T-shirt #128: Captain Action, part one

T-shirt #128: Captain Action, part one: subtitle: "Who the Hell is "Captain Action'?"

At the risk of sounding too definitive or even reckless, Captain Action was my favourite superhero toy as a young boy. Some people, young people especially, are right now crying out:

"WHO?"

"Who the HELL is Captain Action?"

Or other related and amusing questions, such as

"Is this another GI Joe?"

"Is he related to Action Jackson?"

"Wasn't there a toy named 'Big Jim'?"

These are all excellent questions. And the answers are as follows: hang on, I will explain who he is straight away; No, not exactly a GI Joe; No, no relation to Action Jackson; yes, there was a "Big Jim," but he is also no relation to the great Captain Action.

And as you can see, my Captain Action has lost his head.

(Though read on: that's not "Captain Action.")

To qualify this seemingly bizarre and outrageous statement, let me provide some background on the good captain.

CAPTAIN ACTION

Captain Action was a toy created by Ideal Toy Company in answer to Hasbro's wildly popular GI JOE. Joe was the first "modern action figure" for boys, a fully articulated twelve-inch toy and the first to be called an "action figure" rather than a doll.  A perennial cash cow, the toy company could manufacture limitless accessories for the action figure, creating a business that could have new cool products each year around Christmas time.


Toy developer Stan Weston took his profits from the successful GI Joe franchise and formed his own licensing company. Ideal Toys came to him to compete with Hasbro in the ever-growing toy market.

The original idea for Captain Action is that his accessories would be different costumes, so he was essentially many heroes in one, able to change his guise to that of Spider-Man, the Lone Ranger, the Green Hornet, among many others.

In 1967, the line expanded to include Action Boy and Dr. Evil as well as a vehicle called the Silver Streak among many other cool toys and accessories, such as the secret lair (HQ) carrying case seen in one of my photos.

As a kid, I wanted to own all the costumes, but my parents only had so much money. I do own the Silver Streak, which I will feature in a future post with my other CAPTAIN ACTION SHIRT. Yes, I have two Captain Action shirts as of the writing of this entry (and I could expand to three or more before I am done).

One of the things I love best about this blog is learning new things. I knew that Captain Action was one of the most beloved toys from that period and because of its limited market time (only produced and sold from 1966-1968), I assumed the figures were rare. As you can see, it appears that mine is NOT in good condition. Though, if you look closely, the figure in the suit is an African-American, headless GI Joe with the Kung-Fu grip and not the original Captain Action figure, who, incidentally, still has his head. Back to my subject, I love learning new things or finding out things I may have known long ago and have forgotten, such as that Ideal produced a line of girl action figures called the "Super Queens Posin' Dolls," featuring Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl, and MERA, who is Aquaman's wife!! I did not know this fact. How awesome is that? I am a HUGE Aquaman fan. I have already mentioned how much I am loving the recent comic (such as in T-shirt #99: Moby and T-shirt #126: New York). And for those who like previews, an AQUAMAN post is on the horizon. BTW, Aquaman was popular around the same time (1968) due to a re-packaging of Aquaman's half of the 1967 Superman/Aquaman Adventure Hour.

In my research, I found videos of the old commercial on You Tube, which is one of the things I love about the Internet and how people can resurrect these old things that I never thought I would see again, not ever!

Captain Action TV Commercial

TOYS UNEARTHED IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIND

Have you wondered why you are seeing some of my childhood toys?

I had written that my blog was a survey of my "life in geek," but I did not understand what that meant until I started actually doing it, writing it.

But the blog is more than just a journal of "my life in geek," as I have written before it's a self-inventory, a self-analysis, and in reading my analysis, I am hoping that my readers will see reflections of their own analysis or potential analysis.

To explain the toys, I have to drill back into what Jung calls "The Process of Individuation." I am wrestling through the Shadow, the Anima, the Ego, and I am stripping off the layers of conscious and unconscious contents that mask the Self to get at the core. In this process, drilling through the layers, I have to strip out fears (my parents are growing older), phobias (I do not like change, and I actively resist change), purpose (what is the value of these toys?), beliefs (toys are not just for children), and ultimately end up with the results of this process: Have I made progress?

