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April 12th, 2008 Hey there friends and readers,
And then, our latest comic book interview is up. Last month I had the great pleasure to talk to Ralph Tedesco and Joe Tyler who are the founders of Zenescope Entertainment and the creators of their flagship titles Grimm Fairy Tales and Return to Wonderland. We talk about their books and future plans at
THE NEW BROTHERS GRIMM: A CONVERSATION WITH ZENESCOPE ENTERTAINMENT’S RALPH TEDESCO AND JOE TYLER
And btw, if you've
never read a Zenescope comic you really should. I am currently
purchasing every book under their banner. Some of the best independent
comics being written today. PCA: So you’re doing a comic book called Geek Girl which is part of Small Press Idol. Tell us about your book and a bit more about the contest, and how we can help Geek Girl become published. Sam Johnson: Well Small Press Idol is run by Dimestore Productions. Dimestore Productions is a small press comic company and they have an anthology book called Mysterious Visions which comes out very regularly. Basically, what this contest is, is that we’re on round three which is the public vote round. What has happened is that twelve people have gotten to this round. There were two rounds previously. The first round you submit the cover and the pitch and the judges select who gets through that round, and then whoever gets through that is the first public vote round where we submit details about the characters and then we got through that. We came in fifth in that round. And now in the third round the top three get a #0 issue published, the next three get a cover feature in Mysterious Visions and the four below get a back up in Mysterious Visions. So basically what is going on now is that you need to pimp people to vote for you to determine what level that you get published at. The fact that you are in this round means that you are getting published. PCA: So that means that Geek Girl is going to be a reality.
PCA: So let’s talk about your book. Tell us about Geek Girl! Give us your pitch. Sam Johnson: Well, basically what it’s about is a “Little Miss Popular” named Ruby Kaye who’s a not quite “it” girl at the obnoxious level of Paris Hilton, but she’s at college and is one of the cool kids. So she hangs with all the beautiful people and she has a kinda cliquey, trendy girlie crowd. So they cross with these brainiac geeks that invented these super tech glasses that endow the user with super strength and flight and because they sort of play these guys in a game of strip poker and because the guys are drunk they loose the glasses to Ruby. So the initial intention of these glasses, which were invented by a guy named Trevor, was because he had a crush on someone and were created so he could compete with her boyfriend and to give him an edge. So he looses them to Ruby and she is donning the glasses, but there is a glitch in them and including giving her super powers they also make her super klutzy and the result of that is that it alienates her with her clique and she finds out who her true friends are. PCA: So that’s how you keep Ruby from being a horrible stereotype. Sam Johnson:
Yeah. Well you see in the story that there are levels of bitchiness and
she’s not a bitch. She’s just basically in this group because she’s
hot. A lot of the people are horrible. Some are not and this comes out
once
PCA: So could you say that it’s sort of a spandex and cape version of the 80s movie Heathers? Sam Johnson: In some ways it is. In some ways it’s a flip on the Clark Kent thing because the tradition is that the geek becomes super strong and perfect, but Ruby is perfect but her super powers makes her loose all her social skills and popularity so it’s kind of a twist. PCA: Is this the first strip you’ve ever done? Sam Johnson: I’ve created comics for a while. I’ve had a number of things picked up and then fall apart but this year is when things have really started to happen. I’ve got something coming up in the next issue of Negative Burn in issue 20 (by Desperado). I have a story in that called Gold Town which is about a daughter who is off to become a big movie star and gets sucked into the world of porn and her dad, who kind of looks like a big black bad ass, but isn’t, but uses the look to throw his weight around to try to track her down. I also have a story coming out called Cabracini Voodoo Junkie Hitwoman that got picked up by Brainscan to be done as a web-comic. She’s this ex-crack head hit woman. It’s quite queer.
Sam Johnson: No,
that was absolutely deliberate. Basically, she got the name because her
Mum was an obsessive Carpenters fan so she got the name Karen Carpenter
and she is trying to distance herself from it. She has changed her name
to Karin with an “I” because she has no time for it at all. As I said
in the character pitch that she sees people as Victoria Beckham as a
role model. She doesn’t appreciate anyone drawing any similarities to
Karen Carpenter. Karin is the uber-bitch of Ruby’s clique and part of
that is because she has had to constantly deal with Karen Carpenter
cracks since she was a kid and that’s why she’s twisted. Sa PCA: Well I love the way you think. I laughed out loud when I read that. So tell us about the series villain. He sounds pretty intense. Sam Johnson: Well one of the things the judges have particularly liked is the villain named Mister Mash Up. He has seemed to have caught their imaginations. He’s from another dimension. His father is a kind of demonic type and he’s the result of his father having a very short affair with a goddess so he’s the bastard son of Satan in a way. He’s a kind of black sheep. So since he was the weak link of the family and got picked on a lot his Dad gave him the power to turn into the clone of anyone so basically he can turn into anyone he wants because the idea is that he can kick ass guy that can take on anyone and he won’t have any problems. However, his Dad hates him so the twist is that he is really brittle, so even if he turns into a kick ass guy, if he gets whacked he just cracks. So this has left him very twisted and he’s left his dimension and come to Earth to take out his venom by tapping into peoples minds and find out who they hate and basically turn this vessel into a clone of them and torment the hell out of them and he uses it to makes peoples a misery. Also, being that he is an albino he wears a brimmed hat to protect his delicate complexion. PCA: So tell us about the people you’re working with on this. Sam Johnson: There’s James Reed who’s a professional letterer who I worked with on Cabracini as well and Sally Thompson who is the colorist and the artist. PCA: So how can we all support Geek Girl? Sam Johnson: The best thing to do this is to go to this link and vote. You can also go to www.fanbabes.com and you’ll also all kinds of pin ups and stuff about the characters and all you need about to know about the comic.
