Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for July 25, 2016

Anyone know any duets with just women?

hey bwad, time to step up. :)

Why doesn’t Toni ask the guy with the guitar if he can play “Small World”? It’s really easy.

Hey Brad!

Maybe Jonah will show up when it’s all over.

That guy with the guitar to the rescue!! It lets her do the show, but the fundamental issue of parental neglect still remains. It’s late, so I am hitting the sack, but I am sure the blog will discuss that and other points fully.

What if Mr. Mystery Guitar-man turns out to be a real pro and joins Shannon for a knock out performance?

Oh wait, there is Bwad! Hmmm. So Bwad to the rescue? Man so many outcomes. What if Jonah arrives after they finish? IF that is what is going to happen. WIll he be chagrined, mad, or nonchalant? What if he does not. Who is daddy supposed to be anyway? Nah, I am going to bed. Have at it folks (lol).

Brad to the rescue again!

It is truly stupid for Brad to play air guitar here, when the guitarist could actually play the song. (If he is at all skilled in music, he can play a trivial ditty like that one by ear.) Having Brad strum the guitar, obviously not playing it, while the song is piped in over the speaker would just make the audience laugh, which would he a terrible experience for Shannon.

I don’t think any musician I know would hand over their guitar to a strange woman, no matter how pretty she is.

It looks like this is set up so Brad will have to step in. To me, that’s kind of disappointing. Brad hasn’t shown any musical interest or ability during the year or so that I’ve been following this ‘toon. I think you need a basic sense of rhythm even for air guitar. I actually have to agree with Seismic, that Brad’s participation might make the audience think the act was a comic act, not a dance act. Being laughed at wouldn’t help Shannon right now.

Any guitarist who knows major and seventh chords can play It’s a Small World off the cuff or with minimal prep. Just offer guitar man an ice cream and a smile from a little girl.

in a surprise twist, the boy who “has to help the pretty lady” will be Mr. Gray’s nephew

I thought her crying had to do with her Dad screwing her over again… but, the idea of going onstage seems to be enough, to placate her.

Shannon looks like a raven-tressed Tiffany, with all that makeup!

Tiffany seems to have given Shannon a nose job and has also plucked her eyebrows! HAHA

For everyone saying “Let ‘The Guitar Man’ do it”, that’s even presuming he’d want to do it! He could be otherwise occupied, on his way to the bathroom, grabbing something to eat, etc. And just because the composition is ‘easy to play’, doesn’t mean it’s his own ‘preferred style’. He could just be there to perform “Guitarzan”, for all we know….

So at the bottom of the heap, we have Jonah; next to last, and Les, last…

“You’d Better Duet!”“I Mean You No Harmony!”“Impromptu, Brutei?”“The Dynamic Do-Over”“Fiddler On The Spoof”“I’d Like To Speak To Your Improvisor!”“Home On The Arrangement” (♬)“Something Borrowed, Something Pru”“Guitarred And Feathered”“Pulling A Few Strings”“Strum And Poke The Coda” (♬)“Pantomimes And Reasons”“Puttin’ On The Hitz!”“One Stipulation, Under A Groove….”(♪)

or“Boy, Oh Boy!…(Shannon:) ‘…And Girl!’….”

I’m as likely (or likelier) to speculate and/or fabulate on an ongoing serial as is the next person… but I think there’s some serious overthinking going on here. It seems to me that there’s been a long meta-arc going on for years that would facilitate Brad and Toni’s adoption of Shannon. This is a common development in comics, at least as old as Bushmiller’s Nancy, and in countless TV shows, such as “The Brady Bunch” and “Married, With Children,” to introduce a child of a given age to the cast without having to go the pregnancy, infancy, etc. storylines that could take years and divert the overall tone and direction of the series. Now I may be wrong, but I’ve been long expecting this development since the first time Shannon appeared on the scene, parentless, for (as we say) all practical purposes.

Reminds me of this old show, “Puttin’ On The Hits”, where contestants lip synched their way to money and prizes…-(Or go to: https://youtu.be/vsdvvhxLzoU )

This one is another of my favorites from that show…-( https://youtu.be/QdOX6nihPo4 )

This was onevof the show’s intros, through its run….-( https://youtu.be/qNsE8cTr4yU )

I would slightly disagree with both of you. It just may be that Shannon is hurt about not performing, and though desirous of her dad performing, may be accepting of a substitution, as we don’t see her being depicted as objecting, upon Pru’s subjection…other than the cute understanding from Shannon, that “it has to be a boy”…-If the audience were laughing, there are times that you can tell the ‘warm, soft laughter of admiration and sincere enjoyment’ over the ‘bust out loud, comedic guffawing’, which would probably be reserved for your Weird Als, Gallaghers, Rodney Dangerfield, and the like.-The combination of social cues and audience sensibilities and sensitivities would probably work themselves out, and it probably wouldn’t be so disastrous. And I’m sure there’d be some subtle “Aaaw!”s and maybe some introductory applause, which would allay any fears/anxieties, upon taking the stage… I’m sure the audience is made up of ‘family folk’ and some ’community acquaintances…

First case of Checov’s guitar.

Time for a hormonal change!

As much as I like the Luann strip. Each week its 1 disappointment after another. Break ups, Misunderstandings let someone be happy for once. + It be nice if it didn’t take 2-3 weeks to get to the point. (Kid gets shafted by the father, AGAIN.) Nothing new there. Real life is disappointing enough. Now it’s in the comics. Sorry, It’s how I feel.

This little brat is no future replacement for Nancy Wilson.

dear lord this is so predictable and maudlin, it’s insulting…hey, prove me wrong!

Maybe the stranger to the rescue will be Brad’ s competition

TJ to the rescue

Mr Gray goes guitarry

Oxford opens on an Ovation guitar

Goth grabs his Gibson

Jock/Jacques jams on a Jackson

my first cousin once removed, Josh Walther, joins in

I am liking Pru more and more these days!

Jonah will show up when she’s declared the winner. he’s never one to miss and opportunistic moment to complement himself with his great skills. a true actor.

When will will Toni (and everyone else) quit enabling that narcissistic Jonah?

Bwad’s gonna put on his party panties and do it, how predictable. Next Jonah shows up and gets yelled at right in front of his daughter

Look, just award the kid First Prize, followed by a sustained standing ovation. Then have Shannon do that Sam Smith, “The Writings on the Wall” tune from the last Bond film as an Encore. And when that’s Done, you unleash the little Tyke on Les, who is escaping with the DeGroot’s Dough, as we speak…,

If the guitar man is going to hand his guitar to someone he’s never met, I can guarantee you he won’t be going anywhere until he gets it back. So why doesn’t he go on stage and play that guitar, instead of donating it as a prop to someone who doesn’t even play? Since “It’s a Small World” is such a trivial melody, it doesn’t matter what style of music he plays. In announcing the act Pru can explain that he is a last-minute substitue accompaniest, and that will help get the audience on Shannon’s side. Having Brad step out there and fake it makes the “duo” ridiculous.I realize that this whole thing is contrived to speed along the “adoption” storyline that the Trufans have demanded for years, but it should have been better designed than this.

BWAD!!

Notice how “Brad” rhymes with “Dad”?

shannon is asserting control over her act! When everyone works it out, she’ll feel success— and to heck with her dad!

Here’s where Brad gets to do his Tom Cruise “Risky Business” imitation.This time with an audience exceeding himself.(And I know plenty of musicians willing to lend their instrument to a random pretty woman, don’t you?)

Some father Jonah is, not even there for his own child.

the term is derogatory in it’s dismissive attitude. He didn’t say “readers”.

What a worthless clod this Jonah is. I’m sure he has a Facebook presence with lots of “friends” in show business. If I were Toni, I would be mightily tempted to post something on his wall to the effect of, “Hey Jonah, Congrats, I’m sure your bit part in CATS went well, and that it was totally worth it to promise to be in your daughter’s talent show act and then no-show to do this instead, with no intention of fulfilling your promise to her in the first place. (That’s right, Facebook fans. He walked out on his own daughter tonight. And it was far from the first time.” Also, casually take a photo of Shannon’s crying face and text it to him with, “Here’s a picture of your daughter before your supposed DUO with her tonight. Does it feel good? Sleeping well tonight, are you?”

Oh, and, with those dark thoughts out of the way…HI folks! Long time no post. Hope you have a good day.

Auto correct. Or the heat. ….yeah, let’s go with that.

Some historical perspective on the adoption of Nancy in the Fritzi Ritz strip. Apparently in the originals back in the early 1930s, Nancy first showed up as a house guest. Initially, she didn’t even refer to Fritzi as her aunt, nor did Fritzi refer to her as her niece. The character was so popular that she became a permanent fixture, ultimately causing a split into two strips “Nancy” and “Fritzi Ritz,” and finally only “Nancy” survived.

Interestingly, Nancy was not the first child that Bushmiller attempted to work into the strip. About two years before her advent, Bushmiller had introduced a small boy named James, said to be Fritzi’s cousin. Apparently the kid was not attractive to the comics-reading public, and he was retired once Nancy showed up and won the approval of the fans.

And there was never an episode or arc that dealt with Nancy’s parents or whatever became of them in those early episodes. Any canonical account of them must have appeared with one of the more modern cartoonists to take over strip, Gilchrist I’d imagine.

To me, the most interesting point is that Bushmiller specifically set out to introduce a child into the continuity, the dry run being his unsuccessful experiment with cousin James. Seems Luann’s Shannon is a similar case of wanting a younger kid in the strip, such as Luann herself was in the early days of this feature, and taking more time to work the tyke in. If she hadn’t proved popular, her Dad could have “seen the light” and taken her away from the strip… and if she did please the readers, she’d be worked into a permanent role, which is what seems to be going on here.

As long as we’re talking adoptions, some DeGroot or other should adopt a small singing, dancing potted plant. You know. Baby DeGroot.

Wilson Phillips= a trio. Consisting of Carnie Wilson, Wendy Wilson and Chynna Phillips.

Bwad, its time to step in and show your talent!!!

Poor, Shannon, abandoned by her father again. I hate being right sometimes.

Time for Shannon to learn a lesson in feminism….no, it doesn’t need to be a boy…haha.

-Yes it is a fact of LIFE that not everyone has musical talent or interest, which is why some of us here are finding it sad that so many seem eager to see Brad volunteer to do something he has no talent or interest in. And some of us hope that he isn’t forced to do that.

-A ‘duet’ is a musical composition meant to be sung or played by two separate voices, or two separate instruments (like a banjo and a guitar.) It isn’t a term that would be used for someone playing an instrument and someone else dancing, for instance.

A ‘duo’ is two performers.

Les will step up and turn out to be a hero – or Ox…

-Anyway, the point of this whole thing about Brad is that if he doesn’t have musical talent and appears to be someone trying to be funny, the audience will laugh. Since Shannon is trying to dance, the laughter would be the last thing she would want. So that’s why it’s better to have someone on stage playing who knows how to play.

Shannon seems more and more to be like Luann at that age would be.

“Oh Brad, you’re always there for me, please adopt me…”

Seriously, this is like when Cousin Oliver joined the Brady Bunch! She’s even got the same ’do.

The owner of the guitar may not be the answer if there’s any sort of ‘one performance per performer’ rule. So that puts air guitar Brad back in the running, or still sets the stage for Les to be the unexpected white knight.

Toni, if you ask Brad to do it, you’re getting totally the wrong guy. I’ll bet Knute plays a killer air guitar!!!

Mr. Gray used to play lead guitar for The Grass Roots back in the day. That’s him you hear on Midnight Confessions.

Could the guy with the guitar be a new main character?

5Today, we see Shannon with the make-up on that Tiffany applied…. but it is seemingly getting more and more garish looking. To me, it was overdone initially…. but it seems to be getting even more intense (probably just an artifact of the more dramatic expressions on Shannon’s face, however). Story-wise… the arc seems to be moving into the path I suggested where Brad will (probably) step in to team up with Shannon. Whether it is by playing “air guitar” (which I think is rather tacky and I hope he does not do so) or by being another aspect of the act (perhaps like I suggested last week where he “danced” with Shannon by being on stage and letting her dance around him like has been done in a lot of films), this should be a good experience for Shannon.At this point in the arc, I really no longer care about when Jonah returns…. be it at the end of Shannon’s act, or sometime after that. I just hope that when/how people end up reading Jonah the riot act….. I hope that it IS NOT within earshot of Shannon. I would not want her to see someone berating Jonah (even if deserved) and I would also prefer to not have Shannon hear Jonah’s reply. Regardless of how Jonah interacts with whomever tells him off in the end…. what is the most important is for Jonah to truthfully and sincerely apologize to Shannon. I am not sure if he will do this…. but I hope that he does. For him to truly and sincerely apologize to Shannon, it would help to show Jonah in a better light as a father. He would still be a damn “flake” but he could easily be shown to be a kind, damn “flake”. :)

