Luann by Greg Evans and Karen Evans for September 07, 2017

To me, it’s unfathomable that someone could go to New York and not see a show.

I think the last big gig I saw was The Beach Boys. Before that, either Chicago or “Weird Al” Yankovic.

Where to next, I wonder …?

Tara suggest it. Tara confirms it. Tara does not have a no answer to the three part question she posed to Luann.

And we may never get the details.

Tara seems like the sex & drugs type.

The Rock ‘N’ Roll may amount to bait – breadcrumbs on the trail.

Start with rock ‘n’ roll. Tara will get you to the other things a little later.

Man, people are so sure Tara is a drug soaked, sex fiend. Oh and she might like rock and roll. On the other hand other people think Luann is boring, and basically is a loser. Well I think Tara is not a drug soaked, sex fiend, and was just using the phrase to make a point. Not to suggest they engage in the first two activities. Actually, in spite of so many generalizations, if you look at FBI stats on young 19, 20 year people a lot are even not using pot (beer and booze for those who are experienced is a problem though, as it always seems to be) and sex is no more or less than it ever was, or is. Kids are pretty much kids. Now a loud, crazy, head banging heavy metal typed concert would be just the thing that Luann could use. Anybody see what Malia Obama likes to do at Lalapaalooza here in Chicago? Typical 19 year old kid. If Malia can do it, then Tara take Luann to one, she needs to head bang. Waiting on Bernice will constitute a LONNNNG wait.

Luann has never been to a wild R & R concert? It wouldn’t be Bernice or Gunther’s thing – so maybe nobody to go with. Luann might have fun if it’s mainly the music and the crowd energy. However if Luann sees Tara doing drugs and maybe doing the bass player backstage – Luann would not be happy with the experience. Soon it may be Luann’s turn to lead – doing some homework together and keeping Tara on track.

Fuse. Kablooie.

Extinguish.

The rock band Extinguish will be playing at the Fuse. All band members have to be current or former fire fighters.

Luann will want to do something really far out. Perhaps taking Tara to see Clifford The Big Red Dog or Caillu. Maybe some rock and roll – Neil Diamond is on a concert tour…

I thought so. Tara is there to help Luann see where she is at this point in her life. Tara will probably start telling her about her life adventures and Luann will come to realize she has been living with reassured comfort of home and friends, that she is young only once. THAT is what I realized too late. I disliked not knowing what is the next step, anything unfamiliar, etc. Got in the family way too young because I liked the comfort and familiarity of family life. Now I am in my 50s and have been looking back…I missed out on a lot. There is nothing more true that the saying, “Youth is wasted on the young.” Looks like Tara understands that well.

I first mentioned it two days ago, but more and more this plot is reminding me of Black Swan. I wonder if the Evanses might even have gotten their inspiration from that film. It wouldn’t surprise me.

So many posters seem convinced that Tara is a Pandora’s Box waiting to explode when Luann least suspects. I, for one, am going to take Tara’s statements at face value for the time being, that she has learned something from her past mistakes and wants to make a clean start at a new college. I could well be wrong (I usually am, when it comes to predicting this comic), but I want to give the girl a fair chance.

Hold up……..Luann went to a Ricky Martin concert with Miguel in 1999!!!!!! COME ON LUANN!!!!! YOU’VE BEEN TO WAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY MORE BIG SHOWS THAN THAT!!!!!!!!!!!! DON’T DENY IT!!!!!

Tara is Luann’s TJ.

I want to see The Walking Dead On Ice. Or would that be The Skating Dead? And how hard would it be to skate with one’s neck twisted and one’s head lolled over and aside?

She’s overdue for some sex too. No wait, it’s a family cartoon :(

School and work, so what. Quit whining.

Get her to a hair stylist first. She’s had the same haircut for way too long.

Best concert: Billy Joel, “Storm Front” tour, the tour promoters surprised us by swapping out our nosebleed seats for 4th row from the stage!

Worst concert: probably Elton John, he basically sleepwalked through his songs and we were so far back that we could just barely make him out at the piano. We also saw a Bruce Springsteen concert in 1988 but I don’t remember a thing about it.

Didn’t Luann go to an Alanis Morissette concert awhile back?

