Press illo to play the Overheard song!

As detailed on Wikipedia, the English musicians who played under the name The Venus in Furs on the soundtrack were Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, David Gray, Suede's Bernard Butler, and Roxy Music's Andy Mackay. The American musicians who played as Curt Wild's Wylde Ratttz on the soundtrack were The Stooges' Ron Asheton, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Steve Shelley, Minutemen's Mike Watt, Gumball's Don Fleming, and Mark Arm of Mudhoney.

The soundtrack features new songs written for the film by Pulp, Shudder to Think and Grant Lee Buffalo, as well as many early glam rock compositions, both covers and original versions. The Venus in Furs covers several Roxy Music songs with Thom Yorke channeling Bryan Ferry on vocals, Placebo covers T.Rex's "20th Century Boy," Wylde Ratttz and Ewan McGregor cover The Stooges' "T.V. Eye" and "Gimme Danger", and Teenage Fanclub and Donna Matthews cover The New York Dolls' "Personality Crisis." Lou Reed, Brian Eno, T.Rex, and Steve Harley songs from the period are also included. The album is rounded out by a piece of Carter Burwell's film score.

All three members of the band Placebo also appeared in the film, with Brian Molko and Steve Hewitt playing members of the Flaming Creatures (Malcolm and Billy respectively) and Stefan Olsdal playing Polly Small's bassist.

 WHAT I'M WATCHING - The Prisoner remake on AMC

 I just watched the first four of six episodes of AMC's remake of the classic cult '60s TV series The Prisoner - as a HUGE fan of the original U.K. series (I bought two different DVD sets), I have a major problem with the Prisoner suffering memory loss instead of refusing to divulge his secrets.

 It negates the entire point of the show, ie a (Danger)man standing up for his individual rights and refusing to be a number.

 DC's Prisoner comic book miniseries "Shattered Visage" was the only sequel/continuation of the Prisoner that creator Patrick McGoohan ever authorized in his lifetime, and those were wonderful comics. I don't think he would have ever let this new version do what it's doing to his creation ---

Here's my review so-far (referencing the druggy subtext of both series) ---

 The only cool thing I've seen in the first four new Prisoner eps is the scene where Six asks a classroom full of children "Who is Number One?," and they all raise their hand, with one of them offering her rote-memorized reply to "the oldest question in the history of the Village."

Here are some rarely seen pages from an unpublished Prisoner comic book created by the late king of comics, Jack Kirby ---

SARA PETITE HAS A DOGHOUSE ROSE FOR YOU - Release Party 11/21 Belly Up

“We’re a cross between Tom Petty and Dolly Parton,” says Sara Petite, whose release party for her third album Doghouse Rose happens Saturday, November 21, at the Belly Up. Featuring 13 tracks recorded at Steve Cropper’s Nashville studio, Petite says “Doghouse Rose” refers to “when someone gives you flowers after doing something wrong. It’s just as bad as stepping in a pile of crap, I’d have to say.” 

 For the release party, “The set will probably start out pretty amped up, with our more rock and country tunes,” says Petite, who won Best Americana or Country at the 2009 SDMAs. “I write a lot of songs about my family and the wonderful characters, such as my Uncle Irving, who loved animals so much he had them all living in his house, even a bear, and my Great Aunt Isabella, who lived in a little pink house and made us all patchwork quilts from scraps and fabric she had, using coats, curtains, and hand-me-downs.”

“We’ll probably throw in a Bobby Gentry tune we rearranged, called ‘Sweet Peony.’ And flying in from Nashville is sugar daddy Steve Peavey, on electric guitar and mandolin.” John Mailander from the Berkley School of music will also join the band on fiddle. “We call him our Sugar Baby.” 

Petite says she always performs as if headlining an arena, no matter how dicey the date. “You never know who’s there at those tiny gigs, even though the guy that booked you or the owner is a lech and falling down drunk, or on something. Or, at the end of the night, because you smiled at the guy who’s supposed to pay you, he thinks that means he can go in for a kiss. Usually, I’m good at warding that stuff off, but sometimes I’m surprised.”

“If they’re going to do that, why can’t they ever look like Johnny Depp or Matthew McConaughey?”

 Petite was born and raised in the countryside of Sumner, Washington, later relocating to San Diego. Her rural youth helped shaped her songwriting, which often incorporates accordian, pedal steel guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, and accordion.

Her song "Coming Home" won the "Best Song Award" in the Country/Americana category in the 2006 Portland Songwriting Contest. The song turned up on a French Country Music compilation CD (Universal Music of France) and on Petite's 2007 album, The United States of Americana (Shut Eye Records).

 MONICA LEON (a.k.a. Danger from For the Love of Ray J) HAS SOME ART FOR YOU -- November 28th

One man's treasure is another man's WTF -

Ahhh, Joyce - like Cher, she only needs one name. And, like Bjork, she shouldn't be allowed to dress herself.

This WTF cover doesn't scare me as much as the "Special bonus full color activity poster and lyric sheet" --- wait, is that Martin Short/Ed Grimley in an afro???

A tinfoil faux-Barbarella bikini?? The only way to get THIS spaced out was to take the brown acid at Woodstock -

This is actually the soundtrack to a "wild" biker movie that I just know I'll hate myself for watching, assuming I ever come across it. Can anyone tell me why it looks like the bikers are peeing on midget versions of themselves??

The 1970 film What Do You Say to a Naked Lady was actually a spin-off of the Candid Camera TV show, done by Allen Funt for adults only. Originally rated X (I have it on video), the movie catches people reacting in public to, well, a naked lady - how THAT translates to a RECORD ALBUM, only Satan's Sadists can say....

If "Do the Arousal" was an actual dance ala "Do the Twist," well, let's thank gawd it didn't catch on.

Semi-soft squirting thing in Tijuana. Riiiiight -----

Uhhhhhh...words fail me. Make up your own punchline...

An album full of xylophone music - particularly one by Mr-Rogers-On-Crack here - gives me nothing but BAD vibes! Checkout the two guys in the back buckling down to do all the work, while Dexter Dickweed dorks out in the spotlight ---- 

I do NOT wanna know why that guy in the middle is so effin happy ---

Oh yeah, Bud in a glass - now THAT'S how to seduce a REAL lady! In a trailer park, anyway -------

Mae West, "way out" rock and roller - as far as musical Bad Ideas go, this ranks right up there with Pat Boone's heavy metal album, the New Monkees, and Fleetwood Mac's Rumors followup Tusk (okay, maybe it's not THAT bad) ---

PREVIOUS WTFs - http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2009/jul/24/wtf-album-covers---strange-bizarre-and-butt-clench/

LOCAL NINE INCH NAILS DRUMMER HAS A NEW REGIME FOR YOU

Antimusic reports: We've been warned. "Things are about to get MANIC," so says Rock Sound magazine. What's behind that declaration? The New Regime, the "true solo project" of current Nine Inch Nails and former Lostprophets drummer Ilan Rubin. No mere time-keeper, the adept multi-instrumentalist wrote and recorded every note of bass, drums, guitar, piano and vocals on The New Regime's 2008 debut, Coup (Command! Music).

