Saturday, December 27, 2008

The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse

currently reading....


The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse by Robert Rankin.. it's on the funny side, and reminds me of the comic series Fables, Roger Rabbit, and that whole fractured Fairy Tale kind of thing.... so far it's fun and slightly silly...

Back of the book:
A boy named Jack sets out to seek his fortune in the big city, but when he finally gets there, it is Toy City, formerly known as Toy Town. There is a serial killer loose upon the streets. One by one, the old, rich nursery rhyme characters are being brutally slaughtered. The Toy City police are getting nowhere. Bill Winkie, Private Eye, has also mysteriously vanished, leaving only his sidekick, Eddie Bear, to take care of business. But Eddie is ready, and when he teams up with Jack, the two set out on an epic adventure, not to mention a lot of heavy drinking, bad behavior, fast car chases, gratuitous sex and violence, bizarre toy fetishism and all-round grossness of a type not normally associated with Toy Town.


Restless Kind Year One

Restless Kind Year One.

I just wanted to take a moment to look back at the year as I covered it in this blog. Now I did start off with my job search and my dream of spending a year traveling around the USA as the focus of this blog, but as things happened, I found myself employed and loosing track of the year adrift idea. The job hunt ended and I no longer needed to blog about it, and I think that part of the magic of spending a year adrift is that it could be spontaneous and it could just drift. If I did have that year to travel I think I would just go where ever I felt moved to travel….. Anyway, I am getting a little far field.

So I put the blog on hold for a while, and came back with the idea that I would use it as a place to post the reviews and what not that I had been writing. So I started down that road, reading books, seeing movies and writing about them. As the year wore on my time once again seemed to get sucked up by life stuff, and more importantly I wasn’t feeling it with my writing. That’s one thing I have to say, that when I am not feeling it, it’s not flowing and I am not going to put it out there…. So for the last couple of month, I haven’t been reviewing and I haven’t been posting as much as I would like to. I hope to get more out next year…..but I also have a couple of writing projects that I an intending to work on that may or may not take time away from blogging.

Thanks to anyone that’s been reading along… and, well, yeah, I guess that’s it.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Monday, December 22, 2008

2 Films for the Holidays: CQ & Hi Life


two films I am fond of... having just got my hands on the soundtrack for CQ I figured that I should post something about it....

It's a cool film about film making in the late 60s, set in France and dealing with a young film maker who falls into direction an Sci Fi/ Spy flick while trying to make his own personal film.
more at  http://www.experiencecq.com/

The other is Hi Life.... it's a fun holiday tale about abortion, gambling, lies and money owed.


Saturday, December 13, 2008

Detroit Derby Girls


This evening I am headed out to see PISTOLWHIPPERS VS. D-FUNK ALLSTARS, and just wanted to give them a little love... I missed the last bout because I was drinking in Stockholm, which is one of the only things that I dig more than seeing the Derby on a Sat evening.

Friday, December 5, 2008

The List...

It's late, I am half awake and feeling roughly inhuman... so it's time to do something to make me feel a little more human.... to wit The List... you know that list, the one that people in relationships talk about... the list of celebs that they are allowed to sleep with if they get the chance, and their partner can't complain. Well I am single, and pretty much plan to stay that way, and I think James Ellroy hit the nail on the head when he said only fools want to fuck celebs, and that makes us a fool nation... so I have a different sort of list, it's a list of women who have been in the public eye in some way shape or form that I would like to have a drink: Beer, coffee, tea, juice, milk ect.... with and have a conversation with... here is my current 10 (and these are not in any order...)

Christa Faust- Cool Crime Writer.... 
Paget Brewster- Actress... Birdgirl need I say more

You know her, you love her, simply smashing... Kate Winslet


Ellie Vee... from the defunct band The Charms... I have met her and spoke with her for a moment at the Charms merch table... but still coffee, beer, what ever..


