An impressive group of singers showed up for this celebration of Bob Dylan.

“The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration is a live double-album release in recognition of Bob Dylan’s 30 years as a recording artist. Recorded on October 16, 1992, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, it captures most of the concert, which featured many artists performing classic Dylan songs, before ending with three songs from Dylan himself.

The house band for the show were the surviving members of Booker T. & the M.G.’s: Booker T. Jones on organ, Donald “Duck” Dunn on bass, and Steve Cropper on guitar. Joining them was drummer Anton Fig filling in for the late Al Jackson, plus drummer Jim Keltner. Longtime Saturday Night Live bandleader and initial lead guitar player in Dylan’s Never Ending Tour G. E. Smith served as the music director of the whole event as well as a sideman on guitar and mandolin for several artists. Background singers were Sheryl Crow and Sue Medley among others.” — Wikipedia

I enjoyed the number of songs these artists covered. I especially liked Neil Young’s rendition of “All Along the Watchtower.” Richie Haven’s does a nice job with “Just Like a Woman.”

There’s also a DVD and Blu-ray video of this concert. Are you a Dylan fan? Is your favorite Dylan song on this Track List? GRADE: A

TRACK LIST:

Playboy’s Stories of the Sinister & Strange (1969) joins the dozen or so Playboy Press paperbacks I’ve collected over the years. The most famous story in this anthology is Kurt Vonnegut’s “Welcome to the Monkey House” set in the Future when the population of the Earth is 17 billion people.

I also liked Irwin Shaw’s “The Mannichon Solution” where a scientist makes a Big Discovery, but is co-opted by other scientists. My favorite story is Gerald Kersh’s classic “Somewhere Not Far From Here” where a group of men wage war against invaders. Combat goes not get more graphic than this tale!

For John Wyndham fans there’s “Wise Child” where an ambitious scientist plots to use his pregnant wife as an unwitting subject in his research…with dark comic results. I’ve enjoyed all the Playboy Press anthologies I’ve read. If you see one, it’s worth picking up! GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• iv · Preface · Anon. · pr
• 1 · The Mannichon Solution · Irwin Shaw · nv Playboy Dec 1967
• 41 · The Dark Music · Charles Beaumont · ss Playboy Dec 1956
• 57 · Somewhere Not Far from Here · Gerald Kersh · ss Playboy Mar 1965
• 78 · The Investor · Bruce Jay Friedman · ss Playboy Feb 1962
• 90 · Ripples · Ray Russell · ss Playboy Oct 1967
• 93 · The Dispatcher · Gerald Green · nv Playboy Aug 1967
• 120 · Wise Child · John Wyndham · ss Argosy (UK) Nov 1962, as “It’s a Wise Child”; Playboy May 1967
• 137 · Welcome to the Monkey House · Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. · ss Playboy Jan 1968
• 160 · Room 312 · G. L. Tassone · ss Playboy Aug 1967
• 177 · The Golden Frog · Ken W. Purdy · nv Playboy Jan 1963
• 200 · The Annex · John D. MacDonald · ss Playboy May 1968

I’ve only watched one episode of Star Wars: Tales of the Empire but what becomes apparent is violence and death are a big part of this series.

Star Wars: Tales of the Empire is an animated six-episode journey into the malevolent Galactic Empire. The tales are told by two warriors on divergent paths, set during different eras.

In the first episode, young Morgan Elsbeth loses her mother in a battle with Imperial battle droids. Morgan navigates the expanding Imperial worlds toward a path of vengeance for the murder of her mother. Meanwhile, former Jedi Barriss Offee does what she must to survive a rapidly more dangerous galaxy.

The talented voice cast includes Diana Lee Inosanto (Morgan Elsbeth), Meredith Salenger (Barriss Offee), Rya Kihlstedt (Lyn aka Fourth Sister), Wing T. Chao (Wing), Lars Mikkelsen (Thrawn), Jason Isaacs (Grand Inquisitor), and Matthew Wood (General Grievous). GRADE: Incomplete, but trending towards a B

I’ve read all the Sherlock Holmes stories, the same with Edgar Allan Poe, and Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple mysteries. So I was a sucker for James Patterson and Brian Sitts’s Holmes Marple & Poe. And 118 chapters later, I’m here to warn you that very little of the greatest Holmes, Marple, and Poe show up in this novel.