The first step simply explains the toys: where did they come from? Finding the toys was one of the reasons I started this blog in March. One reason for writing this blog was well explained in T-shirt #77, if you have not read it already, I encourage you to do so if you are interested in why I have devoted myself to this enterprise. Another impetus for deciding to do the blog surfaced when moving my parents from their home of the last 10 years to a new condo and thus dealing with a lot of my things that had been packed away since the move from the old house in 2003 and possibly since the late 1980s when toys were packed away to make room for videos in the family room. Culling through old boxes of toys to identify what to keep and what to give away/purge meant a re-discovery of old loves and old toys, such as explored in T-shirt #79: The Planet of the Apes, T-shirt #111: Atom Ant, and T-shirt#94: Batman TV show.

As I culled through old toys, the idea for this blog kept bubbling up from my unconscious as a useful self-inventory tool. As I sorted my many possessions, I had to keep asking myself: "what do I value?" Because this is the essential question about whether I can part with something. In some cases, it's an issue of need: "Do I need these articles on gender and society anymore?" or "Do I need this book as a handy reference?" But other questions were more slippery: "Can I bear to part with this?" And the trickier "why do I value this old toy so much?"

The question of value always seemed moot to me before. It seemed like a question to which I knew the answer. I have always held to the opinion that toys are not solely the province of children. I love my toys. I still love stuffed animals. I may not play with toys as I did when I was a child anymore, I may not carry around the stuffed animal and sleep with it cradled in my arms anymore, but the toys themselves have not lost their value, and my affection for them has shifted but not really diminished.

Also, I do not believe that a person must give up toys as a demonstration of "growing up." Becoming an adult is NOT about giving up childish things, and anyone who thinks that is being incredibly shallow. As far as I have been able to tell, being an adult is about responsibility and maturity. Maturity is about handling responsibility and handling relationships in a sophisticated way, in a way that is the product of years of self-analysis and growth. Being an adult is not about giving stuffed animals and the beloved GI Joe play set to Goodwill or selling them on e-Bay. But the world is full of judgmental people who feel otherwise, and I have always avoided digging into this question because I am afraid that the answer is that I do not want to grow up, and that I am holding on to my childhood like a petulant and stubborn toddler clutching someone else's toy that does not belong to me.

The issue of growing up along with the issue of parting with old toys and their value to my sense of self, my identity, are the issues that I grappled with as I sorted boxes of possessions that would go to my house and boxes that would go to my parents house, many of which still remain in need of sorting to determine their permanent home. For instance, there is the lodestone of my comic book collection, which numbers close to 10,000 some issues, but that's a story for another time.

But it's not just about me. I hope that if you read this blog, then, it's also about you. What do you see of yourself in what I am doing? The blog has given me an excuse to re-discover loves of mine both new and old. I am re-connecting with the toys, TV shows, comic books, books, movies, music, comic strips, and other popular culture artifacts that have shaped me into the person I am today. It's a process that I hope inspires others to undergo a similar reflection. What are your experiences? What are your treasures? What do you cherish?

The natural follow-up to those questions is the question of "why?" Why that experience? Why that treasure? Why do you cherish that thing?

The "why" question is the drill bit. There's always another "why" question that strips the layers, that goes deeper and deeper and deeper. In T-shirt #64: Embrace Uncertainty, I posted a great video by philosopher Timothy Freke called "The Absurd Notion of One." I highly recommend it if you did not watch it already. From another direction, the video targets the same subject I am targeting here in this essay. Freke uses the same drill bit: "Why?" "Why do I want that?"

The answers to the questions of the value and the "why" bring some scary stuff to the surface of the reflecting pool, and my success at grappling with these demons will be the difference between my success or failure (or my rationalized perception of success as I fool myself smugly into thinking that I am making real progress) with the process of individuation. As I sorted through my possessions in order to help my parents move, I realized that one of the things I was really struggling with was their advancing age and how things were changing. Now that I am married and own a home of my own, with my own kids (step-kids), my relationship with my parents is changing. As I see my parents age, I am faced with the realization that they will not be around forever, and I do not like this eventuality. So, in part, this is all about change.

I do not like change. I have always resisted change. I have always been afraid of change. When I graduated from Kalamazoo College, my girlfriend of that time urged me to move with her to New York. We had just met there a few months before and had held down internships, which could have become full time jobs if we had shown our value to those employers. I could have taken off the day after graduation, but I was afraid. All of a sudden, the school of which I had been so critical was my haven. I did not want to leave. I took a crappy job with the summer theatre just to continue to live in the dorms, eat in the cafeteria, and delay leaving the school I suddenly realized that I loved.