Feeling energized by the new crop of fans he's collected due to Nine Inch Nails' recently concluded "Wave Goodbye" tour, Rubinhas put together a special limited edition deluxe package of Coup set for release November 10 exclusively on the band's website (www.thenewregimemusic.com ). For $45, fans will get a 180 gram vinyl, the CD, a DVD featuring live performances and an interview with Rubin, a 16-page full color 12" x 12" booklet, and an exclusive website link to download instrumental mixes from The New Regime's website.

All 1,000 limited edition copies will also be hand-numbered and signed by Rubin. A stand alone digipak CD will also be available on the band's website for $7. To celebrate the package's release, the band will be performing at the Viper Room in Los Angeles, CA on Thursday, November 19. Tickets are currently on sale.

In a true sign of support for his new band member, Trent Reznor is encouraging his hardcore fans to get to know The New Regime by offering a free download of the album in its entirety on NIN.com the same day as Coup's release. Nine Inch Nails' camp will also host the download on a direct link, http://thenewregime.nin.com , starting at midnight on November 10. - more on this story

Drummer Ilan Rubin. started his music career while still in grade school, with the local band Freak of Nature, which performed at Woodstock 1999. Nine Inch Nails announced this week that Rubin is their newest drummer in early '09. 20 years old at the time, Rubin used to take drum lessons from Travis Barker of blink-182 and David Uosikkinen, from the Hooters.

Astute Reader readers may remember that one previous NIN drummer, Jerome Dillon, had a medical mishap during a 2005 San Diego gig, only to find himself quickly replaced in the band.

Here’s the Overheard comic from September 2005, when NIN played in San Diego shortly after having done a show at Soma, only to have drummer Jerome Dillon fall over onstage ----

Dillon told MTV.com at the time "It was absolutely the most stressful thing I've been through in my life…During the third leg of the tour, I noticed that I was not feeling good. A few years ago, I was diagnosed with a thyroid malady and I was taking medication for it. I didn't know that [the medication wasn't working] and was building up in my system on the road."

A few NIN shows were cancelled, and then Dillon called NIN management to say he was back on his feet, healthy, and ready to get back behind his kit. But Dillon said Reznor and company showed "complete apathy and no sympathy for what I'd been through…I was not welcomed back with open arms, which I didn't understand, since I had been in the band for six years."

After booting Dillon from NIN, Reznor posted a message on the band’s website, saying “Jerome continuously has to see himself as the victim in all circumstances. He lives in a world where he is always being wronged by someone or something. That could be me, that could be management, that could be his drum tech, that could be the girl who mistakenly washed his permanent press designer jeans, that could be the person that didn't cook his chicken properly before the show, or that could be the record label that wont give him tour support for his new band to play a show…you look like an a-hole in your picture.”

Congratulations, Ilan, for becoming NIN’s new drummer...and, uh…..good luck!

RYAN SEACREST HAS AN EVENTFUL FOR YOU

San Diego-based Eventful, Inc. and Ryan Seacrest Productions have announced a "strategic marketing and technology alliance." The alliance brings together Seacrest, the American Idol host and syndicated radio show producer, with Eventful, a digital service connecting fans with entertainment and local events.

Seacrest will produce entertainment content and marketing programs leveraging Eventful's proprietary technologies including the company's robust email technology platform and Eventful's unique Demand it! service which will empower Seacrest's audience to engage and vote on programming topics, "Demand" their favorite celebrities and participate in contests and promotions for entertainment and live events. The alliance is at the forefront of a movement in which performers and entertainment properties partner with leading social media companies to combine unique and engaging content with the latest technology platforms in order to reach and engage consumers.

 To begin their new alliance, Ryan Seacrest and Eventful are announcing the launch of the 'Ryan Rock My Town' contest through Eventful's Demand it! service which allows fans to demand a free concert in their city featuring Kris Allen, Adam Lambert and Allison Iraheta. The city with the most Demanders will win the concert and participants will be eligible to receive the free tickets.

Fans can demand the concert online by going to RyanSeacrest.com. The winning city will be announced January 8, 2010 on Seacrest's radio show, On Air with Ryan Seacrest, and on KIIS FM in Los Angeles. The announcement will also be posted on RyanSeacrest.com immediately following the broadcast.

By hosting and producing multiple television and radio programs, Ryan Seacrest continues to be a force in entertainment media. The host of American Idol and the global radio countdown show, American Top 40 also has a market-topping #1 nationally syndicated entertainment morning drive-time radio show with On Air with Ryan Seacrest.

His RSP company has multiple shows in production including Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and the socially conscious Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution with famed British chef Jamie Oliver, premiering in 2010 on ABC.

Eventful is a digital social media service which connects consumers with entertainment, live events and performers. Along with Facebook, MySpace and YouTube, Eventful is part of the digital connection between fans and performers and a marketing resource for the music, film and entertainment industries. Reportedly, nearly 13 million people use Eventful's online, email and mobile services every week to discover what's happening in their local market and decide what to do. Eventful's unique Demand it! service "empowers fans to influence the location and content of events and entertainment."

"It is imperative we continue to engage and create dialogue with our audience," says Ryan Seacrest, "Eventful is at the forefront in the world of digital media and I am thrilled to be partnering with them."

 "We're honored to work with Ryan Seacrest who is among the most talented and creative people I've ever met," said Eventful CEO Jordan Glazier. "The strategic alliance between Eventful and Ryan Seacrest brings big benefits to both of our companies and, most importantly, will bring exciting content and entertainment opportunities to consumers."

As part of the alliance, Seacrest joins Eventful's Board of Advisors.

Terms of the alliance were not disclosed.

 

30 YEARS AGO THIS MONTH.........

11-10-79 - the Dead Kennedys played the final concert ever staged at the city’s first punk venue, downtown’s original Skeleton Club on Fourth Avenue, across from Horton Plaza. Owner Laura Fraser was forced to close the basement level club due to problems with the hundred year-old building meeting fire codes.

In addition, plainclothes police frequently ticketed patrons for everything from public drunkenness and drug possession to weapons violations, lewd behavior, and even for spitting on the sidewalk outside the club, prompting Fraser to allege municipal harassment.

