New Music From Bettye Lavette

 

From the forthcoming album Lavette!, out June 16th via Jay Vee Records. Read more about the announcement HERE on Brooklyn Vegan.

Back in 2012, I really did not know who Betty Lavette was. My x and I were in San Francisco for about a week, and caught Ms. Lavette at the old Yoshi's location; she was on tour for her Thankful and Thoughtful record. Amazing show, but it's been quite some time since she has been on my radar. Gotta change that! 

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News:

It's been a while, but a new edition of the Every Day (Is Halloween) Newsletter goes out this morning at 8:30 AM. Included therein is a pretty fantastic playlist, if I do say so myself. I recently bowed out of a friend's Spotify Premium Family account, so I totally understand if you're not hip to the format - I prefer Apple Music for almost everything, however, if there's one thing Spotify does better it's playlists.

If you're interested in signing up, I don't share your info, I don't send often enough to be a nuisance, and I try to add value to my readers' lives by turning them onto as much awesome stuff as possible!

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Read:

Here's another thing I don't think I'd ever heard of before: Alan Moore and Alan Davis's Captain Britain comic from 1983? 

Leave it to the Cartoonist Kayfabe guys - that's Ed "Red Room" Piskor and Jim "Street Angel" Rugg, two of the most talented artists working in comics today. I subscribed to their channel (HERE) a while back and have really been getting an education from it; HIGHLY recommend you check Cartoonist Kayfabe out if you're into the art and history of comics!

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Watch:

Not watching this new Dead Ringers trailer, but I'll post it here for posterity's sake.

 

All episodes drop on April 21st, and I'm curious as hell, especially after reading on Bloody Disgusting that Sean Durkin directed the first two episodes. I'm a big fan of his film Martha Marcy May Marlene, so I'm excited to see how his particular aesthetic might meld with Cronenbergian themes/images.

 

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Playlist:

Damone - From the Attic

Nabihah Iqbal - Dreamer (pre-release singles)

Clouds Taste Satanic - Tales of Demonic Possession

Deadguy - Fixation On A Coworker

The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir

Brainiac - The Predator Nominate

Ghost - Prequelle

The Darts - I Like You But Not Like That

High On Fire - Surrounded By Thieves

Massive Attack - 100th Window

Bettye Lavette - The Scene of the Crime

    

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Card:

Back to Missi's Raven Deck for today's Pull:

Change: Just accept it. "Words of wisdom Lloyd. Words. Of. Wisdom."

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2019: April 20th - Swamp Thing Teaser

This dropped a few days ago, but I haven't had time to post here. There's an article on Bloody Disgusting - I think - that mentions this show is going to be pulling a lot from Alan Moore's seminal run on the book, the one that not only redefined Wrightson and Wein's character, but arguably the comics industry in general. If I hadn't witnessed that insane Doom Patrol sequence I posted a few weeks ago, I'd probably be a lot more skeptical of this. As it stands, that's two shows on the DC Universe app that I want to give a shot. That said, I don't know that I intend on subscribing to a DC streaming app regardless of whether or not they bring up a show with Jesus handing out free passes, so I guess I'll wait and see. Still, kudos to DC on finally getting something going, because I happened to see about ten minutes of that JLA movie on cable in a hotel recently, and all I can say is, no thanks.

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My trip to the comic shop did NOT decimate my wallet, and now I've had a morning's worth of new books to read. My favorite this month? The return of Rucka and Lark's Lazarus, but in a quarterly, prestige format, with a shit ton of back matter:

Also, there's two big conflicts - probably wars, actually, coming in two of my favorite titles, and while  I'm pretty excited, I'm also a little afraid of the body count that may follow as a result:

I'm especially concerned about what's coming in TWD. With issue 200 on the horizon, my prediction remains that Rick Grimes will die, probably before the anniversary issue, just because Kirkman likes to defy expectation.