There have been other times in my life when I have resisted change. Had I been bolder, had I not been counting on the hints of promises of full time employment, I might not have spent ten years toiling away for poverty level pay teaching a Media Studies class, which I built into one of the most popular general education courses at the university. Maybe I would have made a change. But I was afraid. I was comfortable.

And I made rationalizations to avoid changes because the world changed around me. In 2000, my mother contracted bacterial meningitis that mostly paralyzed her and left her in need of total care. Rationalizing that my parents needed me to help manage her care helped me to avoid leaving, avoid change, and so I tried to do everything I could to keep our home the way she had kept it, the way it was throughout my childhood: unchanged. I developed many OCD tendencies to cope with the change that had happened to my mother, happened in our lives, which I did not want to face head on, that I wanted to deny.

But my efforts were futile. I could not avoid change. Change just happens. And more changes were to follow those of the eventful year of 2000. Starting in 2008, in a period of two years, everything changed. I lost my job at WMU. I met Liesel. We decided to get married. After trying to find a job out of teaching, I went back to teaching. After another two years, we bought a house. Within a span of three years, I had changed jobs, tripled more work load, married the love of my life, become a step father to two awesome teenagers, and become a home owner. For someone who does not like change, who actively resists change, that was A LOT OF CHANGE, and I had to devote myself tirelessly to making a transition.

I find change easier now. I resist it less. In part, I am more open to change because I have realized why I resist it, why I have avoided it, and have drilled to many of the roots of those feelings. And yet, my issues with change are strongly in force with my feelings about my old toys and my parents and my childhood, which brings my subject around again to this blog. Part of the impetus to write the blog came from the psychological work I have been doing to feel comfortable with change, and a good result of the blog itself is the self-examination I have performed here. If you read all of this, I thank you. I am honored to have your attention. I hope that my experience can inform your own experience.

I cannot escape change. My life changes, has changed, will change. The aging of my parents and the eventuality of life without my parents are things I cannot control. I cannot stop time. I cannot dial time backwards. And if I am psychologically healthy, I should not want to do either of those things. I can control the place of my childhood things in my adult life and question their value. I can also write, as I have here, about the reasons to start this blog and as I did in T-shirt #77, as I mentioned before. My work in this part of the Process of Individuation is ongoing and not yet complete. But I feel better having committed some of these thoughts and ideas to text. Thanks for reading.

CAPTAIN ACTION LIVES ON!

Apparently, a Captain Action animated series is in the works. San Diego Comic Con took place last week, during which, for the second or third year in a row, Captain Action Enterprises hosted a panel.

There's a book by Michael Eury and published by TwoMorrows called Captain Action: The Original Super Hero Action Figure, which I have somewhere and cannot locate for this entry (which gives me another reason for the other entry on my other T-shirt).

I knew toys had been re-released in special collector's editions (see photo farther above) as I want to obtain these toys, but I did not know about Captain Action Enterprises and the possible animated series. Apparently, this T-shirt was produced by Captain Action Enterprises to promote its work and its future TV show. I thought it was a product of Moonstone Publishing who has been producing Captain Action comics since 2008 (for a full explanation see the CAPTAIN ACTION WIKIPEDIA).

I quite liked the new Captain Action comics from Moonstone, especially because of some great art by Paul Gulacy, and some smart writing by Fabian Nicieza, whose work I have followed avidly on comics like The New Warriors and Thunderbolts.


I love the 1960s spy flavor and Steranko-themed covers from Moonstone. For more on Steranko, see T-shirt #53: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and T-shirt #106: Captain America.

There's also been a much needed addition to the cast via Moonstone with LADY ACTION, who works for the British branch of the A.C.T.I.O.N. directorate.

If you do some searching, you will find some intriguing Cos Play for Lady Action (not crazy about this name).

The image of Lady Action below comes from downthetubes.net from the comic that was created by Tony Lee and Jake Minor with this cover art by Gulacy. I am also throwing in an image from the full poster by Gulacy from which the image directly below is cropped in the cover gallery to follow.

Paul Gulacy, who is a great artist, can be found at GULACY.

