Luke Judge

Martin Barre, the 65-year-old guitarist for legendary British band Jethro Tull, said that the group will never record another album.

In a telephone interview with the online Kinston Free Press Daily Podcast that was set up primarily to discuss the 40th anniversary of the band’s triple-platinum LP, “Aqualung,” Barre was asked about whether there will be a new Jethro Tull studio album, Barre didn’t hesitate. “No, there won’t be,” he immediately answered. When asked for a reason, he said, “Jethro Tull is on ice.”

One of rock music’s great guitarists, the man, who joined Tull in 1969 and has played on every one of the group’s 21 studio albums except its 1968 debut album, “This Was,” noted that group leader Ian Anderson is booked with solo projects for the next two years. He then added that he also has solo projects planned during that time. He said he and Anderson will tour the world separately, each playing the music of Jethro Tull.

Barre said his band will include as many as three current or former Tull members. He expressed some dissatisfaction with Anderson’s decision to perform many of the same songs tour after tour, ignoring much of the band’s deep catalog.

Barre said his tour will include Tull’s guitar-based songs that fans have not heard in concert in many years, such as “Teacher,” “Minstrel in the Gallery,” “To Cry You a Song,” and rarely performed portions from the epic early ’70s albums, “Passion Play” and “Thick as a Brick”; songs he said, “are classic Tull tracks that haven’t been done in 20 or 30 years or more.”

He added, “We won’t be regurgitating what Jethro Tull did last year, or this year, or the year before, which I find fairly pointless. We’ll give a new take on Jethro Tull with tracks that, I think, everybody will really want to hear.”

Regarding “Aqualung,” Barre said that recording that album was not necessarily a pleasant experience due to the pressure put on the band to deliver a great album after the band’s growing success. Each of Tull’s prior three albums, 1968′s “This Was,” “Stand Up” in 1969 and “Benefit” in 1970 (that he lists as his favorite), were more successful than the previous album and the move was made for the band to jump from smaller halls to 15,000-20,000-seat major arenas. “It was quite a traumatic album to make, but it became a good album.”

ROCK & ROLL HALL INDUCTEES

Scottish folk rocker Donovan, and the awkward combination of The Small Faces and the group it morphed into, The Faces, that then became Rod Stewart and The Faces, lead the 2012 list of inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will be held on April 14 in Cleveland and broadcast in early may on HBO.

The largest list of new members in quite some time also includes The Red Hot Chili Peppers; Guns N’ Roses; The Beastie Boys; and the late singer-songwriter Laura Nyro, who wrote such hits as “Wedding Bell Blues” for The 5th Dimension, “Eli’s Coming” for three Dog Night,” “And When I Die” for Blood, Sweat and Tears; and “Stoney End” for Barbra Streisand.

Blues singer-guitarist was elected as an Early Influence, and record producers Tom Dowd, Glyn Johns and Cosimo Matassa will each receive the Award for Musical Excellence. TV host/producer Don Kirschner, who died in January at age 76, will receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award for non-performers.

In the `60s, Scottish troubadour Donovan scored hits such as “Mellow Yellow, “Hurdy Gurdy Man,” “Catch the Wind,” “Sunshine Superman” “Wear your love Like Heaven” and “Atlantis.”

The Small Faces were led by Steve Marriott, who later formed Humble Pie with Peter Frampton. While the group recorded numerous hits in Britain, they only notched one hit in America, the psychedelic drug anthem, “Itchycoo Park,” in 1968. After Marriott left, remaining members bassist Ronnie Lane, drummer Kenny Jones and keyboardist Ian McLagan brought in singer Rod Stewart and guitarist Ron Wood from The Jeff Beck Group and the shortened their name to simply The Faces. As Stewart’s fame rose the group eventually became Rod Stewart and The Faces.

MOODIES HONOR “FUTURE PAST”

The Moody Blues, who scored their first hit, “Go now,” as a British Invasion band in November 1964. however, the band failed in their attempts at a follow-up hit and this led to the departure of that songs lead singer, guitarist Denny Laine and also bassist Clint Warwick. Their replacements, singer-guitarist Justin Hayward and singer-bassist John Lodge, proved a Godsend, as they converted the group from an R&B-based outfit to a classic rock band that went on to achieve legendary stature.

The Hayward-led Moodies’ most acclaimed album was his first with the group, a masterpiece recorded and released in 1967, “Days of Future Past,” that included Hayward-penned smash hits, “Tuesday Afternoon” and “Nights in White Satin.”

The Moody Blues, which still includes Hayward, Lodge and original drummer Graeme Edge, will celebrate the 45th anniversary of “Days of Future Past” on the band’s “They Voyage Continues – Highway 45″ tour of the eastern United States in March and April. So far, no dates on the remainder of the US have been announced.

NEW CAT STEVENS MUSICAL

Yusuf Islam, who found world fame in the `70s as Cat Stevens, has a new musical about his life, “Moonshadow,” named after his 1971 hit single. Yusuf announced that the production will have its world premiere at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne, Australia in may 2012, reports ABC Online. The musical will feature songs from throughout his career, including the Cat Stevens hits “Wild World,” “Father and Son,” “Morning Has Broken,” “Peace Train,” and “The first cut is the Deepest.”

A press release described the story by the 63-year-ol troubadour who first found fame as a 19-year-old in 1967 when The Tremeloes scored an international smash with his song, “Here Comes my Baby,” as “about hopes and dreams; greed and power; right and wrong; but mostly `Moonshadow’ is about happiness and love.”

In December 1977, near the peak of his career, the musician converted to Islam. Two years later, he auctioned off all his guitars, gave the money to charity and retired from music, opting to devote his time to the Muslim community, mostly in England, to its educational and charitable endeavors. He returned to pop music in 2006.

YOKO ONO & THE QUEEN

While on a tour of The Beatles hometown, Liverpool, Queen Elizabeth met John Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, according to Britain’s Daily Mail.

Ono, who turns 79 in February, flew in from her home at the Dakota in new York City for the occasion. The Queen was accompanied by her husband, Prince Phillip. The two iconic women met at the Museum of Liverpool at its exhibit of Beatles memorabilia, the iconic collarless suits worn by the Fab four in 1962-63.

Ono, who had met Her Majesty before, said, “She is always elegant. It’s always nice to meet her.” of the 85-year-old Queen’s long deep burgundy wool coat and matching hat, Ono said, “I was so amazed. That particular color, it made her look so young.”

Ono, with her Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band, is opening for The Flaming Lips in their hometown on new Year’s Eve, where she will sing “Happy XMAS (War is Over0″ with her hosts. Also, Britain’s NME (New Musical Express) reported that Ono and The Lips have collaborated on a version of “Atlas Eets Christmas” that Wayne Coyne and his psychedelic rockers released in 2007 on its Christmas album. Ono and The Flaming Lips collaborated before, in 2007, on “Cambridge 1969/2007.”

SIR PAUL & PAL

Ron Wood, the 64-year-old guitarist for both The Rolling Stones and The Faces, join Paul McCartney at The Beatle’s concert at London’s O2 Arena. Wood provided Chuck Berry-type rhythm riffing on Macca’s first encore, “Get back,” before taking a solo near the end of the song, according to the U.K. daily, the Mirror. Sir Paul debuted three never-performed songs into his repertoire, “The Night Before,” from “Help!”; “The Word,” a 1965 song from “Rubber Soul” that was mostly written and sung by John Lennon; and “Come and get it,” a song McCartney wrote in 1969 for the film, “The Magic Christian,” that starred Peter Sellers and his fellow Beatle, Ringo Starr. The song was originally intended for The Beatles’ “Abbey Road” album and Paul recorded a solo demo at the sessions for that album in less than an hour, playing all the instruments. however, he gave the song to Badfinger, who were newly signed to The Beatles’ record company, Apple. it proved Badfinger’s hit, going Top 10 internationally. Wood attended McCartney’s recent wedding to Nancy Shevell and the also the private reception.

However, another McCartney pal didn’t. his lifelong friend of more than a half-century to the Liverpool days when they each performed at the Cavern Club, singer Cilla Black, says that like Julian Lennon, she was snubbed by not getting a McCartney wedding invitation. “It would have been nice to have been asked,” she said, according to Britain’s Daily Mail.

Black, who has remained a major singing and television star in England through the decades. The 68-year-old Black is aware that this wedding, his third, was a far smaller and more intimate affair than his second, a massive, extravagant affair in 2003 to Heather Mills.

