Talking with Tim

A sample from one of Johnny Bacardi's many pop culture outlets

In terms of pop culture insight, I wish I was as informed and diverse in my knowledge as Johnny Bacardi. Bacardi and I have similar tastes on several fronts, but his knowledge is amazing. How amazing? I had to interview him in hopes of learning a fraction of what he knows. You’ll note I did not link to his website in this introduction, but only because I could not pick one distinct site. We discuss many of his sites in the course of this email interview, so please follow the links there. And thanks to Bacardi for his time. Did I mention I’m amazed there was any such thing as cable in the 1960s (as he briefly mentions)?

Tim O’Shea: You have a diverse appreciation covering almost every aspect of pop culture, can you recall what your first form of media (TV, film, music, comics or what) that first caught your attention as a kid?

Johnny Bacardi: Hm. Probably a children’s book of some sort, most likely a Little Golden. I remember having an illustrated version of The Night Before Christmas, and another about Beany and Cecil, who were on TV when I was small. My folks subscribed to several magazines, as well as Reader’s Digest. Of course, not long after came comics and music and TV (our small town had cable very early on, in the early-mid 60s- 12 channels, but still!), all at sort of the same time, around 1963 or 64. You see, I could read before I started preschool, as early as age 3. Don’t ask me how, I have no recollection of actually “learning”. I blame comics, with the picture/word association thing going on. This led to a lot of heightened expectations for me, which, sorry to say, I spent most of my formative years failing to live up to.

O’Shea: What got you to start a blog in the first place?

Bacardi: It’s all Elayne Riggs‘ fault. I used to frequent message boards back in the late 90s, such as Newsarama, DC’s, and others, and Elayne had a sig line on her posts that mentioned her “blog”. Intrigued, I clicked the link and saw what it was all about- a chance to put whatever the hell you wanted out there for anyone who happened up on it to read, and even perhaps react to! After some deliberation, I decided to stick my toe in the water and created the Blogspot blog which is still there to this day, though the shutters are hanging, the grass needs trimming, and it could use a coat of paint. I’ve neglected the poor thing lately.

O’Shea: It’s astounding the variety of web presence you have, including
http://johnnybacardi.blogspot.com/
http://jbacardi.livejournal.com/
http://twitter.com/j_bacardi
http://jbacardi.tumblr.com/
http://jbacardi.deviantart.com/
http://jbacardi.wordpress.com/

When some new platform comes along, like Tumblr, what makes you jump on that medium as opposed to sharing your information on one of your previous established platform.

Bacardi: My fickle nature, perhaps? Intellectual curiosity, assuming you could call me “intellectual”?

Ease of posting plays a big role in that, at least in the case of the Tumblr and Twitter sites. Twitter is just so immediate, and I enjoy the back and forth with people there. Tumblr makes it so damn easy to put up whatever effluvia I find interesting, mostly images. I started the LJ to be able to comment non-anonymously on friends’ LJs, and wound up putting stuff there I didn’t want to put on the Blogspot blog, like NFL predictions and sketches. The poor dead WordPress site I started on a whim to write about music; I found out I didn’t have as burning a desire to do that as I thought (although I still do like to…). Finally, the DeviantArt site was another whim, thinking I could draw attention to what I laughingly refer to as my “art”. Then, I realized that might not necessarily be a good thing. Still, I find an awful lot of great pieces there from people I follow.

O’Shea: How did your new association with PopDose come about?

Bacardi: Well, apparently Jeff Giles was interested in expanding PopDose’s coverage of other media besides music and film, and he says he asked me over a year ago and I blew him off…but I don’t recall doing that. Back in January, I made some sort of remark on Twitter about writing reviews for someplace or another, and Jeff messaged me, asking “Why don’t you write for us?”. Of course, I was more than happy to- PopDose is a site I’ve followed and read for quite some time, and I’ve always admired the group of music writers they’ve had. So far, they don’t seem to regret inviting me to play over in that corner of the sandbox, so we’ll see how it goes in the future!

O’Shea: You seem to enjoy both Facebook and Twitter as it allows you to cover even more topics than you might broach if you were to blog about it. It seems you can do a drive-by reference to something in Facebook and Twitter that you could not do as easily with your blog. Would you agree with my observation?

Bacardi: Yes, I would- in my case, anyway, it’s a quick and dirty way to put interesting (to me, anyway) content out there. Twitter, as I said earlier, I enjoy more for the community…there are some witty and clever folks out there carrying on conversations, running with memes, and so on. Facebook is an opportunity for me to show off to people I know in, as Warren Ellis so charmingly puts it, the “meat world”. When I started blogging and establishing my internet presence, such as it is, nobody, and I do mean nobody I knew personally was online in anything but the most basic way. Now, I’m Facebooked up with people I went to high school with, old girlfriends, guy friends I haven’t seen in decades, and so on. It’s been…interesting, to say the least.