Penelope Houston- former lead singer of the punk band The Avengers... I'd love to pick her brain about the west coast punk scene
in the 70s.
Callie Thorne- The Wire, Homicide: Life on the Streets and Ed's Next Move... actress... Love to hear some stories about those giggs.

Sarah Vowell- Author, fellow History Nerd and Rockfiend... I think it would either be fun or we would hate each other.
   
Catherine Mary Stewart- Actress... really I just want to ask about her films... Dudes, Night of the Comet and The Apple.

Jewel Sheppard- Writer and Actress... come on she was in Return of the Living Dead... do I need any more reason to talk to her? Ok, she's also a writer and had been in a bunch of 80s B Films

Neko Case- Singer and Alt Country goddess... really I just want to beg her to cover a couple of tunes, but I'd like to talk music and what not with her.


There you have it...

Sunday, November 30, 2008

11/2008 Playlist

Each month, since Feb of 2006, I start a playlist in my iTunes of the tunes that catch my ear that month. I started off writing a post to my Mog page with a short review or comments of each track, not only to keep a running diary for myself, but also to hopefully point others toward these tunes. In the last several months I have started to cross post this information on other sites where I keep blogs. (If you are reading this somewhere besides Mog, you can find all the old ones at www.mog.com/iren)  I want to apologies for any weird formatting stuff right here and now, I type this in MS word and then post it on these various message places, some of which have…w ell formatting issues….

 

Anyway for this month here is what caught my ear…

  

Midnight Angels

Darling Darling

In the Sign of the Octopus    

By The Hellacopters   

http://www.hellacopters.com

I started November in Sweden where I had been to see a couple of the final Hellacopters shows, so it should be no shock that three of the tracks from their last album made it onto this list. They all jumped out at me for some reason at the start of the month. I know that I have already written about In the Sign of the Octopus, so let just say all of these tracks are great and add the Hellacopters own words about each of these tunes (from their site)

 

MIDNIGHT ANGELS – originally performed by The Peepshows

From Örebro, Sweden, this band put out some rocking albums on Burning Heart Records before calling it quits some time ago. This song is off their last full length "Refuge For Degenerates", which is also their best. When I first heard it I was blown away – it felt as if I forgot to write the song myself. (Nicke)

www.burningheart.com/peepshows

www.myspace.com/thepeepshows

 

DARLING DARLING – originally performed by The Royal Cream

The core of The Royal Cream is The Sewergrooves' Kurt & Mattias Värmby (of F.O.F. & Dom Där & Hux Flux fame). The tune has been released in two versions, as a 7” single (2000) and as a different album version on "Death Is Not A Destination – It's A State Of Mind" (Big Bongo Records 2005). I've stood in on bass on occasion with these guys and consider them to be one of the top acts around town. (Kenny)

www.royalcream.tk

www.myspace.com/theroyalcream

 

IN THE SIGN OF THE OCTOPUS – originally performed by The Robots

Together with bands like The Turpentines, Kids Are Sick and "Demons", The Robots were one of Stockholms' younger bands kicking around as The Hellacopters got started. All these bands did shows together & provided a sense of inspiration & healthy competition in those early days. The song is to be found on their excellent 2004 album "The Robots Are Everywhere" (Idle Hands Records).

www.therobots.1go.dk

 

Outlaw Shit by Waylon And The 357's        

http://www.waylon.com/

            If you saw my post from earlier in the month you know that I have already called this as the song of the year, really from 10 years ago, but it still holds up today… anyway, this is what it is all about, a voice, passion, the truth, and reflection.  Waylon has for a couple of years been one of my all time favorite artists, right up there with his running buddy Johnny Cash. If you are one of those people who think country music isn’t for them, you really owe it to your self to check out some of Waylon’s 70s out put, and the excellent new release this tune came from is another great place to start.