Black hit our shores as a British Invasion star in 1964 via the George Martin-produced, “You’re my World” that reached #26. Her debut single, in 1963, was a Lennon-McCartney composition, love of the loved.” The follow-up single, “It’s For You,” was also penned by Lennon-McCartney was an international hit everywhere except in the United States. in 1967, McCartney wrote “Step Inside Love” for her that became the theme song for her hit BBC TV series, “Cilla.” The record featured McCartney on vocals and acoustic guitar, John Lennon on bongos and Ringo Starr on wood claves (blocks).

GEORGE JONES PAYS TRIBUTE

Eighty-year-old country legend George Jones honored a fellow country music legend to whom he was married from 1969-75 when he performed at the Tammy Wynette Birthplace Concert in Itawamba, MS, according to Vintage Vinyl News. The concert raised funds for a park to be named after Wynette, who died in 1998 of a blood clot at age 55. in his set, Jones included two hits songs that he recorded as duets with Wynette, “Take Me” and “Golden Ring.” said Jones, “I know if she could be here she would really appreciate it so much.” she was a great singer and she deserves anything being done for her. and I appreciate it on my part.”

NEW RELEASES

Among the new CDs and newly digitalized rereleased CDs and deluxe reissues include the American version of Doris Day’s first album of new recordings since 1967, “My Heart”; The Cure’s 2-CD “Bestival Live 2011″; “The very best of Neil Diamond”; “Live at the Mar Y Sol Festival `72″ fro Emerson, Lake and Palmer; “Preaching the Blues,” a live album from the first post-Peter Green Fleetwood Mac, circa 1970, with John McVie, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, Jeremy Spenser and Danny Kirwan and “Tribute: one Man one Voice” by Southern soulster Willie Clayton.

Also new is the 2-CD, “Pno Gtr Vox: Live Performances By Peter Hammill,” from the founder of English progressive rock band, Van der Graff Generator; Allman Brothers and Gov’t Mule guitarist Warren Haynes’ 2-CD “Benefit Concert 4″; an import, “Live at Rockpalast” from The Ian Hunter Band featuring Mick Ronson; an import, “Listen Like Thieves,” from Aussie rockers INXS; “Old School” from E Street Band guitarist Nils Lofgren; “Lonesome Whistle: A Tribute to Hank Williams” from country harmonica player Charlie McCoy; an import, “Dead Son Rising” from synthesizer-electronic guy Gary Numan; “The Secret Bees of Ninth,” an EP from former Bauhaus singer, Brit Peter Murphy; and a 10-CD/DVD set, “The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook” by Elvis Costello.

Among the new DVDs are “Live at Beacon Theatre” from The Allman Brothers; “Live” from former singer-bassist for Chicago, Peter Cetera; “Live Performances” from Chicago; and “Love we Make” from Paul McCartney.

LITTLE RIVER BAND CHRISTMAS

Australia’s Little River Band, that initially hit our shores in 1977 with “Help is On its Way” and found real fame a year later with the no. 3 soft-rock smash, “Reminiscing,” has released its second holiday in a row. The new album, “A Little River Band Christmas” follows on the heels of its 2007 CD, “We Call it Christmas.” The new album includes new songs as well as traditional carols like “Silent Night,” “We three Kings” and “O, Little Town of Bethlehem.” The Little River Band plays the Green Valley Ranch Resort and Spa in Henderson, NV on Feb. 25.

PAUL ANKA CHRISTMAS

Fifties teen idol Paul Anka has released his first Christmas album since 1960. “Songs of December,” see the 70-year-old songwriter of “Diana” and “My Way” running through such traditional goodies as “Winter Wonderland,” “Let it Snow,” “Silver Bells” and eight more.

SUPER BOWL HALFTIME

Madonna will headline the halftime show at Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5 at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Adding to the visuals during the 12-minute performance will be Cirque du Soleil. The game and Madonna’s halftime show will air on NBC and is expected to be one of the most-watched shows of television year.

LIONEL RITCHIE HONORED

Harvard University honored former Commodores frontman Lionel Ritchie with its Peter G. Gomes Humanitarian Award for the 62-year-ol singer’s philanthropic work. He was also specifically cited for co-writing “We are The World,” the 1985 benefit song that raised million of dollars for victim of hunger in Africa, and for his advocacy of breast cancer research.

BLUESMAN SUMLIN DIES

Masterful blues guitarist Hubert Sumlin, who se playing influenced countless rock guitarists, especially former Yardbirds Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton, died in Wayne, NJ at 80, according to the new York Times. no cause of death was given.

