Best books of 2014

As December comes each year it seems that every publication and website publishes their end of year best of collections. Books, music, television, we all have opinions and as some of us (myself included) are natural list makers the end of the year prompts this flood. 

So now the most important lists, those from yours truly will begin to be published. Today I will be writing about my favorite and or the best books I have read this year. It should be noted that this list will encompass not just books from this year. To be eligible for this list the book must only be one I have read this year, so if an older book appears do not be surprised. 

Number TEN: Legacy of Ashes and Enemies both by Tim Weiner. The Pulitzer Prize winning journalist has published in the post 9/11 era these histories of the CIA and the FBI. The author gives enough 
information in both books for the reader to be more afraid of the mistakes made by our agencies than the bad guys gunning for us. Still heroes do emerge in the side of justice. Two fantastic books. 

Number NINE:  Some Luck by Jane Smiley. The first of a proposed trilogy Smiley introduces us to an Iowa farm family in 1920. With each chapter encompassing a single year this first book we move from 1920 to the early fifties. All the books in the series are written and Smiley has promised a quick release of the series. This is great 
news.

Number EIGHT:  An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris. Harris adds to his list of impressive books (Fatherland, Enigma, Pompeii) with this fictionalized history of The Dreyfus Affair. Historical fiction is a hard project, Harris does it better than most. Best of all for someone like me with little knowledge of this event I learned a great deal. An excellent read


Intermission # 1: Guilty pleasure of the year goes to The Century Trilogy by Ken Follett. I had, on purpose, waited until all three of these books were published to begin and then this fall the folks at Amazon helped out a great deal by, at various times, offering all three of these books at bargain prices on the Kindle. Over the years I have read at least ten or more of his books. As I have become a more serious reader the flaws in his writing have become more apparent. That said this collection, I have only read the first tow thus far, does have a much to speak well of.  Follett writes characters one cannot help be engaged with and with these doorstop books has inevitably pleased his wide audience. 


Number SEVEN:  Three books by Tom Drury. Drury writes short 







books, too rarely, but they are great works. In these books with interconnected characters not much happens. What the reader is given is some strong, wry, writing of the type you will not forget. In order The End of Vandalism, Hunts in Dreams, and this years entry, Pacific. Truly this is a writer to become familiar with. 


Number SIX:  Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. With The Border Trilogy being in my All Time Favorites list this year I 
delved deeper into McCarthy's collection and enjoyed this classic. McCarthy writes in the same sparse way he always does with a thesaurus at his side. This might be his most powerful book as he examines the nature of true evil versus the evil begat by opportunity and or events. 


Intermission # 2:  This summer my daughter and I read a few books together over her vacation from school. Of those We Were Liars, a 
Y.A. Book by E. Lockhart was the best. Family drama, young love, wealth and privilege, with a story that comes with a twist that, I for one, never anticipated. An excellent story. 

Recollection: The Best of Concrete Blonde

A few folks reading this might remember a band by that name and if not they might more easily recall the one single they were successful with on the pop charts, namely a song called Joey in the early nineties.

There was much more to Concrete Blonde than that however. If you were around in the late eighties in Maine and were a rock fan it seems likely you listened at times to WBLM. This radio station which I still admit to tuning in on my trips to southern Maine, I could listen online anytime I want but forget to, dominated a segment of the market at that time.

WBLM loved Concrete Blonde. Many of the songs that you will find on this Best of Collection were songs we all heard on WBLM long before this band ever broke nationally. From True, Still in Hollywood, Dance Along the Edge, God is A Bullet, Tomorrow Wendy, to Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man this band was making great, original, music all through the late eighties.

For those who are going down this memory lane with me I wonder how many remember how often the band played at Raoul's Roadside Attraction on Forest Avenue. I remember seeing them a couple of times and I think that I missed them a few times. This was a band, loved and promoted by a radio station in a small market that created a hotspot of fans for them long before and long after their national success.

Hearing Joey on the satellite today made all these memories come flooding back and I listened to this collection on Spotify. One could find much worse way to spend an hour than by spending this hour down memory lane.

Parenthood Wrap Up and Modern Family's Visit From the Godfather

This was a busy week in television with the return of American Idol and the beginning of the new Kevin Bacon series The Following on Fox. I have already written about The Following and while we watched Idol it is kind of a big yawn.

Not boring this week were a couple of our regular favorites. Parenthood, the much loved but low rated NBC series, ended it's season with a show that wrapped all of the bows of the season up in a nice package. If you were looking for there to be any loose strings you did not find many. The Ron Howard produced show is consistently one of the best shows on the air, people joke about crying each week, but folks only cry when a scene hits home.

NBC finished the series off quickly as they want to make room for their rebooted show SMASH, which coincidentally is another cult favorite that the network would like to see build a broader base. As to Parenthood the worry each spring is NBC will pull the plug but it seems unlikely that they will throw such a well regarded show over the side. If that decision is made certainly it's viewers will have to be happy with the season end.

Over on ABC Wednesday night Modern Family had a smart episode. The plot line was typical sitcom stuff but what made this show standout was the ending sequence which out of the blue put together a spin on the culminating scene in the Godfather when the baby is being baptized and at the same time a wide variety of hits is going down all over Gangster world, even with the " Do you renounce Satan" line. The short clip at the end of the series even had Phil and his son closing the door to the den in Claire's face telling her " not to ask him about his business." This is pretty clever stuff and while silly this is culturally aware silly as opposed to the foolishness that typically goes on HIMYM that I wrote about last week.