Tara is building up strength and is upgrading from a tropical storm to a hurricane. She’s about to make landfall in Port Luann.

Well, Lu….you could’ve had that “Boy Band” concert…if you had went with Gunther, instead of him having Tiffany to do the old “bait n’ switch” on him, about 20 years ago (our time frame, a ’97 strip, or so)!

-

….Actually, you know what? It was just a boy band…so, you did good, after all! And maybe Gunther knows now, that Tiffany did him a favor- though she probably still has recurring nightmares about Aaron Hill…and that “Oh Boys!” performance….

Maybe Tara will take LuAnn to a Lingerie Show at the Fuse….. hmmmmm.

The way ticket prices are for concerts who can afford to go.

Sounds like trouble…

“A Concerted Effort”

“We Live For Live”

“In A Rush To See The Police Go After Bad Company”

“The Talking Heads Had Simple Minds Before Them”

“I Went To An A-ha Concert, And All I Got Was A T-Shirt That Said: ‘A-ha! …We Made You Spend $15.99!….’ "

“Parliament Was In Session…But Couldn’t Get Out Of The Funkadelic That They Were In”

“Promoting The Commodores”

“The Cardigans Were On Display, And They Were My Muse….I Had No Doubt!”

“I Went To See Kansas, Chicago, Boston And Berlin In Three Hours- So Take That, Travel Agency!”

“The Eagles And Wings Are Probably For The Byrds”

“These Days, He’s Too Young To Neil”

“El Poco Grande”

“We Didn’t Start The Firefall- They Did It, Themselves…”

“Hungry For A Flying Burrito”

“When The Motels Were Crowded, And The Minds Were Simple”

“Bangles Are Pretty…And Loud…And Colorful…”

“Don’t Count On A Grouch To Point Out The Prairie Dawn”

or

“Can You Tell Me How To Get Away From Sesame Street?”

Luann – How can a girl have so many friends and no life?

I can relate to Luann at the age of 19 only ever going to school and to work—no life to speak of. However, I had super strict, over-protective, over-exacting parents who wouldn’t allow me to go anywhere, certainly not to rock concerts or parties. Luann’s parents are pretty easy-going and not the disciplinarian types. So I wonder how Luann has made it to 19 without going out to rock concerts or having a full social life, she being a social butterfly and all.

Is Greg about to get “socially edgy” again? We went thru the “Luann becomes a woman” arc. Then “Luann becomes sexually aware” and “Luann’s tragic break up” ark arcs, both with Quill. Then the wild bowling party.

Are we now going to get the “sex, drug and rock ‘n’ roll” morality play arc? Or just more wild partying?

Starr has a revenge strategy in play towards Bernice via LuAnn. Am I, the only person seeing this??????

Elvis Presley—-around 1974 or 75

6

Ok, what sort of concert will they attend? And, will it be fun or will it turn badly? Since I am liking Tara, I am hoping for a good outcome. I am hoping she sticks around as a character long-term.

As for Luann never having been to a concert of note…. I can understand that. While I like a whole helluva lot of different forms of music, I have only seen five “big” acts and did not see the first one until I was a junior in college. Concerts of that sort are quite pricy and I typically thought it would be more useful for me to buy the music album rather than the concert until I had a bit of my own spending money to throw around.

For me, the best two concerts of the five I went to of the few I attended……1) CSN&Y, and 2) Chicago.

So, is Luann going to change her major to Tara?

Hold Still Luann. Tara wants to attach “strings” to your arms, legs, and head so that Her New “puppet” may more EASILY be manipulated…..,

My last was Chase… in a small auditorium… blew out my ears and I haven’t been to a concert since. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBogxn5ObgA

Luann It’s not your fault. You’re boring AF because you’re drawn that way. Also you should have totally lost your virginity by now according to national averages.

Hate the concerts where the only tie to the original band is a substitute drummer who was there for 3 months before they broke up, but somehow has the rights to tour with the name.

What is Quill doing on stage these days????

The cute little thief Tara is very likable.

This is really getting boring!

My last concert was American Idol.

