Personal Picks Episode Eighteen - Just One More Thing

Columbo with his dog. Art by Bill Sienkiewicz.

 

Another playlist so soon?! I know. I thought I'd fit one between the Chrimbo one and a new New Year's one I'm working on now. As in all honesty, I've had some of these playlists created ages ago and have just been too lazy to work up a post. Also, as I said in my previous post, I wanted there to be more to the posts.

The Theme: Questions

Some of you might have noticed that the playlist name references an oft used phrase of Lieutenant Columbo . I chose that because the playlist are songs that all have a question for a title (inspired, as I often am, by an episode of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour) and who asks a lot of questions? 

So I thought I'd give you my top 5 TV detectives as my discussion for this playlist. 

The definitive Miss Marple (Joan Hickson) meets the definitive Poirot (David Suchet)

1) Hercule Poirot (David Suchet)

There's a lot to like about Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989 - 2013) but it all centres around David Suchet's wonderful performance as the Belgian detective. The series ended up adapting all the major literary works, ending with an adaptation of Curtain, the final Poirot novel.

2) Lieutenant Frank Columbo (Peter Falk)

The unique storytelling structure (seeing the crime and the perpetrator at the beginning) is a unique selling point but Peter Falk's Columbo often irritating the offender and playing the buffoon before hitting them with a "Just One More Thing" is what entertains me. It actually reminds more of Crime and Punishment, a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. The offenders aren't racked with guilt so much as worried they'll get caught. He's outsmarted famous folk from Leonard Nimoy to Billy Connolly. 

3) Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury)

Probably the one I've watched the most. Angela Lansbury is a wonderful actress from Academy Award nominated roles in The Manchurian Candidate (she was robbed) to Disney movies like Beauty and the Beast. She will probably be most remembered for Murder, She Wrote. The crime writer turned detective comes across as an amiable older relative but is razor sharp and is a tough cookie to boot. Another one where you'll spot some stars including likes of the future Captain Janeway, Kate Mulgrew, and Leslie Nielson. Not just as the villains though.

4) Jane Marple (Joan Hickson)

From 1984 to 1992, the BBC adapted all the original Agatha Christie novels with Joan Hickson in the title role. She is seen by many, myself included, as the definitive Marple. Indeed, Agatha Christie, having seen her perform in one of her plays in 1940, wrote her a note saying "I hope one day you will play my dear Miss Marple"

5) Detective Inspector Henry Crabbe (Richard Griffiths)

I watched a lot of these detective shows with my mum. Another thing we used to watch was cooking shows. Pie In The Sky mixes these two together a bit. All DI Henry Crabbe wants to do is retire to cook in his restaurant but his superior wants to keep him around to make him look good. Richard Griffiths plays another likeable detective who tries to fit some cooking in and the food looks wonderful. 

The Songs

I used the Google machine to find question songs to help the "little grey cells" remember some favourites. The playlist features some personal favourite artists. Pet Shop Boys are joined by Dusty Springfield on a song that helped revive her career. Former Beautiful South members Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott reunite and remind you of the old days. R.E.M.'s song with a title inspired by someone beating up journalist Dan Rather. ABBA 's song appeared in the Mamma Mia movie sequel so I may have picked that up from there. An 80s classic from Culture Club is included. The remainder are ones that are mostly tunes that I discovered through my life that I enjoy. One is from a gas advert featuring a dog, a cat and a mouse. See if you recall that after listening. Speaking of mice, there's a little bit of cheese included. 

The playlist  (You can check out this playlist on Spotify).

1. What Have I Done To Deserve This? - Pet Shop Boys, Dusty Springfield 

2. What Have We Become - Paul Heaton, Jacqui Abbott

3. What's The Frequency, Kenneth? - R.E.M.

4. What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted - Jimmy Ruffin

5. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow - The Shirelles

6. Where Did Our Love Go - The Supremes

7. Where Do You Go To (My Lovely) - Peter Sarstedt

8. Do You Really Want To Hurt Me - Culture Club

9. What's Up? - 4 Non Blondes

10. Why Did It Have To Be Me? - ABBA

Recommendations:

Maybe a nice detective show or House. I count House as a detective show of sorts.

