100-Page FAKES! imagines mid-1970s DC 100-Page Super Spectaculars that never were...but should have been!
This is the first time the 100-Page FAKES! spotlight has fallen on a single superhero, and of course the hero in question is The Batman. In 1975, Batman # 262 represented the end of the 100-Page Super Spectacular format, as Batman (like DC's other remaining 100-page titles) shrunk its format. This one was still considered a "Giant," but a considerably smaller Giant than the Spectaculars that preceded it. Batman would become a regular-sized comic book with the next issue.
To make this into a 100-pager, we take Batman # 262's then-new Batman versus The Scarecrow story and its reprints of the two-part "Round Robin Death Threats!" from 1967 (the latter story still the only reason I ever knew the year that the Battle of Hastings occurred), and add a Golden Age story from 1941 and a team-up of our Dark Knight with The Phantom Stranger, first presented in a 1971 issue of The Brave And The Bold. The Brave And Bold adventure is a milestone in Batman's history: this was the first Batman story illustrated by the magnificent Jim Aparo. Aparo would go on to draw a lot more Batman stories after that, earning a reputation as one of THE all-time great Batman artists.
The Batman in "The Scarecrow's Trail Of Fear!," Batman # 262 (April 1975)
The Batman and Robin in "The Round Robin Death Threats!," originally presented in Detective Comics # 366 (August 1967)
The Batman and Robin in "Where There's A Will--There's A Slay!," originally presented in Detective Comics # 367 (September 1967)
The Batman and Robin in "The Stone Idol!," Detective Comics # 56 (October 1941)
The Batman and The Phantom Stranger in "Mansion Of The Misbegotten!," The Brave And The Bold # 97 (October-November 1971)
Everything is copyright DC Comics Inc., and shown only in sample pages; my subscribers see the whole phony book. I think I'll do at least one more Batman 100-Page FAKE!, picking up with the next issue's return of The Riddler.
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Our new compilation CD This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 is now available from Kool Kat Musik! 29 tracks of irresistible rockin' pop, starring Pop Co-Op, Ray Paul, Circe Link & Christian Nesmith, Vegas With Randolph Featuring Lannie Flowers, The Slapbacks, P. Hux, Irene Peña, Michael Oliver & the Sacred Band Featuring Dave Merritt, The Rubinoos, Stepford Knives, The Grip Weeds, Popdudes, Ronnie Dark, The Flashcubes, Chris von Sneidern, The Bottle Kids, 1.4.5., The Smithereens, Paul Collins' Beat, The Hit Squad, The Rulers, The Legal Matters, Maura & the Bright Lights, Lisa Mychols, and Mr. Encrypto & the Cyphers. You gotta have it, so order it here. A digital download version (minus The Smithereens' track) is also available from Futureman Records.
COVER GALLERY
The story we've heard is that back in the '90s, a veteran pop group recorded a new album and shopped it around to every record label under the sun; but the group didn't let the suits know who the band was, just submitted the tracks blind, hoping the music would sell itself without whatever positive or negative prejudice the group's familiar name would inspire. The album would eventually be released under the title Global. That was after all those record label weasels heard the record, loved it, figured it was a sure-fire hit, and ultimately rejected it once they found out that it was by The Cowsills.
The Cowsills' Global was one of the best albums of the '90s. Yet the group had to release it themselves. No record label would touch it.
This is why we drink.
With The Cowsills coming to Syracuse this week as part of the current Happy Together tour, it seemed high time that TIRnRR finally paid proper tribute to this beloved family band, our Featured Performers on this week's show. We played tracks from Global, of course--we know an irresistibly great record when we hear it--as well as a mix of the group's hits and lesser-known tracks from the '60s and '70s, plus NEW MUSIC from In Deed, David Brookings & the Average Lookings, Mondello, Joe Sullivan, Butch Young, and The Brothers Steve. All fantastic pop music. No matter what name's on the label. This is what rock 'n' roll radio sounded like on a Sunday night in Syracuse this week.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl, Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse on SPARK! WSPJ-LP 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/
PS: SEND MONEY!!!! We need tech upgrades like Elvis needs boats. Spark Syracuse is supported by listeners like you. Tax-deductible donations are welcome at
http://sparksyracuse.org/support/
You can follow Carl's daily blog Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) at
https://carlcafarelli.blogspot.com/
Hey, Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made will contain 100 essays (and then some) about 100 tracks, plus two bonus instrumentals, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here: https://carlcafarelli.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-greatest-record-ever-made-updated.html
Our new compilation CD This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 is now available from Kool Kat Musik! 29 tracks of irresistible rockin' pop, starring Pop Co-Op, Ray Paul, Circe Link & Christian Nesmith, Vegas With Randolph Featuring Lannie Flowers, The Slapbacks, P. Hux, Irene Peña, Michael Oliver & the Sacred Band Featuring Dave Merritt, The Rubinoos, Stepford Knives, The Grip Weeds, Popdudes, Ronnie Dark, The Flashcubes, Chris von Sneidern, The Bottle Kids, 1.4.5., The Smithereens, Paul Collins' Beat, The Hit Squad, The Rulers, The Legal Matters, Maura & the Bright Lights, Lisa Mychols, and Mr. Encrypto & the Cyphers. You gotta have it, so order it at https://tinyurl.com/ycnly8oz Digital download version (minus The Smithereens' track) now available at https://tinyurl.com/ycauy9xt