_______________________________________________________________________________________ May 26th, 2008 Hey there friends and readers,
However, before we get to the letters I am proud to announce our latest article. Just in time for the triumphant return of the New Kids on the Block PCA proudly takes a look at the man, the music and the legacy of the legendary Tommy Page! What? You don’t know who Tommy Page is? Well of course you don’t. Nobody seems to remember this guy. A one hit wonder from the early 90’s, Tommy Page rode to stardom on the coattails of the New Kids on the Block and enjoyed a short time as a minor teen magazine poster boy before quickly disappearing into obscurity. However, imagine my surprise when I recently found out that Tommy Page’s influence over the current music scene is far more wide spread then I’d ever had imagine, and he truly did leave a mark on music – we just forgot about him. Get reacquainted with Tommy Page in
TOMMY CAN YOU HEAR ME?: REMEMBERING TOMMY PAGE
Okay. Well one of the most popular letter topics we get is dedicated to our coverage of the Herman’s Hermit feud between front man Peter “Herman” Noone and drummer Barry Whitwam. Our interview last month with Peter Noone about the feud got a fair amount of attention, and as usual, a fair amount of letters. I’ve already devoted entire columns to Herman’s Hermits mail, but I would like to share this letter from Noonatic Beryl R. from England. Beryl writes:
I read with interest your article/interview with Peter. At the end you say it doesn't matter which Herman's Hermits you see it's the music that counts. Well I disagree! I have just been over to Florida to see Herman's Hermits starring Peter Noone and had a fabulous time seeing them 12 times in 4 days at Busch Gardens. I saw Barry’s group a couple of years back in a 60's show here in the UK and I can tell you there is no comparison, Peter wins hands down. Barry's lot were out of tune and most of the music didn't even sound as it should for the songs I have known and loved since I was 13 back in the 60's. Peter is a far superior entertainer. He is the only Herman and I think if Barry wants to perform under the name Herman's Hermits he should do as Peter does and add his name, then people can make an informed choice of who the are going to see and support. Thanks for the articles. Beryl (in the UK)" Hi Beryl. Thanks so much for writing.
You know, Peter Noone has some of the most devoted and passionate fans in the world, and the Noonatics have proven to be a very interesting and vocal group. I’ve enjoyed the letters that they have written to me over the last year.
Anyhow, I think you may have misunderstood what I meant at the end of my
interview with Peter Noone. At the end I don’t say that “it doesn’t
matter which Herman’s Hermits that you see.” I say “It doesn’t matter
to me who calls themselves Herman’s Hermits these days as long as we
still have their music.”
This is in no way a judgment
on who plays the songs better. I saw Peter Noone in concert last
summer, which was what sparked my interest that led to these interviews,
and he does a great show. It was the best concert I went to in the
summer of 2007. I have never seen Barry's band, but I can tell you that
Barry Whitwam is a very nice and well spoken gentleman and I
My personal opinion on Herman's Hermits is this - there is no such thing as a band called Herman's Hermits anymore. Herman's Hermits is something of the past. Peter Noone is Herman, today, tomorrow and forever. Peter Noone is the voice, the sound and the face. There is no denying this fact. However, the fellows who tour with him in his band, no matter how good they are (and they are fantastic musicians IMO) are NOT the Hermits. The only Hermits are Barry, Keith, Karl and Lek. I'm not sure why Peter feels he has to continue using the name Herman's Hermits instead of simply just being known as Peter Noone, or Herman. Gwen Steffani doesn't call herself No Doubt. Ozzy Osbourne doesn't call himself Black Sabbath. See what I mean? Peter Noone's name alone, or at least his moniker Herman, should be big enough to draw a crowd. Peter Noone is a bonafide 1960s icon, a brilliant performer and legend in the pop industry. That will always belong to him.
What I guess I mean when I say I don't care who calls themselves Herman's Hermits is the fact that there may no longer be a true version of the band, but we HAVE THE MUSIC! The ULTIMATE Herman's Hermits are those original recordings that were produced by Mickie Most and created by Peter and Barry, along with Keith, Karl and Lek. Without all five of them, in my opinion, the magic is gone. As I said in my conclusion, I believe in parts of Barry and Peter's story. People need to make their own decision, and the fans will decide who to side with. Personally, I'd see a Peter Noone concert before a Barry Whitwam one, but it doesn't mean that Barry's voice should be silenced, nor that his version should be ignored. Thanks again Beryl, and I hope you’ll wish everybody in the Noonatic community the fondest wishes from myself and everyone at PCA. Herman's Hermits isn't the only popular topic. Over the last month we’ve also received an astonishing amount of mail on our feature about the sensational and tragic Hollywood deaths of three entertainers the world never got to know – Peg Entwistle, Karyn Kupcinet and Danny Lockin. Two of the letters in particular were quite fascinating. The first comes from Kathy Mechan who runs Danny Lockin’s website at http://dannylockin.com in which I used heavily during my research on Danny’s life. Since our article about Danny went up Kathy and I have had a delightful correspondence and Kathy has been very kind in sharing new information and exchanging pictures. In one letter Kathy wrote to me she outlined the origins of her own interest in Danny’s life, as well as offered more information about this tragic dancer. Kathy writes:
"Hi Sam! Unfortunately, I never met Danny; but I became a fan of his, after my son played Barnaby in his school play and I later saw Danny play Barnaby in Hello Dolly! It was absolutely amazing, the amount of talent he had! He was the best part of the movie, in my opinion. I became a huge fan right then and there! When I looked him up, to my utter astonishment, I found next to nothing, except he'd been horribly murdered in 1977. So I decided to help him out, so to speak. After some determined hunting, I found his uncle and took a chance and wrote to him. He was awfully nice and even though he's in his 70's and just got out of the hospital, he sent me a packet of all the pictures and news clippings he had of Danny, some of which I have put up on the site. He said he was guessing on some of the facts and didn't want to be quoted.
