Saturday, February 21, 2004

Groo News

Every e-mail check these days brings an inquiry or two about when we can expect to see the next new tale of Groo the Wanderer, the long-running idiot comic character by Sergio Aragonés and Yours Truly. The answer requires that I explain that Sergio and I have been busy with a couple of projects, individually and collectively, that have kept us away from our silly barbarian longer than we'd anticipated. That is finally changing and in the next week or so, we expect to get started on no fewer than two (maybe three) Groo comic book projects. It will probably be a month or so until I can announce release dates and then those release dates will probably be late this year or early next, but whenever that happens you'll read about it here.

We thank you for your loyalty and for missing us, and we'll make it up to you as soon as we can. We've done something like 160 issues of Groo so far and have no intention of stopping now. Not until we get one right, at least.

• Posted at 4:25 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading

Here's Frank Rich with a piece called "The Festering Vietnam Culture War."

• Posted at 2:55 PM · LINK

Bush Bounty

Garry Trudeau gets into the issue of George W. Bush's National Guard service. And puts his money where his mouth is.

• Posted at 12:29 PM · LINK

Recommended Reading...er, Viewing

Mark Fiore does wonderful little animated online political cartoons all the time. But this one, which reveals "The Gay Agenda," struck me as uncommonly on-target. (You do have Shockwave installed on your computer, I trust.)

• Posted at 11:58 AM · LINK

In the Limelight...

As a kid, I listened to a lot of records over and over, but mainly records that were both funny and musical, like the output of Stan Freberg and Allan Sherman. And often I listened to the folk-singing trio known as The Limeliters. When they tried to be serious, they weren't all that different from umpteen other folk-singing acts then on the circuit. But when they were silly, they were especially wonderful. I saw them perform live around '64 and I still remember what a good time I had, especially when they seemed to be playing and ad-libbing to amuse each other. The group consisted of Alex Hassilev, Lou Gottlieb and Glenn Yarbrough, and they began performing in 1959. In 1963, Yarbrough went off to try and establish a solo career and he was replaced by Ernie Sheldon.

Around 1965, they drifted apart and that seemed like the end but throughout the seventies, a series of reunion concerts showed that there was a still an audience eager to hear The Limeliters. In 1981, Alex and Lou officially started the act up again, tapping Red Grammer to take Yarbrough's slot. Grammer left in 1990 or 1991 and was replaced by John David and then Rick Dougherty. Gottlieb died in 1996 and his position was assumed by Bill Zorn.

Often when you see these resurrected groups with one original member, you're seeing medium talents coasting on the stardom and/or luck of others. Sometimes, groups re-form around one player and then that guy is replaced so you're watching an act that has only slightly more moral right to use the name than you would. A few years back, I visited with a man who booked talent for an "oldies" revue in Laughlin, Nevada. An agent was on the phone offering him the current incarnation of an act that had had one hit in the sixties, and the agent was swearing on his mother's grave that he would deliver at least one performer who had actually played on the record. The talent booker muttered, "Well, that would be a refreshing change."

All was open and above board with recent appearances of The Limeliters — or The Fabulous Limeliters, as they've sometimes been billed. You knew you were only getting Alex Hassilev and in some ways, that was enough because he was the primary producer and arranger for the original trio so their sound was largely his sound. But he'd also brought in not guys who were cheap but guys who were very good...so what went on the stage under the Limeliters imprint was wholly worthy of the name. I can't think of another act that went through so many changes of personnel and accomplished that.

Things seem to be changing again. The official Limeliters site announces that when they finish their bookings for next month, Dougherty and Zorn will split from Hassilev. They appear to be going off to perform with Yarbrough in another "Limeliter Reunion," though I'm not sure if "reunion" is quite the proper word here. I just hope some permutation of The Limeliters endures for a while, preferably with at least one of the two surviving founders. Yeah, we have all those great albums to listen to forever, and most of them are available on CD. But there's something very life-affirming and reassuring to think that no matter what happens in the world and no matter how musical tastes change, The Limeliters are on a stage somewhere singing, "There's A Meeting Here Tonight."

[NOTE: This posting was updated at 1:25 PM to correct some misinfo. And probably to add in more.]

• Posted at 11:39 AM · LINK

Announcer Announcement

Here is the link to the press release announcing that "Stuttering John" Melendez will be Jay Leno's new announcer, effective March 29. In my first post on this, I suggested this was a bad idea...and I guess I still think that. But I also reminded myself that I don't like it when folks "review" a movie or show before they've seen it, and especially not when it hasn't been produced yet. So with a fair amount of skepticism, I wait to see how this will work.

By the way: I am assured from two separate sources close to the situation that the departure of Edd Hall as Jay's announcer was entirely Hall's idea. Usually in show business, when someone leaves a steady job and doesn't go immediately to something better, the assumption is that they got fired or at least nudged out the door. This was apparently not the case here. Hall really does want to investigate other career opportunities. So good for him for having the courage to make the change, and I hope he succeeds.

• Posted at 12:17 AM · LINK