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Didn't get to watch The Last Drive-In last night, so K and I will be watching Joe Bob this evening. Can't wait! And I've never seen either of the films he played this week.





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Playlist from 4/18:

Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Deftones - Koi No Yokan
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
Drab Majesty - Careless
Drab Majesty - Ellipses (Pre-release Single)

Playlist from 4/19:

Talking Heads - Remain in Light
Grand Duchy - Petite Fours
The National - Trouble Will Find Me
Odonis Odonis - Reaction EP
The Thirsty Crows - Hangman's Noose
Canadian Rifle - Peaceful Death
Ghost - Opus Eponymous
Faith No More - King for a Day
Thought Gang - Modern Music

Card for the day:

I really need to do a deep dive on this card. I'll not waste time with another abbreviated interpretation right now. Needless to say, I suppose I'm supposed to control my emotions, but that just doesn't seem to fit right now.

Drinking w/ Comics #26 - the Halloween Issue!

Mike and I really get into swapping scary comics recommendations: Mike Mignola's Jenny Finn and Batman/Lovecraft mash-up The Doom that Came to Gotham; Tomb of Dracula; Jason Martin and Bill McKay's Night of the 80s Undead; Alan Moore's Swamp Thing; Joe R. Lansdale's Jonah Hex and The Drive In, and the Vertigo Comics' adaptation of William Hope Hodgson's insanely creepy House on the Borderland it's kind of like Fall of the House of Usher with Malevolent Pig monsters!). Also, we drink Ninkasi Brewing's Dawn of the Red India Red Ale and their Sleigh'r Imperial Pumpkin Ale and talk a bit about the new Marvel re-launch.

The Chameleons - Swamp Thing

In late January my wife went to Austin, Texas for two weeks. During her absence I found myself somewhat in a state of disorder. My routines, namely work, commute, write, watch/read could all remain the same but my down time was eerily lonesome. I had our three cats, but they tend to exist in one of two modes - eating or sleeping - so although they were always present, there was a lack of conversation. During that time I listened to a lot of music, loading the old iPod with a number of records I had been meaning to get around to for some time and spent my days at work getting to know some new music. One of those records was The Chameleons' Strange Times. This was the first Chameleons I'd had the opportunity to delve into and it made a very strong impression very quickly.

One of the things I always find so interesting about the "Post Punk" era is the fact that many of the bands attributed to the genre sound a great deal to my ears the way the British New Wave of Comic creators in the 80's read/looked to my eyes/brain. Killing Joke sounds like 80s/90s Vertigo comics, so does Joy Division, The Smiths*... the list goes on. Upon first listen I found this was also the case with Strange Times, especially the track Swamp Thing, which whether my interpretation was a suggested planted by the title or merely some shared DNA with the book, reminds me so much of the tone of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run that I've pulled the trades I read a scant two years ago back out and am preparing to re-read. It's an eerie, sometimes defeated tone; an often emotionally overwhelming ode to the in between places we often fret to explore, and The Chameleons craft it very well, with a unique approach to arranging the standard rock instrumentation (guitars, bass, kit and keyboards) and a knack for open, verbose lyrics that somehow perfectly balance a line between ambiguity and precision.

Contemplating Swamp Thing, Old and New

Posted an article here on Joup earlier about the end of Scott Snyder and Yanick Paquette's run on Swamp Thing (issue #18 came out this past Wednesday and wrapped it up). This led to me beginning a re-reading of Alan Moore, Steve Bissette and John Totleben's Swamp Thing run from 1984, the run that basically introduced Moore to American comics (thanks to Karen Berger) and changed the industry on this side of the pond, almost single-handedly launching DC's Vertigo line and very clearly inspiring Neil Gaiman's Sandman. While re-reading I came upon this line, both in  the beginning of chapter #6 (originally issue #26). It is BEYOND mastery of language:

"I used to think I knew from fear... I didn't. All I knew were the suburbs of fear... and now here I am, in the big city."

Wow.

