LANDLINE by Jay Babcock

LANDLINE by Jay Babcock

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LANDLINE by Jay Babcock
LANDLINE by Jay Babcock
[Landline Special] More Adventures With Snock

[Landline Special] More Adventures With Snock

Three Michael Hurley-related treasures from other media

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Jay Babcock
Apr 21, 2025
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LANDLINE by Jay Babcock
LANDLINE by Jay Babcock
[Landline Special] More Adventures With Snock
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A few Michael Hurley-related treasures from other media…

1. SO WRONG THEY’RE RIGHT (1995)

Tip of the hat to New Commute for this clip from a documentary/roadtrip/comedy film by over-enthusiastic 8-Track Mind zine editor/publisher Russ Forster. Here, Bob Jordan and Hurley talk 8-track rigs, bogus bootleg tapes and some kind of heist involving Rounder Records. There’s also a quick peak inside Snock's van, a routine from the mysterious Bobby Suit and some post-verbal musical goofing off. Wellllll… the whole thing is goofing off, actually.

2. SNOCK N ROLL: ADVENTURES WITH MICHAEL HURLEY (Marc Israel, 2009)

Here’s an extremely charming 25-minute semi-documentary "‘short little film” from 2009—a bit of rascality by Marc Israel, a true character whose work I am not at all familiar with. Great late night viewing, and — I think — maybe a nice way in to the world of Snock for those who aren’t already familiar…

3. COMICS BY MICHAEL HURLEY, 1969-70

Two of the 12 panels that made up Hurley’s July 30, 1969 comic strip in The Broadside & The Free Press.

Finally… after all these years (the shame is real), I’ve gone and made a 34-page digital compilation of the somewhat mythical comics that Hurley created in 1969-70. They were published in a biweekly Massachusetts underground folk music paper called The Broadside in the period that it had combined with another local psychedelic-activist newspaper called The Free Press. Print run? 5,000, maybe.

Thanks to a helpful person on reddit, I learned that all of these comics are just sitting there buried in the pages of the final three dozen issues of this joint publication, archived here at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Unfortunately there are a few issues missing towards the end of the run, but still, almost everything is here, and perhaps seeing this delightful, previous uncompiled work en masse will motivate folks to track down clean copies of the missing issues…if they’re still to be found.

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There’s a link to download the Snock Comics PDF below as a treat to folks who’ve been supporting Landline through paid subscriptions, donations or barter. Thanks everybody! (If you can’t afford to subscribe, and want to see the PDF, drop me a line and I bet we can work something out.) — Jay

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