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johnM
May-21-2005, 8:05pm
Hope everyone gets a kick out of this

http://www.zookmania.com/zookman/archives.html

Click on the link

jm

No! its not a Banjo!!!

Adare_Steve
May-22-2005, 6:39am
Hmmm...Finn McFinn from County E'Clare playing a bouzouki, eh.

Any chance it's modelled on Alec Finn, world famous bouzouki player (ex De Dannan) from Co. Galway? (Galway is the next county up from Clare).

Steve

John Flynn
May-22-2005, 9:08am
I don't want to join the chorus of people being thin-skinned about scoio/ethnic humor, as expressed in some other current threads. Myself, I would be of 100% Irish ancestry if some bloody Englishman hadn't got in there a couple generations back! I like a good Irish joke as well as the next man and I don't take offense easily. This comic strip, though, just isn't funny and since its failed attempts at humor all depend on the worst stereotypes of rural Ireland, it is just sad.

Adare_Steve
May-22-2005, 12:01pm
I would be of 100% Irish ancestry if some bloody Englishman hadn't got in there a couple generations back!

I like a good Irish joke as well as the next man and I don't take offense easily.
I'm not particularly fond of Irish (or any other racial stereotype) jokes, myself and, I'm a "bloody Englishman" living contentedly in the Irish Republic with very close friends and colleagues who are Irish.

But, I didn't take offence at this comic strip (mind you, I only had time to read the first two). I thought it was well drawn, and was written from the standpoint of a person who either is Irish, or knows a lot about the country - and who was writing fondly, if a little stereotypically. In fact, I had the sense that the writer was being a little 'tongue-in-cheek' with his comments. It's a bit like when Jewish comedians tell Jewish jokes - they are somehow 'entitled' to have a little jibe at their backgrounds.

Mind you, if the author is NOT Irish (with or without the 'bloody Englishman'), I might have to withdraw my support for his work!

Steve

edited for typos

otterly2k
May-22-2005, 8:19pm
Johnny, I have to say, I agree... didn't find the ethnic humor particularly funny, and it does seem to be written for an "inside" audience...I think most ethnic groups have a kind of inside humor that is a) only really understandable by those inside it, and b) kind of offensive if they come from outside....but I did enjoy the guest appearances by Andy Irvine and Dervish.

steve V. johnson
May-22-2005, 9:47pm
The Other Steve (of Adare) sez #"Hmmm...Finn McFinn from County E'Clare playing a bouzouki, eh.

Any chance it's modelled on Alec Finn, world famous bouzouki player (ex De Dannan) from Co. Galway? (Galway is the next county up from Clare)."

There seem to be a lot of really funny cross-references, but the most obvious, that of Finn McCool (sorry for the American English spelling!) possibly conflated with Alec Finn. #Big fun.

and Mando Johnny say "This comic strip, though, just isn't funny and since its failed attempts at humor all depend on the worst stereotypes of rural Ireland, it is just sad."

Be sure not to read "The Teapots Are Out..." by John B. Keane and better steer clear of Eamon Kelly's "According to Custom"! # Above all, absolutey avoid like The Plague, "The Poor Mouth" and "At Swim-Two-Birds by Flann O'Brien. # You'll be angry for years. # #I laugh just thinking about what fun these were to read, but then, I'm just an American, and one without any identifiable ethnic identity as well, so I'm probably waaaaay 'outside the Pale'. #

I think there's a lot going on in the comic strip, and I find it entertaining. # I'll probably copy the "don't feed the bouzouki player" panel... #<GG>

Thanks, JM.

stv

Adare_Steve
May-23-2005, 8:07am
There seem to be a lot of really funny cross-references, but the most obvious, that of Finn McCool (sorry for the American English spelling!) possibly conflated with Alec Finn. Big fun.
Stv...I actually had thought of the Finn McCool/Alec Finn cross-reference...but couldn't be sure of the spelling of McCool, so left it out of my last post!

