jim henson

Here's another peek back at the manner in which the various Archie Comics titles of the 1960s and 70s displayed their particular reflection of that era.

It should fit right in with most of the other Riverdale-related posts on this blog, and the accompanying (occasionally expanding) flickr set; 'Archie comics of the 1960's as a mirror to fads, fashion and trends'. (follow links)

Archie and his pals gain some valuable insights in each of the two 'timelessly timely' tales shown below.

First, from 1965, it's a lesson regarding gender roles.

Then, in 1972, another father-son battle leads to learning a little perspective.

A valuable insight the reader can gain from reading both of these stories might be that the streets of Riverdale can be a dangerous place...

...But it's not all life lessons - - Dig those groovy fashions!

'The First Step', from Betty and Veronica #119 (1965)

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'My Fathers Eyes', from Life With Archie #118 (1972)

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Blues singer / pianist Marcia Ball has become something of an institution in Austin, Texas, and down in New Orleans, and at all the music festivals and venues she's played all over creation in the past thirty years or so, rocking audiences like a force of nature.

Born into a musical family, playing piano since childhood, she began playing professionally sometime during her college years in the late 1960s.
She went from playing in Gum, a psychedelic rock band in Louisiana to leading 'Freda and The Firedogs', a progressive country band in
Austin, Texas.

After that band's breakup, she began using her own name in her own band.

Her first solo LP was released in '78, and though a fine effort, it featured a country sound that (like Marcia herself, then ▼) bore little resemblance to the distinctive Gulf Coast R&B sound of the artist she'd become.

- Click here to see the full track listing, songwriter credits and session personnel for this album, featuring a fine array of musicians like Albert Lee,
Rodney Crowell, Buddy Emmons, Carlene Carter,
Janie Fricke, and Nicolette Larson.

From the Marcia Ball LP
'Circuit Queen' (Capitol Records LP, 1978),
Listen to:

Never Been Hurt
I'll Be Doggone
Circuit Queen
Big River
Good Times, Good Music, Good Friends

(click for audio)

- - OR download the full album (10 tracks) in one 68.4 Mb zipfile.

-See also: The Official Marcia Ball Web Site

It was in a previous 'Reasons To Be Cheerful' post, a little over a year ago, that I happily reported that I'd found a new website for artist Isabel Samaras.

- That post mentioned how the various mythologies at play in her paintings had been changing in recent years; It also displayed a few examples, provided links to more, and excitedly mentioned that a book collecting her work was being planned. (Follow link)

Now here we are, Spring of '09, and I'm excited to have received word of an Isabel Samaras double-whammy in the offing...

◀Her long-awaited monograph from Chronicle Books, 'On Tender Hooks: The Art of Isabel Samaras' is due to make its appearance any day now, and looks lovely.

Chronicle is also simultaneously releasing a fancy limited edition of the book that's packaged with a print, and a handy paperback book of 30 Samaras postcards, which will surely feature some of her earlier 'classical' riffs on pop-culture icons.


But wait! There's more - -


A new series of Isabel Samaras paintings will be unveiled in a few weeks in
San Francisco!

- Into The Woodz: New Works by Isabel Samaras will show at The Shooting Gallery, 839 Larkin Street in San Francisco, from 5/9/2009 - 6/4/2009.

◀ The new paintings take the childrens classic 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears', and re-works it as a more contemporary romantic tale.

In a preview posting at her blog, i feel it too, Isabel gives some details:

"When I started working on the paintings for this show I was thinking about the Princess culture being sold to little girls – how your highest aspiration is to be rescued, married off and whisked away to a far off castle.

"But what happened to the girl who didn’t hook up with a Prince, who stayed in the woods?

"I wanted to explore that story, so for this show I picked Goldilocks, and as I so often do I created my own version of a happier ending — that the moment when she and Baby Bear lay eyes on each other it was love at first sight. (Goldy has definitely gone to the bears.)

"In my imagination the girl who stayed in the woods got to find herself after she got lost — she didn’t trade her identity in for a tiara, and she found true love (because love conquers all, even inter-species romance)."


- Read more of Isabel's thoughts about these paintings and sneak a few further peeks of them at her blog.

- Read more about the gallery show at Happenstand and at Juxtapoz.