Some links to current Captain Action activity:

CAPTAIN ACTION SITE

FOREVER FUN - CAPTAIN ACTION

DIAL-B FOR BLOG PART ONE: CAPTAIN MAGIC AND GI JOE

DIAL-B FOR BLOG PART TWO: CAPTAIN ACTION

COVER GALLERY FOR CAPTAIN ACTION COMIC - DC

Covers from the short DC comics run of Captain Action issues. The changing costume schtick couldn't work as Ideal produced costumes for both DC and Marvel Comics heroes. So Captain Action found ancient coins that gave him powers. Though not all toy tie-ins were worthy as comics in the field, this was the first tie-in by DC, and it featured some of the top talent in the business. The first issue is illustrated by the great Wally Wood and the other issues by one of my top five artists, GIL KANE (as described in T-shirt #83). The issues, especially the covers, are just gorgeous. Here's a cover gallery (with the first page of issue one thrown in for good measure). These are not scans of my issues, however. My copy of Captain Action #1 (if memory serves) is in better condition. I am adding a Lady Action poster at the end of the gallery just because. :-) ENJOY!

 

- chris tower - 1307.27 - 9:04

T-shirt #127: Legion of Superheroes Logo

T-shirt #127: Legion of Superheroes Logo

How cool would it be to belong to a club of teenaged superheroes?

In the future.

FAR in the future, like 1000 years in the future.

In which every superhero has special and unique powers.

And it's a club SO BIG that it has a waiting list (the "reserves"): The Legion of Substitute Heroes.

It's the LEGION OF SUPERHEROES.


AND membership provides each hero with a ring that lends the wearer the power of flight and a special force field to be able to fly in space while breathing Oxygen magically produced from the tiny gadget while keeping the wearer safe from the vacuum and cold of space by some other magic technology provided by the ring, which, like many uniforms features a cool logo, the team logo of THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES (and, no, this is not technically a run-on sentence).

I want to belong to that club.

I had to buy this seven-figure PVC figurine set when I saw it solicited in Previews, featuring the original three founding members of the Legion in their original costumes (Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, and Lightning Lad) as well as four of the earliest members in their original costumes. The box mirrors the Legion's original headquarters, The Legion Clubhouse, which was a rocket ship that crashed in Kal-El (Superman's Kryptonian name) Memorial Park where it became a tourist attraction until the Legionnaires discovered that it was a second supply rocket equipped by Jor-El of Krypton and launched to follow the rocket that carried Kal-El to Earth. Later, the clubhouse was nearly destroyed in a battle with the Fatal Five and the Legion relocated its HQ. The old rocket ship was refurbished and served as an HQ for the Legion of Substitute Heroes.

One thing about the Legion of Superheroes that drew the attention of fans is the relationships between the large cast. Many of these relationships were only hinted at in the original Silver Age comics. The Legion developed a huge and rabid fan base. Large, more vocal, and with greater subtext on which to focus than any other fan community, the Legion fandom were so intense and devoted that they alone kept the Legion published when the general comic book readership had abandoned it as a goofy, throwback to the 1950s and 1960s with heroes sporting very silly names that ended in "Boy," "Lad," "Girl," or "Lass."

In fact, the Legion fan community was so devoted that many came to produce Legion comics, starting with Jim Shooter who wrote his first Legion script at the age of fourteen, soon  becoming the regular writer on the Legion comic. Longtime fan Paul Levitz may have logged the most issues and the most defining run in Legion history aided by great artists like Mike Grell, Steve Lightle, and Keith Giffen. Starting in 1989, other fans straight out of Legion fandom, Tom and May Bierbaum, took over writing Legion comics and did some work that was inscrutable to most readers and yet much loved by some of the hardcore Legion fans (like me). The Bierbaums were very active in the exclusive APA (Amateur Press Association - see my T-shirt #61: Nightwing for more explanation of what an APA is) Interlac, named after the International Galactic Language of the Legion era, which is 1000 years in the future.




Interlac and The Legion Outpost fan club are the holy grails of comic book fandom.

Legion fans are very fun and interesting people as seen here in a "Cos Play" photo.
I may be a fan, but I don't do Cos Play.
Not that there's anything wrong with Cos Play. Just not my thing.
Some of my bets friends do Cos Play.

Okay... whatever. Shutting up now.