Both of these shows are standouts this week.

Our Idiot Brother

I watched this 2011 Comedy movie a week or so ago. The reviews for the movie were middling but with Paul Rudd as the star I thought it was worth checking out.

Rudd stars as Ned Rochin. Ned is an organic farmer who has a heart of gold. As my wife would say he is all " peace, love, and happiness." On top of that he is about as naive as he can be. One day when working at an organic fair selling some of his vegetables a local police officer stops by and tells him of his problems. He is having a bad day and needs a pick me up. His hints do not work and Ned certainly does not offer to give him anything to help, the officer departs with his head hanging, and Ned who trusts everyone calls him back and gives him some rhubarb with a bag of pot. The officer " insists" on paying for it and then punishes Ned's big heart by citing him for selling him the pot.

Wherever Ned goes people love him and prison is no different. He is released early as a result of his good behavior but when he comes home he finds his girlfriend has taken up with another man. This in itself is bad but for Ned the real tragedy is that his now ex girlfriend will not let Ned have his dog, claiming that the dog is hers. Without Willie Nelson ( his dogs name) Ned is bereft.

With no place to go Ned comes home to his family. His Mom and three sisters all love him but all admit to thinking that Ned is a little bit odd. Each of his sisters has their own life situation they are dealing with. Liz, played by Emily Mortimer is married and has a seven year old boy. They are the stereotypical new age parents not allowing the boy to do anything dangerous or, frankly, fun. Elizabeth Banks plays Miranda, an uptight journalist trying to rise to the top and Zooey Deschanel as Natalie his lesbian sister.

Ned moves from sister to sister, usually staying long enough to cause trouble and havoc in the home without meaning to. Ned because of his absolute lack of guile and being so naive often gets himself in trouble by saying too much. Over the course of the movie Ned is always sweet and nice but people do not appreciate his good intent. more than anything however he just wants his dog back.

By the end of the movie the jury is still out on if Ned helped or hurt his sisters with his inadvertent interference in their lives but what is not in doubt is that he is a sweet person that the world might need more of.

Finally reunited with Willie Nelson at the end of the movie it appears things might be looking up with a little help from none other than Dolly Parton

My Head Is An Animal by Of Monsters and Men

With Mumford and Sons breaking the way we are now seeing a great influx of bands with the Mumford sound. For those of us who like this sort of music this is a very good thing. One of the best bands to surface in the last year is Of Monsters and Men.

This band features the same type of backbeat, orchestration and such but also features a female singer which adds a different dimension. Their success has been significant with a single that went large in the the Top 40, and as to alternative radio, college radio, and even AOR radion they have had even greater success with many of their songs from the album being featured.

The first song on the album is called Dirty Paws and it is one of the more original things you will hear. " And once there was an animal, it had a son that mowed the lawn, the son was on Ok guy, they had a pet dragonfly." That, if nothing else, is one of the more original lyrics you will hear. And it works.

Lionheart and Mountain Song are the next two tracks on the album. The latter has been quite successful but for me the former is the better song. Mountain Song is very catchy though, you have to tap your foot, and the call and response between the female singer and the band is certainly effective.

This band with both female and male co singers, coming from Iceland, is certainly one of the great new sounds I have heard recently. Their first single Little Talks was an international hit and first gained them all the notice that has followed. With an enormously catchy beat, with a driving backing track and then we hear the call and response singing of both the singers the song is about as catchy a single as you will hear these days. Even a little big band sound behind the normal rock guitars.

I liked this album very much. I do not know what the shelf life is. With this sound now moving into the overexposed zone one has to wonder how long it will last. The Lumineers are fun, for example, but one has to assume that when the music business moves onto the next new sound that only a few will survive. This band might not be one of those that do. For now though this is a very good album.

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

I should have known better. I love books and any book that talks about how books affect us all or speaks to a love of books gets my attention. When this book came out last fall I saw many write-ups about it and placed it on my reserve list at the library. After about six weeks I received an email telling me that it was ready for me and so I added it to my daily reading list.

In the book the author Will Schwalbe tells us of what happened when his 72 year old mother Mary Ann is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Most of us know that this is one of the most dreaded diagnosis with most folks living less than a year after diagnosis. For the author's Mom this is expected as well. Mary Ann Schwalbe has been an active women. At various times in her life involved in teaching, academic administration, college admissions, and then in her last career she became involved in several different groups and organizations helping refugees and children all over the world. She had traveled several times to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other dangerous places. In fact it was on a trip to Pakistan that she first felt ill. Upon return to the states she was surprised to find it was not one of the normal bugs she picked up on her travels but advanced pancreatic cancer. As with most folks with this cancer it had spread to her liver before she even knew she had it.

Will's Mother is fortunate in that she has plenty of financial resources as do her children and she receives the best care to be had. Often taking her to chemothearapy himself Will and his Mother talk often about books. In fact he states that they have always talked about books, that " What are you reading" is one of the most common questions they have asked each other for years. So, while waiting for appointments, or while the slow process of chemotherapy takes place Will and his Mom talk about books and choose books to read together and then talk about.

I read a review of the book in The New York Times that was, in my opinion, quite harsh. The author wrote that the book was a bit dull, saccharine at times, and that Schwalbe was too often loyal to his Mother's memory rather than telling us more interesting details. I think that surely this book is not for everyone, I am not sure that I would even recommend it myself, but this book was a love letter from a son to his Mother. To expect him to show us the dirt on his deceased Mom is a silly expectation and were he to do so this would be an entirely different kind of book.

