Page 45 Review by Stephen
"It's only rock'n'roll..."
Even before the war journalism that made him famous (PALESTINE, SAFE AREA GORAZDE etc.), Sacco was interested in simply reporting things as he witnessed them. It's just that what he was interested in was music, so when his old college mate Gerry decided in 1988 to embark on a tour of Europe with his rock band The Miracle Workers (CD included) Joe asked if he could tag along, sketch and make notes for what would become "In The Company Of Long Hair" originally published in YAHOO. The result (and the central piece in this collection) is a series of drunken arguments and pitiful quests for sex conducted across several borders where at least one of them gets strip-searched for drugs each time. And far from having a tour bus, "The van's gone gooey... squishy tissues ankle deep, a trail of snot since Groningen…" Breaking-even is an option, but only if they manage to fend off infections long enough to actually play.
This is a much younger and more experimental Sacco who uses organic, intoxicating layouts (apposite for the delirious proceedings), with the elaborate lettering swirling round, framing the forms and constituting the panel borders. Every page has a vivacity of its own and Matt in particular, with his crazed eyes and craggy Neanderthal skull, comes alive as a cantankerous beast, whilst Sacco depicts himself as a wreck of repression and comparative timidity which can't be true: he volunteered for this chaotic road trip after all!
Represented on creamy paper are pages of original sketch work in pencil which were a revelation to me, quite gorgeous in their softness, their fullness and their sense of form and texture particularly when it comes to tight jeans and the backs of leather jackets. That's only part of this collection, though.
Also included are six genial pages on Sacco's love of the Rolling Stones, and thoughts on attending stadium gigs in general. Then there's a colour section called "The Rude Blues" following the tour of a group of ancient Bluesmen defying their increasing decrepitude. As Joe drives T-Model and his drummer back to Mississippi (700 miles on which the two musicians refuse to speak to each other), the old man calmly recites a life of shocking violence which it's difficult to believe anyone could survive physically or emotionally - whence The Blues, I suppose. In addition, there are a loads of rock posters and record sleeves (Thin White Rope, Mudhoney, Soundgarden, The Flaming Lips...) with added Sacco commentary - and boy is he in a grumpy mood!
Speaking of grumpy, the rest of the book is fleshed out with his one-page satires of the music scene, taking on everything from music videos to absurdly elaborate stage sets (I once saw Bowie descend from a giant glass spider - he was on the phone at the time), and from rock journalists to scenesters competing to out-extreme each other. This is Sacco at play, and I don't think I've seen Sacco at play before. The first page of the hardcover captures the Rutland music scene and attendant grunge fans/groupies/wannabees perfectly, although Sacco is of course as self-lacerating as he is pugilistic, and the points he makes could be directed at any other subculture, even the "small press" comics scene.
Indeed the comparison is enhanced by the final piece from 2005 in which Sacco depicts himself alone at the drawing board listening to Bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins whilst fretting about the gnawing, creative self-doubts beneath his public front. I wouldn't know if it's universal, but you'd be surprised how many people I've heard confessing that although they're generally confident and successful in what they do, there are moments where they struggle not to shy away from feeling a fraud and fear being found out. I'm not immune myself and neither, it seems, is Joe. So yeah, another fantastic slice of Sacco, and a real refresher.
