ringo and he also sang on You're Sixteen. Yes if you listen closely to the record you will hear what sounds like a kazoo solo. It isn't a kazoo or any musical instrument at all. It is actually Paul singing the part only he made it sound like it was a kazoo. So Paul is singing on the song with Ringo.

Real Obedience

"But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, 'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.' The son answered, 'No, I won't go,' but later he changed his mind and went anyway. Then the father told the other son, 'You go,' and he said, 'Yes, sir, I will.' But he didn't go. Which of the two was obeying his father?"They replied, "The first of course." Then Jesus explained the meaning "I assure you, corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do. For John the Baptist came and showed you the way to life, and you didn't believe him, while tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to turn from your sins and believe him."
Matthew 21:28-32 NLT
Real obedience
Someone has said that the road to destruction is paved with good intentions. In this parable, Jesus is showing us that our actions prove our obedience or disobedience. Even though the one son had no intention of obeying, the fact that he obeyed in the end made him the obedient son. The other son said the right thing but didn't follow through, and he was therefore disobedient. We are reminded that our professions of faith are only as valid as the actions that follow them. Which brother in this story illustrates your walk with Christ?

Obeying God brings great joy

Obeying God brings great joy
Is your life dreary or joyful?
[Jesus said,] "I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey me, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father and remain in his love. I have told you this so you will be filled with joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!"
John 15:9-11 NLT
Finding joy
Why should joy flow from obedience?
Because of the "never say die" misconception in some quarters that the Christian life is, at best, a dreary existence and at worst, a grim process of spiritual survival.
No! Jesus wants our lives to be rich and full (John 10:10). The Bible demonstrates repeatedly that joy can be our companion—even during life's worst moments. William Vander Hoven has noted: "Life need not be easy to be joyful. Joy is not the absence of trouble but the presence of Christ." We've all known believers who understood that truth. Despite hard times they were filled to overflowing with joy. Tell the truth—is anything more eye-catching or more attractive than that?
Whatever your current difficulty, the more you are convinced of Christ's unconditional love for you, and the more you are committed to loving him in return by obeying all that he commands, the more you will know the supernatural joy of Jesus.
You want me to know your love, Lord. I demonstrate love and experience love as I obey you. Rekindle my desire to live as you command. You want me to overflow with joy. Make my eyes dance with joy. Despite my troubles, put a supernatural spring in my step. Fill my soul with delight as I seek you and obey you and taste your goodness. Make me attractive to those trapped in joyless lives.

Happy Anniversary to Howard the Duck

I talked about the 33rd anniversary of Marvel Two-In-One earlier well I should also point out that January of this year is also the 31st anniversary of Howard the Duck #1. He was created by writer Steve Gerber and first appeared in Adventure into Fear #19 in 1973 for Marvel comics. Not long after that he was given a back up feature in Giant Size Man-Thing.
Howard's story starts on another planet called Duckworld. It looks very much like our Earth except that the dominant life forms are ducks that speak english. Howards life is thrown upside down when a power hungry villain named Thog wants to rule every universe. He uses his power to shift the cosmic axis and hoped to collapse them all into one universe under his rule. What it did was drop Howard from Duckworld into ours. He landed in the Florida everglades where he met Man-Thing and his friends. Together they defeated Thog but instead of Howard going home as they planned he fell again and landed in Cleveland, Ohio. There he met and befriended a pretty young lady named Beverly. It was around this time Howrd the Duck proved popular enough to get his own comic book. The series was mostly about how he tried various jobs to fit into this new world and along the way would save the world from minor villains. In many storylines it was a parody of modern science fiction and fantasy stories of the day. The distributors of Marvel comics was accused of making the first issue scarce but buying up and hording the book so that it became a collector's item. The fact was hinted at in one of Stan Lee's Soapbox articles that you can read here. If this was really done or if it was done on purpose I can't say for certain but the allegations were there. It seemed like almost over night the price of the book went from twenty five cents to ten dollars if you could find the book. What really helped its popularity was when they ran Howard for President for the All Night Party. Every where you looked you saw stickers and buttons of Howard the Duck for President. He lost to Jimmy Carter. The book was so popular that it spawned a newspaper strip and later George Lucas and Universal produced a big budget film called...Howard the Duck. It was a huge flop. George Lucas and the stars, Lea Thompson, Jeffrey Jones, Tim Robbins and Chip Zein as the voice of Howard, would like us all to forget. But we will never forget people. How could we forget THAT movie? Howard the Duck the movie also taught me a lesson. How your mentality of seeing a movie at midnight is completly different then at 3pm. I saw the film at a midnight show the first time. I really enjoyed it. When it came out on VHS I rented it and watched it at 3 in the afternoon. The movie was lousy. I couldn't wait to get it back to the rental store.

