This is the day I’ve been waiting for. It’s Christmas! And it’s time for my favorite Christmas song, my favorite comic strip and my favorite vocal group. Isn’t it magical when it all comes together? It’s a Christmas miracle!

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It should come as no surprise that my favorite comic strip is Walt Kelly’s Pogo. A lot of comics have their Christmas traditions, but in my mind it’s Pogo that is most closely associated with Christmas because every year Kelly did some variation of his parody of “Deck The Halls With Boughs of Holly.” In the unique Pogo-ese spoken by the swamp critters, it came out as “Deck Us All With Boston Charlie.”

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Although Kelly had illustrated the song in the funnies, published the lyrics in books, and even included the sheet music in “Songs of the Pogo,” it fell to a jazz vocal group to first record the song. If you’re not hip to Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, allow me to hip you.

Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross were jazz fans, first and foremost. Plus they were great singers. They came together out of a mutual interest in singing jazz. But much of the music they liked best had no words, and they were not content to simply scat (although they did that very well also). Rather than nonsense like “boop shoo-bop, scree-bop sh-bang” as other jazz singers might have sung, Hendricks wrote actual, meaningful words to music that had none, taking jazz solos that had been freely improvised and writing words that matched them, note-for-note. The result was some of the coolest music ever from one of the coolest-looking groups ever! (Not enough singers wear tiaras these days…)

Being Pogo fans (and who isn’t?) as well as jazz fans, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross recorded a jazzy version of “Deck Us All With Boston Charlie” bringing together jazz, Christmas and Pogo in a way the world had not heard before or since. Enjoy this rare treat and feel free to sing along!

(click the first image above for a slideshow of the lyrics)

For sounds of the season, click on the bar below…

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Not much I can say about this recording that isn’t apparent from just listening to it. I still get a lump in my throat when I hear those word “you belong.” Before I get all choked up and embarrass myself, let’s all listen to the Merry Marvel Marching Society March. Excuse me, I’ve got something in my eye.

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Hey, let’s all sing along!

Stand a little straighter. Walk a little prouder. Be an innovator. Laugh a little louder. Grow forever greater. We can show you how to. And where will you be then? You’ll belong, you’ll belong, you’ll belong, you’ll belong to the Merry Marvel Marching Society. March along, march along, march along to the song of the Merry Marvel Marching Society. If you growl, if you groan with a down sour outlook, if you howl, if you moan, you can lose your sour grouse by keeping trim and in step with the vim and the pep of the Merry Marvel Marching Society. Be an early riser. Strive to be ambitious. Speak a little wiser. Try to be judicious. Be a good advisor, never ever vicious. And where will you be then?

Face front… Lift your head… You’re on the winning team… ‘NUFF SAID! You’ll belong, you’ll belong, you’ll belong, you’ll belong to the Merry Marvel Marching Society. March along, march along, march along to the song of the Merry Marvel Marching Society. If you growl, if you groan, and your star is nearly zero, do not howl, do not moan, you can be a superhero, marching right along to the fighting song of the Merry Marvel Marching Society. Stand a little straighter. Walk a little prouder. Be an innovator. Laugh a little louder. Grow forever greater. We can show you how to. And where will you be then…?

If you want to belong (or just sing along as an outsider), click on the bar below…

(if no bar appears please click here to listen)

Next week, tune in for more comics tunes…

A few Tuesdays ago (June 17th to be exact) I shared with all of you the delightful soundtrack and theme song from “The Official Adventures of Aquaman.” The response was so overwhelmingly positive (one nice comment) that I decided to present yet another similarly great track from this vintage LP. Today we have “The Official Adventures of The Flash.” (Forget those unofficial adventures, they’re just boring juvenile crap.)

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Once again the narration is provided by the legendary Jackson Beck, famous for “Take The Money and Run” and the voice of Bluto among a million other things. And once again we have theme music for a superhero that few knew even had a theme. The clumsy edit was performed by yours truly, DJ David B.

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An unheard-of comics tune awaits if you just click on the bar below…

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Next week, tune in for the MMMS…

A while back (March 25th to be exact!) we presented a truly awful track from this rip-off superhero album by The Capes & Masks. It was a wretched pastiche of the fantastic wedding of Sue and Reed that included random explosion sound effects and made little or no sense. Bad record. Bad. Bad.

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But now we present, from the very same bogus, low-budget album, one of the greatest tracks in all of comicdom. The most mind-expanding comic-oriented record I’ve ever heard. It’s the “Pet Sounds” of rip-off records. The “Sgt. Pepper” of bargain-bin music. I give you, “The Eagle’s Code.” Just listen and tell me this isn’t one of the most creative and wonderful recordings you’ve ever heard in the 99-cent rack.

Kudos to Mr. Capes and Mr. Masks for producing a rip-off record so ahead of its time!

To experience this musical masterpiece, click on the bar below…

(if no bar appears please click here to listen)

Next week, a fleeting flash from the Scarlet Speedster…

Somebody out there who is a bigger cartoon expert than me, can probably tell me (and probably will) where this track comes from. It’s not the “Meet The Flintstones” theme we’ve heard over and over again on endlessly rerun episodes of The Flintstones in syndication. Was it from the first season? The pilot? Some kind of early experiment or first draft?

Then again, The Flintstones is notorious for revisionism. The original end title theme song said “We’ll have a GAY old time” but it was later changed to “We’ll have a GREAT old time” when someone realized that two barefoot guys dressed in fur and hanging out in a cave together seemed, well, a little gay.

(This was the only piece of Flintstones art I could find online that wasn’t pornographic. Somebody has waaaay to much time on his hands.)

