This is an old Sunday from 1995. I can’t be sure, because I don’t exactly keep records, but I don’t think it’s ever been seen here on the Web before. That means, no one but you has seen it in 20 years. We were discussing last week regionalism in the comics, specifically could A&J be regarded as a “southern” strip. I voted no, and I have evidence to back me up. Guess to which state I have shipped more copies of Beaucoup Arlo & Janis than any other, and by a significant margin. Give up? Massachusetts. Behind the Bay State would be the upper Midwest. I am strong in the south, in terms of newspaper clients and book sales, but Dixie follows the aforementioned regions. For whatever reason, I have never been big out west. Maybe that’s why there has never been an Arlo & Janis movie. Yeah, that’s got to be it.
Stretching a Point
By Jimmy Johnson
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50 responses to “Stretching a Point”
Good morning all! Coincidentally I just watched Jeannie Robertson’s very funny and clean video about “Don’t Bungee Jump Naked”.
I don’t know if there’s any way you could know the answer to this, but do you think there’s any connection between your popularity in Massachusetts and Robert B. Parker’s appreciation of (and references to) your work? It’s one of those odd linkages holding a place in my mind.
For whatever it’s worth, I don’t think of your work as Southern at all, other than the specific Savannah/Charleston/wherever feel to Gene these days. It’s certainly not in the way that Kudzu and That’s Jake were when I was growing up.
Per EMB’s most interesting article here we sit in Okrahoma at #44 while my home state of Louseyana is #50 out of 50 states, while Ghost’s Miserysippi managed to be #51 out of 50 states which I didn’t figure out for awhile.
No, I agree, poverty, illness, and death and crime do not make for a happy state of affairs. Yet I know that Louisiana has one of the highest rates of people who refuse to leave and live elsewhere. And not just among the poverty stricken with fewer choices. In fact, those are often the ones to bail out if given the chance.
Many Katrina refuges did not go back once out of New Orleans, one reason the population dropped so dramatically and workers became harder to hire I have been told.
Love, Jackie
I never said that A&J was a “Southern” strip. This Sunday’s strip about the used kitty litter is proof. I just said that I thought Jimmy had said at one time that the syndicates would rather not pigeon-hole a strip so that it expand it’s scope.
Speaking of kitty litter, we plan to put out a Lumiere tonight in honor of Life as the anniversary of Roe v. Wade is the 22nd. The instructions are to put sand in the white paper bag and then place the candle inside so that it does not blow away. Fortunately, we have clean litter in the house, but if we didn’t….
Mike always said he planned to mix my ashes with the kitty litter so it would serve multifunction.
I woke up this morning with Mike’s cat Ashes sitting on on my chest and gently touching my face with his paw. He misses Mike so much. The 10# dog is so lonely he is sitting inside my purse daily so as to not be left behind and has befriended all my workers for love and petting.
Love, Jackie
OF due NOW to 1138 CST.
http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/webcam/oldFaithfulStreaming.html
Peace, emb
JJ,
Thanks for mentioning The Boston Globe. A few years ago, they printed a letter I wrote about my teenage idol, Rocky Marciano. Rocky was the son of an Italian immigrant just like I am and also the only undefeated heavy weight boxing champion of the world. Being from Baton Rouge, LA, I was really pleased that The Globe saw fit to publish my letter. I wrote it at the urging of my good friend, Dick Thompson(RIP), who was a native of that area. The Globe has good taste in cartoons, as do all of the people in this village. God bless us everyone.
I always thought of Arlo somewhere in the NE close enough to the “Redneck Riviera” (Myrtle Beach) to make it in a days drive. Certainly not west of there in WV or KY.
Boyd Nation, Gene et al are living in the Gulf Coast area – could be Florida, Alabama, or Mississippi – no way it’s Texas. That’s a whole other ambiance – not to be confused with The Gulf Coast.
I am with Ginger on that location and it is sure nice to see you back again. Visit more!
Ginger,
Anyone who is lucky enough to live in The Loveliest Village, has my admiration. I was there in the ’60’s for vet school and if not for the fact that my three grown children, their spouses and their six beautiful children live within fifteen minutes of my house in Baton Rouge, I would live there also. I always say, win or lose, IT’S GREAT TO BE AN AUBURN TIGER !!!
