Cool Thing Of The Week: All Ages Show

spThe artist: Lily Allen

The CD: "Alright Still"

Recommended if you like: Madness, Nellie Mckay, Gorillaz


Lily Allen is one of the first artists to successfully launch a career using MySpace. Under the guidance of her father, Keith Allen, a comedian, actor and musician in the UK (He appeared on "The Young Ones," acted in "Trainspotting," and co-wrote songs with New Order), Allen posted many of the songs that make up her first album on

Despite the lightweight pop musicality, the lyrics are remarkably dark for someone so young (Allen is only 21). F-bombs fly left and right, and among the topics in the songs are all sorts of Urban crime, drug use and torturing ex-boyfriends in a variety of ways, from having them beaten by thugs to publicly belittling their sexual abilities. This is not a work-safe album. As mean-spirited as many of the songs are, they're so good that they're destined to become guilty pleasures for men, and this may be the album of the year for women scorned.

Standout tracks are "Smile," "LDN," and "Alfie." "Smile" is one of the songs about having an ex beaten by thugs, and it's a pure pop masterpiece. "When I see you cry, it makes me smile." The video is getting heavy rotation on those music channels that still show music videos. "LDN" is a warts-and-all valentine to London that proclaims "I don't wanna be anywhere else" while talking about pimps and muggings that she sees while riding around town on her bike. The satire is brilliant. Throughout the album, the interplay between the dark subject matter and the happy, upbeat music is masterful. I can't remember doing so many double takes before while listening to an album.

"Alfie" is a song Lily Allen wrote for her brother. It starts out "Oh deary me, my little brother's in his bedroom smoking weed." The song seems to be built on a Bonzo Dog Band sample, with tuba, spoons and a bouncy melody that is simply hysterical in juxtaposition to the lyrics.

There are many other great tracks on this CD. "Nan, You're A Window Shopper" is a parody of 50 Cent's "Window Shopper." "Friday Night" sounds a lot like The Specials "Ghost Town," only it's told from the perspective of a girl getting into a fight.

"Alright Still" is a strong debut with a diverse range of musical influences and Allen's wicked sense of humor carrying the day. Lily Allen is certainly going to be a talent to watch.

Mellencamp

I'm a little surprised. I did not expect to like this CD much. I'm not a huge fan of John Mellencamp. I remember back when he was "Johnny Cougar" and wrote catchy pop tunes. The problem was that they were so catchy that they were promptly overexposed to the point where they could induce nausea. Mellencamp always came across as a hybrid wannabe who couldn't decide if he wanted to be Bruce Springsteen or Lynyrd Skynard. It turned out that he was able to out-sell both of them by cranking out what seemed like an endless supply of bland hit singles.

We're qute a few years removed from those days, and this new CD is a solid, well-crafted example of mature Americana. There are equal parts of country and blue-eyed soul on display here. The musicianship is top-notch. Lyrically it's a bit stuck in the crusading Midwestern social commentator mold, but it's just predicitable not offensive.

Unless you're already sick of that damned truck commercial song, that is. Even with the ubiquity of "Our Country" draining that song of any possible entertainment value, at least it displaced Bob Segar's "Like A Rock," a feat for which I will forever be grateful. At first listen "Our Country" is borderline jingoism that doesn't much appear to be grounded in reality. Further examination reveals a deeper mentality at work, but on the surface, the song comes across as a GOP sing-along campfire tune.

"The American's" is fantastical idealism at work, too, with the line "I'm an American from South of the Mason-Dixon line....I respect you and your point of view." Sort of makes you wonder which Mason-Dixon line Mellencamp's been hanging out South of. That particular song sounds more like a brilliant parody of Mellencamp than an actual song by him. Luckily, the rest of the CD is not so divorced from reality. "The American's" is a stand-out as the album's howler, a song so bad you have hear it to believe it.

On the other hand, "Jim Crow" is a sharp, well-written tune about the South, with chilling guest vocals by Joan Baez. This harsh look at the state of race relations makes up for the more commercial flag-waving in evidence elsewhere on the CD. The song has great guitar work by Mike Vanchic and Andy York. Just when you think that he's going to be content to dole out a standard helping of cheap patriotism and "look how danged rural I am" tunes, Mellencamp shows that he can give us an intelligent observation.

Even "Our Country" which on the surface seems like a simple truck commercial song, is instead a rewrite of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Our Land." There is some irony and progressive politics at work there. Unfortunately, like Guthrie's song, "Our Country" seems destined to be beloved by people who would be horrified by the song's true intent.