O’Shea: In terms of Twitter, you enjoy the “witty and clever folks out there carrying on conversations, running with memes”. Can you name some of the folks that you enjoy going back and forth with?

Bacardi: Hey, just like Follow Friday! Here are just a few, and I just know I’ll leave someone out so apologies in advance to those who may be omitted:

@kenlowery- the former Ringwood Ragef*ck blogger, now mostly a film critic and one of the @fakeapstylebook cadre, along with the great and powerful @mikesterling of Progressive Ruin fame. @maggiesox is another, one Meghan Ziegler who’s been an Internet friend via her LiveJournal and her love of baseball (and she’s done some very good comics writing, too). @popgadabout, (Bill Sherman) the Dean of Internet comics critics. @boxwatcher, @jason1749, @scottcederlund (a very good comics writer), @switzke (Sean Witzke); @billdoughty of Trusty Plinko Stick fame; @lea_hernandez (the Divine Miz LeaAdaFrancoHernandez); the great @grandmofhelsing (Franklin Harris); Johanna Draper Carlson (@johannadc), always nice; @marcbernardin, the one and the same; @bookgnome, and on and on and on…oh, and once in a while I get a tweet from some Tim guy who goes by @talkingwithtim.

O’Shea: Pop culturally what have been the more pleasant surprises for you in 2010 so far?

Bacardi: Well, I was a bit surprised that I was as entertained by Avatar as I was. I mean, the story is crap, but the acting and effects were very good, and it’s easy to get immersed in the whole spectacle. In comics, I’m enjoying Keith Giffen and Matt Clark’s Doom Patrol a LOT more than I thought I would. Giffen is mixing elements from all aspects of the book’s history together with a darkly cynical, yet still humorous, tone and while more often as not that’s usually a one-way ticket to drearyville, I’m loving it here. Also the new comic Turf, by Jonathan Ross and Tommy Lee Edwards. I knew the art would be good, Edwards is a favorite…but I wasn’t expecting anything from the script and wound up really liking it a lot, despite the secondhandedness of the concepts.

Musically, I was pleasantly surprised that I find Lady Gaga as enjoyable as I do. Not that I’m running out and buying her records, or mp3s, or what have you- in fact, I’m not really listening to a lot of new music at present. I’m sure that will change eventually. I was pleasantly surprised by Peter Wolf (J. Geils Band)’s newest single, with Shelby Lynne…catchy tune (Tragedy from his new album Midnight Souvenirs).

TV? I’m really enjoying Justified on FX, but I’ve been anticipating that one since I saw the trailer/preview of it last year sometime, so I don’t know if that qualifies.

O’Shea: I am a big fan of when you post to a number of music videos on a weekend night (via your Facebook page). When and how did that first start?

Bacardi: First, thanks! Like I said above, it’s just me showing off for people I know. Although I had posted the occasional video before, I think I started it back last September, when I was in my cups and decided to see what kind of reaction I’d get when I posted a video every 15 minutes for a couple of hours. I got some good feedback, and had some fun, so I decided to do it again a week later. I decided to call it “Saturday Night Out of My Facebook Video Theatre”. I haven’t done one in a while; I’ve kinda gotten into a habit of posting a video every day lately. I still figure there are plenty of videos to go around, so I’m sure I’ll have another Saturday night session eventually. Some of my other Facebook friends get on video posting jags, too, and they’re very good at it.

O’Shea: Your musical knowledge is astounding, and you seem to be able to find some pretty obscure music. In terms of music you wish you owned, is there a musical holy grail for you. A song or album that you’ve searched for, for years, and have yet to find?

Bacardi: Astounding, eh? I like that! Anyway, one which comes to mind right off the bat is Clear Spot, the 1972 LP by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band. The jacket was clear plastic. I once started to buy a copy in a Louisville record store in 1974, but noticed it had a light scratch down one side, and decided to put it back. To this day, I have not laid eyes on another copy (although I’d eventually own it on 8-track and CD). Someday…yes, someday, a copy will be mine, heh heh. I would love to have a set of Tim Buckley LPs, too…I never was moved to check him out until just a few years ago, when a chance listen to one of my son’s friend’s copies of the 2-CD best of Morning Glory opened my eyes.

O’Shea: Over the years that you’ve educated your readership in terms of music and comics (as well as film and other pop culture sub-groups). Can you think of any instances where your readers returned the favor and made you aware of a song of comic that you would have otherwise never learned about?

