Back in 1983, Elektra/Asylum Records released an album they resisted. Linda Ronstadt wanted to record some classic songs from The American Songbook. Executives at the record company thought an album of traditional standards would be a flop. Even Ronstadt’s producer, Peter Asher, expressed his doubts. But Ronstadt knew what she was doing. She got The Nelson Riddle Orchestra to provide backup music. The album sold three million copies in the U.S. and Global sales surpassed five million copies. Ronstadt won another Grammy for  Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female at the 1984 Grammy Awards. This is an example of a talented singer performing great music. GRADE: A

TRACK LIST:

I’ve been a fan of Jennifer Nettles since her days of singing in the Country Music group, Sugarland. Nettles knows how to belt out a song. With her new album, Always Like New, Nettles tries to emulate Linda Ronstadt’s What’s New right down to the similar album cover design. But Broadway songs might not be Nettles best milieu. Nettles doesn’t sound comfortable with this set of songs, but she tries hard to make them sound energetic. I wasn’t convinced. GRADE: B–

TRACK LIST:

I’ve liked Annie Lennox since I first heard her singing songs with Dave Stewart in the Eurythmics days. I also enjoyed Lennox’s solo albums: Diva and Medusa. When I first saw this copy of Nostalgia (2014) at a Library Book Sale, I passed on it. I had a premonition that Annie Lennox singing traditional songs might not be wonderful. As I took a second turn around the Library Book Sale tables, I broke down and bought Nostalgia. Sadly, my premonition was right. The only song I thought Annie Lennox performed well was “I Put a Spell on You.” That song put a tingly spell on me, but the rest of the songs on this CD left me deflated. GRADE: C  

TRACK LIST:

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Stuart Palmer started writing about schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers back in the 1930s. Palmer’s famous character and detective first appeared in The Penguin Pool Murder in 1931. Hildegarde Withers proved to be so popular, a series of movies featuring Withers–played by Edna Nat Oliver–delighted audiences for a decade.

The Hildegarde Withers stories in this volume collects stories from 1933 to 1948. Withers drives Police Inspector Oscar Piper crazy with her “out-of-the-box” analysis of the various murders they encounter. Stuart Palmer tended toward the “screw-ball” comedy aspects of crime as a glance at the titles of these Hildegard Withers stories will show.

My favorite of this bunch is “The Riddle of the Forty Costumes” where Withers solves the crime in a most ingenious fashion. If you’re looking for puzzle stories with a flare, I highly recommend Hildegarde Withers: Uncollected Riddles (2002). This is another wonderful book by Crippen & Landru! GRADE: A

INTRODUCTION: Stuart Palmer, Writer (21 June 1905-4 February 1968) By Jennifer Venola (Mrs. Stuart Palmer) — 7

The riddle of the dangling pearl — 9
The riddle of the flea circus — 25
The riddle of the forty costumes — 42
The riddle of the brass band — 60
The riddle of the blueblood murders — 79
The riddle of the forty naughty girls — 97
The riddle of the hanging men — 113
The riddle of the marble blade — 132
The riddle of the whirling lights — 150
The riddle of the Jack of Diamonds — 168
The riddle of the tired bullet — 181

Hildegarde Withers: Short Stories — 196

Richard Pryor’s career careened with his drug usage. Despite his successes, Pryor continued to make dubious decisions. The PBS documentary Richard Pryor: Icon presents an accurate summary of Pryor’s life. Omit the Logic focuses on Richard Pryor’s development as the most successful comic of his time. Richard Pryor: Live on Sunset Strip–cited by Michael Che of Saturday Night Live as the funniest stand-up performance ever–is both hilarious and tragic. Taped just after Pryor almost lost his life when he set fire to himself during a drug session, Pryor displays both his vulnerability and his classic humor.

I liked Richard Pryor, both on TV and in the movies. But it became clear Pryor was on a trajectory leading to his eventual crashing and burning…literally. Are you a Richard Pryor fan?

