I’ve been listening to these two off-beat music compilations. 90s NOW includes some familiar songs like Extreme’s “More Than Words” and Jimmy Cliff’s “I Can See Clearly Now.” But, then there are some songs I hadn’t heard before like Bingoboys’ “How to Dance.”

I have at least a dozen music CDs with Wilson Phillips’ “Release Me” on them. For some reason, that song must be bargain priced. GRADE: B

If you’re a fan of guitar music, Guitar Fire! includes some scintillating playing from guitar greats like B. B. King, Larry Carlton, and the group Acoustic Alchemy. I’m a fan of The Rippingtons so “Affair in San Miguel” was a joy to listen to. And you can’t go wrong with hanging out “Early A.M. Attitude” with Dave Gruisin and Lee Rittenour. GRADE: B+

Sometimes it’s fun to stray from the beaten path of music and listen to something a little different. Do you recognize these songs?

TRACK LIST:

1	Extreme (2)–	More Than Words
2	Us3–	Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)
3	Jimmy Cliff–	I Can See Clearly Now
4	Michel’Le–	No More Lies
5	The Outhere Brothers–	Boom Boom Boom (Radio Version)
6	Reality–	Yolanda
7	Bingoboys featuring Princessa (2)–	How To Dance
8	Gerardo–	We Want The Funk
9	After 7–	Heat Of The Moment
10	Wilson Phillips–	Release Me
11	Surface–	The First Time
12	Aaron Hall–	I Miss You

TRACK LIST:

Larry Carlton–	Smiles And Smiles To Go	5:47
	Acoustic Alchemy–	Take Five	4:38
	Dave Grusin / Lee Ritenour–	Early A.M. Attitude	4:58
	Rippingtons* Featuring Russ Freeman (2)–	Affair In San Miguel	5:09
	Special EFX Featuring Chieli Minucci And George Jinda–	Jamaica, Jamaica	4:04
	Gary Burton–	The Chief	4:16
	Rene Toledo–	South Beat	5:23
	Kevin Eubanks–	Essence	5:37
	Larry Carlton / B.B. King–	Blues For TJ	5:18

V. S. Pritchett is one of my favorite writers, partly because he’s so good at so many things! Want to read a great short story? Try “The Camberwell Beauty” where Pritchett shows how the antique business can become an obsession. Want to know how you’ll feel when you turn 80? Pritchett tells you in “As Old As the Century.” Pritchett was born on December 16, 1900 and died March 20, 1997. During those years, Pritchett wrote biographies, novels, short stories, travel writing, and literary criticism.

If you think you understand Mark Twain, read Pritchett’s short essay on Twain’s writings. You’ll come away knowing more about what Twain’s writings were all about. The same with his essays on George Eliot and Dickens. The Pritchett perspective is deeply insightful

The Pritchett Century: A Selection of the best of V. S. Pritchett is a gold mine of wonderful writing! Highly recommend! GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Foreword by Oliver Pritchett — ix

In Memoriam: V. S. Pritchett by John Bayley — xiii

Autobiography

As Old as the Century : V.S. Pritchett at Eighty — 3

From A Cab at the Door — 13

From Midnight Oil — 62

Travel Writing

The Appalachian Mountains — 93

From Marching Spain — 120

From The Spanish Temper — 130

From Foreign Faces — 161

From New York Proclaimed — 182

From Dublin : A Portrait — 193

London — 198

Amazonia — 221

Novels

From Dead Man Leading — 229

From Mr. Beluncle — 249

Short Stories

Sense of Humour — 267

The Evils of Spain — 284

The Oedipus Complex — 291

Things As They Are — 297

When My Girl Comes Home — 308

The Liars — 361

The Camberwell Beauty — 373

Did You Invite Me? — 406

The Marvellous Girl — 421

The Vice-Consul — 433

The Fig Tree — 442

Cocky Olly — 472

The Image Trade — 501

Biography

From The Gentle Barbarian : the Life and Work of Turgenev — 513

From Chekhov : A Spirit Set Free — 533

Literary criticism

Mark Twain — 545

Samuel Richardson — 552

Sir Walter Scott — 560

Charles Dickens — 573

George Eliot — 579

Honoré de Balzac — 590

Ivan Turgenev — 603

Henry James — 609

James Boswell — 616

Tobias Smollett — 622

Saki — 628

George Meredith — 633

Miguel de Cervantes — 543

Leo Tolstoy — 649

Gabriel García Márquez — 655

S.J. Perelman — 664

Saul Bellow — 669

Gerald Brenan — 678

Molly Keane — 685

John Osborne — 691

Salman Rushdie — 698

“BOOP!” is a musical tribute to the cartoon character Betty Boop. The musical starts in the cartoon world where Betty Boop is tried of being chased by men and performing challenging feats. Betty (Jasmine Amy Rogers) yearns for “something else.”  Grampy (Stephen DeRosa), sends Betty to the vibrantly colored world of 2025 Manhattan via his TransDimensional Teleporter where Betty lands in the midst of a Comic Con convention. From there, Betty’s adventures in the Real World feature plenty of energetic songs and dances.