The chapters in the book all are titled after a book that Will and his Mom are reading and their discussions of them. Often these passages in the books can be found to have some meaning to what is going on in their lives currently or to have been meaningful at important times earlier.

Mary Ann is a net-worker, most likely was one long before it became a desired attribute. She is, as the author notes, her families travel agent and for some her style of parenting might even be considered a bit intrusive. One suspects that at various times even her children might have thought so.

It reminds me a bit of an Aunt I have that some people think is nosy and overbearing. I just never see it and agree with it, does she have flaws, of course, but she also has a huge heart that wants to know what is going on in your life, that appreciates caring and consideration, and is generous with her feelings. Sometimes I think we all want people to be that way for us, but only when we want them to be. Few people are there just when we want them, often they are there when we need them not when we want them. They are a treasure and one suspects that with maturity all of Mrs. Schwalbe's children realize how lucky they are to have this Mother.

Earlier I said I should have known better. Why? Well my Mother died two years ago this spring. She was elderly, in her eighties, and it was not a shock as she had been failing. Still it has been a heartache. My Mom and I talked often on the phone and while she was not as outgoing as the authors Mom she was a very caring person who spent her whole life putting others first. Last evening as I was near the end of the book I put it down, telling myself I did not want to read the conclusion, with the inevitable death, right before bed.

This morning when I picked up the book for the last forty pages I was sure that in the light of day it would be sad but I would not get upset. As this woman who I had come to know however had more and more pain that she finally admitted to, like my own Mother questions about how she felt were often met with " just uncomfortable" this while biting her lip, my heart started to get heavy. When she finally dies it is peaceful and her family is with her. It is a death we should all desire, no trauma, no drama, but still in the end this vibrant person is gone. It was too much for me, over the last ten pages my tears were running down my face slowly. A release of pain from my own Mother's death was suddenly very close to the surface. In the epilogue the author talks of still, now two years later, being about to call his Mother to talk about something or a book he is reading and that was what sealed the deal. After putting the book down I did not weep, I sobbed. If you knew how many times I have told my wife that I almost called Mom today then you would understand.

So you see it is hard for me to judge this book in an objective way. Is it a great book? I do not know. Does it have a limited audience? I expect so. Still for me it was a blessing, another way to think about the inevitable death we all face and perhaps a way to release some of the ever-present but mostly ignored pain of my own Mother's death and for that alone I am grateful.

Not many things affect me this much, in that I guess the author did something right.

The Following

Wow! That is the first thing that comes to mind if someone asks me what I thought of The Following. I have seen the headlines of the reviews since the show premiered Monday but as it was patiently waiting for me on my DVR I stayed away from them. I wanted to judge for myself.

I have to say that I was conflicted about this show before I even watched it. I normally do not like dark shows and clearly this show is about some of the darkest material one can find. Combine that with the recent news stories of killing and death and I had legitimate questions if watching a show like this was feeding into the rivers of violence that permeate our culture.

Still I like Kevin Bacon and try to write about new things so I felt I would watch an episode, in the light of day, no bedtime viewing of this show for me.

The show comes as advertised. Before the first commercial break, in the opening scene we are treated to a murder scene that is as gory as anything I have ever seen on network television. Over the course of the next hour we see a woman who has painted Edger Allen Poe references on her skin and then commit suicide in a very public way, we see people being protected by police guard still come to harm and most of all we see the psychotic web that a serial killer has used to attract untold groupies to his cause.

We all have heard about women who befriend men in prison, something about them attracts a certain kind of woman. After watching a show like this one has to be concerned about this sort of thing. Kevin Bacon plays Ryan Hardy an FBI agent who captured the serial killer years ago after he killed many young women in a terrible fashion. When the killer Dr. Joe Carroll, a professor of literature with a Poe fetish escapes from prison Hardy is called out of retirement to work the case, albeit reluctantly.

This is pretty standard fare, how many times did Jack Bauer get called back in in 24, but it is the rest of the storyline that sets this show apart. Somehow, and we learn how, this man even behind bars has been able to program different people, online groupies, prison guards, and others to help him not just to escape but in an elaborate plan to finish his life's work. At the end of this first episode you see how far he will go to do so and once done and he is back in prison we see that as Carroll tells Hardy that was just the beginning, the full sequel is about to begin.

I do not know if I want to watch this show, in fact I am quite certain I do not. I do not know if I want a weekly dose of something this dark to enter my mind and soul. Still for what it is, this show is as well done as anything you will find. Suspenseful, literate, challenging, this show is all those things. I am just not sure if that makes up for the over the top gore and the scary place one has to enter each week to enjoy it. I will watch next week's episode, this I am sure of, but I certainly have no expectation of watching this show over the course of the full season. It is just too good at what it does, too dark for me.

Long Live A$AP by A$AP

I rarely listen to and even less often review rap music but today am making an exception. In the last couple of weeks I have heard quite a bit about this rapper. Rolling Stone seems especially to have been very excited about his talent.

I must confess that, to me, for the most part much of this music sounds the same and I am certainly not a fan of the bitches and ho's attitude of much of it. That said I do recognize that some of these fellows have a talent at it. I think Eminem is talented, I think Wiz Khalifa is good at what he does even if I do not like it. I also think it is important to listen to new things, I am constantly trying to tell my kids that they need to expose themselves to all kinds of music, even if it is just listening to the non radio cuts on an album they like. Of course rarely do kids even by the album these days, I keep having to tell myself the world is changing.

