
JD Salinger … his Glass family stories that began in the Nine Stories collection remain some of the most brilliant short fiction ever penned, but it was The Catcher in the Rye and its narrator, Holden Caulfield, that sold over 35 million copies (and continues to sell 200,000 copies a year). Also part of the Salinger library were: Franny and Zooey and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (both continuations of the intriguing and dysfunctional Glass family). Salinger avoided fanfare and was agoraphobic. Fleeing all publicity in the early 60’s, the author moved from New York City to New Hampshire where he died at age 91. Salinger waged epic legal battles with those who attempted to publish biographies of him. Although the author hadn’t published anything for more than 45 years, it is believed he never stopped writing. Salinger’s passing remains a HUGE void in the literary world ... unless whatever he’s been writing is eventually released for public consumption. TK sure hope his works are released soon.


Goldman-Mob … the mob over in Italia isn’t having the same level of financial difficulty as Goldman Sachs was, probably because the mob over in Italia didn’t need the government to bail them out. Instead, they needed the government to make it just lousy enough economically for the rest of the suckers to earn off them. Sound familiar?

Johnny be screwed … John Edwards has finally managed to get everybody’s shmeckle caught in a ringer. Bagged and tagged he is now that his bestest friend in the whole world (Andrew Young, the original dumbski who copped a plea for John-boy and said it was “his” kid) has turned author and written a tell-all-about-it. One has to wonder how the man of the poor (with the $800 haircuts) will endure a few months in the joint where such haircuts are known to get slapped around … or maybe if he spends a lot of time on his knees, pulled.

Fast Trains … there’s a great line in The Pope of Greenwich Village (an iconic cult film for anybody from New York that stars Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts) … Paulie (Roberts) has just managed to get himself and Charlie (Rourke) fired (see the movie) … in an argument that ensues between the two cujini (cousins) outside the restaurant they used to work at, Charlie’s shirt is torn … and Paulie says: “What you worried about that fancy suit for, Charlie? You got no job to wear it to.”