Temporary Knucksline

Sherry Meeks - A Georgia Peach ... The Last Kiss (L’ultimo Baccio) ... Fiat ... The Super Bowl ... Bradying & music to Brady by ...

2012-02-11T07:08:00.002-05:00

Amici:

Continuing our recent Southern New Hampshire University MFA graduates feature, today is Sherry’s day (the doll on the boat above). This Georgia Peach is s sweetheart and one terrific writer. Sherry is someone everyone loves. Her last semester was my first in the program. We and a few others shared the same mentor, Mitch Wieland. Below is a brief bio of our Peach and the words of Mitch Wieland at Sherry’s graduation.

Sherry Meeks is a recent graduate of Southern New Hampshire University’s M.F.A. in Fiction program. Sherry is a native of Georgia and spends her time writing chapters of novels, short stories, and the occasional poem. She also reads books of friends and strangers, queries agents for her novel Reading Tambri, currently applies for teaching positions, spends time with her dogs, Abby and Skye, teaches group fitness to avoid the effects of the butt in chair syndrome that plagues writers, and braves her part of the south’s seven month-a-year heat.

Sherry has two pups and here they are:

Mitch’s words at Sherry’s graduation:

Reading Tambri is a haunting exploration of the aftermath of losing a child. Sherry’s stories have true emotional depth and staying power. Over the course of this fine book, our central protagonist emerges as a psychologically complex character, a woman who struggles to hold crushing grief at bay.

Sherry’s prose is strong and sharp. Her scene work is excellent and highly effective. Throughout the stories there is a keen intelligence at work, resulting in smart and subtle observations about the nature of relationships. Sherry is highly adept at examining the complicated bonds between parents and their children, wives and husbands, and lifelong friends.

Reading Tambri covers the arc of a woman’s grief, but also deals with our sense of getting older, of where we are in life and where we want to be. It ends on a breathtaking note of hope and possibility.

Mitch Wieland

Full Professor of English

Editor of the Idaho Review

Congrats to our Peach, Sherry Meeks!

L’Ultimo Bacio ... This one was hilarious. Netflix has the subtitles so don’t be afraid ... and definitely see this version before the American remake. Hilarious.

From IMDB: Carlo's life is thrown into a tailspin when his longtime girlfriend Giulia announces she's pregnant. As Carlo faces up to his anxieties about adulthood, his buddies Paolo, Adriano and Alberto reluctantly grapple with their own responsibilities.

Much has been said about the Fiat commercial during the Super Bowl ... let’s face it, the car was friggin’ beautiful. It left me feeling guilty for buying a friggin’ Honda the week before the game. All I could think about since seeing that commercial was Fiat, Fiat, Fiat ... and a few of yous (the Doc, of course) have offered “big money” to see me get inside a Fiat Abarth. The wife, once she saw the commercial, said, “I’ll stuff your ashes in a Fiat, how’s that?”

Momma mia ... what a car!

And here’s some more about that very hot car (click on the link, amici ... trust me on this one).

Like I said, what a friggin’ car!

Super Bowl Thoughts ... it was a good game that could’ve went any number of ways any number of times; the Giant’s holding penalty that killed a drive that might’ve triggered a blowout; the Giant fumbles they recovered; the non-pass interference call against the Cheatriots, and, last but not least, the Welker-Branch-Hernandez drops. I was happy when Hernandez dropped his pass because of that stupid TD celebration he did earlier in the game (that required Navy flagmen to figure out WTF he was doing). I hope he remembered that little show when he dropped his last pass (the highlight reel Lombardi would’ve shoved down this throat).

What I didn’t like about the game was the “let them score” play. I also didn’t appreciate Chris Collinsworth’s take on it: “That’s a misake.”

Really? You don’t score because you assume Tom Brady is going to drive the length of the field and score a TD with 1:25 on the clock? You don’t score a TD so you can take your shot on a much riskier field goal? They’re giving you 6 points (so you can practice a field goal for next season on the extra point) and will need a TD themselves to win, but you’re supposed to not score? Bullshit. You score (as the Giants did). It was then incumbent upon the Cheatriots to score a TD (not so easy, as we saw).

And it’s not like teams haven’t blown a game or two with fumbles.

Imagine playing defense until the game is ACTUALLY OVER ... well, it just goes to show you how much confidence Belichik had in his defense after all ... and wasn’t it wonderful to see that each and every statistic machine went down to teams with defenses. Rodgers and the high flying Packer offense, defeated by the Moonachie Blue team defense ... Drew Brees and his record setting season, knocked out by the 49’er excellent defense ... and then finally (after the best game of the playoffs, Moonachie Blue v. San Fran), we all got to watch Bradying as the Brady stat machine scored all of 17 points when it counted most.

And then there was Gisele ...

“Eli owns your husband!” the heckler yelled.

"You are supposed to catch the ball when you're supposed to catch the ball," Giselle said. "My husband cannot fucking throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time."

A super model standing by her man or a spoiled brat making excuses for her husband by throwing his teammates under the bus? Yous make the decision. I just wonder if she meant the interception he threw or the couple of passes that were batted down at the line of scrimmage.

At least Tom gave us something new with his latest Super Bowl LOSS ... Bradying.

Think he’s upset because he didn’t deliver on “Nobody beats Belichik and Brady two, three times in a row" ... or was it because he didn’t marry the Fiat girl?

— Knucks

As Mr. Brady does his thing (Bradying) ... we thought this music appropriate for him to contemplate his mistakes in life ...

Some a’yous will remember this wonderful scene from Shawshank Redemption ... same music, different boids singing it ...

Wendie Leweck ... Movies ... Romney=Putz ... Super Bowl ... a new Stellamobile ... Tosco, non la notte scorsa (no Tosca last night) ...

2012-02-04T03:05:00.001-05:00

Amici:

The 3rd featured graduate of Southern New Hampshire University’s MFA program is Wendie Leweck. She is a proud New Hampshire native. She owns Exeter- based Spotlight Publicity, a boutique publicity firm, which specializes in working with authors and other artists.

Wendie holds a Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Business Management from Daniel Webster College. She has recently graduated from Southern New Hampshire University with an MFA in Fine Arts, Fiction. She has penned two novels and is an internationally published writer, having written articles for Antiques and Collecting Magazine, Millionaire Magazine, LA Splash(Online Entertainment News) Focus Magazine (e- magazine), and numerous other publications.

Wendie has co-owned two vintage-automobile restoration companies, both in California, where she oversaw marketing and publicity resulting in numerous international feature publications.

Wendie has volunteered for many years for numerous local, national, and international charities including Service Link NH, a state-wide charitable organization for seniors; Great Bay Services NH for disabled adults; the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts Program to Sustain the Arts; the World Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; Mustard Seed Organization International, and the Exeter Theater Company. She is currently working to build a charter high school for the arts in the seacoast area of New Hampshire.

From Katie Towler:

Wendie Leweck knew she wanted to write about a teenage girl. She knew that this girl was going to struggle with issues of identity and that she played the guitar, but this was about all Wendie had to go on when she began writing her novel, Second Chances. I had the good fortune to work with Wendie in her second semester and again in her final semester, and to see just how far she brought the original impetus for her book. Tenacious and determined in honing her characters and their story, Wendie has crafted a moving and compelling young adult novel. Her teenage protagonist Jo, brought to life with vivid force in these pages, comes to understand the true nature of her family and the relationships that have forged and defined her. At the end of her journey, Jo has made multiple discoveries – most importantly, what it means to forgive and to trust– and she has learned to love Vermont, a place not easy for a Southern girl to love. Wendie’s powerful rendering of a small town, the winter landscape, a complex cast of supporting characters, and a teenage girl’s search for the truth make this a book that will resonate with readers of all ages. Congratulations, Wendie.

Si, congratulations to the Wendinator and all the graduates this winter residency.

Trust ... a movie every FAMILY should see ... Friends aside, we’re David Schwimmer fans at casa stella (going back to his role in Band of Brothers et al) ... and although the boss knew of his directing, the ugly one (moi) didn’t. So it was a very pleasant surprise when we chose the movie Trust last week. This is a painful movie to watch (both of us cringed several times) and the double ending (what I’m calling it) was superb—absolutely masterful. I was sitting there angry; both Ann Marie and I were as emotional as we get ... and truth be told, I suspect I would have been guilty (for lack of a more appropriate word) of everything the Clive Owen (the father) did and felt throughout the movie, while Ann Marie would have been as smart and strong as Catherine Keener (the mother). Liana Liberato was truly wonderful as the girl lured into an Internet sexual assault by a professional predator.

I tip my hat to Schwimmer and the amazing cast he put together for this film. Like American History X, Trust is something every family should watch and watch it together. In Charlie world, both movies would have been required viewing throughout the land. So spoke Zarathustra (who is directly akin to the Chuckababe).

Interview with the director about the movie here.

Men Who Stare at Goats ... a great cast and much funnier than either the wife or I had thought it might be, we did laugh out loud (LOL for yous unfamiliar with the mother tongue) quite a few times. Or maybe we just needed a laugh.

A recent death in the family precluded us from going to the opera last night. We had tickets for a Princeton McCarter theatre production of Tosca, something we’ve both seen at the MET several times, but we turned the tickets over to another opera lover at one of our jobs and let the emotions of family tragedy run their course. One of Ann Marie’s nieces, a very young woman and mother of three (an 8 year old and 4 year old twins) passed from cancer Thursday; a brutal reminder of how unfair life can often be.

Romney isn’t concerned about the poor. Yeah, no shit. Neither are either of the two parties of choice ... they’re all too busy bending over for the money that owns them ... or why do you think Wall Street has had record profits while the rest of the country has paid the price? And as far as Romney’s great concern for the middle class ... somebody smack that used car salesman in the face already ... Hello, moron, more than a year ago 28% of Americans fell OUT OF THE MIDDLE CLASS INTO POVERTY ... in other words, there is NO MIDDLE CLASS ANYMORE. Read this ...

What a putz.

Super Bowl ... they’re playing it inside the gymnasium again (I hate that shit) and although the Giants should continue to give Tom Brady nightmares for life, anything can happen ... therefore, this one may be too close to call.

NOT!

The Moonachie Blue Team in a wipeout, 41-26 (with most of the Cheatriot scoring coming late). I have the G-men in an office pool for the 1 in 41 and the Cheatriots with the 6 in the 26.

I’ve been driving the new Stellamobile back and forth to work this past week. A new Honda has replaced the hold Honda ... the neat feature in this pretty much stripped down Accord is I can play my Ipod ... so driving to and from the last few days, it was a couple of my favorites from Tosca blasting away.

Note: The Wikipedia translations are pretty friggin' fugazy, but it'll give you an idea ...

Recondita Armonia ...

Pass me the colors...

Concealed harmony of contrasting beauties!
Floria, my ardent lover, is dark haired.
And you, unknown beauty, crowned with blond hair,
You have blue eyes,
Tosca has black eyes!

Art, in its mysterious way,
blends the contrasting beauties together...
But while I'm painting her,
My only thought,
My only thought is of you,
Tosca, it is of you!

