Lit Bits-1/21/2015 Wonderwall, Harvey Pekar

Aleathia says:

I was thinking about what passes for literature and writing the other day.  I think about it everyday since I stopped being very productive in the writing arena.  I think about how we group and separate different types of writing based on whether or not it is literature or non-fiction or poetry.  In the end, it is all a manipulation of words.  Writing is writing.

Each day I try to do a little reading and a little sewing.  During my sewing time I listen to music. Over the last few years I have let Michael be the DJ.  I listen to what he listens to because it is easier. I love some of his music, he has taken over some of mine, and there is music we both agree on. There is something wonderful about being home alone and listening to music and moving around in my own time.  I'm not sure why I stopped doing that.  Yesterday I was listening to Ryan Adams (which I get picked on for listening to) and heard his version of Oasis's "Wonderwall" written by Noel Gallagher.  I owned the Oasis recording, but never really understood or felt the song until Ryan Adams sang it.  It makes my heart clench, sometimes, I cry.

Wonderwall

Today is gonna be the day that they're gonna throw it back to you

By now you should've somehow realized what you gotta do

I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do

About you now

Backbeat the word is on the street that the fire in your heart is out

I'm sure you've heard it all before but you never really had a doubt

I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do

About you now

And all the roads we have to walk are winding

And all the lights that lead us there are blinding

There are many things that I would like to say to you

But I don't know how

Because maybe

You're gonna be the one that saves me

And after all

You're my wonderwall

Today was gonna be the day but they'll never throw it back to you

By now you should've somehow realized what you're not to do

I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do

About you now

And all the roads that lead you there were winding

And all the lights that light the way are blinding

There are many things that I would like to say to you

But I don't know how

I said maybe

You're gonna be the one that saves me

And after all

You're my wonderwall

I said maybe

You're gonna be the one that saves me

And after all

You're my wonderwall

I said maybe

You're gonna be the one that saves me

You're gonna be the one that saves me

You're gonna be the one that saves me


The Oasis Version:

The Ryan Adams Version:

John Says:

I miss Harvey Pekar. Harvey died in 2010 but sometimes I sit back and think about how much the world sucks without Harvey Pekar in it. I’ve been accused of wearing my influences on my sleeve. Editors and other writers like to tag me a lot with the Bukowski, Fante, Kerouac, Ginsberg thing, but if I’ve been influenced more than any of them it's been by the work of Harvey Pekar. The man’s ability to make art out of the mundane has fascinated me from the very first moment that I opened up my first collected edition of American Splendor. Pekar’s work still fascinates me when I come across it today. Also…the man gave me the writing of Italo Svevo.

For those who don’t know Harvey Pekar he was an underground comic book writer best known for his autobiographical comic American Splendor, which began in 1976 and ran until around 2008. American Splendor’s primary source material was Harvey and his life as a file clerk at Cleveland’s Veteran’s Administration Hospital.

 Sprung from the underground comic movement in the 1960s and 1970s, American Splendor was pretty much unlike anything else in its time. I mean here was straight autobiography, about a file clerk of all things, trying to squeeze onto comic book store space with the Batman and Superman comics. Suffice it say American Splendor wasn’t a best-selling comic and Pekar ultimately ended up retiring from his job. But it did garner quite the cult following, enough that in 2003 a film version of American Splendor was released starring Paul Giamatti as Harvey Pekar. The film even featured Harvey in it as himself.

Though not a graphic artist, what Harvey Pekar did was to draw American Splendor using stick figures and most importantly, dialog bubbles to get down his words. These crude drawings were then turned into comic book art by the many collaborators he’s worked with over the years. Some illustrators of note who worked on American Splendor are: Robert Crumb, Joe Sacco, Gary Dumm, Frank Stack, and Dean Haspiel.

The American Splendors have been collected into several comic editions. Aside from them Harvey Pekar published a number of graphic novels including: Our Cancer Year (done in collaboration with his wife, Joyce Brabner), American Splendor: Our Movie Year, The Quitter, Ego & Hubris, Students for a Democratic Society: A Graphic History, The Beats, and Studs Terkel’s Working: A Graphic Adaptation.