When the Dead Kennedys hit the Club’s four-inch-high stage, lead singer Jello Biafra had just recently run for Mayor of San Francisco, coming in at fourth place. Around 300 patrons paid $3.50 to see the band speed through a topical set that included the anti- totalitarianism anthem “Holiday in Cambodia,” “Kill the Poor” (concerning urban neutron bombs), and “California Über Alles,” about a world where political punching bag Jerry Brown is President.

One local paper called the mosh pit “a battleground that formed in front of, and at times on, the stage.”

The Skeleton Club reopened on December 7, 1979, at 202 West Market Street, in a locale abandoned by the previous – and ultimately doomed – tenant; Climax Limited Disco World.

12-14-85: The Dead Kennedys played one of their final shows with original singer Jello Biafra, at downtown’s California Theater. As the set wrapped up, raucous fans tore up the seats and pulled curtains down from walls, causing police to call out a riot squad, though officers stayed outside the building until the crowd dispersed on its own.

The fifteen song set included tunes off their newest album Frankenchrist, as well as “Triumph of the Swill,” “Police Truck,” and the encore “Holiday in Cambodia.”

The show's promoter - future Casbah owner Tim Mays - recalls "The police were called in by the fire marshalls - who were freaking out about fans not staying in their seats and clogging the aisles. Some seats got destroyed...At one point I went outside to get some air, and there were police on all four corners surrounding the block the theatre was on. They weren't going to let me go back inside."

"Finally, one of my production managers convinced a female cop he happened to know that I was indeed the promoter and not just some random fan who had wandered outside."

The next night (12-15-85), the DKs performed at Tijuana’s Teatro Casa de la Cultura, in a show also promoted by Mays (tickets: $5). Outside the venue, Mexican police arrested several San Diegans “for no apparent reason,” according to newspaper columnist George Varga.

After the DKs, the California Theater only hosted a handful of punk shows for the remainder of its existence as a concert hall. After TJ, the band with Biafra only played three more concerts before calling quitting the concert trail a few weeks later.

SHIPPING SUMMER 2010: ROCK 'N' ROLL CARTOON HISTORY - THE SIXTIES

Here's the first look at the cover art for the 300 page graphic novel Rock 'N' Roll Cartoon History: The Sixties, shipping summer 2010 from Bluewater Productions. www.bluewaterprod.com  --  www.myspace.com/rocknrollcomics 

 WHAT I'M WATCHING - QUEEN OF THE DAMNED (2002)

It's never a good sign when the deleted scenes and DVD commentary are more enjoyable than the stand-alone film, but Queen of the Damned surprised me. It's got a lot of flaws - but it's not at all a horrible movie. It messed with and compressed/redid the Anne Rice novels so much that few people seem to like it - but I think if you go into without expecting it to be Anne Rice's Lestat, but rather a story loosely "inspired by" her books, it's a decent little goth movie.

Particularly the fully-realized music (and accompanying music videos, seen only in flashes during the movie but included on the DVD in their entirety, all framed ala German expressionism and surreal, very much Nosferatu/Doctor Caligary silent movie-inspired), by guys from Korn, Static X, Oingo Boingo, and even Marilyn Manson (who has one great album, Mechanical Animals, his Ziggy Stardust glam tribute/ripoff).

The whole vampire-goes-high-tech subtheme is intriguing, especially Lestat calling out his fellow vampires on the giant Times Square diamondvision screen ("Come out, come out, wherever you are"), and Lestat laying down inside a huge satellite dish and absorbing the entire world as it streams digitally and directly to his brain.

Some of the director's alterations from the two Rice novels the movie is based on (Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned) are actually improvements - such as keeping Lestat's debut concert to a one-time affair, thus explaining why the other vamps never went after him at other concerts (a vexing plothole in the Lestat novel).

 On the other hand, transforming female lead Jesse from a savvy vampire hunter and historical archivist with insider insight into a mere "Bite me, baby, one more time" groupie is among the filmmaker's WORST moves - eccch. Even if the actress playing Jesse is quite fetching (Marquerite Moreau, also seen in the highly underrated remake of Bedazzled).

The DVD's deleted scene showing the other Ancient Ones, as they gather to plot against the Queen SHOULD have been kept, as it provides all the motive behind the anti-Queen backlash acted out by present day-to-day vamps. I especially loved the Ancient Ones walking freely thru a goth concert, looking around incredulously and commenting "Ancient Rome had nothing on these people!" Why oh why was all that cut???

An improvement over the books - having the big concert outdoors in the desert in a remote and isolated Burning Man-style gathering is FAR better than Rice's dinky little indoor concert hall melee. Visually, the ensuing onstage battles need to be matched by the epic size and scope of the event locale, so the movie version is much more dynamic, and really more correct and apropos than in the novel.

The remote concert locale also goes a long way toward explaining how vampires can suddenly "out" themselves and their powers all over the stage, without a worldwide audience immediately finding out all about the head undead (UnDeadheads?) coming out of the shadows and into the spotlight.

Stuart Townsend as Lestat deserves particular praise. While no Tom Cruise, he's a lot better than you'd expect, and certainly believable as a rock star. As surprisingly dynamic as Cruise was in Interview/Vampire, there's no WAY he could have done the rock star turn without making everyone laugh while remembering the tightie whitey dance from Risky Business!

LOCALS IN THE NEWS

The Black Heart Procession are interviewed in the new Filter Magazine - Q: The first show of the tour will be at The Casbah in your hometown of San Diego. Is it symbolic that you start where the band began 12 years ago? (more Q&A: The Black Heart Procession)

Pinback are featured in a new article in the Washington Examiner - Pinback plays on: California band brings show to dc's Black Cat

Runhoney drummer Emily O'Bannon will appear in the November 25 episode of the new TV show Glee, which has proven to be a huge hit, having sold over two million songs online. O'Bannon plays the drummer for a rival band competing with the Glee crew. O'Bannon also works at the newly opened Gossip Grill, which is operated by Chris Shaw, formerly of the Flame.

AntiMusic reports: A lil Judas Priest Christmas cheer for Halloween? The new single "Christmas for Everyone" from Halford III Winter Songs is available as a FREE download from HalfordMusic.com . Four more new singles from "Halford III Winter Songs" are available for purchase from HalfordMusic.com as well:Get Into The Spirit, We Three Kings, Oh Come O Come Emanuel, Winter Song. more

Check out Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready performing "Ball & Chain" with Social D here Also be on the look out for video of Mike Ness and Jonny "2Bags" Wickersham joining Pearl Jam on-stage performing "Down."