TIRnRR # 980: 6/23/19
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio FRESH SPINS! (tracks we think we ain't played before) are listed in bold
THE RAMONES: Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio? (Rhino, End Of The Century)
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THE COWSILLS: What About Love? (Robin, Global)
PETE TOWNSHEND & RONNIE LANE: My Baby Gives It Away (Atco, Rough Mix)
DAVID BROOKINGS & THE AVERAGE LOOKINGS: Tired Of Waiting For You (Big Stir, single)
THUNDERCLAP NEWMAN: Look Around (Polydor, Hollywood Dream)
ALEX CHILTON: (Every Time I) Close My Eyes [Version 1] (Razor & Tie, Bach's Bottom)
ALEX CHILTON: Don't Worry, Baby [fragment] (Big Beat, VA: Thank You Friends)
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IN DEED: What Once Was (Big Stir, Everest)
MONDELLO: Sherilyn (www.mondello.bandcamp.com, Hello, All You Happy People)
THE COWSILLS: On My Side [mono 45 mix] (Now Sounds, On My Side)
THE CLOCKWORK ORANGES: After Tonight (RPM, VA: Fab Gear)
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TSAR: Kathy Fong Is The Bomb (Hollywood, Tsar)
THE MONKEES: Pleasant Valley Sunday (Rhino, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd.)
THE COWSILLS: You've Got No Time (Robin, Global)
THE SEARCHERS: Hearts In Her Eyes (Rhino, VA: DIY: Starry Eyes)
HAROLD MELVIN & THE BLUE NOTES: Don't Leave Me This Way (Philadelphia International, single)
ANY TROUBLE: Second Choice (Salvo, VA: Born Stiff)
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THE COWSILLS: All I Really Wanta Be Is Me (JoDa, single)
WRECKLESS ERIC & AMY RIGBY: Here Comes My Ship (Salvo, VA: Born Stiff)
THE GRACES: Lay Down Your Arms (A & M, Perfect View)
KING CRIMSON: 21st Century Schizoid Man [radio edit] (MOJO, VA: A MOJO Anthology)
THE COWSILLS: Cross That Line (Robin, Global)
TONY JACKSON WITH THE VIBRATIONS: Love Potion No. 9 (RPM, VA: Fab Gear)
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JOE SULLIVAN: Time Machine (Futureman, Growing Up Schlockstar)
MONDELLO: Heather Martin (www.mondello.bandcamp.com, Hello, All You Happy People)
THE COWSILLS: Love American Style (Polydor, 20th Century Masters)
THE BEATLES: Strawberry Fields Forever (Capitol, single)
BUTCH YOUNG: Captain Serious (Big Stir, single)
THE CHAMBERS BROTHERS: Time Has Come Today (Sony, VA: Pure...Psychedelic Rock)
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THE COWSILLS: Indian Lake (Rebound, The Best Of The Cowsills)
THE ZOMBIES: Care Of Cell 44 (Big Beat, The Singles Collection)
THE RAMONES: Listen To My Heart (Rhino, Ramones)
THE BUZZCOCKS: What Do I Get (Rhino, VA: DIY: The Modern World)
THE WEEKLINGS: I Want You Again (Jem, single)
THE KINGSMEN: That's Cool, That's Trash (Sundazed, Volume 3)
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THE BROTHERS STEVE: Angeline (Big Stir, single)
THE GO-GO'S: We Got The Beat (IRS, Beauty And The Beat)
THE COWSILLS: What's It Gonna Be Like (Philips, single)
THE BUCKINGHAMS: She Lied (RPM, VA: Fab Gear)
JIM BASNIGHT: Living The Way I Want (Precedent, Not Changing)
RORY STORM & THE HURRICANES: Lend Me Your Comb (RPM, VA: Fab Gear)
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THE COWSILLS: She Said To Me (Robin, Global)
THE ROLLING STONES: Happy (Virgin, Forty Licks)
THE COWSILLS: Make The Music Flow (Cowchip, Captain Sad And His Ship Of Fools & II x II)
THE KNACK: Take Your Love (RPM, VA: Fab Gear)
THE COWSILLS: The Rain, The Park And Other Things (Rebound, The Best Of The Cowsills)
THE KINKS: Waterloo Sunset (Sanctuary, The Ultimate Collection)
THE COWSILLS: Is It Any Wonder? (Robin, Global)
THE YACHTS: Suffice It To Say (Salvo, VA: Born Stiff)
THE COWSILLS: II x II (Cowchip, Captain Sad And His Ship Of Fools & II x II)
THE SPORTS: Who Listens To The Radio? (Salvo, VA: Born Stiff)
THE COWSILLS: Hair (Rebound, The Best Of The Cowsills)
PAUL McCARTNEY: Maybe I'm Amazed (Apple, McCartney)
MIKE NICHOLSON: Bellew's Creek (New Atlas, Industry)
The rain? The park? Other things? ALL the things! At long last, This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl finally casts its spotlight on the music of this week's Featured Performers THE COWSILLS! We got your hits, we got your shoulda-been-hits, your album tracks, and we for damned sure have selections from The Cowsills' Global, one of the best albums of the 1990s. But that's not enough! We need to give you MORE! We need to give you new music from Joe Sullivan, In Deed, The Brothers Steve, Butch Young, and David Brookings & the Average Lookings, plus, as always, a lot of things we won't have figured out until after we've hit PLAY on the ol' CD player. Make the music flow! Sunday night, 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/
As I continue the long, long process of moving forward with my proposed book The Greatest Record Ever Made!, I'm still selling some fiction, too. On Thursday I received a message from AHOY Comics publisher Hart Seely, telling me AHOY wanted to buy my short story "The Last Ride Of The Copperhead Kid." Yes, that means I've written--and sold!--my first Western. Somewhere in the highest trails above, my Dad is smilin'.