Sumlin originally backed up legendary Chicago bluesman Howlin’ Wolf in 1953, including on the classic 1956 hit recording, “Smokestack Lightnin’,” that was a popular song for The Yardbirds. Sumlin is also the lead guitarist heard on another legend, Willie Dixon’s, “Spoonful” that was covered by Clapton and Cream and “Back Door Man,” popularized in the `60s by The Doors, and “The Red Rooster,” that The Rolling Stones covered as “Little Red Rooster.”

Sumlin, who Rolling Stone magazine included on its recent list of the Top 100 Guitarists of All Time, was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 2008. He was performing almost until the time of his death.

OLDEST PERFORMING MUSICIAN DIES

Ukulele player Bill Tapia, who was believe to be the world’s oldest performing musician, died in Los Angeles at age 103, according to Reuters. Tapia played with greats going back to the `30s, including Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby. six months ago a live recording of his 100th birthday celebration, was released. He was inducted into the Ukulele Hall of Fame in 2004. The man who began his career entertaining troops in World War I was still touring until last year.

DOBIE GRAY DIES

Soul and pop singer Dobie Gray died in Nashville at 71, according to a post on his website and confirmed by Nashville’s News Channel 5. no cause of death was cited. Gray was best known for “Drift Away” that hit no. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1975. The song sold more than one million copies and remains a radio constant. Gray’s first hit occurred eight years earlier, in 1965, when he took “The `In’ Crowd” to no. 13 on the Hot 100 and no. 11 on the R&B chart. interestingly, pianist Ramsey Lewis had an instrumental hit with the song that same year. Gary only hit the Top 40 one more time, in 1979 with “You can Do it.”

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Brenda Starr was born June 30, 1940, full-grown into a big-citynewspaper office where she was an oddity, a female reporter.

Also gorgeous, a fiery redhead, as they say, with a glamorous ifout-of-place wardrobe. Straight away Brenda Starr demanded respectin a man’s world, insisting on hard-hitting news assignments.

Hers was a call to arms for women entering the workforce. Shebecame a cultural icon from the funny papers. a career woman withan important and adventurous job, Starr exposed the rich andfamous, although she never entirely overcame a slightly ditzystreak.

The comic strip heroine was heralded as a “girl reporter,” but theterm didn’t offend Mary Schmich back when Schmich actually was agirl, reading the comics pages.

“There was something thrilling about that,” she says.

Yes, thrilling. Schmich is a longtime journalist in Chicago who hada side job for the past 25 years as the writer of the Brenda Starrcomic strip. her comment helps explain the devotion Starr earnedfrom generations of women.

And men. Tom Henderson, a reporter and a self-described ardentBrenda Starr fan and feminist, wrote an essay several years agoafter the death of Brenda Starr’s creator, Dale Messick. He calledit, “Brenda Starr made a Man out of Me.”

Now, Brenda Starr is gone.

Schmich and June Brigman, the strip’s artist for the last 15 years,decided they had ventured as far as they could go with theglobe-trotting newspaper reporter, and Tribune Media Services optedto end the strip’s 70 year run rather than find a new writer andillustrator. The final strip was published Jan. 2.

No ace reporter to wear pearls and show a bit of cleavage in thenewsroom of The Flash.

No more hasty departures to Belize or London to track the big,improbable story.

No more rendezvous with eternal love interest Basil St. John, theMan of Mystery – although a boxed black orchid did arrive,mysteriously, from “BSJ” in the final strip. (Serum from the rareSouth American orchid kept him from going mad, recall.)

Never mind, because Brenda Starr will forever hold an esteemedplace in comic strip history.

Trina Robbins, a historian of women in comics, says Messick’screation seven decades ago was nothing less than groundbreaking.Female characters were typically wives or girlfriends of the starcharacters, not stars themselves, she says.

That was no doubt because comic strip writers and artists also weremen, she says. In fact, Messick switched her first name from Daliato Dale to avoid bias as she tried to break into comics.

“She thought if she had a sexually ambiguous name, she would have abetter chance of selling her strip,” says Robbins, who knew Messickand has written about her life.

But Messick was highly motivated, persevering even after severalstrip ideas were rejected, including her original pitch for BrendaStarr. an editor told Messick that he gave a woman cartoonist achance once, and it didn’t work out.