E lucevan le stelle ...

When the stars were brightly shining ...
And faint perfumes the air pervaded,
Creaked the gate of the garden ...
And footstep its precincts invaded ...
'Twas hers, the fragant creature.
In her soft arms she clasped me..

With sweetest kisses, tenderest caresses,
A thing of beauty, of matchless symmetry in form and feature!
My dream of love is now disspelled forever.
I lived uncaring and now I die despairing!
Alas I die despairing!
And never was life so dear to me, no never,
So dear, no never!

Jerri, Jerri, Jerri ... the candidates and Castro ...

2012-01-27T22:28:00.000-05:00

Amici:

From fear of scaring most of yous away with a political rant or two dozen, we’re starting the next several posts with congratulatory pieces for the SNHU MFA graduates this past residency. Last week we presented Kelly Stone Gamble. This week it’s Jerri Hickox Clayton, a wonderful woman and writer. TK excuses her loyalty to that team from Foxboro ... because we at TK love Jerri ...

Jerri’s tribute was given by the director of our program, Diane Les Becquets:

Four prepositions: (For, From, Through, and To): In Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye,” Holden Caulfied says, “I don’t even know what I was running for.” For these past two semesters, I have had the delight of working with Jerri Clayton, who served as our residency GA. Jerri is a runner. She has run through woods, up mountains, down dark icy streets, and she has run marathons, including the Boston marathon. In the beginning, perhaps she didn’t always know “what she was running for.” In her memoir, “In the Long Run,” she began a journey not only to complete a manuscript but also to cross a more significant and personal finish line. Writing her memoir became her own marathon for understanding. Understanding what she had been running for, and understanding what she had been running to. She’d spent her life running from all that she feared, from the past, from a suicidal father, a failed marriage, from mental illness, and from herself. She’d run through depression and fear and anger and addictions, inclement weather and inclement emotions. And she learned that “Sometimes all the training in the world cannot make race day a success. In the Long Run, Jerri discovers the gift of running for others, finding strength in the team. “We finished her mile. We reached her goal.” Her writing and her running have been and are a metaphor for her life. Jerri’s writing is precise, metaphoric, honest and raw, immersing the reader in the prose and the story. I could feel every word.

And here are Jerri’s words ...

Faculty, staff, graduates, alumni, students, family and friends – good evening. It is an honor and privilege to represent the winter graduating class of 2012. Sophia, Wendie, Vegas, Georgia, Little Daddy,

I need to first let you know this is not an official communication. For official graduation speech communication please contact Lisa Allen. I will, however, be giving this speech from the perspective of the fish.

I would like to start by sharing a quote from our own Craig Childs.

“I cannot assume we all operate in the same way, but I imagine you have felt fear with writing, a sensation such as looking at an enormous landscape, then facing the small size of your own body. I am feeling it today, my voice crooked and cracking. Why would I dare write? What audacity to put down words and say my story matters. Have you felt that before? If so, here is my advice for all of us. Keep going. Our doubt does not matter. We put letters on pages. We make sentences, chapters. It is not our business what value our own words carry. We must. I have carried this quote because it gives me validation as a writer, as this program validates each and every one of you.”

While many yearn for writing to be a fulltime job and the bread and butter of our lives, that is not the norm. We juggle. We struggle. We write. And while our fulltime jobs may or may not be in the realm of writing, we are, indeed, all writers. Putting words on paper is what we do. What happens after that is out of our control, our common bond is each of us has a story to tell, and the desire to tell it. Being in this program validates that choice. We are privileged to have a group of faculty as vast as our own ideas to teach and guide us to be the best writers we can be. While I began this program feeling that my diploma would be the end of the journey—I drank the kool aid along the way---and realized it is only the beginning. When our cohort started, the motto was “Go write your book” Diane, changed that, to Go Write your Books. That next little idea needs to put down on paper. We leave with not only a diploma, but also the validation to keep on writing.

None of the graduating class had the luxury of this program being their sole focus. Ahhhhh, if only, but life gets in the way. We learn to write in our heads and eventually get those thoughts on paper. We write within our daily routine every single day. Our heads are swimming with thoughts and ideas that must be jotted down. Within each of us are stories.

In this program, we are given deadlines. I love when the graduates told me, “I miss the deadlines.” I thought, Yes, they’re easy to miss when you don’t’ have them. But honestly, students, embrace each deadline, and embrace your peers. Embrace the bubble. Being in this incredible MFA bubble allows you to flourish. This program allows you to come together for residencies twice a year. Cherish those residencies. Take the time to connect with all the faculty and students. Do what we fondly refer to as subgrouping. Subgrouping—where crock of porks and snuggling rats is common. Pirate outings and knitting circles constitute a subgroup. Subgroups allow you to share your writing. Pass revisions and ideas, and if you’re lucky and your cohort is as strong as those before you, this goes on long after you leave this grand hotel. The magic of subgrouping brought a man, we call Pantless Jack and a girl named Skinny Chick to life. There were songs written (and sung...) about Purple Shirt Guy. And while subgrouping a legend was born, a man named Bobby Sox, who will forever validate us as storytellers.

While there are no guarantees what will happen with these degrees, one thing is guaranteed, you will have the opportunity to form bonds with faculty and students alike that will continue to validate you as a writer.

As I stand before my cohort, my friends, and we have reached our goal I will borrow from Ralph Waldo Emerson—life is a journey, not a destination. Congratulations, Happy Trails, Best of luck on your continued journey. Write On and Peace out.

Me (the ugly one) again, amici. Is Jerri cool or what?

Now for the POLITICS of our nation ... madonna mia.

At the outset, let us at TK state that if Ron Paul wasn’t so in love with the free market system, we’d be on his bandwagon pronto. But he is, so we won’t be on his bandwagon. We’re with him on civil liberties and foreign policy across the board ... in the meantime, here’s some of what we (most of yous, not TK) seem to take seriously enough to actually vote for ... our/your presidential choices ... some GOP numbnuts and our President (Fredo Corleone) ... oy-friggin-vey.

The other night, Mitt Romney defended his “blind trusts” by claiming he’s blind to where the money is invested. Hmmm, apparently he attacked drunken Ted Kennedy on the same issue of blind trusts back in the day. Could he be flip-flopping again?

Jon Stewart had some fun with the other top GOP hopeful, Newt Gingrich ...

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Ron Paul taking apart Rick Santorum’s anxiousness to go to war with Iran.

And then there’s our fearless leader ... fearless about what he said in the State of the Union the other night, that’s for sure. Here’s a guy who took more money from Wall Street in 2008 than any candidate in history ... a guy who surrounded himself with Goldman Sachs people (and didn’t Goldman do well after they helped bankrupt the country?) ... a guy who appointed Jeff Imelt his friggin' Job Czar a week before GE sent 5,000 jobs to China. I heard him mention outsourcing in his speech the other night and nearly upchucked my Chivas ... and then there was his “Don’t bash teachers” line ... and that reminded me of his disappearing act last year when Wisconsin vilified teachers and public worker unions. Fredo forgot his campaign pledge to walk the picket line and although he may be fortunate the GOP can’t show this video to his shame, we at TK don’t understand why the media has yet to take him to task on this issue. So, here it is, a little reminder for all those in unions on your way to the voting booth come November.

Finally, the remaining clown acts (except for Ron Paul) that are the GOP field of candidates seemed anxious to one-up each other on where Fidel Castro should go when he passes (Gingrich got to hell first, but then Romney double-helled him the next day while campaigning). And here’s what Fidel (or, if you prefer, Mr. Castro) had to say about that:

"The selection of a Republican candidate for the presidency of this globalized and expansive empire is — and I mean this seriously — the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been," said the retired Cuban leader, who has dueled with 11 U.S. administrations since his 1959 revolution.

Say what you want about the guy ... he nailed it.

—Knucks

Swing baby, swing ...

Ides of March ... from Tebow to Newt ... DEFENSE ... the Kellinator ...

2012-01-21T15:33:00.003-05:00

Amici:

The Ides of March ... The boss and I were riveted to our seats watching this baby unfold. Each of us made guesses as to what would happen next; sometimes right, sometimes wrong, both hoping for the better angels of human nature to show up sooner or later. Romantics we are, the both of us ... or maybe we’re just suckers. The Gosling character learned fast and never looked back, although that open ending of Clooney’s left all kinds of possibilities (we continue to hope). We figure it was an accurate enough portrayal of the political world; how to lose a soul. The scene toward the end when Evan Rachel Wood committed suicide and the Gosling character was teary-eyed until he spotted her phone was wonderful, but even more so was the next scene as the camera followed a new intern hauling coffees. Clooney was at the top of his game on both sides of the camera. He had us wanting him to be President there for a while ...

Power corrupts ... absolute power corrupts absolutely ... and this movie was a damn fine reminder.

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti were excellent, as both always are. It was an excellent pay-per-view choice this fine snowy morning. Highly recommended.

Gingrich’s smack down of John King and CNN was pretty exciting to watch. As much as both Stella’s loath the Pillsbury Doughboy (my wife's nickname for Gingrich), we did enjoy his bashing of King for that inane “debate” opener.

Talk about a media agenda running afoul of its intent? In a week that saw TEBOW's blessing fade, the darkside won a big one, thanks to CNN and John King (as they put Gingrich back on the map, maybe to stay). In the national sideshow we call election day, could either party put up people more lame? From the GOP, either a used car salesman so uncomfortable in his own shoes, he can’t prepare himself for a question he knew was coming 6 weeks ago, orrrrrrrrrrrrr an absolutely despicable human being. And from the Dems, it’ll be the incumbent incompetent, responsible for setting labor back 50-100 years. I can hardly wait (sarcasm intended). Still, the proven incompetent sure does do a damn good Al Green impression. My mother loves Al Green. I love Al Green. Even my old partner from back in the day (when I’d drive his gigantic boat of a Fleetwood around the city) loved Al Green. How can you not vote for Al Green when the alternative is a bumbling fool of a used car salesman or Mr. Despicable?

And give Obama this much, the guy has the right charisma for TV—and one hell of a smile. And he does impersonations.

How Obama will do versus Gingrich in debates will at least be entertaining. My guess is Newt will do a number on him, but he’s still Newt and most people outside his rank and file will ignore him come election day ... because, well, he’s Newt Gingrich.

One of the two big games tomorrow feature the only remaining statistic machine (New England Cheatriots) vs. one of the best defenses in all of football (The Baltimore Wes Cravens) ... last week Drew Brees and Mr. Rodgers (two record setters) went down ugly when DEFENSES ruled the day. I can’t help but be reminded how our statistic machine in Super Bowl 25 went down to a superior Moonachie Blue defense (not to mention our kicker choked). I always prefer the kind of game I expect in San Fran domani ... the 49’ers and Moonachie Blue team should be a head banger start to finish. I’ll be rooting for a 49’er or Moonachie Blue vs. Wes Craven Super Bowl, but I’m thinking Joe Flacco may preclude those particular scenarios ... but wouldn’t it be cool if ALL the record setters went down in flames one more time?

