Featuring Norah Jones is a compilation album by American singer Norah Jones that was released on November 16, 2010, by Blue Note Records.  The album includes songs by other artists on which Jones is featured, including songs by her side bands The Little Willies and El Madmo. The album includes “Here We Go Again”, a duet with Ray Charles, which won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 2005. The song “Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John” by Belle & Sebastian had only been released one month prior to the release of this album on the group’s October 2010 album Belle and Sebastian Write About Love.

I was a big fan of Norah Jones when I listened to her first two CDs: Come Away With Me (2002) and Fells Like Home (2004). In later years, I drifted away as Norah Jones tried different singing styles and different songs…not to my tastes. But, this compilation CD includes plenty of excellent songs. The only dud is “Baby It’s Cold Outside” where Willie Nelson sounds unenthused.

With the variety of songs on this CD, I’m sure you’ll hear something you like…perhaps a lot! Are you a Norah Jones fan? GRADE: B+

Track listing:

#	Song title	Artist	Previously released on	Length
1	“Love Me”	The Little Willies	The Little Willies	3:51
2	“Virginia Moon” (feat. Norah Jones)	Foo Fighters	In Your Honor	3:51
3	“Turn Them” (feat. Norah Jones)	Sean Bones	Rings	4:03
4	“Baby, It’s Cold Outside” (feat. Norah Jones)	Willie Nelson	American Classic	3:58
5	“Bull Rider (and Sasha Dobson)”	Norah Jones	iTunes Originals	2:59
6	“Ruler of My Heart” (feat. Norah Jones)	Dirty Dozen Brass Band	Medicated Magic	2:59
7	“The Best Part”	El Madmo	El Madmo	3:25
8	“Take Off Your Cool” (feat. Norah Jones)	OutKast	Speakerboxxx/The Love Below	2:38
9	“Life Is Better” (feat. Norah Jones)	Q-Tip	The Renaissance	4:27
10	“Soon the New Day” (feat. Norah Jones)	Talib Kweli	Eardrum	4:04
11	“Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John” (feat. Norah Jones)	Belle & Sebastian	Belle & Sebastian Write About Love	4:25
12	“Here We Go Again” (feat. Norah Jones)	Ray Charles	Genius Loves Company	3:59
13	“Loretta” (feat. Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)	Norah Jones	Live in 2004	3:16
14	“Dear John” (feat. Norah Jones)	Ryan Adams	Jacksonville City Nights	4:36
15	“Creepin’ In” (feat. Dolly Parton)	Norah Jones	Feels like Home	3:00
16	“Court & Spark” (feat. Norah Jones)	Herbie Hancock	River: The Joni Letters	7:36
17	“More than This” (feat. Norah Jones)	Charlie Hunter	Songs from the Analog Playground	4:11
18	“Blue Bayou” (feat. M. Ward) (Live in Austin)	Norah Jones	Live from Austin	3:43
19	“I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good)” (feat. Norah Jones) [amazon.com MP3 download]	Dayna Kurtz	Beautiful Yesterday
20	“Any Other Day” (feat. Norah Jones) [Japan CD bonus track and amazon.co.jp MP3 download]	Wyclef Jean	Carnival Vol. II: Memoirs of an Immigrant

I’m a big fan of Mick Herron’s Slough House series about failed spies. Jackson Lamb, the canny head of Slough House, shows up in “The Last Dead Letter” about a British spy in Berlin having an affair with a woman who may or may not be a Soviet spy.

My favorite stories in Dolphin Junction are “Proof of Love” and “Mirror Images” where a struggling private detective named Joe Silverman and his much smarter wife Zoe solve some tricky cases. “Proof of Love” centers around the delivery of money from a rich man–with Joe Silverman being the courier–in exchange for a porno-video starring his wife. “Mirror Images” features a writer who is seeing a ghost and wants Joe and Zoe to make the ghost go away.

Mick Herron, talented and equipped with the kind of thought processes necessary to write realistically about spies and intelligent criminals, delivers a batch suspenseful and clever short stories in Dolphin Junction. Don’t miss it! GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Proof of love — 1

Remote control — 35

Lost luggage — 51

Mirror images — 61

Dolphin junction — 89

An American fridge — 145

The other half — 153

All the livelong day — 171

The last dead letter — 217

The usual Santas –251

What we do — 267

Acknowledgments — 297

Disaster! is a jukebox musical comedy created by Seth Rudetsky, and written by Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick as a spoof of 1970s disaster films. Earthquakes, tidal waves, piranhas, infernos, and the songs of the ’70s take center stage in this comedic homage to The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno.