Photo to be found via : http://www.flickr.com/photos/patcave/5011972641/

COOL LINKS
DC-Wiki - Legion Entry
Legion WIKI
Regular Wikipedia Entry for the Legion
List of all Legion Members

TOP TEN FAVORITE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES CHARACTERS

1. Wildfire
2. Dawnstar
3. Element Lad
4. Sun Boy
5. Shadow Lass
6. Timber Wolf
7. The White Witch
8. Lightning Lass
9. Chameleon Boy
10. Cosmic Boy

Honorable mention: Matter-Eater Lad. I have to give him an honorable mention because the idea for the hero is so ridiculous. He eats anything and everything.

The list of names will not mean much to people who are not comic book fans and have some experience with the characters. For instance, in the image to the left, Dawnstar has the wings, Wildfire is in the extreme foreground at the bottom (you can see his shiny visor), and Timber Wolf is in the lower right corner right below Shadow Lass who is the dark colored woman to Dawnstar's upper left (her left is our right).

COVER GALLERY
I tried to find the earliest Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes comic I won in an online image but that will have to wait for a future posting as there are more Legion shirts (big surprise). But I did find a few of the earliest covers (#201, 204, 205, and 207). I own plus some others that I like and may inspire others to investigate this Legion thing.

- chris tower -1307.26 - 19:06

T-Shirt #126: New York

T-Shirt #126: New York: Open 24 Hours

I lived in New York for a few months in 1985 while doing a college internship.

I lived on 46th street just off Broadway part of the time and on a boat on the Hudson River's 79th Street Boat Basin.

I worked at Marvel Comics. More to come about that experience.


The time I spent in New York forever changed me and my sense of identity.


I have been back many times to visit. More on the subject of New York in future entries as I have more than one T-shirt featuring the grand old Big Apple of Manhattan.

Grading robot is in full swing, so this one is short.

Ten great things about New York.

Not even the ten best things or my ten favourite things.

Just ten things, off the top of my head,

which you can see I have to hang onto in the picture above

or it won't stay sitting on my neck.

1. H&H Bagels - Broadway and 80th something - 83rd?
2. Art Museums - The Whitney, MOMA, the Guggenheim, Brooklyn
3. Tuna and Egg Salad sandwiches at 2 a.m. from the deli
4. The little park I found down Park Avenue by Gramercy
5. The secret door bookcase in the Magical Childe shoppe
6. Ray's Pizza by the Slice
7. Riding at the back or front of the subway train and watching the tunnels
8. Chinatown (just the whole thing basically, but definitely Wo Hop on Mott)
9. The Empire State (so you can always tell where you are)
10. The Village Voice (a good read)

I wish I had a picture of me in New York. Not sure that I do.

New York. It's just one of a few of my favorite things.

My Favorite Things - 

John Coltrane [FULL VERSION] HQ

WEEKLY COMIC BOOK STACK

Clone from Image Comics--which I am enjoying very much because of the great Juan Jose Ryp art--has fallen into the backlog along with some other comics I usually read every month pretty quickly (like Teen Titans). I expect to catch up with some reading marathons this weekend as I indulge in some quality time.

Aquaman continues to hold the top spot in its week. More interesting is how many slots Captain America jumps after I wrote T-shirt #106. Everything else holds pretty close to its previous position. I do prefer New Avengers, but I think it's been over a month since it came out as it was not released on June 24th according to T-shirt #99.

COMICS FOR 1307.24  (July 24, 2013)
Aquaman #22
Captain America #009
New Avengers (Infinity) #008
Young Avengers # 008
Hawkeye Annual  #1
Superior Spider-Man #014
The Flash #22
Batman/Superman #2
Justice League Dark (Trinity pt.3) #22
Uncanny Avengers #010
Lazarus #2
Hunger #001

BACK LOG
-Back log comics are not listed in any order.
Clone #9
Wolverine #007
Ultimate X-Men #29
Catwoman #22
Green Hornet #4
Teen Titans #22
Superman #22
Uncanny X-Force #004 (to go with the catch up from last week)

- chris tower - 1307.25 - 14:38

T-shirt #125: Hair and the Barn Theatre

T-shirt #125: Hair and the Barn Theatre... no wait, TARZAN

Photo Courtesy Laura Girolami

I review theatrical productions for the Battle Creek Enquirer. In ancient times (as in long ago), I wrote for the Kalamazoo Gazette, also, and before that, The Western Herald and The Kalamazoo College Index. But my longest tenure has been with the Battle Creek Enquirer, which is a Gannett company, meaning that it is owned by the same company that owns USA Today.

