Tom Cruise (aka, The Smirking Dwarf) channels former TWA pilot Barry Seal perfectly in this movie “based on true events.” It’s the late 1970s and the CIA approaches Barry Seal with a proposition: quit TWA and fly planes down to Central America on reconnaissance missions. Seal likes the sound of that and does the fly-overs of Communist bases. The CIA is so happy with Seal’s photos, they give him additional missions: deliver money to Colonel Noriega in return for top secret intel, deliver some weapons to insurgents, etc. Barry Seal decides to free-lance a little and starts bringing cocaine into the U.S….lots of cocaine. And, Seal makes millions of dollars. Part of the fun of American Made shows the difficulty of stashing bags and bags of cash.

Of course, all good things must come to an end. The CIA dumps Barry Seal, the D.E.A. busts him, and Colonel Oliver North sends Seal down to Central America for “one last mission.” Tom Cruise perfectly captures the arrogance, greed, and lunacy of Barry Seal. American Made is a cautionary tale that stings at the end. GRADE: B

Diane and I finally drove up to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada for the Shaw Festival. Each year, the Shaw Festival presents compelling plays by George Bernard Shaw and plays related to the Shaw era. The second largest repertory theatre company in North America was founded in 1962.

The Madness of George III is based on the true story of King George III who experienced a bout of “madness” that threatened to topple the Government. I’m a fan of Alan Bennett’s The History Boys (both the play and the movie version). Bennett has the skill to present grim realities with wit and humor. Watching Tom McCamus’s (you’ve seen him in Orphan Black and Room) descent into madness on the stage is one of the finest performances I’ve seen at the Shaw Festival in 20 years! Brilliant!

The movie version, The Madness of King George (1994), featured Nigel Hawthorne as the King and Helen Mirren as the Queen. It was nominated for four Academy Awards.

The horrific treatment of mental illness, the Royal politics of those times, and Courtly behavior swirl around King George’s story. I highly recommend The Madness of George III. GRADE: A

The Bills scored a 26-16 upset over the Denver Broncos last week. This week, the Bills take on one of the NFL’s undefeated teams, the Atlanta Falcons (the other undefeated team is the Kansas City Chiefs). The Bills are 8-point underdogs to the Falcons. I’m not optimistic about this game. How will your favorite NFL team do today?

Peter and the Starcatcher: A Grownup’s Prequel to Peter Pan is a wacky play by Rick Elice based on the novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. An ensemble of actors enters a bare stage and addresses the audience. Suddenly, the stage is transformed alternately as a pirate ship–the Neverland and a British frigate–the Wasp. The plot revolves around the contents of two identical trunks–one with magical star material and the other filled with sand. Plenty of silliness follows.

Peter Pan begins the musical as a wretched, frequently beaten orphan. Peter and two Lost Boys–Prentiss and Teddy–are rescued by Molly, the plucky daughter of Lord Leonard Aster. Together the children resist the pirates, but find themselves stranded on a strange island. I enjoyed the wild antics of the pirates and the constant bravery of Molly. If you’re in the mood for something very funny and very different, check out Peter and the Starcatcher if it comes to your neighborhood. GRADE: A-

Remember those cool (and creepy!) horror paperbacks from the 1970s and 1980s? Well, Grady Hendrix presents over a hundred paperback covers and provides entertaining facts about the writers from that era. The Horror genre was huge back in the 1970s and 1980s. Part of the appeal was the wild and weird covers on those paperbacks. Hendrix picks many of the representative covers (but he forgot Good-Night Moom, the Bill Crider classic–maybe it will show up in the sequel!).

Clearly, this is a labor of love. Hendrix loves these horror novels and shows why the lurid covers only made the books more popular. If you’re a fan of paperbacks, Paperbacks From Hell is a must-buy! Do you have favorite horror novel? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION 7
PROLOGUE 10
CHAPTER 1: HAIL SATAN 10
CHAPTER 2: CREEPY KIDS 46
CHAPTER 3: WHEN ANIMALS ATTACK 78
CHAPTER 4: REAL ESTATE NIGHTMARES 102
CHAPTER 5: WEIRD SCIENCE 124
CHAPTER 6: GOTHIC AND ROMANTIC 144
CHAPTER 7: INHUMANOIDS 168
CHAPTER 8: SPLATTER PUNKS, SERIAL KILLERS, AND SUPER CREEPS 192
SELECTED CREDITS AND PUBLISHER BIOGRAPHIES 226
AFTERWORD 234
CREDITS 237
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 248
INDEX 250

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 50 years since The Rolling Stones unleashed Their Satanic Majesties Request on the world. This was the Stones’s response to The Beatles’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band which explains the costumes on the album cover (both cover photographs were taken by Michael Cooper).

