HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!
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Morgan James Live and NATALIE COLE/DIANA KRALL “BETTER THAN ANYTHING”
When I go down the YouTube Rabbit Hole I alway find new music that I wasn’t aware of. I discovered Morgan James that way. Gifted singer! I didn’t know “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” was written for Nina Simone–I only knew the hit version by The Animals.
And the same with Natalie Cole and Diana Krall singing “Better Than Anything,” a song by David “Buck” Wheat and Bill Loughborough from 1963.
Are you listening to any new singers?
TRACK LIST:
| 1 | I Put A Spell On You Written By – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins | |
| 2 | Little Girl Blue Written By – Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers | |
| 3 | Don’t Explain Written By – Arthur Herzog, Jr., Billie Holiday | |
| 4 | Be My Husband Written By – Andrew Stroud | |
| 5 | Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood Written By – Bennie Benjamin, Gloria Caldwell, Sol Marcus | |
| 6 | My Man’s Gone Now Written By – DuBose Heyward, George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin | |
| 7 | Funkier Than A Mosquita’s Tweeter Written By – Aillene Bullock | |
| 8 | My Baby Just Cares For Me Written By – Gus Kahn, Walter Donaldson | |
| 9 | Tell Me More And Then Some Written By – Billie Holiday | |
| 10 | Save Me Written By – Aretha Franklin, Carolyn Franklin, Curtis Ousley | |
| 11 | Trouble In Mind Written By – Richard M. Jones | |
| 12 | Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out Written By – Jimmie Cox* |
WEDNESDAY SHORT STORIES #116: LOST OBJECTS: 50 STORIES ABOUT THE THINGS WE MISS & WHY THEY MATTER By Joshua Glenn & Rob Walker
Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker collected 50 stories about objects people have lost–and why they still matter. I particularly liked four of these odd stories.
Laura Lippman’s “Labyrinth Game” recounts how she learned to master this odd game and could beat everyone who challenged her. Her ex-husband broke it. “Cleaning, he said, which sounded suspect. It can never be replaced.” So much emotion gets wrapped up in objects that are close to us.
I also enjoyed “Batman Ring.” Leah Hennessy found a Batman ring and started to wear it. “I wore it like a wedding ring, and when people remarked on it, especially people who were boys, I always said, ‘Yes, I’m married to Batman.'” Now it’s missing and Leah still searches for it.
When he was a kid, Seth was a huge Star Trek fan. Despite his complicated relationship with his handy father, Seth asked his father to make him a model of the Enterprise. Surprisingly, Seth’s father constructed a 50-lb. large model of the classic starship–and painted it a golden color for some unknown reason. It brought Seth and his father closer together. “That Enterprise followed me me from closet to box to shed throughout my childhood and teen years, and then, when I went off to art school, it disappeared.” Now in his 30s, Seth misses this symbol from this youth.
Finally, Gary Panter’s “Stack of Comics” strikes me right in the heart. Just like Gary Panter, I lost my comic book collection. I had long runs of The Flash, Green Lantern, Adam Strange, The Justice League, Batman, and Superman. I also had the first issue of THE FANTASTIC FOUR! But when I went away to Summer Camp (which I hated) I returned to find the closet where I kept my comic books clean…and empty. My mother had tossed them out while I was gone. In later years, I would show my mother the value of the comic books she disposed of and would say, “I could have bought you a new car by selling those comic books.”