I am updating (1307.25) now that my review has come out. Though Gannett may have a limited number of views widget.

TARZAN REVIEW

As of next year (2014), I will have been writing for the Enquirer for 20 years. Though I have done some hard news here and there for them, mostly I do reviews of theatrical productions at local theaters, such as The Barn Theatre, The Marshall Civic Players, What A Do Theatre, Cornwell's Turkeyville Dinner Theatre, the Great Escape Theatre, and up until recently, The Tibbits Summer Theatre, though I have now begged off due to the long drive.

I first explored the topic of theatre and my favourite musicals in T-shirt #91 and Jesus Christ Superstar. Another musical in my top five is Hair as seen here, though I do not know it so well that when executive producer Brendan Ragotzy quoted from it last night upon seeing my shirt I did not recognize it right away. So shameful.

I only have one Barn T-shirt (though I also own a polo shirt with the Barn logo), which is the one featured here promoting the Barn's 2005 production of Hair, which is Brendan Ragotzy's favorite musical of all time. I wore my shirt last night to the theatre when I was sent by the paper to review the Barn's latest production, Tarzan. And though this is Disney's Tarzan adapted from the animated movie and featuring music by Phil Collins, for some odd reason, the Barn is not allowed to call it "Disney's Tarzan," even though they produced Aida, which had to be called Disney's Aida and Beauty and the Beast, among others, likewise named.

The Barn Theatre has been around since 1946, when it opened in Richland's Village Hall as the Richland Village Players. Once the Ragotzys managed to buy an old barn and renovate it, the theater moved to Augusta in 1949 where it has been ever since, offering summer stock theater for local residents and others who make the drive to visit this historic landmark. In the old days (say 1960), the summer season could consist of as many as ten shows! These days the Barn offers six-seven shows, with one every two weeks, and sometimes a late add-on final show for a short run of one week only.

The Barn uses professional actors and is considered an Equity Theatre, the trade union for thespians, in which candidates need so many hours to receive their official Equity Card, and so the larger company is often filled with Equity Candidates, usually college students or recent grads working to earn their cards.

Photo Courtesy Laura Girolami

The Barn has a history of tackling productions few (or no) regional theatres have yet to tackle, such as last season's Monty Python's Spamalot and Legally Blonde as well as original productions, such as Ragotzy and Troy Benson's Raunch and Roll. The Barn also has productions that are perennial returners and favorites of its patrons, such as The Rocky Horror Show, Escanaba in da Moonlight, and farces (both British and American), such as those written by Brit Ray Cooney or American playwrights Larry Shue and Ken Ludwig. This season the Barn is tackling three productions not yet produced by regional theaters or produced by only a few, including Tarzan, Shrek, and Young Frankenstein.

It was not that long ago that the Barn Theatre packed in so many patrons that it had to extend its run on popular shows, often ones starring famous actors who have gone on to greater success in TV and film, such as Robert Newman, Kim Zimmer, Tom Wopat, Jessica Joy Kemock, Melissa Gilbert, Marin Mazzie, Stephen Lynch, Barbara Marineau, and many others, now, also including Eric Peterson, who returned to the Barn in 2005 for this production of Hair, who toured nationally with Shrek and has recently been cast in a TV Land network situation comedy called Kirstie with Kirstie Alley and Rhea Perlman. Other celebrities who had their start at the Barn Theatre include Jennifer Garner and Lauren Graham.

In recent years, it has been more of a struggle to fill the seats despite the high quality entertainment offered at the Barn both on its mainstage and in its Rehearsal Shed Lounge in the three-set cabaret show that follows each mainstage performance (where they serve drinks, nachos, wings, and ICE CREAM). The Barn Theatre provides a night or afternoon of entertainment for the whole family, especially for this, 2013, season in which the theater has a lineup of family-friendly shows aimed at pleasing area audiences.

I have had the pleasure of seeing many great productions at the Barn and meeting many wonderful performers, some of whom I count as Facebook friends, such as Roy Brown, Brendan Ragotzy, Fred Gillette, Emily Fleming, Eric Parker (who did a wonderful job directing Tarzan), Jamey Grisham (wonderful as Tarzan), Penelope Alex Ragotzy (wonderful as Tarzan's mom), Troy Benton, and the aforementioned Eric Peterson. All of these folks are wonderful, but I only annotated those with a major role in Tarzan, last night's show.