I enjoyed “Boop!” as a silly afternoon performance of an Old Fashioned musical of the Depression variety. Jasmine Amy Rogers is amazing and despite the shallow plot, there’s plenty of fun in this production. GRADE: B (for boop, boop, de doop!)

Musical numbers:

Act I

• “A Little Versatility” – Betty Boop, Ensemble
• “Ordinary Day” – Betty Boop
• “In Color” – Betty Boop, Ensemble
• “Get Her Back” – Grampy, Ensemble
• “I Speak Jazz” – Dwayne, Ensemble
• “Portrait of Betty” – Trisha
• “Sunlight” – Dwayne, Oscar Delacorte, Clarence
• “My New York” – Dwayne, Betty Boop, Trisha, Ensemble
• “A Cure for Love” – Valentina, Mascots
• “Where I Wanna Be” – Betty Boop, Ensemble

Act II

“The Color of Love” – Company

“Where Is Betty?” – Grampy, Valentina, Ensemble

“Where Is Betty? (Reprise)” – Raymond Demarest

“She Knocks Me Out” – Dwayne, Ensemble

“My Hero” – Trisha, Betty Boop

“Whatever It Takes” – Valentina, Grampy

“Take It to the Next Level” – Raymond Demarest

“The Campaign” – Company

“Why Look Around the Corner” – Dwayne, Betty Boop

“Something to Shout About” – Betty Boop

Set in 1898, Rob Osler’s mystery involves a 21-year-old woman named Harriet Morrow with a younger brother to support, tired of her boring secretarial job, who applies for a junior detective position at the prestigious Prescott Agency. Despite the long odds against a woman being hired at the all male Agency, Harriet Morrow gets a provisional job. Her assignment is to find a missing maid in one week. If she fails, she loses her job.

Rob Osler does a fine job capturing the chaos of Chicago at eve of the 20th Century. Harriet Morrow rides her bike around the city to interview key figures involved in the maid’s life before her disappearance. Osler also adds another factor into the mix: Harriet is attracted to women.

Harriet’s search for the missing maid leads her from the elegant mansions of Prairie Avenue into the rough neighborhoods of Chicago’s Polish community and the dark, sexual underground where secrets lurk.

If you’re in the mood for an unconventional mystery full of surprises, you might want to give The Case of the Missing Maid a try. I’m eagerly waiting for the next Harriet Morrow adventure! GRADE: B+

Diane and her sister Carol outside Sarabeth’s after their 2023 Mother’s Day Brunch in New York City.

The second and final season of Andor continues the story of the resistance to the rise of the Empire. Cassian Andor is part of a rebel alliance that is attempted to slow the attempts of the Emperor to dominate the Galaxy.

I watched four of the 12 episodes (a new episode drops every Tuesday) and love the action scenes and put up with the gaudy party scenes that I could do without. The Imperial plot to take over a key planet for its energy reserves draws Andor to danger again. And, once again, Producer Tony Gilroy doesn’t shy away from killing off key characters. There’s a ruthlessness about the Andor series that stresses that fighting a dictatorship has steep costs.

My chief quibble is the scenes that take place in the shadows. I’m squinting at my screen to figure out what the heck is going on!

Despite this annoyance, Andor moves the Star Wars franchise through the events that lead to Rogue One (2016). If you’re a Star Wars fan, you’ll watching this. GRADE: Incomplete but treading towards a B

Martha Stewart’s Menus for Entertaining (1994) was the first Martha Stewart cookbook I ever bought. And, I bet you can guess why I bought it.

Martha Stewart has published a 100 cookbooks and this one is my favorite. Martha’s first cookbook, Entertaining, was published in 1982. Martha Stewart’s Menus for Entertaining was her 16th book. It includes 20 menus–for Birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, etc. And in addition to the 20 menus, the guide also offers food styling and general hospitality tips to enhance the dining experience.

The gorgeous photographs by Dana Gallagher enhance the wonderful 150 recipes of incredible culinary delights! If you’re looking for a cookbook with menus for a myriad of celebratory occasions, Martha Stewart’s Menus for Entertaining is both a browsers delight and a practical guide to entertaining. Do you have a favorite cookbook? GRADE: A

Back in the early 1960s, my friends and I were captives by Hot Rod Hits. My favorites were by The Beach Boys, but plenty of other groups filled the radio airwaves with songs about fast cars. If you watch any of the car TV commercials from the late 1950s and 1960s, you’ll see lovely models slouched against the hoods of big cars with fins. The message was clear: buy a hot car, get a hot girl.

Big Hot Rod Hits a plethora of car songs, many obscure. Even The Beach Boy songs are tunes you probably haven’t heard before…or haven’t heard in decades! Have you heard Robert Mitchum’s “The Ballad of Thunder Road”? Or Hot Rod Dog’s “Repossession Blues”?

Shut Down: The Best of the Hot Rod Hits includes some of the songs on Big Hot Rod Hits and more recognizable hits like Jan & Dean’s “The Little Old Lady (From Pasadena) and The Beach Boys’ “Little Deuce Coupe.”