Howard the Duck is one of the early characters who brought to light the problems with character creations in the comic book industry. Steve Gerber has had a long battle with Marvel comics over his character. It resulted in Mr. Gerber being taken off the book. While the book was published for a few issues more many major industry artist like Jack Kirby and Gene Colon sided with Gerber. They produced some parody comics like Destroyer Duck to get Gerbers side of the story told. With Gerbers vision of the character gone Howard the Duck was eventually canceled. It was brought back a couple of times since, one with Gerber as the writer, and the character as appeared in other books over the years but all had mixed results. The original series ended in 1979 with issue #31 but in the 1980's Marvel put out issues 32 and 33. More recentlty Howard showed up in a Civil War mini-series tie in. It was there that Howard found out that the Government took a stand that Howard didn't exist. He had caused them so much headaches that decided to ignore him. He was very pleased as this ment that he would not have to pay taxes or anything else.

Ad for a new G.I. Joe character...Bulletman

Remember seeing this G.I. Joe ad for the new member of their Adventure Team? He was Bulletman the Human Bullet. Wasn't Bulletman a Fawcett character? Didn't DC Comics buy the rights to all of those characters? Eagle Eye G.I. Joe looks a lot like the Six Million Dollar Man who was popular on TV at that time. Hasbro should consider themselves lucky they weren't sued.

Happy be-lated Birthday Keith Pollard

I just found out that January 20th was Keith Pollards birthday. Keith was the main artist on Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and Mighty Thor for most of the 70's and 80's. He also had a pretty good run on Green Lantern and Wonder Woman over at DC. Thanks to being the artist for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe he can safely say that he has drawn every character at Marvel Comics. He is also the co-creator of the Black Cat along with Marv Wolfman. Happy Birthday Mr. Pollard. I hope you had a good day.

This Day in Music History: Michael Bolton and How Am I Supposed to Live Without You

Michael Bolton and Doug James were both surprised when they got a call that Laura Branigan was interested in recording How Am I Supposed to Live Without You, the song they wrote together. You see the song had already been placed on hold by Arista artist Air Supply. However, Clive Davis wanted to make a change in the chorus that Michael Bolton didn't want made. Still they were excited that Air Supply wanted to record it as they were selling millons of records at that time. In the end Air Supply never recorded the song and Branigan did. She took it up the charts to number 12 in the top 40.
For Michael Bolton this was great. It was his first big hit for him as a songwriter. He had others record his songs before like Rex Smith, the Pointer Sisters, Kenny Rogers, Starship and Joe Cocker but they were mostly album cuts. Now he had co-written a hit song.
In 1983 Deidre O'Hara of CBS Songs introduced him to Doug James. They went into the studio and joked around while getting to know each other. Finally Doug sat down at the piano and Michael started singing. They started bouncing ideas off each other and the first song they wrote was this one.
It was while waiting on Air Supply to record it that they got a call saying "Congratulations! Laura Branigan's cutting your song this afternoon." Doug James said he was worried because they had not done a lead sheet yet. However, Branigan cut the song from the demo tape.
When Bolton wrote the song he was really a rocker and trying to stay away from ballads. He had been in a band that release a couple of albums that sounded more like Led Zeppelin or Bad Comapany. He went did a couple of solo rock albums but they didn't do too well on the charts. With that experience and the urging of others he went from rock and roll to pop ballads. He has been more successful in music ever since.
Doug James said that Michaels version of How Am I Suppose to Live Without You is closer to what they had in mind then Laura Branigans. It was the second single from his Soul Provider album and became the first #1 song of the 1990's on this day in music history, January 20,1990. It was #1 on the Billboard charts for 3 weeks.

Happy Anniversary Marvel Two-In-One

This month is the 33RD anniversary of Marvel Two-in-One. Marvel had such success with Marvel Team-Up with Spider-Man that they created another team up book. The star of this book, which started in 1974, was the Fantastic Fours ever lovin’ blue eyed Thing. Like Spider-Man did in Marvel Team-Up the Thing would have a different guest star from the Marvel roster of heroes. His first guest star was Man-Thing who would also get his own series that year. One of its more popular issues was the King-Sized Annual #2. It said that Spider-Man was the guest star but it also had Captain Marvel, the Avengers and Warlock. The story was written by Jim Starlin and they were fighting Thanos who was going to destroy half the stars in the universe. In the end Thanos and Warlock “died”. However, death in comic books is rarely permanent and both were brought back years later in the Silver Surfer’s comic book.
While the series was never as popular as Marvel Team-Up it did have an impressive run. It lasted for 100 issues and ran from 1974 to 1983 and had several annuals. In his last team up he was joined by his human self Ben Grimm. This happened when he was able to visit an alternate world where he had never become the Thing.
So Happy Anniversary to Marvel Two-in-One. Too bad you didn’t get to run a lot longer.

If you want the first issue as seen above you can click on the title and go to a site where you can buy it.