Danny's fath
It's too bad about his losing his drivers license! He said his favorite
down-time activities were swimming and driving. It must have been hard
to go back to being driven around. I wonder how many times you get
caught DWI in California before they take your license away?
I intend to try to contact other actors who worked with or knew Danny, and hope they can recall stuff about him. There's lots to be done to piece his life back together. I totally agree with you...Danny was more than an actor that was gruesomely murdered. He had a life and left so many wonderful memories for so many people. He deserves to be remembered, and that's the main reason I started the site. He was fading away into obscurity. No pictures. No wikipedia page. No real, informative websites. Now he has my site, another smaller one, a myspace page AND your wonderful article about him! I intend, when the website is finished, to do a wiki-page and update all the sites which don't seem to have any info on him. Thank you again for helping me keep Danny's story alive.
Best wishes,
"Hi, Sam, I was flipping channels tonight and watched a bit of "Hello, Dolly!" and I recalled that an old friend of mine had told me that Danny Lockin had been murdered. So, I Googled him and came across your website. The pieces about Danny, Peg Entwistle and Karyn Kupcinet were very interesting. (I knew who Peg was and knew the story of her death, but never knew she was Brian Keith's step-mother ... very interesting.) I thought you might be interested in a couple of things regarding Lockin and Kupcinet.
When I was just starting out, I saw Irv and Essee interviewed on TV and Essee made the statement that in her work supporting the theatre, she tried never to say "no" to anyone. I heard a "ding" go off in my head. So, I found her home phone number, called her up, introduced myself and told her I was starting a theatre company. A few days later, we had lunch together and thus started two decades of interaction with her. I asked her about the never saying no statement, and she explained that she made a vow to herself when Karyn was murdered to always support up and coming theatre artists. She kept that vow to her death and many, many of us in Chicago theatre owe her a debt.
Anyway ... just thought you might be interested in these little tidbits. Good luck with the site ... pop culture is a fascination of mine as well ... not so much current stuff as the vintage stuff and legends. Be well, David Dillon" Hi David,
I am charmed by your friendship with Karyn Kupcinet’s mother Essie. It must have been awful for Essie to have lost her daughter so tragically at such a young age, and then to have her daughter’s memory be tainted with rumors of conspiracy. However, it’s good to know that her death didn’t destroy Essie’s spirit nor involvement in the community of Chicago. She sounds like a very dear lady.
I also feel that the statement about Andrew Prine being the true killer of Karyn Kupicent is quite bold, but you are not the only reader who has contacted me and said the same thing. Perhaps we’ll never know the truth, but it’d be interesting to know if Andrew Prine sleeps at night.
Anyhow David. Thanks so much for sharing your stories and I hope that we’ll hear from you one day again. Its stories like yours that keep this journey alive, and keeps the history of pop culture flowing. Finally I received a letter from a reader who only identified himself as “R’ in regards to my 2004 article about obscure scream queen Fawn Silver, start of Ed Wood’s and AC Stephens’ cult classic Orgy of the Dead. Fawn Silver has been a figure who has intrigued many visitors over the years to our site because of her mysterious disappearance from the pop culture radar in the late 1960s. Anyhow, R does some searching of his own and writes:
"Sam,
However thanks for the letter R., and thank for finally allowing me an outlet to tell this story. Anyhow folks, there is plenty more mail I’d like to get to but this column has gotten longer then usual. That, and I want to watch another episode of Grey's Anatomy before I go to bed. Please, keep those letters coming in to us. You keep the pop culture journey alive by writing to us and I personally read and reply to every e-mail.
Stay tuned, _____________________________________________________________________________________ May 23rd, 2008
REMEMBERS JOHN PHILLIP LAW 1937-2008 “An angel doesn’t make love. An angel is love.” – John Phillip Law
Although his name
may not be immediately recognizable, during the 1960s John Phillip Law
joined actors such as David Hemmings and Terrance Stamp as being one of
the biggest studs to come out of the European cinema. However, unlike
his counterparts, John Phillip Law was actually an American who found
more popularity in
By the 1980’s John had returned to America where he did a number of guest roles in series such as The Love Boat and Murder She Wrote, and for a short time played the role of Jim Grainger on the classic CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless. However, by the 1990’s John had become a staple at sci-fi conventions and autograph shows where he would entertain fans with his stories of being one of Europe’s biggest sex symbols, and signing pictures of him as Pygar the Angel. That’s the way that we’ll always remember John Phillip Law. As an angel. ______________________________________________________________________________________ May 5th, 2008 Hi there friends and readers,
DANDY!: PETER NOONE STRIKES BACK!
Also, I would suggest that you revisit our interview with Barry Whitwam to put this interview in context. Make sure to also read:
Now
I just want to stress that our feature with Peter Noone is in no way
meant to cheapen our interview with Barry Whitwam. While Peter Noone
will always be the icon, Barry Whitwam has a valid story to tell too.
I also want readers to know that I am not endorsing, nor siding with
Peter or Barry. Both Barry and Peter, in my opinion, have valid
points to BTW – I am currently working on arranging an interview with another former teen idol. I don’t want to jinx myself by saying to much before things are finalized, but I did receive a phone message last week from this former heartthrob, and he sounded very positive about talking to us. I am bursting at the seams with anticipation over this one. Stay tuned later in May with a possible announcement. However I’ll give you folks a clue to his identity. This individual is on this Tiger Beat Magazine cover!
