Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for June 13, 2012

Every teenage boy dreams of being a rock star.

I dreamed of being a firefighter. Nevah made it :(

‘Purple Haze’ I remember when Northwestern wanted to change the name of their team to the Purple Haze.

Typical parent to child ‘talk’ — only surprised we didn’t see the join the military and ‘see the world’ and ‘its not just a job, its an adventure’ spiel

that’s okay, frank…i always wanted to be michael nesmith…

Teenage guys all dream of being a rock star so they’d have all the girls at their disposal.

@mojitobaby

“everyone’s a winner, there are no losers” attitude is at least partially responsible for a lack of competitive attitude – and ambitionThat much I agree. The school systems go too far with this mantra and have educated generations of kids who come to think they are entitled and expect to be “serviced.” Expect others to work for them. After all the schools have done this for them. They’ve never taught they have to work for things they want – they are just given. That is sad, really. Not just the schools – parents go that route as well because it is just easier than to fight them, try to instill values, morals, ambitions, etc, as well as being too busy trying to make a living for their children to be parents. They find it easier to be their friends, their cheerleaders, their advocates, because parenting is harder. It is easier to just hope for the best and leave them leave the nest thinking they will succeed in life.Let’s see how Nancy and Frank handle Luann on this.

Luann will not be going to Juilliard.She will not be rushing to buy Jimi Hendrix tunes. She will be conducting more “research” into the subject of colleges.The Aussie is coming!

“Scuse’ me, while I kiss the sky!”

Community College classes are what you take in the summer to make up points you lost when you bombed the same courses at university the rest of the year. Thank heaven the points transferred.

btw, didn’t jimi spell his name with 2 xx’s?

exciting nyc life? are we talking manhattan or the other boroughs or “shudder” new jersey?

No, it comes down to Frank being simply of a completely different personality type that values stability (and thrift), not unique identity (and hang the expense). Selfishness per se has nothing to do with it. Wanting to be Jimi Hendrix and not being suited for the calling, probably has something to do with it.

So sad the Justin Bieber crowd doesn’t know who Jimi Hendrix is.

In my case growing up during my teenage years I always wanted to be like Lou Ferrigno.

So the ladies are fantasizing? But you never know when their fantasizing will turn to intentional planning. Be afraid, Frank – be very afraid!

Frank is depressed because he is trouncing on Luann’s dreams like he did on his own.

I just let my kids dream. As I always say " it never hurts to dream."

I like this one, but I have to say it just isn’t realistic. My kids were brought up on a steady diet of Pink Floyd, ELP, Beatles and whoever else I loved at the time. For Luann to not even know who Hendrix is sounds like the father wasn’t much of a fan.

You wanted to be a Railroader, eh? I just retired from one. You missed out on a GREAT pension……,

Being a successful moocher is hard work.

If your kid doesn’t know who Jimi Hendrix is, you didn’t do your job as a parent. Car trips are when you educate your children on music, history, and dirty jokes. If they don headphones to tune you out, start driving slower and slower until they get the point.

Where was Frank coming from in a shirt and tie? His job does not require leaving the house.

Uh huh. Much better he take the point of view, “I’m a boring, insignificant weenie and I’ll force my daughter into having the exciting career I couldn’t have because I gave up those pipe dreams and settled down and had a family.”

Dreams, dreams, dreams.

“Jude the Obscure,” anyone? Or perhaps “Marjorie Morningstar?”

Frank, in the last panel, has my number. I’m so with ya — had almost the same conversation my own kitchen a few years ago. (Thanks Greg, keep up the good work.)

“this really comes down to Frank being selfish, “I’m a boring, insignificant weenie (look how he’s portrayed in the last frame), and I will NOT have a daughter with a more exciting career than I have!!” ".Frank’s dedicated his life to his wife and children and you call him selfish?.Shame on you. Please consider the thought that he might be — even if wrongly — concerned for his daughter being crushed by possible failure. .This would be especially a concern if the only thing standing between her and her dreams was the fact that he REALLY CAN’T AFFORD to send her there. Wishing you had money is not the same thing as having money.

“If your kid doesn’t know who Jimi Hendrix is, you didn’t do your job as a parent”.I just rechecked my job description and it didn’t include introducing my children to Jimi Hendrix. I never cared for him personally and didn’t consider his work all that important. JOHNNY CASH on the other hand, they could sing most of his songs ere leaving Northview High School..“Every teenage boy dreams of being a rock star.”.Not me, I wanted to be Super Duper Man. Oh wait, that was pre teen. As a teenager I wanted to invent antigravity. Still working on it but so far things continue to fall down rather than up..Leviticus, sometimes I think you don’t appreciate the subtleties of Knute..“Many schools employee the “No kid left behind” policy. They think they are helping the students by not letting them fail.”.I think that’s part of what Senator Kennedy intended NCLB to address, the fear that some students were being socially promoted without ever learning what they needed to be successful rock stars in life. Parents are always throwing fits because their children keep failing tests under NCLB which suggest they didn’t learn the required knowledge yet.