Personal Picks Episode Seventeen - We Need A Little Christmas

 

It's been quite a while since I posted one of these playlists. The reason being was I wanted to put more into them by adding a theme to discuss and going into the song choices a bit more. I'm hoping to get back into the rhythm as I really enjoyed putting this together. 

The Theme: Christmas

As for the theme, it is around the 14th December when I post this and this is my family's official date for starting the festive season (it's my sister's birthday). I was just going to post the link to last year's playlist but then felt like challenging myself to find new songs and not ones that are played on the radio often (if at all).  

The Songs

The list starts off mellow and then moves into the cheesey area so the song order is deliberate. I picked Sarah McLachlan and Kacey Musgraves because I like their voices and the songs are good. Musgraves I discovered through her collaboration with Troye Sivan so gave the song a listen when I saw her name. As I mentioned, one overall idea was picking covers / different versions of songs so as to be different from the usual radio picks. I like the songs Mistletoe and Wine and Stay Another Day (Stay Another Day only qualifies as it is a Christmas Number One but there isn't anything Christmasy about it). Anyway, I just looked to see if other artists had covered them. Delighted that Kylie had covered Stay Another Day (as part of a special edition of her Kylie Christmas album). I really like the songs Hard Candy Christmas and We Need A Little Christmas. I discovered both from creating last year's playlist so similarly looked to see if they were covered by other people. Happily, they were covered by two artists I enjoy, Cyndi Lauper and Sufjan Stevens. Both artists are back from last year. Stevens' song is from a different Christmas album than I picked from last year (Silver & Gold). Yes he's done more than one. Do You Hear What I Hear? appears as it was in the first Gremlins movie, which is unquestionably a Christmas movie. Moving to the cheese portion. Buck Owens' tune from my All Across America playlist was a lot of fun so I looked to see if he had any Christmas ones. He also has an entire album (Christmas With Buck Owens). I picked the one that was the most fun. Last year, I discovered Hanson, of MMMBop fame, also had a Christmas album, Snowed In, but I couldn't fit them in so I picked my favourite tune off of it for this year. Finally, Must Be Santa. Kinda funny family thing. My mum likes Bryan Adams and my dad likes Bob Dylan so here is Bryan doing a song that Bob did. (Bryan has a Christmas EP called Christmas EP and Dylan has an album called Christmas In The Heart). How may people have Christmas albums now? There must be money in it.

The playlist  (You can check out this playlist on Spotify).

1. Wintersong - Sarah McLachlan 

2. Christmas Makes Me Cry - Kacey Musgraves

3. Mistletoe and Wine - Michael Ball, Alfie Boe

4. Do You Hear What I Hear? - Johnny Mathis

5. Stay Another Day - Kylie Minogue

6. Hard Candy Christmas - Cyndi Lauper, Alison Krauss

7. We Need A Little Christmas - Sufjan Stevens 

8. Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy (Daddy Looked A Lot Like Him) - Buck Owens

9. Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree - Hanson

10. Must Be Santa - Bryan Adams

Recommendations:

Gremlins.

My Stops On The Never Ending Tour

As Bob Dylan hits 80, I was reminded of the times I've seen Bob on tour. A lot of people criticise his live performances but I enjoyed them. The setlist was always varied and I liked hearing the new mixed with the old.

The Point, Dublin, November 27th 2005

Brought my dad as a gift and ended up getting hooked. I remember being particular impressed with the performance of "Boots of Spanish Leather." My brother got to hear his favourite "It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)." 

1. Drifter’s Escape
2. Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)
3. God Knows
4. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
5. Love Minus Zero/No Limit
6. Cry a While
7. Boots of Spanish Leather
8. High Water (For Charley Patton)
9. Every Grain of Sand
10. Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
11. New Morning
12. Til I Fell in Love with You
13. Visions of Johanna
14. Highway 61 Revisited
15. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
16. All Along the Watchtower

Nowlan Park, Kilkenny, June 24th 2006

Convinced my best mate to do a weekend in Kilkenny. Everyone was happy with "Like a Rolling Stone" as you would be. Bob must've been feeling old school as there were only 3 songs from newer albums.