New Universal #1

Slowly but surely Marvel Comics has been reintroducing the New Universe. First they gave us new stories, and in some cases completing stories, based on the old series that started the New Universe during Jim Shooters run as editor-in-chief at Marvel. Now we have New Universal. The book is being published semi-monthly and it is where the fabled “White Event” takes place. The white event is what started the old New Universe series of books. The white event takes place in outer space but it has ramifications with certain people on Earth. They have something in them that is like the mutant gene in the Marvel Universe and it ignites that gene and gives them all special powers. This issue is written by Warren Ellis and art by Salvador Larroca. The art is breathtaking. The shots from outer space made me feel as if I was on a space station looking at the Earth. Most importantly Mr. Ellis gives us more background stories on the main characters. Mostly Star Brand and Justice. Justice is a police Detective named John Tensen. He is shot and barely alive. He is now considered 98% dead while lying in a hospital room. When the White Event takes place he is healed and sees that his nurse was about to kill him. He could see into the nurse’s mind that he was not doing it as a mercy killing. So he gives his brand of Justice to his first criminal.
Star Brand is out on a date and they fall asleep in a field while looking at the stars. When he wakes up he has the Star Brand on his hand and the power of the White Event has fried his girlfriend alive. Her Father was the local Sheriff and now believes he killed his daughter.
There is also an unnamed girl who gets powers from the event. I don’t remember her from the first series but she is told that “This is a paradigm shift. Everything you know has changed. Please remain calm.”
So far I like this new universe. Perhaps when Mr. Shooter started it he was ahead of his time. Jim Shooter got us on base and Mr. Ellis and Mr. Larroca have been set up to hit it out of the park.

WKRP in Cincinnati is coming to DVD

Like the title says one of my favorite shows is coming to DVD. However, I have heard that there will be music substitutions as it is too expensive to get all the songs they used. I hope certain songs are there as they were sometimes the punch lines to the joke. Either way if you want you can get a notice from Amazon.com when it becomes available. Click here and go to Amazon.com where you can sign on to get a notice from them when it is available for pre-order. The above photo is from TV Guide.com. I used that as there is no cover art for the box set yet. You can click on the title above to go to TVGuide.com.

This Day in Music History: George Harrison and Got My Mind Set on You

Before the Beatles came to America in 1964 George Harrison came by himself a few months earlier in 1963. You George had an older sister who left home when she was about 17 years old. She studied to become a teacher and moved to America. So George came to America to vist his sister. While visiting he bought an album by the singer James Ray. He said that the album was terrible but there were three really good songs on it. All of them were written by a former mailman named Rudy Clark. The songs were It's Been A Drag and Got My Mind Set on You Part 1 and Part 2. However, the two parts didn't have any break in between.

George said he got the idea to record the song when he was in the studio with Jim Keltner and Gary Wright. Keltner started playing a swing/rock type of beat. Wright said that it sounded like Got My Mind Set on You. George was surprised anybody else had ever heard of the song. He then decided to record it. George made some changes when he recorded it. He changed it from the Jazz/Swing sound that the original had to a more pop rock sound with some chord changes. He also eliminated the female background singers. When he was asked why he made the changes he said it was because he prefered the way he heard it in his head.

The song was co-produced by George and Jeff Lynne of ELO fame. George said he wanted to work with someone who's work he respected and someone who respected his work. He didn't want a newcomer who would dismiss everything that he had done in the past. Dave Edmonds set up a meeting between the two and the rest is history. So on this day in music history, January 16, 1988 George Harrison release the song Got My Mind Set on You from his Cloud Nine Album and had the #1 song on the Billboard charts for 1 week.

The song had two music videos made for it. The most popular one was George just sitting in a room singing and playing his guitar to the tune while the objects in the room became animated and moving to the beat. My friend Mike loved this one and wanted the suit of armor to start dancing to the tune but it never did. Too bad as it would have been a nice touch.

My favorite was the second as it had a story to it. A boy and girl were at an arcade trying to get each others attention. They were playing a game where the prize was a snowglobe. Inside the snowglobe was George, Jeff Lynne, Jim Keltner, etc. playing the song.

There was always a friendly rivalry between the Beatles and I heard that Paul McCartney was happy but also a little bit jealous when George hit #1. You see Paul had not had a #1 hit since 1983 when his duet with Michael Jackson was #1 in December of that year.

Amazing Grace

I got this story in an e-mail and I thought it was interesting.

One day, a man went to visit a church..

He got there early, parked his car, and got out.

Another car pulled up and the driver got

out and said,"I always park there!

You took my place!" The visitor went inside for

Sunday School, found an empty seat and sat down.

A young lady from the church

approached him and stated,

"That's my seat! You took my place!"

The visitor was somewhat distressed

by this rude welcome, but said nothing.

After Sunday School, the visitor went

into the sanctuary and sat down.

Another member walked up to him and said,

"That's where I always sit! You took my place!"

The visitor was even more troubled by this

treatment, but still He said nothing.

Later as the congregation was praying

for Christ to dwell among them,

the visitor stood up, and his appearance began to change.

Horrible scars became visible on

his hands and on his sandaled feet.

Someone from the congregation

noticed him and called out, "What happened to you?"

The visitor replied, as his hat

became a crown of thorns, and a tear fell from his eye,

"I took your place."