Stone Temple Pilots are just about to hit Canada with a couple of random dates set after that. Sounds like a perfect time to get to work on an album, and that's the plan according to frontman Scott Weiland: "When we get back[from touring], we're going to finish the album. And then when we finish the album, there will be a big tour around its release and that will probably be a long tour." more

Adam Lambert had this update for fans on his Twitter account: "Well here's some more album info for you guys! The upcoming single was produced by Dr Luke!!" he twits. "Debut single is called 'For Your Entertainment' get ready to shake yo asses to this song. It'll make ya dance for sure." more

Less than three weeks from its release day, Lambert's major-label debut album For Your Entertainment has been previewed. All of the fourteen songs on the album can be streamed for 30 seconds on Amazon U.K. more

(Lambert's Nagel-inspired cover art looks a lot like Rihanna's new album, not to mention below Kylie Minogue records! A new "Touch Yer Face" fad?)

TEN SONGS BY LOCALS THAT ARE BETTER WHEN SOMEONE ELSE DOES THEM! --- courtesy Bart Mendoza

 Being a musician is great but being a songwriter can be even greater -  if your song ends up in the right hands, or with the right voice. Here are ten songs by ten San Diego connected songwriters which fared rather well when performed by others.

Phil Collins / “Separate Lives”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF0scfQ7_so

Written By Stephen Bishop. A huge worldwide hit, as heard in the 1985 film, White Knights.

Phil Collins & Phillip Bailey / “Easy Lover”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1kDmnHyOBg

Co-written by Nathan East. This one went all the way to #2 in 1984, hitting #1 in the U.K.

Dan Fogelberg / “Rhthym of The Rain”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djCUfGVd9lY

Written by John Gummoe. This is the lone track here that was a hit in an earlier incarnation as well, in this case by Gummoe's own group, The Cascades. Fogelberg’s 1990 version was a #3 Adult Contemporary Hit, and is till ubiquitous on soft-rock radio. Also one of only two songs by a local songwriter to hit near the top of the charts with more than one version of a song. So far.

Lynyrd Skynyrd/ "Call Me the Breeze"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaTZkIInYNw

Written by JJ Cale. This is the band in their prime, with a 1975 appearance on British TV program, The Ol’ Grey Whistle Test.

Steve Miller Band / “Jungle Love”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZHXMnC2qwk

Co-written by Greg Douglass. Some songs are lucky enough to get a second chance at hit status, as happened when Steve Miller’s “Jungle Love” was used as a theme song for CBS-TV sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond.

The Monkees /  “Daydream Believer”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9m-hkvFDLk

Written by John Stewart. Many others including Anne Murray and Shonen Knife have had hits / singles with the song. With so many versions to choose from, we went with U2 live, with head Monkee, Davy Jones, in 1997.

The Matrix with Katy Perry / “Broken”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOoyiN3BfP0

Co-written by Anna Troy & Lindsey Troy. This single was recorded in 2004, but not released until 2009.  The Troys version of the song, was called “What Do You Do.”

The Ramones / “I Don’t Want To Grow Up”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU2SRNU955c

Written by Tom Waits and another tune with many versions – dig the Dan Clowes artwork in the video!

Johnny Rivers / “Slow Dancin (Swayin’ To The Music)”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQOmW_TVPxI

Written by Jack Tempchin, one of his many hit songs. This version is live, on NBC-TV’s The Midnight Special.

Various Artists / “Meet Me With Your Black Drawers On”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-P3ClQfWks

Written by Jeannie & Jimmy Chetham. Many blues songs have been written by San Diegans, but only one is a certified standard, covered by hundreds of bands worldwide. Case in point, here’s one of a numerous local bands found online playing the tune, Band of Oz, from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

 RIP SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON FOUNDER SHEL DORF

The original San Diego’s Golden State Comic-Minicon was held on March 21, 1970 at the U.S. Grant Hotel in downtown San Diego. News of Shel's passing leaves me very sad - he knew Revolutionary Comics founder Todd Loren back when Todd was first doing comic conventions in around Detroit, and I've known Shel since his early '80s days at the San Diego Comic-Con and working with us at Blackthorne Publishing on the Dick Tracy comic strip reprints in the late '80s.

I didn't begin attending the local Comic-Con until 1983, when they were at the Community Concourse Civic Theater and Golden Hall, but from then I went every year, up until I retired from comic book publishing in 2000. Shel withdrew from running the Con in the mid-'80s, and my first-ever professional "comic-creator" Con pass came courtesy of friends of Shel, who let me attend his farewell party where I met dozens of comic creators and publishers who'd later be instrumental in my own career.

One of my biggest professional or personal thrills to date was drawing a little piece of skullface barbarian artwork on a gigantic wall-size paper card that everyone at Shel's party was drawing on that night, along with personal messages of cheer and well wishes - I sheepishly scribbled my art between drawings by the likes of Berni Wrightson, Frank Brunner, and John Pound, feeling for all the world like an interloper and imposter, brazenly defacing Shel's giant greeting card with my own inadequate scrawl.

But then Shel walked over, shook my hand, and thanked me ---- I cite that as the very moment I became a professional comic book creator ---

Many years later, around 1992, I went to lunch with Shel and Revolutionary Comics publisher Herb Shapiro. I was surprised to find that Shel actually remembered me from as far back at that '80s Comic-Con party, tho I imagine he only remembered because I was the one guy he'd never met before but who defaced his giant greeting card anyway.

During lunch, Shel looked at me and said "I had a feeling right from the start that you were one of the good guys in comics."

I've strived ever since to live up to that pronouncement ---- 

Shel Dorf was a rare true-life hero -- he'll be sorely missed ---

Jack Kirby and Shel Dorf — November 9, 1969 - courtesy http://www.sheldorftribute.com/

 THE RETURN OF ROCK 'N' ROLL COMICS!

Hard Rock Heroes: What goes together better than comics and rock music? With almost 300 pages of Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics, Hard Rock Heroes goes WAY beyond Behind the Music, to tell the real life, behind-the-scenes stories of rock’s most heavy hitters. Creators include Stuart Immonen (Superman: End of the Century), Ken Landgraf (Wolverine), Jay Allen Sanford (Overheard in San Diego..), Todd Loren (Beatles Experience), Scott Pentzer (Razor), Mike Sagara (Ninja High School), and many others.

 

Hard Rock Heroes is a book-length pictorial history, covering bands like Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Van Halen, Motley Crue, Poison, Megadeth, Pantera, Anthrax, Motorhead, Sammy Hagar, and more. The cinematic stories are realistically drawn, researched from countless photo and video archives, with an encyclopedic eye toward visual accuracy, dramatic flair, and journalistic depth.

 

 Also includes the never-before published “missing” Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics #8 from 1990, on Skid Row. The lack of an eighth issue has vexed collectors and catalogers for years – exactly 20 years later, the story can finally be told, and collectors can finally own ALL the Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics!

