"There's a campaign of hate
It's waiting at the school gates
For what I am not aware
Must be what you wrote
What you write, you swore that you'd swear"
-- The Libertines

Advertising Age is conducting a poll regarding people's opinions regarding whether advertisers should bow to the pressure of so-called family advocates. In other words, should they let homophobic organizations set their agenda. This follows in the wake of a controversy surrounding ads Ford was running in gay publications; Ford made the right decision. Unfortunately, so far, people who have taken this poll do not agree. Please go and vote and tell them that you do not feel advertisers should bow to outside pressure. I've linked twice. Here's a third. The poll closes at 4 p.m. on Thursday, 12/22.

Here are the comments I made in the Talkback section:

Far too many people these days feel that they have the right to stand up and speak for everyone, regardless of whether their views are representative of a true America or not. Sadly, it seems more and more it is an extreme minority who tries to pull these kinds of shenanigans, and they get heard only because the more irrational the behavior, the louder it comes across. Shouldn't any advertiser or company be allowed to sell their product to whomever they please? Does it matter to me if my neighbor uses the same brand of shaving cream as I do if I think he's a real s.o.b.? I find it ironic that the conservative movement in our country advocates less government interference, demands that their religious beliefs be left alone, and then turn around and try to interfere with everyone else. Someone has to put their foot down so that this hypocrisy can trip right over it. Thank you for giving the rest of us a forum to speak.

Current Soundtrack: Oni Press 2005 mix CD (thank goodness for Maryanne, her picks carry the torch high!)

Current Mood: angry

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2005 Jamie S. Rich

E-MAIL PROBLEMS

[Please note that I intend to keep this post at the top of the page, so if you are checking my main blog page for updates, be sure to scroll past this before you decide there is none. This will, sadly, cause this message to be republished to any feed of this journal, for which I apologize. If the situation was not so annoying for me, I would not risk annoying you. Believe me.]

Just in case anyone is wondering why I may not have replied to something they sent me recently, my confessions123.com address has not been receiving e-mail except from the most random of accounts since Thursday night, 12/15. I'm trying to get it fixed, but sadly, my main source of help is on his Christmas travels. In the meantime, there is also a golightly at gmail.com account.

HOLLYWOOD GIRL ON THE FIRE ESCAPE, pt. 3

(part I) (part II)

Continuing posting scans of my personal collection of drawings of Audrey Hepburn by comic book artists.

This kind of project is just the right sort of thing for me at the moment. My mind has lacked focus for a few weeks now. I blame the weather, with its pervading darkness, as well as the five-day-a-week schedule at the day job. Only a couple of weeks of that left, and I think once that is done, I can get back to having the energy to combat the gray. We actually had snow last night--perhaps more ice than snow, but the ground was covered in white--but its gone now, at least in my pocket of the city. And I'm working on a new manga title that has not yet been added to the Tokyopop site, so I can't tell you what it is, but it's the perfect sort of work for when your act is not together enough to wander without a map.

Today, let's do a miscellaneous posting of the Audrey picks, still pulling them from the original round. First up is David Mack, creator of Kabuki:

Then how about a little something from Craig Thompson, he of Good-Bye, Chunky Rice and Blankets:

For a real blast from the past, you can also read my interview with Craig from the year before he did this drawing right here.

Jim Mahfood of Grrl Scouts fame:

And the one that seems to surprise most everyone is the My Fair Lady tribute by Jon "Bean" Hastings. I think most all of us are only familiar with Jon's comedic work on his book Smith Brown Jones: Alien Accountant. So, this beautiful illo is a wonderful surprise:

Current Soundtrack: Leftfield, Leftism

Current Mood: sleepy

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2005 Jamie S. Rich

HOLLYWOOD GIRL ON THE FIRE ESCAPE, pt. 2

(part I)

Today I am sharing the Mike Allred pieces from my collection. Mike is a good friend, and we worked together at both Oni Press and Dark Horse Comics. Red Rocket 7 is still one of my favorite books ever, and my first ever paying gig for writing was the back of the second set of Madman Bubblegum Cards. (I wrote the first set on company time, which is how I came to know Mike.)

