Two New Vegan Cookbooks from Microcosm

Not sure if you are an omnivore, herbivore or carnivore? If you follow a vegan diet, then you are an herbivore and Microcosm Publishing has cookbooks for you. Many in fact, but two of their latest titles come from the cheffing and illustrating duo of Automne Zingg and Joshua Ploeg.

Read more on the Starving Artist blog!

Reglar Wiglar #24 available at Quimby's

Hey Chicagoans! Reglar Wiglar #24 is available at Quimby's located at 1854 W. North Avenue in Wicker Park. Buy a copy today!

From the Quimby's online catalog:

"Hilarious account of Auman's job history, sprinkled with witty banter about several musical venues and acts as well as other miscellany. This zine is particularly funny if you happen to be a Chicago native."-CH

Buy online from Quimby's.

VOTE!!!

Cassetty says: 

"Be kind, DON'T rewind our country!"

Least Popular Halloween Candy

1. Salad Bars

2. Lugged Nuts

3. Kerplops

4. Nougat Knots

5. Sugar Teats

6. Terds

7. Peanut Blisters

8. Corn Chunks
9. Doo-Doo Drops

10. Gristle Pops

FORGOTTON AMERICAN MUSIC MASTERS: Wilma Tilly

WILMA TILLY 
(April 14, 1940-January 19, 1987)

Wilma Tilly was an American country singer known for her string of 1950's Country and Western hits like, "Mama, You Don't Know Nuthin' 'Bout Love" and "Gotta Git Me a New Man 'Cause My Old Man is Broke". Born in Tennessee, in a barn on a pile of burlap bags in 1940, Miss Tilly took Nashville by storm in the 1950s with her school girl look (she was still a school girl) combined with a world-weary outlook on life that was reflected in such songs as "Mama, I Got a Bad Man" and "Why Din't You Tell Me About Bad Men, Mama".

Early Years

Tilly suffered through a series of tragedies at a young age starting with the death of her beloved dog, Freckles, and ending with the deaths of every single member of her immediate and extended family within a three day period of time. These sad events led to a string of somber recordings that so depressed country music fans, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, assigned a national task force to combat what was becoming a nationwide suicide epidemic. The crisis peaked in 1955, when all 500 attendees of a Wilma Tilly concert at the Old Brown Barn in Butterfield, Georgia, made their way to the roof of the one-story auditorium with the intent of jumping to their deaths or at least significantly injuring themselves.

Married Life on the Road

Tilly married her manager, Buck "Bubba" Williams at the age of eleven and had twenty-three children and 253 grandchildren. Despite being pregnant eight straight years, Williams had Tilly on the road touring 364 days per year, performing two shows every Sunday.

Death

Wilma Tilly died in 1987 after battling thirty-seven different types of cancer.

The Bad Tip Prayer

NOW AVAILABLE: Reglar Wiglar #24

A year in the making, Reglar Wiglar is available for public consumption! In this issue, I finish my 3-part Jobs Trilogy. How does it end? Read it and find out. Also "The History of Music," "Forgotten American Music Masters," comics and more—much more. Only $5 plus postage. Worth it at 10x the price! Order several copies today.

The Woodrows Do Disney

The Woodrows Do Disney 

(Woodrow Hill) 1982 

Dang! Your name better not be Mickey when the Woodrows come around. Or Minnie. Or Goofy. Or even Pluto for that matter. Otherwise they might go to work on your skull and whistle while they do it. This classic LP includes the classic songs, "Uncle Screwdged", "Little Bit O' Minnie", "Gettin' Goofy". Huey, Duey, Luey and Toby Woodrow with a baseball bat. Ouch!

Visit the Woodrows' Discography Page on reglarwiglar.com for more great albums!

Woodrowphenia

Woodrowphenia 

(Woodrow Hill) 1982 

WoodrowMania is more like it. Nothing is more contagious — or more DANGEROUS! The Woodrows fearlessly went Mod for one entire week in 1982. Features "The Kids are F'd Up", "Shave My Head," "Fired & Fried", "Banana Hammock", "Crackers & Kool-Aid" and more. So many more.

Visit the Woodrows' Discography Page on reglarwiglar.com for more great albums!

Drunk Tank

Drunk Tank 

(Woodrow Hill) 1982 

The Woodrows certainly know what it's like to spend time in the drunk tank. They practically live there! This 26 song LP captures all the drunken stupor of a night ill spent. Includes the tracks, "Don't Piss on Me", "Boglogna Samich", "Puke Tie" and too many more! 

Visit the Woodrows' Discography Page on reglarwiglar.com for more great albums!

Stoned!

Stoned! 

