New Year's Resolutions 3 of 6: Jesus H. Christ!

The Self-Improvement of the Savior:

Not everyone needs 12 steps I guess.

New Year's Resolutions 2 of 6: Jeffy's Angels!

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

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

New Year's Resolutions 1 of 6: Jeffy

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.

Roger Miller: Syrple Rhymes with Purple!

Born in 1936, Roger Miller would have been 73 years old today!

Roger Miller had a quick-witted mind which permeated everything he did creatively. His songwriting and his performing (singing AND guitar playing) bubbled with an energy which had to be seen to be understood and believed.

Some quotes by Roger:

"I march to the flush of a different plumber."

"Ain't it nice how a chicken can gain all the weight it wants and never shows it in the face?"

"When I was a kid we were so poor we couldn't even afford clothes. When I was 6 my Daddy bought me a hat so I could sit and look out the window."

I'm going to step out of the way and let Roger's music speak for itself. Do yourself a nice favor and take a minute out to view these...your "tapping foot" and "smile on your face" will thank you after.

Ubiquitous "King of the Road"...this time sung with Dean Martin:



A medley of his songs with the Muppet Chickens. "Do Whacka Do", "Dang Me", "My Uncle Used to Love Me, but She Died" and "You Can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd":



Roger also wrote songs for and appeared in a Disney movie - "Robin Hood". Ah for those days when Disney hired folks like Louis Prima, Phil Harris and Roger Miller to do their music and Phil Collins, Elton John and Bill Joel were left on the unemployment line.

Here's "Oo-De-Lally" complete with sing along lyrics:



And the instrumental/scat "Whistle Stop" from the opening. Roger once said that he wrote a song called "Whistle Stop" because if it did well he would open up franchises all across the country. Hell, it worked for Shakespeare with "Hamlet" didn't it?:



Lot's of folks know the song "Me and Bobby McGee. Some know it only as a hit by Janis Joplin, others know it was originally written by Kris Kristoffereson, I think only a few know that it was originally recorded by...you guessed it...Roger Miller:



Finally, here's a reprise of "King of the Road" this time with Johnny Cash. But not without the two old friends screwing around a bit...good stuff:



Roger wrote lots of other great songs too. "Kansas City Star", "Everything's Comin' Up Rose's", "Husbands and Wives", "Old Friends", "England Swings" and on and on.

He passed away in 1992 of lung cancer after a short life of great accomplishments. He wrote the music for the Broadway musical "Big River" and in the 1960's he won 11 Grammy awards, a record he held until Little Michael "The Freak" Jackson-hole broke it with "Thriller" in the 1980's.

Route 66 through his home town of Erick, Oklahoma is renamed "Roger Miller Blvd." and CMA named their songwriting award "The Roger Miller Award" after him posthumously.

But I think the biggest accolade I can give him is...after all these years, his songs still make me smile.

Thanks Roger!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!!!

Happy morning after New Years Eve 2010 everyone!

There will be pictures of my New Years Eve festivities coming soon (this weekend?) hopefully, we're having camera difficulties here at "Jeffy's Head" central. I hope you all had a happy, fun and safe get together with family and friends as well.

For now, here's a little Todd Snider ditty called, "Happy New Year". This is traditionally a time when we examine the past year and make resolutions for how to make the coming year better. Todd's reflection here is a little deeper than just pledging to quit smoking or lose a few pounds, he's more examining what we're all doing here and just hoping for understanding. It's one of the flip-phone videos from YouTube, but it's worth hearing, even with the poor quality:




And it's January 1st, that's Jerry Robinson's birthday! Born in 1922 Jerry turns 88 years old today!

Jerry Robinson began working in comics in 1939, working alongside Bill Finger as an assistant to Bob Kane on his new "Batman" feature. Shortly after Batman's success, Bill and Jerry were hired on at DC Comics as staffers, but still worked alongside Kane.

Jerry's contribution to the feature have been challenged by Kane and minimised as Bob Kane continued his own publicity, but Jerry's contributions to the comics industry are undisputed. His work for creators rights especially and most specifically championing Joe Shuster and Jerry Seigel gaining royalties and creator recognition for Superman in the 1970's.

Two points of contention between Kane and Robinson, were Robinson's contributions to the creation of both "The Joker" and "Robin, the Boy Wonder". Whoever is correct in the recollection, the iconic status of both these characters is immense.

In 1940, DC Comics was under pressure from parent groups complaining about Batman's dark nature. They wanted the comics to pussify him. The creative team of Kane, Robinson and Finger took the demands and turned it into something better. Adding a boy side-kick "Robin" to the Batman mythos, gave young readers a character their own age that they could identify with. They were able to put themselves right in the stories.

Batman stayed a bad-ass...Robin got to help...DC had their cake and ate it too.

Here's that first ever "Robin" appearance from Detective Comics #38 from 1940.

Lastly today, I want to leave you with a video from "Notebook Babies". These are short animations created by elementary teacher Tony Dusko to help get his students more involved and interested in class.

This one doesn't have much educational value...but it expresses what I hope for this brand new year of 2010 for all of us!

Have an AWESOME year. I'll see you soon!