Frank’s cue to start singing: “Manic Depression is touching my soul.”

As a kid (in the fifties and sixties, yet!), I never liked rock music — why, yes, I was a fish out of water; thank you for asking. :J I loved classical music, and I wanted to be an opera singer. I actually had a decent voice, and the musicianship, but not good enough to Make It..So I sang around the house, and in local choruses, and for one dream-come-true stretch I sang with a local opera company — in the chorus, and even a few bit featured parts. And that was as much of a rush as stepping onto the stage of the Met! :).The point, I guess, is that not many can make a living at their dream job, but almost anyone can live that dream in some way. Keep it alive!

Exciting New York? NO THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“If $4 was like pulling teeth from him, $46,000 a year, on the low end, would give him a heart attack.”.Or it could have meant things were tight enough that $4/week x 52 weeks/year were a burden on caring for his family. It could even have meant he wanted money for future problems and expenses like house fires, court costs, illnesses..We can always assume selfish intent but honesty would require us to admit that caring for a family is not a selfish act.

Even in Groundhog Day the calendar finally turned.

A sensible junior college life is just what Frank ended up with, too.

If you were being asked to pay tens of thousands of dollars PER YEAR for a dream that hasn’t been thought out and isn’t likely to succeed, would you?

Frank fell in love with the hottest woman around, got married, fathered a couple of kids and had to say good bye to any dreams that he may have had. I hope Nancy was worth it. As Joseph Conrad said, “…..youth is the romance of illusions.”

Gimme a break, you don’t even have to be into Rock n Roll to know who Jimi Hendrix is! Not buying the clueless teenager act!

Mad Magazine would have done a great job with “A Peek Behind The Scenes of the Luann GoComics Forum”

Interesting musical comments today. I listened to Jimi Hendrix when I was a 17 year-old guy in 1970, but I much preferred the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. Now, my tastes are very eclectic— in the last week, I have been on the YouTube site; one night I was into the Rat Pack (Dean Martin & Frank Sinatra) and the following night I experienced the Sex Pistols, featuring Johnny Rotten & Sid Vicious. To each his own…

The media in general needs to stop with perpetuating a fabricated generation gap. While admittedly the up and coming generation has much to learn, there are enough of them out there that would not respond with “Who?” at the mention of Jimi Hendrix. It’s not like in Hendrix’s day, when the average fan let radio do their musical thinking for them. It’s all out there now for anyone to discover at any time. And thankfully, a number of those in Luann’s demographic do just that.

I’ve been around the world and done many things but I have to say that a boring person is another word for a reliable person. I would take a boring person over a “exciting” person any day of the week.

“Providing for his/her family is the BARE MINIMUM a parent is expected to do”.Agreed, more or less. Nonetheless I must point out this country is filled with sperm donors who have done far less than the bare minimum. Further it has many mothers who put their happiness above the good of their children. I’ll give them Brownie points, just because I’m a generous kind of fellow..“ The Franks of the world get no brownie points from me for that.”.Even without knowing if Frank is working at his absolute limit. It’s a good think so many can survive without Brownie points..“ I see Frank interested in Luann not exceeding his lowly stature.”.So you are writing your thoughts into his motives? Fine, but it doesn’t tell about him, just you. If you see a janitor mopping the floors, you may think he should have become a billionaire for the good of his family whereas others may think he did well to be even a janitor..“He married hottie Nancy?? Again, bit whoop. She gave him that in trade for the security of a plain family home, no fuss, no stress, no job other than lecturing Luann & drinking coffee.”.Every life has stress, fuss, danger. Every birth is a chance of death. I see you reject the possibility Nancy loves Frank and that her marriage was just an economic decision. Again, this doesn’t tell about her, but you..“Preventing his daughter from being ‘crushed by failure’??? Good lord, the human condition IS failure;”.That’s one way of looking at it. After all, in the end we are all dead. We haven’t really failed until it’s over..“And as stated before, Luann can contribute to her own education in a variety of ways beyond solely sucking at the parental tit.”.And yet you’re mad at Frank for being dry. Interesting

“If they are at the point where $4 will break the bank, they are in serious financial trouble.”.So maybe they ARE in serious financial trouble. It happens. Or it could be as you explained in tomorrow’s comments, that excessive spending might blow Frank’s cover as a CIA operative. That’s the only reason I don’t go on wild spending sprees.

He does not want Luann to do what he did.