I think there's a bit of hypersensisitivity going on around this ostensibly harmless comic strip.

Steve

Kbone
May-23-2005, 8:17am
Here we go again...geesh !

steve V. johnson
May-23-2005, 12:09pm
SteveP, shy of taking a dare, sez "Stv...I actually had thought of the Finn McCool/Alec Finn cross-reference...but couldn't be sure of the spelling of McCool, so left it out of my last post!"

I have about half-a-dozen spellings for Finn McCool in various books of the old myths. Regional differences in Irish and the always-chancy Anglicizations in print leave me to the grossest American version, just so's we can all 'get it'. LOL!!

And "I think there's a bit of hypersensisitivity going on around this ostensibly harmless comic strip."

OW, hey, don't touch my zouk there!!!

stv

steve V. johnson
May-23-2005, 3:11pm
Here's an excerpt from an email conversation I had with a zouk player and luthier-for-fun, a person who visits quite a few Irish and lutherie events and sites.

#<< I got to hang out with Mike Tackett quite a bit at
one of the Zoukfests.

I'd love to see him team up with someone like Bil Black or Thomas Johnson
(a couple of Irtrad regulars...talk about twisted and deep, plus a real
understanding of the Irish music world) >>


>So Mike is a player, eh? #What's his history/story?

<< When I knew him 6? years ago he was living in or about Seattle, trying to
make it as a free lance graphics artist and web art designer. #The cartoons
were just a fun sideline, but made him pretty famous in the zouk world.
I've lost contact with him, and don't know what he's up to now. #As I
recall, he was a good musician on some other instrument (piano? #horn?
something non-irtrad) and was just learning bouzouki. #Nice guy. >>

stv

Adare_Steve
May-24-2005, 3:36am
I've been in e-mail contact with Mike Hackett, the creator of 'Zookman'. He seems like one of the 'good guys' (to me) and is a professional illustrator (of German extraction) who moved from Seattle and is now living in a particularly pleasant State-of-the-Union.

Anyway, he had this to say about Zookman...and he gave me permission to let you see it:

I actually haven't touched the strip in years and sometimes forget it's still up on the site -- I've gone off in a different direction...

Anyway, it's nice to know people can get still incensed about something as silly as Zookman. Brings back fond memories (from the days when I was performing with a Celtic band in the Irish pubs of Seattle -- I played box and whistle then, but since I never got any good at those instruments, switched to bouzouki...should have stuck with piano...

As for who or what the Zookman character was based on: your guess is as good as mine, which is to say, I didn't have any conscious model in mind (that still leaves the vast, uncharted unconscious). As an admirer of Alec Finn, I like that theory -- so it's settled....

Everything I did with the comic strip was with tongue firmly planted in cheek -- I never meant to deride or offend anyone (and even got nice email from people such as Sean Laffey, editor of Irish Music Magazine, and Andy Irvine -- they just egged me on!)...

Just to add that Sean Laffey is a personal friend of mine and he'd know a 'gurrier' when he saw one...so Mike is obviously not one of those!

Steve

steve V. johnson
May-24-2005, 11:56am
So... Things are a bit slow in Adare this week, Steve? <GGG>

stvwhowisheshewasinAdarehimself

Adare_Steve
May-24-2005, 1:46pm
So... Things are a bit slow in Adare this week, Steve? <GGG>
You would not BELIEVE how busy things are in Adare, as a matter of fact, Stv. It's just that when life gets really complicated and complex, I do something totally irrelevant to relax http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Steve

jmcgann
May-24-2005, 2:15pm
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

ZOOKMAN RULES!

johnM
May-24-2005, 7:14pm
Amen!

steve V. johnson
May-24-2005, 7:30pm
AdareSteve sez "It's just that when life gets really complicated and complex, I do something totally irrelevant to relax."

Like... visit Indiana...? <GGG>

stv