I think Tarra’s introduction and burgeoning friendship with Luann will allow the latter to loosen up a little. Luann is not boring but she could use a little more fun in her life. Whether Tarra will lead Luann astray is yet to be seen but it should be interesting. Either way, prepare for a clash with Bernice.

I picture the temptation of Joshua/Jesus by his former Right Hand Sama-el, an arch angel turned rebel. With Luann being Jesus and Tara as Sama-el also called Lucifer.

The temptation of Christ is detailed in the Gospels of Matthew,1 Mark2 and Luke.3 According to these texts, after being baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus fasted for forty days and nights in the Judaean Desert. During this time, Satan appeared to Jesus and tried to tempt him. Jesus having refused each temptation, the devil then departed and Jesus returned to Galilee.

Temptations were hedonism (hunger / satisfaction), egoism (spectacular throw / might) and materialism (kingdoms / wealth). John the Evangelist in his epistle calls these temptations “in world” as “lust of eyes” (materialism), “lust of body” (hedonism) and “pride of life” (egoism).4 Temptations aim to mislead and pervert three main human characteristics; to think, wish and feel which are inside mind, soul and heart as Jesus alludes in Greatest Commandment. These are related with transcendental or ultimate ideals in three areas of human interests; science (truth), arts (beauty) and religion (goodness). Christians are called to search for divine virtues; faith, hope and love that relate them directly to God who Himself is Truth, Beauty and Goodness.5

The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews also refers to Jesus having been tempted “in every way that we [i.e. Christian believers] are”.6

Mark’s account is very brief, merely noting the event. Matthew and Luke describe the temptations by recounting the details of the conversations between Jesus and Satan. Since the elements that are in Matthew and Luke but not in Mark are mostly pairs of quotations rather than detailed narration, many scholars believe these extra details originate in the Q Document. The temptation of Christ is not explicitly mentioned in the Gospel of John but in this gospel Jesus does refer to the devil, “the prince of this world”, having no power over Him.7

Last Big Show? Well, not counting the pro wrestler (Paul Wight) on TV, I guess Peter, Paul, and Mary, a while back….

At least I was more than six years old.

Is this where we are about to see Tara Starr luring Luann down the primrose path to perdition (a.k.a. rock ‘n’ roll)?

My first and last massive concert was Bon Jovi, New Orleans, I think it was in 1992.Walked right to my college stadium´s ticket boot with no one ahead of me and bought me an entrance to the field in front of the stage, some 4 hours before the event. Walked around the stadium a little to take a peek at the stage and was surrounded by resellers trying to sell me an entrace at face value!Just try to do something like that today!The concert was great, I actually didn´t know a thing about the band, but they were making such a fuzz about the concert, and such an unusual thing it was held in my city, that it seemed worth it. Then during the concert I recalled some of the songs being heard in the radio at the time, so I chanted with the crowd even if didn´t know exactly what they were saying.

Later it became more common to bring big name bands to concert in the city.

I do not see this blossoming friendship as something Bernice will be happy about. She wasn’t happy when Luann was having fun with Jack.

I’m hoping for the best here for “Lu” and Tara. Luann needs someone to have adventures with…Bernice just isn’t that friend. We have different friends to do different things with. Agreed, Bern won’t be happy about this turn of events, but I do not think this strip’s about taking degenerate downward spirals.

I was hoping that Tara would unleash Luann’s creative side a little more, help her explore.. be more “gutsy” in her choice of work. But now Tara sounds like trouble. I don’t know what Luann means by ‘living it up’. School and work are what people do. It’s only boring if you have no interest or passion for anything. This is Luann’s problem. Living it up.. whatever that is… won’t solve anything. She has lots of friends already. I have a feeling we’re going to go through another episode of Luann learning about life and people through trial and error.

Last big show for me was Kiss. Dr. Hook was the opener.

Seriously, there’s no real difference between Tara and Pru. And Luann would have no idea what sex and drugs are

Tara : ¨What´s the last big show you saw?¨

Luann: ¨Um….Sesame Street on Ice when I was 6.¨

Seriously Luann? So you NEVER went to see Ricky Martin with Miguel in 1999 as seen here AND THE NEWSPAPERS BACK THEN???

www.gocomics.com/luann/1999/09/24

and

www.gocomics.com/luann/1999/11/2