Most of the action takes place aboard a floating casino outside of New York City. My favorite character was Sister Mary, a nun who wants to stop the evils of gambling (and worse!) on this Ship of Sleaze, but we find out Sister Mary also has a serious problem.

The music from the 1970s both brought back memories and injected plenty of humor into the wacky situations as the boat begins to sink. If you’re looking for a silly musical that will make you laugh and tap your toes, don’t miss Disaster! if it comes to your neighborhood! Do you remember these songs? Any favorites? GRADE: A

Act I Song Original artist Songwriter(s) Performer(s) “Hot Stuff” Donna Summer Summer, Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte Chad, Scott, Scheider, Tony and Ensemble “The Lord’s Prayer” Sister Janet Mead Traditional; arranged by Arnold Strals. Sister Mary “Do You Know Where You’re Going To” Diana Ross Michael Masser and Gerry Goffin. Levora “Saturday Night” Bay City Rollers Bill Martin and Phil CoulterJackie and Ensemble “Do You Wanna Make Love” Peter McCann McCannTony and Marianne “Without You” Badfinger Pete Ham and Tom Evans. Chad “I Am Woman /That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be” Helen Reddy /Carly Simon Reddy and Ray Burton /Simon and Jacob Brackman Marianne and Lisa “Mockingbird” Inez & Charlie Foxx Inez and Charlie Fox Jackie and Scheider “Still the One” Orleans John Hall and Johanna Hall. Shirley and Maury “Never Can Say Goodbye / Torn Between Two Lovers” The Jackson 5 /Mary MacGregor Clifton Davis / Peter Yarrow and Phillip Jarrell Sister Mary “Feelings” Morris Albert Louis Gasté and Albert Scheider, Marianne and Chad “Feels So Good” Chuck Mangione Mangione. (Instrumental) “Knock on Wood” Eddie Floyd Floyd and Steve Cropper. Levora and Ensemble “Hawaii Five-O” The Ventures Morton Stevens (Instrumental) Act II Song Original artist Songwriter(s) Performer(s) “All Right Now” Free Andy Fraser and Paul Rodgers. (Instrumental) “You’re My Best Friend” Queen John Deacon. Chad and Scott “Three Times a Lady” The Commodores Lionel Richie Chad and Wealthy Husband “Ben” Michael Jackson Walter Scharf and Don Black Ben, Lisa, Maury, Shirley and Sister Mary “Baby Hold On” Eddie Money. Money and Jimmy LyonMarianne “25 or 6 to 4” Chicago Robert Lamm. Cast “Sky High” Jigsaw Clive Scott and Des Dyer. Cast “When Will I Be Loved” Linda Ronstadt Phil Everly Ben, Lisa and Jackie “Nadia’s Theme” Barry DeVorzon and Perry Botkin Jr. DeVorzon and Botkin Jr.(Instrumental) “Don’t Cry Out Loud ” Melissa Manchester Peter Allen and Carole Bayer Sager. Tony “Come to Me” France Joli Tony Green. Levora and Sister Mary “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight“. England Dan and John Ford Coley. Parker McGee Chad and Marianne “Knock Three Times” Tony Orlando and Dawn Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown(Instrumental) “I Will Survive” Gloria Gaynor Dino Fekaris and Freddie Perren. Jackie and Tony “A Fifth of Beethoven” Walter Murphy Ludwig van Beethoven and MurphyShirley and Cast “Reunited” Peaches and Herb Fekaris and Perren. Chad, Marianne and Scheider “Daybreak” Barry Manilow Manilow and Adrienne Anderson Cast “Hooked on a Feeling B.J. Thomas Mark James Cast Bows/ “Never Can Say Goodbye” Gloria Gaynor Clifton Davis. Cast

“There were four albums in the first three or four years of Prince’s twenties. He got a lot of good reviews for the third album, Dirty Mind–in The Village Voice, Robert Christgau gave it an A rating and said that ‘Mick Jagger should fold up his penis and go home.'” (p. 42-43)

Nick Hornby–novelist whose High Fidelity, About a Boy, and Juliet, Naked are favorites of mine–loves Charles Dickens’s novels and Prince’s music. In Dickens and Prince Hornby compares the two geniuses, there are a lot of similarities, and shows why their work will endure.