If you’re in the mood for a quirky, unusual, and unique series of stories, I recommend Lost Objects. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Lost and found / Debbie Millman — 8
The quiet sense of something lost / Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker — 12
Hunting hat / Stephen O’Connor ; illustrated by Oliver Munday — 18
.22 Revolver / Seth Mnookin ; illustrated by Alex Eben Meyer — 20
Fountain Pens / Nina Katchadourian ; illustration by Lisa Congdon — 22
Sequined Scarf / Miranda Mellis ; illustration by Adam Goldberg — 24
Warhol Can / Ben Greenman ; illustrated by Clara Selina Bach — 26
Bauble / Matthew Sharpe ; illustrated by Glenn Jones — 28
Flower Necklace / Anita Kunz ; illustrated by Anita Kunz — 30
Rocky Horror Novel / Lydia Millet ; illustrated by Berta Vallo — 32
Lucite Carrying Case / Ben Katchor ; illustrated by Ben Kathchor — 34
Cologne / Dan Piepenbring ; illustrated by Josh Neufeld — 36
Peanut-Butter Crackers / Claire Lehmann ; illustrated by Karen Kurycki — 38
Vinyl Skirt / Paola Antonelli ; illustrated by Sophie Calhoun — 40
Silicone Vagina / Susannah Breslin ; illustrated by Jennifer Heuer — 42
Glass Clock / Lisa Takeuchi Cullen ; illustrated by Rose Wong — 44
Baseball Mitt / Jeff Turrentine ; illustrated by Andrew DeGraff — 46
Labyrinth Game / Laura Lippman ; illustrated by Laura Didyk — 48
Moroccan Trinket / Geoff Manaugh ; illustrated by Mariana Pita — 50
Engineer Ring / Jessamyn West ; illustrated by Amanda Clarke — 52
Macrame Art / Joe Yonan ; illustrated by Theo Ellsworth — 54
Desktop Dog / M.R. Sauter ; illustrated by Shayna Piascik — 56
Ceramic Artwork / Heather Kapplow ; illustrated by Mstt Wuerker — 58
Grandfather Photo / Mark Dery ; illustrated by Kelli Anderson — 60
College Newspaper / Alice Boone ; illustrated by Kelli Anderson — 62
Notebook / Chelsey Johnson ; Rubi McGrory — 64
Snake Rattles / Randy Kennedy ; illustrated by Max Temescu — 66
Walking Shoes / Michael Tisserand ; illustrated by Jackie Roche — 68
Batman Ring / Leah Hennessey ; illustrated by Dean Haspiel — 70
General Hustler BMX / Chris Piascik ; illustrated by Chris Piascik — 72
Dodge Dart / Mimi Lipson ; illustrated by Mister Reusch — 74
Prayer Card / Kathryn Davis ; illustrated by Dina Noto — 76
Mullet Wig / Kate Bernheimer ; illustrated by Amy C. Evans — 78
Club Chair / Lucy Sante ; illustrated by Kate Bingamann-Burt — 80
Skeleton Sweater / Becky Stern ; illustrated by Monica Garwood — 82
Enterprise Model / Seth ; illustrated by Seth — 84
Vanilla Bean / Paul Lukas ; illustrated by Allison Bamcat — 86
Road Atlas / Dante Ramos ; illustrated by Joe Alterio — 88
Conker / Dan Fox ; illustrated by Linzie Hunter — 90
Pink Elephants / Mikita Brottman ; illustrated by Sarah Williamson — 92
Orgone Accumulator / Mandy Keifetz ; illustrated by Emory Allen — 94
Finger Puppet / Sara Ryan ; illustrated by Steve Lieber — 96
Dog-Fur Scarf / Amy Thielen ; illustrated by Heather Kasunick — 98
Stratocaster / Doug Dorst ; illustrated by John Holbo — 100
Karma Parka / Alex Gerasev ; illustrated by Alex Gerasev — 102
Stack of Comics / Gary Panter ; illustrated by Gary Panter — 104
Eccentric Book — 106
Glass Poodle / Debbie Millman ; illustrated by Debbie Millman — 108
Autographed Basebll / Nathaniel Rich ; illustrated by Ellen Rose — 110
Track Shoes / Charles Glaubitz ; illustrated by Charles Glaubitz — 112
Shooting Gallery / Alex Balk ; illustrated by John Lowe — 114
Pickled Octopus / Neil LaBute ; illustrated by Disa Wallander — 116
Appendix — 118
Lost in Thought / Towards a Typology of Lost Object-meanings — 122
Towards a Typology of Object-loss — 133
Contributors — 142
ELVIS [Blu-ray]
I was rooting for Austin Butler to win an Oscar for Elvis…but it didn’t happen. Still, Elvis provided a wonderful movie about a rising star and the manipulation–over 20 years–by his manager. Colonel Tom Parker, portrayed by Tom Hanks under a ton of make-up, comes off an an enigmatic figure who both helped and hurt Elvis in so many ways.