 

Texas Rangers by Dave Alvin 

http://www.davealvin.net

            From the Blasters and side X, Dave Alvin has added his name onto the list of LA punkers who have gravitated towards county/roots music. This is from his recent album of public domain songs, and is a cowboy story song much like those found on Marty Robbins classic Gunfighter Ballads & Trail Songs

 

Get Out by The Incubators

http://www.myspace.com/thetiptoppers

            One of the things that I found out about when I was in Sweden was the newest issue of Carbon 14 Magazine (http://www.c14.com/) which has a comp CD of Nordic bands. There were tunes from a lot of bands on it, some, which I already knew of, The Hellacopters, The Robots, and the Nomads. I heard the song by the Incubators and for some reason the voice sounded really familiar. I knew that I had heard it somewhere before, and after a day or two it hit me… it’s the singer from the Tip Toppers, a great power pop/punk group from Norway. I confirmed my suspicions when I noted that the Tip Toppers Myspace page was the listed contact for the Incubators. Really what I like about the song is that it’s punchy, energy filled, and has that Judas Priest ‘Breaking the Law’ swagger.

 

Riverview Restaurant by The Clichés

I’m going to call this an honorable mention, because it’s not in my iTunes, but it’s a tune that has been rattling around in my skull since I heard it at the Scorgies reunion show I attended the last week before thanksgiving. It’s a simple punk tune, a good old fashion rock song with a rough charm to it.

  

Thoughts, comments, spare change.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Recent Reads



Here are two books that I have finished recently and enjoyed... both are recommended as fun, fast and hard boiled crime novels. 

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Baby Shark by Robert Fate


Texas 1952, Pool Hall, Murder, Rape, Bikers are to blame. You can almost hear the Hank Williams on the Juke; you can feel the dusty wind and smell the stale beer and sweat. Baby Shark is the story of a girl left to die, a girl with everything taken from her, and looking for revenge. The stripped down story telling, the simple driving theme, return from trauma, taking vengeance, the long road back, it’s all in this sharp, quick, engrossing story.

In the hands of Fate (groan here pun haters) this material, which let’s face it isn’t exactly original, is crafted into something between the psychological quest for self, and the action adventure Rape Revenge stories of the 1970s and 80s. It drags a little in the middle and the end feels a little rushed. For a debut novel it’s solid and I look forward to reading the next entry.

Monday, November 3, 2008

How much would you bet on the flip of a card?


Lucky at Cards

Lawrence Block

 A Hard Case Crime Novel

             Lucky at Cards is the 3rd Hard Case Crime Book by Block that I have read so far, and like the others (A Diet Of Treacle and Grifter's Game) this book was a fast paced read that follows the adventures of people on the margin of what I like to call the G.I. life, which is to say a ‘normal’ life. In this case the main man on the margin is Bill Maynard, a former magician and current card mechanic. He has just been caught cheating in Chicago and finds himself in a new and unmanned town, where he is invited to a card game and falls in with a couple of guys from the upper middle/ lower upper class set. They take a liking to Bill and help him set up with a straight job, a girl, and the promise of that G.I. life….. only they don’t know about his grifter past, and his lack of comfort with the straight world.

             I enjoyed the book, and am looking forward to the other Lawrence Block Hard Case entry, The Girl With The Long Green Heart (currently sitting on my nightstand)… and I wonder, like the other three will it have the same theme. Over and over though Lucky at cards I was reminded of Block’s other books, and the thread that flows though all of them seems to be exploring the lives of people who are on the margins of the society, who all seem to know that they are on those margins, and all seem to know that they don’t really fit in either world…. And it’s freedom that seems to drive the protagonists of his books, and finding that freedom in many places, drugs, on the road, having lots and lots of money… and then there is the question of the price of that freedom… the rootlessness, the acts committed to get that money.. and of course the toll that drugs take.

             Highly recommended. 

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Time won't let me.... ahhh time won't let me...

Ok, for anyone reading I haven't been posting all that much as of late for time reasons. I really have been pressed for time to watch DVDs, Read books, or listen to music, so I haven't had time to write reviews of any of the above either... Family stuff has been going on, but I hope to have it all under control in the next two weeks... and then it's off to Sweden and Finland.. and then back, and trying to get everything back to quasi normal...

