My wonderful cousin, Anne, gave us this unabridged audio book–38 discs, 48 hours of listening pleasure–on one of our visits to Boston. Diane and I decided when the coronavirus pandemic hit Western New York, we’d take advantage of the Stay-at-Home order and listen to Ron Chernow’s Grant. So, for the past three months or so, Diane and I have been listening to Mark Bramhall narrate Grant during lunch. Each disc is about 70 minutes in length, so we’d typically listen to a half a disc each day.

I knew a bit about Ulysses S. Grant from some of the history books I’ve read over the years. When I was in ROTC at Marquette University, I studied Grant’s battles in the Civil War in our MILITARY HISTORY class. But listening to this audio book completely filled out the image I had of Grant as a brilliant tactician and strategist, but a man beset by problems.

Grant had no business sense. Time and time again, Grant was hoodwinked by people he trusted. Although Grant had integrity, many of the people he surrounded himself with did not. Grant’s family used the famous man to their own selfish ends, especially Grant’s father.

The recent toppling of a statue of Grant angered me because Grant supported freeing slaves, admired black soldiers, and fought for black voter rights in the South after the Civil War. The reason given for bringing down the statue of Grant was because “he owned slaves.” Grant did not. His wife’s family owned slaves before Grant married her. Grant and his wife never owned slaves.

From the minor military career to the generalship of the Northern forces, Grant’s rise is impressive and surprising. Grant never aspired to higher positions, he was usually pushed into them because of his talents. Grant never wanted to be President, but he did so because he felt it was his duty.

There’s no denying that Grant led a sad life, punctuated by successes and infrequent happiness. Grant was an alcoholic constantly fighting to stay sober. He smoked a dozen cigars a day which resulted in cancer of the mouth and throat. Grant labored in pain and agony as he was dying to finish his memoirs in order to not leave his wife penniless. Ron Chernow’s biography is a classic. GRADE: A

The last new Harry Dresden novel was published in 2015. Jim Butcher announced that not one, but TWO new Harry Dresden novels would be published this Summer. So, of course, I had to get caught up on this Urban Fantasy series. Blood Rites is the 6th book in the series and first appeared in 2004.

Harry Dresden is hired to protect a movie director whose life is being threatened. Two of the director’s staff have already been killed in suspicious “accidents.” Dresden senses danger and Magic on the movie set, but his life is complicated by a group of vampires.

Dresden recruits his Chicago Police friend, Karrin Murphy, and the mysterious hitman, Kincaid, to help him eliminate the vampire threat. This leads to a violent confrontation. But this battle is only a prelude to a much more involved conflagration at the end of the book that portends a new path in the story arc. GRADE: B+

I enjoy the series of Sherlock Holmes pastiches that TITAN BOOKS publishes. Here are two books that feature a mash-up of Holmes and H. G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. The first book, Manly Wade Wellman’s Sherlock Holmes and War of the Worlds, was first published in 1975. TITAN BOOKS reprinted the book in their “The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” series in 2009.

The action in Sherlock Holmes and War of the Worlds begins when Holmes buys a crystal egg in a variety shop in London. He discovers it actually is a communication device that links Earth with…Mars! Holmes shares his discovery with the other famous A. Conan Doyle character, Professor Challenger. Together, Holmes and Challenger determine that the Earth is about to be invaded. And, sure enough, they’re right!

For part of the Invasion, Holmes goes his way and Challenger goes his way. But, eventually, Holmes and Challenger get back together to deal with the devastation and horror of death-rays, poison gas, and giant menacing robots.

Eric Brown’s The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – The Martian Menace (2020) opens with Holmes asked to investigate the death of the Martian Ambassador. The successful resolution of that case leads the Martians to approach Holmes once again when one of their famous philosophers is murdered. Holmes and Watson agree to investigate the case…on Mars! During their departure to Mars, Holmes and Watson discover they share their spaceship with another passenger: Professor Challenger!

I enjoyed Eric Brown’s clever plot and the mysteries about the Martians that Holmes and Challenger manage to penetrate. If you’re in the mood for a couple wonderful Sherlock Holmes pastiches with a Science Fiction flavor, I recommend Sherlock Holmes and War of the Worlds and The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. GRADE: B+ (for both)

It’s hard to believe I’ve posted a 100 FORGOTTEN MUSIC reviews. I thought for this centennial posting, I’d feature a triple CD set of music from the 1970s. This set is unique because “name” groups like The Rolling Stones, Queen, and Fleetwood Mac are represented. And singers like Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and Donna Summer are included, too.