Who are the Holmes, the Marple, and the Poe operating together in this book? We don’t find out. What we do find out is that their original names have been deliberately obscured and their Past thoroughly buried. We are given hints that the trio shared a history of military adventures and spy craft before entering their current investigative business. It’s also clear the Holmes-Marple-Poe Agency is a well-funded operation. And, if these three have lots of money, why do they need to run a private detective Agency? Questions for another book, perhaps…

Like his namesake, Brendan Holmes is a narcissist and drug addict. But brilliant. Miss Margaret Marple, like Agatha Christie’s Miss Jane Marple, can analyze a situation from perspectives her partners lack. This Miss Marple is younger than her namesake and is no stranger to combat. Lastly, Auguste Poe has a tragic backstory with a fiancé who died. Poe blames himself for her death. Poe also collects muscle cars, is an expert marksman, and very physical. Together, this trio takes on cases that baffle the police.

Holmes Marple & Poe might develop into an entertaining series, but the first book is sketchy. Do you read James Patterson books? GRADE: C

Roast Collection: Variety Pack Cup Coffee Pods: Veranda Blend, Breakfast Blend, House Blend, Caffee Verona 

CLASSIC FAVORITES: Variety Pack cup Coffee Pods: Veranda Blend, Caramel, Vanilla, and Toasted Coconut Mocha

Starbucks has introduced these Variety Packs of K-Cups recently. I bought these at BJ’s Warehouse for about $30 (with a coupon). If you like Starbucks coffee, this is a good way to sample various Starbucks coffee offerings. What’s your favorite coffee?

The Fall Guy, loosely based on the 1980s TV series that starred Lee Majors, is a mash-up of a Rom-Com with an Action Movie. Director David Leitch–once a stunt man before going behind the camera–and Screenwriter Drew Pearce produce a movie that glorifies those talented people doing the stunts in movies (and argues there should be an Oscar to recognize them). The Fall Guy features dozens of eye-popping stunts and plenty of explosions.

There’s real chemistry between stunt man Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) and talented camera operator Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt). Machiavellian movie producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham) brings Colt back from retirement to work on a Sci-Fi movie that Jody is directing called Metal Storm. But double-dealing, treachery, and death-defying feats result.

A movie like The Fall Guy used to be called a Summer Movie before the Pandemic. I’m willing to go on record as saying The Fall Guy is a fun Summer Movie and you will enjoy it if you go see it! GRADE: A

SONGS INCLUDED IN THE FALL GUY :

• ‘I Was Made For Lovin’ You’ – KISS
• ‘Fiesta’ – Daniel Indart
• ‘Thunderstruck’ – AC/DC
• ‘All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)’ – Taylor Swift
• ‘I Was Made For Lovin’ You’ – Yungblud
• ‘All I Do Is Win’ – DJ Khaled
• ‘Any Way You Want It’ – Journey
• ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’ – The Darkness
• ‘Genie In A Bottle’ – Christina Aguilera
• ‘Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)’ – Phil Collins

I read several books by John Bellairs to my kids before they became teenagers. Bellairs books featured youngsters not afraid to take some risks to solve mysteries that contained Supernatural elements. Of the several series Bellairs wrote, my favorite was the Lewis Barnavelt series. Lewis is a smart but chubby boy who gets picked on at school. His parents are dead and Lewis has been taken in by his uncle, Jonathan Barnavelt, a wizard. Needless to say, Lewis and his uncle stumble over all kinds of supernatural happenings.

The first three titles in the Lewis Barnavelt series were written by John Bellairs. Following Bellairs’ death in 1991, his estate commissioned Brad Strickland to write three more Lewis Barnavelt novels based on notes and manuscripts left by Bellairs. Strickland then went on to write six more original novels in the series.

The Vengeance of the Witch-Finder is the 5th book in the Lewis Barnavelt series. Lewis and his uncle travel to England to visit their cousin at the ancestral Barnavelt Manor. The Manor is in disrepair because Cousin Pelly is struggling financially. Lewis meets the housekeeper’s son, Bertie, who is blind. The boys explore the large garden maze and accidentally summon the ghost of Malachiah Pruitt, a 300 year old Witch-Finder, who tried to have one of Lewis’s ancestors executed for witchcraft. Pruitt uses his powers to stun Cousin Pelly and Uncle Jonathan so it’s up to Lewis and Bertie to wrestle with this powerful spirit and his spooky familiar.

