Short Week, and the Mind Wanders....

I'm actually dreading tomorrow, for no other reason but that I'm going to pick up my comics. This is a pretty big week. Last week, which I didn't get to pick up, was a big week. It means a rather large bill when I stroll in there tomorrow.

Oh well...It's a hobby that, on occasion, is expensive. I am beyond overjoyed that both Marvel and DC have announced that they're going to roll back the $3.99 price point they started about a year, or so, ago. Yeah, it means the end of some great back-up features, but it also means titles like Ultimate Comics Spider-Man and Justice League of America, which jumped to the higher price with no additional content, will be back in a reasonable price range.

Tonight, CByrd and I will be heading to The Vic to see The Frames. I'm excited, frontman Glen Hansard, who's possibly more familiar from his side project The Swell Season, which sprung from the film Once, is a pretty dynamic stage presence. So much so that he pretty much runs over Swell Season partner Markéta Irglová, and the Swell Season backing band is...The Frames. So, if you see The Swell Season, you're essentially seeing The Frames, with Irglová adding a couple of numbers. 

I've commented on this unequal partnership before. It's not that I think Glen's doing anything on purpose, just that the lady seems ill-suited to commanding a large audience. Now that it seems, by some reports, that The Swell Season has run it's course, it'll be interesting to see what Markéta can/will do on her own.

Which really doesn't impact on The Frames, at all, other than that the two times I've seen The Swell Season, I felt that I might as well be watching a Frames show. It ought to be a good time. 

I'm also really looking forward to The Sword at Metro on December 12th. Their latest album, Warp Riders, has been seated pretty firmly as my favorite album this year. I've written about the album in the past, but the short form is that it's old-school hard rock/heavy metal, with Warp Riders being a step into a more concise and hooky form of songcraft. There's an almost Thin Lizzy kinda feel to the record, with groove and less sprawling guitar work.

The show was originally set for October 23rd, but the entire tour got canceled/postponed when drummer Trivett Wingo left the band, apparently because of panic attacks leading to a desire to get off the road. He's very upfront and frank about the decision in this interview. I have to say, I respect the guy pulling the eject button when he knew he wasn't going to be able to pull his share. The timing sucked, and he seems fully aware of that, too. I can't say I'm happy that I had to wait another month, or so, to see the band, but the whole thing's been handled as well as anybody could expect. Wingo going on record about his problems is brave, and appreciated by this fan.

That said, I am disappointed. I saw The Sword open for Metallica a couple of years back, and the band had a really nice, laid back, "hey, we're just dudes who put a band together" vibe. I also found Trivett magnetic on stage. His look is certainly not that of a typical metal drummer, but the dude can pound.

There wasn't a ton of super complex or what you might call "elegant" drumming going on, but he just wailed. I also found Warp Riders, and the, as I said, more groove-oriented sound really served up his work well. I'm still very excited for the show, but I'll miss seeing his work. 

This story might also give a glimpse of why a guy might want to get off the road. Jesus, Phil. I thought you were over that shit. I also must point out that the author of that blog seems like a bit of a douche, himself. 

In other "concert news," on an absolute whim, I bought tickets to see Slash at the Chicago House of Blues on February 13th. I've gotten some crap from people on this, which kind of amuses me. The real kicker, for me, was that Myles Kennedy would still be singing on that date. Kennedy is the vocalist for Alter Bridge, and I've written about my enjoyment of that band before, too. I saw too late that Alter Bridge is playing HOB on December 11th, and it looks to be sold out.

I just really dig Kennedy's voice, and the setlists for the Slash shows have included songs from every facet of his career, Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver, and solo stuff, as well as playing some stuff from Kennedy's catalog. That seems like an entertaining evening, to me. Plus, it's Slash, and one can't deny that he's been a vastly influential guitarist in the years since Appetite for Destruction broke.

I'm still working on the acoustic set for the Stage Left Fundraiser, as well as continuing to work on tracks for a new CD. It's funny, I'm sure everybody who plays an instrument has these thoughts, wherein, depending on the day, you either can't play at all, or it just flows, almost too easy. Sunday was the latter, for me. I had a drum track that just did not work, and it didn't take me long to see that I'd simply programmed it incorrectly. I fixed it, and things really started to run smoothly. The guitar scratch track is down, I'll need to move on to bass, and build it up again.

The I just started messing around, riffing. I was really enjoying everything I was coming up with. As I've said, time and again (boy I bet this blog bores people sometimes), the "concept" is sort of a 70's hard rock thing. So much of that was blues-based, Zeppelin, Aerosmith, etc. so I just started messing around with a 12-bar blues. I really enjoyed the riffs that were coming out, and the room for variation that I was giving myself. It was fun, and I think that you'll see/hear some version of it on the finished product...whenever that might emerge.

Oh, and I got an idea for an incredibly weird spoken-word piece on the train this morning. We'll see about that.

What I really need to do is keep on that acoustic...the days are ticking away.

T-Minus One Week.