Anyway, this was from the Maryanne portfolio:

While I was with Oni, I also freelance edited Mike's series The Atomics. He also drew those characers in my regular sketchbook:

Mike is currently three issues in to his mammoth comic book adaption of The Book of Mormon, titled The Golden Plates. It's the most gorgeous work of his career. You should definitely hunt it down, regardless of your religious persuasion.

Current Soundtrack: Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan, Ballad of the Broken Seas

Current Mood: happy

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2005 Jamie S. Rich

HOLLYWOOD GIRL ON THE FIRE ESCAPE, pt. 1

Jennifer Sireci has been on my case forever to put my Audrey Hepburn portfolio online, and now that I'm an amateur scanner, I'm finally getting around to doing it.

The portfolio was started in 2000 by Oni Press' marketing director, and one of my editors, Maryanne Snell. It was a birthday present, and it held portraits by Mike Allred, Jim Mahfood, Craig Thompson, Jon "Bean" Hastings, David Mack, and Chynna Clugston (though, in usual fashion, Chynna's was late, arriving after the others and past my birthday; it's why we love her!). I then continued it, pasting copies of the drawings into a sketchbook and taking it to conventions, slowly collecting more (sometimes people refuse because the quality of the book scares them). Two were contributed by Ms Sireci, both by Daniel Krall. Jen Wang's portrait was the most recent one, and you've seen that. Today I will start posting others.

To begin, I am going to give you the Andi Watson drawing that Maryanne also commissioned in the first round. He seems like a fitting beginning, since I posted my Christmas card that featured his illo yesterday:

In addition to the Audrey Hepburn sketchbook, I keep a miscellaneous book as well, where artists can draw whatever they want. I started it in 1997, and Andi did the first drawing in there:

I would wager I possibly have the largest private collection of Andi Watson art on the planet. (And possibly Chynna, as well.) Sadly, my scanner isn't big enough for some of them, but maybe someday I'll go to Kinko's and shrink a couple so you can see Kitsune as Sailor Moon fighting the Godzilla-like Raccoon Backpack.

Current Soundtrack: De La Soul, De La Soul Is Dead (it's Tamarri's fault)

Current Mood: giggly

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2005 Jamie S. Rich

SLICK NICK, YOU DEVIL YOU!

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the holiday season. Blah blah blah. Remember, I told you guys Christmas is cancelled?

In case some people forgot, I made it the subject of my card this year:

Keith Wood executed the design for me, and Andi Watson unwittingly provided the art (it's a panel from our Four Letter Worlds story). It's actually based on true facts. I did send out a Christmas card when I was 21 that had me entirely naked except for a bow placed over my privates. My friend and I went out into the Mojave Desert, near where we lived at the time, and she took a roll of pictures of me posing on the rocks and amongst the Joshua Trees. We went with one of me making a rather exaggerated angry face, pressed up against a boulder. It was windy and it was freezing cold, and the bow had only been stuck to my penis with the little adhesive square that it comes with. It remained on the whole time, despite the wind having a lot of force that day. In fact, it was so bad, that at some point when we opened the car door, my underwear must have blown out because it was gone when I returned to get dressed. After I painfully peeled the bow off, the adhesive square left a red imprint behind. Of course, that was the most action I got that year--or any year, for that matter. (Awwwww, pity poor me....)

I've actually started a little thing over on the Lance Scott journal where he ruminates on Christmas and the surrounding hollow-days. There are two entires, and it's titled "Jump, George Bailey, Jump!" I am not sure there will be more entries, and I don't really intend to try to shape them into something more a la "Yoga Girls." There are already rants against Halloween and birthdays in The Everlasting and an unpublished short story called "Chevelu" that has an undeliverable Christmas gift at its center, so I don't want to back Lance into a corner and make a series of him hating holidays. These are just a couple of things that came to me when I was in between dreaming and waking.

