Megabytes

Looking for a bit of escapism in my reading, I perused the graphic novel section of my branch library and found this book. It has been many years since I picked up a comic book. They sure have changed since the 60s! And it’s definitely for the better.

While many comic books in the last few years are filled with more and more graphic violence, this particular 4-issue series is much more thoughtful and insightful. You could say it’s the ‘chick flick’ series of the Superman comics.

The concept for the series comes from DC Comics Presents #87, circa 1985. In this story, a young man named Clark Kent lives on one of DC’s alternate Earths - an Earth that is supposed to be the ‘real world’ where superheroes exist only in the comics books. Unfortunately, this story is one issue long and never picked up again by other DC writers and artists.

Kurt Busiek takes this idea and creates an instrospective and contemplative 4-parter: Clark as a young teen, Clark in his late twenties, Clark as a family man, and senior citizen Clark. Instead of the alien attacks on Metropolis, the reader is presented with what is it like to grow up with a famous name and suddenly (at puberty) find you can fly. Can you tell anyone about this? no, probably not. So, our protagonist deals with isolation, confusion, anger; the usual teenage identify crisis, but with a twist.

I enjoyed this graphic novel immensely and wished there were more stories of this character. Here’s a book you can re-read a few times and enjoy a different layer with each read. I’m reminded of how much I appreciated the first Spiderman movie with Tobey Maguire. The scene in which Peter Parker’s hand becomes stuck to his lunch tray (web-making goo is oozing out of his hand!) is both touching and hilarious. And isn’t that a quintessential teenage moment? “Everyone’s looking at me!” “I’m different from everybody else.”

Written by Kurt Busiek. Drawn by Stuart Immonen.

She has a powerful presence that fills the room. When she walked on stage at the Aladdin Theatre in Portland, I felt that presence.

No. Actually, the first thing I noticed was her aging appearance. She did a little comic tap dance on her entrance, perhaps to offset the senior hippie we were seeing on stage.

I saw Joan at Portland’s Arlene Schnitzer Auditorium about 7-10 years ago. Dar Williams opened for her. They sang a few songs together. I remember their rendition of “You’re Aging Well.” Then, Joan’s soaring soprano and Dar’s mezzo blended beautifully.

Last night, Joan’s voice was showing signs of age or perhaps a budding cold. While still powerful and strong, it lacked elasticity and her range was diminished. Perhaps because this was the 22nd of 23 performances on her tour explains the fatigue in her voice. It makes me wonder what her voice was like on the first date of the tour or even the 10th.

She came on stage at 8pm and played without an intermission - straight through until almost 10pm. A concert of some oldies and some new songs, the audience loved every minute. When the end came, we wouldn’t let her go. She returned for three encores. Aging, schmaging! This artist loves us right back and gave and gave.

I expected some talk of politics, but there were no speeches or post-election talk. Her music did the politicking with “Joe Hill”, a set of Dylan tunes, more recent (10 years) material.

Speaking of Dylan, her third encore and final song was fittingly, “Diamonds and Rust.” Two modifications: 40 years ago… instead of 10 years ago; and the final line; instead of “And if you’re offering me diamonds and rust I’ve already paid” became, “And if you’re offering me diamonds and rust I’ll take the grammy.”

And on that note, Joan bid us goodnight.

Last week, ten of my current students took part in the Fall recital, entitled “Students of Swing.” I wrote an arrangement of “C Jam Blues” for 5 of my beginners. Simon and Sierra nailed the bass line, sending it back and forth between their two instruments. Kate, Katie and Sean handled the melody and harmony. Duets by Kendra, Joellen, Davis and Emily were tight. An added treat was the arrangement for alto sax and vocalist performed by Kate and her friend, Paula. The afternoon concluded with a performance of a sax quartet, “Three Men and a Babe.”

That’s me on the left. I guess that makes me the babe! Read more at Grace Notes Music.

The Portland Macintosh Users Group (PMUG) holds a MacCamp twice yearly at Silver Falls Conference Center. Last month, 43 Mac fans came together in Silver Falls State Park for a weekend conference.

We had 6 classes to choose from in three time periods: Illustrator, Portraiture Lighting, Fave Mac Apps, Photoshop photo repair, Windows on Mac, and Podcasting. In the Illustrator class, I learned how to use this program to make simple and artistic drawings without using the Bezier tool! The brush tool is powerful. Just look what I created using only the brush tool.

Saturday afternoon, I enjoyed Rob Griffith’s Favorite Mac Apps and Utilities. Rob is an entertaining speaker who gets a great deal of information across quickly. He must have demonstrated close to 50 useful and inexpensive apps that can make your work on a Mac more efficient and let’s not forget, more fun.

Sunday morning, I went to Steve Riggins‘ class on podcasting. He demonstrated how to use GarageBand to create podcasts. He has been podcasting for a little more than a year and explained his process, what tools he uses, and podcast hosting options. I recorded some of the class and hope to upload a snippet soon.

The grounds are beautiful. MacCampers experienced cool temps, few clouds, and an almost overhead pass of the International Space Staion. It was the brightest I have ever seen it!