Created by Bill Fitzhugh Goofmeister Bill Fitzhugh's Radio Activity (2004) introduced RICK SHANNON, an out-of-work DJ whose new job at a small FM classic rock station in a small Mississippi town turns out to be a bit of a bust--the station's under new management, the program director's disappeared and the spacious digs he's been promised turn out … Continue reading Rick Shannon/Buddy Miles
Tag: Rock’n’roll
Webster Dodge (Dodge’s Bullets)
Created by Jay Faerber Can you turn it up to 11? WEBSTER DODGE is a rockin' young Seattle private eye, in his mid-to-late 20s, who's not real big on authority figures, in Jay Faerber's original graphic novel Dodge's Bullets (2004). Despite the fact that Faerber made his name with assorted spandex-clad mutants and teen titans, … Continue reading Webster Dodge (Dodge’s Bullets)
Hidden Tracks
Private Eye TV Shows... with Real! Live! Rockers! Yeah, we all know it's only rock and roll. But we like it. Still, in the decades before Midnight Special and MTV, the fusion of rock and TV drama had always been iffy, if not downright embarrassing. Think of rock and roll and television as fraternal twins, … Continue reading Hidden Tracks
Thomas Pynchon’s Inherent Vice Playlist
As Chosen By the Master Himself Thomas Pynchon actually compiled a playlist of sorts for his 2009 novel, Inherent Vice, as an Amazon Exclusive. It was definitely and infinitely weird and eclectic, a wide-ranging hodge-podge of musical digressions, rounding up everyone from Roy Rogers and Frank Sinatra to The Doors and The Beach Boys, from bossa … Continue reading Thomas Pynchon’s Inherent Vice Playlist
Regan
Created by Ian Rankin REGAN is a hard-boiled American private eye right out of central casting--or at least a pulp mag from the forties, very much in the Chandler mold, full of world-weariness, wisecracks and similes, is hired to investigate a woman's murder, in Scottish author Ian Rankin's 2012 illustrated novella "The Lie Factory." "The Lie … Continue reading Regan
Ford Fairlane
Created by Rex Weiner "The lights glimmered down Broadway like a strand of pearls slung over a black girl’s thigh." -- the opening line of "So many assholes, so few bullets!" -- Ford waxes philosphical Intended as a star vehicle for misogynistic, racist, foul-mouthed comic Andrew Dice Clay, the 1990 flick The Adventures of Ford … Continue reading Ford Fairlane
Jackie Fuentes (Killer Groove)
Created by Ollie Masters and Eoin Marron It's the early Seventies, and the Swingin' Sixties are definitely over, but that doesn't mean musicians aren't still pouring into Los Angeles, desperate to stoke the star-making machinery of the popular song, in the 2019 five-part comic mini-series Killer Groove. Struggling singer-songwriter Jonny is one of them. He's a … Continue reading Jackie Fuentes (Killer Groove)
The Vinyl Detective
Created by Andrew Cartmel As anyone hep to the jive knows, the twelve-inch LP enjoyed an unexpected comeback of sorts among mostly younger hipsters and wannabes in the 2010s, while audiophiles and aging old-school rockers from Jack White to Neil Young strutted around saying "I told you so!" Which probably explains why this series, pretty … Continue reading The Vinyl Detective
Kinky Friedman
Created By Kinky Friedman "Kinky is the best whodunit writer to come along since Dashiell what's-his-name." -- noted literary critic Willie Nelson, in Mystery Scene #41 The former Texas Jewboy, and tongue-in-cheek country singer was reborn as tongue-in-cheek Greenwich Village private eye KINKY FRIEDMAN in this tongue-in-cheek detective series (and that's an awful lot of tongues … Continue reading Kinky Friedman
How Does It Feel?
Bob Dylan and Crime Fiction The man in the trench coat Badge out, laid off Says he's got a bad cough Wants to get it paid off... -- Subterranean Homesick Blues (aka "The Case of the Missing Pump Handles) Bob Dylan and his music have always had ties to crime and detective fiction. On his … Continue reading How Does It Feel?