May we all remember the Man who took our place.

This Day in Music History: Dean Martin and Memories Are Made of This

On this day in music history, January 14, 1956, Dean Martin had the first #1 song of the year with Memories Are Made of This. Not bad for a poor kid from Steubenville, Ohio. He was born Dino Crocetti and held many jobs from gas station attendent to boxer before deciding on a career in show business as a singer. He made the change he said because he was tired of getting punched in the mouth and cleaning windshields. He was doing well as a nighclub singer but he really took off when he teamed up with a new nightclub comedian who was not doing too well at the time. The comedian as many know was Jerry Lewis. Their chemistry started a fire that burned bright for many years. Together they had hit movies, TV shows and club apperances. Dean never had a recording contract before they got together but he signed with Capitol records and had many hits for them. Memories Are Made of This started his year out right as it was #1 for 5 weeks. By the end of the 1950's Martin and Lewis broke up. Jerry was the comedian and no one worried how well he would do. They did wonder about Dean's solo career. They didn't have to worry as he was a fine singer and a pretty good comedian himself. That was a side that was rarely seen in his previous movies as most of the funny lines were given to Jerry. He had hits in musical/romantic comedies like Bells Are Ringing. His spoof of the spy movies in the Matt Helm series were also big hits. He also did war dramas like the Young Lions and westerns with John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart as well as the crime drama Ocean's Eleven with all of the Rat Pack in the cast. In his later years he became know for his hit variety series and his Dean Martin's Roast. It was in his TV shows where his comedy really shined. A short time before he died he had started a tour with his old friends Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. On December 25, 1995 he passed away at the age of 78 from acute respiratory failure at his home in Beverly Hills, Ca.
If you want to get a copy of the photo you can click on the title above and it will take you to the site where it can be purchased.

This Day in Music History: The Steve Miller Band and The Joker

Actually I should have showcased this song yesterday as January 12, 1974 was its first day as the #1 song in the country on the Billboard charts. However, it was #1 for one week so this was its second day at #1 on this day in music history. Steve Miller was born on October 5, 1943 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin but was raised in Dallas, Texas. It was there that his love for music grew and he formed a band that included Boz Scaggs. Steve eventually left Dallas and traveled to other cities and formed new bands where ever he went. It was in San Francisco that he formed a band that became a local favorite. Boz Scaggs joined his new band and in a short while they were offered a contract with Capitol Records. The Steve Miller Band’s first two albums were Children of the Future and Sailor. Both are considered his best work but no hits were released off of the albums. The band was great and developed a loyal following but no one knew who Steve Miller was. He was dubbed the man without a face. As he said “People tended to be fans of the albums. Not Steve Miller.” In 1969 Scaggs left the group for a successful solo career. It was with the bands eighth album The Joker, that mainstream audiences found the group. Steve always wanted to have single hits and took up the challenge to have a hit. He said he always thought a hit song had to be two and a half minutes and have a soul-disco symphony. While the album went gold Miller said that he was uncertain of its commercial potential. He said that he asked a roomful of record executives what they thought as making and marketing hit records was their business. He said after listening to it one of them stood up and pointed to the record and said “That’s a hit.”

Marvel Bullpen Page from 1976

Here is a Marvel Bullpen Page from 1976. Notice the man in the yellow uniform. He is called Nova and we are told that Stan thinks we will dig him. I remember thinking that he didn't look so cool to me. Little did I realize that when Marv Wolfman's creation did appear he would become one of my favorite heroes. Sorry for the crooked scan but that is the way my scanner scans everything.

Marvel comics in house advertisment

Here is a page from a Marvel comic book in 1976. It shows other Marvel comics that were on sale at that time in the Mighty Marvel checklist and on top it shows a book that made comic book history. The first ever meeting of Superman and Spider-man.

God will never stop working in our lives

"I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need. Philippians 4:13 NLT
Man is never so tall as when he kneels before God—never so great as when he humbles himself before God. And the man who kneels to God can stand up to anything. Louis H. Evans1 Isaiah 9:6-7 NLT"

"Like most folks, the apostle Paul had his share of financial ups and downs. He speaks openly of his experience in the last few paragraphs of his letter to the church at Philippi. His comments are wise and helpful for anyone facing hard times, fiscal or otherwise.

He acknowledges having "plenty" on certain occasions and "almost nothing" in the way of financial resources at other times (Philippians 4:12). But notice that even in his bleakest moments, when his stomach was literally empty and growling, Paul's spirit was full (v. 11). Paul experienced genuine contentment in difficult times. How did he do this?

Paul relied on the strength of Christ to get him through. The verb translated "gives me…strength" means to infuse needed power into our souls. God's strength is a persevering kind of divine energy that can sustain you through economic difficulties or troubles of any kind.

