Frazz by Jef Mallett for November 01, 2013

November 10, 1975

Geeeeezzz!!! Thanks a lot, Jef from the great lake they call Gitcheegoomie.

One of the cruelest pranks that NRBQ ever played on an audience revolved around playing that song, then playing again, as the encore.

Anyone ever go to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum near Whitefish Point? Pretty amazing to see a piece of one of the lifeboats.. quarter inch steel, looks like a crumpled piece of paper, all done by WATER.

Great Song…..I’m tempted to say that that may have been the last ship wreck on the Great Lakes…It’s hard to imagine something like that happening today with modern weather prediction….But this is Lake Superior we’re talking about…..She can cop an attitude….

And it’s not much better on Huron and Michigan, they can be mean witches in their own right…..I wouldn’t want to be out there tonight…..

You can bet any boat still out there is anchored in shelter about now..4:03 EST…

Let’s not forget the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (Munising) and Tahquamenon Falls State Park.

sometimes i can’t carly rae jepsen out of my head. there are others, taylor swift, iron maiden, chicago, etc…

The legend lives on…

Now I’ve got Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 stuck in my head

Ok now I have “Simply having a wonderful Xmas time” as my earworm.

I’ve got 4’33" by John Cage stuck in my head.

Go to the Hilltop restaurant in L’Anse and have a cinnamon roll for breakfast. One will do ya.

And let’s not forget to thank that nice Canadian lad, Gordon Lightfoot, for that song.

Ok, If I can’t get LIghtfoot’s song out of my head by 10, I’m taking it to a mental health meeting and spreading it around. I am not going to suffer alone.

I am familiar with Edmund Fitzgerald and the song. But is playing the song on/near the anniversary of its sinking a thing?

No starsNo moonNo carsNovember

It only believesIn a pile of dead leavesAnd a moonThat’s the color of bone

No prayers for NovemberTo linger longerStick your spoon in the wallWe’ll slaughter them all

November has tied meTo an old dead treeGet word to AprilTo rescue meNovember’s cold chain

Made of wet boots and rainAnd shiny black ravensOn chimney smoke lanesNovember seems oddYou’re my firing squadNovember

With my hair slicked backWith carrion shellacWith the blood from a pheasantAnd the bone from a hare

Tied to the branchesOf a roebuck stagLeft to wave in the timberLike a buck shot flag

Go away you rainsnoutGo away blow your brains outNovember

—Tom Waits

Even Ontario is no picnic. The Rochester to Toronto ferry (which got financially sunk) used to travel around the lake never leaving site of land, rather than cross directly.

Nice expresion little girl.

My wife loathes that song.

A few years ago we were going through the Duluth/Superior area on a road trip. Seeing the freighters loading with iron ore there she asked how big they came.

When I replied as the big freighters go she was bigger than most she started going STOP IT!! STOP IT!!

An alternative is to listen to Lee Murdock’s “The Ballad Of Seul Choix”. Just as powerful, but hard to find.

Noooooo, not that song…!

As far as time, Purpledog, when we visited Ann Arbor I couldn’t figure out why it was still light at 9 pm—at the end of April. “What time zone are you guys in?”

“Eastern.”

Okay, that makes NO sense.

Of course it was the Fitzgerald. And I’ve had “Oh they built the ship Titanic, they built her strong and true . . .” crawling through my ear ever since I looked at the strip. And she sank in April.

You sure she isn’t talking about the Titanic?

Spent the first 30 or so years of my life in the Chicago area, the last 30 or so in Michigan. And 3 years in Alaska. Seen way too many early sunrises and way too many late sunsets. Wide time zones and geography’ll getcha every time. I’ve also been to the Maritime Sailors’ Cathedral (actually Mariner’s Church) on Jefferson. A quiet moment.

My earworm of the last week has been a Beatles song about a certain psychopath and his hammer. I’m looking for a new one, it’s getting old.

Am I the only one who thought of this song first? Not that it’s an earworm particularly; it’s just the first song I think of when prompted with “that one about the big boat that sank” …Jamie Brockett -Legend of the USS Titanic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4jliLONDAc-Cougar :{)

Thanks everyone for straightening me out. I was thinking “Titanic” too, but couldn’t see a November connection.

Wait — that seems to be an abbreviated version. Try this one:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XFYMjkFYPg-Cougar :{)

In November of ‘58 the Carl D Bradley went down in Lake Michigan in 40 foot seas. If it wasn’t for deer season dad would have been on it. There was a captain on another boat that had extensive experience sailing the North Atlantic that said it was the worst water he had ever seen.

Now I’m going to have to go cue that up on my player.

This is a comment on the new format of the My Comics page in general, not on just this strip. Basically, I hate it. I liked the former layout where I could just scroll down to view all of my comics at a glance. Having to click to move them takes a lot longer, is choppier and the page is now filled with annoying advertisements that I’m not interested in.