RECENTLY:
This past week we reminisced about the many comic reprint titles. We discussed foods that made us gag. We enjoyed the cartoon adventures of Jonny Quest. We shared our thoughts about prime time heroes and suggested some others. We queried about Marvel's underworld and purchasing glitches. And we jumped into the inkwell with many great inking artists.
There were dozens of great comments and insights so take a look if you missed it. And welcome if you are just joining us for the first time.
COMING SOON:
Monday: It is all over! It is the end! No more! Never again! Chew the Fat!
Tuesday: That was short... because we are back already with another Tuesday Follow the Leader!
Wednesday: We will kick the bucket on Short Cuts!
Thursday: Not so fast...we need to journey back to another destination Riding the Retro Metro!
Friday: We found something lost on TV Guided!
Saturday: And we will double our love of covers over at the Quarter Bin!
We like to keep you guessing about what's to come; play along and see if you were right this week at Back In The Bronze Age!
And if you have any suggestions for future topics contact us at backinthebronzeage@gmail.com!
AND GET READY BECAUSE WE ARE JUST A WEEK AWAY FROM THE KICKOFF OF HULK WEEK 2017!
COMING SOON!
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Music: Like I mentioned last week, I've been digging out some old treasures so today I suggest The The. Whether the "band" is Matt Johnson solo or Matt Johnson with various artists, The The's words and music are worth a listen. The albums Soul Mining (1983), Infected (1986), and Mind Bomb (1989) all have something to offer. With tracks like "This is the Day," "Infected," "The Beat(en) Generation," and "Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)," Johnson was often musically and lyrically ahead of his time. The albums and songs listed above: 4 to 4.5 Bronze Medallions.
Food: Today I recommend a salad dressing combo you may not normally try: Use a base of spicy mustard; add some lemon juice and a dash of cranberry juice and apple vinegar; liquefy for a spicy citric treat. Put it over a bed of romaine lettuce, add some cashews and feta cheese and enjoy! To each his own when it comes to taste buds... so a mystery Bronze Medallion here.
Motion Pictures: If you like music and stories that don't follow typical relationships or expectations, you may enjoy Begin Again with Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightly. It is not a perfect film and I felt it got off to a slow start, but it was a movie that I found myself thinking about afterward. It follows the relationship of a down-on-his-luck music producer and a young ingénue with a broken heart as they make a record in the streets of New York. 3.75 Bronze Medallions (maybe more).
What are you listening to? What are you eating? What are you watching? Feel free to make some recommendations! 
Cheers!
17 comments:
Great new lettering!
Soul Mining is a wonderful album. Being a melancholy teenager never sounded so good.
After recently reading a history of 80s UK hardcore-thrash-punk I'm drawn back the American bands that inspired that whole scene. In particular the Drop Dead LP by Siege. Ridiculously ahead of it's time.
I always have Bowie on my mind and today it's mostly the album Low.
Dudes! You got me fired up last week searching for Bronze-age songs! Today, I'm playing them whilst cooking blueberry pancakes for the family before heading off to church (If there's anything to wake up modern kids it's 80s music!) Playing Tarzan Boy by Baltimora (Hey - it has a healthy 50 mm hits on youtube) to be followed by SHattered Dreams by Johnny Hates Jazz. If you aren't familiar with these, check 'em out (they are singles). Everyone loves Tarzan Boy "Ohohohohoho!!!!
B.t.w. it is most impressive yesterdays blog was still being blogged into the wee hours of today! You guys know how to draw a crowd!
Point of order? If I want to strongly agree with Glenn's (?) comments about Everett's inks beautiful inks over Colan on The Black Widow from yesterday, should I do it on yesterday's blog or today's???
OK - got to finish those pancakes!
"We're Not Gonna Take It" by the Who.
Seems appropriate.
M.P.
Charlie Horse 47- By all means, feel free to continue commenting on any post! We are notified of new comments on older posts, so any given post can run for as many days as you all want to comment!
