Author: DOuG pRATt

The Differences in Different Drum

Ronstadt

I have indelibly strong memories of hearing the Stone Poneys’ Different Drum on 77 WABC when I was a kid. It was one of those records that I was always especially excited to hear, even before I knew what Linda Ronstadt looked like. The way the single was put together was, like its singer, perfect, and it made me keenly aware of how the sound of a record can be as important as the song itself. My favorite singer was Petula, but even to my pre-adolescent ears I knew that Linda had a wider vocal range.

The Wall Street Journal steps out of character with this blog-like item telling how Mike Nesmith’s song Different Drum became Linda Ronstadt’s first hit single. The comparison between the recording of the song by the Greenbriar Boys that interested Linda, and her own version, illustrates my point about record production. Nick Venet, who helped Brian Wilson develop the Beach Boys sound, produced Different Drum.

A video that’s missing from the WSJ post is Mike Nesmith’s intentionally botched attempt at singing Different Drum on the Monkees TV show.

Evan gets even

Forty years ago I was in the first semester of my freshman year at Westfield State College. I was accepted at UMass in Amherst and at Boston University, but I had to put myself through school, and the only way I could afford to do that was by attending one of the 4-year state colleges in Massachusetts.

I worked hard to earn my B.A. in Economics, and I am very unhappy with the trouble that is going on at Westfield State now, because of Evan Dobelle.

What Boston Globe reporter Scott Allen doesn’t say in the video is that these events are history repeating itself, because Dobelle went through this before, ten years ago at the University of Hawaii. The difference is that the board of trustees in Hawaii didn’t want to hassle with a lawsuit, and they decided to give Dobelle a generous settlement to make him go away.

Happy Birthday, Joe Sinnott!

I have to post this fast, before Joe’s 87th birthday is over! This is the first photo I’ve seen of Joe since his shoulder replacement surgery. Haven’t heard yet if he’s added working at his drawing board to his physical therapy routine.

JoeSinnott87

While I’m on the subject of comic books, a couple of things. PBS has made a big splash with the 3-part documentary Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle, and if you go that link the entire thing is supposed to be online for a limited time.

My interest level dropped off quickly in the third part of Superheroes, and I could nit-pick the first two parts — Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko deserved even more attention than they got — but as I said six years ago, when In Search of Steve Ditko by Jonathan Ross came out, I’m happy that comic books are now widely accepted as a valid creative medium. My mother sure didn’t think they were more than trash when I was a kid, because that’s where she threw my collection. In the second part of the documentary I was pleased to see Jim Steranko being featured prominently.

IDW Publishing has announced something that has me ignoring my self-imposed restriction on buying more big books, and these are REALLY big books! The Steranko Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Artist’s Edition, and the Steranko Nick Fury and Captain America Artist’s Edition. What makes these IDW editions special is that they’re scanned from the original art. After all these decades, Steranko has held onto all of the original pages — well, most — of his ground-breaking comic book work, and for fans like me this is the payoff.

Slide-20-a

There is at least one piece of Steranko original art that isn’t in the possession of its creator. To scan the original cover art for Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #8, IDW will have to borrow it from none other than Jonathan Ross.

J. David Spurlock with Jonathan Ross