Anyways…
Now Iron Man is not
a character I have ever really liked very much. In fact, in twenty-five
years of collecting comic books I don’t think I’ve ever purchased a
single issue of Iron Man in my life. However, imagine my surprise when
I would consider the Iron Man movie to be possibly one of the best
superhero movies ever made! It’s true! Robert Downey Jr. is
unbelievable as Tony Stark and his on-screen chemistry with Gwyneth
Paltrow as Virginia “Pepper” Potts is so brilliant that they become the
most endearing screen couple in a superhero movie since Toby McGuire and
Kirsten Dunst. Furthermore, the script is smart and sticks incredibly
faithful to the original material, and the film is a perfect mixture of
action, adventure, political commentary, drama and hum But I have been doing a lot of thinking about comic book movies lately. You see, as we are nearing the hundredth horror movie review, and about to close the doors to PCA’s House of Horrors, I have begun to gather comic book/strip inspired movies for our next big movie feature reviewing the best fifty comic movies. I’ll be starting with 1934’s Joe Palooka and ending with the best of this summers comic book features, which include Iron Man, Speed Racer, Hellboy II, The Incredible Hulk and The Dark Knight. In fact, I saw a trailer to The Dark Knight last night, and despite the fact that it looks rather impressive, I still can’t help but wonder why in the world we need another Batman movie. I mean, what the hell is going on over at Warner Brothers Studios that they have so little imagination that they feel that we need another Batman movie, and one featuring the Joker no less. I mean, it’s been less then twenty years since Tim Burton’s Batman with Jack Nicholson as the Joker! What is this? A remake? Am I the only one out there that feels that not enough time has gone by to justify a remake?
I constantly here
rumors of DC projects over the internet. From a Geoff Johns scripted
Metal Men movie, to Joss Whedon’s Wonder Woman, to Jack Black as Green
Lantern So in conclusion…see Iron Man. It’s really good. Anyhow, that’s all for tonight folks. I’ll be back soon with more news and rants next week…and I got my sights on you Ben Mulroney. Watch out! Stay tuned because there is more to come. Sam Tweedle Pop Culture Addict April 17th, 2008 Hi there friends and readers!
BTW – Ronn and Hilary Barta are also currently collaborating on a brand new horror comic for a yet to be revealed publisher. Of course, Ronn was pretty secretive about what that meant, but then you know those comic guys. They don’t reveal much until it’s all ready to go. Secretive lot. However, watch this space for more information on Ronn and Hilary’s next project. Also, if you’re at the New York Con Ronn will be signing copies of a limited edition print of his Vampire: The Movie poster featuring the late Malia Nurmi. Stop by and say hi to Ronn and the folks at the Camp Festival Booth and get your copy. Also make sure to pick up a copy of the DVD as well I own it and it’s a real treat.
Hey Vanessa, All the best from everybody here at PCA, and best of luck, Sam Tweedle Pop Culture Addict _______________________________________________________________________________________ April 8th, 2008 Hey there friends and readers!
And that's a great lead in to announcing PCA's latest article. Long before he created the role of Victor Newman on the popular soap opera Young and the Restless, German actor Eric Braeden had his fingers deeply dipped in the pop culture honey pot where he appeared in nearly 80 different roles playing Nazis, enemy agents, spies and other nasty characters on pretty much every action/adventure program of the 1960s and 1970s. Menacing everyone from Kojak to Mary Tyler Moore, Eric Braeden was television's most prolific bad guy. Join us as we follow Eric Braeden's career from The Rat Patrol to Titantic in:
TONIGHT ERIC BRAEDEN SHALL EAT YOUR SOUL: A LOOK AT THE PRE-SOAP CAREER OF TV’S BLACK KNIGHT
Anyhow, due to some of our technical problems over the last week PCA
has had to move to a brand new server. However, I want to just
send out a word of thanks to our good friend Pete Fo Also, as I prepare this column right now word has spread about the death of Charleston Heston. Despite if you loved him or loathed him, either because of his acting or his politics, nobody can deny the importance of Heston on our cultural landscape. I will deal more with Charlton Heston's legacy later this week in this space, but for now my thoughts go out to his family, his friends and his fans.
Sam: Thanks a lot for taking the time to talk to me guys. Anyhow, for the sake of my readers, could the two of you quickly explain what True Confessions of a Fan Boy is about, where the idea came from, and a little bit about yourselves.
Sam: And then hilarity ensues. Johnny: Well we wanted to make sure that as long as we were doing this that we put enough parody and humor in there that it would be tolerable because, in my opinion, I think this story is, and you can correct me James if you think I'm wrong, would be way to depressing if we didn't throw the level of humor in it that we did.
Sam: But James, is your life really depressing? Because when I'm reading the book you don't sound like a very depressed guy. James: Well here's the thing. My life itself, no, it's not. The depressing part comes in the excess of what this is because, essentially, what you read in this book sounds like I'm an addict. And I am an addict. Toys, comics, baseball cards, everything that I collect has become an addiction. The depressing part is the fact that it has taken over my life and when I'm not out there working and hanging out with friends and being a normal person, I keep telling myself that I can't believe that I'm in my 30s and I'm still doing this to such an extent. I'm not cutting down. In fact, if anything, I'm collecting more and more and it feel like something that I can't stop. It's like it's taking over and I can't take control over it. Sam: Well you do know your not alone, right? J |
So
another year has gone and hockey season is over. You know what I don't
get? Just as we enter the first heat wave of the year in Canada, with
the temperatures at an all time record high, hockey is JUST getting
over. I mean, isn't hockey a winter sport? Don't you need
ice and snow and for it to be cold? I never can understand this, but then again, I don't watch hockey. I
know, I know. What kind of Canadian guy doesn't watch hockey? Isn't it
a prerequisite to be Canadian and watch hockey? When people find out
I'm not interested they look at me like I have two heads, like the other
day for instance. I get in an elevator and there’s another guy standing
there and as the doors close he looks at me and says "so, what do you
think of Crosby?" I reply, "He was a pretty good singer but I prefer
Sinatra a lot more, and Crosby wasn't ever gonna get the father of the
year award." As the guy is looking at me in utter confusion I get to my
floor and walk off.