 

As a bonus treat, Hard Rock Heroes also features the Motley Crue comic story from their official box CD set Music To Crash Your Car To II, released in 2004 and written and drawn by original Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics creators Lyndal Ferguson and Larry Nadolsky. Shipping February 2010.

 

 (colors: Christie Maconnell)

 

 "Great ideas, like the marriage of rock 'n' roll and comics, have the half-life of Uranium and will always be popular," says series co-creator Jay Allen Sanford, who has worked on over 200 reality-based comic books and thousands of similar cartoon strips for the San Diego Reader, as well as for magazines like Rip, Spin, and Oui. "The folks at Bluewater clearly have their fingers on the same pop culture pulse that enabled the original Rock 'N' Roll Comics to become one of the top-selling indie comics of the '90s. Truth is often stranger than fiction...and certainly much more interesting!" 

 

 MORE STRANGE STAGE MOMENTS - courtesy of Bart Mendoza

Zank Bennett: “At a gig, I was standing just behind our main speaker at the Tiki in PB, leaning against the map that is on the wall there. A little later I was playing a big solo in a song called “Saturday Night” and I went to lean back on the map/wall. It wasn't there. Unfortunately, I had spun another 45 degrees during my solo and hadn’t realized it. I was directly behind our front-of-the-house speaker; the one that sat atop an empty keg of beer. Still with my eyes closed, I leaned back and the three of us, the keg, the speaker on top and I, went tumbling the foot-and-a-half drop to the floor below.  We were about three beats from the end of the song. The band never lost a beat and we finished the syncopated last few bars perfectly, more or less. And without a scratch.

Karin Carson: “One time I was playing shaker on a gig and getting really into the tune. So into it, that I lost the grip on my shaker, which went flying towards the guitar player, who, mid-riff, dodged the flying shaker in a matrix like move, sideways. The audience never caught on, but we still laugh about it.”

Carolyn Kallis / Coco and Lafe: “We were busking on the street in Boston and this very large man came down and sat down in front of us, almost right on the microphone, sort of assumed the yogi position and pulled out a can of colt 45. He started to mumble along to our songs, but then he lay down and fell asleep. Every once in awhile he’d wake up, mumble something and then go back to sleep. Homeless people really gravitated to us in Boston.”

Danny Cress / The Coyote Problem: “I was in a surf trio a few years ago. We were in a club playing a version of the old standard “Caravan,” when all of a sudden - and in unison, the guitarist and bass player just put down their instruments and walked off. They headed towards the bar, looking at me just long enough to say “drum solo.” It was probably only about five minutes before they came back, but it seemed much longer.”

Mary Dolan: “I was booked for a performance at an AA convention in Las Vegas. I got there with about 1/2 hour to spare. I had a raging headache from the desert drive, the air conditioning and the tension of bad traffic, so I asked a friend for some aspirin. She didn't have any, but she asked her sister and SHE had a bottle of Advil in her purse.  So I took two. I'm on stage and I'm starting to feel weird, like maybe I had more than just a headache.  I was having a hard time feeling my fingers on the fretboard and the audience was getting blurry.  No one was saying anything. Maybe it sounded okay and looked okay, even though I felt a kind of lousy I've NEVER experienced before. For my last tune, I gave "Piece of my Heart" whatever I had left. I cut it short and then I started to dry heave as I was getting off stage. My friend and her sister came running up to me as I was telling them that I was really very sick.  My friend's sister had tears streaming down her face and she was saying," I'm sorry, I'm sorry."  What, huh, I thought?  Then my friend told me that her sister had accidently given me her disguised muscle relaxants. I was loaded at the AA convention.”

Calen Lucas / Family Wagon:  “We played a concert on Halloween and there was a giant pumpkin on the stage right in the center, where the monitors should be. As we were playing I decided to put one foot up on the pumpkin for dramatic effect. Except that my foot sunk right into the center of the pumpkin, which was hot orange goo under the stagelights.”

Abraham Nunez / Team Abraham: “At our Record Release Party (@ the Casbah) in March, we were mid-set when I suddenly see two bras hanging from the mic stand. One was very sexy the other was fairly large and sturdy. This was fine and I kept playing and all, but mid the next song, I see some boxers being passed down toward the stage... they we're flannel and I could smell them as they were being placed, by a fan, onto the mic stand. I wasn't sure how to respond...”

Eric Schauer: “Strangest thing?  A gig at a dirty dive called "The Double Down" in Las Vegas with my surf band on 6/6/06. We were playing surf instrumental versions of Black Sabbath tunes.  Before we played, there was a side-show troupe. Their act included a young lady bending over and shooting darts from her ----- and popping balloons that were taped to a man's chest about 20ft away. That's not too disgusting, right?  There were fire-breathers and our hula-hoopist was topless and donned in red paint and devil horns. We were set up on the floor and some girl in the audience kept taunting her and knocking her hoop down as we played.  Finally, the hula-hoopist snapped, lept out of the hoop in mid-hula onto this girl and proceeded to beat her down.  The band played on as the bouncers broke it up. I’ve seen a few girl-fights with this band at this bar. This one definitely sticks out.”      

Anna Troy: “On stage at Lestats, I was singing a song with a friends band when a piece of hair went into my mouth. It was uncomfortable, but I waited until between songs to pull it out, complete with spit. Not very graceful, but it had to be done. For some reason the guys in the band loved it. The bassist said it was the highlight of the night.”

Jaime Valle: “Years ago, I was playing an underground Tijuana night club, it was a hot summer night, the band was jamming, the joint was jumping, suddenly, someone shoots the bass player. The bullet was aimed at the singer, missed and hit the poor bassist. All the cats in TJ know who I'm talking about.”

UPSTAGING APPLE'S iTUNES: Electrical engineers go head to head with Genius on music playlists

UC San Diego engineers use their song-annotating algorithms to study playlists

		VIDEO: Electrical engineers at UC San Diego have created a new kind of music search engine that actually listens to music. This approach could help bands like Juna and S03 (both... Click here for more information.

Electrical engineers recently pitted Genius – the music recommendation system in Apple's iTunes – against two experimental music recommender systems. Genius appears to capture acoustic similarities among songs within the same playlist, the researchers found. The University of California, San Diego electrical engineers also discovered that the music recommender they built from scratch can generate song playlists that human subjects thought were as good as those that Genius generates. The UC San Diego system works for songs that Genius knows nothing about.