For Elvis music lovers, here are the songs on the Blu-ray (and soundtrack CD). Are you an Elvis fan? GRADE: A
TRACK LIST:
| Elvis Presley– | Suspicious Minds (Vocal Intro) | ||
| Stevie Nicks & Chris Isaak– | Cotton Candy Land | ||
| Doja Cat– | Vegas | ||
| Eminem & Ceelo Green*– | The King And I | ||
| Swae Lee & Diplo– | Tupelo Shuffle | ||
| Austin Butler (2)– | Baby, Let’s Play House | ||
| Elvis Presley– | Craw-Fever | ||
| Yola (4)– | Strange Things Are Happening Every Day | ||
| Austin Butler (2)– | Trouble | ||
| Kacey Musgraves– | Can’t Help Falling In Love | ||
| Lenesha Randolph– | I Got A Feelin’ In My Body | ||
| Jazmine Sullivan– | Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child | ||
| Elvis Presley & Tame Impala– | Edge Of Reality (Tame Impala Remix) | ||
| Elvis Presley & Jack White (2)– | Power Of My Love | ||
| Elvis Presley– | Polk Salad Annie (Film Mix) | ||
| Elvis Presley– | Suspicious Minds (Film Edit) | ||
| Elvis Presley– | Burning Love (Film Mix) | ||
| Elvis Presley & Stuart Price– | I Got A Feelin’ In My Body (Stuart Price Remix) | ||
| Elvis Presley & Pnau– | Don’t Fly Away (Pnau Remix) | ||
| Måneskin– | If I Can Dream | ||
| Paravi– | Suspicious Minds | ||
| Elvis Presley Feat. Nardo Wick– | In The Ghetto (World Turns Remix) |
TURBOTAX 2022 DELUXE
I usually do my Federal and State taxes over the Presidents’ Day weekend, but this year the IRA asked that taxpayers delay sending their taxes in for a couple of weeks. So I waited until yesterday and finally installed TURBOTAX 2022 DELUXE on my computer and began the tedious process of data entry. The whole process took about an hour and at the end I owed a bit of money to the Feds and a bit more to New York State.
Do you have your taxes done? Do you do it yourself or do you farm the tax preparation out?
THE 95th OSCARS
Does anybody really care about the Oscars anymore? Will people tune in just to see if someone gets slapped or punched? I have no special knowledge about these movies. I watched most of them on a streaming service since the movie theater industry–especially Regal–seems to be going bankrupt. Here are my picks. Who do you think will win?
BEST PICTURE: Everything Everywhere All At Once
BEST ACTOR: Austin Butler, Elvis
BEST ACTRESS: Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All At Once
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Ke Huy Yuan, Everything Everywhere All At Once
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS; Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Insherin
BEST DIRECTOR: Daniel Qwan & Daniel Schelnert, Everything Everywhere All At Once
The Mandalorian, Season 3 [Disney +]
The Mandalorian stars Pedro Pascal as the title character, a bounty hunter traveling to Mandalore to redeem his past transgressions with his companion Grogu (aka, Baby Yoda) in the early episodes of this eight episode season.
This third season of The Mandalorian features Bo-Katan Kryze, once a ruler of Mandalore before the planet was bombed into rubble, who decides to help the Mandalorian and Grogu. Katee Sackhoff, who I really liked in Longmire, brings Bo-Katan Kryze to life with spirit and grit. In the second episode, she saves the Mandalorian’s life not once…but twice!
I’ve enjoyed the first two seasons of The Mandalorian and after watching the first two episodes of Season 3 I’m delighted with the direction the plot is taking. Are you a fan of The Mandalorian? GRADE: (Incomplete…but trending towards an A)
FRIDAY’S FORGOTTEN BOOKS #733: DUST OF DEATH (DOC SAVAGE #32) By Kenneth Robeson
I was too old by the 1960s to be much of a pulp magazine reader. The pulps folded in the 1950s. And outside of collectors, the pulps found that digest magazines and paperbacks replaced them.