1. Maggie’s Farm
2. She Belongs to Me
3. Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
4. Lay, Lady, Lay
5. Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
6. Love Sick
7. Watching the River Flow
8. Ballad of a Thin Man
9. Absolutely Sweet Marie
10. Highway 61 Revisited
11. Masters of War
12. Summer Days
13. Like a Rolling Stone
14. All Along the Watchtower

NOTE: Bob didn't play Ireland in 2007 and 2008.

The Point, Dublin, May 5th 2009

I think this is one I brought my dad and middle sister to. My brother was there too, She didn't get her favourite "Tangled Up In Blue" (he played it at every gig I went to after this one ironically) but she was happy enough with the night out. I loved hearing the recent "If You Ever Go to Houston" (I believe it was his time playing it live). 

1. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
2. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
3. Lonesome Day Blues
4. Just Like a Woman
5. John Brown
6. Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
7. Under the Red Sky
8. Honest with Me
9. Masters of War
10. Highway 61 Revisited
11. Ain’t Talkin’
12. Thunder on the Mountain
13. Like a Rolling Stone
14. All Along the Watchtower
15. If You Ever Go to Houston
16. Blowin’ in the Wind

The Point, Dublin, May 6th 2009

Me and my brother decided to do a double header. We were rewarded with 8 songs we hadn't heard before (only one of which I would hear again).

1. Wicked Messenger
2. Girl from the North Country
3. Man in the Long Black Coat
4. Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
5. Blind Willie McTell
6. Desolation Row
7. It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
8. Po’ Boy
9. Highway 61 Revisited
10. Ballad of a Thin Man
11. I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
12. Ain’t Talkin’
13. Summer Days
14. Like a Rolling Stone
15. All Along the Watchtower
16. If You Ever Go to Houston
17. Spirit on the Water
18. Blowin’ in the Wind

Thomond Park Stadium, Limerick, July 4th, 2010

Lads weekend with my dad and brother. I think we called up my sister when "Tangled Up In Blue" played. Bob also played one of my favourites "Workingman’s Blues #2." Ended up meeting David Gray, who was a genuinely nice bloke. It was cool to hear three songs from "Together Through Life."

1. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
2. Lay, Lady, Lay
3. Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
4. Just Like a Woman
5. Beyond Here Lies Nothin’
6. Tangled Up In Blue
7. Tryin’ to Get to Heaven
8. Cold Irons Bound
9. Love Sick
10. Highway 61 Revisited
11. Workingman’s Blues #2
12. Thunder on the Mountain
13. Ballad of a Thin Man
14. Like a Rolling Stone
15. I Feel a Change Comin’ On
16. Jolene
17. Blowin’ in the Wind

Live At The Marque, Cork, June 16th, 2011

Wisely or not, me and my mate did Cork and back in one day. Bob played his Oscar winner "Things Have Changed" (which I loved). He brings his statuette on tour. You can spot it most times. My friend was delighted to hear Bob do a cover until I revealed that "Forever Young" was one of Bob's and that he'd been hearing a cover version for years. Was a nice ending to the show.

1. Gonna Change My Way of Thinking
2. It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
3. Things Have Changed
4. Tangled Up In Blue
5. Ballad of Hollis Brown
6. Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
7. I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine
8. High Water (For Charley Patton)
9. Tryin’ to Get to Heaven
10. Highway 61 Revisited
11. Simple Twist of Fate
12. Thunder on the Mountain
13. Ballad of a Thin Man
14. Like a Rolling Stone
15. All Along the Watchtower
16. Forever Young

NOTE: Bob didn't play Ireland in 2012 and 2013

The 02, Dublin, June 17th, 2014

I think I flew solo at this one. A woman in the audience complained that Bob wasn't playing old stuff. "Tangled Up In Blue" (sorry again sis) being a new number of course. She then left before he played "Blowing In The Wind." In fairness, this one leaned pretty new as he played six songs from Tempest (2012).

1. Things Have Changed
2. She Belongs to Me
3. Beyond Here Lies Nothin’
4. What Good Am I?
5. Waitin’ for You
6. Duquesne Whistle
7. Pay in Blood
8. Tangled Up In Blue
9. Love Sick
10. High Water (For Charley Patton)
11. Simple Twist of Fate
12. Early Roman Kings
13. Forgetful Heart
14. Spirit on the Water
15. Scarlet Town
16. Soon After Midnight
17. Long and Wasted Years
18. All Along the Watchtower
19. Blowin’ in the Wind

Bob didn't play Ireland again until 2017 and I think I had been to enough. I do regret missing Kilkenny in 2019 as Neil Young was there and I think they played together.