“Even though Dale changed her name, she couldn’t disguise the factthat the strip was by a woman,” Robbins says.

Andrew Farago, curator of the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco,says the museum has showcased “Brenda Starr” as a great adventurestrip, noteworthy for the rarity of having a woman as the creatorand for its longtime excellence in artwork. Both Ramona Fradon, theartist for 15 years after Messick, and Brigman have a strong bodyof work as comic book artists, Farago says.

“And the strip has always had women at the helm, which has been aterrific thing,” he says.

Schmich, born in 1953, recalls reading “Brenda Starr” as ayoungster, when the excitement of Sunday morning was spreading thecomics out on the floor.

What wasn’t there to like about Starr? Schmich says, especiallycompared with “Nancy,” who was “weird, androgynous,” and “MaryWorth,” who was “elderly and dispensed advice.”

As Schmich got older, she lost track of the funny pages, as peopledo. That’s why, back in 1985 when she was working at the OrlandoSentinel, and an editor asked her if she wanted to meet with thefeatures syndicate people – in one hour – about a job as the newwriter for “Brenda Starr,” she rushed to the racks of newspapers inthe lobby and read all the strips she could in 60 minutes.

“How could you say ‘No’?” she says. “Something this ridiculouscrosses your path and you’re not going to pick it up?”

After she got the job, she needed something for Starr to cover inher first strips. Schmich had just written about motorcycle eventsat Daytona Beach, so Starr covered bikers on the beach, too. that,naturally, led to an investigation of suntan lotion moguls. Aboutthat time Schmich moved to Chicago to work for the Tribune.

When Schmich took over the strip, Starr seemed stuck in the1950s. Other female pop culture characters had long passed her by,from Marlo Thomas’ “That Girl” in the 1960s to Mary Tyler Moore’sTV newswoman, Mary Richards, in the ’70s.

“They were Brenda versions 2.0,” Schmich says. “My mission was tobring Brenda into the 1980s. But there were limits to how I couldmanipulate Brenda Starr. She just pushed back.”

That is, Starr could be less ditzy, she could cry less, she couldobsess less about men. But she still couldn’t grow suddenly stoicor forsake her love life.

Schmich also knew that she couldn’t turn Brenda Starr into MarySchmich and that Starr’s career couldn’t mirror the typicalnewspaper journalist’s duties.

“I’m sitting at my desk wearing jeans, hair unkempt, no makeup on.that character was not going to be an icon,” Schmich says. “And foras much as every day in the newsroom is a crisis, the drama andsuspense are really not there.”

When Messick was criticized years earlier for Starr’s unlikelyassignments of international intrigue, she didn’t apologize:”Authenticity is something I always try to avoid.”

But Schmich, a working journalist, couldn’t help but inject alittle authenticity. She was awash in current events, in thetroubles of the newspaper industry and in the atmosphere of atypical newsroom – from reporters’ rivalries to their love-haterelationships with editors to their junk-piled cubicles.

“That’s what I had in my head when I sat down to write,” shesays.

Brigman sought out and won the drawing job 15 years ago afterhearing that Fradon wanted to retire. She, too, had read “BrendaStarr” growing up, and she connected with Schmich’s tweaking of theStarr character. She liked that Starr “still had sparkly eyes butwasn’t quite as starry-eyed,” that she was more about career andless about shopping.

Brigman decided to dress Starr in less-frilly outfits, more suitswith boot-cut pants and a lower waist line.

“But one thing stayed the same,” she says. “She always had theclassic pearl necklace and matching earrings.”

Her job was to make the strip visually entertaining, and Schmich’snew characters helped, including a dog for Starr.

Brigman decided on a Jack Russell terrier, she says, because JackRussells are natural-born troublemakers. his markings included aneye patch, “just like the other man in Brenda’s life.”

She liked drawing Patch, so Schmich kept working him into plots,including a series in which Patch ended up with an atomic bomb inhis stomach.

“Don’t ask me,” Brigman says, “I just draw the pictures.”

Schmich’s story lines often were inspired by news events andcelebrities. The real story of a boy who fell into a gorilla pen ata zoo launched a series of strips in which Starr and Basil St. Johnrescue Basil’s son Sage from a similar plight. In another, Schmichparodied Arianna Huffington with a character named VanityPuffington.