I am proud to be a reviewer for a paper that sends me to see live, professional theatre in southwest Michigan.

What's the hidden message of this blog entry? The subtitle? GO SEE THE LIVE THEATRE.

Any live theatre will do, but this place, the Barn Theatre, is special.

- chris tower - 1307.24 - 11:39

T-shirt #124: Steely Dan

This is a good image, but
it is my t-shirt, and I am wearing it.

T-shirt #124: Steely Dan: AJA

I am going to let the music mostly carry this blog entry because that is as it should be when featuring music. But first a few comments and then a few more mixed in between musical videos.

I did not discover Steely Dan until I was in college. So many of the people I met were huge Steely Dan fans, and one of the albums in continual play in many dorm rooms was Steely Dan's AJA (1977). I love this entire album, and "Deacon Blues" is my favorite song. I found this nifty live version (see first video).

In 2006, I had the pleasure of seeing Steely Dan live and in concert at what I will always call PINE KNOB but has been renamed as the DTE Music Theatre.

At the 2006 show, I had many choices for concert T-shirts, but with my love for Aja and given that this was my first time seeing Steely Dan, then this was a no brainer. This shirt. Yup.

I have had a few chances to see Steely Dan since 2006, and I have not been able to make it. I hope they keep touring. This is a show that I would love to see with my wife, Liesel, who also loves Steely Dan.

So here's a few videos with music and some more text interspersed.

Steely Dan- "Deacon Blues" (HD) 

Live in San Francisco on 

October 23, 2009

"You call me a fool 

You say it's a crazy scheme 

This one's for real 

I already bought the dream 

So useless to ask me why 

Throw a kiss and say goodbye 

I'll make it this time 

I'm ready to cross that fine line " - "Deacon Blues"

From the You Tube clip poster: "Trivia: "The song, while contrasting winning and losing in life, does so by taking as an image the contrast between the perennial powerhouse, Crimson Tide football team, and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. In the five years before the song was written, the Crimson Tide had lost only 8 games total, while Wake Forest had a losing record every season. Group member Donald Fagen said, "Walter (Becker) and I had been working on that song at a house in Malibu. I played him that line, and he said, 'You mean it's like, they call these cracker assholes this grandiose name like the Crimson Tide, and I'm this loser, so they call me this other grandiose name, Deacon Blues?' And I said, 'Yeah!' He said, 'Cool! Let's finish it!'"- (Wiki) Recorded at Steely Dan's performance in San Francisco, California at the Masonic Hall in Nob Hill on October 23, 2009."

ON AJA: "History gives Steely Dan's Walter Becker and Donald Fagen the last, hearty laugh on this, the crown jewel in their remarkable canon of  '70s Mensa pop. Sneaking onto the charts a half-decade earlier with sinuous, jazz-inflected "rock," the dysfunctional duo's acerbic, anti-heroic visions had been critically lauded for their band identity and killer guitar riffs, then promptly challenged when the two songwriters retired from the road, dissolved any formal band lineup, and used the studio as laboratory. Aja carried the added indignity of its increased focus on sophisticated jazz models and musicianship, which carried the Dan's ambitions even further in terms of suave harmonies, intricate song structures, and brilliant playing. Time has proven them wiser than their rock crit detractors: These seven songs abound in knotty plots, sneaky imagery, and drop-dead brilliant performances from a blue chip studio repertory studded with first-call jazz players epitomized by Wayne Shorter's towering solo on the title song. From the hard-boiled jazz romance of "Deacon Blues" to the twisted Homeric vamp of "Home at Last," the veiled but ominous swing of "Peg" to the sci-fi eroticism of "Josie," Aja is a modern pop classic and the coolest fusion record no one ever thought to lump in that category." --Sam Sutherland

Obviously, I also love this next song ("Peg"). I will not over do it. I love the entire album of Aja, so I could post the entire thing, and I am already going to post an entire album. Stay tuned.

Steely Dan: Peg (live 2000) (HQ)

 The goal here in the picture to the left  is to show me looking at the Steely Dan greatest hits album which was my first one by them with most of my records in the background. The picture did not turn out as well as I would have liked, so I will have to try another. The picture is here courtesy of Adam Kemp.