Both Dickens and Prince were workaholics. Hornby estimates that Dickens wrote over 4 million words and Prince wrote over a thousand songs. But, despite their productivity, both Dickens and Prince had money problems. “Prince and Dickens both earned a lot, but they had a lot of commitments, too. Paisley Park, Prince’s private estates, with its studios and its soundstage, its wardrobe department and its vegan chef, cost him $2.5 million a month…” (p. 113)

“Dickens had his 10 children, a mistress and her family as well as a wife, and a feckless father who aways needed bailing out. His brothers could never support themselves. He had orphaned nieces and nephews. His sons were hopeless, and his sister-in-law looked after his household after his marital separation. He gave money to friends, and dependents of friends, and supported over forty different charities, with time or work or straightforward gifts of money.” (p. 113-114). Both men were Big Spenders.

Both men had complicated relationships with women. Hornby estimates Prince dated over 2000 women–and married two (neither marriage worked out). Prince also produced albums of songs for his current girlfriends…some good, some bad. Dickens separated from Catherine after 22 years of marriage (and who was the mother of his 10 children) after meeting 18-year-old Nelly Ternan. Dickens was in his 40s when this went down.

I found Dickens and Prince to be a fascinating book about two incredible artists. Are you a fan of Dickens and Prince? GRADE: A

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations xiii

Introduction 1

Childhood 17

Their Twenties 29

The Movies 55

The Working Life 71

The Business 93

Women 117

The End 135

Acknowledgments 163

Select Bibliography 165

Permissions 167

Credits 169

“Once, in college, you might have studied Mansfield Park by looking closely at its form, references, style, and special marks of authorial genius—the way Vladimir Nabokov famously taught the novel, and an intensification of the way a reader on the subway experiences the book. Now you might write a paper about how the text enacts a tension by both constructing and subtly undermining the imperial patriarchy through its descriptions of landscape. What does this have to do with how most humans read? “

“The Death of the English Major” by Nathan Heller (you can read the entire article here) was published in The New Yorker February 27, 2023 issue. I read it and have considered Heller’s analysis–and there’s a lot of it!–for six weeks. Heller cites plenty of statistics to support his case that English departments face a death-spiral as students chose STEM majors instead of humanities majors. Right now, only 7% of college students chose to be English majors.

I graduated as an English Major (and a Political Science and Philosophy Major; Journalism and Education minors) in 1971. When I started working on my PhD. in English in 1991, I realized a lot of change had occurred in the focus of English Departments in 20 years. Jacques Derrida (1930–2004), the founder of “deconstruction,” a way of criticizing not only both literary and philosophical texts but society dominated the approach to teaching…and learning. Other literary theorists like de Man, Foucault, John Searle, Willard Van Orman Quine, Peter Kreeft, and Jürgen Habermas changed  the analysis of literary texts to applications of conceptual apparatus.

Here’s a sample of Derrida’s prose: “The enterprise of returning ‘strategically’, ‘ideally’, to an origin or to a priority thought to be simple, intact, normal, pure, standard, self-identical, in order then to think in terms of derivation, complication, deterioration, accident, etc. All metaphysicians, from Plato to Rousseau, Descartes to Husserl, have proceeded in this way, conceiving good to be before evil, the positive before the negative, the pure before the impure, the simple before the complex, the essential before the accidental, the imitated before the imitation, etc. And this is not just one metaphysical gesture among others, it is the metaphysical exigency, that which has been the most constant, most profound and most potent.”  My eyes glaze over quickly when reading this style of writing.

Back in the 1970s, my English courses required term papers that centered on the novel or poem or essay with a large dollop of the concerns of the author mixed in. The intent was to help the students learn to write better and explore aspects of the literary work. In the 1990s, the term papers now danced with notions of gender identity, power relationships, and political/legal entanglements.

Most of the students in my Business Administration classes had one goal: learn skills and knowledge that would lead to a well paying job. I suspect most students view the contemporary English Departments with their abstract view of literature and writing to be a non-starter in their job search. Were you an English Major? Did you enjoy your English classes? GRADE: A

If you’re in the mood for something completely different, you might want to catch an episode of Mrs. Davis on Peacock. Imagine blending The Flying Nun with James Bond!  Damon Lindelof and Tara Hernandez’s 8-episode series Mrs. Davis, starring Betty Gilpin as an action-hero nun, is the rare TV series that feels confusing at first but makes sense as the twisty plot untangles with plenty of surprises.

