HOLY INVISIBLE PANTY LINES!
MUSIC NEWS AND GOSSIP
The big news out of Geekville is DC
Comics' announcement that in September it
will reboot its entire line of comics, ending
runs that have lasted for decades, and begin
fresh, publishing 52 titles that will all begin
with 81. All past stories will be annulled by
the reboot, and continuity will begin fresh
across the board. In many cases, this also
means radical revisions of certain characters,
among them Superman, who will no longer be
married to Lois Lane and is instead expected
to be romantically involved with an equally
revamped Wonder Woman (a move that makes
a lot more sense if you think about it). Even
more astonishing is the reveal of a new cos
tume for the Man of Steel, one where he at
long last wears his underwear inside his pants.
This is huge news for comics fans. It's
good news for those who have felt stymied
by the massive multiple-universe sagas and
well-publicized
but ultimately
temporary deaths
of major characters
that have resulted
in convoluted and
daunting backsto-
ries that require
the skills of a
Talmudic scholar
just to read a fun-
nybook. It's bad
news for longtime
readers who have
invested so much
interest into the
vast DC Universe
tapestry, especially
those laying out
big bucks for this
year's major cross
over event who've
just been informed
that as soon as the
story ends, it will
turn out never to
have happened.
But what does
this mean for
people who don't read comics? Quite a bit.
actually. Aside from major changes in the pop
iconography of our childhood, the DC reboot is
designed to provide fresh, attractive prod
uct for DC's push to dominate the digital
comics market. Yes, the comic book compa
nies are competing as fiercely as mainstream
publishers to provide downloadable content.
In DC's case, the company will offer its brand-
new comics line as same-day downloads in the
hopes of attracting new e-readers with fresh
content that will edge out Marvel's current
dominance of the digital market.
What this amounts to is another huge bite
taken out of the print market and another
blow to brick-and-mortar comics shops and
bookstores, who cannot afford to lose any
source of revenue at this juncture. We're all
realists here; we understand that online shop
ping. Internet news, e-books and download
able content are the inevitable wave of the
future. It's more convenient to purchase and
read on our devices than to go to stores and
carry printed materials around. On the other
hand, electronic shopping and buying tends to
be by nature a directed activity. There is little
browsing, little chance of happening upon a
pleasant surprise or an impulse buy. One of
the joys of shopping physically is lost when
we shop online, as well as a big part of wl.at
keeps bookstores in business. Yes, it's the
future, but it's still a shame.
It's also a shame that Lois Lane is being
unceremoniously kicked to the curb. Maybe
she'll find love with Steve Trevor—he's kind of
a douche, but I hear he's available.
V Crossover to the Dark Side: Among the
titles DC plans to launch in September is a
team comic called Justice League Dark (no
word on when Justice League with Almonds
will hit the racks). This supernaturally themed
comic has created a lot of Internet chatter, as
it incorporates a number of characters from
DC's mature-comics line Vertigo into the main
continuity of superhero comics. While there is
a lot of fan crossover between the two lines,
one of Vertigo's primary selling points has
been precisely that its stories are not panties-
and-capes adventures, so this development
has been a source
of great distress
for people who'd
rather not see
John Constantine
breathing the same
air as the Penguin.
Speaking of Bad
Versions of John
Constantine:
Wretched actor/
wretched musician
Keanu Reeves
has added a new
profession to his
resume: wretched
poet. According to
the New York Doily
News, the "Sad
Keanu" Internet
meme, a series
of photos of the
actor caught look
ing depressed,
apparently inspired
Reeves to start
writing deliberately
self-effacing poems
to poke fun at his perceived melancholia.
The resulting book of poetry, called Ode to
Happiness, is now in limited distribution
through German publisher Steidl and retails
for $55. So, if you have half a C and change to
spare on self-deprecating humor from an actor
notorious for his lack of same, this is the book
for you. Or you could just wait for the rumored
third Bill & Ted movie, because you know that
is going to be high-larious...
Recommended: Amazon.com has just released
its list of the 10 best books of the first six
months of 2011, selected by its staff. Top of
the list is Mitchell Zuckoffs memoir Lost
in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival,
Adventure and the Most Incredible Rescue
Mission of World War II (HarperCollins).
Other notables on the list include new books
by historian Erik Larson and novelist Arthur
Phillips (whose last novel. The Song Is You,
was phenomenal) and Tina Fey's Bossypants,
which several of my friends have read and
told me I have to pick up ASAP. Just because
Amazon recommends these books, however,
doesn't mean you have to buy them from
Amazon. Go hit the bookstore—it'll be good
for everybody.