Quick stats: I've heard 69 different songs live and the most frequent were "All Along The Watchtower" (6 times), "Highway 61 Revisited" (6 times) and "Like A Rolling Stone" (5 times). He played songs from 21 different studio albums (He had 35 studio albums completed up to the last gig I attended. The notable missing album for me is "Desire"). "John Brown" only appeared on "MTV Unplugged". "Blind Willie McTell" appeared on a bootleg series and a compilation album. "Watching The River Flow" appeared on a greatest hits. "Things Of Changed" is his Oscar winner and appears on compilations and a bootleg series. "Waiting For You" hasn't appeared on an album. The most frequent here were "Love and Theft" (7 songs) and "Tempest" (6 songs). 

Some Thoughts On John Paul Leon

 With the recent passing of John Paul Leon, lots of people have been talking about how much of a nice guy he was and how much of a talent he was. I never had the pleasure of meeting him but have enjoyed his work for over 20 years. I have been re-reading some of his work and I thought I'd talk about a few of my favourite works that he was a part of.

EARTH X (1999 - 2000)

In 1999, my best friend discovered that Dublin had a comic shop called Forbidden Planet and I was like a kid in a candy store. One of the first series I was drawn to was Earth X. The Alex Ross covers just caught the eye and I immediately purchased all the issues that had been released up to that point. When I opened the comic, the art inside couldn't be more different. I saw a gritty, shadowy art style that captured the dark atmosphere of this grim future. Alex Ross had designed some great characters but John Paul Leon humanised them. He balanced the cosmic worlds of the Watcher and the Eternals with the street level characters like Captain America and excelled at drawing everything. This was a big story but, with his various character moments, John Paul Leon grounded it.

NEW X-MEN ISSUE 127 (2002)

One of the first series I collected as a fan was X-men. When Grant Morrison took over, it brought a whole new dimension and look to the team. One of his new X-men was a character called Xorn. He was imprisoned by the Chinese government and has to wear a skull-like mask designed to restrain his energy output as he has a "sun" for a brain. Despite his ordeals, he is optimistic, open, and even somewhat naive. In New X-men 127, "Of Living And Dying", he keeps a diary to share his thoughts with Professor Xavier, since Xavier cannot read his mind. This issue was John Paul Leon's first of two guest spots for New X-men (both inked by Bill Sienkiewicz). The street level nature of the story, which sees Xorn looking for a mutant monster in Mutant Town, really plays to Leon's skills as an artist. He is once again able to blend the super people with the regular people and there are some great character moments again.

WEAPON X ISSUE 14 (2003)

I am big fan of books about the bad guys so it was a no brainer that I was going to pick up this series about the new Weapon X program. Written by Frank Tieri, a writer I have since become a big fan of, the series did a great job of using minor characters. The end of issue 13 revealed that Mr. Sinister was using the Weapon X program for his own ends. Issue 14 "Sinister's List" took a break from the ongoing story and looked at Sinister's history during World War II where he came in contact with some of the Invaders. John Paul Leon's art is perfect for this era and looks even better in the World War II scenes which are similar in style to "Schindler's List" down to the touches of red. The story is a great standalone and is probably my favourite of Leon's works.

ANIMAL MAN ISSUE 6 (2012)

"Tights", issue 6 of the New 52 Animal Man series, written by Jeff Lemire, has one of Buddy Baker's kids watching a low budget independent movie he starred in. The film tells the story of Chas Grant, formerly "Red Thunder" a failed street level superhero, who is trying to deal with finding work, his ex-wife and raising a kid. Amazingly, John Paul Leon, who draws all the movie scenes, has managed to get even better over time. Added to his brilliant character work are some amazingly detailed backgrounds. This issue makes me sad that we never got to see him on a longer Daredevil story (he did do a fill-in issue in 1998 for issue 375). You can read Leon's pages as a stand alone story. It ends on a cliffhanger but this is resolved in my next pick.

