Tales of the Rockabilly Rambler

In the history of pop culture, the United States has there ever been a more influential or important figure than The King himself Elvis Presley. Even 41 years after his “death” Elvis is still a pop culture icon.

While the world was obsessed with music, curled lip, and swinging hips, Elvis was obsessed with law enforcement. He had asked then President Nixon to deputize him as a federal drug enforcement agent (Nixon gave him a specially made Bureau of Narcotics badge), he was also an honorary captain in the Denver police department, and among his most prized possessions was a collection of police badges from departments all across the nation.

During a trip to Graceland, artist and publisher Aaron Allen found himself looking at a turquoise handled colt 45 pistol, in a display about Elvis and law enforcement and he was “All shook up”* and it came to him.

“What if Elvis had pursued that life? Why not create short fictional stories of his time as a police officer?”
Allen recruited 9 writers and 9 artists to create an anthology of stories about Elvis in law enforcement. The nine stories which make up the Tales of the Rockabilly Rambler take the tale of the king in all sorts of directions. We see the king, reimagined as a ninja bashing badass, a gun-slinging sheriff, a femme fatale, a supernatural demon hunter, and more. The book is a really fun read, some of the artwork is really stunning and if I'm being honest some is not my cup of tea. Then again some people like quaaludes and fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches, and others don’t. To each his own.

The publishers are currently running a Kickstarter to bring Tales of the Rockabilly Rambler to comic book stores everywhere in a beautiful hardcover edition. So far so good on their campaign, but they are looking to get over the finish line and bring this great book out to the masses. 

NOTE: While I was given a copy of the book to review, I was not compensated for this review. All opinions are my own.

* How can you do a review of something Elvis related without at least one reference to a song lyric. 
As an aside to this aside, If you don’t like a sprinkling of song lyrics this might not be the comic anthology for you. 

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs - Chuck Klosterman

My ten year old daughter has probably read 20 books in 2019. When I bought her a new book during a recent visit, she mentioned another book she wanted. Ironically it was the book I didn't choose at the store. So I ordered it for her. I wish I could read as fast as she does, but I don’t I finally finished my first book of the year. Chuck Klosterman’s Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs*.

This book which I had bought at a second-hand store many years ago, is a collection of short essays that seemingly have no through line, except that no pop culture exists in a vacuum. And the idea that after you read a
book of essays about pop culture you should have a list of things you want to watch, read, and listen to, even if it won’t be your first time consuming it.

Set up like a playlist. Klosterman jumps from stories about Guns n Roses cover bands and the Real World Seattle (the one where the girl with lupus gets slapped as she’s driving away in a cab) to the Zodiac killer. With short interludes in between.

What is great about this book is it is almost a time machine back to a more innocent time, of pop culture before the responsibility of post young adult adulthood.

*A low culture manifesto

My reading journal - Monday 3/27

Norse Mythology
  Neil Gaiman

 One of the interesting characters in this book is Thor. He is the god of Thunder and son of the main God Odin. He is impetuous and not very mature. While he is a great and powerful warrior his father is not sure that he is ready to lead Asgard as king.

My reading journal - Wednesday

My daughter's teacher took making sure they  are reading to the next level. She makes they do a reading journal where you have to write about what you are reading. I love it. So this week I will do it to. 

Wednesday: compare two characters and describe their differences and similarities. 

Norse Mythology

By Neil Gaiman

This book so far has really been about three characters Odin, Thor and Loki. I have decided to compare Thor and Loki. Thor is serious and physically powerful. While Loki is mischievous and while having a physical presence does his battles with his mind and mouth rather than his fists like Thor does. Loki is portrayed as smart and cunning while  Thor is seen as a powerful dullard. 

On the other hand both are gods in the mythology of the Norse people. Both are beloved by Odin, Thor as his son and Loki as his blood brother. And they have a bond in so much Thor allowed Loki to renege on his deal with the dwarfs. 

My reading journal - Tuesday

My daughter's teacher took making sure her class is reading to the next level. She makes them do a reading journal where you have to write about what you are reading. I love it. So this week I will do it as well.

