Have you ever watched THE WEATHER CHANNEL and during one of their local weather forecasts you heard some great Smooth Jazz in the background? Well, that great Smooth Jazz was probably played by The Rippingtons. The Rippingtons have been around for about 25 years, led by guitarist Russ Freeman. They started out as a jazz-rock fusion group, but gradually gravitated to Smooth Jazz. The Rippingtons’ mascot is a smiling, sunglasses-wearing, jazzy “hep cat” which appears in the artwork of all the band’s releases and on the official THE RIPPINGTONS website. This is not profound music, but it’s fun to listen to especially if you’re cruising around in your car. Great driving music! Give it a try. GRADE: B+

About a month ago, I reviewed the first book in Neal Asher’s POLITY series, Prador Moon. Neal Asher writes Space Opera with plenty of action and intrigue. In Prador Moon Asher introduced the evil aliens that looked like giant crabs: the Prador. They have a star empire and sophisticated skills with metals. Asher also introduced the Polity: a human and Artificial Intelligence union that tries to defend itself against the brutal Prador attacks. In Shadow of the Scorpion Asher shows how his lead character, Ian Cormac, became an Agent of the Polity. There are plenty of battle scenes. Thrown into this galactic war is another wild card: the Separatists. The Separatists are a secret movement who hate the Artificial Intelligences so much they’re willing to work with the Prador to destroy the Polity. That’s where all the intrigue comes into play: who’s a Polity Agent and who’s a secret Separatist? If you enjoy Space Opera written with intelligence and verve, I urge you to try Neal Asher’s work. GRADE: B

Ramble House should be lauded for publishing Anthony Boucher’s reviews and commentary from the Forties. And the editor of this fine volume is the renown Francis M. Nevins. Boucher was the finest critic of mystery fiction in the United States and for too long his early work has been unavailable. This volume remedies part of that problem. These pieces from the San Francisco Chronicle supply a unique look at the Golden Age of mysteries through the prism of Boucher’s mastery commentary. If you have the faintest interest in the history of the mystery, you need to read this book.

Hoist the Jolly Roger, pirate fans (and you know who you are!). I watched The Buccaneers as a kid and loved the characters, especially Robert Shaw as Captain Dan Tempest (he was later to find fame in another sea adventure, JAWS). I’m a sucker for swashbuckling action and these episodes are full of it. Yes, the series is 50 years old. Yes, there are occasional “quality” problems as you might expect from TV programs of this vintage. But, for the bargain price of $12.99 at AMAZON ($12.94 at Sam’s Club for a slightly different set), you can own three DVDs of pure enjoyment. Jack Sparrow, watch out!

During Art Scott’s recent visit to the Kelley Hotel, he mention that the Piano Pieces of Brahms Opp. 117-119 would be one of his “Desert Island Discs.” Desert Island Discs is an old BBC radio program where guests discussed the eight records (later, CDs) they would want to have if they were castaway on a desert island. Art’s comment about Brahams Opp. 117-119 sparked a quick search of AMAZON for the perfect performances of these pieces. It quickly became apparent there weren’t any perfect performances. People complained about Idil Biret’s performances on Naxos. Others found fault with Radu Lupu’s disc (“The recording quality is completely unacceptable, though. It sounds like the piano is wrapped in blankets and the microphone placed in a coffee can.”). Still others found Julius Katchen’s playing “dull.” Although he didn’t record all of Opp. 117-119, Van Cliburn recorded much of it and it can be heard on MY FAVORITE BRAHMS. I’ve always liked Cliburn’s playing because it is artful without being pretentious. After you listen to Cliburn playing Brahms, you might make this CD one of your “Desert Island Discs.” GRADE: A

Classes start at my College tomorrow, another academic year begins. A ritual I’ve continued for many years is to read a book about teaching and/or teachers just before I return to the classroom. The book I picked this year is Pat Conroy’s The Water is Wide. It’s the story of Conroy’s teaching experience on the desolate island of Yamacraw (Daufuskie Island, South Carolina). The African-American children of the island can scarcely read, barely speak, and are wretchedly poor. They can’t pronounce Conroy’s name so they call him “Conrack” which is the title of the 1974 movie version of the book starring Jon Voight. A second movie was made in 2006 starring Jeff Hephner and Alfre Woodard. Great teachers can inspire students and Pat Conroy was a great teacher. His story of how he organized a “field trip” for the students who had never left their island to “trick-or-treat” on Halloween at a South Carolina city is a joy to read. Of course, Conroy’s unconventional methods run afoul of the school’s Principal and the educational bureaucracy. As you read this story, you’ll see flashes of the novelist Conroy would develop into with novels like South of Broad, Beach Music, Prince of Tides, and The Lords of Discipline. GRADE: B+

Comedy is very subjective so I’m warning you right from the beginning of this review that you might not find FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS to your taste. The set-up is that two struggling musicians from New Zealand travel to New York City to pursue their dreams. But, on arriving in NYC, they mostly struggle. They struggle to find work, they struggle on dates, and they struggle to make sense of the world. It doesn’t help that they’re extremely nerdy and tend to break out into song at the most awkward moments. Some of their songs are hilarious, but many are, frankly, duds. I recommend FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS because I sense the actors and the people behind them are trying something different the way SEINFELD AND FRASIER tried something different. The Conchords are not in that class, but I admire their effort at this time of bland mediocrity filling the airwaves. GRADE: B

Louise DeSalvo’s fine book has the subtitle: A Writer’s Meditation on New Houses, Old Haunts, and Finding Home Again. DeSalvo meditates on her own moves and the moves of Virginia Woolf, Henry Miller, D. H. Lawrence, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Elizabeth Bishop, and a dozen other writers. Virginia Woolf’s work changes depending on the house she’s living in. When discussing Percy Bysshe Shelley’s doomed move to Viareggio, Italy DeSalvo says, “I knew that Shelley had drowned in a boating accident while trying to sail home during an unanticipated violent storm. I’d read how a friend snatched Shelley’s heart from the pyre and gave it to his wife, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, and how she had kept it with her until her own death.” There are nuggets of information like this on every page. The only flaw of On Moving is the lack of an index. GRADE: A-

This is a picture of a planet that is in a decaying orbit around its sun. In about a million years, the planet will plunge into the star. But until then, we have pictures like this to ponder thanks to NASA.

Ed Gorman wrote: “Chaze is known in pulp circles for his flawless novel Black Wings Has My Angel, which many people feel is the single best novel Gold Medal published during its heyday.” Ed Gorman is right. But Elliott Chaze also wrote some other fine novels like Wettermark. Cliff Wettermark is a struggling reporter in a small town in Mississippi. His health is failing and so is his marriage. Wettermark decides to turn his fortunes around by robbing a bank. The ending Chaze comes up with its noirish outlandishness is worthy of Quentin Tarantino. Wettermark is a book worth seeking out and losing yourself in.