Betty Gilpin (aka, Lizzie) is now Sister Simone. We first meet Simone as she rides into a situation on a white horse! We soon learn the world is now run by an Artificial Intelligence called Mrs. Davis who Simone wants to kill because she blames Mrs. Davis for her father’s death.

What chance has a nun with few resources have against an all-powerful AI? A better chance than you think. Four of the eight episodes are available now. I’m intrigued by the innovative aspects of Mrs. Davis. GRADE: INCOMPLETE but trending towards a B+

Stark House’s latest omnibus edition of Carter Brown’s Al Wheeler mysteries collects #19, #20 and #21: The Temptress (1960), Lament for a Lousy Lover (1960), and The Stripper (1961). And yes, I read all three of these mysteries when they were first published in the U.S.–I was 12 years old. I’m sure the covers had something to do with my fascination with Carter Brown’s Al Wheeler series.

Last year, Greg Shepard–the Editor and Publisher of Stark House–asked me if I would like to write an introduction to this latest volume in the Al Wheeler mystery series. I immediately accepted his kind offer and wrote “How Carter Brown Sold 100 Million Books.” I used to teach a college course in Marketing and several excellent marketing strategies resulted in the sale of millions of Carter Brown titles. Before I sent Greg my Introduction, I asked Art Scott to read my work and comment on it. Art’s suggestions for improvements enhanced the final draft. Thanks again, Art!

In The Temptress, Leutenant Al Wheeler, assigned to solve the murder of the private detective, discovers the P.I. was hired to follow a rich woman’s rebellious daughter and her druggie boyfriend. Add to the mix a strange uncle, and shake well. GRADE: B

Lament for a Lousy Lover–my favorite mystery in this volume–features both Lieutenant Al Wheeler and dipsy yet sexy Mavis Seidlitz in an investigation of the murder of a TV western actor. You’ll love the comic interplay between Al and Mavis! GRADE: A

Al Wheeler has his hands full with Deadpan Doris in The Stripper. A young woman’s apparent suicide leads Wheeler to probe a suspicious lonely hearts club run by Mr and Mrs Arkwright. The action alternates between the strip club and the lonely hearts club until Wheeler cracks the case. GRADE: B+

If you’re a Carter Brown fan, this is a must-buy! If you’re looking for mysteries with humor and sexy shenanigans, don’t miss The Temptress / Lament for a Lousy Lover / The Stripper!

I liked James Taylor’s music early on. This 2-CD live recording from 1993 includes most of Taylor’s hits from the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties. I like Taylor’s cover of an old favorite, “Handy Man.” I also like Taylor’s singing on Art Garfunkel’s cover of “(What a) Wonderful World” in 1978 with Paul Simon which isn’t on this collection.

James Taylor also wrote many of the songs on this live recording. I love “Mexico” and

• Rainy Day Man” (1967) …
• “Something in the Way She Moves” (1968) …
• “Carolina in My Mind” (1968) …
• “Sweet Baby James” (1970) …
• “Steamroller” (1970) …
• “You’ve Got a Friend” (1971) …
• “Walking Man” (1974) …
• “A Junkie’s Lament” (1976)

Are you a James Taylor fan? Is your favorite James Taylor song on these CDs? GRADE: B+

TRACKLIST:

		Sweet Baby James	4:13
		Traffic Jam	2:11
		Handy Man	3:31
		Your Smiling Face	3:04
		Secret O’ Life	3:46
		Shed A Little Light	4:33
		Everybody Has The Blues	2:34
		Steamroller Blues	5:30
		Mexico	3:32
		Millworker	4:26
		Country Road	5:44
		Fire And Rain	4:45
		Shower The People	4:44
		How Sweet It Is	7:30
		New Hymn	3:01
		Walking Man	4:35
		Riding On A Railroad	2:42
		Something In The Way She Moves	3:59
		Sun On The Moon	3:54
		Up On The Roof	4:11
		Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight	3:37
		She Thinks I Still Care	3:29
		Copperline	4:43
		Slap Leather	2:12
		Only One	4:42
		You Make It Easy	5:06
		Carolina In My Mind	5:05
		I Will Follow	4:14
		You’ve Got A Friend	5:09
		That Lonesome Road	2:46

Michael Gallatin, a werewolf, first showed up in The Wolf’s Hour,  a 1989 World War II horror novel by American writer Robert R. McCammon. The British secret agent is sent behind German lines to stop a secret weapon from being launched against the Allies. The fact that the British agent is a werewolf spices up the dangerous mission.

