Erroll Garner’s Concert By the Sea was one of those legendary jazz records. But, much of the music from that live concert wasn’t on the record. There were major problems over the rights to the music. Now, 60 years later, the complete concert has just been remastered and released in a wonderful 3-CD package. Plenty of great sounding music here! There are 11 previously unreleased tracks. If you have even a causal interest in jazz, you’ll want to hear this music. Erroll Garner is an underrated performer. This complete concert should change that. GRADE: A
TRACK LIST:
Disc: 1
1. Announcer: Jimmy Lyons
2. Night And Day
3. Spring Is Here
4. I’ll Remember April
5. The Nearness Of You
6. Where Or When
7. Sweet And Lovely
8. Lullaby Of Birdland
9. Mambo Carmel
10. Teach Me Tonight
11. Will You Still Be Mine
12. I Cover The Waterfront
13. Bernie’s Tune
14. How Could You Do A Thing Like That To Me?
15. It’s All Right With Me
Disc: 2
1. Announcer: Jimmy Lyons
2. They Can’t Take That Away From Me
3. Autumn Leaves
4. S’Wonderful
5. Laura
6. Red Top
7. April In Paris
8. Caravan
9. Erroll’s Theme/Announcer: Jimmy Lyons
Disc: 3
1. I’ll Remember April
2. Teach Me Tonight
3. Mambo Carmel
4. Autumn Leaves
5. It’s All Right With Me
6. Red Top
7. April in Paris
8. They Can’t Take That Away From Me?
9. How Could You Do A Thing Like That To Me
10. Where or When
11. Erroll’s Theme
12. Post Concert Interview: Will Thornbury with Erroll Garner, Eddie Calhoun, Denzil DaCosta Best: September 19, 1955

Mr. Woodchuck, our neighbor who lives in a maze of burrows in our back yard, showed up to eat some apples from our apple tree. Clearly, Mr. Woodchuck is loading up on carbs to get ready for hibernation. Fall will be here soon!

I picked up this DVD set at BJ’s Warehouse for $7.99. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), The Seven Year Itch (1955), and Some Like It Hot (1959) look great on these DVDs. Marilyn Monroe dominated the decade of the Fifties. Of course, the fame took a personal toll on the actress. But these four movies show a star at the prime of her career. If you’re a Marilyn Monroe fan, pick up this bargain set! What’s your favorite Marilyn Monroe movie?

I wasn’t planning to read The Girl in the Spider’s Web because I have an aversion to Other People writing books “like” Agatha Christie, Robert Parker, Rex Stout, Robert Ludlum, and other dead writers. But The New York Times Book Review featured The Girl in the Spider’s Web on the cover so I decided to give it a try. First, David Lagercrantz writes nothing like Stieg Larsson. The novel starts off slowly. But by page 200, I was back in tune with Lisbeth Salander, the enigmatic and genius computer hacker. The plot revolves around a secret criminal group led by a mysterious figure called Thanos. If you’re a fan of this series, you’ll enjoy this book. If your haven’t read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo you might want to give that a try. The movie versions of these books, especially the Swedish trilogy, are excellent. GRADE: B

After last week’s surprising 27-14 win over Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts, the Bills now face the reigning Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots and Tom “I Destroy My Cell Phones All the Time” Brady. As you might suspect, Buffalo Bills fans are whipped up into a frenzy. Tom Brady has a 23-3 record against the Bills. This is a huge game for both teams as the AFC East seems to be improving in quality. All four teams in the AFC East won their games last week. How will your favorite NFL team do today?

After having almost nothing worthwhile to watch this Summer, all of a sudden plenty of series are returning starting with Doctor Who. I admit it: I was lukewarm when I first saw Peter Capaldi as the Doctor last season. What a dramatic change after Matt Smith’s energetic performance. It was like watching Jeb Bush as the Doctor. But, Capaldi grew on me. And the fetching Jenna Coleman swiftly became my Second Favorite Companion (after Karen Gillian). For those of you who are Doctor Who fans, you’ll be watching this tonight. For those of you who are tempted by the Doctor Who phenomenon, just jump in. The water’s fine!

DELL published over 60 paperback titles featuring “Alfred Hitchcock” on the cover. These short story collections were fun reading and I read dozens of them back in the Sixties and Seventies. I chose Alfred Hitchcock’s Witch’s Brew because DELL, for some bizarre reason, published two different editions with the same title but with different sets of stories. The first DELL edition of Alfred Hitchcock’s Witch’s Brew was published in 1965. The second edition, with a cooler cover, was published in 1975. If you’re a completist, you’ll have to track down both editions.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. To Whet Your Appetite… by Alfred Hitchcock (ghost written)
2. The Wishing-Well by E.F. Benson
3. That Hell-Bound Train by Robert Bloch
4. As Gay As Cheese by Joan Aiken
5. Madame Mim by T.H. White
6. Blood Money by M. Timothy O’Keefe
7. His Coat So Gay by Sterling E. Lanier (a Brigadier Ffellowes novelette)
8. They’ll Never Find You Now by Doreen Dugdale
9. The Widow Flynn’s Apple Tree by Lord Dunsany
10. In the Cards by John Collier
11. Strangers in Town by Shirley Jackson
12. The Proof by John Moore