UC San Diego electrical engineering Ph.D. student Luke Barrington presented these findings on October 28 at the 2009 International Society for Music Information Retrieval Conference (ISMIR 2009) in Kobe, Japan. (Read the paper at: http://cosmal.ucsd.edu/cal/pubs/Barrington-Genius-ISMIR09.pdf

"Our goal is to make a music recommendation tool that is as good as or better than Genius, but that does not require massive amounts of user data. The system we are developing can analyze and recommend completely unknown songs by new bands as accurately as it analyzes the most popular hits," said Barrington, who used the same underlying technology to create a series of music discovery games for Facebook (http://herdit.org) and a new kind of music search engine that will be available for beta testing next week (http://herdit.org/music/index.html). Watch a three minute video about the new music search engine at: http://cse-ece-ucsd.blogspot.com/2009/10/new-music-search-engine-on-way.html

Tools for creating automated music playlists are increasingly useful now that huge numbers of songs are available for download and streaming to anyone with an Internet connection. iTunes – the most popular music retailer on the planet – has sold more than 6 billion tracks. Genius uses "collaborative filtering" on these purchase statistics to help people organize their music and discover new songs they might like based on similarity to a "seed" song that they do like.

By averaging statistics about how millions of listeners purchase and play music, Genius appears to actually capture acoustic similarities between songs, according to the new research, which involved human evaluation of music recommendation systems and was led by researchers at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. Because Genius is a proprietary system whose secrets are not available to the public, the researchers studied it by testing its song recommendations against comparable song suggestions from experimental music recommender systems that they fully understood.

		IMAGE: Electrical engineers recently pitted Genius -- the music recommendation system in Apple's iTunes -- against two experimental music recommender systems. Genius appears to capture acoustic similarities among songs within the... Click here for more information.

"At first we thought that collaborative filtering would just spot similar artists: if you like Daft Punk, it might recommend any song by Justice. However, we found that acoustic similarities come through in Genius playlists. Genius seems to find correspondences between songs that go beyond what you get by just matching artists. We don't think Genius actually knows anything about the acoustics of songs, but it still produces great recommendations since the data it is using is built upon acoustic analyses of the music done by millions humans," said Luke Barrington, an electrical engineering Ph.D. candidate at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, and the first author of the new study. Gert Lanckriet, an electrical and computer engineering professor from UC San Diego and Reid Oda, an undergraduate in cognitive sciences at UC San Diego are co-authors on this paper, available at: http://cosmal.ucsd.edu/cal/pubs/Barrington-Genius-ISMIR09.pdf

The UC San Diego researchers found that the playlist generator they built using their own algorithms performed as well as Genius under certain conditions. In contrast to Genius, which uses information about the songs people buy and listen to in iTunes in order to learn which songs in any iTunes library are related, the UCSD music recommender relies on auto-tagging algorithms that use machine learning to label songs with descriptive words based only on the acoustic content of the songs.

"Our computer system works by listening to the music – it doesn't know anything about artists or albums or charts. In some trials of our survey, we tried to remove these biases from the human listeners by hiding the names of the songs and artists and making sure that subjects liked the seed songs but had not heard them before," said Barrington. In these cases, the researchers found that people liked playlists generated by the UCSD auto-tagging algorithms as often as they liked Genius playlists.

This partial parity with Genius underscores how the UCSD auto-tagging algorithms can be used to generate high quality music playlists that incorporate lesser-known and unknown songs. Genius currently ignores relatively unknown songs because it lacks adequate wisdom from iTunes customers about how these songs connect to other songs. Systems like the auto-tagging music algorithms developed at UC San Diego could be useful in filling in the "blind spots" in Genius and other collaborative filtering systems that rely on the wisdom of the masses to generate playlists.

"We weren't expecting our system to beat Genius at making playlists based on the most popular songs – our system doesn't know about artists, popularity, release dates, albums or anything else that the average music fan is aware of. Once we add that information in, we think we can build something that is really smarter than Genius," said Barrington.

The UCSD electrical engineers are always improving their auto-tagging algorithms thanks to a series of music discovery games they created for Facebook called Herd It (http://www.herdit.org/). Players listen to songs and compete with other online players to most accurately describe the songs they are listening to. The electrical engineers use the song-word combinations these games generate to improve the accuracy and breadth of their auto-tagging algorithms.

As with the Herd It games, the surveys the engineers created to study playlists also began with humans listening to a song clip. Next, the survey system produced two competing five-song playlists for the same seed song. Playlists were generated by one of the four possible recommender systems the researchers were studying: Genius; Artist Similarity – a music recommender that selected songs based only on similar artists; Similar Tags – a music recommender that selected songs based only on the audio content of the songs (this system was built upon the UCSD auto-tagging algorithms); or random playlist.

For each pair of playlists, subjects identified the list they thought was better. Playlists were built from the authors' personal music library of over 12,000 relatively popular songs that span the most common genres of Western popular music. The list of songs used to seed playlists is available at: http://cosmal.ucsd.edu/cal/projects/playlist/

People are moving more and more to streaming music, where listeners don't have the actual file. With access to every song on You Tube, deciding which of the 10 million songs you want to listen to next can be daunting.

"Playlists are an increasingly important tool for overcoming what otherwise might be an overwhelming amount of streaming music," said Barrington.

The algorithms that automatically tag songs with descriptive words that are at the foundation of the UC San Diego playlist generator are also powering a new breed of search engine for music as well as Facebook games that provide researchers with the information needed to improve the new search engine. To watch a video highlighting the capabilities of the new music search engine, go to: http://cse-ece-ucsd.blogspot.com/2009/10/new-music-search-engine-on-way.html

This search engine will be available for beta testing next week. Register for the music search engine beta test at: http://herdit.org/music/

SPORTS ARENA MVP SPILLS ON 2.5 MIL REDO AND NEW ARENA NIGHTCLUB

“We’re putting two and a half million dollars in the building” says Ernie Hahn, General Manager of the Sports Arena for the past 13 years. “It’s been a year since AEG Live became a majority owner partner and, since there’s no new arena being built for awhile in San Diego, AEG is modernizing the facility with creature comforts like LCD TV screens, flat screens, redoing the entrances and the outer concourse, paint and colors and lighting, and all new lower level seats. The eight rows of riser seats at the Arena that have literally been here since day one are all getting replaced, [with] 2,200 state-of-the-art seats.” 

Construction has also begun on “a special club for our sponsors and club seat holders,” in the old Arena Club space, set to open later this year. Club 3500 (the facility’s address) will be 6,500 square feet, with a 350-person occupancy and accessed via membership only. “When you walk in,” says Hahn, “it’s going to feel like a downtown club, really swank, hip, and sophisticated. It’ll be close to a dedicated seating section at stage right, which will be put aside for our club members.”

Annual membership is $2,450.00, with the option to purchase up to four “dedicated seating” tickets for events you want to opt-in for. Other perks include VIP parking, a VIP entrance, and its own “Exclusive men’s and women’s rest rooms, with sound in them, new paint, mirrors, sinks, and counters, and stalls. The Arena Club in the past always had to utilize the rest rooms that are also available to anybody in [sections] A, B or C on the floor.”