(Woodrow Hill) 1982 

More of a spoken world album than actual music, this 45 minute LP captures the Woodrows live in their basement practice space as they try in vain to tune their instruments after pulling multiple bong hits. This one is strictly for Woodrows completists. Everyone else is going to feel really ripped off after spending good money for this half-baked gibberish. 

Visit the Woodrows' Discography Page on reglarwiglar.com for more great albums!

All F'd Up

(Really Rad) 1982

When the Woodrows recorded this album it was not the first time they entered the studio "all f'd up" and it certainly wouldn't be the last. Instead of writing a bunch of songs The F'd Up Four decided to do one 30 minute drunken jam over two sides of an LP. It ain't pretty and it ain't listenable, but it's definitely pure Woodrows!

Visit the Woodrows' Discography Page on reglarwiglar.com for more great albums!

Woodrows Germs

(Woodrow Hill) 1981 

You better cross your fingers nice and tight if you don't want to contract Woodrows Germs, my friend. And you better make sure your shots are up to date 'cause the Woodrows' sure ain't. Features "Foaming at the Mouth", "I Got the Stomach Flu for You", "Puke City" and 29 more!!

Visit the Woodrows' Discography Page on reglarwiglar.com for more great albums!

Grab Ass: The Ballads

(RoosterCow) 1982 

Before there was such a thing as "Trump/Pence 2016", there were the equally vile Woodrows. The thing about these boys though, they NEVER got a way with it, because they weren't rich, they weren't famous, and they sure as hell ain't good looking -- but, neither is The Donald!

No one ever accused the Woodrows of being sensitive (at least not to their faces), but the lads do have a softer side. That's evident as shit on this twenty-two track album of classic Woodrow love tunes. Includes the touching "Won't You Touch it One More Time?," the soulful "Love Stick" and the heartbreaking stench of "Dutch Oven". There won't be a dry eye left in your head after you sit through this thirteen minute tour de force. (That's French, ya'll!)

Visit the Woodrows' Discography Page on reglarwiglar.com for more great albums!

Bread and Water

Bread & Water

(Really Rad) 1982 

The Woodrow's third album of 1982 was not their best, not even close, but what do you expect, all twenty-seven tracks were recorded from the Langlade County Jail! There are a few diamonds in the rough, however, including the incendiary, "Someone Dropped A Dime," "I Didn't Know That's What 'Punk' Meant," "I'm Not A Punk," "Hands Above the Sheets" and more! An arresting album to say the least!

Visit the Woodrows' Discography Page on reglarwiglar.com for more great albums!

Dü You Remember?

Slap Me If You Ever Hear Me Say...

Beer, Bräts and Broads II

Beer, Bräts and Broads II

(Woodrow Hill) 1982

No one wanted another Beer, Bräts and Broads bash — not even Woodrows fans — but the fearsome foursome were never ones to get enough of a bad thing. The second year of this would-be annual festival of crushed testicles would indeed be the last, but not before the Woodrows would rip through a blistering five minutes set of classic tunes before simultaneously passing out onstage. Not a pretty sight by anyone's standards!

Visit the Woodrows' Discography Page on reglarwiglar.com for more great albums!

Classic Woodrows Albums: Crunch Time

Crunch Time

(Woodrow Hill) 1981

When the Woodrows entered the studio to record their tenth full-length album of 1981, it really was crunch time — they hadn't written a single song! You know how the Woodrows give a shit about quality, right? They don't! Lucky for us they recorded forty-seven classic punk tunes anyway, including "Your Amp's Not Plugged in, Erin", "Is This Mic On?," "Grab Me a Beer While You're Up," and the epic, "Do We Have Enough for an Album Yet?" All killer, ALL filler!

Visit the Woodrows' Discography Page on reglarwiglar.com for more great albums!

BOOK REVIEW: Apocrypha Now

APOCRYPHA NOW

by Mark Russell and Shannon Wheeler (Top Shelf)

Mark Russell is back with another installment of his humorous summaries of religious texts (with illustrations by Shannon Wheeler). For those unacquainted with the previous Top Shelf book God is Disappointed, I recommend you read it, but only if you like to laugh. Out loud. Literally. As ignorant as I am of religious writings, despite years of church going as a youth, I was basically, if not entirely, unaware that there was stuff that actually got cut OUT of the bible. I had no idea the Good Book had such good editors. The reasoning behind these omissions, as Russell explains in the introduction, is they were just too off-the-wall to be taken seriously. Seriously? This is the bible we're talking about, after all. Its chock full of murder, mayhem, infanticide, incest, talking snakes, immaculate conceptions, resurrections, and all that. Forgive me for not thinking that the appearance of a unicorn would put it over the top. That's just an example, there are no unicorns in this book. Sorry unicorn nerds.