On his first album A$AP certainly does seem good at what he does. I cannot pretend to tell you any message or theme. I do not understand some of what they say, and the constant UHH is a bit much but the first single called nicely F@*kin Bitches is a winner. I cannot help but feel like I am writing that sarcastically but it actually is a neat song as far as beats and rhymes, and a reference to The Beatles never hurts. I listened to the clean version so I am sure that made it a bit more acceptable for me.

Wild for the Night on which some of his backup track is provided by the very hot Skrillex ( another fellow who is a bit beyond my taste) seems to me sure to be a winner. How can I tell, I try to see if I can picture this being played at ten in my middle son's room. On 1train the back track is even better with a slower beat, joined by Kendrick Lamar for a verse this song is also strong. If I'm not the hottest then hell must have froze over is a pretty good line, and on this song A$AP reminds me of Kanye West. Again not sure if that is a compliment or not but I think in this case it is.

My favorite song on the album is surely Phoenix. Starting with a slow beat, and references to God, Mary J Blige, Kurt Cobain, Jesus Christ, A$AP has something to say on this song. Talking about judgement and scrutinizing making us all less than we could be there actually is a message here even I can understand.

So tonight I get to ask my middle son if he has listened to this new rapper yet, if he has I guarantee you it is only to the single. It is good to be ahead of the curve, something my wife says I am very good at. Even if you have to listen to a fellow with a dollar sign in his name.

Check it out, I assure you your kids will be listening to it.

Legit

Last Thursday evening FX debuted their newest series, a half hour comedy series created and starring comedian Jim Jefferies called Legit. The title of the series comes from the main character Jim's desire to go legit. To be a good person. Jim's idea of being Legit is being a caring person who cares about other people.

The problem is that despite his desire to do so Jim is not a kind, caring person. Jim is Australian and is a comedian and his humor matches his personality, how many comedians have you heard about that are nice, genuine people.

I watched this show with my oldest son, a decision I questioned about ten minutes in. The show is unbelievably crude, occasionally disgusting, and at the same time succeeds in it's goal of being sweet and funny. It is a rare combination. Jefferies walks a fine line with his comedy. At the first commercial break, ten minutes in, my son says to me " this is stupid" and we almost pressed delete on the Tivo but we stuck with it to see if it improved.

In the series Jim's best friend is Steve. Steve has a quadriplegic younger brother named Billy. Billy, played by DJ Qualls, is a sarcastic, sometimes angry man. Steve convinces Jim to come visit his brother though Jim calling it depressing would rather not. Upon seeing Jim Billy asks to speak to him alone and tells him that he, as would be expected is a virgin, and wants to not be.

What is funny is that while Jim tells Billy he will take him to Vegas to get laid he tells Billy's parents, his friend Steve, anyone who will listen really. I do not want to give all the humor away but one line made me laugh out loud. As the fellows are driving to Vegas Steve consents to let Jim give Billy some alcohol and pot. As I said there is little good in this show in regards to influence on our young people. So picture this, the quadriplegic is in the back seat, having been smoking pot, and he says" I can't feel my legs" which if one considers he can never feel his legs is pretty darn funny. Like much of the humor however you have to get by the politically correct to realize that it is not picking on the disabled to admit that is a funny line.

I will not give away the rest of the trip but it would be safe to say that the road-trip gives Jeffries a chance to show us all of the shows attributes. Funny even if it is make your squirm funny, crude constantly, but yet at times very sweet and caring even if that is expressed in ways that are beyond the comfort level of most of us. I do not know if the show can ever carve a big audience, in fact I doubt it, but with so many of our shows being so typecast and similar this is one show that you will not find on the other channels every night of the week.

For that in itself I will watch a few more episodes to see Jim try to be a good person by befriending and caring about Billy. Billy may be in for the time of his life.

Beyonce Lip Syncs: Do We Care

One of the highlights of the inauguration this past Monday was the performance by Beyonce of The National Anthem. Yesterday word started to filter out that the well lauded performance might well have been a recording, that is a prerecorded track. With all of the problems of the country having been resolved this story seems to be what everyone is talking about today.

Clearly my tongue in cheek statement indicates how little I care about this subject. Did she or didn't she. My position has been that I do not care. Of course to defend the superstar her publicists floated that even Whitney Houston's famous Super Bowl performance of the anthem during Desert Storm was also lip synced.

Those of us who have children have often heard their children defend their actions by stating that someone else did the same thing. It does not prove as a valid selling point to us as parents and does not in this case either.

I did not care about this and still really don't. I do think that with all of us saying what a great singer Beyonce is and with the often denigration of, for example, Taylor Swift not being a great live singer it reduces Beyonce's stature. Let's be honest however this really does not matter, as long as Beyonce is the glamorous star she is no one cares.

I must admit however that when I saw the replay and saw the dramatic move where she pulled her earpiece monitor out of her ear that, perhaps, that act in itself was a little over the top. Lip Sync, ok whatever, but that move was a little bit brazen knowing that she was not actually singing.

A Tribute to Hank Cochran by Jamey Johnson

There are many new country music fans these days. I have to admit I cannot keep up with all the new pretty boys who appear on the charts each year, I think they are all made in the same factory for all of their similarities.