 Hahn is also outfitting Club 3500 with Arena memorabilia. “Few houses have this kind of history,” he says. “A lot of people saw their first concert here. We’ll have over 120 pictures showing the actual [Sports Arena] history, like Pink Floyd in ‘74, or the Stones in ’72. I’ve got a great shot of Elton John, one of Elvis in ‘73 or ‘76, and I think a Led Zeppelin ‘75 shot. We have a great photo of James Brown here in 1967, and one of John Denver in the mid-seventies, which I particularly like.”

The 42 year-old Hahn grew up in locally, with parents who were Mariners season ticket holders in the ‘70s (“Lower level one, two seats on the end, across from the visiting penalty box”). He began at the facility as an event coordinator in June 1991.

AEG runs, operates, or is involved with around a hundred arena facilities worldwide, though Hahn notes “We’re an open building. So, whether it’s Live Nation or AEG or anyone else, all shows are not only welcome but encouraged here.”

As for selling naming rights to the building (after a short-lived stint at the iPayOne Center), Hahn says “Through the global partnerships division of AEG, we’re working with a lot of sponsors, some who just recently stepped up, and we’re in discussions with a couple who will hopefully bid or ultimately come in as a naming rights partner.”  

AEG sold naming rights for Berlin’s 02 Arena last year for $37.5 million.

And now, courtesy of Bart Mendoza, here are 15 video clips set at the Sports Arena, some pro-shot and some fan-made ----

1)      Tribal Seeds @ Reggae Fest 2008

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONzQ-w7zr84

2)      Fleetwood Mac / “Dreams” 05/31/09 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eXXAth0i74

3)      Metallica / “Enter Sandman” 01-13/14-92 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYlPUNEwGRU

4)      Nirvana / “Heart Shaped Box” 12 29 93 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVGpbtv2mgU

5)      U2 / “Beautiful Day” 09 28 05 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HhnRBOMJhY

6)      George Micheal / “Careless Whisper” 06/17/08 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml1Qlpn_LQ8

7)      Led Zeppelin Comes to San Diego on SD News

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APplenzzKk4

8)      Taylor Swift / “Hey Stephan” (really good footage of her interacting with concert crowd at 2:30 – kind of daring actually…

       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI4e8_fn80k

9)      AC/DC / “Back In Black” 2009

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiWX-7khEog

10)  Janet Jackson / ….. (Janet gets overwhelmed by San Diego fan response)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcosWOI-dOs

       11) Pearl Jam / “Jeremy” 1995 – not great pic quality, but really good sound!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCOZoUcPANI

12)  JJ Cale & Eric Clapton / “Cocaine” 03/15/07

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg63-uOgUJ8

13)  P.O.D. / “Boom” (just 8 seconds worth!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXEzvQtnC9w

14)  Ozzy Osbourne / …end of the show (fake gunshots!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUpDN1gOx5s

15)  Slayer / At the Sports Arena 1992 (a brief parking lot clip shot by a fan!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H_9zhpMDHY

Many of the artists from Revolutionary Comics, Rock 'N' Roll Comics, and Carnal Comics have joined forces once again to work on a new & unusual comic and reality based project – The Obama Nation Card Game! 

Obama Nation makes good-natured fun of politics, republicans and democrats, government spending and the US economic meltdown.  It’s a bit like playing Old Maid or Go fish, but half the fun is looking at and reading the hilarious card art – all very tongue in cheek.  Though it’s called Obama Nation, the game makes fun of consumers, banks, environmentalists, the elite, congress in general and both political parties, all in a fairly good natured way.  The goal of the game is to see if you can spend Billions of tax dollars faster than your opponents,

Former Rev Com artist  (and Obama Game art director) Steve Crompton described how it all came together; ”It’s a bit like a cross between wacky packages, Old Maid and some of the stuff Revolutionary Comics might have done if they made card games.  I thought it would be fun to get the old gang together for something like this, and I needed all the help I could get, so I contacted everyone I could find and I’m really happy with the response and great art I got from my Rev Com & Carnal pals.”

A quick look at the 54 card deck shows reveals an impressive list of RevCom & Carnal alums, including Lyndal Ferguson, Scott Jackson, Steve Crompton, Brad Foster, Gus Norman, Randy Vogel and Philo.  There may even be a few others hiding in the set as a complete list of all the RevCom artists is hard to come by. 

The full-color 54 card deck comes in a resealable box for a only $7.99. 
http://shop.twistedrules.com/ 

You can also get it at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/shops/carnalcomics

http://www.obamanationcardgame.com/  

WHY AL KOOPER HATES LOCAL WRITERS (BUT LOVES SAN DIEGO)

Legendary keyboardist Al Kooper has played with Dylan, the Stones, George Harrison and countless others, but he still has time to beef about local music reporters like Buddy Blue and a certain Reader columnist... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2009/jan/29/the-return-of-black-heart-procession-plus-anya-mar

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ANYA MARINA GETS STONED!

Rollingstone.com has added Anya Marina to their "breaking artist" profiles - http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2009/jan/29/the-return-of-black-heart-procession-plus-anya-mar

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 THE BEATLES IN SAN DIEGO

 8-28-65 – the Beatles: For the Beatles' one and only local appearance, at Balboa Stadium, radio station KCBQ declared that Saturday "Beatle Day" and gave out pins saying so to attendees. http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2009/jan/29/the-return-of-black-heart-procession-plus-anya-mar

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 UNEXPECTED BEATLES ART - The Fab Four turn up in the oddest places... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2009/jan/29/the-return-of-black-heart-procession-plus-anya-mar

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MAHARISH COMIX AND STORIES, OR "YOGI MAKES A BOO-BOO"

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2009/jan/29/the-return-of-black-heart-procession-plus-anya-mar

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WEIRD BEATLES MERCHANDISE - WTF were these licensors (and bootleggers) thinking... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/feb/06/my-brunch-with-yoko-plus-weird-beatles

MY BRUNCH WITH YOKO - Brunch with a Beatle bride... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/feb/06/my-brunch-with-yoko-plus-weird-beatles

YOKO ONO COMICS AND STORIES  - When Johnny Met Yoko, with dialogue and captions paraphrased from published Lennon interviews. Plus John Lennon: A Life in the Day

... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/feb/06/my-brunch-with-yoko-plus-weird-beatles

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LENNON OR McCARTNEY??  --We asked 25 local performers about their fave Beatle (and why), and got some surprising (and frequently revealing) answers...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/dec/13/we-asked-25-local-musicos-lennon-or-mccartney

  CELEBRITY HOUSE HUNTING IN SAN DIEGO - Real estate broker Jeff Paiste has squired several famous musicians around San Diego in their search for decent digs to lease or rent, including Bread frontman David Gates and the late George Harrison.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/13/celebrity-house-hunting-in-san-diego

