"Stand By Me!"

Just 'cause everybody needs to see/hear this.

Everybody needs somebody to stand by them.  You won't find that somebody with a new Pope or some invisible giant in the sky...look to the person next to you.

Talk to you soon

Happy Birthday Townes - Too Soon Gone!

 Today would have been the 69th birthday for Townes Van Zandt.  A man about whom the great Steve Earl once said, "Townes Van Zandt is the greatest songwriter in the world, and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and tell him so!".

69 is not that old for a hard core troubadour, singer and forger of songs to be.  Were he still with us, he would probably be writing the best songs of his career and still traveling and dazzling us with them.

Years of substance abuse took it's toll on his health though, and he fluttered off this mortal coil in 1994 at the RIPE young age of 52.

Am I sad or jealous...I don't know.  

Sing us one Townes, show us how you really feel.  This is the first song he ever wrote.

Guy Clark heard that a a couple others he friend had written and figured that that was all something worth doing.  And then Guy became a great song writer too.  

This, the admiration of friend Steve and a thousand others who were touched by his music and who played his stuff at their weddings is his legacy.

We miss ya Townes.

Talk to you soon.

Unca Jeffy is NOT dead...just a little MIA!

I know what you must be thinking..."Has our man Jeff fallen off the face of the Earth?"...no loyal followers, I have not.

I am alive, well, happy and uncertain of the future.  The 4 major signs of a perfect life, and I am still breathing, too.

I took advantage of my unemployed status and took a 6 week vacation to go visit my sister and her family in my home state of Montana from the beginning of December through the middle of January and found happiness, confusion, romance (yes, and Jeffy's happy for this, too) and all those things that you should find on a vacation/sabbatical/retreat/adventure!  

I do hope to tell you all a little about my time there over the next little while, but for now I wanted to say, "Hi!", "How've you been?", "I missed y'all!" and "What'd I miss?".

And just to let you all see physical evidence, here's my excursion to Missoula's own Sean Kelly's Irish Pub "Open Mic Night" where I was seen serenading the locals.  I may not sound like I'm livin', but I really was while I was there!

See?  Jeffy's not dead!

I WILL hang around as long as you will let me, too!

Talk to you soon!

Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day everone.  Be Safe.  Be Happy.  Be Free.

Talk to you soon.

Susanna Clark - It Had to Come From the Heart.

Her name was Susanna Clark.  She was married to one of my songwriting heroes, Guy Clark.  

Here they are back around 1970 or so.

She was a painter.  She painted this.

And she painted that old blue shirt behind Guy.

She was a songwriter too.  She wrote this one.

She passed away last Wednesday.

I never met her.  But I understand her and Guy's connection was something fierce and real.

My songwriting hero's being slapped in the face and punched in the gut tonight.

My thoughts go out to you, Guy.

Talk to you soon.

Happy 100th Birthday, Oreo!!!

I've posted this song before, but since it's Oreo cookie's 100th birthday, it bears repeating.

Aren't Oreo kids lucky?  Aren't Oreo mom's wonderful?



Talk to you soon....

really soon.

Garfunkel & Oates - "Weed Card" - new video!

The talented and lovely and vivacious and sweet-sounding Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci, alternately known as "Garfunkel & Oates" come through again!

A new video for their song "Weed Card" is the newest single off their newest album "All Over Your Face". If you like what you hear, you can pick it up on iTunes and CDBaby.

I hope you do, because I want them to make sooooooooo much money that Ms. Micucci starts making all kinds of bad-judgement calls...like marrying me!

Enjoy!

Talk to you soon.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy St. Valentine's Day to all you lovers out there. Young or old, hopeful or found, be sure and tell your sweetie how much you're kinda sweet on 'em.



Kind of rough and tumble like all good drunken serenade's should be.

And a Happy Day to my Balentine. She knows who she be.

Talk to you soon.

Garfunkel & Oates - "All Over Your Face"!

Sticking with my impromptu/accidental music week, I should also mention that "Garfunkel & Oates" released a new album on Tuesday as well. "All Over Your Face"!


I love these girls/women of comedy and song, and I've talked about them before on here. Riki "Garfunkel" Lindhome and Kate "Oates" Micucci (one day I hope to rename "Mrs. Kate 'Oates' Micucci-Overturf"...but then I'm delusional) have been strumming, plucking, fingering and tickling guitar, ukulele, keyboard and heartstrings for a while now, and I for one am always wanting more.