Friday, October 10, 2008

A DIET OF TREACLE

I read this, I enjoyed it, liked the beatnik speak and the take on drugs and what drugs do to a person. Sorry way to tired to write a proper review right now, but I recommend people check this out... It's a little light on the crime, but the set up is pretty interesting. I would also say that the take on the drug culture is of note when you look back at what the drug culture has done to the USA in the last 40 years.

Friday, October 3, 2008

DANCING WITH JOEY RAMONE





I wanna be your Joey Ramone by Stephanie Kuehnert


DANCING WITH JOEY RAMONE
He walked into the party looking just like he had in the past
He came up to me and he didn’t even have to ask
I tried to say something he said “Girl shut your mouth,
They’re playing Papa Was A Rolling Stone”
Last night I was dancing with Joey Ramone

-Amy Rigby


I wanna be your Joey Ramone is the story of a young woman, Emily Black, who’s mother has fled her and her father to ‘Follow the music’ and Em’s quest to find her mother. The music in this instance is Punk Rock and all of its ascendants, stages and variations. As she grows Em keeps in mind that it’s the music that her mother set out to seek, and so Em designs to create the music and lead her mother home. All of this is told in stages, paralleling the lives of Em and her mother, punkspotting the points and places that punk flared up in America in the 80’s, 90’s and into the present decade.

The story is also the tale of what I know that many young women growing up in the 80’s and 90’s faced in small town America, as ‘old fashion’ values (read the social norms of the 40’s, 50’s and early 60’s) battled with the first generation of women growing up in a post feminist world. Honestly this is the part of the book that rings the most true, as I have known and even dated several women who grew up in small town Wisconsin in this era, and they all had stories that mirrored the central trauma that both Emily and her mother experience though the course of this book. The theme of growing up in a post 77 punk world, lost parents, changing social norms, social dislocation and expectations and the post feminist landscape in America seems to be a more and more common theme in film and lit in the last decade, with Gypsy 67, Girl, Juno, Hairstyles of the Damned, Blankets, The Waiting Place and now I wanna be your Joey Ramone just being some examples of what Generation X is looking back on as it’s youth and development.

The one complaint I have about this book is that there wasn’t enough about the punk rock that Em’s mother set’s out to find. Sure a few band names are dropped and a few scene’s pointed to, but there is never a real look at the reason why punk, the music, energy or connection that is created between people and that music is such a powerful draw. We are past the point where punk is thought of a simply violent anti-social behavior in America, and it’s time to only talk about why it’s still here but provide young people with a solid roadmap to follow the music, and this book had the perfect place to really start presenting that map to especially young women, and I just don’t feel like it did.

Over all this was a fine book, and I hope that not only young people embrace it, but that older ones who lived though the times depicted do as well.


Tuesday, September 30, 2008

9/2008 Playlist

Each month, since Feb of 2006, I start a playlist in my iTunes of the tunes that catch my ear that month. I started off writing a post to my Mog page with a short review or comments of each track, not only to keep a running diary for myself, but also to hopefully point others toward these tunes. In the last several months I have started to cross post this information on other sites where I keep blogs. (If you are reading this somewhere besides Mog, you can find all the old ones at www.mog.com/iren)  I want to apologies for any weird formatting stuff right here and now, I type this in MS word and then post it on these various message places, some of which have…w ell formatting issues….

Anyway for this month here is what caught my ear…

 

Kill The Poor by Dead Kennedys

No links, no nonsense… just pure impact… this one is for you The US government, and the legacy of the last two presidents…  700 Billion Dollars.. it’s almost like Dr. Evil is on the horn, or maybe Dr. Strangelove, maybe I should have busted out the R.E.M. End of the World as well this month… also see Holiday in Cambodia.