I'm working on a list of my favorite movies of the year to go with my music list, but I am holding off as there are a couple of things I am still going to see before the end of the year. I would do one on books, but I just don't read enough contemporary stuff to do so. I did, however, vote in Chris Tamarri's Comic Bloggers' Poll.

Oh, and in case you haven't seen, Chynna Clugston has announced that I will be contributing her and Ian Shaughnessy's Strangetown comic on a regular basis. I'll be writing articles from The Grangeton Bee to run in the back of the book. The first one is pretty much done...even if the comic isn't.

Current Soundtrack: Low, Christmas

Current Mood: evil and a heathen

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2005 Jamie S. Rich

WHO'S BETTER, WHO'S BEST:

TOP MUSIC 2005

It seems a fitting time to enter in this meme.

Your 2005 Song Is

Hollaback Girl by Gwen Stefani "This shit is bananas B-A-N-A-N-A-S)" For you, 2005 was the Best Year Ever.

What Hit Song of 2005 Are You?

All men have lists, and here is mine, so let it be known! We have been through hell and high tide and I think you can rely on me.

This year seems to have been dominated by boys with guitars, as well as the re-emergence of several '80s synth faves. There is a notable, but unintentional, absence of hip-hop, as well.

Albums

1. The Tears - Here Come The Tears: No surprise that this turned out to be my favorite album of the year. This record was almost too good, full of sonic fury and pleasure from start to finish. Granted, for me there is a bit of a nostalgic attachment, taking me back to 1993-94 when Suede were at their heyday, but this is more than a reunion of that band's songwriting partners where they try to relive something beyond their grasp, this is something new and more accomplished, like they returned to where they left off with plenty of lessons learned. I'll never tire of Here Come the Tears.

2. Erasure – Nightbird: People forget how good Erasure are as songwriters. They think of Andy Bell's flamboyance or get hung-up on the often retro sounding keyboard sounds, and they miss the amazing melodies, the devious hooks, and the pure emotion of Andy Bell's singing. A perfect pop record, rife with drama and passion that's been chewed with the sweetest of teeth.

3. Antony & the Johnsons - I Am a Bird Now: Antony sings from someplace far beyond rational thought, in a zone of pure feeling. This record is dark without being depressing, and it's unafraid to swing its mood with great, arching gestures. Achingly gorgeous.

4. My Little Airport - because I was too nervous at that time...: Twee in all the right places, this second disc from the Hong Kong-based boy girl duo is like a teenage Stereolab with only an Atari 2600 to soothe their broken hearts.

5. Depeche Mode - Playing the Angel: The old guard is back, and on this long player, they found a way to wed their more mature recent output with the dance-floor pop of their first decade, creating music for a new era. The motto is "Pain & Suffering in Various Tempos," and as that would suggest, the classic Depeche Mode themes have returned for this disc. Love, pain, sin, and sex.

6. Kaiser Chiefs - Employment: Maximum R&B moved through an '80s prism, a lineage from The Kinks to The Jam and forward. Poptastic rock moments, guitars laced with sugar, and something bitter and sneering lurking in between.

7. Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better With...: A perfect example of how to follow up a highly successful debut. More of the same while being different enough not to be repetitive without alienating more fickle fans. The polish has been stripped down for more propulsive, dirty rhythms, while songs like "Eleonor Put Your Boots Back On" reveal a knack for charming melodies.

8. The Raveonettes - Pretty in Black: Like if Phil Spector didn't hold back, if his murderous tendencies got all mixed up with his romantic heart and then created this massive sound--which, really, is what Phil did when you think about it. And apparently The Raveonettes already did think about it, because they made a record that sounds scary but feels tender. It's like The Jesus & Mary Chain took off their leather jackets and put on tuxes to take me to prom.

9. Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine bootleg & retail editions: An interesting example of how an album might be released in the days of the internet. Early in the year, Fiona Apple's "finished" album leaked, presumably by the artist herself, and rumors that it was because the record company was holding it back, saying it wasn't commercial enough. Fans freaked out, we all loved it. It was polished and emotional and the most consistent effort Ms. Apple had produced so far. Eventually, virtually the same album came out legitimately, but re-recorded with a different producer. Debates ensued, which is better, which is worse? Fiona declared it was she who was unhappy, not the label. All fun drama, all unimportant if the record wasn't so punchy and good. Either version works fine, but they work best together--the title track nearly closing the original and then repeating as it opens the second, both running together.

10. Gorillaz - Demon Days: I didn't like this at first. Some of it felt unfinished, Danger Mouse's production didn't have the sass of Dan the Automator, and so many other reasons. But I kept listening, and listening, and suddenly I was part of this amazing concept album, hoodwinked by Damon Albarn's uncanny musical sense, and now I can admit what a fool I was.

11. The Coral - The Invisible Invasion
12. New Order – Waiting for the Sirens' Call
13. Idlewild – Warnings/Promises
14. M.I.A. – Arular
15. Paul Weller - As Is Now
16. Girls Aloud - Chemistry
17. Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock & Roll
18. The Cardigans - Super Extra Gravity
19. Garbage - Bleed Like Me
20. Neil Diamond - 12 Songs
21. House of Love – Days Run Away
22. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
23. Brian Eno - Another Day on Earth
24. Oasis - Don't Believe The Truth
25. Madonna - Confessions on a Dancefloor

The year's greatest disappointment had to come in the "Super" category. As mentioned on this blog before, both Supergrass and Super Furry Animals turned in less than good efforts. Robbie Williams, Missy Elliott and Starsailor should thank them for making their mediocre records look better. The most overrated bands of the year are easily The Magic Numbers, Kanye West, and Babyshambles. Forget Pete Doherty's drug use, I hope he goes back to jail so he can't record anymore. The music is the real crime.

I don't include best-of compilations on this list, so I'd like to single out the best collection of the year: the three-disc Luke Haines retrospective, Luke Haines is Dead, covering his career as part of The Auteurs, its spin-off Baader Meinhoff, and his solo records. Despite its sprawling length, every track is a gem, and after going from one end of it to the other, I always want to start it over again. Runner-up is Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds' equally huge B-Sides & Rarities, chronicling the band's more experimental, often thrilling parallel career. A must for anyone who loves the albums.

Singles

1. Paul Weller - "From The Floorboards Up": I don't know where it came from, but Weller found a blistering riff at the bottom of an old suitcase and cracked it into the best single of his solo career. Two minutes and twenty-seven seconds that always sound like they happened right then for the very first time no matter how many times you hear them.

2. New Order – "Krafty": I don't normally look to New Order for entries in the "seize the day" song genre, but this ditty makes me feel giddy. I want to jump around and go start a rumble with some teenagers.

3. The Tears – "Refugees": Brett Anderson perfected this sort of you-and-me-against-the-world anthem on Suede's last three records (and not coincidentally, they are always the first single and the first track on the album). Little did he know that when he put his formula together with ex-partner Bernard Butler's McAlmont & Butler production style, they'd have the greatest candy chewable since Reese's married chocolate and peanut butter.

All of my top 3 make me feel like it's great to be alive, which is exactly what a great pop single should do.

4. Girls Aloud - "Biology": Saloon piano, pleading and insistent, gives over to an expressway rhythm, breathlessly spitting out the maximum of words, breaking back into a cruise for the pre-chorus, then back to the shouty insistence with a little call-and-response, and we've only hit the first chorus and we're back at the start to do it all over again.

5. Depeche Mode - "A Pain That I'm Used To": I love the way this starts all harsh. If you're not ready for it, and if the stereo is turned up loud, it will likely scare the shit out of you. But then it settles and begins to prowl, Dave Gahan all sexy swagger. He tells us what he needs by way of seduction, playing on our worst emotions like he wants to lick them off our chest. Or is that just me?