And
talking about independent comics, not long ago I became aware of a brand
new comic that is in the works by a young upcoming comic writer named
Sam Johnson called Geek Girl. Being one of the finalists in a
contest called Independent Press Idol, being run by Dimestore, Geek
Girl is a premise that really appealed to me and that I was willing
to throw myself behind and have our site promote and back. Just as many
people have helped us, I am always willing to promote new writers, so I
contacted Sam and asked what we could do to help Geek Girl to
become a reality. Last week Sam called me from his home of Sheffield,
England and we did a short interview so he can tell you in his own words
all about Geek Girl and Independent Press Idol:
Sam
Johnson: Yeah. I don’t know how soon because that depends on the
schedule of Mysterious Visions if that’s where we end up, and the
cover issues get first priority. But if you get the top three and you
get a #0 issue that’ll come out in July. The final round of the contest
is who can sell the most of the #0 issue and whoever sells the most gets
prize money and a four issue mini series.
her
social mechanisms are somewhat detrimentally affected by these glasses
and the true sides of everyone comes out.
PCA:
So let’s go back to Geek Girl for a minute. Now you have a
character in your book named Karen Carpenter. As a Carpenters fan, I
found that to be really funny. Was that unintentional or will you have
some in-jokes about the Carpenters in the book.
m
Johnson: It just popped into my head. No particular reason.
Finally,
let’s go back to hockey for a momen
t.
Now as I discussed above, I have no interest, knowledge or love for the
sport. However, if you live in Canada, and perhaps even if you don't,
you may be aware of the news that the CBC has given up the classic theme
song to Hockey Night in Canada. Now if you're not a Canadian
this concept might be a little abstract, but the theme song to Hockey
Night in Canada is not only one of the most recognized songs in
Canada, after possibly only the national anthem, but by being used by
the program for over forty years, the song has become, in a way that I
can't even explain, a part of our cultural identity. Even for me, who
couldn't give a damn about the sport, has a nostalgic love and
understanding for the Hockey Night in Canada theme. Everybody
who has lived in Canada, being a hockey fan or not, understands the
meaning and emotion behind that song, and the majestic uplifting melody
is enough to raise a sense of excitement in anyone. When I read the
news that CBC was ditching the song because they didn't wa
nt
to pay for it anymore, just like many Canadians I thought "what the
hell! They can't do that!" It was odd, because while I have no strong
feelings about the sport, I immediately wanted to don a hockey jersey
and make my way over to the CBC building in Toronto to join the
protest. It's strange really. Over the last week I have read with
interest, and had numerous conversations with people about this subject
and everybody, both hockey fans and people like me, all have the same
strong emotions connected to the Hockey Night in Canada theme. I
have
never
seen such passion, not to mention cultural identity, connected to a
television theme song. It has been unreal.
song and O Canada has never, ever, seen the outpouring of love by the
public like the Hockey Night in Canada theme song has. Oh Canada
is a dull and lame song which is embarrassing to sing. The Hockey
Night in Canada song kicks major ass. Also, I think more people
would agree that we are joined by a nation through the Hockey Night
in Canada song more then O Canada. I mean, O Canada has never,
ever, sparked so much passion in the hearts of Canadians like the
Hockey Night in Canada theme song has in the past few weeks. So, even as someone who probably
will never watch a hockey game in his life, I totally feel this is
something that should be done. It'll make sure the song lives
forever...and it'll be played before every hockey game that way too.
So
I have a confession to make. Do you know what I’ve been doing for the
last three days? I’ve been catching up with all my friends at Seattle
Greys by watching downloaded episodes of season four of Grey’s
Anatomy. I’ll admit it. I’ll admit it. I am a Grey’s Anatomy
junkie. I just can’t get enough of that show. However, after three
seasons of being hopelessly smitten wit
Anyhow,
I decided today that we’d dip back into PCA’s mailbag for another round
of our popular reader’s mail column! We get letters each and every week
from pop culture fans all over the world, sharing ideas, memories and
insights and part of keeping this pop culture journey alive is sharing
those letters with you. We always love hearing from you folks so always
feel free to write in at
I am glad that you enjoyed my interview
with Peter Noone. I am very happy to be able to feature his thoughts
and opinions on my web-site and I feel very privileged to have been able
to feature two alternate points of view from two opposing Hermtis.
According to one music journalist that got in touch with me I am the
only source thus far that has been able to do this.
She
had a wonderful sense of humor and for a society lady, she never minced
words. Once, she got Shelley Winters to agree to do a show for us and
we had a planning lunch at the Monroe Yacht Club with Essee and Heather
Morgan Bilandic (of the J.P. Morgan family and former first lady of
Chicago married to Mayor Michael Bilandic.) I was about to head to
Delaware to teach for the summer and upon my return, Shelley would be in
Chicago and Essee would arrange our first meeting. After lunch, Essee
pulled me aside and said "And YOU had better look out!!" I wondered
why she would say that ... was Shelley difficult?? She continued
"Because Shelley's gonna WANT you!!" For some reason, Essee was
convinced Shelley would want to jump my bones. Now, this was 1981 or
so, several years after "The Poseidon Adventure." I froze. I spent
the entire summer agonizing over what to do when Shelley came on to
me. I was 24 at the time and terrified. I finally resolved that I
would sacrifice myself for the good of the show and if Shelley wanted me
to do her, I would. When we met that September, she hardly gave me a
second look and I was enraged. I thought "What am I, chopped
liver??" Essee and I always laughed about that in later years. As it
turned out, Shelley was unable to do the show when we needed her because
of some family problems, but I encountered her many times after that and
adored her. 
Anyway
... Essee told me once that she knew before anyone else ever uttered the
rumor, that Peter Lawford was in Marilyn Monroe's apartment the night
she died and that there was indeed a major cover up involving the
Kennedy family and Miss Monroe's death. I told her she should write a
book and she told me she was often asked, but that she never would. She
felt that all the people she had known had trusted her with their
confidences and she would never think of betraying them.