"Rural Route" is a decent little story song about an abducted girl. It sounds more like early Steve Earle than Mellencamp, which is a good thing. It's a rewarding artistic direction, should Mellencamp pursue it further in the future. I could deal with a concept album that tells a story in this form. Even his vocals take on a new light, more journalistic than anthemic.

The nominal album closer "Heaven Is A Lonely Place" is a good backwoods rave-up with some great roots-rock moments. Also on the plus side are the cutting lyrics and a killer arrangement. This doesn't sound anything like a hit single, which is a high compliment. Mellencamp is at his best when he's not swinging for the fence in terms of chart position.

A hidden track at the end of the CD is a either a searing politcal analogy about abortion or the war in Iraq, or a song about Rodeo clowns. The problem with hidden tracks is that it's hard to tell. In the days of vinyl, this would have been a throw-away B-side to a 45. Now it's a bonus track.

So I'm shocked. I survived a John Mellencamp CD. There are a few good songs, a couple of great songs, and a couple of remarkable stinkers, but for the most part, this is a pretty good CD. Even on the less-than-stellar songs, the musicianship is tight. Mellencamp has a hell of a band behind him. If you like Mellencamp in his heyday, you'll be pleased with a new collection of songs. If you didn't care for him you may still be surprised.

RFC pdouction notes

Episode 15 of Radio Free Charleston, "Black and White," is online now! This episode features an epic-length Pentagram Flowerbox, plus music from The Appalachian Celtic Consort and The Heydays. Both our musical guests return with original compositions after performing traditional songs on their first RFC appearance. This episode has a nice acoustic feel, except for the satanic rituals, explosions and drug use. Both performances were recorded at LiveMix Studio. I host the show from Downtown Charleston.


"Timmy's Problem" is a very special episode of Pentagram Flowerbox. We gave you a teaser in episode 14 of RFC, but now you get the full story! Little Timmy has started sneaking into Satan's camper to smoke drugs! This is causing all sorts of headaches for the Lord of Darkness, who really doesn't want to attract the attention of the police. If you want sneak peeks of what's coming from Pentagram Flowerbox and want to see their material before we get our hands on it, check out their website.

The Appalachian Celtic Consort appeared on episode five of Radio Free Charleston when they performed "Johnny Jump Up and Monaghan Jig. They came into the studio last summer and recorded a few songs for us. We feared that we had lost their additional performances in a catastrophic hard-drive crash in September, but months of effort allowed us to recover their performance of "Dear Lady," which tells the tale of a vampire. In the crash, we lost two of the four camera angles, but we persevered with two cameras and some extra video FX love, creating what we hope looks like a living painting of this talented band of musicians. Be sure to check out the ACC website for more information on how to buy their CDs and a list of their upcoming shows.

The Heydays were on episode ten of Radio Free Charleston when Douglas Imbrogno and Paul Calicoat treated us to a rendition of "Shady Grove." This time around they bring us Doug's original song "I Never Slept With Alan Ginsberg." The video for this song is an experimental clip that layers on video effects in an attempt to emulate animation. Astute readers will note that Douglas Imbrogno is also the editor of TheGazz.com.

Production Notes for Episode 15 of RFC

Episode 15 of Radio Free Charleston, "Black and White," is online now! This episode features an epic-length Pentagram Flowerbox, plus music from The Appalachian Celtic Consort and The Heydays. Both our musical guests return with original compositions after performing traditional songs on their first RFC appearance. This episode has a nice acoustic feel, except for the satanic rituals, explosions and drug use. Both performances were recorded at LiveMix Studio. I host the show from Downtown Charleston.

Monday Morning Art: The Ramp

This week's art, another in my pretentious "Pop Art Charleston" series, is a view of the South Side Bridge ramp over Kanawha Boulevard.

As always, click the photo for a larger view. And go here for the Monday Morning Art Store, and here for the PopCult store. You still have time to be the first customer!

Song and Video of the Week: “Writing’s Hard”

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Here's a special bonus RFC song.  Just about 27 hours before this message is being posted, we recorded Parkersburg singer/songwriter John Radcliff at LiveMix Studio for episode 16 of Radio Free Charleston.  Some of you old-timers may remember John's amazing guitar work with The Swivel Rockers, Feast of Stephen and The Mad Scientist Club.   About six years ago, he started writing and singing his own material, and I was blown away by the quality of his tunesmithery.

Coming Attractions

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 Look for the full episode at Gazztv Monday, and detailed production notes right here in PopCult.