Let's see...one week from right now, as I'm typing, I'll probably be at;

1:00-2:30 Comics Arts Conference Session #3: New Fun About Siegel and Shuster— Gerard Jones (Networked: Carabella on the Run) leads Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson Brown (grand-daughter of Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson), Brad Ricca (Last Son), and copyright expert Lauren Agostino in a discussion about the creative influences and legal issues surrounding Siegel and Shuster's early characters. Mel Gordon (California State University East Bay) shares insights about Jewish superheroes from his forthcoming book Siegel and Shuster's Funnyman: The First Jewish Superhero, co-authored by Thomas Andrae. Room 26AB

Or, on the main floor, because I'm sitting here reading that panel description, and thinking, "I thought it would be about the Superman copyright thing." Oh, well.

I've pretty much cemented my thought process of avoiding Hall H, and all the major movie panels. It's just too hard to give up all that time to see 4 minutes of footage. I mean, the mainstream press is already getting stuff in anticipation of Comic-Con week. For example:



Yep, that's "Van Wilder" in his all-CGI Green Lantern suit. I can't say I'm jumping up and down and screaming "COOL!" about it, but I'm also not condemning the film to failure. First publicity photos always look a little...off. I always reserve judgment until I can see some actual footage, be it a trailer, or whatever. Long story short, not a disaster.

In a way, knowing this will be on the cover of my Entertainment Weekly on Saturday re-affirms my thought process. Why spend 2 hours in line to see Ryan Reynolds be charming (I really do want to hate him, but I just can't), and have to listen to a Harry Potter presentation, too (sorry, I think the films are poor), when I can see:

Saturday 11:30-12:30 Shazam! The Golden Age of the World's Mightiest Mortal— Author/designer Chip Kidd (Mythology, Bat-Manga, Rough Justice), author/producer Michael Uslan (Archie Marries...), and Charles Kochman (executive editor, Abrams ComicArts) celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Big Red Cheese in this panel and slideshow discussion celebrating Kidd's upcoming fall release from Abrams ComicArts, Shazam! The Golden Age of the World's Mightiest Mortal. Room 9

I dunno. I mean, look at the SDCC coverage listed on that cover. It's basically all the major film/TV panels. That stuff will get out, and that information will be available. But nobody's gonna write an article about:

Saturday 4:00-5:00 Taking Back the Knight: Batman in the 1970s and Beyond— The 1960s Batman TV show -- fun as it was -- left the public thinking the Caped Crusader was more of a clown than a crimefighter. In the 1970s, editor Julius Schwartz, along with writer Dennis O'Neil and artist Neal Adams (mostly in collaboration with inker Dick Giordano), decided to take back the Knight to his darker origins. The resulting character became the template for the next three decades, a time span marked by Batman's huge success in films and other media. Moderator Mark Evanier talks with Comic-Con special guests Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams about their rebirth of the Bat and with Paul Levitz on how that re-creation took Batman to even greater heights. Room 8

Even though it is Comic-Con, right?

Saw The Swell Season at Ravinia Park last night. Nice enough show, but the show at The Vic a couple of years ago was miles better. That show will be the one I remember.

There's a number of factors for that, I think. Ravinia, now that I've actually seen a show there, is, frankly, not a venue I'd ever choose to see a pop/rock show at again. Yeah, it's pretty, and the pavilion is nice, but that whole environment is designed for a more...staid form of entertainment. No seating during songs, no food, no drinks but water, it's designed for a symphony crowd. I never felt overly comfortable.

Glen Hansard actually requested that people from the lawn seats be allowed down front by the stage. I understand the impulse, and the show certainly picked up, energy-wise, when the crowd streamed in. However, you just KNEW how it was going to end up. Fire Marshals, a demand for everyone to return to their section before the encore, the whole bit. It was a mess, and all I could think was how bad I felt for the ushers (who looked all of about 14 years old), being put under the pressure of having the guy on stage tell them to do what they're expressly not supposed to do.

that's all outside the performance, of course. I like Hansard, quite a bit. I like his voice, and his songwriting is fairly dynamic, if predictable. I mean, you know, every song, in the third verse (or the equivalent) he's gonna go from his "quiet and intense" singing to the "super intense" Hansard wail. Don't get me wrong, it's awesome, and effective, but it gets predictable.

The other trouble I had was with how Marketa Irglova, who is the other half of the duo, was presented during the evening. For all intents and purposes, we might as well have been watching The Frames, which is Hansard's primary group, and function as the backing band for The Swell Season.

I really felt like Irglova was just sidelined during the entire show. She had a few nice numbers, a solo piano piece, and then kinda functioned as a backup singer for Hansard. She has a lovely voice, and writes interesting songs, I would like to see her function as an equal.

I get the impression she's a shy person, but for an artist who's supposed to be half of the group, her work seems awful subservient to Hansard's. At times, I even got the feeling she wasn't overjoyed to be on the stage. Who knows? It could be the factor that they were romantically linked, and now apparently are, most certainly, not. That's supposition, but I really didn't feel like things were 100% comfortable, or equal, on that stage. That's a shame when it's supposed to be a duo.

I really do love Hansard and Irglova together, and that show at The Vic was revelatory, just beautiful. However, last night never even came close to those heights.