Praying God's Promise:
I need help, Lord, and you have promised to infuse me with your infinite power. Without divine assistance I cannot press on. With your help and strength, I can do whatever you ask of me. Give me a second wind. I look to you in trust because I know you are faithful.2

1quoted in Wise Words & Quotes by Vernon McLellan (Tyndale) p 211
2from Praying God's Promises in Tough Times by Len Wood (Tyndale) pp 170-71"

This Day in Music History: Whitney Houston and So Emotional

Well we have talked about the #1 hits of many songs of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s so today lets talk about one from the 80’s. On January 9, 1988 a song written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly reached #1 on the Billboard charts for Whitney Houston. That song was So Emotional. Clive Davis, the president of Arista, Whitney’s record label, called and told them that he needed an uptempo song for her new album.
Steinberg and Kelly started to write the song but tried to not have Whitney in mind while they wrote it and produced their demo. Mr. Kelly said that “Whenever we try to write a song for somebody, we usually end up writing something stupid and contrived, so it’s best we just write.” The song they ended up with they titled Emotional. Kelly said the song when they were done with it actually sounded more like a song Prince would have written and produced.
They sent the song to Clive Davis. He gave them a fast response letting them know that he liked the song. Mr. Kelly said that Clive Davis gets in touch with you immediately to let you know if he likes a song or not. He usually will call or write a note the very day he hears the song. He says he is direct and lets you know if he liked it or not and if he doesn’t like it you don’t feel insulted.
Ten songs for the album were already recorded when Mr. Davis got the song to Whitney’s producer Narada Michael Walden. By the time Mr. Walden received the song it had been retitled So Emotional. Whitney was scheduled that day to come in to record minor changes to some of those songs. Before they recorded the changes he had her record So Emotional. She recorded 90% of the song in one session. So Emotional was the last song recorded for the Whitney album.
When Mr. Davis heard the song he loved it. It wasn’t that way for Mr. Steinberg and Mr. Kelly. You see Mr. Walden slowed the song down a bit. Mr. Kelly said it was hard for them to get use to. He said that he kept calling Mr. Davis telling him “You really ought to speed it up. Now we love it.”

This Day in Music History: Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. and You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show)

In 1975 the husband and wife team of Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. made a hard decision when they decided to leave the successful group of the Fifth Dimension to start solo careers. The original plan was for them to have seperate careers. But suddenly Billy decided they should have their first album be together and the songs would all be duets. Producer Don Davis had a song, You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show), that he thought would be perfect for them. It wasn't written as a duet but was rearranged for them. Getting top musicans Davis was able to produce a song that sounded like a fresh new record from Motown but it was really on ABC records. However, it was not the first song released from the album. The first was called I Hope We Get to Love on Time. It only reached #91 on the Billboard charts.
It was their second one that reached #1 on the charts on this day in music history, January 8, 1977 for one week. It was a huge cross over hit and won a Grammy as Best Vocal R & B Vocal Preformance by a Duo, Group or Chorus. Their success on the charts led them to have a summer variety TV series for 6 weeks in 1977. Later, Marilyn was host of the TV show Solid Gold. She later signed as a solo artist with RCA and released several songs solo and with Billy but none of them reached the top 100 on the charts.

The Prestige on DVD

Fans of Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and Michael Cane may be interested to know that the movie The Prestige will be released on DVD on February 20th. Click here to pre-order the Prestige.

God is merciful: Can you ever be beyond God's mercy?

Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life.
Psalm 23:6 NLT
From poolroom to pulpit
By the age of thirteen, Johnny Hunt was already heavily abusing alcohol. His mother worked two jobs to provide for her family, and Johnny capitalized on the lack of adult supervision by getting into all kinds of trouble. When he was fourteen, he found a fake ID and gained entrance to the local poolroom, where he began playing pool five to eight hours a day. Johnny dropped out of school at sixteen and was hired as the manager of the poolroom.
When he married, his wife, Jan, soon began to talk about going to church, but that was not part of his plan. Then a man named Mr. Pridgen began coming into the hardware store where Johnny had taken a part-time job. As Mr. Pridgen paid for his purchases each week, he would tell Johnny how Jesus had changed yet another life and invite him to church. He finally gave in.
After a few weeks Johnny was surprised to feel the Lord working in his heart. Each week, during the invitation hymn, he began to weep. During the morning service of January 7, 1973, Jan noticed his tears. At the evening service that night, Johnny went forward and put his trust in Jesus.
From that moment on, Johnny Hunt was a changed young man. He went to all his old hangouts, sharing with his old friends what Jesus had done for him. When a skeptic asked him, "What are you going to do now that you're saved and going to heaven?" His answer came easily, "Take as many people with me as I can." To achieve that goal, Johnny decided to finish school and become a pastor.
from The One Year® Book of Christian History by E. Michael and Sharon Ruten, Tyndale House Publishers (2003) pp 14-15

God is Mercuful Have you received God's Mercy?