6. Kaiser Chiefs - "I Predict a Riot": This wins as the song you swear you heard before, sometime back in high school, but no, really it's brand new, and it's rip-snortin' good. It sounds like what it predicts.

7. Gwen Stefani - "Hollaback Girl": Well, The Neptunes apparently had a little kick left in them. Handclaps and drumlines and the goofiest phrasing of the year (see the above meme). You have to give it to Gwen. Have to. (It must be the uncensored version, though.)

8. The Coral - "In The Morning": The only thing remotely Caribbean-sounding on this list. Damn if this song just isn't breezy. It's kind of about nothing, about feeling good when you wake up, it's-a-fresh-day crap, and yet it does the trick. Try it tomorrow at 6 a.m.

9. Gorillaz - "DARE": Oh, mighty Shaun Ryder. You were a cartoon before the Gorillaz were cartoons. You know it, I know it, and so it fits that you would join them and show them how it's done. "It's comin' up, it's comin' up...!"

10. Kaiser Chiefs - "Everyday I Love You Less and Less": Seriously, I had a bad day this past week and it involved someone else and I wanted to be mad and not be sad, and this song saved my goddamn life. Congrats to the Chiefs for being the first repeat offenders on this year's singles list!

11. Idlewild – "Love Steals Us From Loneliness"
12. The Killers - "All These Things I Have Done"
13. Erasure – "Don't Say You Love Me"
14. The Tears - "Lovers"
15. Franz Ferdinand - "Do You Want To"
16. Saint Etienne - "Side Streets"
17. Garbage – "Why Do You Love Me?"
18. Gorillaz - "Feel Good Inc."
19. Antony & the Johnsons - "Hope There's Someone"
20. Depeche Mode - "Precious"
21. Madonna - "Hung Up"
22. Gwen Stefani - "Cool"
23. Franz Ferdinand - "The Fallen"
24. The Ordinary Boys - "Boys Will Be Boys"
25. Kylie – "Giving You Up"

The Tears are also the champs for the best B-sides of the year. "Breakaway," "The Primitive," "Feels Like Monday," "Southern Rain," "Song for the Migrant Worker," etc. Seven songs in all, themselves all good enough to be on the album. (Well, maybe only if "Because You're Worthless" is placed in exactly the right spot....)

2005 wasn’t so bad. There were a lot of records I really, really liked. And if advance leaks of Cat Power, Mark Lanegan & Isobel Campbell, and Belle & Sebastian are any indicators, and with Morrissey, Brett Anderson, and Jarvis Cocker all promising new solo reords, 2006 has a lot of potential.

Lists from Previous Years: Only 2003 appears to still be online since the Oni redesign dumped all my old columns, and 2004 was a skip year since my computer crashed right when I was planning to do it and put me out of commission. Still, interesting to see where I was two years ago and how some names keep popping up.

Current Soundtrack: a playlist of the singles listed above

Current Mood: cold

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2005 Jamie S. Rich

YOU'RE NOT VERY WELL, ARE YOU? ARE YOU?!

Well, are you Pandora? I don't think so.

I had seen a couple of passing references to this Music Genome Project program Pandora on Live Journal and The Engine, so I decided to try it. You tell it some music you like, and it creates a radio station based on your info, picking songs it thinks you will like.

Never one to start things lightly, I decided to make it go from one of my all-time favorites, Suede. Its first choice for me was a Fountains of Wayne song. I instantly told them that Fountains of Wayne are awful, and so it picked this band Bicycle instead, who I wouldn't be surprised are really Fountains of Wayne in disguise based on the song played. Roger Waters followed, which was somewhat okay, but then it gave me Son Volt and John Frusciante? Fucking Son Volt?!