Here's a few of their songs, swiped from Riki's own YouTube page...I hope you'll learn to love them, too!

"Running With Chicken"

"I Don't Understand Job"

And at the risk of repeating myself, one of my favorite love songs of all time, "F**k You". It makes my heart sing.

Check it out. You'll be happy you did.

Talk to you soon.

Todd Snider "The Storyteller" - New Release

While usually reserved for the last song in a set, I think it's apropos ANYtime...



That's Todd Snider in a nutshell. He hopes nothing but the best for you and hopes you'll wish the same to him. Be and let be. The golden rule at it's best.

You've heard me yammer on and on about the "Peace-lovin', porn-watchin', pot-smokin', bare-footin', folk-singin' hippy" from East Nashville by way of Austin-Memphis-Portland before...and you're gonna hear it again. And again. And again. Today's occesion being his new live album which came out yesterday.

I haven't gotten my pre-order copy just yet, I'm sure the "Snowlocaust" which is hitting a bunch of our country is slowing down the shipping lanes, but thanks to digital technology I was able to download and listen on the official release date anyway. You hear that "Snow"? SUCK it!!

To those of you who are unfamiliar with Todd, here's a couple of video and article links that I hope will hip you to the dip. Todd's stuff hits me beyond words so maybe I'll let his performances and the words of other speak for me.

It really is good stuff and good for you too. As Todd says, as he welcomes you into his world of eccentric characters, adventures and attitudes, "Welcome to East Nashville...we will steal you heart AND your lawn-mower."

First up, here's a bonus track from the new album which I got with my pre-order...a hint into why they call this album, and Todd, "The Stoyteller".

A clip from WNYC radio as he prepares to do a coupla shows in New York. These are from yesterday..."Flying Spaghetti Monster Bless" the WorldWideInnerWeb!

A quick mockumentary he made as he prepares for his promo tour.

Here's what the magazine's have to say.

Here, and here.

That's all I can do. Just trying to spread the word. If you like what you hear, find Snider here and if you're in the mood, follow any of the links to purchase. It's well-spent money you won't regret.

Thanks for being so "Todd", Todd.

Talk to you soon.

Song for Monday - "Clay Pigeons"

After we've bathed the last couple of weeks in "Nemo: the Classic Comics Library" and steeped ourselves in classic comic strip lore, it's time to hit another spot Inside My Head and shift gears for at bit.

All my songwriting heroes and the guys who's stuff always makes my head happy. I don't know what I was going to say after that. But there you are.

Today's "Song for Monday" is sung by John Prine, but is one of the rare occasions it's not one Mr. Prine wrote. This song is by the late Blaze Foley.

When John heard it he says he wishes he had stayed home and written this one. High praise indeed.

Enjoy.



Talk to you soon.

2010 "Best" of My Blog - New Years Resolutions

Here we are at the concluding week to another year, that's right, even the end of a decade. As with last year I thought I'd take a few days to re-post some of the things I was proud of on my blog from the past year.

If you're a new reader, these are some things you may have missed that I think you'll enjoy and are examples of what I hope my blog to be. If you're a long-time reader, thank you. I have really enjoyed the last year and a half of this blog, it's really doing what I want it to do for me and the fact you're checking in from time to time and commenting is what helps spur me along.

I look forward to doing it for a long time now. A regular schedule to keep me picking up my drawing and writing pen has been a great satisfaction for me. I look forward to you coming along with me.

At the beginning of 2010 I did a few posts wherein myself and some of the characters in my cartoons pledged out New Years Resolutions. Let's review and see how well we did over the last year.

The 3rd of January 2010 - "Jeffy's Resolution".

The beginning of a new year. A time of renewal, a time of re-examination of ones self. A time a lot of us choose to resolve to make changes in our lives:

And, no...it is NOT the beginning of a new decade. Decades, Centuries, Millennia all begin at #1, not #0. Didn't we just have this talk 10 years ago????? THERE WAS NO YEAR 0!!!

sigh

I almost made it a full 60 seconds there. Maybe next year.

The 4th of January, 2010 - "The Resolutions of Jeffy's Angels".