“I didn’t draw her kindly,” Brigman says. “She had the biggest hairI think I’ve ever drawn on a character.”

The strip was never intended to be “Doonesbury” or “Pogo,” butfans were drawn to the modern satire. Jay Weiser, an associateprofessor at Baruch College in new York, was among them.

Weiser started following “Brenda Starr” in the mid-1980s, whenSchmich began her run as writer, and he can recall characters andstory lines even she has long forgotten.

Weiser enjoyed that the villains were money- and fame-obsessed andBrenda unmasked them: “I think that really comes out of a deeptradition in American writing.” But the satire particularly heldhis interest, and Brigman’s artwork helped pull it off, hesays.

There was the singer/environmentalist, Spring Chicwater, who pushedhis brand of bottled water and looked a lot like the singer Sting.and Slash Burns, who bore a resemblance to TV host BillO’Reilly.

And there was Councilman Graftovich who, after weeks of mystery inthe strip, stepped out of a yellow Hummer with hair that was”everything a Rod Blagojevich connoisseur could hope for,” Weisersays.

“I think it’s a great body of work,” he says. “Hopefully Brendawill be back in some form or another.”

Many journalists are also among the strip’s longtime fans.Henderson, beyond admiring Starr as a strong woman character, lovedthe news media backdrop.

“I like to think we’re still a heroic profession in some regards,”Henderson says. “The strip speaks to that idealism and romanticismwe all had when we got into newspapers in the first place, tocomfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”

As a former newspaper guy who now writes online articles forparentdish.com, he admired Schmich and Brigman’s gigging ofjournalism in the Internet age.

Henderson recalls a comment from The Flash’s gossip columnist,Gabby Van Slander: “What kind of a nitwit would buy a newspaperthese days? Is he buying a horse and buggy business, too?”

Van Slander was a Schmich creation, and her quote is one of manyHenderson has collected. He has used them as an instructor in highschool and college journalism courses. In one story line, Starrrights the wrongs of blogger Rat Sludge, which rhymes with MattDrudge. In another, Starr and colleagues are involved in a”Survivor”-style reality TV show. The strip shows people watchingthe show when one viewer comments: “This is ridiculous. who evenreads newspapers anymore?”

“I like the storylines that you can tell there’s a real-lifereporter kind of winking behind the scenes,” Henderson says.

Some 250 newspapers once carried “Brenda Starr,” but at the endthat number was down to about three dozen, plus online.

It’s unclear how long Brenda Starr the character will endure inpopular culture without her daily comic strip presence. She was apostage stamp in the 1990s and a collectible doll in the 2000s.Jill St. John starred in a 1976 Brenda Starr TV movie, and amuch-panned film with Brooke Shields and Timothy Dalton wasreleased in 1992. could a Brenda Starr revival be far away?

Meanwhile, Dan Herman of Hermes Press is planning the June releaseof the first of five books to feature reprints of Brenda Starrstrips. Hermes publishes books about comic strip artists and hasreprinted “Buck Rogers” and “The Phantom.”

The strip for the first five years was on Sundays only, and thebook will have two complete story lines from those early years,Herman says. It will pick up a bit later in 1945 with theintroduction of Basil St. John, plus a complete year of strips from1948. The $60 book will be full color and 256 pages.

“When you talk about the great comic strips, you have to includeBrenda Starr,” he says. “The classics never go out of style.”

Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon correspondent:

“For my entire career, people have said, ‘Brenda. No, Barbara.Wait, why am I calling you Brenda?’ I’ve gotten e-mail and phonemessages to ‘Brenda’ Starr. I used to get really annoyed, but nowI’m honored. and that’s why I’m kind of sad now.

“I grew up in Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles Times was on thedoorstep every morning. I read the comics with my bowl of CocoaKrispies, ‘Brenda Starr,’ ‘Mary Worth’ and ‘Apartment 3-G.’ Thatprobably was the beginning of my realizing that reading thenewspaper could take you to far-off and interesting places youcould never get to otherwise. and I thought what she did was prettycool. She had fabulous hair, fabulous clothes. She had men. She hadgirlfriends.

“With comics going out of print, it’s a passing: kids with theirnoses buried in the comics pages, using their imaginations. I thinkthat’s what comics gave little kids, a chance to use theirimaginations. I’m sad on many fronts.

