Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

Archives for September 2011

30 for 30 Project, 1986: “You Can Call Me Al” – Paul Simon

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Here is my beef with music made for kids: it is usually unnecessary.

We’ve established I was obsessed with “Thriller” at three and tumbling 4 ya at four. And, as the article about me in the new issue of Jump Philly points out, I was jamming out to Jem in the back seat at five – but Jem wasn’t exactly The Wiggles, if you catch my drift. It was more like Katy Perry, sans the self-hatred and misogyny.

Case and point: “You Can Call Me Al,” from Paul Simon’s seminal Graceland. As I child I was obsessed with it, as well as with “Me & Julio” from his debut.


(Watch me cover “You Can Call Me Al” on YouTube. For more info on my 30 for 30 Project, visit my intro post or view the 30for30 tag.)

The song is a little silly and repetitive. It has lyrics like “roly-poly little bat-faced girl” that delighted me as a child. It also told a story, with its setting painted in vibrant swaths of words … some of them big words, like “redemption,” “allegations,” and “architecture.”

I say, who needs Kidz Bop when you have Paul Simon?

(I was in a real crisis on my 1986 pick, as both my alternates were pretty difficult tunes that I’d rather track against a click (and thus remain top secret). Luckily, I realized “Al” saw its original release from Graceland in ’86, even though it primarily charted in 1987. Ass = saved.)

DC New 52 Preview: On Sale 9/7

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On the heels of last week’s first chapter of the rebooted origin of Justice League, DC Comics unleashes thirteen brand-new number one titles into stores this week.

As a non-comics reader, why should you care?

The entire point of this venture is to return comics back to something you can pick up casually, just for fun. DC is pairing its relaunch with making its entire line available digitally, including on the iPad. It’s also releasing a significant number of titles not fronted by white guys.

Will DC’s risky play to rejuvenate their readership by re-imagining their entire line of books be successful? Let’s see what this week’s salvo has in store, from my perspective as a relative DC neophyte.

Action Comics #1
Written by Grant Morrison, art by Rags Morales and Rick Bryant

While Batman and company have expanded into a Wolverine-like dominance of the new DC schedule, the big blue boy scout has been relegated to just a pair of solo titles. However, if there is going to be a single solo hit of the new 52, this could be it. Industry shaman Grant Morrison understands what makes superheroes tick, and the art team is solid. I’m in love the cover shot of Superman wearing his own branded t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and work boots. This is a must-read.

What do I think of the rest of this week’s line-up? And, what books are you most looking forward to? [Read more…] about DC New 52 Preview: On Sale 9/7

30 for 30 Project, 1985: “How Will I Know” – Whitney Houston

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As a child I was of the firm belief that Whitney Houston was boring grown-up music because of the cover of her eponymous debut LP.

I liked it less than broccoli, and I think it’s easy to see why. It’s just a horrific album cover, and it screams “I am an adult album of blah-d-blah ballads about loving and kissing.”

As I kid I was all about romancing, but I had no interest in slow-dancing.

That LP of ballads did have one killer pop song on it, which is maybe how I got to know the album cover so well. The song? “How Will I Know.”


(Watch me cover “How Will I Know” on YouTube. For more info on my 30 for 30 Project, visit my intro post.)

Whitney Houston is a rare artist that is all things to all people, and after her first album her image began to reflect that more clearly. She’s a peerless balladeer. She has a catalog of R&B standards. She sings exuberant, gospel-tinged dance/pop songs.

Even with her relatively meager catalog of LPs over the past 25 years, I don’t think it would be a stretch to affix the Greatest of All Time title to her name (save for perhaps her sad decline in the past decade). [Read more…] about 30 for 30 Project, 1985: “How Will I Know” – Whitney Houston

#MusicMonday: “Hot Stuff” – Donna Summer

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One of my favorite things about attending my friends’ weddings is dancing with a group of people with whom I would typically never share the floor.

As E can tell you, my typical first concern after the couple has their first dance is, “when do the fast songs start?” I want to get some dancing in before the entree arrives, and for at least an hour after. Anything less constitutes a failure, no matter how beautiful the venue or good the food.

While I am not typically a musical Luddite eschewing new stuff for golden years, when it comes to dancing most newer tunes (Gaga aside) simply can’t get my body moving on the floor like oldies. I’m not even talking about the 80s. Motown and disco, that’s what makes me want to shake my groove thing.

The wedding we attended last night featured a seven-piece rock band. I typically don’t like wedding bands, because they have cheesy singers, nothing is in the right key, and everything turns into a medley. However, this was a real rock band, and when they played something funky the band got downright dirty.

I’m known for being an uncontrollable freak on the dance floor to begin with, but last night when the band medley’d out of “Disco Inferno” into “Hot Stuff” it was like someone flicked a switch in my brain. I went into berserker mode. I was breaking out moves I probably last saw my mother do in our living room in 1984 – things that always seemed to defy the laws of anatomy and physics. It was like I was Neo in the Dance Matrix.

As great as almost all Donna Summer songs are for dancing, re-listening to “Hot Stuff” makes me realize it has something more. It’s not just that scorching riff, but the overall rock stomp of it. It’s disco, but it’s heavy.

(Also? Extremely satisfying to hear a live band seamlessly segue from “Express Yourself” into “Born This Way” as if the latter was written for that specific purpose.)