Pop Culture from an Alternate Dimension

 When I heard there was to be a new Electric Light Orchestra album in 2001 I was excited. It had been decades since the last. Despite how good it was I was disappointed that the only other member of the band besides Jeff Lynne was keyboardist Richard Tandy and he only appeared on one song. In 2001 The Orchestra released No Rewind with members including Kelly Groucutt, Mik Kaminski and Louis Clark. It was quite a good album and I would have included songs "Jewel and Johnny" and "Over London Skies" but the vocals were by Eric Troyer who wasn't in the E.L.O. so I used "Before We Go" sung by Kelly Groucutt who did vocals on the some of the classic E.L.O. songs. However I wanted to include Bev Bevan since he had been on all the E.L.O. albums until then. I went back to 1995 for A Matter of Trust by Electric Light Orchestra Part II with Bevan, Groucutt, Kaminski and Clark. I chose "Blue Violin" written by Groucutt and Kaminski as well as Interlude

  The Watchmen comics were originally supposed to be about Charlton Comic characters that DC had just acquired with the story being who killed the Peacemaker. I wondered what comic history would be like if the characters that Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons created were existing already. Since the Hollis Mason Nite Owl is based on the golden Age Blue Beetle I redrew one of his comic covers. As a bonus, the back cover is for a product that didn't exist. It  was actually advertised in Fox comics in the early '40s.It was the brainchild of Victor Fox, the owner of Fox Comics. Despite having coupons for the soda and ads showing great prizes you could get for collecting Kooba bottle caps the drink was never produced.

 As the '80s were ending the Go-Go's were no longer together but they were all busy. Belinda Carlisle and Jane Wiedlin were regularly putting out new albums, Charlotte Caffey was joined by Meredith Brooks and Gia Cambotti as The Graces, Gina Schock put out the album House of Schock  and though Kathy Valentine didn't record anything she was busy playing with her band The World's Cutest Killers. For this Go-Go's reimagining I chose "Leave a Light On", "Summer Rain", "Runaway Horses", "(We Want) the Same Thing" and "Shades of Michaelangelo" from Carlisle's 1989 album Runaway Horses , from Jane Wiedlin's album Tangled  recorded in 1989 I picked "Rain on Me" and "99 Ways", from the 1988 album House of Schock  I used "Middle of Nowhere" and from The Graces 1989 album Perfect View  I chose "Time Waits for No One". I also picked another song from Perfect View , "Lay Down Y

 George Raft made a career of (or lost a career by) passing on roles that made Humphrey Bogart famous. According to Wikipedia he rejected seven parts that went to Bogart. Neither look like the "blond Satan" with a widow's peak that author Dashiell Hammett described. Geraldine Fitzpatrick was offered the role Brigid O'Shaughnessy but declined. The role went to the "scandalous" Mary Astor. This was Sydney Greenstreet's first film and makes an impressive debut.

  What if the Eagles kept putting out records after The Long Run ? For this I chose "I Found Somebody", "Party Town", "All Those Lies" and "I Volunteer" from Glenn Frey's 1982 album No Fun Aloud.  From Don Henley's 1982 album I Can't Stand Still  I chose the title song (with harmony vocals by Timothy B. Schmit), "Long Way Home" (with backing vocals by Schmit),  "Nobody's Business" (with Schmit   on bass) and I had to include "Dirty Laundry", not only was it huge in the charts but it has Schmit doing backing vocals and bass, as well as Joe Walsh doing a guitar solo. In place of Glenn Frey doing a cover of the oldie "Sea Cruise" I put in Timothy B. Schmit cover of "So Much in Love" from the 1982 soundtrack of Fast Times at Ridgemont High . From Joe Walsh I picked "Here We Are Now" from You Bought It- You Name It  which he recorded in 1982 with Henley and Schmit on backing v