I decided to help it out, since it clearly didn't understand Suede's music. I told the program that in addition to Suede, I like Roxy Music (a classic comparison) and Mansun (a contemporary comparison). This somehow made it decide, albeit briefly, that I am more hard rock than alt-country, so I was tossed Creeper Lagoon and Queensryche. Oh, piss off! Pernice Brothers was next, and that was fine, but still very country, so I added David Bowie. thinking it was a much more obvious choice. That lead to more classic rock like Gentle Gaint and a bunch of solo artists I've never heard of.

Okay, everyone deserves a second chance, so let's try another station. I began with Trash Can Sinatras, and that worked a bit better. The Lilys were the first band chosen, and Robbie Williams followed shortly, and then Sebadoh (mediocre, but not bad). I added Morrissey, and they came back with Guadalcanal Diary and then Hefner. All right, now we're making sense, right? Sadly, no. A few tracks later, Billy Joel and Rhett Miller got tossed in. How the hell are they picking these things? In order to switch it up, I decided to suggest something not really like either the Trash Cans or Moz; since they didn't have Kenickie in their database, I used Bis. Bis, apparently, leads to some bad disco diva named Becky Bailing. She has a nice ass, I'll give her that (at least judging by the one picture), but I vetoed her music. Garbage's "Special" followed. Good, good.

Next was something vaguely dancey and atmospheric by The Burnside project, so I decided to ask them why they had chosen this song, "Another Way": "Based on what you've told us so far, we're playing this track because it features electronica influences, mild rhythmic syncopation, a clear focus on recording production, major key tonality and electric guitar riffs." Hmmm, well based on what you told me, Music Genome Project, you're stuck up your own ass.

Since the next song was some dancefloor freak named "Lucia," I gave up.

I've got you beat, computer. You shouldn't have fucked with me. I'll always break your system.

Current Soundtrack: The Strokes, First Impressions of Earth

Current Mood: sarcastic

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2005 Jamie S. Rich

SAME BOYS DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES

I've had a bit of a tempestuous love affair with Echo & the Bunnymen live. Sometimes I've seen them perform, and it's been the greatest thing to ever happen to my ears ever; other times, a mind-numbing exercise in tedium. I wasn't sure I wanted to go back in again this time around, especially since I'm also lukewarm on the new album, Siberia. It starts out great and really charges along for four or five songs, and then begins to stumble under its own weight, only redeeming itself at the very end with the excellent "What If We Are?"

The decision was ultimately made for me when my publisher, Joe Nozemack, said he was taking me along as a Christmas present. All right, then, for that price, I can do it! The show was this past Thursday, 12/1/05.

(Sidenote: Yes, I realize that the last three shows I have seen have all been aging bands from the '80s. I don't know why this has happened, it just has.)

The Bunnymen are back in my bed again. I have forgiven their lazy loving, and I have deposited some coinage in their karma bank so they can have a little slack the next time they forget how much I like chocolate. In two words, they rocked.

The band was its best in its skuzzier moments, when they let their Velvet Underground fascination take center stage. Many of the songs from Siberia, like "Stormy Weather," "Scissors in the Sand," and "Of a Life", have a ragged edge to them when the production is stripped away, and when presented with Ian McCulloch's fucked-off swagger, you can just smell the sweat of dirty rock 'n' roll. In fact, the only real misstep of the night was when they played one of my favorite songs, "Bring on the Dancing Horses," because it's placement in the set just didn't fit. It was like they carved one side of the turkey with a rusty, serrated blade, then the middle with a very fancy, very expensive, super sharp knife, and then went right back to the more dangerous one. A punch, a kiss, a kick.

McCulloch also wasn't able to pull off a sing-along during "The Killing Moon." Part of it was that no one could understand what he was saying. His accent was way too thick, and any commentary he tried to provide through the evening passed without audience comprehension. But he's also no Dave Gahan. "I wanna hear you sing it!" doesn't sound right coming out of his pouty lips.