And come on, wouldn’t a Harbaugh brother rematch be the coolest thing?

On a much brighter and happier note, here’s recent SNHU graduate, Kelly Stone Gamble (one of the graduate babes who came to my room for coffee at 4:30 a.m.—Jerri Hickox Clayton & Beth Ann Garland were the other two). Here’s the Kellinator reading from her exciting historical novel, Ragtown. Check out Kelly at her blog here. As her final mentor, Craig Childs (the Desert Father) put it at the graduation ceremony in his opening remarks, Kelly Stone Gamble kicks ass.

Check out this bio (not to shabby): Kelly Stone Gamble’s work has appeared in a variety of publications including:

Alive Magazine

Family Fun

Family Digest

Family Digest Baby

Gay Today

Ladybug

Message Magazine

Chicken Soup for the Soul

Her fiction has won awards from Writers Weekly, Writers Courtyard, Women on Writing and the Ground Zero Literary Project.

She has a Bachelor of Arts in the Integrated Studies of History and Business Administration from Nevada State College, a Master of Arts in Humanities from California State University and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. She resides in the Las Vegas area.

Temporary Knucksline is going to try and find a reading from each of the SNHU winter graduates for posts here so anybody with the goods (videos, etc.), send them along.

—Knucks

Join the maestro's Brindisi (the drinking song) and raise a glass to the Kellinator ...

Book Reviews: The Suburbs of Heaven ... El Gavilan ... A Sam McCain Two-ffer and Ciao, Francesca ...

2012-01-14T15:24:00.004-05:00

Amici:

The Suburbs of Heaven, Merle Drown

Now Comes Jim ... is the refrain at the end of this wonderful book about a New Hampshire family that can’t get out of its own way. Down on their collective luck and unable to communicate with one another clearly enough to keep from hurting one another, they each grieve in their own way the tragic loss of a young daughter/sister (the one they had the most faith in). This is a tale of a family named Hutchins (not Hutchinson). It is at times hilarious (with dialogue so genuine it spits), shocking, sad and always poignant. The Hutchins family faces the same problems many of us face, except in much larger doses and all at once.

Jim and Pauline are the parents of Gregory, Lisa, Tom and Elizabeth (Elizabeth is the daughter they grieve). Jim’s sister Helen was married to Emory (who may or may not have shoved Helen down the basement stairs and killed her for insurance money). Emory is living high on the hog every since, except he can’t get it up. Pauline favors Emory (and had lied about her sister-in-law’s fall to the police for him) because she misunderstands her husband’s grief and because Emory pays attention to her and can make her laugh. She occasionally dances for him ... in the buff ... but Emory remains impotent and can only watch Pauline the way he can only watch pornos (powerless to do any damage).

One problem is Jim is aware of Pauline’s fondness for Emory and Emory seems to relish rubbing it in Jim’s face. Jim fixes cars for one guy and is a handy man to another more wealthy individual he’s come to love in his own way. Jim is always working and never getting anywhere. The IRS won’t leave him alone, nor will the troubles that seem to plague his family with unending regularity. Gregory, his oldest, has a snake living in his brain and voices telling him to kill his sworn enemies (enemies that include his mother, Emory, his brother Tommy and pretty much anyone who runs afoul of his good intentions). When Gregory spies his mom dancing for Emory, he steals a videotape of a prior performance and the trouble escalates. Tommy is a wildcat and a father who can’t stop himself from getting into it (or into a girl a bit under the lawful age). He’s got a wife (Penny, Jim has nicknamed Squatty Body) he doesn’t seem to mind sharing with his cousin Scooter (Emory’s kid) when he isn’t dangling her out a window by her ankles. Lisa, Jim and Pauline’s daughter, is married to Fesmire (Jim’s descriptions of this guy alone make the book worth its weight in gold), a devout lazy-boned SOB who can justify anything that will keep him from working for a living. There are more characters (BB Eyes—the law; Malcolm—the wealthy guy Jim sometimes works for and gets a few hundred laughs over; Dumont—an over-zealous cop) and a few others who inhabit these raucous suburbs of doom.

Told through the individual points of view of each family member, the stakes are greatly raised for the reader as we come to know, see and understand how they perceive all that goes on around them. One house get bulldozed, then burned. Another explodes. Brothers get put away in different institutions. One brother has his crotch tarred, the other finally finds solace in medications while their sister (Lisa) learns to rid herself of her abusive and reprehensible husband (Leo Fesmire). Jim and Pauline struggle to survive the loss of a child the best they know how, except neither is communicating with the other. The distance they create between one another seems impossible to breach.

This is a terrific novel that will have you laughing out loud when you aren’t shaking your head in frustration or choking with sympathy for this family seemingly condemned to bad luck and worse decisions.

Buy the The Suburbs of Heaven here.

Read the New York Times review here (with a link to the first chapter—read it and get hooked).

Why an MFA?

A few people have asked me why, at age 55, I decided to return to school and/or pursue literary fiction. It’s a pretty simple question to answer. After a failed attempt or two at crime novels in my early 20’s, I started writing plays that focused on relationships, addictions and all the messes people make of their lives. Then I was detoured for various reasons to a street life that permitted me to sow some wild oats while making a mess of my family. When I finally settled down with a woman unimpressed with the stupidness my life had become, I returned to writing and was well stocked with street knowledge. Writing what I knew and ignoring what I’d suppressed, especially with the influence of the George V. Higgins masterpiece, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, I turned to crime fiction. I continue to write crime fiction and suspect I always will, but a greater desire, one I may never conquer in publishable form, is literary fiction; a return to writing about relationships and the struggles all of us are engaged in as we try to co-exist. That bolded section in the last line is from a much better writer than myself, Mitch Wieland.

The book reviewed above (The Suburbs of Heaven) is another reason. Because this is the kind of writing I most admire and always want to read. At 55, what the hell do I have to lose following my heart? The heart is what made me chase my wife and that pursuit has been a winner since day one.

That’s why I’m in an MFA program this late in life ... because the worse I can do is learn.

El Gavilan, Craig McDonald

Border issues were never dealt with so fairly as in this new page turner from Craig McDonald. County Sheriff Able Hawk (Hawk is "Gavilan" in Spanish), is a man of principle willing to bend the law enough to set things right. Justice is foremost on his mind, especially when it comes to family and those he feels compelled to protect—the legal immigrants of the fictional Ohio town, New Austin. When a legal immigrant woman (Thalia Ruiz) he’s been protecting since her husband was killed in an explosion winds up raped and murdered and left in a ditch, the Hawk seeks justice for her with extreme prejudice.

Tell Lyon is the new chief of police in the same town and although competitive police departments aren’t supposed to get along, Tell and Able have similar tastes in justice. Lyon’s wife and daughter were murdered in a home firebombing by a Mexican gang when he worked border patrol in California. Now he meets a woman 15 years his junior, Patricia Maldonado, on her way out of a bad relationship with a local journalist and all around shit, Shawn O'Hara.

No spoilers here, but violence ensues when a neighboring county corrupt sheriff becomes the focus of the investigation into the murder of Thalia Ruiz, El Gavilan’s unofficial daughter, so to speak. The Hawk also has a grandson in love with a Mexican illegal and that’s an entire other subplot that intensifies all that happens in this exciting thriller. Short chapters (woven between present day action) provide the backstory for Thalia and her family, Able and his, as well as Tell and his family.

At a time of political polarization over issues great and small, it is nice to read a fair accounting of our southern immigration problem as told from all sides. El Gavilan is yet another winner from one of my favorite crime authors. El Gavilan is all about justice and how sometimes it requires what men hold in their hearts rather than their heads.

Buy El Gavilan here.

An Ed Gorman’s two-ffer ...

Last week a friend asked a favor of me for Ed Gorman. Here is some of his email to me:

The Day the Music Died and Wake Up Little Susie together in one edition for the first time. The new edition is called The Original Sam McCain Mysteries. As you may know these are wonderful mystery novels filled with 1950s nostalgia and dry humor. Initially this product will be available only as an ebook. The print version will be released about two weeks later. Genius Publishing will also be releasing each of these books individually over the next few weeks as both ebooks and in print.

We could use your support. Would you be willing to post/tweet a message to your followers about this wonderful new book? Facebook, blog, every bit helps.

As we all know, Ed has done a lot for the genre going back decades. Apart from co-founding and running Mystery Scene Magazine for many years, he has personally given a start to, assisted, and befriended countless crime, mystery, and horror authors. Also, along the way, Ed Gorman has also written some superb novels. These Sam McCain books are fine examples.

Me again, amici: I have a tweet account I’ve used once in my life and doubt I’ll ever use again, but I do have this dopey blog and if there’s anybody around who owes ED GORMAN a returned favor (or a hundred), it’s me. Those of you who read the intro to Johnny Porno will know why: Ed saved me from crime writing oblivion after my breakup with my previous publisher by suggesting me to Greg Shepherd at Stark House Press ... and here I be, the first original print for Stark House Press). This after he offered to make peace between me and my prior publisher, to which I answered (with my typical chip on my shoulder response): "I’d rather stay out of the writing business than go back there."

I love the Sam McCain novels and have reviewed a couple here (Bad Moon Rising) and here (Ticket to Ride). These novels are loaded with nostalgia those of yous my age (slightly younger or older) will smile from ear to ear reading.

The other thing about Ed Gorman, aside from his legendary writing career, he’s one of the most gracious men on this planet.

On a sad note, a co-worker at the Jersey law firm where I work, Francis, left us Friday (no, no, she didn't pass on, her temp assignment ended) ... but we’re all hoping she’ll be back. Francis sat behind me at work (not an easy thing to put up with—me) and told me of her husband Joe’s great weight loss with weight watchers (why I’m doing it). Apparently she gets up at 3:30 in the morning (just like me) and then cooks her husband’s weight watcher meals (I drink coffee, try to write and smoke my pipe). I thought, hell, Frances, why not invite me over some early morning to sample the grub? She never did answer ... but we’re all (at work) planning to visit her one day when she least expects it ... we’ll show up around 4:00 a.m. (giving her time to warm those weight watcher pancakes), then we'll ring her bell and shout “Frances, we’re here ..."

Frances recently told us about her mother, an absolute wonder at 84. Her mom just travelled to Mexico (by way of Cleveland) then instead of taking the day off when she returned from her vacation (and all those flights), she went into work the following day. We’ll miss Frances ... so ciao for now.

It aint opera and I have no clue what the lyrics are, but when you google “Ciao Francesca” and something pops up, you go with it.

—Knucks

How do you say goodbye without an opera? Forgetaboutit, here’s maestro Pavarotti from Madama Butterfly: Addio fiorito asil.

Congrats to the Graduates ... Winter Residency 2012 ... Vietnam ... Jessica Anthony ... Split Pants ... Driving Miss Mae ...

2012-01-08T22:48:00.004-05:00

Amici:

Congrats to some extremely talented people ... Kelly Gamble Stone (the Kellinator) ... Jerri L. Clayton (the Jerrinator) ... Sherry (the Peach) Meeks ... Sophia (the Dancer) Auset Eastley ... Wendie (the Wendinator) Leweck and Tim (writes one hell of a suspenseful scene) Bemis ...

Yous (my TK peeps) will be hearing from this group of talented writers in the near future ... here’s to them: Cent' anni (100 years!)

The Mountain View Grand wasn’t shutter island ... there were big wonderful beds in our rooms (that had locks on the doors and shades on the friggin’ windows) ... electric we could use without insulting the tree-hugger Gods ... there were bathrooms in our rooms (Praise the Lord) ... showers we didn’t have to wait 24 hours to use .... with hot water in the pipes (Can I get an AMEN?) ... men could wake up in their birthday suits and let pass the thunder within them without fear of waking up half the floor ... women could do the same (you know they do that too) ... there were televisions in our rooms, remote controls, thermostats ... and toilet paper that didn’t double as friggin’ sandpaper ...

Madonna Mia!

The 2012 Winter Residency was a blast ... the new group of writers are every bit as talented as those who’ve come before them ... the open mic readings impressed no end and the program continues to rock. I have Jessica Anthony as a mentor this semester and can’t wait to pick her brain the way I picked Mitch Wieland’s brain last semester. The workshops were all great, the faculty accessible as always and when a few of the graduates arrived at 3:30 in the morning they came to room 374 (Stella’s Coffee House) for a cup of Joe. The best thing about these residencies is they come every six months and provide just enough juice to last until the next one. All of us looked forward to getting back to our keyboards and writing.

And how small is this world? Stark House Press's associate editor, Rick Ollerman lives 20 minutes from the Mountain View Grand and we caught up for lunch and a quick discourse on writing in general and my next dopey crime novel, Rough Riders (July 2012) ... that takes place in New York, Montana and North Dakota ... where my first writing mentor, Dave Gresham, turned me on to this wonderful thing we do called writing. He (Dave) and it (writing) has certainly saved my fat ass ...

One Liners the MFA Program Godmother (Katherine Towler) didn’t read ...

You should go to Vietnam, Charlie.

I could write about cocks all day.

I love Craig, but that flute piece is turning into a fifteen minute drum solo. Where’s the bathroom?

(Wisconsin voice) Charlie Stella picked me up.

(voicemail) Where the fuck we get these pants from, K-Mart?

The voicemail above was me to the boss (the Principessa Ann Marie) ... the ugly one (moi) ended 2011 with a pair of split pants (at work) and began the new year with a tear that rocked New Hampshire ... fortunately for me (and let’s face it, all those who would soon be trying to eat their dinners) the split occurred in my room just half an hour before the formal dinner for graduation. I was looking almost spiffy there for a few minutes ... had the striped shirt, the nifty belt, the tie and the new pair of dress pants (who knew they were from K-Mart?). All I needed were the shoes. So I bent over to pick one up and a rip that sounded like an earthquake ensued.

“What the fuck?” I said.

Then I reached behind and was able to palm the back of my leg.

“What the fuck?” I repeated.

Off the pants came. I looked at the gaping hole and proceeded to put my head through it. Then came the I.E.D. (what my wife claims I have—intermittent explosive disorder—she usually rolls her eyes, rolls a joint and enjoys the show when I blow). Fortunately, I had brought a pair dungarees and was bailed out with them.

Oy vey ...

Driving Miss Mae ... orrrrrrr ... hey, Potty Mouth, take a valium. We made it home about as fast as we got up to Manchester earlier in the week (although following the Stephinator (Stephanie Milligan) was a bit nerve wracking since she went up on two wheels a few times on the ice covered mountain roads ... then chose to drive about 20 MPH back to Manchester today--the woman loves to ride her break) ... but closer to home, when a douche bag annoyed me getting off our turnpike exit, moi I.E.D’ed for a minute and set off Potty Mouth big time. The string of curses that ensued had me blushing bright red (what would Momma Stella think if she knew I hung out with women who cussed like this was paramount on my mind). Eventually she calmed down and we made it to casa Stella in beautiful downtown Fords, New Jersey ... which thanks to new faculty member, Wiley Cash’s suggestion, will be the title of my short story collection (Fords) ... but speaking of the Stephinator ... she will soon be a published poet ... how cool is that? We'll be featuring some of her poems again here at TK very soon.

Ann (Charlie Stella picked me up) Garvin picked off a flaw in a short story of mine that has had me thinking since she caught it ... she’s not only one of the funniest persons in the world, she’s one smart Wisconsin (by way of New York) cookie. I thank you again, Ann ...

And how’s this for a picture? (Thank you Kelly Grace).

That’s fellow writer/student Daniel Mitchell (the Oklahoma Kid) who is one talented dude and author/editor/screenwriter/playwright and all around great guy, Merle Drown (his wife is one beautiful woman and I made sure to tell him so). Pat (Merle’s wife) and I had the chance to chat a few minutes and she’s an absolute wonder and delightful person.

And here’s to Lil Vince (our director, Diane Les Becquets) for keeping the ball and the program moving forward ... Vince (Lombardi) would be proud, fact.

More on our wonderful faculty (those not mentioned in this post), the program and the progress we all do our best to make in the days and weeks to come.

There’s too much to try and recall and/or think about tonight (I'm still recovering from Miss Mae's Potty Mouth) and too much writing to do so I’ll sign off with an aria for the graduates ... yous gals and pal rock! Nessun Dorma ... take those last lines to heart, graduates ... you already won ... and you’ll keeping winning.

Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma!
Tu pure, o, Principessa,
nella tua fredda stanza,
guardi le stelle
che tremano d'amore
e di speranza.
Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me,
il nome mio nessun saprà!
No, no, sulla tua bocca lo dirò
quando la luce splenderà!
Ed il mio bacio scioglierà il silenzio
che ti fa mia!
(Il nome suo nessun saprà!...
e noi dovrem, ahime, morir!)
Dilegua, o notte!
Tramontate, stelle!
Tramontate, stelle!
All'alba vincerò!
vincerò, vincerò!

English translation

Nobody shall sleep!...
Nobody shall sleep!
Even you, o Princess,
in your cold room,
watch the stars,
that tremble with love and with hope.
But my secret is hidden within me,
my name no one shall know...
No!...No!...
On your mouth I will tell it when the light shines.
And my kiss will dissolve the silence that makes you mine!...
(No one will know his name and we must, alas, die.)
Vanish, o night!
Set, stars! Set, stars!
At dawn, I will win! I will win! I will win!

Hitch 22 ... Midnight in Paris ... Weight Watchers ... Back to School ... End of the Season and the best of Paulie Walnuts ...

2011-12-29T07:05:00.004-05:00

Amici:

Hitch 22 ... I’m still reading it, but it’s fun (at the least). Hitch even mentions The Friends of Eddie Coyle (one of his comrades fell head over heels in love with the dialogue and began using it during their intellectual soirees). Hitchens unabashedly reveals some homosexual experiences in boarding school and college (more power to him) and doesn’t self-serve as much as I would have thought, at least not yet (I’m not finished reading his memoir), but he does admit his initial love of communism was an empirical disaster (although he remained a socialist at heart) after witnessing some of the lies of the state in places like Cuba, Angola, Chile, etc.

Here he is arguing with Al Sharpton (now an MSNBC regular by way of Tawana Brawley) on religion (the topic Hitch was most famous/infamous for torching) ...

Yes, you’ll need a dictionary reading his memoir (the man was as brilliant as he was sometimes abrasive), but his memoir is a fun read thus far and if for the required dictionary alone, you’ll learn.

Midnight in Paris ... I won’t say it was a bomb because I watched it anxiously waiting for things to take off ... and seeing Hemingway portrayed was fun, but I kept hearing the Woody Allen lines (meant for Woody) coming out of Owen Wilson’s mouth and somehow the passiveness that was Allen’s trademark (minus the understated comebacks) wasn’t doing it for me. The wife really didn’t like this one, except for seeing Paris (we’re planning a trip). Anyway, this was probably the most disappointing of Woody’s films for me (because Woody wasn’t playing the lead--I guess he’s just too old on film for it to make sense). It was nice to see Rachel McAdams playing the not-so-good girl for a change.

Weight Watchers ... I slipped off the wagon for 3 days during the holidays (one day really bad) but still managed to lose a 1.5 pounds that week. I’ve been back on it since Monday and the weight continues to come off. I’m far from the goal, but this program works because of the competitive nature of it; you wind up challenging yourself to eat less and less points while adding points with activities. The ugly one is down to 323 (from 339) in 2+ weeks ...

Okay, down to 323 is something akin to (as Dick LaMonica would say to me:) throwing a deck chair off the Titanic but it is progress.

Back to School ... Monday I head back to school in Whitefield, New Hampshire ... I’ll be driving with a fellow student (Mae) so the trip will be animated. Mae is a short story writer and fellow New Jersian I’ve nicknamed Potty Mouth ... she’s really a doll. I promise not to put her to sleep with political rants for 6 hours if she promises to keep the language to a bearable level (last June my ears were in pain from all the cussing) ... here's where we'll be staying at Southern New Hampshire University's MFA program (not too shabby) ...

Bills-Cheatriots for the end of the season meaningless game ... I only wish we had something to play for so we could whip their behinds one more time. Chances are it’ll be another Foxboro fiasco (where the refs get their paychecks from Kraft on the way in) ... but it’s a who cares game start to finish. We already beat them when it counted. Besides, they’ll only be around for one playoff game again anyway. Like Dandy Don used to sing:

—Knucks

Instead of Opera today, the best of Paulie Walnuts (especially the Pine Barrens) ...

Pine Barrens (minus the best line ever--Chris to Paulie: “You one shoe cocksucker.”)

Rough Riders ... the cover ... back to school at SNHU's MFA program ...

2011-12-20T20:40:00.004-05:00

Amici:

Okay, time for some shameless self-promotion ... next year’s entree into the Stella fray of crime novels is Rough Riders, a 10 year sequel to Eddie’s World. Alex Pavlik is back ... so is the bad guy (James Singleton/now Washington Stewart) ... and the almost always inept Effa-Bee-Eye, except this time the action takes place in the great state of North Dakota ... in the Magic city of Minot (where I originally went to college, played some football and met the teacher who changed my life, Dave Gresham). It’s a multi-plotted book featuring a former Miss North Dakota, a first Gulf War veteran on the Minot Police Department, some really cold weather and lots and lots more.

The book cover for Rough Riders was designed by David Terrenoire, a hell of a writer (Beneath a Panamanian Moon--great read). David designed the cover and offers this service to writers in print and ebook formats. He is VERY reasonable (especially considering our first check to him bounced like the needle on my scale--our bad). More on his services to come. In the meantime, check out the covers (front and back) ...

That first blurb ain’t too shabby ... from none other than Ward Churchill (by the gracious way of the always gracious Ben Whitmer) ... Mr. Churchill fact checked my Native American research (and did a hell of a job). The original manuscript was edited by Peter Skutches many moons ago. Because I had to update it for 2010 (madonna mia, what a job), author/editor Merle Drown did the follow-up editorial work.

Besides work, the update was fun ... some characters take shots at the Tea Party, others take their verbal frustrations out on President Obama ... and everybody gets to see how the always popular witness protection program too often works.

More on David’s book cover services and the book itself in days and months to come.

In just two weeks, I head back to school to join all those wild and crazy writers in the SNHU MFA program ... and we’ll be vacationing/working in the mountains of New Hampshire where I hope to finally meet up with Bullwinkle.

That was ‘Lil Vince (i.e., Lombardi, in a good way--things get done), Diane Les Becquets, the director at SNHU) along with fellow students, Rob Greene and Joelynn Drennan. The MFA program at SNHU has been way more than I ever could have expected. I love it more than any of yous can imagine. When the world keeps opening up for a writer at any stage of his or her career, it’s always a good thing. And it never hurts to learn. I highly recommend the process (any MFA program--but I’m very partial to ours) ... at the least, if you can set aside some ego, you’ll get to read writers you probably haven’t read, associate with fellow writers at all stages of their adventure and share some great times with some great people. The staff is ... forgetaboutit (the really good forgetaboutit) ....

SNHU is like the greatest thing in the world ... minchia, those sausages, forgetaboutit ...

—Knucks

They filmed Donnie Brasco while I was still living in Little Italy (yes, that other life) and the trucks were parked up the street from me ... it was a beautiful thing.

And we all know how much the ugly one loves his pizza ...

Day 7 ... Hitch 22 ... New Guard Review ... A reading in March ... Playing with Pride ...

2011-12-18T17:40:00.004-05:00

Amici:

If you’re in the city this Friday night, go see this kid (he’s terrific).

If you are out and about for a stroll in the East Village on FRIDAY NIGHT, DEC 23, please stop by Arlene's Grocery, a music venue, to hear some good music, perhaps have a cocktail and to say hello.

KEVIN HARRISON will be playing an acoustic set from 8:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Day 7 of the Weight Watchers challenge ... so far so good. I haven’t gone above the points once and have stayed under half the allowable points 3 of the first 6 days so far ... true, most small countries would get my allowable points (at my weight) but the alternative is to eat like a big country and that just ain’t right.

Today we met up with two new friends (by way of an old friend) in my old haunts in Little Italy. Kevin and Nicole Kirk (from Texas--complete with accents) were in town to see some of the holiday cheer ... they are dear friends of Frank Morogiello, Jr. (a former teammate of mine from high school--his Dad was our head coach. Frank did pretty good for himself, going from a job hauling bags with American Airlines way back in the day to being one of AA’s executives living in Dallas. Kevin and Nicole are a terrific couple and we had a good time with them in Little Italy. They were interested in some of the old life I led and we’ll be sending them some books to fill them in.

By the way (Doc), I had one drink (Chivas 2 pts) and chicken (didn't finish it) ... no pasta, no extra points ...

Christopher Hitchens passed a few days ago. I always found him an interesting dude and have purchased his memoir (Hitch 22) on kindle to learn some more about his controversial nature. So far it’s living up to what I had expected. His curt remarks and/or drunken tirades (whether we agreed with him or not) will be missed at casa Stella.

Hitch on waterboarding ...

A dear friend, a teacher and a wonderful writer, Scott Wolven, teaches at the University of Southern Maine. From their webpage: Scott Wolven is the author of Controlled Burn (Scribner). Wolven’s stories have appeared seven years in a row in The Best American Mystery Stories Series (Houghton Mifflin). The title story from Controlled Burn has been selected to appear in The Best American Noir Of The Century (Houghton Mifflin), edited by James Ellroy and Otto Penzler. Wolven’s novels False Hope and King Zero are forthcoming from Harcourt. He is finishing another collection of short stories. Wolven's work was featured at 2010 Festival America in Vincennes, France, in Vintage America (Albin Michel), with the French photographer Patricia de Gorostarzu and a preface by Clint Eastwood's son, Kyle. He has been a visiting writer at Binghamton (SUNY), Indiana University (East) and The University of Chicago.

Scott is one of the best around, hands down (literary or genre fiction) and he asked me to mention a new literary review ... the New Guard Review.

I’ll be doing a reading with Scott and two of his friends at the KBG bar on Sunday, March 11, 2012 from 7-9 p.m.

An Evening Of Noir Authors

This from the New York Times

Sunday, Mar 11 (2012) 7:00p to 9:00p

at KGB Bar, New York,NY

Phone: (212) 505-3360

Scott Wolven's stories have appeared in The Best American Mystery Stories seven years in a row, which marks the most consecutive appearances since Houghton Mifflin began the Best American series in 1915. Wolven is one of only fifteen living authors to be selected for The Best American Noir Of The Century, by guest editor James Ellroy and series editor Otto Penzler. His collection of short stories, Controlled Burn, was selected for the fiftieth anniversary list of Books To Remember by The New York Public Library. Controlled Burn was selected as Best First Fiction by Poets & Writers and received awards from Amazon and Barnes and Noble. He has been called a Master Of Noir by Library Journal and his novel False Hopes is forthcoming from Grove/Mysterious Press, along with his second collection of short stories, Hundred Proof.

SHANNA McNair is the founding editor and publisher of The New Guard. Publications include Maine Magazine, Naugatuck River Review, Village Soup Times, and Fact-Simile. She was a Summer Literary Seminar 2010 fellowship recipient for work in both fiction and poetry. McNair is an award-winning journalist, works in the visual arts, and performs music. She lives in Knightville, Maine.

The London Express has called Michael Kimball "one of the finest new exponents of the classic thriller." Kimball's 1996 novel Undone received the Fresh Talent Award in the U.K. and rose to #4 on the London Times' bestseller list. Together with Mouth to Mouth, Green Girls, and Firewater Pond, Kimball's novels have been translated into 13 languages and read worldwide. Stage plays include Ghosts of Ocean House, nominated for the 2007 Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America, and The Secret of Comedy, recently seen at the Abingdon Theatre. "The best suspense stories are the ones that creep up on you, breathe on your neck and jump back into the shadows when you turn around. Michael Kimball plays that game with unnerving skill." - New York Times Review of Books

From Publishers Weekly — It takes a finely tuned ear to write dialogue that rings true, and Charlie Stella (Charlie Opera, etc.) has it. With his hapless crooks and wry humor, he belongs in line behind Elmore Leonard and Donald E. Westlake. Stella remains a master of creating complex and believable characters. Stella has quickly become one of crime fiction's leading lights. His latest novel, Johnny Porno, is available from Stark House.

About the Series: KGB Bar Sunday Night Fiction

The KGB Bar Sunday Night Fiction showcases the finest in contemporary fiction from new and emerging writers.

Suzanne Dottino/fiction curator

The closer it gets to the holidays, the less time to blog ... so excuse the brevity with which TK will be appearing the next few weeks. Obviously, my beloved New York State Buffalo Bills have taken the merry out of yet another Christmas season ... the gimmick offense that had us so excited early on in the season was figured out quick enough so they’ll do no better than last season. The one noticeable change in their defense is it stinks worse now than ever. As for the gift of $60 million to QB Ryan Fitzpatrick ... just let me know when he wins a game so we can do the math on how much that capital investment was worth. Losing to the Dolphinations today (a southern team) in the snow of Buffalo tells me one thing: Goodbye Chan Gaily ...

Here’s an idea ... next time shoot for $5 million per lineman (offense and defense), then worry about your QB. This way you can run the ball first, ignore the gimmicks and be in every game.

It’s not halftime yet for the 4:00 p.m. games and the 15th week of NFL action proves some teams still play with pride. To wit:

Dolphinations of Miami ... their coach was fired earlier this week ... they beat up the Ills (no, that wasn’t a typo).

The Washingtonians had nothing aside from their rivalry with the Moonachie Blue team, yet they kicked the G-men’s asses.

The Chefs of Kansas City proved, lest the Packers of Green Bay forget, that on any given Sunday, any one team can beat another. I suspect the Packer coaching staff will be airing highlights of the New England Cheaterface perfect season debacle that ended in a Super Bowl LOSS a few dozen times.

The winless Colts of Baltimore (by way of Indianapolis) showed pride and heart in beating a playoff contender ...

The Carolina Rices did the same to the Texas Two-Steppers

And the Seattle Sea Pigeons took bird craps all over the Chicago Bearless ...

So far in the 4:00 games, I’m smiling ear to ear watching the Jets Sanchize fall apart once again ... Santonio Holmes (Mr. Jet) is dropping a lot more than catching (again) and even the Dog Killers of Philadelphia are showing pride in kicking the Moonachie Green team. I was about to start the next paragraph when the Eaglettes scored yet another touchdown ... Rex Ryan will be eating some humble pie after this beating ... UPDATE, UPDATE ... Santonio Holmes just caught a TD ... they're losing 28-10 and he managed to taunt the other team ... 15 yard penalty and he once again proves what an absolute jerkoff he is. Think he heard us? Okay ...

Hey, Santonio ... you're a JERKOFF!

So far in the dirty player bowl, the Raiderettes are beating the Lions (with the sociopath Suh back on the field) ... we assumed half the players would be in Pelican Bay by games end but so far, no blood ...

And in the marquee game of the week, thus far it’s Tebow winning against the tissue paper defense of the New England Cheaterfacers (statistically and factually, the worst defense in the NFL) ...

—Knucks

The best ever ... the kind of the High-C’s ... forgetaboutit ...

The Help ... Wasted Fazools ... Tebow ... Penn State and Political Exhaustion ...

2011-12-12T05:09:00.001-05:00

Amici:

The Help ... maybe we’re getting soapy in our old age (the boss and myself) but we finally watched The Help this weekend on the On Demand thing and we were both sniffling to beat the band. Those social conditions (just 40-50 years ago) should make us all uncomfortable. They certainly make it pretty tough to defend a constitution that proclaimed that all men were created equal, much less hold it up as the document by which we should guide our lives (Tea Party take note). Too many Ayn Randers dismiss the social conditions of an entire race of people for convenience sake (the founding fathers were creating a government is their usual excuse for ignoring slavery).

Amazing.

The Help is a powerful movie I suspect will make most Ayn Randers uncomfortable ... which is why I doubt many of them will see it.

Wasted Money ... my beloved New York State Buffalo Bills recently signed their Harvard QB to a $59 million dollar contract (over 6 years) ... that was just before the game against the Washingtoanians about 6 weeks ago ... the last time my beloved New York State Buffalo Bills won a football game. We’re now 0 for $59 million since.

Tebow Mania ... you watch these games and even atheists have to consider the existence of an omnipotent being (wearing a Broncos Jersey) ... how Marion Barber stepped out of bounds yesterday was akin to the parting of the Red Sea (nothing short of miraculous) ... and his fumble within easy field goal range in OT was the closing of the same sea. Of course it doesn’t hurt to have a field goal kicker with a 60+ yard range or an extremely stingy defense ... but Tebow is getting the credit and he’s passing it on to the lord.

The Sandusky/McQueary caper ... the wife called this one way back when she first heard McQueary sent emails to his friends saying he did stop the rape he told a grand jury he witnessed. The wife said this will be used to discredit his testimony and get a few college officials off the hook, maybe even Sandusky .... she thought it was a defense game plan with rewards awaiting McQueary for being a bigger lowlife than his original testimony suggested (i.e. he saw a kid about ten years old being raped and ran home to call his daddy about what to do). The university hired an ex FBI director to spin their bullshit but they’re going to wait out Sandusky situation (finally figuring out its best to throw the pedophile under the bus ... for the sake of the University (the kids remain a second level priority).

Political Exhaustion ... Corzine doesn’t know where the money is/went ... nobody from Wall Street did a day of jail time ... politicians, even those caught with their hands in the cookie jar (Charlie Rangel) or their fingers on their text messages sending pictures of their pecker across the Internet (Weiner) get lifetime benefits and pensions ... Wall Street gets bailouts and we pay for it all. Last night CBS interviewed President Obama and didn’t bother asking for a few dozen key questions about his involvement with Wall Street. They tossed him softballs and he dodged them as deftly as he dodged 131 present votes in the Illinois Senate (while claiming he has to make decisions). On the other side of the political aisle, people cheer for the negation of child labor laws.

How about slavery? Oy vey ...

—Knucks

What counts ... degrading the NFL ... down goes Cain ... Internet Fun stuff ... Doc’s Email ...

2011-12-04T11:25:00.000-05:00

Amici:

John Dumond’s loss ... John Dumond is a hell of a writer and an all around nice guy. This past week a member of his family passed, their dog Lucky. Most of yous know the hell my wife and I went through during and after Rigoletto’s back surgery two years ago; it was devastating, to say the least. We cried like babies throughout the ordeal (before, during and after). John posted on his blog about his love for his pooch and it brought tears to my eyes reading and then commenting. I know Ann Marie will cry as well. John’s post is brilliant; touching and heartfelt. Take a read and see why Lucky is so missed now that he’s gone.

I think John’s words should remind us all of what counts this life: I often wonder whether there is a purpose to the things that happen. Is there some kind of grand design at play, or is it all just random chance? I honestly don’t know the answer. But as I thought about it last night, it occurred to me that maybe there was a purpose to Lucky’s life with us. Maybe he was there to teach me something. Like wag more, and bark less. Enjoy life, stay active as long as you’re able. And above all, be patient and don’t sweat the small stuff.

RIP Lucky.

My NFL rant ... watch below as the greatest running back I ever watched, Earl Campbell, makes a great run and leaves the ball on the floor before returning to the sideline for a new jersey ... notice there’s no taunting, no brushing himself off, no pointing at the back of his jersey, no slamming the ball down (negating the run with a stupid penalty) ... this was football.

Okay, the above is obviously yesteryear. These days I’ve pretty much had it with all things NFL. Over the years I’ve watched a game I’ve loved degenerate into something that is almost unrecognizable. I speak here of the chest-beating, touchdown taunting, cheap shot penalty taking miscreants that have ruined the game for me (and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better). Coaches say and/or do nothing as their superstars take penalties that cost their team a game (or more). The NFL is fast becoming the NHL when it comes to cheap shots and stupid penalties ... taunting and cheap shots appear to be the draw these days ... and what a friggin’ shame it is.

Is it really necessary after a runner is stopped on the first play of a game for the tackler to jump up and let us all know that HE made the tackle by beating his chest? Is he just not aware that there are still 59:+ minutes remaining in the game? It seems to me it happens after just about every single play that defenders feel it necessary to show the world THEY were the reason a play was stopped and that it had NOTHING TO DO WITH THEIR TEAMMATES (or maybe that a runner slipped). Not that offensive players are immune to showing off. Forget the TD celebrations. With some of these clowns (receivers mostly), you’d think every time they caught a first down pass, the game was over. And of course I blame this on what I call the ESPN era ... when such “highlights” are the draw rather than the overall play of any game.

Then there are the touchdown taunters. Last week little Stevie Johnson (a.k.a., the jerkoff who cost us a game against Moonachie Green last week), after having a very good game against the best corner in the business (Derrelle Revis), not only embarrassed himself and his teammates with a double taunt of Plaxico Burress and Santonio Holmes (both play for the team that actually WON the game) after a touchdown catch (with still more than a quarter remaining in the game), Johnson caught a fifteen yard penalty that HAUNTED HIS TEAM on the ensuing kickoff (that went about 7 yards) and allowed the Yets to tie the game. Of course when it counted most, with less than a minute on the clock and the Yets up by less than a touchdown, little Stevie did what he did in Pittsburg last year in OT and dropped a game winning TD pass. Of course little Stevie was full of apologies after the game, but you know what? I don’t give a shit. I’m so sick of the taunting and absurd penalties that are the result of egos gone wild, I am starting to think maybe it’s time to watch another sport. I already see that kind of crap manifesting itself in college sports and can only imagine it’s hit the high school level as well; players so enamored with their individual effort after a SINGLE play, they feel compelled to make sure we all saw it and know it was THEM ALONE.

Like the morons who point to their names on the back of their jerseys after scoring a TD (one that really irks me). Or, there’s this one below ...

Desean Jackson (a notorious asshole when it comes to taunting) from Philadelphia who taunted the Jersey Giants coaching staff and sideline after a 51-yard gain (that was called back for a taunting penalty so his team could start the next play from their own two yard line). Aside from rooting for Moonachie Blue vs. the Cheatriots in that super bowl a few years ago, I can’t remember rooting for Big Blue more than in that game against the Dog Killers (although the Giants did wind up losing in the end).

And then there’s the sociopath from Detroit; a guy Chrysler sees fit to continue doing their commercials (I’ll take two Honda Accords now, thank you). Ndamukong Suh has been voted by his fellow players the dirtiest player in the NFL. He’s been fined for his cheap shots and extra absurd take-downs and last week in the NFL Thanksgiving marquee game, he did this:

It was a third down play. The Packers would have had to settle for a field goal and gone up 10-0 before the half, a score easy enough for Detroit to recover from. Instead, Suh’s insanity cost his team a 14-0 halftime lead, his expulsion from the game (and a two game suspension we learned of this week during a playoff run) ... and the Lions never recovered and took a beating in the end. And this was his explanation ...

Alrighty then ... his concern is for his teammates? Really? Somebody get a couple of white jackets and sew them together. This guy is a whackjob. Get him off the field ... forever. Have a nice life, psycho.

I can’t think of a single coach I ever played for, high school or college, who would’ve put up with anything close to what goes on these days ... we were always told if you have a beef, what better way to settle it than on the field? No need for cheap shots or dirty play; they’re giving you equipment to beat the shit out of each other, so go for it.

I guess those were Glory Days indeed.

In the end, I have to think that Vince Lombardi is turning in his grave ... even Aaron Rodgers “championship belt” celebration is uncalled for and selfish. It says nothing about the team and everything about the individual player.

Act like you’ve been there before. Show some class. Grow the fuck up.

Down Goes Cain ... "I am suspending my presidential campaign because of the continued distractions and the continued hurt caused on me and my family," Herman Cain told supporters gathered at what was to have become his Georgia headquarters.

Translation: It was great publicity while it lasted, but I can no longer remain the Republican Party’s token African-American presidential candidate. Obviously, there are too many women out there seeking to take me down at this critical juncture in the primary process. That and yes, bitches be crazy ...

Internet Fun Stuff ... a couple of fun ones from friends of mine (the other friends of mine) Facebook posts ...

Doc’s Email ... Hi Chaz, Think I've got my email back. We still good for tomorrow? If so, what time? We can do a shot each time the Bills score. I'll bring my eyedropper.

Doc

He’s coming over today ... to watch a football game? More likely to break my shoes ... and gather some fodder for one of his joyful Christmas posts ... another pizza and beer Sunday at Casa Stella ...

—Knucks

Dogmouth ... Little Charlie Stella ... Pepper spraying punks ...

2011-11-27T00:25:00.000-05:00

Amici:

Dogmouth, a play by John Steppling (Theatre for the New City) ... Off-off Broadway veteran, Stephan Morrow, provides a powerful performance loaded with energy and grit in this dark tale of dark men (Vietnam Veterans) living among Southwestern Rails in the Arizona desert. Morrow doubles as director and lead (Dogmouth) in this Spartan (as meant to be) production of the John Steppling play. Dogmouth is the leader of a hobo gang of vets and a former dog owner (the fighting kind) determined to take down a challenge from another gang leader. Morrow is relentless energy in this no holds barred/no curse unmentioned, play about a man with the worldview of an attack dog. Terry (Dogmouth) has a seemingly punch-drunk sidekick (Becker) wonderfully played by Ray Wasik and a way younger, naive and pregnant girlfriend (Nyah) played by Courtney Lynn Pierchski. There’s also a fight dog breeder, (Weeks) convincingly played by L.B. Williams) and a few of the railroad lawmen in constant search of Hobos they can bully, and worse, often hurt.

Wasik was particularly convincing with the nervous twitching and facial and body tics many a Vietnam Vet was left with after one too many shellings they can’t forget. Becker is sent to kill the competition gang leader, but his nerves get the best of him and he returns to the desert without having fully accomplished his mission; a wounded man/dog is not a dead one. An exchange about his having to head to Mexico after he’s failed and his dislike of all things Mexican (food and people) was a welcomed moment of genuine levity eventually disrupted by his strangulation.

Courtney Lynn Pierchoski’s riveting scene the night she’s taken to a hospital to give birth was the highlight of the night. A young woman fresh from the torment of an abusive father falls for an abusive man and carries his baby; one of life’s unfortunate ironies. Pierchoski delivers the final blow in straight narration from the hospital where she’s had her baby and (speaking of ironies) has named him after her abusive father.

Dogmouth is powerful stuff and although there’s no fairytale ending to send people home feeling better, they’ll go home thinking about all the open endings of the characters they’ve just been introduced to minus the one who doesn’t survive the bloodlust and paranoia of a man trained to kill. Poor Becker ...

There’s one more performance of Dogmouth tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. at the Theatre for the New City. 1st Avenue and 10th Street. Don’t miss it.

Little Charlie Stella ... okay, amici, it’s time to anti-up. Although this kid is not a relative of mine, he’s more than that; he’s a relative of us all. I keep a Google alert for my name for possible reviews to my dopey books and this one came about a month or so ago, but because I didn’t recognize the forum, I deleted it. Then it came again a few days ago and I opened it and this is what I found (please click on the link).

The picture album is here:

Please visit his site and give what you can if you can. This is my third request for donations for a charitable cause this year. The other two are here:

Charles E Stella Fund

info@littlecharliestella.com

Address:

North Royalton, Ohio

USA 44133

Do the right thing if you can ... give what you can and if not here, to someone in need somewhere (whether it’s food for the hungry or clothes for the cold). As our politicians cut off the need so many require in order to protect the wealthy, they leave it up to all of us to do what we can. Sooner or later, as we follow through on what the greedy refuse to acknowledge, perhaps we’ll all come to the conclusion that we don’t need a government to protect the wealthy at the expense of those most in need; that we don’t need the bastards at all. Giving is a good start.