While the Lewis Barnavelt books are classified as Young Adult novels, the stories are compelling and with each book the reader sees Lewis grow more confident in his battles with demonic forces. Fun reading! I recommend the entire series! GRADE: B+

Lewis Barnavelt novels:

1 The House with a Clock in Its Walls (1973)
2 The Figure in the Shadows (1975)
3 The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring (1977)
4 The Ghost in the Mirror (1993)
5 The Vengeance of the Witch-Finder (1993) (with Brad Strickland)
6 The Doom of the Haunted Opera (1995) (with Brad Strickland)

SERIES CONTINUED BY BRAD STRICKLAND:

7. The Specter from the Magician’s Museum (1998)
8. The Beast Under the Wizard’s Bridge (2000)
9. The Tower At the End of the World (2001)
10. The Whistle, the Grave, and the Ghost (2003)
11. The House Where Nobody Lived (2006)
 12. The Sign of the Sinister Sorcerer (2008)

Cat Power (aka, Charlyn Marie “Chan” Marshall) produced two very different albums of cover songs. Back in 2000, she released The Covers Record with 12 songs performed with minimalist precision. Trust me: you’ve never heard “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” performed this way! My favorite song on The Covers Record is the “Sea of Love.”

In 2022, Cat Power brought out another album of covers. This time she’s backed by a band. My favorite song on Covers is an early Jackson Browne song–I first heard it on Nico’s Chelsea Girl album in 1967. There’s plenty of variety on Covers with songs by The Pogues, Bob Seger, Iggy Pop, The Replacements, and even Bille Holiday.

Are you a fan of cover albums? GRADE: THE COVERS RECORD: B-; COVERS: B

TRACK LIST:

TRACK LIST:

A few weeks ago I posted about Agatha Christie’s short story collections (you can read those reviews here and here). Jerry House mentioned that his favorite Christie short story collection was The Hound of Death. I searched my Agatha Christie shelves and came up empty. It took me a week to hunt down a copy of The Hound of Death but I got hold of a copy and quickly read it.

The Hound of Death was published in 1933. What was unusual about The Hound of Death was the collection was not published by Christie’s regular publishers, William Collins & Sons, but by Odhams Press, and was not available to purchase in shops. Many of the stories in The Hound of Death are available in other Christie short story collections, but the 12 stories in this collection center on psychological and supernatural aspects instead of detection and “little grey cells.”

Also notable is that “The Witness for the Prosecution” first appears in book form in The Hound of Death. No Miss Marple stories, no Hercule Poirot stories show up in The Hound of Death. But the spooky aspects of “The Hound of Death” and the eeriness of “SOS” show a different side of Agatha Christie. Thanks, Jerry, for motivating me to find and read this unusual collection! GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• “The Hound of Death” — 7
• “The Red Signal” — 37
• “The Fourth Man” — 71
• “The Gypsy” — 101
• “The Lamp” — 119
• “Wireless” — 135
• “The Witness for the Prosecution” — 161
• “The Mystery of the Blue Jar” — 197
• “The Strange Case of Sir Arthur Carmichael” — 231
• “The Call of Wings” — 263
• “The Last Séance” — 289
• “SOS” — 315

Dead Boy Detectives is an 8-episode series on Netflix.  Introduced in the pages of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, a ghost boy from the 1910s becomes best friends with a ghost boy from the 1990s and together they decided to solve mysteries.

Dead Boy Detectives are the late Edwin (George Rexstrew) and Charles (Jayden Revri)–both murdered at an English boys school–who run a supernatural detective agency where they solve the mysteries of ghosts, demons, and other spooky creatures.

The ghost boys team up with the amnesiatic psychic Crystal (Kassius Nelson) after exorcizing a demon from her. They work together to track down a missing child. Then the trio find themselves trapped in a small Pacific Northwest town bursting with supernatural mysteries.

From there, Edwin, Charles, and Crystal encounter a menagerie of strange beings. There’s a Cat King, an immortal witch, the nasty Dandelion Sprites, and an eerie goth lady running a creepy butcher shop. While solving mysteries, Edwin and Charles must also evade the Night Nurse (Ruth Connell), the immortal tasked with rounding up the lost souls of dead children and making sure they’re all in their designated afterlives. And, of course, there’s Death to deal with too. I’m only four episodes in, but I can confidently pronounce this ghostly series a real winner! GRADE: Incomplete, but trending towards a B+