HELP! OK - Being an older Bronzer, I have a lot of 60s and 70s in me. I can't find Dylan's Lay Lady Lay nor Knockin on Heaven's Door in the nasally, electric versions that I grew up with and loved on Youtube. All I can find is his acoustic, crooning versions? Help? Are they out there? I saw a Dylan concert in 1981 just after he'd found Jesus, and he would not play "Lay Lady Lay" and such. I'm glad he found the Lord but the place walked out on him b/c they wanted to hear his 60s works. Poor Bob... when the few thousand of us who remained asked for an encore he discreetly, but literally, gave us the bird.
Also, "La La Land" is a very, very enjoyable movie (IMO). I highly recommend the inexpensive matinee this afternoon if you want to see something enjoyable. Take the older kids! (Only 1 F-bomb, probably to secure the PG rating, and avoid the dreaded G rating.)
Food wise - I been making a Kale, Potato, Italian Sausage soup. It's easy and it rocks the house!
Please - anyone with Dylan insight to this cosmic dilemma Charlie is facing???
Charlie --
RE: La La Land. My wife and I saw it yesterday and both left wishing it was something different than what it was. It opens and closes very well, and the song/dance numbers within are good. But I guess neither of us would have called it a full-blown musical. I've heard it's a love letter to the golden age of Hollywood. We just didn't see that. My wife had a great point on our way to the car: she asked if a successful musical shouldn't leave you with a song or two in your head. We agreed that La La Land did not accomplish that. And concerning the Best Actor/Actress nominations for Gosling and Stone, respectively...
We've seen Loving, Hidden Figures, Fences, and La La Land. I'd put it fourth on that list (like it is), and I really can't see Denzel Washington and Ryan Gosling in the same category this year, as Washington's performance was stellar. Gosling was good, but not Denzel-good.
So we didn't hate the film; rather, we found it entertaining. But it wasn't what we expected, and frankly feel it's Oscar nominations are a bit bloated. But I would never dissuade anyone from seeing it. You are correct that it was a relatively clean film, and a nice 2-hour diversion.
Doug
Because the memory fades, I can't recall if I've recommended to this group the book, Magical Mystery Tours: My Life With the Beatles by Tony Bramwell. Very engaging, easy to read, and the name-dropping is unbelievable. What a time to have been alive, and to have been in the thick of it as Bramwell was...
Consequently, I've been listening to A LOT of Beatles material and loving the diversity of their output. I've been having personal tug-of-war in my head, trying to decide if Rubber Soul or Revolver is the better album. Probably gonna listen to each again this week.
Doug
Hi Doug, I would agree that La la land, while highly entertaining (and a much needed respite from the toxic atmosphere in the USA at the moment), is probably not a winner of 14 academy awards it's been nominated for!
I'll save you the agony you are going through... it's Revolver!!! Love that French horn in "For No One" which I think Lennon said was his favorite composition by Paul. Now turn off your mind, relax, and float down stream! Cheers!
I liked La La Land. I agree the Oscar windfall is exaggerated but I enjoyed the film; the ending stuck with me and I like the "party band" scene. It definitely did not have any catchy songs, but I liked how it used the piano jazz at the end to convey the message. As far as the acting I thought Emma Stone was perhaps better in her portrayal, but then she was more likeable than the male role. The director's earlier film was "Whiplash" and won an Oscar for J.K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson in Spidey films). That movie also had a jazz influence, but was intense. I liked it and despised it at the same time - you will understand if you see it.
As for Revolver and Rubber Soul - I obtained both of those albums on the same day and they intermingle in my appreciation. Like one great double album for me - inseparable. I may have to pull those out as well.
And CH 47 - that is absolutely my favorite soup. We have it for Christmas dinner.
Hi gang- regarding LaLa Land: my wife and I enjoyed it, particularly the music. I'd agree that 14 Oscar nominations seems a bit much, but it was pretty good. And the tune "City of Stars" did kind of stick in this listener's head.
Revolver vs Rubber Soul- really a toss-up. Revolver miiiiight just edge out a win on the strength of "Tomorrow Never Knows". I don't know, it's like asking if you want a chocolate sundae with marshmallow, or a marshmallow sundae with chocolate...
Man, busy day today.
Albums: The American release of Rubber Soul is my personal favorite of the two. It has less songs than the British release, but somehow it presents as a more cohesive piece to me that way. It's one of the few albums I ever heard that I loved the very first time I heard it. It didn't have to grow on me a bit.
Hey, for a truly Bronze Age listening experience. . . can I mention Meatloaf's BAT OUT OF HELL and not have my friends here throw things at me? And I do enjoy BACK INTO HELL almost as much--! (In their corny, kinda satirically-overwrought, brilliantly-sung way. . . )
We watched the Coen Brothers' HAIL CAESAR! this evening, and although it's as loopy as any of their films, I think it's also one of the warmest, which had me liking it quite a lot. Better than the reviewers, for the most part. Also, as a bit of an old-movie fan, soooooo many of the references and easter-eggs were a sheer delight. And the soundtrack is fantastic.
Favorite little personal food concoction? I. . . have a spicy peanut sauce/marinade that's primarily for a peanut-chicken kabob recipe. It's original form appeared as a recipe in a Giant Foods add in the Washington Post over 25 years ago, and I've evolved it and adapted it over the years. And it works on everything. Heck, it's good on toast, if that's what you feel like. It's become the thing that folks request at pot-lucks we're invited to; at staff get-togethers; by my wife's visiting siblings, etc, etc. . . (If requested, I'll share-- but shan't presume to force it upon ya's---! Heh--)
HB
Oh! Plus,"Cool Thing I'm Reading"----! Part of a chunk of belated birthday/Christmas Amazon Card gift bounty: The first two volumes of Walt Kelly's collected POGO newspaper comic strip. And I have fallen in LOVE with it! Strangely, and kinda sadly, even we Bronze Agers skew a touch too young to have fully appreciated that strip when it was still in the papers. And I now see why. As delightful as it is visually, the humor tends to be much more geared toward satire and wordplay that would be more evident to an adult at the time. Something that I particularly see is the influence it had on BLOOM COUNTY in particular (esp. visual style), as well as SHERMAN'S LAGOON, and even GET FUZZY (in the way it uses cast-off side-comments as extra laugh tags).
Hmm-- comic strips seem like such a natural topic for us, but we don't seem to hit upon the topic too often. Perhaps I'll make a mad dash for one of the upcoming Follow-the-Leaders--- unless we happen to get it as a straight-up topic----!
HB
HB You never cease writing things I've thought about... like I'm looking in a mirror! I always thought the British release of rubber soul was "diluted" with the extra tracks like Mr. Roberts.
Doug- have you heard the USA version of Rubber Soul?
HB - regrettably I have exactly opposite thoughts on Meatloaf.
HB share your recipe! It's late, probably only a few souls still awake... And, tomorrow never knows...
Begin Again was a great little film..., very nice characters and SO GLAD it didn't resort to a physical relationship between Mark and Keira at the end. That would have been waaay too contrived and hokey, and this ending was much more uplifting.
As a musician, I loved the entire idea of recording outside the studio, very freeing.
As for US releases, I of course grew up with them, but once I heard the UK version of 'Revolver', it immediately became the true standard. The best parts was the difference in mixing..:
I'm Only Sleeping - the extra backwards guitar used.
Doctor Roberts - The background harmony on the 'Well well well, you're feeling fine..' bit is mixed much higher on the UK 'Revolver' than the US 'Yesterday.., and Today' album, adding sooo much vitality. A marked difference indeed.
The track listing is much more balanced, whereas the US version leans heavily towards McCartney.
Charlie -- I've been listening to the US version, downloaded from Apple Music.
Also, I checked and darned if I hadn't recommended Bramwell's book two weeks ago. Sheesh...
Doug
Doug, it's ok to forget! Part of being a bronze ager, lol! Also, I still prefer the USA version of Revolver. I think being 3 songs shorter it just has the " more for less" notion. Well that's my thoughts...
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