"Peg, It will come back to you. Then the shutter falls, you see it all in 3D. It's your favorite foreign movie."

Steely Dan: "Dr. Wu" 9/17/2011 Beacon Theater NYC

"Are you with me Doctor Wu ?

Are you really just a shadow

Of the man that I once knew?" - "Doctor Wu

This next video for "Kid Charlemagne" comes from the tour I saw. And here's my ticket. :-)

The lyrics for "Kid Charlemagne" were loosely inspired by the exploits of the infamous 1960s San Francisco-based LSD chemist Owsley Stanley (WIKI).

Steely Dan 2006-Kid Charlemagne

This video above for "Kid Charlemagne" is great, but it was the closing song of the first set, so the recorder left the recording running for two full minutes after the end of the song as people cheered and clapped and called for an encore.

I could post more Steely Dan songs as there are so many that are good. I went on a rampage a couple of decades ago and collected every album and the boxed set on CD. I find that I can listen to Steely Dan ongoing and never tired of them. But if I am discussing most listened to albums, then check out T-shirt #97, in which I listed the albums I have listened to most often in my life. One album that I literally listened to every day for almost three years is Donald Fagen's solo album (one of four) Morph the Cat. I was hoping someone had posted the entire album to You Tube, and lo and behold, they have. If you have never listened to this album and you love Steely Dan's funky and jazzy style, then you owe it to yourself to LISTEN TO THIS ALBUM IMMEDIATELY and often and save it in a special place. I think it's as good as ANY of the Steely Dan albums and arguably tied with greatest albums, for me, with Aja.

Check out this link to a good review of Fagen's first three solo albums: CLASSIC ROCK REVIEW  "Fagen released two albums under his own name—the critically acclaimed The Nightfly (Warner Bros., 1982) and less well-received but equally superb Kamikiriad (Reprise, 1993). In the midst of revived Dan activity, Fagen released his last album, Morph The Cat (Reprise) in 2006, winning a Grammy for Best Surround Sound Album. While it was well-deserved, it’s a shame the disc was recognized for how good it sounded rather than how good the music was." - Jerry "allaboutjazz.com"

Donald Fagen 

Morph The Cat

From this video link follow to playlists of all videos for album, which I cannot embed.

SAVING TICKETS I am a little compulsive. After years of sticking my tickets on a bulletin board, I started saving them in binder in plastic protectors. Expect to see more from this book as I work my way through the concert T-shirts.

- chris tower - 1307.23 - 9:07

T-shirt #123: KUDL 2009-White

T-shirt #123: KUDL 2009-White & 2013 Costume Night

I am up to TEN KUDL posts so far, and I do not think I am half way through my KUDL shirts.
I already featured KUDL of 2009 in T-shirt #56. I was on the blue team that year. But I have a few other styles of the 2009 shirt as I bought extras, especially in Patagonia moisture-wicking fabrics.

Last week was KUDL costume night. An epic affair. Today, I am going to let the pictures do the talking with just a few captions.

The Co-Captain of Funktion Junktion, best team in KUDL!

I always look like I am diving even if my feet do not leave the ground.

Something is wrong with this disc. I must attack it!

Attempting to throw the shield. Cap throws his shield, right?

As I attempt to throw, the world grows darker.
Does something wicked this way come?
The Red Skull?
Arnim Zola?
Thanos?

Thankfully, I am saved by the assembling of my Avengers: Funktion Junktion.
L-R: Meredith Edwards, Woody Tauke, Sam Gulliver, Patrick Lighthall, Island Ellerby,
Kolten Chauvez, My co-captain the wonderful Evann Potts,
Patrick "Draco" Abeli, Emily "She is on this team" Diekema, and me.

The Captain gathers Funktion Junktion for a cheer:
"We must use our powers for the good of mankind!"

Ta-da!! Also pictured here and not seen previously: on the left with the white hat, Tommy Owens, to his left Stu Gulliver, To Tommy's Right and with his back to the camera Lanny Potts, To Lanny's right Amy Hovinga, Over Amy's
head Ian T. Smith...

 

A lot of KUDL though not all of them!!

De-costuming. There's today's shirt: KUDL 2009 in white: Patagonia.
It's comfy.

- chris tower - 1307.22 - 8:18