ANIMAL MAN ISSUE 20 (2013)

 "Tights" part two sees the conclusion of the story of Chas Grant. His life appears to turn around as his finds fame after becoming an internet sensation. More great work from Leon. Just check out the "silent" panels on this page. 

These are just some of my favourites. There are loads more and I will be desperately hunting for a copy of the trade of his creator owned series The Winter Men (with writer Brett Lewis).

Tommy Lee Edwards has started a fundraiser for John Paul Leon’s family to help with funeral expenses and his daughter’s college fund. You can donate here.

How Heavy Is A Hugo Award or What I Have Been Writing Lately?

 Ever so often I remember I have a blog and decide I should write something for it. I usually give out to myself but lately I have been doing a lot of writing elsewhere (that I am immensely proud of) so I thought I'd pop on here and let people know what I have been up to and where you can go see it.

JOURNEY PLANET

Always a delight to contribute to and now nominated for a Hugo Award for 2020 stuff. I am going to slightly brag about being part of it (in an ever so small way). My 2020 contributions are in:

• Issue 51 - Magical Places http://journeyplanet.weebly.com/journey-planet/journey-planet-51-magical-places 
• Issue 53 - The Future of Policing http://journeyplanet.weebly.com/journey-planet/issue-53-the-future-of-policing
• Issue 56 - Star Wars and The Mandalorian http://journeyplanet.weebly.com/journey-planet/journey-planet-56-star-wars-and-the-mandalorian

I covered Magical Places in a previous post so I won't retread that. 

My contribution to The Future of Policing was a look at the NuWho alien race called the Judoon. I'm a big fan of the design and they are probably my favourite aliens from the Nu seasons. However, my lasting memory of my contribution to this issue will probably always be asking myself "why didn't I do Robocop??" (FYI - Nobody did Robocop). Reading the issue itself, I noted that multiple people covered my favourite author Philip K. Dick. I'm in the middle of reading "Flow My Tears" so I can excuse myself from not thinking of that but then Kenesha Williams covered "Minority Report" and well... suffice to say a writer's life is full of regret. The issue has an interesting variety of subjects for the science fiction fan.

The Star Wars issue covers everything after the Return of the Jedi and I instantly thought of the Dark Empire Trilogy, which is the comic book version of the new trilogy. Even though it is no longer canon, it is still worth checking out for Cam Kennedy's art alone. My piece may be a gateway drug to more Dark Horse stuff so be forewarned. On alternative topics, I could have covered the Crimson Empire trilogy, another excellent series, but I have no regrets. It is also worth reading. That one could actually be adapted to fit into the new Marvel continuity and the TV/movie universe. It has an interesting angle.

I have already completed one piece for 2021 which I will talk about when I can.

GCN MAGAZINE

In January I decided to reach out to GCN to see if they wanted an article on Irish queer comic creators. They liked my piece and I have worked on a variety of topics since then. I find it a more freeing than ICN which is more hampered by the Irish restriction (which is not a bad thing) and it has led my to take more notice of queer creators and media. This has been helpful as I try to figure out what I want to do with my own creative writing (more on that in a bit). 

My pieces so far:

• Irish Queer Comic Creators https://gcn.ie/irish-lgbtq-comics-unmissable-titles/
• Will WandaVision lead to more diversity? https://gcn.ie/wandavision-lgbtq-marvel-cinematic-universe/
• South East & East Asian Gay Movies To Watch https://gcn.ie/best-gay-movies-east-asia-check-out/
• LGBTQ+ Series To Watch on Disney STAR https://gcn.ie/classic-lgbtq-shows-disney-plus-star/
• Upcoming Pride Comics from DC and Marvel https://gcn.ie/marvel-dc-pride-themed-comics/
• The Gameboys TV show https://gcn.ie/gameboys-netflix-show-gaymers-love/

I have another piece already in the queue and am constantly come up with more ideas (mostly to do with entertainment) and GCN seem to be happy to go with what 

COMICS

I am working on a story for an anthology that was funded through Kickstarter. The script is done and now we are at the art stage. I'm having great discussions with artist Brian Burke (who I worked with on my first comic book outing years ago). I am also working on my own longer length comic. It has always been my plan to work on a science fiction book but several influences have lead me to decide to make it a more personal work. It is in the research stage as I look at what other queer creators have had to say to see if I can come up with something a bit different.