 

Academy Fight Song by Mission Of Burma

www.missionofburma.com

I have to admit that I haven’t ever been as big a fan of the so called Post-punk sound as others, but there is something about this tune, it’s got a bit of ringing, a bit of a shine, and of course the Military marching feel to it.

She Goes Out With Everybody by The Spongetones  

http://www.myspace.com/spongetones

Speaking of ringing chimy stuff, you can’t get much better than the power pop shimmy of this tune. It’s just a great rousing pop blast that’s worth repeating over and over… ok not over and over, but enough times to make one of my monthly play lists. This tune is from the Children of Nuggets box set, which covers the 80s for the most part

Ominous Presence (Live) by New Math

www.myspace.com/newmath1979     

and as long and we are talking about stuff I dig from the 80’s here is a great live tune by my secret forgotten band New Math. This mostly made the list because New Math bass player Gary Trainer called to tell me they were going to do a reunion gig in November, and wanted to let me know that my brother Stefan and I needed to be there… and we are going to try and make it out there… more info for any of you up state New Yorkers at http://scorgies.blogspot.com/

South of Hideous by Forbidden Dimension

http://www.myspace.com/forbiddendimension  

It’s that Halloween time of year and so of course there is a FD tune lodged in my brain and this time around it’s this one… all that distortion, all that stun and fuzz, the strut of it all… love it.


Thoughts, comments, spare change.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Suicide Squeeze by Victor Gischler


Suicide Squeeze by Victor Gischler

I think it's official, Victor Gischler has entered the pantheon of writes whom I have to check out everything by. Suicide Squeeze is the second of his books that I have consumed, and consumed is the right term, and I am looking forward to the next one. The book follows a cast of noir caricatures   as they all seek the almighty yankee dollar and the so called American dream. In the case of Conner Samson, and I think he was created before The Venture Bros. Brock Samson, it's the money that he's after.... and why not he seems to loose over and over in life, failing out of college, loosing his baseball scholarship, and becoming one of those down on his luck bottom feeders who populate this type of hard boilded noir. He has a classic car, he owes money to bookies, and he's unemployed. Enter a caper involving a Joe DiMaggio baseball card, signed not only by Joe, but his one time wife, Marilyn Monroe, 
and film director Billy Wilder. It's a one of a kind, and a crazy collector from Japan wants it.. The story flows from that point, as our hero and his cast all run though the maze of plot, and story that riffs on geek culture, action films, of course the pulp worlds that inspire these kinds of story. The action is fast and you can almost feel the velocity of the words and the story, and it never slows or gets to bogged down on any kind of faux dept. Have no illusions, this is simply a fun romp that will have you laughing, smiling and grinning knowingly, and will leave you with a buzz not unlike that of a overly sugary snack.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Junk in '57


The Pusher by Ed McBain

A Novel of the 87th Precinct

 

       This was the third of the 87th Precinct books, and it’s maybe the most out of date. It follows the investigation of the death of a junkie. It’s slight, it’s on the short side and it’s maybe the best example of the world that was. The topic of Narcotics, drugs, Pushing, what people do to get their junk and the effects of the Big H, is so 1950s, really one of the reasons that I am planning to read all of the books in order is that I was to see how the changing world of crime is covered in the form of the novel. I look forward to seeing the covering of Drugs in the ‘60s book and the 80s books.  This was also the last of the initial three books that were to be published as the trial run for the series, and it stands up well as one of the early setting the scene books in the series. Up next in the series…. The Con Man. 

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Games, Games, Games

Grifter’s Game by Lawrence Block

A Hard Case Crime 

            It’s all a con, at least that’s what David Mamet seems to always be on about… and that’s the story of this fast paced page turner from the golden age of pulp… or maybe the end of the golden age of pulp. It’s your basic story about boy is playing the wrong side of the track and meets a girl, who appears to be everything that he wants out of life… and he seems to be everything she wants… only she’d married and her husband has to go bye-bye so they can make off with his money. That’s the basic set up, and it’s a well worn Noir path… but what really set’s this book apart is the end, it’s not the ending that you would expect from this kind of story, maybe it’s that it was from ’61, and it was reflecting the end of the 50’s era, and the entrance into a new era, maybe it’s that Block could see where things were going and was on the cutting edge of where not only crime but social decay was starting.