Do you remember these Hot Rod Hits? Did you have a Hot Rod? GRADE: B (for both)

TRACK LIST:

A1	The Beach Boys–	Custom Machine	1:40
A2	Dick Dale–	Ho-Dad Machine	2:02
A3	Dick Dale–	Night Rider	1:45
A4	Super Stocks*–	Hot Rod City	2:05
A5	The Beach Boys–	No-Go Showboat	1:52
B1	Dick Dale–	The Scavenger	1:45
B2	The Beach Boys–	Our Car Club	2:15
B3	The Cheers–	Black Denim Trousers And Motorcycle Boots	2:10
B4	Jimmy Dolan*–	Hot Rod Race	2:08
B5	Hot Rod Rog*–	Little Street Machine	1:40
B6	The Beach Boys–	Cherry, Cherry Coupe	1:50
C1	The Beach Boys–	Shut Down	1:59
C2	Super Stocks*–	Wide Track	2:00
C3	Robert Mitchum–	The Ballad Of Thunder Road	2:28
C4	Super Stocks*–	Cheater Slicks	1:55
C5	Shutdown Douglas–	Twin Cut Outs	2:18
C6	The Beach Boys–	409	1:58
D1	Super Stocks*–	Street Machine	1:55
D2	Shutdown Douglas–	Flash Falcon	2:15
D3	Hot Rod Dog–	Repossession Blues
D4	The Beach Boys–	Car Crazy Cutie	2:40
D5	Super Stocks*–	426 Superstock	2:00
D6	The Beach Boys–	A Young Man Is Gone	2:15

TRACK LIST:

1	The Beach Boys–	Shut Down	1:53
2	Jan & Dean–	Drag City	2:21
3	The Duals–	Stick Shift	2:32
4	The Beach Boys–	409	2:01
5	The Gants–	Road Runner	2:20
6	Jan & Dean–	Dead Man’s Curve	2:47
7	Bert Convy–	Chicken	1:59
8	Robert Mitchum–	The Ballad Of Thunder Road	2:32
9	Jimmy Dolan*–	Hot Rod Race	2:11
10	The Cheers–	Black Denim Trousers And Motorcycle Boots	2:13
11	The Beach Boys–	Little Deuce Coupe	1:41
12	Jan & Dean–	The Little Old Lady (From Pasadena)	2:23

Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling’s Black Thorn, White Rose (1994) is an anthology of stories that retell classic fairy tales in a clever fashion.

My favorite story in Black Thorn, White Rose is Roger Zelazny’s “Godson,” a retelling of a Brothers Grimm tale. Matters of Life and Death affect a young boy’s life. My other favorite story is Storm Constantine’s “Sweet Bruising Skin,” a different spin on the classic “The Princess and the Pea.” As with much of Storm Constantine’s work, there’s a diabolical darkness as the Queen has her wizard conjure up a princess for her son to marry. But, as with much of Magic, things go awry.

If you’re interested in fairy tales with a more contemporary twist, Black Thorn, White Rose provides plenty of entertaining stories for you. Do you have a favorite fairy tale? GRADE: B

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow — 1
Words Like Pale Stones Nancy Kress — 7
Stronger Than Time Patricia C. Wrede — 30
Somnus’s Fair Maid Ann Downer — 58
The Frog King, or Iron Henry Daniel Quinn — 86
Near-Beauty M.E. Beckett — 98
Ogre Michael Kandel — 107
Can’t Catch Me Michael Cadnum — 120
Journeybread Recipe Lawrence Schimel — 129
The Brown Bear of Norway Isabel Cole — 132
The Goose Girl Tim Wynne-Jones — 151
Tattercoats Midori Snyder — 173
Granny Rumple Jane Yolen — 203
The Sawing Boys Howard Waldrop — 217
Godson Roger Zelazny — 245
Ashputtle Peter Straub — 281
Silver and Gold Ellen Steiber — 306
Sweet Bruising Skin Storm Constantine — 310
The Black Swan Susan Wade — 359
RECOMMENDED READING — 382

HEIDI ARMBRUSTER

Heidi is a New York based theater artist dedicated to creating new work and discovering new approaches to classical literature and theater. Heidi was commissioned by Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival to adapt Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, which premiered in their 2024 season. 

“We had to read, like probably many middle school students do, And Then There Were None. It must have been in 6th grade and it just turned on my 6th grade brain – I was just on fire with the story… cabbage patch kids were big at the time and we had a Betamax camera…I filmed for our final project a Masterpiece Theater take on And Then There Were None, where I proceeded to murder my cabbage patch kids in all kinds of diabolical ways, and record it with the Betamax camera.” 

After reading that confession from Heidi Armbruster, you can see why she was so successful at adapting The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) for the stage.

I read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd in 1963 when I was 14 years old. As I have mentioned in previous reminiscences of my early readings of Agatha Christie mysteries, Christie faked me out of my jock strap. She blew my mind with The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and a few weeks later, she did it again with The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920). Only after binging on a dozen Christie novels, did I finally get the sense of how she operated. Even then, I could only identify the murderer about half the time.

If the play version of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd shows up in your neighborhood, don’t miss it! What’s your favorite Christie mystery? GRADE: A