Harvey was also a pretty keen jazz music critic

Lit Bits-6/25/2014

Ally says:

Every Life Has A Soundtrack

When I think back on what made me pick that comic up that day in Midtown Comics, I can’t remember if it was the cover or the title.

Maybe a little of both.

I suppose it doesn’t really matter. Because inside I found a story that rang true from the first few notes….which happened to be from Debaser by Pixies….

“Gonna grow….up to be…be a Debaser.”

MixTape by Brad Abraham contains a cast of characters that reminded me of the kind of person I was in high school – the kind of people my friends were: Unsure. Sarcastic. And constantly using music as a means of communication. This was back at a time when my ability to say 'I like you,' 'I’m sorry,' 'I’m wrong,' and especially 'I love you' – were all better said in the words of someone else, set to a tune you’d never forget.

The first arc of MixTape deals with our main core characters:

Jim Abbott, 17 – Soundtrack: Pixies, Joy Division, REM

Terry Allison, 17 – Soundtrack: Bands you’ll hear about in about a year from now

Lorelei Cross, 17 - Soundtrack: The Smiths, The Cure, the Clash, Kate Bush, Madonna (only in secret)

Noel Dunlop, 17 – Soundtrack : Beastie Boys, INXS, Depeche Mode, New Order

Siobhan King, 17 – Soundtrack: Who cares? She’s back from Europe!

One of the great things about MixTape is that each issue centers on a different character in this core group. One of my favorites was issue 4, which centers around Siobhan, Jim’s love interest. Without giving too much away Siobhan’s story more than any other, details the power of music, the way it gives us a language like a tow rope to scale and navigate the dangerous landscape of high school, love and heartbreak. Siobhan’s sister, who is leaving for Seattle, gives her a single parting gift. A record (I won't tell you which one - read it yourself) and a note: “Every life has a soundtrack, babe. I found yours.”

Look, I've got an older sister. All my music came from her. I understand the power of a bequeathed album especially as a parting gift. I won't lie. I got all teary-eyed.

It is with one part humor, one part heartbreak and one part nostalgia that Brad Abraham weaves this coming of age story. Marco Gervasio and Jok create beautiful stark black and white panels, complete with all the visual “feels” that Abraham crafted for his characters.

I started reading comics late. I wasn’t hooked as a kid by The Capes so I’ve always gravitated to the more independent stream. Comics about regular people managing their life. MixTape is exactly that.

At the end of the series, the ultimate question is asked:

What song do you want them to play at your funeral?

Me? I haven’t decided yet. Today, I’m going with Wave of Mutilation.

“You think I’m dead, but I sailed away. On a wave of mutilation, wave of mutilation.”

Do yourself a favor and check out Brad’s work. 

And follow him. You won’t be disappointed. 

PS....On a side note: Ipods sort of suck don't they? I mean, playlists just aren't the same, are they? I used to spend hours making mix tapes for my friends - passing it to them in the halls in class. And then later on when we got together, all we did was talk about music. Look, I know people wax poetic about the 90's all the time but it was a bit of a high water mark wasn't it? It was a different time. I think that's what Brad does best. He brings you right back there, back when music was everything. 


Aleathia says:

Did you ever have a story that stayed with you for the whole of your life?  A story that crossed your path at just the right time in your personal growth that it affected you deeply?  Yeah, I thought so.  

The fall I turned 14 I started high school.  My teacher Mr. Grinnell assigned this book for a report.  At that point I had never heard of Shirley Jackson.  At first glance one would think this would be a story of winning, of good luck.  When I finished this story I was horrified.  Did things like this really happen?

I grew up in a series of small towns where people helped each other like good neighbors should and everyone knew everyone else's business.  I had never been exposed to the idea of stoning.  It haunted me as a young teenager and I later went to the library (we didn't have the luxury of the internet) and looked up stoning and read about the cultures that implored this method of dealing with things.  That was 27 years ago and this book still haunts me.  

I am not sure they assign this book in school anymore with the world being so politically correct, but kids should read this book to understand the true definition of hard times and hard decisions, to understand the sense of horrid duty.  Shirley Jackson was an amazing writer.  I think she gets overlooked a lot.  Give the old girl a try.