One successful country singer that will not be mistaken for his cohorts is Jamey Johnson. Johnson looks like a throwback to the rock and roll sixties but sounds like one of the traditional country singers of that same era.

After the huge success of his recent double album The Guitar Song Johnson decided the time was right for him to vere even further off the expected path and do a tribute album. I will admit I did not know who Hank Cochran was but after listening to the songs on this album it is a sure thing that we all know this man's songs.

Johnson his voice as always sounding like Scotch rolling over jagged rocks is simply amazing in this album. Never wanting too much of the spotlight, and realizing how much respect there is in country music for Mr. Cochran, on each song Johnson is joined by a well known artist. The combinations work extremely well. If I had heard this album last month it might well have ended up in my list of the year's best.

All the songs on this album are done well but a few stand out. The first song to be promoted on the album was a version of Make the World Go Away with the angel voiced Allison Krauss. If you think this is an odd pairing of voices you are correct but it works on every level.

Also of great note is a version of I Fall to Pieces where Johnson is joined by Merle Haggard. Somehow I do not see Merle doing a duet with any of the male models in cowboy hats that are on he charts these days, Haggard knows and respects authenticity and his joining Johnson here tells you all you need to know.

Willie Nelson, one of the last living of the original outlaws, is a great friend of Cochran's and lends his voice to two wonderful songs "Don't you ever get tired of hurting me?" as well as the Cochran standard "Livin for a song."

This is a wonderful album and a great tribute too, if one looks at the list of songs on the album they cannot help being surprised that all these great songs were written by one man that few in this generation have ever heard of. If changing that is the goal of this album, mission accomplished.

The Verdict

I watched The Verdict late last night. Everyone had gone to bed in our house but I was up late. Starring Paul Newman the movie from 1982 was well received and earned five Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor for Newman, and Best Director for Sidney Lumet.

The movie was riveting. Newman plays Frank Galvin, an alcoholic lawyer who is the proverbial washout. Hired out of law school by a top firm Galvin had run into some trouble with a jury tampering charge ( a backstory we hear more about in the film), was fired from his firm, lost his wife and now is barely getting by. He has had four cases in three years and lost them all.

An old friend Mickey Morrisey played by Jack Warden sends him a case that he cannot screw up. A medical malpractice case against two well regarded Doctors and the Catholic Hospital they work at. It is widely expected that there will be a settlement and for perhaps just one meeting Galvin will receive a large pot of money.

On his way to a meeting to negotiate the anticipated settlement Galvin stops in to see his " client." Actually his client is the patients sister who is struggling to pay for her care. The patient is in a permanent care facility, in a coma, that she is not expected to come out of.

Feeling compelled to use this opportunity, perhaps his last one, to do something good he refuses to settle the case angering the appointed Judge in the case, and surprising his opposing council.

We do not just see Galvin in court. We see him at his local bar, where he is a revered figure, we see him pick up an attractive younger woman and start a relationship with her.

Shortly after his refusal to settle however things go wrong. His star witness disappears, his last minute replacement flies into town and is barely qualified and to make matters worse is black. This movie is set in Boston in 1976, a black medical expert will not sell well to any jury.

As the case proceeds it becomes apparent that Galvin has made a mistake.

I found this movie to be very good, almost unsettling to watch. I suppose that is the sign of a compelling movie when you are almost nauseous because you are so close to the character, so that his mistreatment is felt by you. Newman is immense in this movie, after seeing him in this role, it becomes even more apparent that this man was one of our great actors, and certainly underrated.

There are some things in the movie that do not add up and puzzled me. The Judge in the case is almost a caricature of everything bad in jurisprudence. Milo O' Shea gives a brilliant performance, you are ready to strangle him by the end of the movie. Still, short of being called a bagman for the big boys in chambers, we never really get a glimpse of his motivation for the choices he makes in the courtroom. It would have been helpful to understand that.

Still Lumet knows more about movies than I do and his efforts in this one work resoundingly well. A very good movie.

Up on Cripple Creek by The Band

This song came up on Outlaw Country today and as per usual my day became a better one. I have heard these songs by The Band for years and years, decades even, still the fact is they are some of the few songs that I do not tire of hearing.

Great song. Great sing along song. God rest you Levon Helm. You had the music of a special angel long before you went to heaven.

What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer

About six weeks ago the good folks at Amazon ran a special in which this seminal political book was available for the Kindle at some ridiculously low price. Long having had it on my to read list I picked it up.

Much as been written about this book over the years. Following in the tradition of Teddy White's The Making of the President Series, only with much more detail and personal history, Cramer's book has for almost two decades been considered the gold standard of political campaign reporting.

In an odd and sad twist when I had made my way about halfway through the book the author, still a relatively young man at 62, passed away. As the tributes flowed in fast and furious if there was any doubt of the importance of what I was reading it soon disappeared.

The book is quite simply a stunning description of the 1988 political race for the Presidency. Following six candidates, four Democrats and the two Republican frontrunners Kramer tells the story of the race through each campaigns eyes as well as providing a significant biography and personal history of each man.

There is much to take away from the book, much indeed, but if anyone is to take away any one thing it is this. The process by which we choose a President, the amount of power the press has to determine the agenda and in many respects the outcome, is beyond measure and out of control. This my friends was in 1988. Imagine now, almost 25 years later how much worse it would be.

It is interesting to note that upon his death how many reporters and members of the media praised this man who, by my estimation, had a great deal of frustration with the role of the press in the campaign.