Tuesday: in a few sentences summarize what you read today.

Beware the Power of the Darkside

By Tom Angleberger

Much to my chagrin my daughters teacher mixed up the reading journal assignments. I guess to keep them fresh. So instead of the book I'm reading ( Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman), since I didn't get a chance to read today I am writing about the book Inread last night to the kids at bed time.

Tphis book is an adaptation of Return of the Jedi, from a series of noveliizations of the original Star Wars Trilogy. Unlike some of the others this one is very close to the original. We are still in the part when the heroes are in Jabba's palace. The kids like my impression of Jabba's laugh and when I speak in huttese and whatever language that Bib Fortunate speaks in. The kids drifted off as the sand skiffs approached the pit of Carkoon, the home of the Sarlac. It's really great that they are enjoying these stories that brought me so much joy when I was their ages.

Reading Journal - Monday

My daughter's teacher took making sure her class is reading to the next level. She makes them do a reading journal where you have to write about what you are reading. I love it. So this week I will do it as well.

Monday: What happened in the chapter you read? Summarize in 3-5 sentences.  

Norse Mythology
  By Neil Gaiman

In the chapter I just read, Loki the trickster removed the hair from Thor's wife Sif's head. Thor was mad and Loki made a deal with him that he could get the Dwarves to make her new hair. Loki had two sets of dwarfs making five items, he made it a competition telling one group they could have his head if they one. They made hair that would magically grow on Sif's head, they also made a boat that folded down to pocket size and they forged Thor's hammer Mjolnir. Odin and Thor were pleased and the dwarfs won. But ever the trickster Loki said they couldn't have his head because it would require them to take his neck and that wasn't part of the bet. 

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

Long before Robert's rebellion. Before the untimely deaths of four of the last five Hands of the king. Before dwarves drank and knew things. Before a noble girl became no one. And before an exiled princess became the mother of dragons. There was a young bald squire named Egg and his very big, very inexperienced but well intentioned knight Ser Duncan the Tall. 

The adventures of Dunk and Egg are the main focus of George RR Martin's A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. These stories are rumored to be the basis of the yet to be announced but eagerly anticipated Game of Thrones spin off series on HBO.

 Unlike the Ice and Fire main novels, this collection of short stories are quick, fast paced and a little bit short on killing characters you have grown to love and care for. Honestly, despite being published after the novels it acts as a real nice intro into the world of Westeros, during a time where the only important family name was Targaryan. All the other known great houses of the TV show and books were just in their places below them. The horrors that lurk beyond The Wall were just tales that were told to little lordlings to scare them to sleep. 

I had started this book in the summer, right before our annual trip to the renaissance faire. Let me tell you the joust is way more entertaining when you have been reading about hedge knights, their squires and the inner workings of an afternoon of sport to entertain the highborn. There is very little mention of turkey legs and funnel cake. But it really got me in the mood to watch the joust. 

 It is a really fun book. It moves and doesn't get so bogged down with endless exposition in the way that the main books do sometimes. If I had the time set aside to read I could have blown right through this book. I guess I am back to the main novels, only 4000 more pages to go before Winds of Winter the long anticipated sixth novel is released at some point this summer.

Fatherloss by Neil Chethik

A few weeks ago I was looking for something in our storage space and I came upon a book that I had read (turns out I still had ten pages to go). It was Fatherloss by Neil  Chethik. I think I had found it in a break room, but it is a really interesting book about men of all ages come to deal with the death of their father. Many of the men interviewed lost their fathers when they were adults while some like me lost theirs when they were children.

Chethik who started writing the book after watching his dad deal with the death of his father (Chethik's grandfather) really gets the emotions stirring, and its not just a book filled with dry statistics. It makes me think about so many of the unresolved issues I still deal with nearly thirty years later. And giving me a plan how to make sure that I don't have any of these issues with Belushi. The book is very centered on the son-father relationship, and how its a different bond that relations with daughters and spouses.

This issue for me is is very much on the forefront of my mind with my father-in-law's ever diminishing health, and how soon we will have to deal with his passing and its effect on our family. Its an older book, but one worth checking out.