Richard Pryor: Live On Sunset Strip GRADE: A

Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic GRADE: B

Richard Pryor: Icon GRADE: B+

The Lancet, a premier medical journal, printed a comment by Sir David Spiegelhalter, Winston Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk at the University of Cambridge about the contention that there is “no safe level of drinking alcohol”: “…There is no ‘safe’ level of driving, but governments do not recommend that people avoid driving. Come to think of it, there is no safe level of living, but nobody would recommend abstention.” (p. 217)

Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization is basically the history of alcoholic beverages. Edward Slingerland points out the pervasiveness of alcohol in most of the world’s civilizations and religious. With a few exceptions, alcohol can be found in most human activities like parties, sports events, and weddings. And Jesus Christ’s first miracle was turning water into wine.

Of course, there are down-sides to alcohol. “Alcohol is the only drug, besides pure stimulants like meth, that is known to increase physical aggression and violence. Cannabis, kava, MDMA, and psychedelics all produce either mellow or introverted highs. Alcohol’s stimulated effect, when combined with cognitive myopia and loss of executive function, can induce aggressive or violent behavior, especially in people with already low levels of cognitive control.” (p. 249)

I’m not a big consumer of alcoholic products. About a decade ago, my doctor suggested that I drink one glass of red wine each day to protect my heart. I took his advice and so far so good. I’m not fond of beer. Once in a while I’ll have a mixed drink, usually something with rum in it. Not a fan of gin or vodka. The research continues on the pluses and minuses of alcoholic consumption. But, as Drunk points out, alcoholic consumption is going to continue as long as humans are around. GRADE: A

Table of Contents

Introduction 3

1 Why Do We Get Drunk? 17

Brain Hijack: Porn and Sexually Starved Fruit Flies 23

Evolutionary Hangovers: Drunken Monkeys, Liquid Kimchee, and Dirty Water 27

More Than Twinkles and Porn: Beyond Hangover and Hijack Theories 31

A Genuine Evolutionary Puzzle: An Enemy in the Mouth That Steals Away the Brain 35

A Genetic Mystery: We Are Apes Built to Get High 41

A Cultural Mystery: Prohibition’s Strange Failure to Take Over the World 49

Pickles for the Ancestors? 58

2 Leaving the Door Open for Dionysus 61

The Human Ecological Niche: Creative, Cultural, Communal 65

The Creative Animal 71

The 0-1 Buffalo Bills travel to steamy Miami to take on the AFC East leaders, the Dolphins. The Bills had a 10-0 lead at half-time last week and fell to the Steelers 23-16. Can the Bills put that failure behind them and win a divisional game in the Florida heat? How will your favorite NFL perform today?

I would estimate that 90% of the audience that watched Frozen: The Musical at Shea’s Performing Arts Center were little girls in princess dresses and their mothers. Although I’m not in the prime demographic for this exciting production, I enjoyed the spectacle and most of the music.

The play version of Frozen follows the main plot of the movie version: two young princesses grow up in a small kingdom. One of the princesses, Elsa, has magical powers. When Elsa accidentally almost kills her younger sister, Anna, their parents separate them for safety.

Years go by and the princesses grow up. It’s time for Elsa to be coronated but that triggers a disaster as her magic powers are unleashed. Elsa flees to the wilderness and Anna decides to follow Elsa and try to help her.

I loved the redheaded Anna, played by Caroline Innerbichler. She was clever and funny and…gullible. Caroline Bowman, who played Elsa, belted out “Let It Go” at the end of ACT I and brought the house down.

Shea’s Performing Arts Center required everyone to wear masks. Diane was hoping they would also require proof of vaccination, but that didn’t happen. The audience of about 3000 showed their enthusiasm and loved the performance. Plenty of cool special effects, too! GRADE: A-

Musical numbers:

All songs by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez unless otherwise noted.

Act II

• “Hygge” – Oaken, Kristoff, Anna, Olaf, Family and Friends
• “I Can’t Lose You”∞ – Anna and Elsa
• “Fixer Upper“† – Bulda, Pabbie, Olaf and Hidden Folk
• “Kristoff Lullaby” – Kristoff
• “Monster” – Elsa, Hans and Men
• “Hans of the Southern Isles” (reprise 2) – Hans and Anna
• “True Love” – Anna
• “Colder by the Minute” – Anna, Kristoff, Elsa, Hans and Townspeople
• “Finale: Let It Go” (reprise) – Company

† Featured in the 2013 film.