Reading this book I was struck by a few incidents and stories. To try to offer a view of the book in any detail is beyond a book review or blog post. The book is over one thousand pages, one suspects that is why the initial reviews upon it's release were not that good, the press is and has become, by and large, lazy. Much easier to criticize a book as long winded and filled with minutiae than read it. Over time however the book took hold, people realized how special it was.

It should become a lesson for would be reporters and would be political candidates, a how not to do it if you will. By looking at our press today one suspects however that while they respect the work the lessons are soon lost in the heat of the moment.

If you do not remember on the Republican side that year it was the sitting Vice President George Bush the first versus Kansas Senator Bob Dole. By the end of the book it is very apparent that Cramer had a strong affinity for both these men and their basic goodness. It is surprising in fact to look back, with the benefit of twenty five years of history to see how these two good men, good public servants, truly did not like each other.

Their back stories could not have been different. Poor in Kansas or rich on the East Coast, yet both their parents raised them right. Both served their country heroically. Bush was shot down as a young pilot, Dole suffered life threatening and life changing injuries. Both were party men through the rise and fall of Nixon, both lost to Reagan in 1980 and both considered 1988 their last chance at the Presidency.


On the Democratic side there were a multitude of candidates but it was a truly cannibalistic affair. It was here that the press was out of control. The frontrunner as the field was set was Gary Hart. Hart who had lost to Mondale in 1984 seemed filled with destiny. Resigning his Senate seat in 1986 so he could concentrate full time on the Presidency Hart ended up run out of the race because of as Cramer puts it " the Karacter issue." The scenes of the press as they set upon Hart are truly disturbing. The pack mentality is something that should make anyone, left or right, uncomfortable. The most disturbing thing in the whole story of Gary Hart is how incredibly talented he was. How he was ready to be President, how he had a plan beyond anything any of the other candidates even thought about. Yet, he lost it all. He made mistakes but the press ruined him. One has to wonder if some of the men that Cramer profiles on the press side ever forgave him for showing their unattractive sides.

Joe Biden, our Vice President was also in that race. Just as he was catching fire Biden blew up over the plagiarism charges. Even though he had credited the British politician Neil Kinnock when using the line in previous speeches Biden did not in one speech and the story took hold. There might never have been a man better suited to be President. As he rose in the polls the squeaky clean campaign of Mike Dukakis leaked tapes of Biden speaking and blew the whistle on the Kinnock story. Biden was at worst sloppy but it was a ridiculous story and if anything the laziness of the press in the destruction of Joe Biden was even worse.

Dukakis is portrayed as just what he was. A highly moral, holier than thou Greek American who had been a highly successful Governor who believed in the process. He was aghast when the Biden leak came back to his staff. One has no doubt believing he did not know, but yet he just cannot come across as likable. In retirement as I wrote he is still the same man, proper and good. Yet there is no doubt that his refusal to be a politician, his inability to relate cost him the Presidency.

I write last about Richard Gephardt because his story is probably the most moving in the book. This man who seemed destined for great things. This man who was the ideal Democrat, the liberal. He lost. And as I wrote recently in my political blog there is no example in modern politics of a man who has sold his soul more worse than Richard Gephardt. Read this book and look at all of Gephardt's issues and core concerns. Then look at who he lobbies for today and what sides he has worked for and against in his career since leaving Congress. It is the worst story you will hear this week, this month, this year, it is bad enough to be a bad politician, what Gephardt has done is akin to the Devil being kicked out of Heaven, He is a political Judas. Disgusting in the extreme.

Carve out some time before the next round of Presidential politics. This book should be read before 2016. Then you will have the knowledge of a race 28 years ago, and see how little has changed. In a sense 1988 was the beginning of the end, any leftover regard for the Presidency, much in decline after Watergate, was gone after Reagan left office, after Hart and Biden were run out of office. Four years later we had Bill Clinton who unlike Hart survived his mistakes but it has never been the same. In today's world there is always chum in the water. Richard Ben Cramer describes when any luster in running for the Presidency was lost for good.

Where are We Now by David Bowie

Until last week the general assumption in music circles was that David Bowie was not going to be making any new music for, perhaps, the rest of his days. We were pleasantly surprised last week when out of the blue we were told that Mr. Bowie had released a new single that would be followed up in March with a new album.

I will admit that a good percentage of my friends do not have the appreciation for Bowie that I do. I think that Bowie is perhaps one of the more underrated artists of the rock era. While it is true that many, if not most, of his albums from his peak period of the seventies feature many songs that most have not heard what most do not get is that if one spends sometime dedicating himself to those albums, learning them so as to respect them, is that Bowie made some incredible music.

A perusal down a Classic Rock playlist or simply a Bowie greatest hits album will certainly show that even with all this obtuseness he still has a list of songs we all know that should qualify him to be placed in the upper echelon.

Bowie's new single is certainly nothing you can tap your foot to. The video is so far too the weird side as to be odd. In short for Bowie, nothing new, he is not going to make this easy for you. The single though with a few listens is a lovely song. " As long as there is sun, as long as there is rain, me, you, this actually if one steps outside of the surface oddness of the video is a pretty conventional song.

I have no idea what the next album will be. That is one of the joys of Bowie, the only thing we do know is that we do not know what he will do next. In today's follow the leader culture and certainly music scene that in itself is valuable beyond measure.