Some of my friends were surprised that I'd written a Western to begin with. It surprised me, too. I think Fran Striker's The Lone Ranger Traps The Smugglers is the only Western novel I've ever read (though I have some Elmore Leonard and Mickey Spillane paperback Westerns stacked in my massive queue); I've seen a number of movie Westerns (High Noon and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance are my favorites in the genre), I loved TV Westerns The Big Valley and especially The Guns Of Will Sonnett, and I used to read a bunch of the Marvel Comics Westerns--The Rawhide Kid, Two-Gun Kid, and Kid Colt, Outlaw--as a kid, but none of this seems sufficient background for me to try my hand at being the next Louis L'Amour or Max Brand.
Nonetheless, I had an idea. "The Last Ride Of The Copperhead Kid" was one of four short stories I wrote in the space of, I think, two weeks or so early this year; I've written three more since then. "Copperhead" is the only Western, and one of the only two straight genre pieces (the fantasy story "Sword Of The Chosen One" is still in search of a home). The others were a mix of intense tearjerker ("Dreaming Deadly," rejected by AHOY), rock 'n' roll comedy ("Guitars Vs. Rayguns," my first fiction sale), and bubbly shots of quirk ("The Picture Of Amontillado," which sold, and "Montie Pylon Finds His Holy Grail" and "The Greatest Thud Never Heard," both of which await word on their fate). My batting average in short story sales so far this year is three sales out of five attempts, with two still pending. As I've said before, that beats the hell out of my zero for one thousand stat from 1973 through 2018.
Honestly, I almost didn't even send the Copperhead Kid or "Sword Of The Chosen One" stories to AHOY. I figured they were too...straight, for lack of a better description, too genre-specific, too earnest, and not humorous, at least not intentionally humorous. But I mentioned them in passing to AHOY's Sarah Litt, and she basically said Send 'em anyway, ya never know! Good advice. And one of the two sold!
The Copperhead Kid was originally a character I came up with for Eternity Man, a superhero novel I started writing and ultimately put aside for now. The Kid in my short story is the same guy (albeit without a mask), but the story I wrote for him was new. It was the kind of creative sequence a writer wishes could happen more often: I decided I wanted to write a Western, just because; an idea occurred to me, and the damned thing practically wrote itself in no time.
I enjoy writing fiction and nonfiction, memoirs (and more memoirs, and more memoirs still) and pop histories, pure pulp, superheroes, and occasional humor. I have a unique idea for a comic book series, and I need to find some time to develop that into something more real than the random fragments in my head. Yesterday morning, I think I figured out what I want my next book to be. I also want to write a novel. Time remains the enemy. First and foremost among writing projects, I need to get going with The Greatest Record Ever Made! My prospective agent is interested in that, warning me that it will be a difficult book to sell, but still telling me "This looks great," and saying the Buddy Holly chapter made her cry. In a good way.
A reaction. A genuine, human reaction. As someone who's always, always wanted to be a writer, reactions like that are all I've ever really hoped for.
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You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby!
Our new compilation CD This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 is now available from Kool Kat Musik! 29 tracks of irresistible rockin' pop, starring Pop Co-Op, Ray Paul, Circe Link & Christian Nesmith, Vegas With Randolph Featuring Lannie Flowers, The Slapbacks, P. Hux, Irene Peña, Michael Oliver & the Sacred Band Featuring Dave Merritt, The Rubinoos, Stepford Knives, The Grip Weeds, Popdudes, Ronnie Dark, The Flashcubes, Chris von Sneidern, The Bottle Kids, 1.4.5., The Smithereens, Paul Collins' Beat, The Hit Squad, The Rulers, The Legal Matters, Maura & the Bright Lights, Lisa Mychols, and Mr. Encrypto & the Cyphers. You gotta have it, so order it here. A digital download version (minus The Smithereens' track) is also available from Futureman Records.