‡ “Vuelie” written by Frode Fjellheim and Christophe Beck

∞ Song added February 2020, replacing a reprise of “For the First Time in Forever”

Helen MacInnes, sometimes referred to as the Queen of Spy Writers, also wrote a variety of suspense novels. Horizon, published in 1945, follows the adventures of wounded British soldier Peter Lennox. Lennox was an artist in civilian life, but after enlisting in the British Army, Lennox now struggles with the injuries to his hands received during his capture at the fall of Tobruk. His dreams of returning to his artistic pursuits, now threatened by his wounds, forces Lennox to consider a future where he can never paint again.

Horizon starts with Lennox as a POW in an Italian prison camp. When the Italians surrender to the Allies, Lennox finds himself recruited to help a band of resistance fighters. Lennox has the language skills and knowledge of the local terrain to assist the resistance fighters against the Nazis.

Building a resistance movement, guarding against moles and infiltrators, dealing with a growing Nazi presence in Northern Italy all fuel the suspense in Horizon. Peter Lennox has to confront his demons and map a new direction for his life while contributing to the war effort in a different fashion. Helen MacInnes delivers a compelling war novel with credible characters in dire situations. GRADE: B+

This 2-CD set celebrates Motown’s 40th Anniversary in 1998. There’s a mix of 40 “hits” from mostly the heyday of Motown’s success. A few songs from the later years of Motown are included, but you’ll notice a sharp fall-off in quality.

In the 1960s, many of these songs were part of the soundtrack of my Life. I was a huge fan of Marvin Gaye, Martha Reeves, Mary Wells, Smokey Robinson, The Four Tops, The Temptations, and the Supremes.

Do you remember these songs? Any favorites here? GRADE: A-

Tracklist:

People VS. Withers & Malone collects the screwball comedy/mysteries of Stuart Palmer and Craig Rice. Ellery Queen’s “Introduction” gives the details of Palmer’s and Rice’s friendship over the decades.

This collection of stories features the collaboration of two sleuths, John J. Malone, alcoholic and womanizing lawyer of Craig Rice’s mystery books, and the canny schoolteacher, Hildegarde Withers, created by Stuart Palmer. These stories were written by Stuart Palmer, with Ms. Rice contributing an idea or plot point, but otherwise apparently not involved in writing process. 

I really liked the title story, “People VS. Withers & Malone,” where Withers and Malone hunt for a missing witness in the murder trial of a Malone client and wind up pulling off some courtroom pyrotechnics in Perry Mason style.

 In “Cherchez la Frame,” the two sleuths travel to Hollywood to look for the missing wife of a Chicago gangster and find her strangled with Malone’s tie in his hotel bathroom. As usual, Withers has to crack the case to save Malone.

The first Withers and Malone collaboration, “Once Upon a Train” (original title: “Loco Motive” and published in 1950) sets the pattern for the rest of the series. This spoof of the Murder-on-the-Orient-Express genre takes place on the Super-Century train traveling from Chicago to New York. A naked dead man is found in Withers’s compartment while the murder weapon was conveniently planted in Malone’s adjoining compartment. A clever combination of quick thinking by Malone and a revealing dream by Withers solves the murder.

If you’re in the mood for some screw-ball mayhem with a dollop of humor thrown in, I recommend People VS. Withers & Malone. GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

AN INFORMAL INTRODUCTION BY Ellery Queen — 7

PREFACE BY SUART PALMER — 13

Once Upon a Train — 17

Cherchez La Frame — 49

Autopsy and Eva — 81

Rift in the Loot — 115

People VS. Withers & Malone — 151

Withers and Malone, Brain-Stormers — 203

Sandra Oh plays Professor Ji-Yoon Kim, the newly appointed chair of the English department at Pembroke University. Like many colleges and universities, Pembroke is facing declining enrollments and budget problems. As the first woman ever chosen as Chairperson of the English department, Sandra Oh’s character faces a tenure battle with her elderly staff over a young black colleague. She also has strained relationship with her well-known professor, Bill Dobson (the former Chairman of the English department). In addition to all her work problems, Ji-Yoon Kim has to deal with her difficult adopted daughter.

This Netflix 6-episode series has a talented cast and realistic situations present on most campuses right now. Anyone who has worked in a college or university will recognize the various types of faculty members and administrators. Very realistic! I’m hoping The Chair attracts enough of an audience for a Second Season. And thanks to Michael Padgett for recommending The Chair. GRADE: B+