Wednesday, May 14, 2003

Winters of Their Discontent

Johnny and Edgar Winter are Texas rock musicians. A few years ago, a DC comic book depicted two characters who looked not unlike them in what everyone took as a parody...everyone except the Winter brothers, that is. The history of their lawsuit — which could have one of those famous "chilling effects" on Free Expression — is recounted here.

• Posted at 9:27 PM · LINK

Comic Artist Website of the Day

scottmccloud.com is the home of Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics and a number of fine applications of the form, such as Zot! and Destroy! He's an extraordinarily clever fellow who not only does fine cartooning but knows what's fine about fine cartooning. Go peek.

• Posted at 7:22 PM · LINK

Free Seinfeld

One of the nicest comedy clubs in Southern California is The Comedy and Magic Club, which is located in Hermosa Beach. That is not as far from Los Angeles as it sounds — about ten minutes south of LAX. The parking sometimes sucks but otherwise, it's a very nice room that often has top comedians in it. Most Sunday nights, Jay Leno — who obviously needs the work — is the headliner. He does maybe ten minutes of testing jokes he may or may not use on upcoming Tonight Shows but the rest of the hour-or-so is basically the same show he does in Vegas or in other top venues for around $75 a ticket. At The Comedy and Magic Club, it's around $20 and a more intimate, family-friendly setting. A lot of comedians like the place because unlike The Comedy Store, Improv or Laugh Factory, it doesn't draw an "industry crowd." The audiences are a little more typical of Real America.

If you live near enough to go there, you might want to visit their website and sign up for e-mail alerts. Every so often, when business seems slow, they send out last-minute invites to come see that evening's show for free if you just pay the two-drink minimum. I got one yesterday and didn't go. Turns out, they had a surprise guest: Jerry Seinfeld, rehearsing the set he's going to do on The Tonight Show tonight. How often can one see Jerry Seinfeld at those prices?

• Posted at 5:49 PM · LINK

TiVo Alert!

Tom Stewart — a real person who once suffered the great indignity of being dismissed as a pseudonym for me — sends the following note...

Turner Classic Movies is showing a real rarity at 1:30 AM EST on Thursday. It's James Cagney's first film, Sinners' Holiday (also Joan Blondell's first). It's from 1930, an adaptation of the play, Penny Arcade. Al Jolson saw the play on Broadway (he must have hurried, it only ran 24 performances), bought the rights, and sold it to Warners, with the stipulation that Cagney and Blondell repeat their roles. Both play the secondary roles of the weak son and his girlfriend (Grant Withers stars, a competent actor, but without Cagneys spark). I've been waiting years to see this one. Should be fun (better be, or I'd be very disappointed).

Wow. Sounds well worth catching. And early Friday morning, they're running I Dream Too Much, which was one of Henry Fonda's first pictures — and amazingly, not one of Lucille Ball's. (You forget how long Lucy was around before anyone paid much attention to her.) I've never seen it but it's supposed to be a good one.

• Posted at 1:43 AM · LINK