Regarding
Danny Lockin ... this is just a bit of trivia which I think you might
like being a pop culture fan. The friend who had told me he'd been
murdered was Georgia Engel of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "Everybody
Loves Raymond," etc. I produced a production of "Nunsense" in Chicago
starring Georgia and we became dear friends. That friendship lasted a
number of years, until I wrote a hit off Broadway play about being gay
in which there were seven naked men onstage. Being a devoted
Christian Scientist, Georgia always had problems with homosexuality.
She could deal with gay people as long as it was not discussed. Once I
did such an openly gay thing, I no longer existed to her. Be that as
it may, Georgia's very first professional job was as Minnie Fay in the
Broadway production of "Hello, Dolly!" starring Ethel Merman and in
which she played opposite Danny Lockin. Not sure you knew she was his
costar. She always spoke of his remarkable talent, but had a difficult
time with knowing he was gay and lived on the edge. If I am not
mistaken, she told me he had trouble with recreational drugs. I always
suspected his death involved gay sex and possibly alcohol, drugs or
kinky sex simply from what a difficult time she had discussing it and
the obvious judgment in her tone about him.
Your
statement about Peter Lawford is particularly intriguing. You know, I
have been researching Peter Lawford and his Rat Pack cohort Frank
Sinatra’s involvement with the Kennedys for a number of years, and I
have a few of my own controversial theories about the Rat Packers doing
some of the Kennedys' dirty work. I truly believe that their
involvement in JFK’s campaign was even a factor in his eventual
assassination, although totally unintentionally. One day I hope to publish my own theories in either an article or perhaps a book, although
my biggest fear is either being sued by the Sinatra estate, or having
two thugs named Bubba and Rocko at my door with brass knuckles and a
crowbar that want to talk to me about my controversial ideas. 
Finally,
while it is indeed fascinating that Georgia Engle played Minnie Faye
opposite of Danny Lockin, it is very sad and unfortunate about her
feelings with homosexuality and that she'd allow it to end a friendship. I suppose a lot of that may be a generational thing.
Engle's is from a generation where homosexuality was not talked about
nor accepted, thus perhaps it is still a taboo and uncomfortable subject
for her. I find that many people who grew up prior to the 1970s
still have issues with homosexuality. It's not right, but they
haven't adapted to our modern way of thinking. However, despite
this, there is no room for homophobia in our modern world, and
especially when it comes to the world of show business. Many of my personal
favorite pop culture icons were/are gay including
Brian Epstein, Jodie Foster, Robert Reed, Richard Chamberlain, Jack
Larson, George Takei (who I am pictured with on our home 
Moments
ago I received an e-mail from our contributing editor Charlotte Smith
about the passing of John Phillip Law, a legendary member of the pop
culture journey, and one of cult cinemas’ most beloved stars. Law died
on May 13th, 2008. He was seventy years old.
Europe
then his home continent. Perhaps you’ll remember him as sexy super
thief Diabolik in the 60’s European comic film Danger: Diabolik.
However, we covered John’s career earlier this year here at PCA in our
feature 
Man
we got some exciting things going on over here at popcultureaddict.com.
First bit of business is a very special new interview to announce. This
one jumped out at me from nowhere, and despite the fact that I haven’t
even announced it yet, over 500 people have already read it after only
being on our site for a little over a week As many of you probably
remember, last summer I did an interview with Herman’s Hermits drummer
Barry Whitwam which not only brought our web-site a lot of attention,
but proved to be quite controversial. Barry gave us a revealing look at
the darker side of Hermit history and discussed rivalries, legal issues,
backstabbing and painted a very unflattering picture of Herman’s Hermits
legendary front man Peter “Herman” Noone. For months afterwards we were
flooded with mail which represented both sides of the debate. Many
readers backed up Barry’s story, but a far larger and more vocal fan
base, calling themselves Noonatics, defended Peter and his legacy.
Eventually we heard from Peter Noone himself who, to put it mildly, was
not pleased. Anyhow, with much negotiation, Peter Noone agreed to tell
his side of the story via an e-mail interview. Much of the interview is
the Peter Noone is what you’d expect – witty, clever and funny.
However, this interview shows another Peter Noone that you’ve never seen
before: confrontational, controversial and unapologetic. Hold on to
your hats as we hear Herman’s version of the Herman’s Hermit rivalry in:
Anyhow,
in the last week I’ve, once again, been sent a number of e-mails
questioning my opinion on yet another Disney girl. Now before the news
turns into “olds” like it did with Vanessa Hudgens in our last column, I
figure that I will make an official statement on where PCA stands on the
controversial photos of Miley “Hannah Montana” Cyrus that were
photographed by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz for Vanity Fair.
Well, before I express my opinon, I think that there are a few important
things to remember about this affair. First – Miley Cyrus is not a
little girl and she knew what she was doing. Sure, she may be a minor,
but she is not a retard. Give the kid some credit. She knew what was
going on and I don’t believe for a second that she was manipulated nor
exploited. Second – her parents and her handlers, who have been doing a
cracker jack job on keeping this kid on 
So
all week I was planning to dedicate this space to explain why I rip on
Ben Mulroney so much. However, last night me and some friends went and
saw Iron Man, the latest movie from Marvel Entertainment, which
sparked a whole new topic for today. So you’re off the hook Ben
Mulroney….for now.
Now
you gotta excuse my cynicism but this is where it stems from. I am a DC
Comics fan. I have always read DC over Marvel. However, despite this
fact, I can’t deny that Marvel is putting out the best superhero movies
in film. I mean in eight short years we’ve gotten three Spiderman
films, three X-Men films, two Fantastic Four films, two Hulk films and
feature films about such B listers like Daredevil, Elektra, the
Punisher, Ghost Rider and now Iron Man. By 2011 Marvel is
planning to bring another Iron Man film, as well as Thor, Captain
America and the Avengers to the screen. Now what has DC given us?