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. Introduction by Alfred Hitchcock (ghost written)
2. Premonition by Charles Mergendahl
3. A Shot from the Dark Night by Avram Davidson
4. I Had a Hunch, and… by Talmage Powell
5. A Killing in the Market by Robert Bloch
6. Gone as by Magic by Richard Hardwick
7. The Big Bajoor by Borden Deal
8. The Gentle Miss Bluebeard by Nedra Tyre
9. The Guy that Laughs Last by Philip Tremont
10. Diet and Die by Wenzell Brown
11. Just for Kicks by Richard Marsten
12. Please Forgive Me by Henry Kane
13. A Crime Worthy of Me by Hal Dresner
14. When Buying a Fine Murder by Jack Ritchie

This is a second-hand review. I read the first few books in Sue Grafton’s Alphabet series when they were first published in the early 1980s. I wish I’d kept those First Editions, they’d be worth a lot of money today. But after four books, I tired of Kinsey Millhone and moved on to other authors. But, my wife Diane discovered Sue Grafton and Kinsey in the 1990s. Diane said that if she had been reading the Kinsey Milhone books back in the Eighties, she would have named our daughter Katie…Kinsey! So, while I bailed out on the Alphabet series early, Diane read every book and eagerly awaited the next volume. I have met and chatted with Sue Grafton a couple of times at BOUCHERCONs, most recently in Albany. Grafton is a friendly and approachable person. I was able to get several books in the Alphabet series signed by Grafton for Diane. Diane just finished the latest volume, X, and loved it. So for all of you Grafton and Kinsey fans out there, Diane says this is a terrific book. Only “Y” and “Z” remain to be written and published. Are you a fan of Sue Grafton and her work?

David Maraniss’s impressive story of Detroit captures the vitality of the city in the Sixties. The auto industry was booming. Motown Records pumped out hit after hit. But the city was on the edge of a precipice. By the 1970s, Detroit was reeling from the affects of the riots. White flight, the oil embargo, and the decline of the auto industry brought Detroit to its knees. Maraniss tells the story of the unraveling in scintillating prose that crackles with energy. Yes, this is a sad story, but it’s brilliantly told. Once In a Great City is one of the best books of 2015. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Author’s Note
1. Gone
2. Ask Not
3. The Show
4. West Grand Boulevard
5. Party Bus
6. Glow
7. Motor City Mad Men
8. The Pitch of His Hum
9. An Important Man
10. Home Juice
11. Eight Lanes Down Woodward
12. Detroit Dreamed First
13. Heat Wave
14. The Vast Magnitude
15. Houses Divided
16. The Spirit of Detroit
17. Smoke Rings
18. Fallen
19. Big Old Waterboats
20. Unfinished Business
21. The Magic Skyway
22. Upward to the Great Society
Epilogue: Now and Then
Time Line
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Index

I’ve been a fan of Jonathan Gash’s mystery series featuring a roguish antique dealer named Lovejoy. These off-beat mysteries led to a BBC series starring the likable Ian McShane. This box set collects all six seasons and includes a Christmas special as a bonus. Special guest stars include: John Gielgud (Arthur), Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous), Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton), Michael Kitchen (Foyle’s War), Martin Clunes (Doc Martin), Richard Griffiths (Harry Potter films), Pete Postlethwaite (Inception), Julian Glover (Game of Thrones), James Nesbitt (The Hobbit trilogy), and Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting). If you’re looking for some entertaining, humorous, and intelligent mysteries I recommend you sample Lovejoy. The books are good, too, especially the early volumes in the series.
Lovejoy Mystery Series:
The Judas Pair (1977)
Gold from Gemini (1978), U.S. edition: Gold by Gemini (1979)
The Grail Tree (1979)
Spend Game (1981)
The Vatican Rip (1981)
Firefly Gadroon (1982)
The Sleepers of Erin (1984)
The Gondola Scam (1984)
Pearlhanger (1985)
The Tartan Ringers (1986), U.S. edition: The Tartan Sell (1986)
Moonspender (1988)
Jade Woman (1988)
The Very Last Gambado (1989)
The Great California Game (1991)
The Lies of Fair Ladies (1992)
Paid and Loving Eyes (1993)
The Sin within Her Smile (1993)
The Grace in Older Women (1995)
The Possessions of a Lady (1996)
The Rich and the Profane (1998)
A Rag, a Bone and a Hank of Hair (1999)
Every Last Cent (2000)
Ten Word Game (2003)
Faces in the Pool (2008)