Praise the Lord, I tell myself; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, I tell myself, and never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives my sins> and heals all my diseases. He ransoms me from death and surrounds me with love and tender mercies.
Psalm 103:1-4 NLT
Having chosen [his people], he called them to come to him. And he gave them right standing with himself, and he promised them his glory.
Romans 8:30 NLT
Pardoned
The essential act of mercy was to pardon; and pardon in its very essence involves the recognition of guilt and ill-desert in the recipient. If crime is only a disease which needs cure, not sin which deserves punishment, it cannot be pardoned. How can you pardon a man for having a gumboil or a club foot? But the Humanitarian theory wants simply to abolish Justice and substitute Mercy for it. This means that you start being "kind" to people before you have considered their rights, and then force upon them supposed kindnesses which no one but you will recognize as kindnesses and which the recipient will feel as abominable cruelties. You have overshot the mark. Mercy, detached from Justice, grows unmerciful. That is the important paradox. As there are plants which will flourish only in mountain soil, so it appears that Mercy will flower only when it grows in the crannies of the rock of Justice: transplanted to the marshlands of mere Humanitarianism, it becomes a man-eating weed, all the more dangerous because it is still called by the same name as the mountain variety.
C. S. LEWIS in God in the Dock

Tabitha on DVD

Recently as a Christmas gift my wife got me the DVD series Tabitha. It was a spin off of the old Bewitched series in the 60’s. Tabitha and her brother Adam were now in their 20’s and working at a local TV station. It was full of lighthearted fun that it parent series had. It stared Lisa Hartman as Tabitha and Robert Urich as her co-worker Paul. While both became famous for their dramatic acting they proved in this series that they could handle comedy. Especially, Mr. Urich as he played the Ted Baxter type role that Ted Knight made famous earlier on the Mary Tyler Moore Show. However there were several things wrong with it that doomed it to be done in less then 13 weeks. First is for fans of Bewitched they got the continuity wrong. Tabitha and Adam would have been children in the 1970’s. So it really should have been a school comedy more like Sabrina was years later. Secondly, Adam in the first episode referred to Tabitha as his kid sister. That was wrong as Tabitha was born first. Her character was added to the Bewitched series in 1966 and Adam was born in 1971. So Adam was her kid brother. The only way to have done this series the way they did it was to ignore continuity and that is what the producers did. Either that or they never were fans of Bewitched to begin with. The third thing wrong is that the show was mediocre comedy. When watching the DVD set I had to admit I had seen better sit-coms. However, I also had to admit that I had seen worse and most of that was recently. Being mediocre in television is worse then being bad because rotten TV grabs the audience attention and if they comeback to watch each week then the show will stay on and it has a chance to get better. If you are mediocre then hardly anyone watches and you get canceled. Another thing that killed the show was its time slot. It was on Saturday nights at 8 pm. It replaced the show Fish that stared Abe Vigoda. The main competition was on CBS. It was the Bob Newhart Show in its last year. Perhaps in time Tabitha could have grown into a really good comedy. However, the audience didn't want to wait for that when it already had a seasoned show already in that slot for them to watch. Still I liked the show and I am glad to see it again. It was gone so fast that I missed half of the series and now I can catch up. It was lighthearted innocent fun and we need to see that now more then ever.

Breast Cancer Benefit at Comic Book World

Just wanted to tell you of what my local comic book store did this past New Years Day. They held an auction of rare and signed comic books and posters to benefit the I Have Wings Breast Cancer Foundation. You can click on the article to read more about it and you can click on the link to Comic Book World at the right to go to their site and e-mail them with any questions you have about getting in touch with the Foundation. Sorry for the askew scan. I tried to fix it but this was the best I could do. You can click on the title above or on the link on the right to go to Comic Book World's website.

This Day In Music History: Bobby Vinton and There! I've Said It Again

On this date in music history, January 4, 1964, a line was about to be crossed that signified that music was changing. On this date Bobby Vinton had the #1 hit with There! I’ve Said It Again. The era of the safe white bread rock and roll star and the crooners was about to come to an end and Mr. Vinton is were the dividing line starts. With Bill Haley and the Comets and Elvis the rock era started and it took on a rebellious sound. By 1960 rock and roll in America was starting to sound safe and content with singers like Bobby Vinton, Pat Boone, Bobby Vee and even Elvis was not sounding so rebellious anymore.
There! I’ve Said It Again was #1 for the first four weeks of 1964 and was the third #1 single for Bobby Vinton. He said the song was brought to his attention in an odd way. He was performing in Cincinnati, Ohio when he saw a long haired, bearded DJ who he found intimidating. He said as he went on stage the man was screaming at him “Come here!” He asked him what he wanted. The DJ told him if he recorded There! I’ve Said It Again he would have a #1 hit. He went on and preformed his act but wondered why that man was so concerned about him and why he thought he should record that song.
When he did record it he said it only took him 5 minutes. They had booked studio time till 10 pm. The session started at 7:10 pm and they were done by 7:15 pm. Mr. Vinton said “I could sing this all night, but it’s not going to get any better. It’s a hit the way it is, goodnight everybody.”
The song dominated the charts for the first month of 1964. In February the USA would start getting even more hits from overseas. Singers like Mr. Vinton would still have hits but they would be few and far between as time went on. Music would never be the same again.
You can click on the title above to be taken to a site where you can get the photo. It says it is signed by Mr. Vinton.