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 JOEY MOLLAND/BADFINGER INTERVIEW - Badfinger's last man standing, Joey Molland, reveals more about the tragic story of Badfinger, as well as meeting and working with John Lennon, George Harrison, and Todd Rundgren, plus the Concert for Bangladesh, and more.  http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/aug/21/x-jam-cancellation-controversy-plus-how-i-snuck-in/

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THE DAY JOHN LENNON WAS SHOT - Local celebs share their recollections of December 8, 1980, plus guest essays from Al Kooper (who was recording with George Harrison that day) and others....  http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2009/jan/25/john-lennon-12-8-1980-we-ask-local-celebs-where-we/

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LEGO ALBUM COVER RECREATIONS! Those wacky kidsters at toyzone.com put together this great tribute to OCD Legoholics everywhere... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2009/jan/29/the-return-of-black-heart-procession-plus-anya-mar

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Exclusive preview and new interview with one of the creators/performers behind the new internet Trek series - click for more ---http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2009/oct/04/happy-rons-hormonal-harem---loving-san-diegos-musi/#

READER EXCLUSIVE - For the first time anywhere on the web, here's the promo trailer for Star Trek: The Continuing Mission, episode six: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/audioclips/66/

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The Twilight Zone made it's TV debut 50 years ago, on 10-2-59 - we asked local musicos to tell us their own favorite Zone episodes --- (more "What's Your Favorite Twilight Zone?" )

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THE ROCKETEER AND OTHER FAMOUS '80S COMICS BEGAN RIGHT HERE IN SAN DIEGO - Here's a detailed history of local Pacific Comics, who recruited comic superstars like Jack Kirby to create one of the first successful indie comic book lines. Pioneers in the fight for comic creators' rights and royalties, former employees and operators reveal how they did it, and what went so terribly wrong...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/08/pacific-comics-the-inside-story-jay-allen-sanford

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THE KOMPLETE KISS KOMIX KRONICLES - Comprehensive collection of stuff I’ve done about working with Kiss on a comic book series in San Diego, along with a bunch of never-before-seen artifacts from the Kiss Komix archives AND an article by Kiss comic author Spike Steffenhagen, offering his own very-different take, ala Rashomon, on the same events I describe in my essay...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/12/komplete-kiss-komix-kronicles

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ROCK 'N' ROLL COMICS: THE INSIDE STORY - In 1989, San Diego's Revolutionary Comics ("Unauthorized And Proud Of It") launched Rock 'N' Roll Comics, featuring unlicensed biographies of rock stars, most of which I wrote. Some performers, like Frank Zappa and Kiss, were supportive, while others like New Kids On The Block considered our comics akin to bootlegs and sued. In June 1992, publisher Todd Loren was found dead in his San Diego condo, brutally murdered...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/12/rock-n-roll-comics-the-inside-story

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NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK VS REVOLUTIONARY COMICS - The inside story of how a hugely successful boy band tried to sue local-based Rock 'N' Roll Comics over an unauthorized biography of the group, sparking a court case that established, for the very first time, first amendment rights for comic books. Illustrated by comic superstar Stuart Immonen (Superman, etc.)...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/13/new-kids-on-the-block-versus-revolutionary-comics

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OVER A MILLION CARNAL COMICS ARE IN PRINT - Here's how and why we made some of the top-selling erotic comics of all time, right here in San Diego, including what Gene Simmons has to do with it all, backstage tales of porn stars, and more confessions of a comic pornographer...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/08/carnal-comics-the-inside-story-jay-allen-sanfor

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COMICS AND CENSORSHIP - DON'T BE AFRAID, IT'S ONLY A COMIC BOOK - A local-centric history of comic book censorship, and the fight for the rights of comic creators...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/06/comics-and-censorship-a-local-centric-illustrated

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TWILIGHT ZONE AND STAR TREK WRITER GEORGE CLAYTON JOHNSON PRESENTS - The inside story of a local horror comic book series featuring Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, plus sci-fi king Larry Niven, Zap Comix co-founder Spain Rodriguez, Matthew Alice artist Rick Geary, Vampire Lestat painter Daerick Gross, yours truly JAS, and many more...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/05/deepest-dimension-terror-anthology-twilight-zone

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THE BIRTH OF IMAGE COMICS: INSIDE STORY OF A LOCAL PUBLISHING POWERHOUSE - Illustrated tale revealing how Spawn creator Todd McFarlane and local comic artist Jim Lee (the Punisher, etc.) conspired to create the ultimate creator-owned comic books...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/03/the-birth-of-image-comics-an-illustrated-history

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 Down the Slippery Slope - Arrested For the Crime of Viewing Manga

On March 30, 2004, when Dwight Whorley found the Japanese website of Fractal Underground Studio via Yahoo and clicked on a couple of the thumbnail images... ( http://comipress.com/special/miscellaneous/down-the-slippery-slope-the-crime-of-viewing-manga )

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"Before It Was The Gaslamp: Balboa's Last Stand" - Cover story 6-21-07: In the late 70s/early 80s, I worked at downtown San Diego's grindhouse all-night movie theaters, for the owner of the Pussycat Theatre chain, Vince Miranda - this detailed feature recalls those dayz, the death of the Balboa Theatre, etc.

More Before It Was the Gaslamp

 

"Battle Of The Peeps" - feature article about a weird gig I had in the mid-'80s, running a strip club called Jolar, for the nation's second biggest pornographer, Harry Mohney (Deja Vu Showgirls founder).

More Battle of the Peeps - An Insider History of San Diego Porn Shops

"Field Of Screens" - Cover story 7-6-06: Complete theater-by-theater history of San Diego drive-ins thru the years, including a few which screened X-rated fare for awhile.

More Drive-In Theaters in San Diego: Complete Illustrated History 1947 thru 2008

  

"Pussycat Theaters - When 'Cathouses Ruled California" -- for the first time, the detailed inside story of the west coast Pussycat Theater chain of adult moviehouses, which peaked in the '70s but later died out. Told by those who actually ran the theaters!

More Pussycat Theater History: When Cathouses Ruled CA

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Today's Top MP3 Downloads

• Bill Travis - 4 Hands
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Like this blog? Here are some related links:

OVERHEARD IN SAN DIEGO - Several years' worth of this comic strip, which debuted in the Reader in 1996: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/photos/galleries/overheard-san-diego/

FAMOUS FORMER NEIGHBORS - Over 100 comic strips online, with mini-bios of famous San Diegans: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/photos/galleries/famous-former-neighbors/

SAN DIEGO READER MUSIC MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/sandiegoreadermusic

JAY ALLEN SANFORD MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/jayallensanford