The College Crowd Digs Me

(a short jaunt) "Welcome To Goose Creek" - Goose Creek Symphony / "Welcome To Goose Creek" (1971) " It's just a way of life so easy to find. But it won't be on maps they make. And you can't buy it on time." Man, but this stuff is some summer lake cabin...front porch feel-good...thigh-slapping music.  Rootsy with a weed-induced (or not) country-rock authenticity.  The band sounds like they were located somewhere in the mountains of Appalachia, but nope, they were from Phoenix.  And the band owns a piece of real estate in the Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall-of-Fame.   I imagine it's pretty hard to stay angry with Goose Creek Symphony around. (OWN) "Water Song" - Hot Tuna / "Burgers" (1972) Hot Tuna has always been a little bit hit-or-miss for me, but dang if they don't knock this song outta the park.  This song was culled from "Burgers" ...their debut studio album and is about as lost gem as one can ...

  "Home" (front) This was a blind buy.  It was $8 and it looked interesting enough to take a chance.  Plus the back cover mentioned guitarist Leslie West as a guest musician on one of the songs.  Felix Pappelardi was the producer.  Turns out  Jolliver Arkansaw was really the psych band... Bo Grumpus .  When the band changed labels from ATCO to Bell Records, for some legal reason or other, the band was forced to also change their name.  So the band from New York, via Boston, went with the name Jolliver Arkansaw .  Whaddyagonnado? Anyway, "Home" wound up being a surprising chance purchase.  The music is catchy and rocks pretty hard with a rural garage attitude.  There is occasional psych dustings on a couple of songs as well.  Side two is the stronger spin with Leslie West playing nice on the closing track... "Gray Afternoon."   The fuzzier  "Lisa My Love" is heavy with a Hendrix vibe all over it.  The ...

"Superman: Birthright" by Mark Waid - Leinil Francis Yu - Gerry Alanguilan DC Comics (2005) 314 pages (I stumbled upon a good-sized box filled with a variety of graphic novels at an estate sale. No official count as I've just been pulling from the box when I find time to read one.) "Superman: Birthright" is the retelling of the origin of Clark Kent, aka Superman.  Mark Waid has updated the story for fresh eyes and does an excellent job laying the groundwork for our hero.  I've never been a huge fan of heroes that are omnipotent or nearly so, but the author wisely chooses to hook his readers by first letting us see our hero as a fairly cool, somewhat flawed, ordinary guy.  Not the dork I had come to believe.  By the time Clark puts on the red "S"...we're rooting for the dude.  The author also does an excellent job of introducing the mad genius Lex Luthor to the story.  In this telling, Lex went to the same school as Clark Kent and were friends...