Gasoline Alley by Jim Scancarelli for October 09, 2009

Predictable, and I LOVE it

This is a fun read.

Amazing… I can almost hear the raucous chaos in panel one… so much visual activity! Panel two is quite the contradiction with our three cool, smooth, clueless musicians. lol I can’t stand to think that Gertie might have gone through this for nothing. I can’t see Walt in the audience… yet. No sign of the cat either. ;0)

I love slapstick. Caught up (in) the act.

Hey Bird, Gertie could use a little help.

That is because no one in your group is a maestro, NNCU.

The cat is most likely outdoors, X. Gertie dropped her, and she ran off just before Gertie got back inside.

Can Byrd get to Gertie before she’s tossed out again?

I think this is so funny. I could hear the crowd is yesterday strip and now in today’s more so. The crowd loves this.

It reminds me of the scene in “Funny Girl” where Fanny Brice was asked if she could roller skate for an act. She said she could, but didn’t know how, and her funny antics won over the audience.

The cat sneaked in on her own when the door guard opened up looking for the noise in the alley. Gertie never carried her at all. If she’s smart, that cat is in hiding until the hullabaloo dies down then she’ll survive on rodent hunting in that nice warm old theater.

Well….hardy har har. Rasberries!

I must concur with the reference questioning addressing Professor Byrd as “maestro”. Such references simply are not a part of the jargon within the idiom, except as would be done in jest.

It is a well deserved distinction, though. I can think of a lot more blues musicians worthy of the title than certain pretentious, by the book music school grads who give precedence to technique over heart.

Is it OK for musicians to talk like that while playing, wouldn’t it be picked up on the sound system?

Depends on how they are miked. It is possible, depending on the setup, they could talk all they want it wouldn’t carry over the sound system.

Jazz and the honorary title, “maestro,” aren’t incompatible. Some folks called Duke Ellington and Miles Davis “Maestro.”

stringmusicianer said, Depends on how they are miked. It is possible, depending on the setup, they could talk all they want it wouldn’t carry over the sound system. ————————————- I hope you’re right String. I’d hate to consider the other alternative; that they’re (gasp) lip synching! Not our Byrd! Not in Gasoline Alley. Not the Maestro!

Hopefully Byrd will get a good look tomorrow, just in time for the Sunday hiatus.

stringmusicianer said, Hey Bird, Gertie could use a little help.

In the old days, Walt and Skeezix wouldn’t hesitate to jump into the fray– maybe they’ll rush the stage!

In the old days, which is Dick Moores for me, something this action-driven wouldn’t have happened. But I really like how Scancarelli has handled this one. I look at this stuff and wonder why most of the other strips running now are so comparatively lame.