 

            I should give a few words about Block here. I haven’t read any of this stuff for years, but he has an energy, a style and the occasional turn of a phrase that has made him one of the modern grand masters of the crime novel. He has that page turning energy, and the first half of this book flew by like a great Hi Energy Garage Punk tune.  There is also a slower side to his writing, and in several places he talks about the hypnotic effects of things, the pulse of the waves, the blur of a motion picture, and in some ways his writing has that effect, it draws the reader in and holds them long enough to get what it needs from them, it’s like the Grifter’s Game, it takes you along on this journey and keeps you coming back for more…. And soon enough I will be back, as I have two more of his Hard Case Crime entries sitting on my bedside table.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

The Return of Max and Angela

Slide By Kenn Bruen and Jason Starr

This was one of the few books that I have read where you can feel the velocity of the story while reading. It’s fast, it’s fun, and it’s even funny. You have the remaining cast of Bust racing towards meeting once again; the book is filled with unhinged, deluded criminal types getting caught up in their own stupidity and failing to achieve. Not only is the book a fun read, it was obviously a fun book to write… in that it’s very over the top, almost to the point of parody, but never getting too ridiculous… unless you want to think that an assault on one of the authors of the book happening in the book as an act that’s over the line. I do have The Max, which is the third book in the Max and Angela series on my bedside table, and plan to read it soon.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

The Mouse in the Mountain


The Mouse in the Mountain
I heard about Norbert Davis on the In for Questioning Podcast (http://inforquestioning.blogspot.com/), and was looking for the book, Sally’s in the Alley, which was recommended by the Podcast (I think it was the Christa Faust episode)… and this was the only book by Davis in the Melcat system (which is the inter library loan system here in Michigan).. so it’s a fast- short- pulpy read. The story takes place in a mountain town in Mexico, where a bus of tourists have arrived, all looking for something different. Quickly there is a couple of murders, and Detective Doan and his dog Carstairs are in the middle of it. Over all there isn’t much to the story, aside from some quick deduction, some snappy dialog and some humor. Most of it’s kinda on the cheesy side, but since the book was written in the early ‘40’s not all of it had become a cliché yet. I enjoyed reading the book, and it moved along nicely. I don’t know that I am going to go all out to find a copy of Sally’s in the Alley, but if I were to stumble across one, I’d give it a read.

Monday, September 1, 2008

Night Walker by Donald Hamilton

Night Walker by Donald Hamilton

A Hard Case Crime Novel

Making my way thought the Hard Case Crime entries so far has had one big lesson for me, and that is that I understand so much more clearly the underlying message of these stories, and their impetus, and that’s the level of distrust of others that really came to the fore in the post WWII era. Now I am sure that it was there before, what with the history of swindlers, shysters, thieves, and politicians who were on the con, but it feels to me like the major social fall out of the war was that you really didn’t know who to trust.

 The story is pretty simple, a Navy Reserve Lieutenant is on his way to report for duty, he’s not looking forward to his having been called back, mostly because he is suffering from Post traumatic Stress Disorder, and when he is picked up hitch hiking to his duty station and kidnapped, he finds himself with what might be an out. He awakes to find himself weakened and playing a role in the plans of a groups of Reds who are under the watch of the feds. Now, this isn’t always the clearest, but that works, as our Lieutenant is in and out of it due to his injuries, and it takes him and the reader a while to figure out what has happened, who he can trust and how to get out of the situation.

The things that I liked most in this book were the little things, the fact that so many people had issues with the nick names they were given, as if they were saying to each other, don’t distill me to just this one little thing, this name that paints me as a child, a hair color, or a profession. I also enjoyed the fact that the book took place in a limited space, just like our hero, was trapped in his head, and in his body that wasn’t always respond ding the way he would have wanted.