Keith Richards claims in his 2010 memoir Life that “none of us wanted to make [Satanic Majesties], but it was time for another Stones album, and Sgt. Pepper’s was coming out, so we thought basically we were doing a put-on.”

I’ve always considered Their Satanic Majesties Request a quirky album. The variety of songs and styles constantly surprise with each listening. The “hit” on this album was “She’s a Rainbow.” This CD has been totally remastered in both mono and stereo. A vinyl edition is also available. Are you a Rolling Stones fan? What did you think of Their Satanic Majesties Request when you first heard it? GRADE: B+
TRACK LIST:
1. Sing This All Together
2. Citadel
3. In Another Land
4. 2000 Man
5. Sing This All Together (See What Happens)
6. She’s A Rainbow
7. The Lantern
8. Gomper
9. 2000 Light Years From Home
10. On With The Show

I admire Katy Tur’s honesty and her persistent reporting of the facts despite being attacked as spreading “Fake News.” For over 500 days, Katy Tur covered the Trump Campaign. She filed over 3,800 live reports from 40 states and countless Trump rallies during the 2016 Election season. Katy Tur knows Trump better than most reporters. On Election Night, when Florida was called for Trump essentially sealing the victory for President, Katy Tur thinks, “They [the American voters] decided that this menacing, indecent, post-truth landscape is where they want to live for the next four years.” (p. 4)

Initially, Katy Tur figured she would be covering the Trump Campaign for about six weeks. No one took Trump seriously at the beginning. But before too long, Tur realized that something strange was happening. Following the wild debates, the ups and downs of the primaries, and Comey Factor, Katy Tur predicted Donald Trump would win the Election. “The Trump campaign was the most unlikely, exciting, ugly, trying, and all-around bizarre campaign in American History. It roiled American and with it, my little life. I won’t pretend to explain it. I will tell you what I saw.” (p. 6)

Katy Tur saw plenty and it’s all here between the covers. Journalism is just the first draft of History. This first draft reveals and highlights the events that brought us to this sad place. Did you think Trump would win? GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
AUTHOR’S NOTE xi
Prologue 1
1. “Katy Hasn’t Even Looked Up Once at Me.” 7
2. “You’ll Never Be President!” 21
3. “I Had to Grab Katy and Kiss Her.” 41
4. “She’s Back There, Little Katy.” 63
5. “Katy, It’s Donald.” 89
6. “Find That Asshole Tur!” 109
7. “Pop the Trunk. I’m Going to Run for It.” 131
8. “Look at Those Hands. Are They Small Hands?” 143
9. “Be Quiet. I Know You Want to, You Know, Save Her.” 169
10. “Donald Trump Doesn’t Lose.” 197
11. “Grab’em by the Pussy.” 219
12. “There Something Happening, Katy.” 255
Epilogue 283
Acknowledgements 287

F. Paul Wilson’s The Tomb (1984, revised edition 2004) introduces a character who lives “off the grid.” Jack has no Social Security number, doesn’t pay income taxes, or deals with the Government. Jack reminds me of an extreme form John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee (a “salvage expert”) because he is hired to deal with problems and “fix” them privately.

F. Paul Wilson has a sense of humor because he has Jack’s friend (and armorer), Abe, display a neon sign that reads:
FINE WEAPONS
THE RIGHT TO BUY WEAPONS IS THE
RIGHT TO BE FREE
Of course, those lines come from A. E. Van Vogt’s Science Fiction classic, The Weapons Shops of Isher. In these times of Trump, those words take on an ominous aspect.