The Mindscape of Alan Moore

Alan Moore & Mitch Jenkins Made a Movie

What I've done is posted the prelude, "Acts of Faith" first, then the main event, Jimmy's End. I haven't watched these yet - they were published online at the end of last November and apparently I've had my head up my ass in regards to Mr. Moore since the most recent League of Extraordinary Gentlemen book (which was awesome and which, there is a new book set to hit comic and book stores next month - Nemo: Heart of Ice. Between these films, Nemo and my foray into Gary Spencer Millidge's Strangehaven prompting me to pull out his Alan Moore tribute book Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentlemen, I'm having a very Moore 2013 all of a sudden!!!)

I'll shut up now. Enjoy.

Alan Moore's Course in Magick...

...appears in five volumes at $14.99 a piece. You didn't know Moore had a course on Magick? Yep, it's a series of graphic novels entitled Promethea and it is wonderful.

Basically Moore disguises his teachings/theories as a slightly futurist superhero comic following protagonist Sophie Bangs as she comes to grips with being chosen to be the new incarnation of ancient god/force Promethea, essentially The Scarlet Women. The entire series is packed with Magick, however the real gem is from issue 12 to about 20 where Moore walks Sophie through the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, the ancient map of the Universe that the Tarot of the Egyptians is based on. It is brilliantly rendered in word and in art, J.H. Williams III and Mick Gray really pulling out all the stops and bringing each Sephira to life with the different colors, images and other associations.

In keeping with this, more for my own benefit really, because writing stuff like this helps me consolidate and streamline my own understanding, I'm going to write out the Major Arcana and brief definitions according to Moore.

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0 The Fool - Nothing. The Void. Ain Soph.
1 The Magus - The Father, the initial spark of creation.
2 The High Priestess - The womb in which that spark gestates.
3 The Empress - The Motherly crafting/nurturing of life.
4 The Emperor - The governing body of rules for that life = DNA.
5 The Hierophant - Something... more that guides that life. Birth of the idea of God or Higher Consciousness.
6 The Lovers - Life splits, Adam and Eve, the Protozic Amoebas. The Brothers, Cane and Abel. This Life thing gets complicated as life proliferates and takes on many new forms. Survival becomes you either kill or get killed.
7 The Chariot - The Holy Graal the dawn of man's exploration of imagination and enlightenment
8 Adjustment (formerly Justice) - Ying and Yang; Laws, compromise & cooperation. The first faint lines of civilization
9 The Hermit - A dark period of withdrawal and gestation. Re-grouping.
10 Fortune (formerly The Wheel) - Civilization: Empires come and go.
11 Lust - an undying drive that propels life further in spite of itself
12 The Hanged Man - Four points over one*: the triumph of reason and matter over the Spiritual
13 Death - A change of states.
14 Art (formerly Temperance) - The flip of card 6; alchemical mixing of Will and Imagination (Silver and Gold).
15 The Devil - Materialization over Spirit
16 The Tower - What goes up must come down (the Industrial Revolution).
17 The Star - The Path to enlightenment. The dawn of Spiritualism in the late 19th century.
18 The Moon - Hidden meanings. The Unconscious Mind.
19 The Sun - True Enlightenment.; revelation.
20 The Aeon - N.O.W. - Information age; Aeons turnover quicker and quicker. Eschaton.
21 The Universe - The Dance of Life. The mirror of card 0 - Everything.

Recent Acquisitions in the Arena of the Printed Page

Eddie Campbell is a certifiable comics genius. Possibly best known for his insanely well researched and rendered graphic depiction of Victorian London in From Hell (written by another comics Master Alan Moore) Campbell's graphic style can be deceptively off-putting at first glance, but I assure you the man is a visual tour de force and a born storyteller. Alec, a tome of over 600 pages, is an autobiographical epic that has had my eye on the book shelf for some time.






























Though first of course I have to finish:







































And Interspersed throughout, some light holiday short stories: