(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher

Song written by Carl Smith, Raynard Miner and Gary Jackson; performed by Jackie Wilson

Perhaps the greatest song Motown ever recorded. Oh, wait… it was recorded in Chicago and released on Brunswick Records. But wait, there’s more- the Funk Brothers (the Motown house band) had driven over to Chicago for the weekend and worked in the studio for this track. And the backup singers usually worked Motown gigs. And who wrote and produced Jackie Wilson’s earliest solo hits ten years earlier? Berry Gordy, Jr., naturally. When Gordy lost that job, he borrowed some money and started his own thing. Does that mean that Motown started with Jackie Wilson or that Jackie Wilson had his comeback on the shoulders of Hitsville?

Can you step in the same river twice? Of course not. The answer is the whole point to the question.

We live in the age of commentary. Nothing happens that someone somewhere doesn’t espouse an expert opinion. This entire blog is an exercise in commentary carried to the point of hubris if the internet is your god. That makes it no different from any other blog. Then there are the talking heads on the profusion of new shows. For artists, we have the endless supply of critics and essayists. Once again, not excluded here.

What does everybody have in common? An opinion that just has to be heard. If I were to say that’s a bad thing, then I would be a cynical old curmudgeon as well as a hypocrite. So, I won’t go there.

However,

another thing shared by all the commentators is a lack of first person knowledge. From the artist’s perspective, for example, is it really a comeback? We look at a tragedy like Clyde McPhatter, an early mentor to Wilson, and try to make sense of it all with our incredible view of the past. It becomes very easy to forget that life is lived moment to moment by everyone, artists included. The decision to add horns here or demand candles in the dressing room or stop using adverbs are not made with the benefit of seeing how you will be judged. They’re all feelings and ideas and experiences crammed into a moment that was not deemed more or less important than the moments that preceded it.

Smart artists thrive on the commentary about their art, but always know that a small kernel of ignorance provided the basis for it. That’s tough to remember when they’re saying you just made a tremendous comeback when you hadn’t ever stopped being an artist. Life and experience are fuel for artists. They want to be observed. I’m just wondering if we need so many professional observers.

What’s it all about?

You’ve Got to Check This Out is a blog series about music, words, and all sorts of artistic matters. It started with an explanation. 158 more to go.

New additions to You’ve Got to Check This Out release regularly. Also, free humor, short works, and poetry post irregularly. Receive notifications on Facebook by friending or following Craig.

Images may be subject to copyright.

Queen & Country

Comic book series written by Greg Rucka and illustrated by various artists

So, the popular history goes like this:
During and just after WWII, comic books were everywhere. The best sellers sold over a million copies bi-weekly. Popularity dropped from those highs, but remained respectable. Attempts were made to clean up questionable content. The industry received bad publicity. TV shows and movies were made, reviving sales. Yada, yada, yada…

In the 1980s, comic books had a new shot at respectability. Maus, The Dark Knight Returns, and The Watchmen all made their way into bookstores. All the cool kids were reading comics. Something called Sandman could be found in college dorm rooms. A few independent comics caught on, notably TMNT. Then the investors entered the fray. Big money hit- classic bubble economics… yada, yada, yada…

Somehow, comics hung in there. They started publishing trade paperbacks that made the reading experience more fulfilling. They jumped to digital quickly enough to survive so far. Movie makers look for the next big thing, so there is some money to be made. And… we’re up to date.

Given all that, a question: Why does it seem like The Dark Knight Returns, and The Watchmen are still the books used to lure new adult readers?

I made the mistake. I see others make the mistake. Comic books have an entirely new grammar and are hard enough to read for many people. You don’t want them to read a manual before they start. (Though it is a brilliant guide.) We all do it with our favorite things- a) get really into something; b) try a lot of it, so it becomes familiar; c) discover something special that rises above all the rest; and d) recommend that new thing to your friends who have no context because they didn’t make the journey with you to get there. It’s hard to appreciate someone else’s passion. It’s only made worse when it feels like a class assignment. “Go. Read this. Report back to me in 48 hours on how you love it.”

Let’s face it,

comic books play like a genre unto themselves for most people. The fact that a writer as remarkably talented as Greg Rucka has steered clear of all superheroes with Queen & Country when “that’s what sells” is an incredible blessing. The stories are among the best modern intelligence thrillers available. The artwork is a perfect break from the styles employed elsewhere.

I still dip my foot into current superhero comics to see what the big thing might be. Too often, the stories go nowhere and they jump cut from scene to scene, leaving it to the reader to make sense of the action. Q&C feels like a real story happening in real time to real people.

A nod to Oni Press, who keep publishing work that make me remember why I keep a graphic novel or two in the read pile.

What’s it all about?

You’ve Got to Check This Out is a blog series about music, words, and all sorts of artistic matters. It started with an explanation. 159 more to go.

New additions to You’ve Got to Check This Out release regularly. Also, free humor, short works, and poetry post irregularly. Receive notifications on Facebook by friending or following Craig.

Images may be subject to copyright.