Upcoming Dylan triple album collects 30 more standards

Bob Dylan continues to make his way through the Great American Songbook, this time with a new triple album that collects him crooning 30 more classics associated with Frank Sinatra and others.

Triplicate is out March 30 on vinyl, CD and via download.

Details:

A three-disc studio album from Bob Dylan, Triplicate, will be released on March 31, featuring 30 brand-new recordings of classic American tunes and marking the first triple-length set of the artist’s illustrious career. With each disc individually titled and presented in a thematically-arranged 10-song sequence, Triplicate showcases Dylan’s unique and much-lauded talents as a vocalist, arranger and bandleader on 30 compositions by some of music’s most lauded and influential songwriters. The Jack Frost-produced album is the 38th studio set from Bob Dylan and marks the first new music from the artist since Fallen Angels, which was released in early 2016.

For Triplicate, Dylan assembled his touring band in Hollywood’s Capitol studios to record hand-chosen songs from an array of American songwriters including Charles Strouse and Lee Adams (“Once Upon A Time”), Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler (“Stormy Weather”), Harold Hupfield (“As Time Goes By”) and Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh (“The Best Is Yet To Come”). The titles of the individual discs are ‘Til The Sun Goes Down, Devil Dolls and Comin’ Home Late.

Here's the track listing:

Disc 1 – ' Til The Sun Goes Down
Side 1:
1. I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plans
2. September Of My Years
3. I Could Have Told You
4. Once Upon A Time
5. Stormy Weather
Side 2:
1. This Nearly Was Mine
2. That Old Feeling
3. It Gets Lonely Early
4. My One and Only Love
5. Trade Winds
Disc 2 – Devil Dolls
Side 1:
1. Braggin'
2. As Time Goes By
3. Imagination
4. How Deep Is The Ocean
5. P. S. I Love You
Side 2:
1. The Best Is Yet To Come
2. But Beautiful
3. Here's That Rainy Day
4. Where Is The One
5. There's A Flaw In My Flue
Disc 3 – Comin' Home Late
Side 1:
1. Day In, Day Out
2. I Couldn't Sleep A Wink Last Night
3. Sentimental Journey
4. Somewhere Along The Way
5. When The World Was Young
Side 2:
1. These Foolish Things
2. You Go To My Head
3. Stardust
4. It's Funny To Everyone But Me
5. Why Was I Born





New video series profiles Jack Kirby and other "Greater Creators"

Here's a teaser for a new web video series on Machinima that will profile Alan Moore, Gene Roddenberry, Frank Herbert, Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick, Hayao Miyazaki, Frank Frazetta, Ray Harryhausen, and others.

The first episode spotlights Marvel Universe creator Jack Kirby. Here's a teaser:

Mary Tyler Moore: The album covers








Video find: 1968 Charles Mingus documentary

Details:
Most of this film, which was produced and directed by 23-year-old Thomas Reichman, was shot on a night in November 1966, when Mingus awaited the arrival of police and eviction from his Bowery loft for nonpayment of rent. As Mingus, a hulking but gentle man, moves back and forth through the clutter of crates, playing with his small daughter and talking to Mr. Reichman, who remains off-screen, it becomes obvious that his dispossession is more than just physical.


Veteran comics artist Bernie Wrightson retiring due to health

Sad news, veteran comics artist Bernie Wrightson, the co-creator of Swamp-Thing, is retiring due to ill health.

This statement was posted on Wrigthson's Facebook page:
I apologize for our silence for the past few months. Last November Bernie began falling again, and having obvious problems with perception. He had to undergo yet another brain surgery to relieve bleeding, and then spend several weeks undergoing in-patient rehabilitation. Unfortunately, it appears that he has lasting damage: he has extremely limited function on his left side, and is unable to walk or reliably use his left hand, among other limitations.

We have had to come to the sad conclusion that he is now effectively retired: he will produce no new art, and he is unable to attend conventions. Should this situation change I will happily announce it here.

He can still sign his name (in fact he was signing Kickstarter prints in the hospital!), and is otherwise pretty healthy and has good cognition. We expect to continue releasing signed prints, and offering occasional pieces of art for sale from the collection that remains. We both thank all of you for your continuing support and good wishes!

All our best,
Liz and Bernie Wrightson
Here is an amazing piece Wrighson did for an edition of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" back in the early 1980s:

Video Find: David Bowie's first TV appearance

In his first TV appearance, at the age of 17, David Bowie is interviewed by Cliff Michelmore, for the BBC's "Tonight" program, about his newly-founded Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Long-Haired Men.



See Benedict Cumberbatch in a new music video by Elbow


Pop Culture Roundup: Mary Tyler Moore; Jack Kirby, Spider-Man; Jim Starlin

You know that lady standing behind Mary Tyler Moore when Mary throws her hat into the air?



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Would Jack Kirby punch a Nazi? Snopes checks it out.


Kirby's biographer and former assistant Mark Evanier also weighs in.

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Remembering Spider-Man pinball machines.



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DC is much more generous than Marvel when it comes to compensating artists and writers whose creations end up in their movies, according to cartoonist Jim Starlin.
"Just received a very big check from D.C. Entertainment for my participation in Batman V Superman, Dawn of Justice (Anatoli Knyyazev), much bigger than anything I’ve gotten for Thanos, Gamora and Drax showing up in any of the various Marvel movies they appeared in, combined. Guess I’ll finally have to sit down and watch the movie."


New Music Releases for Jan. 27: Bert Jansch; Roy Rogers; Sugar Pie DeSanto

Click the links to order discounted items from Amazon.



Pop Notes: So long, Mary Tyler Moore

I figured 2017 wouldn't be any kinder than 2016 when it comes to losing our pop culture icons. The painful fact is, we're all getting older. Even our seemingly immortal idols.

This loss hits hard in our household. My wife and I have recently enjoyed watching "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" Hulu with our 13-year-old daughter. She's also a fan of "The Dick Van Dyke Show."

Despite some outdated gender roles ("DVD," especially) and atrocious fashions ("MTM," omg), both of the series hold up extremely well. It's fun to laugh out loud together as a family and, watching these shows, we frequently do. For the next little while, though, watching will be bittersweet.

It goes without saying that Moore was a masterful comic actress. A graceful dancer, she could pull off great physical comedy alone and/or in tandem with the rubber-limbed Dick Van Dyke. Verbal comedy as no problem, either.

She could be stern, silly, sad, sheepish, embarrassed, sly and everything in between, all to hilarious effect. She was a bemused straight woman to Ted Baxter and bumbling nervous wreck to Lou Grant.

She also received an Oscar nomination for her dramatic role in "Ordinary People,"and was a leader in the fight against juvenile diabetes. Plus, she acted opposite Elvis!

And incredible woman, she'll be greatly missed.

Pop Artifact: Vintage Kinks sheet music for "You Really Got Me"


New comics Jan. 25: Batman Brave and the Bold Omnibus; Super Sons; Iron Man; Star Wars, more

Click the links to order discounted items from Amazon.





Meanwhile, 50 years ago ...

Don't forget to visit Pop '67!

 

Funko announces line of "Twin Peaks" figures

These will be out sometime later this year, likely to coincide with the debut of the revived "Twin Peaks" series on Showtime.

The "realistic" Killer Bob figure scares the crap out of me.