Here now, end of pontification.

The Power of Pepper Spray ... it takes a real man to use pepper spray like the jerkoff in this video. Imagine one of your kids is catching that shit in their faces? Life has often proven arrogant nonchalant-tough guys like this cop are the same ones who hide under their bed once challenged without their gun, badge and backup. Just following orders, huh? Maybe it was time to grow a pair of balls and question the order. And weren’t the police fortunate to have their batons with them? Even if it didn’t look like a violent crowd, you never know (sarcasm intended). Was moving those kids really that important? Were they really upsetting the flow of foot traffic on campus. I’m 325 pounds and I think I could’ve found a way between those kids ... Should the chancellor and head of police be fired? Post-haste ... and so should the moron wielding the pepper spray like he was cooling off kids during a heat wave. And that last asshole posing with his baton ... something tells me he’ll make a fathead from that picture so he can admire himself through retirement.

Not all cops are bad guys, but like Ben Whitmer said in a terrific interview with the especially loquacious one, Len Wanner, over at The Crime of It All, “... I don’t ever again need to play subservient to some twenty-five-year-old with a head full of Jason Statham movies and three hours a year of range time.”

What a collection of storm-trooping punks too many of the cops at UC Davis appear to be; the kind that wouldn’t think of pulling any of that shit without their weapons, badges and brigade strength backup.

There’s no point in handicapping my beloved New York State Buffalo Bills tomorrow (or anymore for the rest of the season. Like one of the Fish (dolphins) said last week, “Buffalo gave up.” Fred Jackson is out for the season (not that they were using him the last two games), so the no huddle, no first downs, no touchdowns fiasco will continue ... and coupled with a defense that plays on its heels, we should run the table and lose the rest of our games.

Like Dandy Don used to sing: “Turn out the light, the party’s over ...”

—Knucks

Music (for Rolling Stones Ray Wasik) ... gimme shelter

And then there’s this version:

And then there’s my favorite Stones’ song ... gees, I wonder why ...

Debates ... Penn State ... Rex Ryan ... the Ills ... Happy Thanksgiving ...

2011-11-23T16:43:00.006-05:00

Amici:

The Debate(s) … the clown act that has been the revolving (and never ending) Republican Primary debates took a serious turn (depending on your definition of serious) last night when the front runner looked about as transparent and void of original thought as his Ken Doll appearance. Jon Huntsman first handed Mitt his ass over proposed troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and the Rominator seemed so anxious to respond with a conservative-like comeback, he stepped in it big time. Link from Fox News:

ROMNEY: Well, let me respond. Are you suggesting, Governor, that we just take all our troops out next week or what -- what's your proposal?

HUNTSMAN: Did you hear what I just said?

Newt, sounding rational/compassionate (whackjob conservatives find fault with these two words in the same sentence (rational/compassionate) apparently is in trouble for doing so. Then again, this is the guy who can obviously obliterate Obama in a debate (forget substance and facts (it’s never troubled the GOP before), he’s just better at it than Obama).

Ron Paul did his thing (sounding rational/cold), but moving forward on his “free market” mantra never includes undoing all the damage corporate America did ... forget the bailouts and job losses, etc. … how about undoing the 401K damage, ending the outsourcing, putting some of the SOB's in jail? There’s never a penalty with these “free market” proponents. We just have to move on in their world view, which is perhaps why they never bother defending the founding fathers so dear to them (men of wealth who set up a government for their own benefit, neglecting entire races of people because “they were too busy forming a government”? and who took on the government positions themselves--democratically elected by the few property owners who voted ... and somehow we're supposed to genuflect at the mention of them). No thanks. I think I'll pass on that one.

Oy vey …

But even Michelle Bachmann didn’t blow up or sound as weak as the alleged frontrunner (Romney), although her stance on immigration (apparently Gingrich’s great flub) is about as absurd as the war on drugs. This government is really going to expel all those here illegally? Isn’t that taking on a task pretty unachievable (i.e., the drug war)? That said, it was interesting watching her declaw the brainless one (Perry) ...

And then there was Romney spewing his standard anti-Obama, bullet point sound bytes … looking about as stiff as a cardboard cutout. Frankly, of all the clowns in the GOP act, he scares me the most … maybe it’s because our current President proved such an incompetent (with all his alleged wealth of knowledge and preacher-like rhetoric (at times performed in preacher-like voice), Romney always comes across as a used car salesman.

And that is the real absurdity of our upcoming presidential election; that an absolute incompetent will probably extend for another four years what he hope and changed us into falling for in 2008. Tom Friedman defended his record in the Times today ... of course he left out a few things, but I won’t bother listing them here (like how labor has been set back at least half a century, thank you very much) ... we could always go to Youtube and search for “Shoes for Obama” again.

So, with no GOP candidate to take at all serious, it looks like Bush III gets to be Bush IV.

And here's the weird as shit thing about it ... so-called liberal democrats who hated Bush no end, now think his double deserves another term. Oy friggin’ vey …

Leave the political party and take the cannoli ...

Penn State names a former head of the FBI as their personal bullshit spinner ... the one thing you can say about the executive committee at Penn State is they have HUMONGOUS BALLS. We’re all supposed to be impressed by this act of self-sacrifice, except there’s as much legitimacy in this fiasco as there apparently was to the pure persona of their football program/university. What they deserve until they open up their past hidden internal investigations (if there ever were any), something they managed to keep from public scrutiny via that bastion of legitimacy (lobbying), is a complete boycott of future enrollment. Parents shouldn’t let their kids attend; kids/adults should stay away until Penn State comes clean.

A former FBI director in business for himself (with no legal criminal authority) as a private consultant/investigation entity? Please. If that doesn’t stink of further corruption, nothing does.

The truth hurts ... remember when Rex said he was challenging somebody else to beat the Patriots? ... how about your team earns their way into the playoffs for a change instead of back-dooring it in year after year? And please, fatso, don't take it out on the fans ...

Speaking of bad news ... as it turns out once again, my Ills suck ...

My New York State Buffalo Ills … watching their defensive line get pushed up and down the field like a blocking sled the past three games has turned the ugly one’s prodigious stomach upside down. Chan Gailey opted for yet another gimmick offense (which has obviously been figured out as evidenced by the 7 and 8 points (1 touchdown in the last 2 games) and he’s neglected his defense … and now that both have been exposed, we have punt and kick return debacles to look forward to (to complete the meltdown). Let me know when Mr. Wilson no longer owns the Bills and somebody who wants to win is in charge. Maybe then we’ll focus on the fundamentals; blocking, tackling, running the ball and playing defense with aggression. It is now official, we stink … again. I doubt we win another game this year and I can only hope that should the football Gods smile on us one or two more times, it’s against the Yets and/or the Cheatriots. And if they can’t, the football Gods should feel free to take this disgraceful pile of shit further north to Canada (where they can give up a frigid in November-December home field advantage 3-5 games a year instead of just 1--morons) or out to the west coast ... or to Mars.

We’ll be bringing the grub to Momma Stella’s domani ... antipasta, brocolli rabe, sausage, meatballs, rigatoni ... and the main course of lasagna ... and then at some point the friggin’ bird (which nobody will want to eat anyway) ... then comes the cannoli ...

Happy Thanksgiving all a’yous ...

—Knucks

Bad Moon Rising ... Game of Thrones ... Chekhov ... Time ... Ills-Fins ...

2011-11-20T12:40:00.002-05:00

Amici:

The Sam McCain mysteries are always fun for this reader; partly because they are always historical novels and partly because they’re always so well written. Bad Moon Rising is no exception. The Gorman-McCain formula touches on nostalgia and easily identifiable landmarks along a familiar timeline. The fact Gorman has been doing this longer than my married kids are alive is no fluke; he’s survived where many authors haven’t. Bad Moon Rising offers the usual cast of Black River Falls fun and interesting characters, plus a few new ones, and a plot that twists as good as any. A reader choosing any one of the series will be well invested in Sam McCain before they know it.

Having read a few of the McCain series, I was smiling and nodding as soon as I cam across an early passage where Sam mentions the Sitar (and how mostly annoying it is to have to listen to one—music to torture one’s ears has always been my definition). It is that sense of timeline/nostalgia/Americana (so what Ravi Shankar was Indian? I remember being tortured by his sitar at the Concert for Bangladesh in Madison Square Garden).

And let’s face it ... people went to the bathroom in masses when two things happened back in the day ... Ravi Shanker took the stage or a twenty-minute drum solo began.

Gorman presents what many of us assume are the good old days while always reminding us there was some bad days as well; Vietnam, long awaited civil rights legislation waiting to take hold, etc.. In Bad Moon Rising, McCain is confronted with the death of the daughter of a wealthy libertarian of sorts. Paul Manwearing was recently widowed and quickly remarried but the stepmom to his two daughters is well versed in remarrying. Paul’s daughters were not happy with the new woman in their lives and each dealt with it in her own way; seeking attention from their father in self destructive ways—how kids in such situations often seek attention.

There’s also a high school football star with very dysfunctional parents forever fighting one another (at the top of their lungs) making their home a place not to be. A multitude of potential suspects to the murder of Manwearing’s daughter will keep you guessing throughout. There’s a hippie commune that drives many of the good folk of Black River Falls somewhat crazy and preacher Cartwright does his usual fire and brimstone routine (something that drives Sam crazy throughout the series), but if there’s anything missing (for this reader) from Bad Moon Rising, it is more of the back and forth between Sam and Judge Whitney (Sam’s Republican Alter ego) … and if I’m not mistaken, she didn’t even shoot a rubber band at him this go. A reformed Judge Whitney? Say it ain’t so, Mr. Gorman.

Sam is always fun to read about and Bad Moon Rising is no disappointment to this wonderful series.

Game of Thrones ... a co-worker convinced me to take a look-see at this HBO series featuring Sean Bean ... when I saw one of my favorite actresses (Sibel Kekilli) was also in the series (begins appearing in episode 9), I had no choice. So, me and the Principessa Ann Marie woke up Saturday morning and started from episode 1 with HBO’s On Demand. Most of yous know I’ve never been one for things that are of the supernatural ilk (whether it be vampires, wizards, kung fu clowns who fly while kicking, etc.), but this Tolkien-like soap opera is really terrific. I was not a big fan of David Benioff’s writing (after that dud with Brad Pitt--Troy), but he’s on the mark in The Game of Thrones. We loved it ... both of us ... so much so we sat through the entire 10 episodes Saturday and I was left dazzled by the baby dragons.

“That is so friggin’ cool,” I said.

Alright, I probably didn’t say “friggin” but yous get the point.

Sibel Kekilli was one of the leads in Head-On, the German-Turkish movie I’ve now watched half a dozen times ...

I liked this one so much I’m gonna read the book it’s based upon, A Song of Fire and Ice.

Sibel has won the Euro version of the Oscar twice now ...