Hawaii Five-0 and McHale's Navy

Just a heads up that both Hawaii Five-0 and McHale's Navy season one are coming out in March of this year. You can pre-order them at Amazon right now. No cover art on McHale's Navy yet but one of the extras is to be a reunion of the surviving cast memebers Ernest Borgnine, Tim Conway, Carl Ballantine, Edson Stroll and Bob Hastings from when they held a party announcing the DVD release date. Click here to buy Hawaii Five-O season one from Amazon.com. Also, you can click here to buy McHale's Navy Season One on DVD from Amazon.

Legend of Rocky and Sylvester Stallone

Hollywood Today is reporting that the legend of how Sylvester Stallone only sold the rights for the first Rocky movie that he wrote to United Artist is not true. The legend is that he sold the rightst to them but only if he could star in the movie. Now some people are stepping forward to say that it was all made up by the executives of UA to help promote the film and that they thought they actually had hired Perry King to star in the film. I am not sure I believe this new version. Why wait 30 years to tell the truth? You can read the Hollywood Today article if you click on the title above or you can click here.

This Day In Music History: the Bay City Rollers and Saturday Night

On this day in music history, January 3, 1976, the Bay City Rollers had the #1 song in the USA with Saturday Night. They had been making hits overseas for years and were huge in England. The Bay City Rollers were on Bell records. When Clive Davis took over he changed the name to Arista and cut some of the lesser known artist but kept the Bay City Rollers. He tried to get them hits in America by releasing the songs that had been hits in England but none of them made a dent in the charts. Not wanting to give up Clive decided to release one of their album tracks that he thought would be a hit in the US. That song was Saturday Night. He gave the song a big promotional push and the group was booked on many TV shows. The first of which was Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell. After this the group had fans in the US and was constantly in the top 10 with songs like Money Honey and You Make Me Believe In Magic. They also made appearances on American Bandstand and the Midnight Special. Perhaps Mr. Davis should have made sure that their previous releases were promoted better. Until Saturday Night I had never heard of the Bay City Rollers. They were so big in England earlier and had become so big in America that by the end of 1976 critics said they could be the new Beatles. That turned out to be premature. When the Beatles broke up in 1970 everyone waited with baited breath to see when the next super group would arrive. While many music stars have risen to the top none of them have captured the listening public’s attention like the Beatles. The Bay City Rollers were no exception. By the end of 1977 it was all over. The mop top, plaid clad young men’s fifteen minutes of fame was over.
The Rollers had been playing for years in there hometown of Edinburgh Scotland. An executive for Bell records had missed his flight to London, England and went to nightclub to pass the time. The Rollers were playing there and he signed them to a deal immediately. While the group is from Edinburgh Scotland, they were named after a town in Michigan. How did that happen? When it came time to name the group they just stuck a pin into a map and it stuck in Bay City Michigan. They thought the name Bay City Rollers had a good sound to it so that is what they named the group. I think they were right. After all I’m not sure I would want to hear a group called the Edinburgh Rollers.
If you want a copy of the photo above you can click on the title and it will take you to the auctions site for the photo.

Stan Lee's Soapbox

Back in the 1970's Marvel comics and their distributors were accused of buying up issues of certain comic books to create a demand for them and therefore increase the price of them in the collector market. Here is one of Stan's soapboxes where he addressed the issue. The complaint as he addressed it is that they are selling out too fast. One of his suggestions is to subscribe but that might have been hard as the first issue of Howard the Duck is the one that brought the issue to light. Back then it was hard to subscribe to a book that hadn't been published yet. This soapbox came out from Black Goliath #5 cover dated November 1976. Click on the picture of the soapbox to enlarge and read.

Happy Anniversary Fred Hembeck

Just a quick note to say Happy Anniversary to friend, Marvel Universe destroyer, cartoonist, talk show host, blogger and all around good guy Fred Hembeck. He is celebrated four years of blogging last night. Thanks for keeping us entertained all of these years on your site and in your comic books. His site is called Fred Sez and you can go there if you click here or click on the title above. Looks like Stan Lee isn't the only one we can call ole' smiley. Sorry for the poor scan.

