Comic: Maybe Americans Should Study History Better?

I was reading a bit about the end of the Roman Empire, and it eerily struck me as being similar to contemporary America:  government bloat, higher taxes, military adventurism, inflation, and so on.  One could just change the names to Trump, Biden, and other recent American political leaders as well as a few other details, and the history lesson would be complete as a description of our current situation, which was a bit depressing.  One would hope we would have learned better and avoid the mistakes of the past, but, no, we keep on doing the same dumb stuff.  Different dumb stuff would be refreshing if still dumb.  One doesn't need to even go back that far.  The current waste of money and, more important, lives, that is the Russia-Ukraine war struck me as very similar to the Vietnam experience as far as America's involvement is concerned.  One could make an argument that one only need go back to the Iraq misadventure or the Afghanistan debacle, but the creeping nature of our involvement in Ukraine reminds me more of how we got more deeply involved in Vietnam when we would have been wise to steer clear.  The result is this cartoon.  To read the comic, I suggest clicking on the image and making it full screen.  You could also download it after you click on it for the primo view, I suppose. 

Well, that was depressing, so if you need some fun now, then read my latest novel:  Fast Guy Slows Down!

New Single!: Put Me On Your Shopping List

wredfright · Put Me On Your Shopping List

I once read a linguistics article that noted how love was often conflated with food, exemplified by the nicknames that lovers give to one another such as "honey", "sugar", and whatnot.  In this song, I make that connection explicit with the singer of the song desiring to be put on her or his crush's grocery list.  I guess this singer is disagreeing with The Beatles about not being able to buy love, and, indeed, a strong connection does exist between economics and romance, let's be honest.  Musicwise, we're drawing from The Ramones, The Undertones, Danko Jones, or something else pretty primal here, though the third input reminds me of something The B-52s would have done with Fred.  It's the usual voice, guitar, keyboard as bass, and drums.  The weird instrument is a metal coffee cup with coins in it (I guess the crush paid in cash and got some change back).  If you end up serenading someone with this song, please let me know if it works, but you don't get your money back if it doesn't.  Lyrics are below:

You've got to get some milk.
You've got to get some bread.
You've got to get some medicine
for the pain that's in your head.
But there's just one thing you forgot.
For the pain that's in your heart!

Put me on your shopping list.

You've got to get some juice.
You've got to get some fruit.
But you don't need to buy any makeup
because you're already too darn cute.
In fact, there's just one more thing you need.
To spice up your life!

On sale this week only:
2 for 1 special.
Don't forget your coupons.
It's love!

Now some people say shopping's a drag,
but you might as well put those folks in a bag
because they'll never have any fun,
and you can't spend money when you're done.
If you want to be happy, then there's one more thing you need.
And that's me!

For more Wred Fright music, listen to the Yeast? 7"!

Jeff Potter Interview

Pat King has posted another episode of his Back To The Underground video interview series wherein various underground writers get interviewed about their experiences in The Underground Literary Alliance.  This one features an interview I did with my old publisher, Jeff Potter, who published the ULA Press book line.  It was fun catching up with Jeff!  Pat also recently posted another episode with Jelly Boy The Clown:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAM5HIgPgqQ.  

If you want to read some literature by The Underground Literary Alliance, then please check out The Slush Pile Strikes Back!

Comic: Why Some People's First Dates Never Go Well

This comic was fun to do, certainly more fun than actually going on a bad date.  My apologies to Berke Breathed, but an anonymous beagle used to show up in Bloom County from time to time, so stuff like this happens.  To read the comic, I suggest clicking on the image and making it full screen.  You could also download it after you click on it for the primo view, I suppose. 

 

 

For more fun, read my latest novel:  Fast Guy Slows Down!