Isn't The World Big Enough For More Than One All Dwarf Kiss Tribute Band?

Apparently not.

CD Explosion

Wow. This really happens.

My son and I were re-installing an old copy of Midtown Madness 2 and we heard a loud bang. Couldn't get the door back open, so I took it apart and the CD was in at least one hundred pieces. I hadn't heard about this happening before so I figured he put the CD in wrong, but then it occurred to me that the thing had started to install so it had to be in correctly. After a little research we found out this really happens. Exploding CD's. Wow.

The unit itself doesn't seem to be damaged, although I haven't tried to write anything on it. Huh.

I think though at some point I may have said to him "You must have put the CD in wrong. CD's just don't explode for no reason." Well, yes they do. He was relieved when I told him that. Dad was wrong...sorry.

Meet The Merkelson's

I promised you a preview of what's to come on the new That Damn Podcast and here it is. First, a little backstory.

Since I was a little kid, I've been messing around with tapes and doing recordings. I fell in love with Firesign Theatre, the old National Lampoon records, as well as old time radio shows. I was never far from my portable cassette recorder, then reel to reel, finally DAT and digital. I absolutely loved doing this stuff. Oddly enough, I had to teach myself how to draw and do comics and that's always been work, you know? But doing voices, and recording stuff, that's always been the thing that comes easily. But as I came of age and had the oppotunity to do this stuff, spoken word recordings sort of fell out favor. FM radio was music and AM became talk radio and sports. The age of the comedy album had passed. But now things are starting to change. Satellite radio, looking for programs to fill hundreds of channels, and perhaps more importantly, pocasting, digital downloads and stuff like that mean the audience for this type of entertainment is growing again. And so I decided to crank up the old equipment and see what happened.

And the result was my decision to launch That Damn Podcast.

Today's preview clip is a bit called "The Merkelson's." The idea was re-create the sound, music, voices and feel of a 40's era radio show. It took quite a bit of tweaking to get the sound just right. I want you to think you're sitting in front of an old radio listening to this program.

http://youdamnkid.com/sr_themerkelsons.mp3

"The Merkelson's" will just be a small part of the upcoming podcast, but it was the hardest to do. I hope you enjoy it!

That Damn Podcast

I'm pleased to announce that next Sunday will be the release of my latest endeavor, That Damn Podcast! TDP will be mostly comedy bits, featuring characters from different YDK comics, as well as a few new things. You'll get to hear Uncle Mike and Aunt Rita, The Mr. Mintz Show, a short Banion bit and a new piece, The Merkelson's, an homage to old radio shows. There will also be new music as well. Sometime later this weel I'll be posting some previews here - exclusively on the blog-so you can get an idea of what the show will be about.

Heads Up

There are three ongoing storylines over at the comics site - and one of them is going to end badly.

Just a heads up.

A Significant Moment

I was watching Monty Python the other night when my eight your old came in the living room. He sat down next to me and we watched together. It's the first time he's ever seen it, but he liked it right away. He laughed at all the right times, and for the most part understood the British accents and the concepts. He roared at some of Terry Gilliam's cartoons. Yesterday he was humming "The Lumberjack Song" to himself. Tonight I'm going to show him the "Silly Walks" sketch.

For some parents, there's relief to find out that their kid is straight, or good at athletics or whatever. For me, it's finding out he "gets" Python.

Glee.

Stuff...

I've scrapped plans for the Banion radio show...because instead I'm working on a Banion animated short. I got my hands on some animation software and decided to give it a go. Yeah, I know everyone is doing flash but I don't have the time to learn it properly to do what I want to do, so we're going to do it old school. I was inspired watching old "Dick Tracy" cartoons - remember those? "Dick Tracy calling Joe Jitzu!" Each episode will contain a little tag at the end, a visit with "The Banion Jr. Detective Gang." For those who need to catch up, it's based on the Banion character that appeared in the original Beevnicks. Actually, I haven't read through the Beevnicks archives since they originally came out. I have a horrible memory when it comes to stuff I've written, so when I go back to read it after a few years it's like it's all new new to me. And I really liked some of that old Beevnick stuff. Some of it was kind of out there - storylines that got silly and such, but I think they are some of the best characters I've written. Oh well, maybe...(Ah, the curse of the Gemini. Make up your mind, man!)

Anyway, updating four different comics while starting an animation project, plus some music stuff I've got going on, can lead to no sleep and some weird health fallouts. I'm trying to organize my time better but it's not easy. (And of course there's that big YDK thing over at Fox, like you know, no stress there.)

Speaking of YDK, there will be a Sunday color strip that you won't want to miss. Suppose Jesus wanted to get out of the crucifixion thing, but he didn't want it to appear like that was what he was doing? Would there have been a way? Look for some religious imagery that will burn your corneas. Of course, it's always nice that the Catholics are a titch more tolerant than certain other fanatics when it comes to my depictions of the Gang Upstairs, otherwise yours truly would surely be hanging from the nearest lamppost probably missing a limb or two and headless to boot. Ah, but what price art?

And just as I type that a roll of thunder in the middle of a snowstorm. Time to go.