God bless us everyone.
Logged on several minutes ago and OF was doing a grand blow. Next due 1646-1706 CST.
http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/webcam/oldFaithfulStreaming.html
This one made me smile:
IF!
If you can start the day without caffeine,
If you can always be cheerful,
ignoring aches and pains,
If you can resist complaining and
boring people with your troubles,
If you can eat the same food every
day and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when your loved
ones are too busy to give you any time,
If you can take criticism and blame
without resentment,
If you can conquer tension without
medical help,
If you can relax without alcohol,
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,
Then You Are Probably The Family Dog!
That is so true, TruckerRon! We were just talking about dogs having to eat the same thing at every meal, day after day this morning. I said Snoopy and Garfield seemed to complain some.
Could be why there has never been an A&J TV series, too. However, more and more TV series are being filmed in Louisiana and TX…so why not one about a not your average family? Besides Duck Dynasty and Swamp People being filmed in La., there is also Red Neck Family, and as strange as it seems, ‘Salem’, which is about witches in Mass.
Time does fly. This strip appeared 20 years ago? THIRTY years ago Our Humble Author presented a strip depicting Arlo dancing furiously to a song on the radio. In panel three, the DJ says, “That was the Beatles with ‘Eight Days A Week,’…” Panel four concludes the DJ’s message: “…Number One on the charts TWENTY YEARS AGO!” Arlo looks CRUSHED.
So now we are further removed in time from that strip than that strip was from “Eight Days A Week” being at Number One. And it is now FIFTY years since it was at Number One. Don’t tell Arlo; he took it badly enough Back In The Day!
Thanks TR,
I will admit after the first line I was starting to become a worried man. The final line set my mind at ease; I now know I am just more lowly than the noble dog. 🙂 <emoto
Will you still love me when I’m 64? What is Paul now, 70? Who would have thought that the Stones would outlive the Beatles? Good one Debbe.
The Boston Globe came to our house for MANY long years, and we are/were devoted comic strip fans. We saw ’em come, and we saw ’em go; Arlo and Janis survives! Not sure when A&J first appeared, and we liked it a lot. After some years, the Web site .com was written in the comic. We didn’t have a computer back then, but when we did get one (astonishing our children who were sure we’d never join the 21st Century) I came to the site after a while and have been enjoying it ever since. I don’t think Chris got into it at all — it wasn’t his kind of thing. So I am pleased to see a nice pat on the back to The Globe from Jimmy. I certainly was surprised when he said that Massachusetts had ordered more books than any other State!
The Globe print edition doesn’t come to the house any more; I read it online, and I do subscribe so they are making some money from me.
I wonder if Boehner has a spare bedroom or Netenyahu is going to sleep on the couch?
Hmmm…..an Arlo & Janis Movie! We’d finally get to hear what they sound like.
Hopefully it won’t be as disappointing as was the case with Garfield. Good grief, I couldn’t turn it off quick enough.
Jerry, Sir (!!) Paul will be 73 this year on the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo in June.
When he turned 64, alas, Heather Mills answered the rhetorical questions “Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m 64?” with an emphatic “No!” 🙁
As for outliving the Beatles, Their Satanic Majesties have looked like walking dead for the last 30 years. Paul and Ringo look FAR better than those guys. The Beatles disbanded while still at the top of their game, and the sum of the parts has never proven equal to the whole.
Sir Paul recently decided it would be a good idea to record with Kanye West. My wife called me in to watch a news segment in which the on-the-street reporter asked young people what they thought of the guy that had recorded with Kanye, this “Paul McCartney” guy. Most had no idea who he was. One young fellow said it was kind of Kanye to give an unknown guy a boost to his career by recording with him.
Evan,
You have to wonder how many don’t realize Elvis has left the building.
I wonder what the USA would be like if its citizens cared as much about their elected officials failing to enforce the law and violating the constitution as they do about pro football teams failing to properly inflate the footballs?
Posted to make the data available.
https://publichealthwatch.wordpress.com/2014/05/06/teen-pregnancy-rate-plunges-thanks-to-birth-control-comprehensive-sex-ed/
Peace, emb