Anyhow, it’s good to hear the Rubbles finally get their due.

To hear this stone age toe-tapper, click on the bar below…

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Next week, tune in for the best of the worst record ever…

I know, I know. I haven’t been posting much lately and D.J. David B. has been pulling all the weight with his great music finds. I’ll start up again soon, though. Busy working on LOTS of books that you’re gonna love. Will be signing two new books Comic Arf (Fantagraphics) and Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings (Last Gasp) in San Diego. And announcing a big one. The schedule is below and I would love to see you!

Thursday July 24th

Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings
Last Gasp booth #1614
1:30 to 2:30

Comic Arf
Fantagraphic booth #1716
6:00 to 7:00
Signing with Craig are Tim Lane (Abandoned Cars) and Jim Woodring (The Portable Frank)

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Friday July 25th

Drawing Demo: Spotlight on Dean Yeagle
Room 30CDE
3:30-4:30

Comic-Con special guest Dean Yeagle has had his cartoons regularly published in Playboy for the past nine years. Most of his career has been in animation, and he has had his own animation studio for the past 22 years. He’s also recently designed and drawn the first two issues of the Return of the Gremlins comic, for Dark Horse and Disney, written by Mike Richardson. Earlier this year he had a one-man gallery show in Paris, and he also publishes his own books with his pinup character Mandy, which, you may rest assured, he’ll have for sale at Comic-Con. Join Dean and moderator/interviewer Craig Yoe (Comic Arf) to see some of Dean’s work and ask questions about Playboy, animation, comics, and how to draw pretty girls for fun and profit!

Comic Arf
Fantagraphic booth #1716
5:00 to 6:00
Signing with Craig are Zak Sally (Sammy the Mouse) and Jim Woodring (The Portable Frank)

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Saturday July 26th

Comic Arf
Fantagraphic booth #1716
11:00 to 12:00
Signing with Craig are Blake Bell (Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve Ditko) and Kim Deitch (Deitch’s Pictorama

Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings
Last Gasp booth #1614
1:30 to 2:30

The Launch of Abrams ComicArts
Room 3
3:00-4:00
Abrams, the premiere art book publisher, debuts its launch of a new comics imprint, Abrams ComicArts. The panel consists of authors and representatives of each book on the initial list, including Jaime Hernandez (creator of Love and Rockets), Jordan Crane (designer), Craig Yoe (The Art of Mickey Mouse), Denis Kitchen (cartoonist, writer, editor, publisher), Brian Fies (Mom’s Cancer), and Charles Kochman (executive editor, Abrams ComicArts) and will include a slide show and Q&A.

“Wait, is it Tuesday again? I must have overslept! Quick, where are my pants? Where are my socks? I’ve got to put a comics tune on the Arf blog or Craig Yoe will fire me!

“There’s no time to do any research. I’ll just do another version of the Batman Theme. That oughta hold the bastards.

“Oops! Did I just say that out loud?”

Never mind. This is actually an excellent recording by Les and Larry Elgart of the theme from the incredibly popular Batman TV show, circa 1966.

Can you cross your eyes and see Batgirl in 3D?

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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there was never a bigger phenomenon before or since. Everybody wanted to jump on the Batwagon with their version of the classic Neal Hefti composition. For one thing, it’s a sure way to make quick cash. For another, it’s a remarkably easy song to play. (”Na na na na na na na na, Batman!”)

Les and Larry don’t take the easy way out, though. They play their asses off on this track. Listen…

To hear this bombastic bat-tune, click on the bar below…

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Next week, it’s that modern stone age family…

When I tell people what I do for a living (that is, share my collection of comics-related music with the world) they always say, “Hey, what about Alley Oop?” Yeah, it’s kind of the most obvious comics-oriented record and probably the biggest comics-related hit next to “Sugar Sugar” (which I presented way back on February 5th.

Of course, Alley Oop the comic strip, ran for years and years.

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The original version of the song by the Hollywood Argyles (actually Gary Paxton, of “Monster Mash” fame) has been played to death. There were two more versions in the charts at the same time, one by Dante and the Evergreens and another by the Dyna-Sores (ouch). But this nifty recording is by the Royal Guardsmen, known primarily for “Snoopy and the Red Baron,” a different (but equally great) comic strip song. So there are actually TWO comics connections this week. How about that?

(click to read the comic)

As I’ve said many times – to anyone who’ll listen – this song includes my all-time favorite lyric in all of rock and/or roll: “He’s a mean motor scooter and a bad go-getter.” I think that says it all.

To check out this prehistoric gem, click on the bar below…

(if no bar appears please click here to listen)

Be here next week, same bat-time, same bat-channel…

It’s a bit after the fact but I wanted to acknowledge the passing of a legend and pay tribute to the late, great Bo Diddley – one of the founders of rock ‘n roll. And like all good founders, Bo knew the importance of cartoons and comics.

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In interviews, Bo said that his song “Road Runner” was inspired by a road runner he saw scooting across the New Mexico desert where he was living.

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But if that’s the case, why the “beep beep” refrain? It’s pretty obvious to me that was Bo saw was a Road Runner CARTOON and he was inspired by Chuck Jones and not the wonder of nature.

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Sadly, I’ll never get to ask him that question now.

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Whether Mr. Diddley was a cartoon fan or not, he was truly one of the greats and he will be missed. His influence will be felt for years to come. And I’ll think of him every time I knock on someone’s door with that shave-and-a-haircut… two-bits rhythm.

For some high-speed rock ‘n roll, click on the bar below…

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Next week, tune in for a tune about a crazy cave man…

Even though it is the height of Summer you should be think of the Autumn.  That means Thanksgiving, elections, football, and going to the movies.

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