Well, DC has been putting out big budget superhero movies since 1978
with Richard Donner’s classic Superman starring Christopher
Reeves. However in the last thirty years DC has given us five Superman
movies, six Batman movies, and a lackluster film featuring Supergirl, a
Steel movie nobody saw an
d
a totally disastrous film called Catwoman, but not having
anything to do with the original Batman character. See a trend here?
Now I am not including all the DC Comic movies that have not been a part
of the regular DC Universe (ie. Vertigo’s Swamp Thing and
Constantine, Alan Moore’s V For Vendetta and the upcoming
Watchmen ect.) in this criticism, but despite the fact that Warner
Brothers owns the rights to the greatest super hero characters in the
world, they seem to lack enough vision to bring any of these characters
to the big screen for the exception of Superman and Batman themed
franchises. What the hell? I mean, Marvel has given us Ghost Rider,
Elektra and Iron Man for crying out loud! Don’t you think that Warner
Brothers could have at least put together a Wonder Woman, Green Lantern
or Flash movie by now? I mean if Warner Brothers had as much vision
when they started in 1978 as Marvel Entertainment does now, we would
have not only had all three of those by now, but also Captain Marvel,
Green Arrow, Hawkman, Aquaman and countless others. Can you imagine
characters like Jonah Hex, Zatanna, the New Gods, the Creeper,
Metamorpho, Elongated Man, the Blackhawks, Wildcat, the Outsiders, Black
Lightening, the Doom Patrol, the Challengers of the Unknown or Sgt. Rock
on the silver screen? I mean, wouldn’t that be cool? All of these
franchises would be amazing films, and they are all just as popular as
Iron
Yet
another reason that Marvel Entertainment’s movies are superior to the
DCU ones is that they take every effort to maintain the original source
material. Sure, they make changes here and there. Some of them are
necessary (eliminating the outdated space race theme in the Fantastic
Four) and other are not necessary nor good (the Sandman killing Uncle
Ben and Peter Parker forgiving him, Frank Castle’s entire family being
gunned down by mafia hit men at a family reunion ect), but for the most
part the iconic character and story we love to remember is still
present. However Warner Brothers doesn’t know how to leave stuff
alone. The best example of this is the Halle
Looks
like were running back on schedule here at Confessions of a Pop Culture
Addict. After a month of technical difficulties, set backs and trying
to play catch up we’ve finally gotten things back to normal, which means
back to this weekly Announcement column. I’m hoping as spring turns to
summer that I’ll be able to keep this feature running smoothly and
regularly again. God knows I’m not running out of things to talk about.
But
before we go onto this weeks topics, we have a brand new article to
announce. Over in the movie section I take a look at the short lives
and the tragic deaths of three actors you have probably never heard of.
They didn’t make much of a mark on the pop culture radar, but everybody
who ever appears in a movie, does a walk-on on a TV program or
even has a regional one hit wonder are a part of the pop culture
journey. Sadly, these three young and talented people had their journey
cut short in sensational ways. Come and read about Peg Entwistle, the
Broadway actress who couldn’t make it into pictures so dove to her death
from the top of the Hollywood sight; Karen Kupicent, a beautiful TV
actress whose unsolved murder has been linked to the JFK assassination;
and Danny Lockin, the Hello Dolly! co-star who met his end in a
homo erotic torture spree, but whose killer got away with murder!
Yet while their deaths make them interesting, this article is also about
their lives, and a celebration of who they were and what they achieved.
I hope you’ll help keep their memory alive by reading:
So,
as a lot of comic book fans know, this weekend (April 18th-20th)
is the New York Comic Book Convention. For more information for the
con go to their official web-site at
And
what's going on with Janet Hetherington? This got lost in the shuffle
of all the repair work that we’ve had going on with the site, but a few
weeks ago Janet got in touch with me to tell me about her latest project
that she’s pitching at
And
while we are on the subject of comics, I have been going just bananas
over Young Liars, Vertigo Comics brand new monthly by Stray
Bullets creator David Lapham! If you haven’t taken a look at this
book yet you NEED to head to your nearest comic book shop and PICK THIS
BOOK UP! First issue came out last month and it was, by far, the best
first issue of a comic book I’ve read since Preacher. Revolving
around a brain damaged girl named Sadie Dawkins and Danny Noonan, the
boy who loves her, the first issue of Young Liars introduced us
to a whole cast of wanna-be hipsters and losers who live, love and fight
amongst the bright lights of Manhattan’s club scene. Immediately an
interesting cast of characters and a whole batch of twists and sub-plots
were set up in a single issue, making me immediately want the next
issue. It is clear that Lapham has a whole world of adventure awaiting
for Sadie and Danny. And then last week the second issue arrived, which
was so great that it leads me to believe that this could be the best
comic book series that has been put out by DC Comics SINCE Preacher
(and, btw, I consider Preacher to be pretty much my all time
favorite comic book series...and I've read a lot of comics). This
flashback issue takes a break from the chaotic action from the first
issue and gives us a bit of insight into Danny’s life and tells of how
he and Sadie first met and lemme tell you, some demented stuff goes on!
Young Liars is the kind of character driven crime drama and
intrigue that David Lapham became famous for when writing Stray
Bullets. Don’t dare miss this series friends! Don’t think….just
leave your house right now, find these two books and buy….Buy…..BUY! If
you need a good reason to go to the New York Comic Con this weekend it’s
to find a copy of Young Liars!