In 2011, Subterranean Press published The Hunter From the Woods, a collection of stories about Gallanin including “The Great White Way,” Gallatin’s origin story. You might wonder why a werewolf would agree to become a British secret agent and risk his life fighting the Nazis. McCammon provides a suitable rationale. He also creates a sympathetic werewolf who takes a lot of punishment in his missions against the Third Reich.

My favorite story in The Hunter From the Woods is “Sea Chase” where Gallatin’s mission is to protect a German arms expert and his family who are defecting while the tramp freighter they’re on is pursed by an armed German ship. I loved the desperate crossing across the English Channel with the German ship closing in for the kill. Very suspenseful!

“The Wolf and the Eagle,” with its horrific scenes of survival in the desert, and “The Room at the Bottom of the Stairs,” where Gallanin falls in love with a beautiful Nazi journalist, show the range of McCammon’s story-telling. AMAZON offers this Subterranean edition for $80. But, your local Library might have a copy. GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

The great white way — 11

The man from London — 23

Sea chase — 41

The wolf and the eagle — 135

The room at bottom of the stairs — 201

Death of a hunter — 315

The Box Office for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, after a mere two weeks, is $700 million dollars. That just demonstrates the power of nostalgia and ILLUMINATION’s style of animation.

Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and written by Matthew Fogel, The Super Mario Bros. Movie blends aspects of the Super Mario video games. The ensemble voice cast includes Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, and Fred Armisen. The film begins with an origin story for the brothers Mario and Luigi, Italian-American plumbers who are transported to an alternate world and become entangled in a battle between the Mushroom Kingdom, led by Princess Peach, and the Koopas, led by evil Bowser.

My favorite part of The Super Mario Bros. Movie was the Battle for Brooklyn. And, of course, the music. Are you a Super Mario fan? Are you planning to see this movie? GRADE: B

SOUNDTRACK LIST:

No.	Title	Length
1.	“Super Mario Bros. Opus”	6:42
2.	“Press Start”	2:38
3.	“King of the Koopas”	3:33
4.	“Plumbin’ Ain’t Easy”	1:16
5.	“It’s a Dog Eat Plumber World”	1:15
6.	“Saving Brooklyn”	1:47
7.	“The Warp Pipe”	2:05
8.	“Strange New World”	2:03
9.	“The Darklands”	2:20
10.	“Welcome to the Mushroom Kingdom”	2:18
11.	“2 Player Game”	5:07
12.	“The Mushroom Council”	2:07
13.	“The Plumber and the Peach”	1:21
14.	“Platforming Princess”	1:39
15.	“World 1-1”	2:34
16.	“The Adventure Begins”	3:04
17.	“Peaches” (written by Aaron Horvath, Eric Osmond, John Spiker and Michael Jelenic; performed by Jack Black)	1:35
18.	“Lost and Crowned”	1:39
19.	“Imprisoned”	2:54
20.	“Courting the Kongs”	2:00
21.	“Drivin’ Me Bananas”	1:20
22.	“Rumble in the Jungle”	3:59
23.	“Karts!”	1:51
24.	“Practice Makes Perfect”	1:00
25.	“Buckle Up”	1:31
26.	“Rainbow Road Rage”	3:31
27.	“Blue Shelled”	2:26
28.	“An Indecent Proposal”	3:24
29.	“The Belly of the Beast”	1:23
30.	“Fighting Tooth and Veil”	3:45
31.	“Tactical Tanooki”	2:22
32.	“Mario Brothers Rap” (written by Haim Saban and Shuki Levy; performed by Ali Dee)	0:58
33.	“Grapple in the Big Apple”	3:40
34.	“Superstars”	1:39
35.	“The Super Mario Brothers”	1:27
36.	“Bonus Level”	1:01
37.	“Level Complete”	2:32
Total length:	87:46