Many of the Doc Savage stories were written by Lester Dent although other writers also used the house name of “Kenneth Robeson.”
“The Doc Savage Magazine was printed by Street & Smith from March 1933 to the summer of 1949 to capitalize on the success of the Shadow magazine and followed by the original Avenger in September 1939. In all, 181 issues were published in various entries and alternative titles. Doc Savage became known to more contemporary readers when Bantam Books began reprinting the individual magazine novels in 1964, this time with covers by artist James Bama that featured a bronze-haired, bronze-skinned Doc Savage with an exaggerated widows’ peak, usually wearing a torn khaki shirt and under the by-line “Kenneth Robeson”.
“The stories were not reprinted in chronological order as originally published, though they did begin with the first adventure, The Man of Bronze. By 1967, Bantam was publishing one a month until 1990, when all 181 original stories (plus an unpublished novel, The Red Spider) had run their course.
“Author Will Murray produced seven more Doc Savage novels for Bantam Books from Lester Dent’s original outlines. Bantam also published a novel by Philip José Farmer, Escape From Loki (1991), which told the story of how in World War I Doc met the men who would become his five comrades.”
Doc Savage (real name Clark Savage Jr.) is a doctor, scientist, adventurer, detective, and polymath who “rights wrongs and punishes evildoers.” He also seems to have an inexhaustible pile of money to fund his adventures. If you’re in the mood for some old fashioned High Adventure, follow Doc Savage and his crew to South America where a strange, mysterious villain known as the Inca in Gray promotes war between two countries and uses a “dust of death” to kill his adversaries. Are you a fan of pulp fiction? GRADE: B
THE SONGS OF BACHARACH & COSTELLO [2-CD Edition]
With Burt Bacharach’s death on February 8, 2023, this 2-CD set would seem to be the culmination of the Bacharach & Costello recordings. Disc 1 is a remastered version of Painted From Memory–20 years old–and now sounds even better than ever!
Disc 2 features not only great music but guest singers like Cassandra Wilson, Bill Frisell, Audra Mae, Don Byron, and Jenni Buldaur. Fittingly, the last song is sung by Burt Bacharach. If you love this type of moody, languid music and Elvis Costello’s slick lyrics, you’ll have a couple hours of delightful music to enchant you if you listen to The Songs of Bacharach & Costello. Are you a Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello fan? GRADE: A
Here’s the Wall Street Journal review: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-songs-of-bacharach-and-costello-an-unlikely-pairs-pop-poetry-d176063f
TRACK LISTING — DISC 1
Track Listing – Disc 2
WEDNESDAY’S SHORT STORIES #115: ANTARCTICA By Claire Keegan
“Antarctica” starts provocatively: “Every time the happily married woman went away, she wondered how it would feel to sleep with another man. That weekend, she was determined to find out. It was December; she felt a curtain closing on another years. She wanted to do this before she was too old. She was sure she would be disappointed.” (p. 1)
And, as you would suspect, things do not go well for the happily married woman.
“Love in the Tall Grass” involves a doctor, a young girl named Cordelia, and the ramifications of their affair discovered by the doctor’s wife. And, as you would suspect, things do not go well for the doctor, his wife, or Cordelia.
“Elizabeth Carso, aged nine. Disappeared from her home outside Boulder, Colorado, on Stepther 9th. Last seen wearing a red sweatshirt and blue jeans. If you have seen this person, please call... ” (p. 153). Frank Corso has to live with his embittered wife who blames him for his daughter’s disappearance. And, as you would suspect, things do not go well.
There’s no doubt that Claire Keegan is a talented writer. But I found Antarctica (1999) a little too grim. GRADE: B
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Antarctica — 1
Men and Women — 19
Where the Water’s Deepest — 35
Love in the Tall Grass — 43
Storms — 60
Ride If You Dare — 69
The Singing Cashier — 84
Burns — 92
Quare Name for a Boy — 101
Sisters — 109
The Scent of Winter — 133
The Burning Palms — 141
Passport Soup — 153
Close to the Water’s Edge — 162
You Can’t Be Too Careful — 171
The Ginger Rogers Sermon — 182
Acknowledgments — 203
Notes — 205
Biography — 207