A nice song, hopefully an even better album but most importantly Bowie, David Jones as it were, is back. That in itself makes it a good day.

The Steep Decline of How I Met Your Mother

We have consistently watched and enjoyed this show since it first appeared years ago. While always having a percentage of shows that were so off the wall as to be unwatchable the enjoyable episodes made up for this.

Watching last night's episode I was struck by the realization that this show is just not that funny anymore. I do not know if I have laughed out once this season, and this is not a show for subtle laughter. The characters are still likable but it does seem like the Robin/Barney storyline has gone on two seasons two long. Ted, we realize is the narrator, and we know that the " story" he is telling his kids " in the future" will end with the answer to the title.

We have received many hints of who this woman will be. The problem is that based on the show that we are seeing this season we should have perhaps found out a couple of years ago and written down the show as successful. As it is now it we are hanging out with friends we have outgrown.

We should have stopped " suiting up" two years back.

Seconds by U2

A great deal of the fans of U2 have most likely never heard this song. I was in college when U2 was breaking from a college band across the pop divide in the mid eighties. When the album War was released the foundation of rock and roll might well have shifted.

The album War was one of the great albums in rock and roll history, not only for the incredible music it featured but because it was the beginning of the widespread acclaim of U2. The early albums Boy and October had made them the quintessential college band but they were still far from the mainstream success that would happen in 1987 with The Joshua Tree.

With songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday and New Years Day War is usually the place that new or next generation U2 fans start. Still more often than not that is where they stop. Two Hearts and traditional concert closer " 40" might be the choices for those who want to go one step further.

This morning listening to First Wave on the satellite when Seconds came on I was floored at what am amazing song this is. With it's constant beat, it's fade out and fade in the song owes as much to Pink Floyd as it does to the Beatles but when one considers that this is an album track. An album track that features the sing song " Airborne ranger" marching song as background noise no less but still an album track. Taken along with " Refugee" these two songs sealed the deal on what might be one of the most thematically true rock and roll albums in history.

Coming from Ireland and witness to the troubles as the grew up no one could speak with more authority than U2 on the perils of war, declared or not and speak they did. This was an incredible album, something I was jarringly reminded of this morning. Sometimes it is easy to forget how meaningful music is to you when you are 19 years old. This morning I got a glimpse into my past and remembered. It only took a " Second"

The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles

Seeing many references to this book on any list of twentieth century literature I picked up this book by Paul Bowles from 1949. The book tells the story of Kit and Port, a young American couple from New York who travel to North Africa, not on vacation, but on a journey.

A reference is made to Port not needing to work due to the death of his father. One assumes that perhaps his father has left him enough money so that he need not work, in entering Algeria customs wanting to know his profession question that blank spot on his passport.

He and his wife have traveled to Africa, hoping perhaps to repair their relationship. We never are told directly what their problems are but it is clear they have issues, on the trip they do not share a bedroom, and have no physical relationship. Still Port would like their relationship to improve and his wife repeatedly shows that she will put him and his interests first, she wants what he wants.

Still nothing is easy and both Port and Kit are naive in the risks they take traveling in a place where Americans are an oddity if not worse. Traveling, oddly so, with them is their friend Tunner. Tunner seems to be along on the trip for no easily apparent reason. As the book begins the couple and their friend are traveling through North Africa.

Port, as much he might like to salvage his relationship with his wife, has no problem visiting with women on his nightly walks. Unbeknownst to him his friend Tunner has made repeated attempts to get his wife into bed. Kit, not wanting to cause trouble between the two keeps it to herself but one night as they travel by train and she has too much to drink the inevitable happens.

Both of these people want to improve their relationship but at the same time they keep sabotaging themselves. Traveling further into the desert Bowles writes the characters very well as they interact with the native peoples. These passages are very well written. Port, not knowing what has happened between his wife and Tunner, does feel that Tunner's presence is hampering his and Kit's efforts to reconcile. Convincing Tunner to move on to another city ahead of schedule they become separated.

Port's passport gets lost and then on the next step of their trip he gets ill with typhus. Kit is very dedicated to him, nursing him in a small village until she becomes stir crazy. While she is getting some air the unthinkable happens. Now alone she simply walks away into the desert.

From this point on the story is the story of Kit as she hitches a ride on a caravan across the desert. This leads to a portion of the book, that frankly must have been quite controversial at the time of its publishing. In the end nothing good comes out of this trip for our heroes. Port is dead and Kit borders on the edge of a mental breakdown.

The book is much more than the idea it begins with. The imagery of the desert and the native population is wonderfully told. The protagonists in the book are sympathetic even as they behave in unsympathetic ways. This is another of those time and place books, imagery abounds, and is well worth the read.

You should read this book.

Waging Heavy Peace by Neil Young

Neil Young is one of my favorite artists. Along with Bruce and Bob he certainly appears in the top three and at any one time he might well be at the top of my personal chart. Whether I am listening to Down by the River at about ten on a boozy night of my youth, or wandering through his mid seventies moment in time albums like Zuma. On the Beach or Tonight's the Night or enjoying his commercial period of Harvest and After the Gold Rush there is always a mood to be enjoyed in Neil's music.

As one of the refugees from the sixties I thought that he might well have some interesting stories to tell in this book. From Rod Stewart to Pete Townsend it seems writing an auto biography appears to be the thing to do for aging rock Gods these days. The Young book is a bit different. If you pick up this book expecting anything like a normal biography you will be sorely disappointed.