If you're a fan of the Original Captain Marvel, known by his magic word "Shazam" to most folks, then this is the best of times and the worst of times. We will ignore the god-awful "grim and gritty" re-imagining of the Shazam family of characters currently being inflicted by my least-favorite comic book writer, Judd Winnick (of MTV's "The Real World." He was the guy that made you like Puck in season three). Aside from that abomination, there are very cool things afoot with my favorite super-hero, The Big Red Cheese.

Jeff Smith, the cartoonist behind the amazing "Bone" comic books, is producing a four-issue mini-series that takes the Shazam characters back to their roots and re-tells a classic adventure in "Shazam: The Monster Society Of Evil." This series restores the sense of wonder and light-hearted adventure that was the hallmark of the Captain Marvel stories of the 1940s, when he starred in the best-selling comic book of all time, with sales of six million copies every three weeks. The series even has a secret message in each issue that has to be decoded at the DC Comics Website.

Smith is updating the Captain Marvel story, with Billy Batson, the child who utters the magic word "Shazam" in order to become Captain Marvel, aged at about eight years old. We get to see the beginnings of the character, and his "Marvel Family" sidekicks, and we get a fresh take on the Monster Society Of Evil, which was an epic serial that ran for 25 chapters over two years from 1942 to 1944. This is good stuff. Smith's style is cartoony, but serves the story well, much like the artwork of Captain Marvel's main artist, C.C. Beck.
The first issue of "Shazam: The Monster Society Of Evil" went on sale a few weeks ago. Issue two is due out next week.

Aside from this very cool mini-series, DC Direct has announced that they will be releasing a collection of Shazam action figures this fall, with 3-D depictions not only of Captain Marvel, but also of Captain Marvel Jr., Mary Marvel, Billy Batson, his enemy Dr. Sivana, and even Hoppy The Marvel Bunny. Yes, "Hoppy The Marvel Bunny." I said the original series was light-hearted, remember?

If you are an obsessive fan of the Original Marvel Family and the entire Shazam mythos, then you need to zip on over to the Marvel Family Web, which is where I swiped the images for this post. Bookmark that site, and you'll keep up to date with all the info on Captain Marvel. Plus you can poke around the site for tons of great historical data on the days when comic books were fun.

If you're a fan of the Original Captain Marvel, known by his magic word "Shazam" to most folks, then this is the best of times and the worst of times. We will ignore the god-awful "grim and gritty" re-imagining of the Shazam family of characters currently being inflicted by my least-favorite comic book writer, Judd Winnick (of MTV's "The Real World." He was the guy that made you like Puck in season three). Aside from that abomination, there are very cool things afoot with my favorite super-hero, The Big Red Cheese.

Jeff Smith, the cartoonist behind the amazing "Bone" comic books, is producing a four-issue mini-series that takes the Shazam characters back to their roots and re-tells a classic adventure in "Shazam: The Monster Society Of Evil." This series restores the sense of wonder and light-hearted adventure that was the hallmark of the Captain Marvel stories of the 1940s, when he starred in the best-selling comic book of all time, with sales of six million copies every three weeks. The series even has a secret message in each issue that has to be decoded at the DC Comics Website.

Smith is updating the Captain Marvel story, with Billy Batson, the child who utters the magic word "Shazam" in order to become Captain Marvel, aged at about eight years old. We get to see the beginnings of the character, and his "Marvel Family" sidekicks, and we get a fresh take on the Monster Society Of Evil, which was an epic serial that ran for 25 chapters over two years from 1942 to 1944. This is good stuff. Smith's style is cartoony, but serves the story well, much like the artwork of Captain Marvel's main artist, C.C. Beck.
The first issue of "Shazam: The Monster Society Of Evil" went on sale a few weeks ago. Issue two is due out next week.

Aside from this very cool mini-series, DC Direct has announced that they will be releasing a collection of Shazam action figures this fall, with 3-D depictions not only of Captain Marvel, but also of Captain Marvel Jr., Mary Marvel, Billy Batson, his enemy Dr. Sivana, and even Hoppy The Marvel Bunny. Yes, "Hoppy The Marvel Bunny." I said the original series was light-hearted, remember?

If you are an obsessive fan of the Original Marvel Family and the entire Shazam mythos, then you need to zip on over to the Marvel Family Web, which is where I swiped the images for this post. Bookmark that site, and you'll keep up to date with all the info on Captain Marvel. Plus you can poke around the site for tons of great historical data on the days when comic books were fun.

Cool Thing Of The Week: SHAZAM!