Bacardi: Oh, gosh…I’m sure there have been instances, but I can’t really think of any offhand. I’ve had more than a few commenters and such over the years, but nowhere near as many as some of the higher-profile blogs, so there were less opportunities for that sort of thing to happen- which is not to say that I’m not grateful or appreciative of the readers I’ve had. Far from it! Anyway, I’ve been tipped to a lot of great books and such by people like Joe (Jog) McCullough, Bill Sherman, and Tom Spurgeon by reading their stuff, so there’s that.

O’Shea: Looking back at 2003 and 2004, you wrote an amazing 700 to 800 posts. How did you not burn out completely from blogging back then?

Bacardi: Well, you may have noticed that a lot of them were very short little link posts or somesuch…I have no idea. I guess it took me a while, because I certainly seem to be now…burned out, that is. It seems like I had more time then and less going on to distract me, and it was still new to me. I had always maintained that the reason I was doing the blog in the first place was just as an outlet for me to point out stuff that I dug, and after so long there’s only so much you can throw out there. Also, the rise of the Comics Blogosphere, with the dozens and dozens of excellent, clever, witty writers that popped up after I started doing my thing, as well as all the comics news sites, kinda made what I did a little less..relevant? Necessary? I kept writing reviews, and posts about other stuff, but it’s hard to maintain enthusiasm for such a long period. The Popdose column and the occasional bon mot on Twitter kinda scratches that itch now, although I do not rule out returning to more or less full time blogging again someday. Can’t see me doing 700 again, though!

O’Shea: Speaking of 2003, you made an interesting comparison of Warren Zevon’s final album and John Lennon’s. Did you ever get a chance to listen to Zevon’s final album?

Bacardi: Yes, I did…and while Zevon’s album didn’t sell a quarter of what Lennon’s last album (while he was living, that is) did, I still do believe that the critical reaction was influenced by his passing. It’s a fine record, with some good songs, and it’s especially poignant because of the circumstances of its creation…but it’s nowhere near as good overall as his 70s heyday. Still, I wish to God he was still around to try to top it!

O’Shea: From his 1970s heyday, what is your favorite Zevon release (for myself, his mid-1980s Sentimental Hygiene and early 1990s Mr. Bad Example are among my favorite–I’m woefully ignorant on his 1970s work)?

Bacardi: Funny thing, I went looking to verify release dates for his albums, and was surprised to note that he only really put out two albums in the 70′s…I really thought of him, or his most noteworthy releases anyway, as a 70′s artist, in with that El Lay Ronstadt/Eagles/Jackson Browne contingent. That’s not really the case! Anyway, most would cite 1978′s Excitable Boy, which features “Werewolves of London” and “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner”, and it’s a great one, no doubt…but I’m partial to 1980′s Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School, recorded in 1979- which is full of clever and audacious tunes like “Play it All Night Long” and “Jungle Work”. 1982′s The Envoy is really good as well. Mr. Bad Example has some great stuff on it- I’m really fond of the title track on that one- and I myself love his 1995 tarted-up demo album Mutineer. Many don’t.

O’Shea: One comics question, for every Bendis or Johns out there with a large fanbase, there’s a dozen under-appreciated comics creators toiling on the margins of cancellation row. If it was possible, which underappreciated creators would you bestow with Bendis-level success?

Bacardi: Adam Warren comes to mind…he’s such a good writer, blending sharp wit with some amazingly detailed technospeak (as a cursory glance at Empowered will attest)…he’s written a lot of comics for big-time publishers, but they’ve always been Wildstorm titles, or under-the-radar things like Livewires…and while he’s had a lot of acclaim (especially when he illustrated his own scripts), you still can’t help but wonder what he’d come up with if they handed him the keys to the car, so to speak. Others which come to mind are Paul Cornell, whose Captain Britain and MI-13 series was just brilliant; Ted Naifeh, who has proved his writing mettle on his own stuff like the Courtney Crumrin works. Of course, he’s first and foremost thought of as an artist, and he’s outstanding at that…which is why it blows my mind that he’s had to go hat in hand to DC, to try and get them to give him work. They should roll out the red carpet for this guy, and strew it with flowers…but instead, he gets a limited series about some peripheral Titans characters, for god’s sake. Brett Lewis- his Winter Men was outstanding, despite the best efforts of nearly everyone concerned to mess with it…I’d like to see what he could do. And, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that I’ve never understood why Robert Loren Fleming never got the chance to write, say, Justice League or something. He is SO overlooked. How could his JLA be worse than what they’re foisting on us now?