"Odds and Ends" by R. Crumb

This collection of odds and ends, is exactly what it claims to be. A book filled with odds and ends from one of the most prolific, and influential, artists of the comic book genre. His characters are more plentiful than all of O. Henry's rouques, combined with all of the minions ever dreamt up by Damon Runyon. That is saying quite a lot, but it is true.

From the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers to the antics of Mr. Natural, Robert Crumb entertained an entire generation during the 1960's and early 1970's with Zap Comics. Those were some of the edgiest comics ever seen.

But what happened to those pieces that never made it to print? Like Hollywood, often the best bits are left on the cutting room floor, or in the case of Mr. Crumb, in the wastebasket. This book is like going through his outtakes. And what a journey it is!

There are portraits of blues artists such as Memphis Minnie, Robert Johnson, The North Carolina Ramblers and many others. There are also invitations, like the one to the 1999 celebration of Jesse Crumb and Erica Detlefsen's "Fifteen Year Thing Together." (They didn't know what else to call it.)

There are portraits of George Jones, weird machines grinding meat, there is even a section titled "R.Crumb's Early Weirdo Period 1981-85." That kind of threw me a bit, as I have always considered his work to be slightly off center, that's what makes it so enjoyable. If I wanted normal I'd read "Batman", not that a caped man with a young boy speeding out of a cave in a Batmobile is any less strange, but it is an "accepted" norm of the genre.

One of the funniest sections in this collection is composed of illustrations with captions we have all heard spoken in movies, or cheap novels. "He couldn't get a piece of ass in a whorehouse with a fistful of fifty dollar bills", is a line I have actually heard spoken aboard ship concerning a fellow shipmate. The illustration of this line, provided by Mr. Crumb, actually had me in tears of laughter. The same is true of his illustration of a "Belt Buckle Polisher", which is an expression I have heard used to describe people who dance seductively in public, holding one another close and grinding their loins against one another.

Filled with illustrations of street scenes and various character studies, this book will have you turning pages faster than the leaves falling from the trees in November. Though some of the art is from the 1990's, indeed a good bit of the book is composed of his post 1970's work, the style and wit are all intact. It was interesting to find this in the Library, and just one more example of why I love the Library so much. It's kind of like "Alice's Restaurant", you know, "You can get anything you want..."

"The Great Oom" by Robert Love

Most of us think of Transcendental Medtation, and Yoga, in conjunction with the 1960's and The Beatles. There can be no denying the fact that the 1960's and the pop culture of the decade did a tremendous amount to advance the practice, and study of, Yoga in the United States. But prior to that, for almost 100 years, this movement of spiritual and physical beliefs was being practiced here in the United States, quietly, and by some of it's most prominent citizens.

The author delves into the history of Yoga, explaining just what it is that has attracted, and retained, millions of followers the world over. Exploring the differences between the Hatha and Tantric styles, the reader is given a deeper understanding of just what Yoga is, and how it can be of benefit to both mind and body. They are, after all, connected to one another.

Yoga makes it's first written appearance in the Rig Veda, the oldest of the four Hindu texts known as the Vedas. These date back to about 1,500 B.C., though Yoga has been praticed for about 5,000 years, in total.

It is not certain exactly when Yoga first came to this country, but it is well known that the spread of the discipline can be traced directly back to a very unusual man during the Gilded Age. His name was Perry Baker, who would go on to become Pierre Bernard, a Victorian version of the Maharishi. Through lectures and publicity he became the father of Yoga in America for many years.

Beginning in San Francisco, and then on to the Northwest and back East to New York, Mr. Bernard leads the nation in a quest for spirituality. This journey leads him to the elite Wall Street crowd and the creme de la creme of Victorian Society. The stories of the rich and famous, as they seek enlightment, are priceless. The names involved are noteworthy.

At the same time as this book follows the journey of this one extraordinary fellow, (he even gets involved in elephant training at one point, and with a baseball team in Nyack, N.Y. at another) it also follows the efforts being made by others to introduce the nation to the lost teachings of the East.

As early as 1875, in New York City, there was the team of Madame Helena Blavatsky and Colonel Henry Olcott, who founded the Theosophical Society in order to study the texts of Buddhism and Hinduism more closely. By 1901 they were a world wide force, with chapters in over 42 countries.

The book is also helpful in explaining the different approaches to Yoga. It appears that there are two main forms; the Hatha discipline, which is based upon the control of the body, through a system of postures and exercises, in order to clear the mind; and Tantric Yoga, which seems to focus more on the use of the mind to harmonize the body. Don't judge me too harshly on these understandings, as this is my first time delving into the Mysteries of the East, and I invite any corrections of my limited understanding on the subject.

A very interesting read that need not be confined only to those interested in Yoga, this book is a portrait of people, then and now, looking to find a better way to live. And along the path to that story is attached a colorful and interesting account of America from the 1870's through the 1950's. A great gift for the Yogi in your life.