Come on.. man w/ the guitar… you play, Luann sings… simple…..I have to say, as someone mentioned yesterday, that Toni seems incapable of coming up w/ rational solutions. Yesterday it was ice cream. Today, Toni (who has absolutely no musical or artistic talent that we have seen) suggests that she not someone who actually owns and thus plays the guitar, strum it…. Where among all these people will there be someone who can think? We have a week. Let’s hope for the best. Greg wants us to be frustrated before we are relieved in the end

Good points;

Pru to the rescue, trying to correct Toni’s huge mistake!Toni, attempting to redeem herself by joining Shannon for her “duo.”But who will really save the day? Shannon insists on a boy. Brad? The Amazing Gunther, in a real magical moment? Who else could or would step up? Oxford (does he play guitar as well as football?), perhaps; surely not Leslie Knox….

It looks like Toni was right to go the “oh no, Dad’s not here, can’t do the show at all” route at first, given all the grief she’s getting when she does try an alternate solution. Shannon need to learn to not look a gift horse in the mouth.

Brad, you’re ON!!!!

Hey…..if no one thinks the man w/ the guitar should be allowed to play his own…maybe Quill will turn up and play it and Luann will sing………..Evans will decide………

Pru is the only one who has made a reasonable suggestion so far. There has to be actual music.

Frank is a musician and a guitarist..

If Brad does go on stage to make a fool of himself playng air guitar, I hope the guy who gave Toni his guitar turns to her and says, “You know, I could actually have played the song, if you had wanted that,” just to show her how bad an idea this whole “air guitar” thing is.

As far as leaving her with strangers, I’d say the events of the July 13 strip indicate serious carelessness in terms of leaving Shannon with two people he doesn’t know except in the most superficial way. And for those looking for a legitimate reason for Jonah to be late, how about an ironic twist on Jonah and Shannon’s last exchange,same strip?

Hmmm. I predict the young criminal running the fraudulent charity scam will step in to save the day.

As I posted Saturday, Brad to the rescue once again (and again and again) on the “air guitar”.

I’d give Schrodinger’s Dog a break, he has a good track record here. But, personally, as I’ve said before, it’s a crummy way to start a new, fresh marriage with a rejected kid hanging around disrupting intimate moments. I know, I know, you all think that I’m some kind of kid hater………….let’s just say I’m not fond of them.

-The strummer and dancer being two performers means they are a duo.

A duet does not involve dance. It can be two voices, a voice and an instrument, or two instruments. But it is a performance that is heard.

-As many have pointed out, there are all female duos. But Shannon is only 6 years old and probably doesn’t know that. Since the duo she was involved with was her dad and her, she probably thinks it has to be male and female.

As soon as the first person laughs at the ridiculous scene of a little girl (sort of) dancing to the accompaniment of a full Disney orchestra piped in over the speakers, while some idiot stand behind her holding a guitar and obviously not really playing it, then the whole audience will follow by laughing too. Why would these people put Shannon through that, instead of just asking the guitarist to play it instead of lending it to someone who can’t?

He could howl…

Given what we say of Shannon’s “dance” routine (flail wildly until you pass out), a Jimi Hendrix-style (or Pete Townsend-style) air guitarist would be exactly right for the duo!

One will sometimes wear an insult as a badge of courage to diminish it’s power over you. Still is an insult tho.

“Some posters have described themselves being “Trufans”. That doesn’t sound like they regard the term as insulting.”Never seen anyone do that, but whether or not they have is immaterial, simply because the people that are directing the term toward others ARE using that word as a put-down and in a derogatory, insulting context. So stop splitting hairs.

“That’s what YOU would do in her place. But I honestly think that would be totally out of character for her.”Well, thank you, Captain Obvious. The first four words of my post were, “If I were Toni…” I didn’t say anything about whether that would be in-character for her or not.

Or any opera in which the mezzo plays a “trouser role” and declares love for the soprano, as in the Presentation of the Rose scene from “Der Rosenkavalier”.

SPOILER

A hero rides the rescue, even if he might get stage fright.

Oy…

Spoiler 2Will the contrast of the song and dance with tear streaked makeup be seen as a poignant commentary which gets the duo featured on the nightly news?

The dialogue here implies that Jonah and Nancy have met before. She recognized him without him saying who he was, and his response isn’t worded as if he’s meeting her for the first time, either.

On with the “duel”!

@DavidHuieGreen“Jock/Jacques jams on a Jackson”“DavidHuieGreen divulges diligently… ;o)”.As always