Young does not write in anything like a linear way. It is more like a conversation between friends. When Neil thinks of something he talks about it, in that way it truly is like you are sitting with an old friend, one memory leads to another, there is no pattern or straight line of thought.

In the book we hear much about Young's childhood in Canada and his formative years starting out in rock and roll in Toronto and the plains of Winnipeg. Young's parents divorced when he was young and while his Mother never forgave his father Neil did. He speaks with reverence for both his parents which in this era of " My parents are to blame for everything wrong in my life" is certainly a tribute to him and his upbringing. I did not realize that Neil's father Scott Young was a famous author, journalist, and sportswriter in Canada, being Canada however, he was most famous as the longtime studio host of Hockey Night in Canada. Imagine that.

That last sentence is much of how Young writes. Young will offer a memory often of his youth, or a friend that has passed on, and often after commenting on the vagaries and unpredictability of life will end his observation with a two word sentence such as " Life man. "

It is easy to see that Mr. Young is not that removed from his sixties youth. Old though he may be if he had his way it would still be all peace, love, and happiness. Perhaps that is not such a bad way to be.

Through the book Young tells us of many friends he has lost along the way. Most telling on his heart is clearly the loss of original Crazy Horse member Danny Whitten of an overdose but as one can imagine there are numerous losses along the way.

One cannot read the book without hearing, too many times, to be truthful, Young's fascination with getting the best sound out of music. Young has his own system he is trying to market that he feels will be a revolution in sound. Certainly we all know that the sound of MP3's and CD's is soul crushingly bad, but we also know that as superior as the sound of records was we are never going back to that format. I wish we would though, albums, the shape, size, liner notes, Young is right, they were a true art form. As that is not going to happen it is Neil's mission to have his system become the standard going forward so that listeners can hear the music as it is meant to be . It will be interesting to see if he makes progress, my guess is that he is just a little too idealistic to work with " the man" to see this take hold in a meaningful way. I am not sure that compromise is a word that is in his vocabulary.

In the book we hear much of about Young's many loves. We hear about his love with the actress Carrie Snodgrass and his longtime love his wife Pegi. Young's children, one of whom Ben is severely disabled are a big part of his life. Certainly having the financial resources has helped but he has made a strong and honorable effort to include his son in any and all parts of his life. The pride he speaks of when discussing his oldest sons, also moderately disabled, getting a job on his own at Home Depot and working there for years with pride, is heartfelt.

The other abiding passion for Young are his cars. A lover of classic cars he has a story for every car he owns and tells them well. Mr. Young also names his cars. An interesting example of Young's feelings for his cars is the story of a car of his he got in an accident with in 1975 that still remains in pieces, awaiting another restoration in his car barn. Young is a man of projects, as he says he starts many things and often has too many things awaiting a finish. This car, he insists, will be finished as well, after all he claims it has only been 35 years.

This book is not great. At times if one wants to be judgmental they will find plenty to judge. If one is a fan of Neil's work they will most likely enjoy the book. For me reading this book was like having a long conversation with my older brother. He too went through the ravages of the late sixties and early seventies, he fought his demons and had many ups and downs. In the end though he was a good man, a man who was simple in his tastes, and sure in his desire to do the right thing. He made plenty of mistakes, he owned up to them ane he grew his whole life.

He died a few years ago, much too young, for me reading Neil write like my brother talked felt more personal than the author probably intended.

Even so for me this book gets a big Thank you Neil.

Rolling Stones Reach Another Generation or Mick Jagger is the Energizer Bunny

As many of you know by now late last fall The Rolling Stones released another compilation of their greatest hits. It seems like every few years a new set of this music appears all claiming to offer something new. On this collection, titled GRRR, we were promised, to go along with the pristine sound on the newly cleaned up original hits from yesteryear a couple of new singles.

The first of those was called Doom and Gloom and I wrote about the song at that time. However as much as I liked the song, and I did, I do not listen to commercial radio that much and when on the satellite often find myself listening to a mix of First Wave, the Alternative Music Channel and of course my girl Elizabeth Cook on Outlaw Country. Thus I do not often hear what is being played on the more contemporary channels.

That changes when my lovely thirteen year old daughter jumps in the truck. We have an unwritten agreement that unless I am listening to something I cannot miss she is allowed to switch it over to the Hits Channel or the 20 on 20 channel on the satelite. So there we were the other day on our way to school she had bounced around" her channels" so much I had told her to for goodness sake pick something and as she landed on 20 for 20 I heard the opening chords of what could only be a Stones song.

I must admit to feeling a little bit disoriented to not hear Taylor Swift or somebody rapping at me but then smiled to myself to think that our boys Mick and Keith had cracked the bubblegum channel on the Satellite. I cannot tell you how much pleasure it brought me to tell my daughter " Whoa, right there, I think this is the channel to listen to." and we grooved out to Doom and Gloom all the way to school. This truly is one of the best Stones singles I have heard in the last thirty years.

Mick's howl is in rare form and as he spreads out the syllables in Moooooove and Doooom and Gloooom the song works like nothing new we have heard from them in a long time. Take that great song and then make a few teenagers listen to these old wrinkled men as my girl says and you have the start of a very fine day. In the end even she had to say that " while it was not a song she would have picked out it had a pretty good beat."

Perhaps there is hope for her musical taste yet. The Rolling Stones approaching 70 and as Bobby Russell used to say on the radio still " The Greatest Rock n Roll Band in the world. "