 Yes he book isn’t big on action, and it’s kind of a twisted puzzle of a story, but it never drags, and it’s a quick enough read. I am not really sure how this fits into the Hard Case Crime world, but hey they must have had a reason to republish it. I have to admit that I have never read any of Hamilton’s other books, he is most famous for writing the Matt Helm spy novels in the 60’s, and I do have a couple of his Westerns lurking around.

 Over all this was a solid (and I need to find a new word to describe an acceptable, or slightly more than acceptable book) entry in the Hard Case Line.

Where's my Wolves

Sunday, August 31, 2008

8/2008 Playlist

Each month, since Feb of 2006, I start a playlist in my iTunes of the tunes that catch my ear that month. I started off writing a post to my Mog page with a short review or comments of each track, not only to keep a running diary for myself, but also to hopefully point others toward these tunes. In the last several months I have started to cross post this information on other sites where I keep blogs. (If you are reading this somewhere besides Mog, you can find all the old ones at www.mog.com/iren)  I want to apologies for any weird formatting stuff right here and now, I type this in MS word and then post it on these various message places, some of which have…w ell formatting issues….

Anyway for this month here is what caught my ear… 

Black Tears by Miss Derringer

 http://www.myspace.com/missderringer  

http://www.missderringer.com/splash.html

 

I think that what I really like about this song is that it have more than just a hint of the Shangri-la’s in the vocals. It’s got that bit of a march, and some very soulful female vocals.

 

Wolves and Werewolves by The Pack A.D.

http://www.thepackafterdeath.com/

 I haven’t really been a big fan of the modern electric indierock blues sound, the white strips, and their ilk mostly leave me bored… but for some reason this version of that sound works better for me, it’s kinda in that Black Keys territory sound wise, only with female vocals. I think this tune works for me because of it’s changing tempo and mood though out the song. It also has a bit of a wail to it, and it, it, it… just feels like watching the timber line from the porch of the cabin at sunset on an August night.

 Agent Song by Miss Monster Club

www.missmonsterclub.com

http://www.myspace.com/missmonsterclub  

With Thee Ultra Bimboos and The Patsy Walkers history at this point, Miss Monster Club might well be the last remaining of the all women garage bands from Finland. Musically this is that echoy, chanted garage rock with an infusion of surf and hot rod sound. It’s got the breathy vocals, and that haunting feel of a damaged engine rolling down the highway.

Thoughts, comments, spare change.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Home Is The Sailor by Day Keene

A Hard Case Crime

In my continuing quest to read though the Hard Case Crime series, I have found another winning entry. Day Keene’s Home is the Sailor is a quick Hard Bolied blow of a book. It’s the story of a sailor who has not business getting off the boat, as it’s nothing but trouble for him. He drinks to much, he falls for the wrong dame, and gets himself in trouble. I should take umbrage at the disparaging of my heritage in the fact that he is called Swede and is think, then again he is from Dumbasota, so let me just assure you that all the dumb Swedes did end up the land of gods frozen people… us Michigan Swedes are a cut above, kinda like those living 08… but anyway, what I like about the book is it’s pure unapologetic dumb muscle guy getting past a head full of booze, lust and good old fashion dumbness and figuring out how he’s being set up and how he has to get out from under… more than anything this book reminded me of the joy of reading Vikki Hendricks Miami Purity recently (see review), they had similar plots, and the same quick prose…. Speaking of prose there were two great passages in this book:

“The magic madness of the cliff was gone. Now all there was between us was flesh.”

and

“Love. A Will-o’-the-wisp. St. Elmo’s fire. A biological deep rooted urge of the male to propagate his kind. A packet of cigarettes. A Hershey Bar. A Ten-thousand dollar mink coat. Five Dollars.”

And this gem of wisdom:

“I had to stop spending my life like it was money”

I also have to say that this was one of my Fave Hard Case Crime covers….