John G. Nettles
What'cha Ghana Do?: Longtime Athens musi
cian James Wilson (Don Chambers ♦ GOAT.
Madeline) has undertaken a fundraising
campaign via Indie GoGo to complete an
album of international music inspired by his
travels to the West African nation of Ghana
in 2008, where he met multi-instrumentalist
Kofi Anteneng in the city of Accra. Wilson
had written some music influenced by that
meeting, incorporating rhythms he recorded in
Ghana into the songs, but he decided to take
the project further and went back to Africa in
2010 to have members of Anteneng's band lay
down some additional tracks. The goal of this
fundraising project is to facilitate Wilson's
return to Ghana to finish
these now-collaborative
recordings and to allow
Wilson to pay the Ghanan
musicians for their work
and handle all associated
costs (food, etc.) for them.
For more information and
fundraising details, please
see www.indiegogo.com/
TaxicabVerses.
Buy the Ticket; Take the
Ride: The Georgia Theatre
might be officially celebrat
ing its reopening over the
course of two weeks, Aug.
1-14, but let's face it: the
celebration is really going
to continue through the
entire season. (Special
note to naysayers: if you
think you're sick of read
ing news about the Theatre
now, well, just wait. You're
going to be absolutely
inundated with it from
all sides in the coming
weeks and months. So,
j either deal or, you know, Blaze Foley
stop reading.) The lineup of
upcoming shows keeps expanding, and some
newly added shows of special note include The
Whigs (Aug. 20). of Montreal (Sept. 1), The
Chris Robinson Brotherhood (Sept. 2), multi-
Flogpole Music Award winners Futurebirds
(Sept. 9), Yacht Rock Revue (Sept. 30) and
Ghostland Observatory (Oct. 6). For you
folks out there who really don't care about
this music stuff but still like to lose your
mind in public, the Theatre will be showing
the UGA vs. Boise State football game on the
big screen Sept. 3. For tickets and all other
relevant information, please see www.geor-
giatheatre.com.
A Back Down to Texas: Unless news is directly
related to the Athens music scene it has to
strike me as particularly special to get any
space in this column. So, you can trust me
when I say that I think your time would be
well spent at the Flicker Theatre & Bar on
Thursday, July 7. Austin filmmaker Kevin
Triplett will screen his documentary, Blaze
Foley: Duct Tape Messiah, that evening.
Foley (born Michael David Fuller), while
known mainly as an Austin artist, spent time
in Georgia off-and-on during the early '70s
(mainly in Carroll County at the Banning
Mills). Although a legend in Austin, Foley is
best known elsewhere for other people's ver
sions of his songs (e.g.. "If I Could Only Fly"
as sung by Merle Haggard; "Clay Pigeons"
covered by John Prine; "Election Day" done
by Lyle Lovett). Foley died from a gunshot
wound in-1989 at age 40 and, depending on
whose version of the events you believe, he
was either murdered or shot as an act of self-
defense by his killer. Claire Campbell will also
perform this night, so there's a purely local
twist to the evening after all. For more infor
mation, please see www.blazefoleyrnovie.com.
Things Change: Athens-based hip-hop art
ist services company H.E.R Hip-Hop, LLC
has cancelled its annual showcase that was
scheduled to occur in November of this year.
The first H.E.R. Hip-Hop Showcase happened
in April 2010. Although revealing few details
about the cancellation and the immediate sus
pension of its client-based business, it seems
the problem is simply that the three principals
involved (Rebekah Baldwin, Elizabeth Schenck
and Stephen Prevost) are each moving out
of town, and rather than do something half-
assed they decided to end things while the
solid reputation of H.E.R. was still intact. The
company will maintain its blog and website
until at least August, and full details regard
ing the future of H.E.R. are available there.
Please see www.herhiphop.com.
There's Gold in That Thar Mud: Where's the
intersection of deep woods hip-hop, jacked
up, mid-sized pickup trucks and more canned
beer than anyone has a right to? Well, honky,
it's on the television, that's where! The
Outdoor Channel has hired Athens country-
rapper Colt Ford to co : host the inaugural
season of its new show, Mudslingers. The show
premiered last week, and 13 episodes will air
this season. The centerpiece of the show is
exactly what you'd expect: truck-'n'-mud cul
ture and the party scene that surrounds it. The
Outdoor Channel says you can expect "thrills,
spills and raucous tailgating crowds." See?
You don't have to be an urban frat boy to
create an entirely lowbrow culture! For more
information, please see www.coltford.com and
www.outdoorchannel.com/Shows/Mudslinger.
Gordon Lamb ihrealsandpromisesStflagpote com
12 FLAGPOLE.COM JULY 6. 2011
DANA KOLFLAT