The evening's highlights came in the encore. First, an epic medley of "Nothing Lasts Forever" and Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side," with just a smidgen of "In The Midnight Hour." It was an amazing combination. The second was the finale, a soft performance of "Ocean Rain." Heavenly.

Funnily, I saw a couple of boys in the crowd that reminded myself of my friend Christopher and I way back when. There was me standing there, awkward and shy and hiding behind too much style, and there was him, a little overweight, anti-style, maybe a little unsure. Irony is, now I have no style and have gone to hell, and Christopher is svelte and handsome and dresses sharp. How the years turn us!

But we saw an amazing gig at the old La Luna back in 1995, a triple bill of The Dandy Warhols, Echobelly, and Electrafixion, the band Ian McCulloch and Will Sargent formed before capitulating to their record company and reforming the Bunnymen, leaving behind a blistering, underappreciated album that far surpasses anything the new Bunnymen have done--as was that night's performance. (And in my love-hate thing, when Electrafixion came to Portland a second time months later, the show was awful, and the band as much as told us that they had given up when we talked to them after the show.) (And I also should note that at the time, Courtney Taylor of the Warhols, back when he had only one last name, did a hilarious impression of McCulloch's incomprehensible stage banter.)

Christopher and I were down front, at the center, right in front of McCulloch's microphone. In long instrumental breaks during the songs, McCulloch would crouch down and enter this sort of protective bubble, where he had his towel and his water and he could take a break from the performance, almost like he had descended beneath the stage. It was fascinating to watch. Standing, he was a rock animal; crouching, he was just a bloke doing his job. Christopher was wearing a Smiths Meat is Murder T-shirt, and McCulloch pointed at it, then motioned with his thumb up and down, asking for Christopher's verdict of the record. Obviously, Christopher gave him the thumbs up, and McCulloch nodded and gave him the thumbs up back--though, for some strange reason Christopher thought Ian was disusing The Smiths, and we had to tell him it was untrue.

I wonder how long Echo & the Bunnymen will still be around? Long enough for this new Christopher and Jamie to have the sort of "remember when" moment I had?

Current Soundtrack: Echo & the Bunnymen, Siberia; 11:00 PM news

Current Mood: drained

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2005 Jamie S. Rich

I LOVE LOVE

[partially cross-posted with the Oni blog; I actually say more about me here, though]

I bought myself a cheap scanner on Black Friday. $30 for the out-of-the-box floor model. So, I've done some playing around and scanned some of the sketches Joelle Jones has given me for our Fall 2006 OniGN, 12 Reasons Why I Love Her. Once again, say hello to Gwen and Evan:

And don't forget Joelle's upcoming story in the Dark Horse anthology Sexy Chix, where you can see more of her work. The writer of that story, Sarah Grace McCandless, posted the final cover on her blog. That's Joelle on the back, fourth from the top, in glorious black-and-white. And I think I see Oni-ites on the front, too: Colleen Coover, Chynna Clugston, Carla Speed McNeil, and Gail Simone!

And in case you guys think I've just completely fallen face down in the rain in this wonderfully dark Pacific NW season, I have not. Have no fear, I have been writing. Have You Seen The Horizon Lately? has been kicking my ass, but I've been making headway, inch by inch. Some days I get 200 words, some days 2000. I hope to have news about other projects very soon, both for Love The Way You Love and The Everlasting, too, and maybe more. I also think I've picked up another manga series, which I'll be starting in the coming weeks. Expect updates on all as soon as details are set.

I'm also getting very close to finishing Greg Rucka's second Queen & Country novel, Private Wars. All of Greg's books have a point of no return, where you just can't put the damn thing down because it gets so exciting. I hit that several days ago and have been trying to pack in as many pages each night as I can. I feel like I'm in a race and I can barely keep up, it's so good.

Current Soundtrack: Cat Power, The Greatest

Current Mood: slinky

golightly@confessions123.com * The Website * Live Journal Syndication

[to leave comments, click on the time-stamp below, then scroll down on the new page] – All text (c) 2005 Jamie S. Rich