CoDoDo: My Countdown to Micky Dolenz, part 1

I love the Monkees.  Always have, always will.  And Micky Dolenz is performing live this Saturday at the Marquee in Tempe.

I'm counting the days this week with some of my favorite Micky songs from the Monkees' extensive catalog.  I thought I'd start with a bang: "Sometime In The Morning."  

"Sometime In The Morning" is from the Monkees' second album, aptly titled More of the Monkees. It was written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin, a songwriting power couple that penned many amazing songs for the Monkees.  Thanks to the magic of YouTube, you can hear Carole's guiding vocal track for Micky here:

Of course, I grew up with Micky's rendition, so when I first heard Carole's, her vocals were a bit haunting.  At the time, I don't think this was meant for public consumption -- just in-studio, so Micky knew how to sing to the melody.  Now, the demo stands as a powerful example of great pop lyric writing, straight from the artist's lips.

The Monkees' songs often debuted in "romps" on their TV show -- a romp was a video montage of the guys messing around, usually in a sped-up cartoonish fashion, sometimes confronting the villain of that episode.  Those segments truly were the prototypical music video.  "Sometime In The Morning" played for two romps, though "romp" hardly describes this sweet sequence starring the beautiful Rose Marie.  By far one of my all-time favorite uses of a song in the Monkees' series:

"Sometime In The Morning" has become a staple for the Monkees' and Micky's solo concerts, and it took my breath away last year as the first half of a medley with their latest hit "Me & Magdalena."  If I were to pick an "ultimate" live version, though, I'd offer this, from the online reality show myRecordFantasy.  If the narrative is to be believed (and, ahem, I am a believer!) Micky didn't see this one coming.  You see him search for the "in" with the vocals at the beginning, starting quietly, then building to fill the cafe with that great last chorus.  I close the first installment of my countdown here, with the hopes that one day Micky will walk into the coffee shop where I'm drawing or whatever, to serenade. 

Amazing Arizona Comics Vlog 2

Here's my latest Amazing Arizona Comics vlog, describing the 24 Hour Comic Challenge (as if you haven't heard enough about it!), and including a clip from my Galaxxy Show karaoke-meets-comics performance of the Crash Test Dummies' "Superman's Song."  Bringing comics to foreign lands -- that's me, Arizona's Ambassador of Comics!

Flash Karaoke, Harley Quinn in the Desert, & Other Amazing Arizona Comic Con Sketches!

Now that the wave of Left Shark sketches is over, here are some other sketches I cranked out at the Amazing Arizona Comic Con!

Bender from Futurama

The Flash, singing karaoke.

Somebody had a Demon Cat sketchbook.  I added Angel Dog to its canon.

A fan asked for a Spider-man on a cactus sketch.  I said, "Okay."

All four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on one little half sheet of paper -- in straight Sharpee!  A first for me!

A custom Harley Quinn cover -- with the Clown Princess of Crime in the desert.

Five Day Art Challenge, Day 3: KaraokeFanboy Press Begins!

Fellow mini-comic artist Eric Mengel (interviewed in the latest episode of KaraokeFanboy Podcast!) challenged me to the Five Day Art Challenge on Facebook, which, from what I can gather, is a call to post five pieces of art every day for five days.  Since I'm working tirelessly to finish Amazing Arizona Comics #10 by Amazing Arizona Comic Con this weekend, I thought to use the challenge as a look back at my comics-making career, from childhood to this very week!

In college, I continued to create original characters, most notably with my friend Brent Otey as K.O. Comix.  I think a K.O. Comix retrospective on this blog is way overdue, especially since some of those old characters will appear in the upcoming Amazing Arizona Comics #10, but I digress.  My solo efforts in my late teens/early 20s included stabs at slice-of-life strips, and, since a big part of my life was singing karaoke, these pages from my sketchbook are heavily inspired by that.

At one point, I tried to develop a series featuring "the Karma Chameleon," a wandering singer that adapted the traits of whatever '80s pop tune he crooned.  (I didn't know then that Boy George shared a birthday with Sheriff Joe Arpaio!  I was already drawing the Agents of F.L.A.G. Day!) That turned into this:

Carrie O'Key, the adventuring bartendress that eventually appeared in Karaoke Comics #2!  (Joe was my barber from Yorba Linda, California, who claimed to cut Richard Nixon's hair when the former Prez was just a kid!)

This page features real people, most notably one of my best buddies Konrad, one of my favorite karaoke jockeys Bill (from the Kopa Room in Anaheim), and some other characters I met there over the years.

Eventually, I began dabbling in drawing my perspectives on current events, and while I was still the center of attention, you can see the seeds of Amazing Arizona Comics starting to bloom:

To be continued!

Hello, SPX!

Hello, Maryland!  Thanks for a great night of karaoke at The Barking Dog!  How appropriate, considering I'll be debuting Karaoke Comics #3 at the Small Press Expo.  If you're in the neighborhood, feel free to swing by and check it out!