Pop Culture from an Alternate Dimension

       In 1971 John Lennon released the album Imagine . I used the title track for the album opener, also from that album I pulled "Oh My Love", "It's So Hard" and "Jealous Guy". Paul McCartney put out Ram  the same year and his "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" opens side two on this "what if" album. Ram also supplied "Backseat of My Car" and "Eat at Home". I pulled the single "Another Day" to round things out. George Harrison's album from 1971 was the live concert recording of The Concert for Bangladesh  which didn't fit for this project.  However the B-side to his "Bangla Desh" single was the studio song "Deep Blue" and I gladly grabbed it for this. Ringo Starr did not put out and album that year, to be fair, he did release two albums in 1970. His international radio hit "It Don't Come Easy" was released in 1971 so that had to be included especially with Harrison...

       Singin' in the Rain  is a classic musical released in1952. It is a comedy dealing with a studio in the 1920s trying to adapt to making sound pictures. While making The Dueling Cavalier  they realize they need to change in a musical, so it becomes The Dancing Cavalier . When I was designing this "what if" DVD cover I was thinking about when I would look through the old Blackhawk Films catalogs. They specialized in great forgotten movies, especially silent films. I thought they should be the ones release this "lost" classic.

        Many a person on the internet has come up with "what if The Beatles stayed together" so I was going to avoid this. Years ago, a co-worker and I talked about this idea and, dog gone it, it keeps going through my head, so here we are. Everest was what Abbey Road was going to be called. Since they didn't use it then I figured they could use it on their next album. John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band  from 1970 has Ringo on drums. I chose two songs from the record, "Working Class Hero" and "God" (which has Billy Preston ((from the Get Back sessions)) on grand piano. I also included the single "Instant Karma!" which has Billy Preston and George Harrison. From Paul's album McCartney  I grabbed "Junk" (which he wrote in Marrakesh when he was with the Beatles), "Maybe I'm Amazed" and "Every Night". George Harrison's All Things Must Pass  supplied three songs, "My Sweet Lord", "What Is Li...

       I kept going back and forth on what design to use on the cover and I went first comic cover altered to be the pulp cover but I also loved Steranko's retro painting, so I decided to include that design here. I also included an alternate title page and an extra page of story, both with art from the 1940 Better Little Book of the Green Hornet. Let me know which design you prefer.

       Every once in a while, I will see an article or video about great pulp heroes. They will mention The Shadow, Doc Savage, Tarzan, Buck Rogers, etc. Many times, the Green Hornet will be listed. He was on radio, in comics, serials and television but never had a pulp magazine. The Lone Ranger, who was created by the same people who created the Hornet, did have a pulp. This is my interpretation of what I think a Green Hornet pulp look like.

            A popular post I did last October was from an idea my friend Stefan had of what if Stars Wars used popular music from the time on the soundtrack. Since this weekend is May the Fourth AND Stefan's birthday, I present his choices for an alternate soundtrack to The Empire Strikes Back . Empire Strikes Back soundtrack - YouTube and for his birthday, why don't you check out the first book he put out on Kindle: Amazon.com: My Own Personal Chamber of Horrors eBook : Boales, Stefan: Kindle Store