If you're a fan of the Original Captain Marvel, known by his magic word "Shazam" to most folks, then this is the best of times and the worst of times. We will ignore the god-awful "grim and gritty" re-imagining of the Shazam family of characters currently being inflicted by my least-favorite comic book writer, Judd Winnick (of MTV's "The Real World." He was the guy that made you like Puck in season three). Aside from that abomination, there are very cool things afoot with my favorite super-hero, The Big Red Cheese.

Jeff Smith, the cartoonist behind the amazing "Bone" comic books, is producing a four-issue mini-series that takes the Shazam characters back to their roots and re-tells a classic adventure in "Shazam: The Monster Society Of Evil." This series restores the sense of wonder and light-hearted adventure that was the hallmark of the Captain Marvel stories of the 1940s, when he starred in the best-selling comic book of all time, with sales of six million copies every three weeks. The series even has a secret message in each issue that has to be decoded at the DC Comics Website.

Counting The Days….

...until the first opera/musical based on the life of Anna Nicole Smith is announced.   You know there's got to be a dozen or so ironic pop culture mavens out there cranking out a quickie cash-in job, disguised as a hip, irreverent social commentary.

Monday Morning Art: The Building Looks Back

Last week our Monday Morning Art was a digitally-assaulted photograph of The Union Building, taken from Capitol Street.  This week we turn the tables with a digitally-assaulted photograph of Capitol Street, taken from The Union Building.  If you look about a fourth of the way up from the bottom, just left of center, that's where I was standing when I took last week's photo.  It was not the only time I've been just left of center. 

As always, click the photo for a larger view. And go here for the Monday Morning Art Store, and here for the PopCult store. You still have time to be the first customer!

When I was a kid, my favorite action figure was Captain Action. He was a GI Joe-sized toy figure that could be dressed as other superheroes like Superman, Spider-man, Batman, Green Hornet, Captain America, and many others. Our cool thing of the week this week is an upcoming reproduction of the hard-to-find Aurora Model Kit of the Captain, which you can read about here.

Captain Action left a huge impression on me when he debuted forty years ago. I've written about him here, here, and here, and he's popped up on episodes seven and fourteen of Radio Free Charleston, and episode ten was called "Captain Action Shirt." So you can see, I'm a big fan. Joe Ahearn is the current keeper of the Captain's flame, and you can check out the Captain Action Enterprises website to see what other cool Cap products are on the way. You can get your own Captain Action Shirt here.

This model kit is being released to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the original release of the kit. It's an accurate reproduction, but it also comes with an alternate head and base, which are improvements over the original. Kit-builders will have a choice. They can make the kit exactly as it was in 1967, or they can build an improved version. Or they can buy two and make one of each. The model kits will retail for $30 to $35 each, which is quite reasonable for a limited edition of 1,000 kits. Comparable "garage kits" often sell for more than a hundred dollars, due to the high costs associated with a short production run.

This project is a joint effort between Captain Action Enterprises, and Moebius Models, a new company dedicated to preserving the legacy of the orginal, legendary Aurora Model company, which made the coolest model kits of the 1960s and 70s. Other cool upcoming releases from Moebius include Dr. Jeckyl as Mr. Hyde and the legendary Tom Daniel car, Rommel's Rod. This is a cool mission that will shine the warm sunlamp of nostalgia on the arthritic joints of many of us children of the 1960s.

Cool Thing Of The Week: Captain Action Model

 



When I was a kid, my favorite action figure was Captain Action. He was a GI Joe-sized toy figure that could be dressed as other superheroes like Superman, Spider-man, Batman, Green Hornet, Captain America, and many others. Our cool thing of the week this week is an upcoming reproduction of the hard-to-find Aurora Model Kit of the Captain, which you can read about here.

Pre-Valentine’s Day Massacre

It was one week before Valentine's Day, and I have to say, no matter how many strange things you've lived through, nothing can quite prepare you for the sight of your girlfriend being handcuffed to a professional wrestler. 

That's my Valentine, Melanie Larch on the right, handcuffed to IWA East Coast Mega-star, Crowza at last week's "A Need To Bleed" event in South Charleston.  Mel's a noted area singer (She'll be featured in the West Virginia Symphony Orhcestra's  production of "Carmen" in May, and you can see her singing "Ave Maria" on episode 11 of Radio Free Charleston, and at this link).  She has no previous professional wrestling experience, at least not as a participant.  One of the things I enjoy most about IWA East Coast shows is the surreal nature that they tend to take on.   Thanks to IWA East Coast and Nick Gatens for the photos. 

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