Russell likens the Ancient World to a dance-off where each tribe tried to impress the other with their religious stories. Deemed too batty even by biblical standards, these outtakes were lovingly compiled in the Apocrypha. The Apocrypha is to your average Christian as Tolkien’s Silmarillion is to casual Lord of the Rings fans: if you're into that world it's nice to know these stories exists, even if you will never, ever read them. If I was a bible fan, I guess I would liken it to the lost Clash album that was considered too all over the place (by everyone but Mick Jones) to release.

Russell puts his sharp wit and keen sense of funny into giving the gist of these lesser known Words of God and Shannon Wheeler once again lends his talents by contributing his spot on cartoons. (Wheeler’s work will be familiar to you if you read the New Yorker and/or are familiar with his long-running Too Much Coffee Man comics series.)

Religion has always bored me to tears, but these books I can handle. So, if the Bible ain't your bag, but you'd still like to learn what all the fuss is about, Apocrypha Now is a good alternative—Chris Auman

READ REVIEW OF GOD IS DISAPPOINTED IN YOU

BUY!
Buy both books in a boxed set. The perfect Christmas (yeah, I said it, Christmas) gift for that special Christian in your life!

Cavemen 4 Trump

I wonder who Ogmund "Og" Ogg is supporting in the 2016 Presidential race?

Illustration by Mike Dixon.

Quickies: Hey Marvy 3

Visit the Woodrows' Discography Page on reglarwiglar.com!

Quickies: Hey Marvy 2

Visit the Woodrows' Discography Page on reglarwiglar.com!

Quickies: Hey Marvy

Visit the Woodrows' Discography Page on reglarwiglar.com!

Quickies: Flying Beer Can

Visit the Woodrows' Discography Page on reglarwiglar.com!

Classic Woodrows Albums: Naked

Naked

(Woodrow Hill) 1981 

The follow-up to the Drunk LP. Twice the power, four times the fun! Thirty-seven songs including: "Naked," "Tube Sock Toby," "Marvy's in the Jug Tank," "Been Naked," "Freak Patrol," "Röt Güt," "Buck Naked," "Caught in the Raw" and more!!!

Visit the Woodrows' Discography Page on reglarwiglar.com for more great albums!

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: Woody Guthrie and the Dust Bowl Ballads

WOODY GUTHRIE AND THE DUST BOWL BALLADS

Nick Hayes [Abrams Comicarts] 

For those who may be unfamiliar, Woody Guthrie was an American folksinger and songwriter who is responsible for writing "This Land is Your Land" and about 999 more songs. He was also considered a bit of a rabble rouser (agitator?), a socialist (commie?) and political commentator who gave a voice to tens of thousands of migrant workers and impoverished farmers during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl period of the 1930s.

Nick Haye’s beautiful and moving graphic novel Woody Guthrie and the Dust Bowl Balladschronicles Guthrie’s early years on the move from Okemah, Oklahoma to Pampa, Texas and to the Cisco Mountains in search of silver. If you’ve read John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath or Woody’s own autobiography, Bound for Glory, or are just familiar with the Dustbowl Era in American History, this depiction provides another perspective on the journey that saw thousands of Midwestern families, like Steinbeck's Joads, traveling from the Midwest and Oklahoma in particular, to California in search of jobs and opportunities that did not exist. 

Hayes recreates the language of the American Midwest in the early 20th century and captures well the look of grainy black and white Depression-era photography. He expertly employs sepia tones to create the feeling of a different time — a time when color was a luxury few could afford. Hayes also builds an emotional bridge for the reader to connect us to a time we've never known. He portrays a period of American history where food, jobs and hope were hard to come by. As Woody traveled around the country in search of work and opportunities to play his music, he learned he couldn’t rely on the government certainly, but neither could the church be trusted to give him a bowl of soup when he was down and out and willing to work for it. Everyone was suspect in that world, authority was to be questioned and nothing made sense.

Hayes uses alliteration to create prose that is poetical and lyrical. He details the conflict that is sometimes man versus nature, man versus man, and man versus god from one chapter to the next. Woody battles the system, he battles the authorities, he battles poverty. All the conflicts he encountered in a hard world acted like a whetstone to sharpen Woody but without making him bitter. Instead, the hard times inspired him and instilled in him the heart of a crusader. Haye's panoramic page layout depicting the landscape and Woody's dreams/visions/hallucinations are beautifully rendered and provide a good counterweight to some of the injustice of the times.

Hayes past work includes an update of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s famous poem, The Rime of the Modern Mariner. He is also a contributing cartoonist to the Guardian newspaper and the New Statesmen magazine in the UK where Hayes lives and works.

 —Chris Auman