Finally,
let’s change the topic completely for a few minutes. This is real
old news, but over the last number of months
I have gotten a number of e-mails and messages from readers asking my
opinion about the current scandal featuring amateur naked candid photos
of High School Musical
star Vanessa Hudgens that somehow ended up on the internet last
September. Well originally PCA was not going to cover this
story because, quite frankly, what happened to Vanessa was just nasty
and we are not a tabloid. In fact, I’m not even going to do much
of a recap
about what happened, so if you want to know about
that you’re going to have to go to an entertainment site with less
integrity then ours. However, after numerous enquires from readers, and
after reading Vanessa’s official “apology," I figure I'd throw my hat into the ring, but I figured I'd do
so in a form of an open letter to Vanessa herself:
ou
can be sure of that. Yet, despite the bad publicity I think that you
handled it as best as you could and I hope everything works out for
you. Anyhow, I read today about how you talked about your “lack of
judgment.” Well kid, you’re young and you want to know what? Lots of
kids your age do that sort of thing. You didn’t do anything really all
that shocking. Believe me. I did TONS of crazy things when I was your
age, some far more shocking then even that and there is a time and a
place for that kind of behavior and that is between that age of 18 and
30. Get all that out of your system while you’re young before you end
up being my age and do something REALLY embarrassing. Trust me; if you
were in Europe nobody would have probably batted an eyelash at this
whole affair. Yet, Middle America conservatives that are preoccupied
with family values are probably going to want to burn you and ban you
now. Why? Well mainly because they are small minded peons who are
upset because they don’t have your success, or the opportunity to have
all the success you’ve had. That and they probably wish they were you.
I’ve read a few critics questions if this set back is going to ruin your
career. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Lots of other stars along
the pop culture journey
have
made pretty huge mistakes and they’ve come out okay. Look at Hugh Grant
and Rob Lowe? Well maybe not Rob Lowe. Looks like he's in trouble
again. Well, despite this, both he and Hugh are still getting
work. Heck, Hugh Grant is more popular then ever! As long as you
have the talent, and you keep your head about you, I think you have a
long career in Hollywood. But you know you could use this fiasco to
your advantage as well. Remember that no news is necessarily bad news.
Allow this sudden notoriety to boost you up instead of drag you down.
Now I think the Disney Co. would be absolute morons to drop you from
their House of Mouse, but if they do don’t look at it as a bad thing
kid. Believe me. Getting trapped in the Disney machine isn’t
necessarily a blessing because you’ll never be allowed to grow up and
become more then a teen sensation. I mean, has anybody heard from
Hillary Duff lately? Finally, I don’t know if you really need to
apologize to anybody for this. If anybody needs to be apologized to
it’s you. Whoever pulled that nasty stunt has some explaining to do
Vanessa, and when you find out who did that to you I hope you bootfuck
them.
We're
back! Some of you may have noticed last week that our site
disappeared from the internet for a few days, and when we returned some
of our latest features were missing. Well, the Gremlins got in our
system (damn I should have never fed them after midnight) and we were
suffering from a few technical difficulties last week. However,
Candace Shaw was on the case and she was able to get PCA back on line,
and earlier today we ironed out the last of the bugs. So here we
are again friends, ready to continue our collective pop culture journey! 
rde who has been
hosting PCA for over a year now. When we nearly crashed our last
server in February 2007 due to the flood of readers that suddenly were
looking at the Lamest Superhero article, Pete graciously took on our
web-site and for a year has been taking care of things on that end.
Personally, I don't know what is involved to keep a server running, but
I want to thank Pete for all he did for us. We really appreciate
everything Pete. 
Okay. Now lets get down to some long overdue business. A
number of months ago I received a book called True Confessions of a Fan
Boy by James and Johnny Jacobs. Written by two brothers, True
Confessions of a Fan Boy is a light hearted look at the fan boy
subculture written by a guy who has taken it a bit to far, and his
brother who can't understand the whole thing. Each chapter has two
sections - a long one written by James, portrayed as a man in his
underwear in the fun illustrations that decorate the book,
explaining his obsessions and habits surrounding toy/comic/card
collecting and his obsessions with GI Joes, and a second by Johnny, seen
as a man with a paper bag over his head, which pretty much states "what
the hell is going on with this guy?" As I began to read the book I
found it to be a highly entertaining read, filled with situations and
obsessions that I could relate to. However, as the book continued,
and more and more of James' eccentricities began to be described I began
to get sort of disturbed. Are these guys for real? They HAD
to be putting me on! Were they taking the joke a bit to far?
Then I began to wonder....if this is reality, am I like James and I
don't realize it? Well I needed to get to the bottom of the truth
of this book, and to perhaps get a little bit of solace Contacting
the authors, Johnny agreed to talk to me one night in a lengthy phone
conversation where he assured me that, yes, everything I read in this
book is 100% true and, no, I am probably not in as bad shape as his
brother. Johnny was a great guy and I enjoyed talking to him so
much that we decided that we would do a joint interview between myself
and both him and James about the book. So earlier this winter the three of us
talked for about an hour about their funny, yet often dark, True
Confessions of a Fan Boy. Now for the sake of space I'm going to
leave out James' One More Day rant (to say the least, he was not happy)
but this is my talk with James and Johnny Jacobs about their highly
entertaining book:
James:
Basically, what this book does is it tells the story
of what happens when you take a hobby or take a side of life too far and
what this book encompasses is essentially where you know everyday you
have people like this - people like me - who are fan boys who go out in
society, they do their thing, they collect what they do. However
what the premises of this book is that it takes it to a different level.
A level that Johnny and I feel nobody else can take it to where their
collection pervades their life so much that it affects the way that they
live.
Johnny: And obviously, that in mind, having that we have the
true fan boy James and, for lack of a better term, the anti-fan boy, as
long as we were doing a project this ambitious, we wanted to paint both
sides of the story so readers can see two sides. What it's like to
be a fan boy and then what its like to be from the outside looking in and
to watch this and, have, in my opinion, a normal opinion.
James: It would, because if you actually look at it on the
surface it's sad and I admit that about myself, that in my view it may
be normal, it could be a sad way to lead an existence. And anytime
in life that you have a sad situation you really do have to see the
humor in it. If you don't see the humor in it you'll either go
crazy or you'll go depressed and slit your wrists and that's really the
direction we wanted to take this book to is that we take a depressing
situation but we put a slice of humor into every piece of that.