Of course, there are some head-scratchers here like The Undertones’s “Teenage Kicks” and the Buzzcocks’s “Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve).” And the odd inclusion of Country songs. But, all in all, I think this set presents the 1970s fairly accurately. Do you remember these songs? Are any of your favorites here? GRADE: A-

TRACK LIST:

Disc: 1

  1. Queen – Don’t Stop Me Now
  2. Electric Light Orchestra – Mr. Blue Sky
  3. Elton John – Tiny Dancer
  4. Bill Withers – Lovely Day
  5. Earth, Wind & Fire – September
  6. Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons – December, 1963 (Oh What a Night!)
  7. ABBA – Dancing Queen
  8. The Jackson 5 – I Want You Back
  9. Marvin Gaye – Let’s Get It on
  10. Commodores – Easy
  11. Billy Ocean – Love Really Hurts Without You
  12. Hot Chocolate – You Sexy Thing
  13. The O’Jays – Love Train
  14. Barry White – You’re the First, the Last, My Everything
  15. The Temptations – Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone
  16. Wild Cherry – Play That Funky Music
  17. Chic – Le Freak
  18. Gloria Gaynor – I Will Survive

Disc: 2

  1. John Lennon – Imagine
  2. Don McLean – American Pie
  3. The Rolling Stones – It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll (But I Like It)
  4. Fleetwood Mac – Go Your Own Way
  5. Simon & Garfunkel – Bridge Over Troubled Water
  6. Bob Dylan – Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
  7. Billy Joel – Piano Man
  8. The Who – Baba O’Riley
  9. Free – All Right Now
  10. Boston – More Than a Feeling
  11. Mott the Hoople & David Bowie – All the Young Dudes
  12. Rod Stewart – Maggie May
  13. Blue Oyster Cult – (Don’t Fear) the Reaper
  14. Lynyrd Skynyrd – Free Bird
  15. Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell
  16. Thin Lizzy – the Boys Are Back in Town
  17. Status Quo – Rockin’ All Over the World
  18. Ram Jam – Black Betty
  19. The Knack – My Sharona

Disc: 3

  1. John Travolta & Olivia Newton – John – The Grease Mega-Mix
  2. Jackson 5 – ABC
  3. Elton John & Kiki Dee – Don’t Go Breaking My Heart
  4. Blondie – Heart of Glass
  5. Donna Summer – I Feel Love
  6. Santana – Oye Como Va
  7. Stealers Wheel – Stuck in the Middle with You
  8. Lou Reed – Walk on the Wild Side
  9. Harry Nilsson – Everybody’s Talkin’
  10. Johnny Nash – I Can See Clearly Now
  11. 10CC – I’m Not in Love
  12. Carole King – It’s Too Late
  13. Kenny Rogers – the Gambler
  14. Dolly Parton – Jolene
  15. John Denver – Take Me Home, Country Roads
  16. Gerry Rafferty – Baker Street
  17. Paul McCartney & Wings – Live and Let Die
  18. Roxy Music – Love Is the Drug
  19. The Undertones – Teenage Kicks
  20. Buzzcocks – Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)
  21. Buggles – Video Killed the Radio Star

Terry Teachout, the theater reviewer of the WALL STREET JOURAL, wrote a rave review of Act One (you can read his review here) and mentioned that the Lincoln Center Theater was offering the play online for FREE until July 3. So, of course, I dropped everything and watched it.

Back in 2016, I read Moss Hart’s classic Act One (you can read my review here) and loved it. Act One is the most informative and entertaining memoir of a life of writing plays for Broadway that I’ve ever read. Moss Hart, an uneducated yet passionate lover of Broadway plays, stumbles into the play-writing business. His big break-through is when legendary George S. Kaufman becomes interested in Hart’s play, Once in a Lifetime.

This play version of Act One, written brilliantly by James Lapine, shows the grinding poverty that Moss Hart grew up in. Hart’s aunt takes the young Moss Hart to Broadway shows and ignites his passion for theater. As a young man (played by Santino Fontana), Hart finds a clerical job at a theatrical promoter’s office. Hart writes a play that flops in Rochester, New York. But, he keeps writing and produces a rough draft of Once in a Lifetime that spurs the interest of veteran Broadway director and writer, George S. Kaufman (played by Tony Shalhoub). The interaction in the rewriting of Once in a Lifetime–with the quirky Kaufman and the novice Hart–power the key action of the reminder of the play.

If you’re in the mood for a funny, touching, and insightful play–and its FREE!–just click on the YOUTUBE.COM link above, or if you have a smart TV, you can access it there. Highly recommended! GRADE: A

My daughter Katie suggested that we watch a movie each week so we could talk about it when we Facebook PORTAL each Sunday. Since Katie came up with the idea, we decided she should make the first choice. Katie selected a Netflix documentary, 13TH (2016).

Director Ava Duvernay’s documentary explores the affects of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution on American society. Diane and I were shocked by the political strategy that used the 13th Amendment to cause mass incarceration of African-Americans to produce, in effect, slave labor.

Duvernay tells this story through a mixture of video news footage and commentary. Here’s the list of participants:

Netflix reports that viewership of 13TH has gone up 4000% in recent weeks. It’s a powerful documentary that explains why we’re in the social mess we’re in. Highly recommended! GRADE: A

I’ve read several of Gerard de Villiers’ spy novels featuring Malko Linge, an Austrian spy. In Revenge of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin orders the assassination of one of his former oligarchs, Boris Berezovsky. But, the assassination needs to look like an “accident” so that British and Russian relations don’t get disturbed.

Soon afterward, Berezovsky is found dead in the bathroom of his London home, an apparent suicide. MI5 opens an investigation, but Prime Minister David Cameron orders the case closed. The CIA, suspicious of Russian operations in the UK, sends Malko to investigate Berezovsky’s death and the British cover-up.

Malko uncovers leads to the Russian plot, but almost dies of a deadly poison attack. After he recovers, Malko vows to get to the bottom of the Berezovsky case. Trips to Israel and Moscow uncover links in Russian involvement to several deaths.

If you’re a fan of spy novels, you’ll find Revenge of the Kremlin compelling and involving. De Villiers has sources that supply him with accurate information about Russian methods of poisoning which gives the whole Russian operation credibility and realism. Do you like spy novels? GRADE: B+

Patrick and Katie gave me a Buffalo Bills mask to protect me from the coronavirus. Diane gave me this LET’S STAY HOME pillow. Happy Fathers’ Day to all the Dads out there!

Wonderful Beth Fedyn sent me this DVD set of a Matchbox 20 concert in Georgia in 2004. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Matchbox 20 was a popular group whose songs frequently hit the Top 10.

As you might expect, Matchbox 20 plays their most popular songs. I’m fond of “Real World” which includes the line we can all relate to right now: “I wish the Real World would just stop hassling me!”

Rob Thomas, the lead singer of Matchbox 20, does a fine job on “If You’re Gone” and “3 AM.” The enthusiastic crowd roared their approval. However, I wonder when a scene like this–a crowded arena with no social distancing or masks–will become Normal again.

Beth, thanks again for this wonderful gift! I really enjoyed it!!! GRADE: A

More Images

Matchbox Twenty ‎– Show (A Night In The Life Of Matchbox Twenty)

Label:Coming Home Studios ‎– CHS 10028, Lippmann Entertainment ‎– CHS 10028, Zoë Vision ‎– CHS 10028Format:DVD, DVD-Video, PAL, Multichannel, Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital Plus Stereo
DVD, DVD-Video, PAL
Country:EuropeReleased: Genre:Rock, Non-MusicStyle:Alternative Rock, Interview, Pop Rock

Tracklist

Stark House, one of my favorite Small Presses, has been reprinting some of Barry N. Malzberg’s huge output. Malzberg is probably best known for his quirky Science Fiction, but he wrote fiction in several genres.

Screen was published in 1968 by Olympia Press. Malzberg’s afterward essay, “The Jewel and the Madonnas,” tells how he sold Screen to publisher Maurice Girodias who considered it a masterpiece. Malzberg’s troubled protagonist, Martin Miller, works for the Welfare Department, but is threatened with firing. Miller is not concerned because his passion is watching movies. He goes to theaters and while the movie is playing, fantasizes about the actresses on the screen: Sophia Loren, Brigitte Bardot, and Elizabeth Taylor.

Cinema (aka, The Masochist and Everything Happened to Susan) features a young woman with Candy characteristics who attempts to become an actress by working in porno films. Malzberg skewers the film making industry with savage portraits of an “artistic” director and a controlling agent for the film’s producers. In the afterward essay, “The Commercial Culture,” Malzberg writes about the absurdity of the film industry then and now.

Both Screen and Cinema have been out-of-print for many years. Stark House restores them and Barry N. Malzberg provides the context and the history behind these novels. If you’re a Barry N. Malzberg fan, this is a must-buy! GRADE: B+ (for both)