Crankshaft by Tom Batiuk and Dan Davis for August 16, 2024

“Look at us, enjoying something we did when we were younger! I bet ours is the first generation to ever experience such a thing!”

In case anyone has forgotten, in 2024 alone this strip has also wallowed in nostalgia for Silver Age comic books, comic strips and the print newspapers they ran in, small-town hardware stores, high school marching bands, senior citizen softball, the movie “Stormy Weather,” and of course Eugene row, row, rowing his boat at the lake. Just change the name to “Pluggers.”

How pathetic a life you must lead to react the way you do about something as trivial as a comic strip. Why don’t you try seeing things from a different point of view? Who knows – it just might make your life better!

So did Batiuk go to a concert last year and decide he could use it as a tax write-off if he called it “research?”

Trying to relive his younger days, like a lot of us. Song reminds me of Kid Rock song, All Summer Long.

Not gonna haize it and I’m not gonna praise it.

He should put the phone away and just live in the moment and enjoy the concert. Why does everything have to be about people’s phones?

Is Batty hoping to get some royalties from the “Chad and Jeremy Foundation”?

At that distance, he’d be getting pictures of her ear.

Eh me no get the joke here.

Did he bring his Starbuck Jones comic book collection to the concert too?

Jan and Dean opened.

Whether you listened to Rock & Roll, Soul music or old Country music, we can still go and see our favorite artists in concerts. Not like much of today’s Hip Hop a la Tupac and Run DMC’s Jam Master Jay! I went to school with White children at an early age so I learned to like and appreciate Rock & Roll. I find that many Black folks do not listen to it because they don’t understand it, or they’ll be scorned and frowned upon by their friends! And these days, you can’t even go to a concert or show without folks acting like they were just let out of the house for the first time! SMDH!!

Sucks that he bought front row seats when they were younger and now he gets the cheap seats.

Still in love with Pam.

Nostalgia tour before turning out the lights.

Jff recording the dude next to Pmm

Gotta get that dang cell phone in…..enjoy the music!!!!

Notice pizza-box guy onstage with them in the old picture.

As the lights dimmed and the familiar chords of Peter Asher and Jeremy Clyde filled the venue, Jeff felt time folding in on itself. The music transported him back to the springtime of his youth, when everything seemed possible. He raised his phone to capture the moment, focusing on Pam’s face illuminated by the soft glow of the stage lights. Her smile was warm, just as it had always been.

But as he clicked the photo, something—or someone—caught his eye just beyond her. There she was—Jennifer. The girl who had once been the other half of his heart, the one who got away. Jennifer had always been a wild spirit, chasing dreams far beyond their small town. They had loved fiercely, but she was never meant to stay. After college, she left for the West Coast to pursue her dream of becoming an actress. Though she landed a few small parts, she never became the star she hoped to be.

Years later, Jennifer returned to their hometown and took a job as a cashier at the local drugstore. Jeff would see her occasionally, exchanging small talk about the weather or local news, but the years had created a distance between them that neither could cross. Each encounter was tinged with the unspoken question—what might have been if they had stayed together?

Now, seeing her at the concert, the past washed over Jeff like a wave. The lyrics sang of a time when it was “forever spring,” and for a moment, he felt the pull of that life he might have lived. He could see the years in Jennifer’s eyes, a reflection of the same longing that had lingered in his own heart.

But as he lowered his phone and squeezed Pam’s hand a little tighter, he knew his life had turned out as it was meant to. Pam was by his side, and they had built a life filled with love and shared dreams. The what-ifs belonged to another time, to a path they were never meant to walk together.

Meanwhile, where is Crankshaft?

Oh there he is! Waiting in line for the “free shot” at the pharmacy.

If it’s free, he wants it.

Yes! Me and my brother on stage back in the day. My crowning achievement. Now I’m resorted to haunting a crummy pizzeria once a year.

So… do Peter & Jeremy still write and perform new songs, like, say, the Rolling Stones? Or do they just re-hash the brief period when they were on top of the charts sixty years ago?

Guy I know went to see Don McLean a few months back. Yes, he finished with “American Pie.” But he also played songs from his entire career, including some new compositions. He’s an artist, not a museum piece. I could see paying money for a ticket to that show.

Of course, maybe their fans don’t want to hear any new songs; maybe all they want is to pretend it’s still the “good old days” (see Rick Nelson’s “Garden Party”).

Tom, Dan, let’s get real here, can we?

This concert hall should be filled with “Smoke” just like it was when they saw Chad & Jeremy the first time you saw them in concert. After all it was the 60’s . Now I realize that arthritis makes it harder to roll them tight like you used to, but come on, we’re reliving the good old days.

Now, don’t bogart that joint my friend, pass it over to me.

Robert Goulet singing “Those Were The Days”

Now, when I go to a concert, I think “Where did all these ‘old people’ come from? I’m clearly not one of them!” But, then I saw Mumford & Sons a few years ago and thought, “I’m one of the oldest fans here!” Either way, I don’t really care!

“Jffff, the aging boomer, went to the shoooow. And frolicked, in the autumn mist, with Pmmmm in all her gloooow!”

I remember these guys but can’t think of any songs. Can anyone enlighten me?

failures of tom batiuk – tom laments the academy never recognized my legend in my own mind genuis the nursing homes did !!! plus my biggest fan is some candian moose who she can only say lol with every comment

Does anyone know what song those lyrics are from?

This has been such a sweet arc ♥

Why are Batyuk’s tastes always so obscure? Is he a strict non-conformist? A poser trying to impress us?

Why feature these guys rather than someone like the Rolling Stones? Why the Phantom Empire rather than Star Wars. And so on. You get the idea. The obscure rather than mainstream. Every. Single. Time.

And here I was loving the moment. Very cool to have that connection and live for the second. Haters, can go to heck.

That sounds like a nice concert to be at.