“With a little chemical help, there is some red tint in my hair.Now that she’s gone, I may just decide to go redder.”

Anna Quindlen, author and journalist, in her book “Loud andClear”:

“Over the desk in my home office, just above the telegram Ireceived in 1992 when I won the Pulitzer Prize, there are twopieces of art. one is a framed photograph by Joyce Ravid of aneasel standing in one corner of what appears to be a hotelcorridor. on the easel is a placard that reads THE KEY TO SUCCESS:FOLLOW YOUR HEART.

“The other is an original cartoon, the comic strip ‘Brenda Starr,Reporter.’ a friend runs to the desk of the ace newswoman, calling,‘Brenda! Anna Quindlen just called! She said your story wasbrilliant. She wondered if you’d like to quit the newspaper andco-author a sensitive feminist novel with her.’

“I first wanted to be a reporter when I was a little girl becauseof Brenda, because of her exotic travels, her exotic boyfriend,above all her exotic fall of red hair, and it is still a bitdifficult for me to believe that I made a cameo appearance in herlife.”

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Among collectors and investors conversation and excitement usually centers around Golden age, Silver Age, and EVEN Modern age comics. The Bronze Age (maybe that should be FORGOTTEN Age) tends to get short shrift. Yet the argument can be made that the Bronze Age (1971-1985) was one of the most dynamic periods in the history of comic books and marked a quantum shift in the hobby when readership moved from children/young teens to teen/adult.

While Bronze Age comics did retain many similarities to their Silver Age counterparts (Superheroes/Fantasy), plot lines became decidedly darker and more adult.
Two books published more or less at the same moment in time serve as the demarcation point from Silver to bronze Age. These books were The Amazing Spider-Man and Green Lantern/Green Arrow.

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“Trickster” (Fulcrum Books, $23) is one of those brilliant ideas that, in retrospect, are so obvious, people slap their foreheads and say, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Trickster” editor Matt Dembicki rounded up American Indian writers from across the United States, and paired them with artists (including himself) to relate tales of American Indian trickster gods. They conjured up more than 20 tales of pure, undiluted magic.

Trickster-god stories are as varied as the tribes that told them as instructions, jokes, morality tales and more. Some trickster gods take on a specific form; others shape-shift into animals such as ravens, rabbits and foxes. The variety is amazing, and no two tales are alike.

For example, in “Azban and the Crayfish,” a clever trickster takes the form of a raccoon, plays dead and allows a crayfish to take credit for “killing” him. That brings the crayfish just close enough to eat, and a lesson is learned about bragging.

Some tricksters can be helpful, as in “The Bear That Stole the Chinook,” in which Coyote rescues the wind from Bear after Owl and Weasel fail. Some are selfish troublemakers, such as the egotistical trickster who ruins the order of the stars in “Coyote and the Pebbles.”

But whatever form the trickster takes, and whatever his scheme, it generally results in chaos or trouble for someone — sometimes the trickster.

Trickster gods are not unheard of in comics. For example, Loki, the Norse god of mischief, has been a constant in Marvel’s “Thor” comics since the early 1960s. Steve Englehart’s “Coyote” was an influential book in the 1980s at Eclipse and Epic, with art by Marshall Rogers, Steve Leialoha and others. (It’s available in five trade paperbacks from Image now.) Anansi, the Spider God of West Africa and the Caribbean, has been hero, villain and supporting character in a variety of comics.

Which just goes to show that trickster gods and comics were made for each other.

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Tim Pratt (contact)July 7, 2010 10:59:00 AM

From the ashes of the former Oktibbeha County Red Cross, a new organization is forming to provide local disaster response services.

The Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved a resolution of intent to form a new, yet-to-be-named organization which would operate as a branch of the Oktibbeha County Emergency Management Office. The organization would respond to fires and natural disasters, much like the Red Cross did, and provide food, shelter, clothing and other services, former Oktibbeha County Red Cross Director Becky Wilkes said.

Wilkes and former Oktibbeha County Red Cross program coordinator Connie Malone, both of whom resigned from their positions amid a statewide Red Cross realignment, plan to spearhead the new organization. Wilkes said she is dedicated to serving the community, but admits she has become frustrated with national Red Cross leadership. She cited the Red Cross’ CEO’s salary of more than $500,000 plus a bonus, and the fact that she was told the Mississippi Red Cross was $500,000 in the hole, but then was offered a 3 percent bonus because the Oktibbeha County chapter finished the fiscal year “in the black.”