New Year's Resolutions from "The Drink Hole"!

and I resolve to become a better letterer in the coming year!

The 5th of January, 2010 - "I Have a Little Walk with Jesus".

The Self-Improvement of the Savior:

Not everyone needs 12 steps I guess.

The 6th of January, 2010 - "The Flying Spaghetti Monster Resolves...".

Pastafarians REJOICE!





Oooooooooo..."Clash of the Titans"!

The 7th of January, 2010 - "Rusty Revolves and Resolves".

Keeping with this weeks theme, Rusty has a resolve or two she'll try and hold herself to in the new year.

The 8th of January, 2010 - A Message from Me.

Here it is the 8th of January. Statistics say most folks who make New Years Resolutions have given up on them by now and some are even feeling bad.

The deal is though, if you want to make a resolution, you don't have to wait until New Years Day to do it. If you want to lose a few pounds or quit smoking...and you've backslid a little since January 1st...make a January 8th resolution to start.

Don't feel bad about failing in any self-improvement you've attempted...just try again. Every success in the world usually only follows 100 or so failures.

Don't beat yourself up.

You'll never get there that way.

Keep doing what you do well. Try and get better at what you don't.

Here's a song for you to sing to yourself.



I think you're alright too.

I think I'll stand by it all.

Talk to you soon.

Vic & Sade and Christmas at "The Grand Ole Opry" - OTR Friday!

That time of the week again for more music and comedy from the golden age of radio. Today with two more episodes of the funniest show ever to come down the pike and a special Christmas bonus show to follow.

Once again from the mind of Paul Rhymer comes the Americana comedy of the little family halfway up on the next block. The first episode I'm sharing with you today is from January 12, 1940. Sade has just arranged to take over a neighbors vegetable garden and Vic and Rush are loathe to consider the work it will mean for them.

Enjoy!




The second half of our Vic & Sade half hour is from January 19, 1940 and relays a violent encounter between Mr. Razorscum (their naighbor) and Mr. Gumpox the garbage man, instigated by Gumpox's horse Howard eating Razorscums lunch.

Again I'm amazed that while none of the action takes place "on-mic" and neither of the characters in question is ever heard, just how crystal clear the events appear in my head. Genius!

Enjoy!



CHRISTMAS BONUS:

A trip to The Grand Ole Opry and their annual Christmas show. This one is undated, but I'm thinking it's from the late 40's-early 50's and features all your hillbilly favorites cavorting and joking through some great holiday music.

George Morgan


Archie Campbell

Grandpa Jones

The Jordanaires

and Chet Atkins

Also joined by a few others including Cousin Minnie Pearl, the perfect show to trim your tree by.

Dig in!

Talk to you soon.

Jeffy Music Monday - "The Marvelous Toy"

A couple of things this past week inspired me to drag out this old chestnut for "Jeffy Music Monday".

First off was the release on DVD and BlueRay of Pixar's "Toy Story 3" this past Tuesday. If you missed my post here you should know that I believe Pixar is officially allowed to change it's name to "Our Movies Don't Suck"! If you haven't seen it, go ahead and tell yourself you won't cry...I won't tell anyone when you do.

Secondly, there's been some rearranging of things here at "The Steamy Grotto/The House of Whacks" this past week as the landlord wanted to do some tenant improvements, and of course everytime pack-rats like me move long un-moved boxes of our stuff around, we find hidden treasures we had forgotten we buried.

It is a wonderment to folks like my fellow blogger Ivan G. Shreve Jr. (and to me sometimes as well) that I had a mother who didn't throw all my childhood treasures away...and I'm eternally grateful. This song was originally performed by "The Chad Mitchell Trio" about 50 years ago (I still have my brother Bob's 45 rpm record of it) that I used to play ad nauseum as a kid...and it's still wedged in my head. Here it is...

"The Marvelous Toy":



Talk to you soon.

Drink Hole Halloween Night Concert - Steve Goodman

"Lincoln Park Pirates"

"Red, Red Robin"

"Three Legged Man"



"I'll Fly Away"

"Grand Canyon Song"



"Men Who Love Women Who Love Men"

"What Have You Done For Me Lately?"

"I Gotta Hand It To You"



"The Family Tree"

"Truck Driving Man"





"The Auctioneer"

"Lost Highway"

Talk to you soon.