This Day in Music History: Simon and Garfunkel and The Sounds of Silence

On this day in music history, January 1, 1966, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel got a late Christmas gift when their song The Sounds of Silence went to #1 on the Billboard chart.
You see Paul Simon wrote the song in 1963. It was two years later that they recorded it for their first album on Columbia.
The two men have been lifelong friends since they met in the sixth grade. Thankfully they are still friends today. They began performing together and tried together and sometimes separately to get their musical careers going. Sometimes they tried under different names when they recorded their music. Their most famous one was Tom and Jerry. It was under that name they nearly got started when their song Hey Schoolgirl peaked at #49 on the Billboard charts. They even got to appear on American Bandstand. Their next two singles flopped and they both went to college.
Paul continued writing songs and with Art he preformed in coffee houses. He took his songs to producer Tom Wilson at Columbia records. He liked what he heard and signed them to the label. They recorded some of their songs and other folk tunes with just vocals and an acoustic guitar. This became their Wednesday Morning, 3a.m. album. It was not well received. Thinking that their best chance at musical stardom was a flop Art went back to graduate school and Paul went home to England where he had moved the year before.
However, a radio station in Boston had put The Sounds of Silence into their rotation. It was such a big hit there that Columbia records released it as a single with a new backing rhythm track. At that time Paul was working in London, England as a record producer. He was producing an album when he got a call from America that he and Art had the #1 single in the USA. The careers of Simon and Garfunkel where now off and running.
The song was #1 for two weeks but not in a row. They yielded the top spot to the Beatles and their song We Can Work It Out. But they retuned for an additional week to the #1 position.

Happy New Year

I had to add this today as I thought this was a funny photo from an old calander and I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year!

I am sorry

I must say I am sorry to all music fans who read this site. Earlier I stated that on December 29 1983 the #1 song on the Billboard charts was Islands In the Stream by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. I have had to remove that from the site for now as I was wrong. It was #1 on October 29,1983. The #1 song on December 29,1983 Say, Say, Say but Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson. Their first day at that point was on December 10,1983 and they were there for 6 weeks. Perhaps I will write more about that on December 10, 2007 if I remember. Till then you can scroll down or click here to see what song was #1 on the Billboard chats on December 29, 1973.

Melanie Safka is Still Making Music

A reader wrote in to tell me that Melanie Safka, who had hits with Brand New Key and Lay Down (Candles in the Rain), is still recording and touring. She has her own website. You can go there if you click here or click on the title above. According to the site she has just completed a tour of Korea. You can also buy her new CD's like the one above which is her Christmas CD. The Christmas CD is out of stock right now but it is still available for download.

This Day in Music History: The Monkees and I'm a Believer

On this day in music history, December 31 1966, two worldwide recording stars were made when I’m a Believer by the Monkees went #1 not only on the Billboard charts in America but also was #1 in many countries overseas. The previous song, Last Train to Clarksville, only went to the top of the charts in the USA a few weeks earlier. With the help of their TV show being shown overseas, as it had not shown in other countries yet when Last Train to Clarksville was released, the Monkees became worldwide rock and roll stars. I’m a Believer was #1 in the USA for 7 weeks.
Who was the other star that got a boost from this song? It was of course the writer Neil Diamond.
Their first single and album sold well but their musical supervisor, Don Kirshner, didn’t think they had reached their full potential. He asked his friend and producer Jeff Berry to find a song that would sell millions. Mr. Berry had recently discovered Mr. Diamond when he saw him singing in a Greenwich Village coffee house. He was working with Neil at that time and he thought I’m a Believer would be the song that Kirshner was looking for to have the Monkees record. Of course he was right. While the label the Monkees recorded for was Colgems they were distributed by RCA. I’m a Believer had the largest advance order of any RCA record since Elvis. While headlines overseas may have made many of their albums and TV show producers happy when they said “Europe’s Gripped by Monkeesteria”, the Monkees themselves were not. Especially...Mike Nesmith. The second album was released without any advance notice given to Mike, Micky, David or Peter. They found out while on tour and had to go buy a copy and listen to it in their hotel room to hear what it sounded like. The covers of the albums upset Nesmith also. He knew they were not a real rock and roll group and the albums were only soundtracks to the TV series. While TV audiences know they were only the cast of a sit-com, radio listeners who had not seen the show yet would think they were a band who happened to be cast in a sit-com based on the photos on the albums. He said that he thought they had crossed a line here and were conning the public. Therefore, if they were going to make them look like a real band then they should allow the four guys to play their own music on the albums. Nesmith continued to rally in this direction. While he eventually won the battle there were some casualties in this war. The press was starting to be denied access to the Monkees and to strike back at them they made a big deal that they didn’t play their instruments on the records. Never mind that the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, etc. were not playing all the instruments on their records. No one seemed to care about that but the world was going to come to an end because the Monkees didn’t play theirs. The press kept that up even after the Monkees started playing and producing their own music. It still comes up today.
Another causality to the Monkees was that Kirshner was going to have Mike Nesmith sing lead on I’m a Believer. There were recording sessions with him singing the song but the war between Nez and Kirshner became so heated that they abandoned those sessions. Rhino may have those recordings locked away for future release or perhaps they are lost. Either way it is a shame we have not heard any of those recordings. The song was given to Micky Dolenz. Micky was the best singer in the group and it became his signature song.
When it became a huge hit it made Neil Diamond an in demand songwriter. As we all know he started to record his own material and became a bigger star then the Monkees. But it all started with I’m a Believer. When Mr. Diamond was in concert here a local paper reported that his contract stated that he had to have a satellite dish so he could watch reruns of The Monkees. What better way to pay tribute to the men who helped jump start your career?

I'm A Believer