In The Tomb, Jack is hired to find a missing necklace. That leads to an investigation to find two missing sisters. And, an ancient curse with supernatural and Lovecraftean implications comes into play. F. Paul Wilson didn’t write another Repairman Jack novel for 15 years. I’ll be reviewing the entire series over the next year. Have you read any Repairman Jack novels? GRADE: B+
REPAIRMAN JACK SERIES
The Tomb (1984)
Legacies (1998)
Conspiracies (1999)
All the Rage (2000)
Hosts (Oct 12, 2001)
The Haunted Air (Oct 18, 2002)
Gateways (Nov 1, 2003)
Crisscross (Oct 7, 2004)
Infernal (Oct 20, 2005)
Harbingers (Sep 19, 2006)
Bloodline (Sep 18, 2007)
By the Sword (Oct 14, 2008)
Ground Zero (Sep 15, 2009)
Fatal Error (Oct 12, 2010)
Dark at the End (Oct 11, 2011)
Nightworld (1992 – Extensively revised edition: May 22, 2012)

JACK: YOUNG ADULT SERIES
Secret Histories (May 27, 2008)
Secret Circles (Feb 2, 2010)
Secret Vengeance (Feb 1, 2011)

REPAIRMAN JACK: THE EARLY YEARS
Cold City (Nov 27, 2012)
Dark City (Oct 15, 2013)
Fear City (Nov 11, 2014)

I’ve always enjoyed Gloria Estefan’s music over the decades. This bio-musical tells the story of her life and blends in plenty of dancing and singing. The touring company delivered a high-energy performance to a packed house at the Shea’s Performing Arts Center. Family problems dominate much of the plot. The struggle to get “Latin” music accepted by the mainstream record companies figures in, too! If you’re in the mood for a rollicking musical with plenty of hit songs and swirling dancers, On Your Feet! fits the bill. Do you have a favorite Gloria Estefan song? GRADE: A-
MUSICAL NUMBERS:
Act I
“Rhythm Is Gonna Get You” — Gloria, Company
“Cuando Salí de Cuba” — Little Gloria
“Tradición” — Little Gloria, Gloria, Company
“Anything For You” — Gloria, Rebecca
“1-2-3” — Gloria, Company
“I See Your Smile” — Gloria, Emilio, Company
“Mi Tierra” — Gloria Fajardo, Company
“Con Los Años Que Me Quedan” — Guitarristas
“Here We Are” — Gloria, Emilio, Guitarristas
“Dr. Beat” † — Company
“When Someone Comes Into Your Life” — José, Gloria
“Conga” — Gloria, Company
Act II
“Get on Your Feet” — Gloria, Company
“Live for Loving You” — Gloria, Company
“You’ll Be Mine (Party Time)” — Gloria, Company
“Oye Mi Canto” — Gloria, Company
“Cuba Libre” — Gloria, Company
“Famous” — Gloria
“If I Never Got to Tell You” ‡ — Gloria Fajardo, Emilio
“Wrapped” — Gloria, Little Gloria, José, Emilio, Company
“Don’t Wanna Lose You” — Emilio, Company
“Reach” — Company
“Coming Out of the Dark” — Gloria, Company
“Mega Mix”
“Rhythm Is Gonna Get You” — Gloria, Little Gloria, Company
“Oye” — Gloria Fajardo, Company
“Conga” — Consuelo, José, Company
“Turn the Beat Around” — Rebecca, Emilio, Company
“Everlasting Love” — Gloria, Emilio, Company
“Get on Your Feet” — Company

I’ve been trying to catch up with Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels. I really liked Child’s Make Me. You can read my review here. Night School was published in 2016 and is set in 1997 when Jack Reacher was a Major in the Military Police. Reacher finds himself sent to a “school” that in reality is a task force investigating why a U.S. citizen is selling “something” to a terrorist group for $100 million.

I enjoyed Night School but some aspects of the novel annoyed me. Jack Reacher has “hunches” and nearly every one of his hunches pay off. Reacher gets to beat up some neo-Nazis and sleep with his boss. Everything comes a little to easy for Reacher in this novel. He barely breaks a sweat. The search for the U.S. citizen is clever and compelling. The $100 million “something” was a little more challenging to figure out, but I was pretty close. I find Jack Reacher novels ideal for reading during airline flights and doctor’s appointments. Do you have a favorite Jack Reacher novel? GRADE: B