Artist Jack Davis died Wednesday of natural causes at age 91. If you grew up in the 1980s or earlier and didn't live in a cave, you've seen his work. He was best known as an illustrator for Mad magazine, but he also drew celebrity caricatures for Time and TV Guide. He illustrated Sesame Street calendars, posters and puzzles for children at the same time he was parodying the puppets in more adult publications. He even did advertising, most notably the Raid pesticide cockroaches. Here's a sampling of my favorites from his portfolio: This 1971 TV Guide cover is probably my favorite of all his works. I don't know whose idea it was to have Cookie Monster take a bite out of the magazine logo, but it's ingenious. Here's his 1972 Sesame Street calendar for children. Why does Lefty look so depressed? I guess he didn't sell much that week. To his left, Prairie Dawn looks like she's getting a sugar rush off Mr. Hooper's candy canes, and bottom row Roosevelt looks like he just stepped in something Big Bird left behind. Maybe that's why Little Bird is looking up... Finally, a Mad classic.
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You never know what a quarter will get you. I mean, I picked up this CD So Together by the girl group Innosense for that low, low price thinking it would be just some cutesy bubblegum from a quintet of attractive females, but I had no idea of the band's credentials. Why, not only was Britney Spears slated to be a member in 1997 before deciding on a solo career, but the band was co-managed by Justin Timberlake's mother Lynn Harless and Lou Pearlman, the convicted Ponzi-schemer who also maintained the careers of the Backstreet Boys and 'NSYNC. Unfortunately, by the time this CD was released in 2000, the Spice Girls, Britney, Christina, and the whole boy-band parade had already grabbed the golden (and platinum) rings and run away with them, leaving Innosense looking like losers. Neither the album nor its lone US single "Say No More" charted, and even opening for Spears on tour couldn't stop their eventual 2003 dissolution. It's unfortunate, because the music isn't bad. A lot of it is unremarkable copies of the era's sound, but many of the tracks deserve a listen. The best one, "A Hundred Oceans," had the credential of being composed by pop pro Diane Warren, but a close second is "Beep Beep," an ultra-catchy tune with a swagger that predates both the Pussycat Dolls and Christina's brassy big-band efforts on her 2006 Back To Basics album. Other slow tunes like "I Wish" and fast catchy songs like "Rain Rain" have atmosphere lacking from the offerings of their competition that left them in the dust. Grade: B- Here's the band with Britney (gotta love the "Excuse me, perverts!") and here's the band's website, still holding on after all these years.
Three things learned from Simon Sheridan's book The Complete ABBA: 1. This was the original gatefold sleeve used on the Swedish version of the band's 1975 album Greatest Hits, as drawn by Swedish horror artist Hans Arnold: 2. "I Am An A" was a self-deprecating tune introducing the band members that was only performed on the band's 1977 European and Australian tour and was never recorded. (Remember, the band's name was an acronym representing the group's members' first names.) 3. To mark the 30th anniversary of the group's 1st international hit "Waterloo," the band collaborated with Jim Henson's Creature Shop in 2004 for "ABBA - The Last Video." Look for the group members in cameos throughout the film.
45 years ago today in 1971, Queen played its first gig with bassist John Deacon (shown above), meaning that the lineup that would stormtroop across the world was now in place and set for royal world domination. Although he would not make any songwriting contributions to the band until its third album, he would eventually compose two of the band's biggest hits: "Another One Bites the Dust" and "You're My Best Friend." In honor, here's a few tracks from the band's demo tape made at De Lane Lea Studios the next year. The band got a lucky break as they got to record the tape for free because the studio needed someone to test its newly-installed equipment. All three of these tracks would wind up on its 1973 debut album Queen.
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Walburgh's BlogMostly retro, mainly music, but generally whatever's on my mind. Archives
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