“We are tired of contributing to a bureaucracy that pays exorbitant salaries to its leaders and ignores the needs of the local people and the local chapters,” Wilkes said.

The Oktibbeha County Red Cross had to pay $16,000 annually to the national office just to remain a chapter, Wilkes said. And the national office expected the Oktibbeha County chapter to raise approximately $300,000 this year, she said.

“Something’s not right with the Red Cross,” she said. “I cannot fight that organization any more.”

The Red Cross still will operate five main chapters in Oxford, Tupelo, Meridian, Jackson and Hattiesburg. As of July 1, the Oktibbeha County Red Cross chapter and the Tenn-Tom chapter in Lowndes County operate under the Meridian office, although Red Cross officials plan to leave just one office open in the Golden Triangle. Whether the Oktibbeha County chapter or Tenn-Tom chapter remains open is still undecided.

Paige Roberts, interim director of communications for the Red Cross in Mississippi, said last week an office even could open between Starkville and Columbus and both existing offices could close.

Wilkes went before the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors and the Starkville Board of Aldermen Tuesday to inform local leaders about the plan to start the new organization and ask for their support.

“The first couple of years will be hard,” Wilkes acknowledged, saying the new organization could operate on $60,000-$70,000 per year. “We’ll lose that brand identification of the Red Cross, but we think the people of Oktibbeha County will step up and support this organization.”

Oktibbeha County typically contributes $11,000-$12,000 per year to the Red Cross and would contribute those funds to the county’s Emergency Management Office when the new organization gets up and running. The United Way typically contributes $14,000, Wilkes said, and the city of Starkville contributes $5,000.

Wilkes hopes the county, city and Mississippi State University sign an interlocal agreement in support of the new organization. The only function the Red Cross serves that the new organization wouldn’t is the ability to bring military members home from different locations if their families have been affected by a disaster, Wilkes said.

“Give us two years and let us see if we can make this work,” Wilkes said, and noted the organization would be open to working with the Red Cross office out of Meridian during local disasters.

The Oktibbeha County Red Cross responded to the Academy Crossing Apartments fire on Dec. 28, 2009, which killed three women and six children in one unit. The Red Cross also paid for all nine funerals.

Oktibbeha County’s Red Cross chapter also raised more than $15,000 for victims of the Haiti earthquake earlier this year and assisted residents displaced by the fires at Crossgates Apartments and Campus Trails Apartments in April. More than 110 people were displaced by those two fires.

Additionally, the Oktibbeha County Red Cross helped victims of the tornado outbreak this spring, which killed 10 people throughout the state, including five in Choctaw County.

The Oktibbeha County chapter’s response to those disasters has left Wilkes bewildered as to why the office might close.

“I’m baffled, I’m confused, I’m hurt by the Red Cross,” Wilkes said.

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Comic book artists today need an excellent degree of design and art skills to compete with other artists. Gone are the days of simple outline drawings that resemble silhouettes.

To cut it; as an artist, you will need to build an excellent portfolio of your work and an action plan, because you are not going to be discovered easily without them. The likes of DC and Marvel publishers are looking for gifted artists with a resume to prove it! However you do have other options.

So… some points you need in preparation towards looking for work as a comic book artist are:

• If your skill is of a high standard and you have confidence in your work why not volunteer with a comic book publishing house. This is probably my most important advice. You will be in a commercial environment and will be working with talented individuals who can help you.
• Without an immaculate Portfolio you are going to struggle finding an interested employer let alone volunteering. Concentrate on your Portfolio and use examples of your work that really show off your skills. Your Portfolio should showcase your range of skills to the employer this is important even when looking for volunteering positions. Your selling yourself so be confident.
• Make a website about yourself, where your portfolio can really shine, personally I would outsource to an experienced web designer, who can do it some justice try Elance.com for that. When you have a website up and running with your comic book art you can contact comic book publishers and direct them to your website. Join forums to do with art, and leave interesting posts, and make sure you have a signature at the bottom of each post with a link to your website. This is very important as professional comic book artists will find your post eventually and will have your website link at the bottom.
• Go to Conventions and network with Publishers. At first just introduce yourself and make small talk, and mention that you have your portfolio with you, you should have no problem making professional relationships this way, although make sure you are prepared in advance.

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