Monday, December 17, 2007

T.A.M.I.

This in-comic citation is important for several reasons. To begin, I'm not sure if T.A.M.I., in the suggested incarnation, ever existed. Internet sleuthing has turned up the following dirt on the acronym:

"The T.A.M.I. Show is a 1964 concert film. It includes performances by numerous popular rock and roll and R&B musicians from the United States and England. It was written and directed by Steve Binder. It is particularly well known for James Brown's performance, which features his legendary dance moves and remarkable energy. In interviews, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones has claimed that choosing to follow Brown & The Famous Flames was the biggest mistake of their careers, because no matter how well they performed, they could not top him.

The concert took place at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on October 28 and 29, 1964. Jan and Dean emceed the event and performed its theme song, "Here They Come (From All Over the World)". Jack Nitzsche was the show's music director. The T.A.M.I. Show was recorded on videotape and transferred to kinescope film for theatrical release."

Also:
http://www.learmedia.ca/product_info.php/products_id/1202
http://blogs.indiewire.com/stevenrosen/archives/002167.html

In the comic, Fraction invoked T.A.M.I. as a band. Searches for a band turned up a middle-age German group; one which never authored a song entitled "Deja Vu."More likely than not, Fraction is using this fiction to draw attention to the flippant use of citation in his work. Unlike a scholarly, peer-reviewed article, the under-regulated comic medium provides him the liberty to quote (or lie) at will. The song will also become important later in the comic, as the citation itself is quoted.

No comments: