Alexandra Watkins’ slim little book contains a wealth of information. Watkins worked for ad giant Olilvy & Mather for five years before she started her own product naming company. She’s named products for Proctor & Gamble, Disney, Microsoft, and Wrigley. Coming up with a good name for a product is a key to success. I thought I’d share this book because many of you are writers and coming up with a great title for a mystery or short story parallels the process of coming up with a good product name. The same principles apply. If you want to learn a practical approach to coming up with great names (and avoiding Bad Names) Hello, My Name is Awesome delivers. GRADE: A

Like the Funk Brothers, The Wrecking Crew was the studio group that produced the great music behind the artists. This DVD documentary shows how this super group produced the sound for a dozen groups and singers during the 1960s and 1970s. If you’re a fan of music from this era, you’ll find these stories fascinating. Check out the partial list of the songs The Wrecking Crew played on below. And, check out the trailer below, too.
Selection of Wrecking Crew Hit Recordings

“The Lonely Bull” Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass 1962
“Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans 1962
“He’s a Rebel” The Crystals 1962
“Surfer Girl” The Beach Boys 1963
“Surfin’ USA” The Beach Boys 1963
“Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home)” The Crystals 1963
“Surf City” Jan and Dean 1963
“Be My Baby” The Ronettes 1963
“I Get Around” The Beach Boys 1964
“Dead Man’s Curve” Jan and Dean 1964
“Little Old Lady (from Pasadena)” Jan and Dean 1964
“You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” The Righteous Brothers 1964
“Mountain of Love” Johnny Rivers 1964
“Help Me, Rhonda” The Beach Boys 1965
“Mr. Tambourine Man” The Byrds 1965
“This Diamond Ring” Gary Lewis and the Playboys 1965
“California Dreamin'” The Mamas & the Papas 1965
“Eve of Destruction” Barry McGuire 1965
“I Got You Babe” Sonny & Cher 1965
“Good Vibrations” The Beach Boys 1966
“Poor Side of Town” Johnny Rivers 1966
“Monday Monday” The Mamas & the Papas 1966
“(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration” The Righteous Brothers 1966
“I Am a Rock” Simon & Garfunkel 1966
“Strangers in the Night” Frank Sinatra 1966
“These Boots Are Made for Walkin'” Nancy Sinatra 1966
“Never My Love” The Association 1967
“Up, Up and Away” The 5th Dimension 1967
“San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)” Scott McKenzie 1967
“Woman, Woman” Gary Puckett and the Union Gap 1967
“Him or Me (What’s It Gonna Be)” Paul Revere & the Raiders 1967
“The Beat Goes On” Sonny & Cher 1967
“Wichita Lineman” Glen Campbell 1968
“Midnight Confessions” The Grass Roots 1968
“MacArthur Park” Richard Harris 1968
“Mrs. Robinson” Simon & Garfunkel 1968
“Valleri” The Monkees 1968
“Young Girl” Gary Puckett and the Union Gap 1968
“Classical Gas” Mason Williams 1968
“Galveston” Glen Campbell 1969
“Holly Holy” Neil Diamond 1969
“Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” The 5th Dimension 1969
“Dizzy” Tommy Roe 1969
“The Boxer” Simon & Garfunkel 1969
“(They Long to Be) Close to You” The Carpenters 1970
“Cracklin’ Rosie” Neil Diamond 1970
“Arizona” Mark Lindsay 1970
“I Think I Love You” The Partridge Family 1970
“Bridge Over Troubled Water” Simon & Garfunkel 1970
“Rainy Days and Mondays” The Carpenters 1971
“Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves” Cher 1971
“Sooner or Later” The Grass Roots 1971
“Don’t Pull Your Love” Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds 1971
“Indian Reservation” Raiders 1971
“Hurting Each Other” The Carpenters 1972
“(Last Night) I Didn’t Get to Sleep at All” The 5th Dimension 1972
“It Never Rains in Southern California” Albert Hammond 1972
“Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu” Johnny Rivers 1972
“Mother and Child Reunion” Paul Simon 1972
“Yesterday Once More” The Carpenters 1973
“Half-Breed” Cher 1973
“All I Know” Art Garfunkel 1973
“The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia” Vicki Lawrence 1973
“Chevy Van” Sammy Johns 1974
“The Way We Were” Barbra Streisand 1974
“Rhinestone Cowboy” Glen Campbell 1975
“Love Will Keep Us Together” Captain & Tennille 1975

I enjoy genre blending when it’s done well. D. B. Jackson (the pseudonym of David B. Coe who has a Ph.D. in History) sets his mystery in pre-Revolutionary War Boston in 1765. His hero, a thieftaker called Ethan Kaille, is a “conjurer.” He can cast spells. When a wealthy man’s daughter is murdered, Ethan is hired to find her killer. So Thieftaker is an historical urban fantasy. I enjoyed Jackson’s portrayal of Boston as a quaint village with dark secrets. I also enjoyed historical characters like Samuel Adams showing up to move the plot along. If you’re looking for something a little different, you might consider Thieftaker. There are three more volumes in “The Thieftaker Chronicles” series. I’ll be reviewing them soon. GRADE: B

I had a free ticket to Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation. This is the fifth movie in the Mission Impossible series and it has all the usual IMF elements: action, cool gear, incredible stunts, and a complicated plot. This time around, the IMF force is “disbanded” by Congress because Alec Bladwin (head of the CIA) says they “lack transparency.” At the same time, a criminal organization called “The Syndicate” takes steps to destroy the Mission Impossible force. The IMF team needs to break into an underground (and underwater) bank to retrieve key information. There’s violence at an opera. And, there’s a very fetching agent (played by Rebecca Ferguson) who reminded me of Emma Peel in her prime. All in all, I predict Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation will become a hit Summer Movie. GRADE: A-

If you’re a fan of classic movies, you’re going to love the “Turner Classic Movies Summer Under the Stars” movie festival. Each day in August, TCM will feature movies of a single star. Today, it’s the underrated Gene Tierney. Which stars will you watch? Here’s the complete schedule and the web site link:
August 1 – Gene Tierney
August 2 – Olivia de Havilland
August 3 – Adolphe Menjou
August 4 – Teresa Wright
August 5 – Fred Astaire
August 6 – Michael Caine
August 7 – Katharine Hepburn
August 8 – Raymond Massey
August 9 – Robert Walker
August 10 – Joan Crawford
August 11 – Rex Ingram
August 12 – Robert Mitchum
August 13 – Ann-Margaret
August 14 – Groucho Marx
August 15 – Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
August 16 – Patricia Neal
August 17 – Lee J. Cobb
August 18 – Vivien Leigh
August 19 – John Wayne
August 20 – Mae Clarke
August 21 – Alan Arkin
August 22 – Marlene Dietrich
August 23 – Debbie Reynolds
August 24 – Warren Oates
August 25 – Virginia Bruce
August 26 – Greta Garbo
August 27 – Monty Woolley
August 28 – Ingrid Bergman
August 29 – George C. Scott
August 30 – Gary Cooper
August 31 – Shelley Winters

This new edition of Neil Gaiman’s classic Neverwhere has the tag “Author’s Preferred Text.” In his Introduction, Neil Gaiman discusses how Neverwhere evolved from a BBC TV show to a fantasy novel with different U.S. and English editions. For the first time, this new Neverwhere presents the book Gaiman always wanted Neverwhere to be. Neverwhere is the story of Richard Mayhew, an investments analyst in London whose world changes on his way to dinner. Richard discovers a young girl who is injured and bleeding on the London sidewalks. He takes the girl, called Door, to his flat and everything changes. Two assassins show up. A bizarre character, the Marquis de Carabas, agrees to help Door. Richard tags along and finds himself in another world “under” London. This other world features magic and mysteries and adventures galore. In addition, Gaiman includes a short story, “How the Marquis Got His Coat Back” which I found delightful! Neverwhere was originally published in 1996. If you’re a fan of the Harry Potter series, you’ll love Neverwhere.

I played trumpet as a kid. I wanted to grow up to play as well as Miles Davis did (but that didn’t happen). Miles Davis evolved over his long career. His music changed and morphed with highs and lows. This new box set of Miles Davis Newport Jazz Festival recordings, most unreleased until now, will give a much fuller account of the development of Miles Davis’s music. If you’re a Miles Davis fan, this is a must-buy. If you’re a casual jazz fan, there’s plenty here for you to enjoy. GRADE: A

Here’s a summary of what’s on each disc. My thanks to Stuart Jefferson on AMAZON for his opinions. I agree with everything he says.
Disc 1 begins with tracks 1-4 from 1955 with Davis playing with Zoot Sims, Gerry Mulligan, Monk, Percy Heath, and Connie Kay. Tracks 5-11 are from 1958 and feature Cannonball Adderley, Coltrane, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb. Most of this music has been issued previously, but it’s nice to hear this music in it’s proper context with Davis’ other Newport sets. This is obviously Davis’ more straight ahead jazz period which was very popular with both fans and critics alike. The music has a time-locked feel to it but has that underlying swing like the best jazz from this era.

Disc 2--tracks 1-6 are from 1966, tracks 7-13 are from 1967. The band for both sets had players like Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams. This is one of Davis’ best groups who had a large hand in changing the sound of jazz. You can hear how his band is pushing against the older style of jazz, and while in the present it’s hard to understand how “new” this music sounded, some fans wondered even then if Davis had gone off the rails a bit.

Disc 3 has tracks 1-3 from the 1969 gig (there’s a fade-in on track 1 “Miles Runs The Voodoo Down”), tracks 4-9 from 1973 (from Berlin under the Newport banner), and track 10 from 1975 from N.Y. Musicians on the ’69 set include Dave Holland, Chick Corea, and Jack DeJohnette, wihile the ’73 sets include Dave Liebman, Pete Cosey, Reggie Lucas, Michael Henderson, Al Foster, and Mtume. In ’75 the band was Sam Morrison in for Liebman, and the rest of the band from the ’69-’73 bands. This is where Davis took a look around (especially at performers like Sly Stone) and funked up his music. Henderson’s deep throbbing electric bass really changed the sound of Davis’ music. Out were any recognizable melodies and in came some electro-cosmic music.

Disc 4 tracks 1-7 are from a 1971 gig in Switzerland under the Newport banner. This set is out of chronological order so it would fit uninterrupted on one disc. This gig featured Gary Bartz, Keith Jarrett, Michael Henderson, Leon Chancler, and Don Alias and Mtume. Percussion heavy electric-funk/space music with Henderson’s mighty bass and Bartz blowing both soprano and alto sax, along with Jarrett’s electric piano made the audience sit up and wonder where they were. Again, in hindsight it’s difficult to understand what all the fuss was really about. But by this time many of Davis’ long time fans had already dropped by the wayside–more comfortable with more recognizable melodies that stayed in your head.

The 34 page booklet has individual essays on Davis’ Newport appearances by noted jazz writer Ashley Kahn, along with photographs from each period. There’s also a poster of a b&w photo (approximately 14″ X 18″) of Davis from early in his career. The discs snap (beware mine were really difficult to unsnap out of the trays) inside a five-fold cardboard package. Inside each disc tray is a different b&w photo from the Newport festival–a nice (and cool looking) touch. The overall period sound is good/very good–especially considering when some of these tapes were made under live conditions. Original sources include Voice of America (Disc 1), Sony analog tapes (Discs 1,3), the producer’s collection (Discs 2,3), and analog tapes courtesy of SRF Switzerland (Disc 4).
TRACK LIST
Disc: 1
1. Spoken Introductions by Duke Ellington and Gerry Mulligan
2. Hackensack
3. ‘Round Midnight (previously released)
4. Now’s The Time
5. Spoken Introduction by Willis Conover (previously released)
6. Ah-Leu-Cha (previously released)
7. Straight, No Chaser (previously released)
8. Fran-Dance (previously released)
9. Two Bass Hit (previously released)
10. Bye Bye Blackbird (previously released)
11. The Theme (previously released)
Disc: 2
1. Gingerbread Boy
2. All Blues
3. Stella By Starlight
4. R.J.
5. Seven Steps To Heaven
6. The Theme / Closing Announcement by Leonard Feather.
7. Spoken Introduction by Del Shields
8. Gingerbread Boy
9. Footprints
10. ‘Round Midnight
11. So What
12. The Theme
13. Closing Announcement by Del Shields
Disc: 3
1. Miles Runs The Voodoo Down (previously released)
2. Sanctuary (previously released)
3. It’s About That Time / The Theme (previously released)
4. Band warming up / voice over introduction
5. Turnaroundphrase
6. Tune In 5
7. Ife
8. Untitled Original
9. Tune In 5
10. Mtume
Disc: 4
1. Directions
2. What I Say
3. Sanctuary
4. It’s About That Time
5. Bitches Brew
6. Funky Tonk
7. Sanctuary

AMAZON made me a deal I couldn’t refuse: the first three season of Downton Abbey in a Blu-ray box set for $25. I’ve seen this box set at BEST BUY and TARGET for $50. I couldn’t resist this offer even though I suspect AMAZON is using some sort of algorithm to get me to buy this. All I know is that $25 for three seasons of Downton Abbey is a bargain!

“There are 8 million stories in the Naked City. Here are six.” That’s the blurb on the hilarious DVD of Police Squad!. These are the same folks who gave us Airplane! and The Naked Gun series: David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, and Jim Abrahams.n I love Leslie Nielsen as Detective Frank Drebin. Special Features include an interview with Leslie Nielson, a gag reel, and commentary on the six episodes in this package. I bought this DVD (150 minutes) for $6.99 at BJ’s Warehouse. Worth every penny! GRADE: A

The Cartel is the sequel to Don Winslow’s The Power of the Dog (2005). Both books show how the Mexican Drug cartels work. The body count is high. The drug lords are paranoid psychopaths who would rather shoot than act rationally. Treachery, violence, and fear appear on every page of these books. DEA agent Art Keller is Winslow’s Everyman. He tries his best to dismantle the cartels that ship billions of dollars of cocaine, crystal meth, heroin, and marijuana into the United States. But for every success Keller achieves, the insatiable demand for drugs in the U.S. causes new cartels to form. After reading over 1,000 pages of double-dealing and betrayals, I’m drug carteled out. But, if you want to understand why we’re losing the War on Drugs, Don Winslow’s grim novels will provide the answers. GRADE: B+