Chekhov on kindle ... free ... that’s right, amici. Friggin’ free ... I’m rereading several short stories and plays (Uncle Vanya ... Three Sisters ... The Cherry Orchard) ... for friggin’ free!

Now that my first MFA semester is over with, I’m a different kind of overwhelmed ... back in touch with some of the cast of a play I wrote a long time ago, I’m working on its sequel while going over edits on Rough Riders and working on a few short stories. And I officially started as a permanent employee at the job I was temping at this past week ... not enough hours in the day, amici ... not even close to enough.

Until my beloved New York State Buffalo Bills regain some measure of respect for themselves, they are the NY Ills ... today they play the dolphinations of Miami ... win and get some respect. Lose and start working on next year’s draft picks ...

Oy vey ...

—Knucks

They were Penn State ...

2011-11-12T15:41:00.006-05:00

Amici:

First off I’d like for yous to watch this clip from the Daily Show. It starts comically enough, then ends with the same seriousness as the crimes committed at Penn State by one of their coaches. Click anywhere in this paragraph to view it.

Although I chimed in at a few blog sites over this story, I purposely avoided blogging about it until today. I have been a Joe Paterno fan for a long time. I have been a Penn State fan for a long time. I’m also, as most of yous know, a huge football fan. I sport a silly Buffalo Bills logo on one of my arms and have a casual dress wardrobe consisting of 95% Buffalo Bills attire. And, yes, even my wallet is a Buffalo Bills wallet.

And yes, it’s silly.

What happened at Penn State over the course of anywhere from 1994-1998-2002-2011 is anything but silly (if, in fact, those dates are accurate--they could well be outdated by the time I post this blog). You can read about the Sandusky/Penn State timeline here (it is ominous).

Unfortunately, this appears to have been, and I have no doubt it was, yet another corporate cover-up; men in charge of a very wealthy institution protecting a brand above the welfare of innocent kids (those we know about and those we probably never will know about).

Jerry Sandusky is what he is, a pedophile, pure and simple. How he got away with so much rape and sexual abuse was facilitated by a community of intelligent men seeking to protect their brand at all costs. Whether they thought he might stop or not is irrelevant. Whether they thought he would go away after his being caught by one of their own (the 28 year old, 6’5” former QB star at Penn State and then graduate assistant) in mid-rape of a boy who “looked to be about 10 years old” is irrelevant. What they didn’t do is what counts.

From the Grand Jury report: As the graduate assistant entered the locker room doors, he was surprised to find the lights and showers on. He then heard rhythmic, slapping sounds. He believed the sounds to be those of sexual activity. As the graduate assistant put the sneakers in his locker, he looked into the shower. He saw a naked boy, Victim 2, whose age he estimated to be ten years old, with his hands up against the wall, being subjected to anal intercourse by a naked Sandusky. The graduate assistant was shocked but noticed that both Victim 2 and Sandusky saw him. The graduate assistant left immediately, distraught.

What happened next: The graduate assistant went to his office and called his father, reporting to him what he had seen. His father told the graduate assistant to leave the building and come to his home. The graduate assistant and his father decided that the graduate assistant had to promptly report what he had seen to Coach Joe Paterno ("Paterno"), head football coach of Penn State. The next morning, a Saturday, the graduate assistant telephoned Paterno and went to Paterno's home, where he reported what he had seen.

Joseph V. Paterno testified to receiving the graduate assistant's report at his home on a Saturday morning. Paterno testified that the graduate assistant was very upset. Paterno called Tim Curley ("Curley"), Penn State Athletic Director and Paterno's immediate superior, to his home the very next day, a Sunday, and reported to him that the graduate assistant had seen Jerry Sandusky in the Lasch Building showers fondling or doing something of a sexual nature to a young boy.

Why the graduate assistant didn’t stop the rape, we can safely assume, had much more to do with his future than anything else. He was, after all, eventually hired as a paid assistant coach on the Penn State staff. Until today, he wasn’t even “on leave.”

The grand jury report is horrific to read. What is at least equally horrific was the handling of this pedophile by the football head coach and the university. What we can read thus far is that Jerry Sandusky retired in 1999, one year after winning an Assistant Coach of the Year award (an award that would enable him to take most head coaching jobs at other schools, or an uptick to the NFL--he coached the linebackers and Penn State is known as “Linebacker U.”) Why he left so suddenly might have a lot more to do with a charge brought to the campus police in 1998 from the mother of Victims 4-6 (in the Grand Jury report). That “retirement” appears to have been a deal unless you choose not to see it that way. If you’re Jerry Sandusky, it appears to have been a pretty good deal, since essentially nothing happened to him in any way shape or form. He was only 55, relatively young for a football coach. You can read about his abrupt retirement here.

Again from the Grand Jury report: Detective Schreffler testified that he and State College Police Department Detective Ralph Ralston, with the consent of the mother of Victim 6, eavesdropped on two conversations the mother of Victim 6 had with Sandusky on May 13, 1998, and May 19, 1998. The mother of Victim 6 confronted Sandusky about showering with her son, the effect it had on her son, whether Sandusky had sexual feelings when he hugged her naked son in the shower and where Victim 6's buttocks were when Sandusky hugged him Sandusky said he had showered with other boys and Victim 6's mother tried to make Sandusky promise never to shower with a boy again but he would not. She asked him if his "private parts" touched Victim 6 when he bear-hugged him. Sandusky replied, "I don't think so...maybe." At the conclusion of the second conversation, after Sandusky was told he could not see Victim 6 anymore, Sandusky said, "I understand. I was wrong. I wish I could get forgiveness. I know I won't get it from you. I wish I were dead." Detective Ralston and the mother of Victim 6 confirm these conversations.

Jerry Lauro, an investigator with the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, testified that during the 1998 investigation, Sandusky was interviewed on June 1, 1998, by Lauro and Detective Schreffler. Sandusky admitted showering naked with Victim 6, admitted to hugging Victim 6 while in the shower and admitted that it was wrong. Detective Schreffler advised Sandusky not to shower with any child again and Sandusky said that he would not.

And from Victim #4’s testimoney: Victim 4 stated that Sandusky would wrestle with him and maneuver him into a position in which Sandusky's head was at Victim 4's genitals and Victim 4's head was at Sandusky's genitals. Sandusky would kiss Victim 4's inner thighs and genitals. Victim 4 described Sandusky rubbing his genitals on Victim 4's face and inserting his erect penis in Victim 4's mouth. There were occasions when this would result in Sandusky ejaculating. He testified that Sandusky also attempted to penetrate Victim 4's anus with both a finger and his penis. There was slight penetration and Victim 4 resisted these attempts.

The Grand Jury report is available everywhere and it provides an ugly and graphic image of what pedophiles do; their Modus Operandi (which is incredibly similar between all the victims) and their inability to control themselves.

Where does Joe Paterno fit in all this? If you chose to ignore his own admission of guilt in not doing enough (“I wish I had done more”), perhaps you can excuse him for looking the other way. Joe Paterno was Penn State, but let’s make him much less than his iconic image as the most immaculate football coach of all time. Let’s just make him a head football coach ... or a graduate assistant ... or a janitor (like the one who also witnessed Sandusky performing oral sex on a young boy but was too afraid of losing his job to go further than telling his co-workers and supervisor about it--that too is in the grand jury report).

It is the cumulative inaction of the graduate assistant, the head coach and the janitor (aside from university officials notified from as early as 1998) that permitted a known pedophile to continue abusing young boys, but there is no doubt it was the head coach’s responsibility to make sure Sandusky's actions were exposed the moment he was alerted.

The Graduate Assistant in a more confident moment?

Why Paterno chose to go with legal protocol over the morally right thing to do has much more to do with protecting the brand (the program, his legacy and the university) than it has to do with him being a bad man. I doubt Joe Paterno is a bad man at all, but I have no doubt that his inaction in this situation was based on his prioritization of the program/his legacy and the university above the welfare of innocent kids.

So, yes, he should’ve been fired. That should’ve happened a few minutes after this grand jury report was made public. The graduate assistant (and receivers coach, Mike McQueary) should’ve been fired a half second after Paterno. McQueary is probably the hardest person in this entire fiasco to understand--how he could leave the premises where he witnessed a boy who looked to be about 10 years old being raped to call his daddy is beyond incredulous.

I suspect there will be a lot more Penn State officials (and coaches) who should be filing for unemployment and we’ll learn about them as this investigation continues. I doubt the two pieces of shit (Tim Curley and Gary Schultz) arrested for perjury will ever do any time, but they should. Ultimately, at least by official protocol, they were most responsible to do something other than cover up the crimes of rape going on in their own backyard.

Ultimately this scandal was all about protecting the institution and its program above the welfare of innocent kids, but let’s face it, that’s usually the case when lives are counterbalanced against money. Penn State football is worth more than $50 million a year to the university. Hopefully, this scandal will cost them ten times that amount.

Penn State will be rocked hard for this one. As I understand it, a few high school star athletes have already rescinded their letters of intent to play there. Why should they attend Penn State? They won’t have Joe Pa. They won’t have much respect choosing Penn State and they won’t know how much further this scandal will grow (or whether or not the program will be suspended, etc.). All of that was avoidable had one of the many involved in the cover-up done the right thing.

The recruiting exodus from Penn State will not be so easy to undo over the coming years.

Two columns this week in the New York Times were pretty consistent with what I’ve heard so many people say in person. One, between Gail Collins and David Brooks, deals with conflicting gender responses; some women want to see the program put to sleep, at least for a while, while men want to punish those responsible, but not the kids playing the games. The other article is by Maureen Dowd and it speaks to the shame of what happened at Penn State.

Brooks and Collins — The Horror Show at Penn State

Maureen Dowd — Personal Foul at Penn State

Dowd’s article contains this bit of irony I didn’t know of until I read her. Prosecutors suggest that the former coach, whose memoir is ironically titled “Touched,” founded the charity as a way to ensnare boys. They have charged Sandusky, now 67, with sexually assaulting eight boys he met there.

No music today, Amici. I wasn’t even supposed to blog about this because of how backed up I am on other projects/reviews, etc.

I will be posting a review here of Ed Gorman’s book, Bad Moon Rising next week. Patti Abott’s site will post a review of mine on John McFetridge’s Let It Ride ... and then I have a few dozen others to catch up with (Road Rules, The Suburbs of Heaven, etc.) ... a play to finish writing, a novel to address, and some short stories coming out of my ears but currently not landing anywhere.

And yes, that “stories coming out of my ears” was a segue for the Doc to go wild with ... although since his party of political choice seems to be coming apart at the lips, he has gone a bit silent.

—Knucks

Steinbeck ... Crime Factory: The First Shift ... Italia ... Go Bills ...

2011-11-05T12:03:00.000-04:00

Amici:

We have this bit on Saturday mornings, the Principessa Ann Marie and I ... I sleep late (5:00 a.m.) and go down to the computer and start in on whatever project I went to sleep thinking about the night before. This morning there were two short stories for my MFA class I wanted to work on; one a rewrite, the other something new. I’m down there a couple of extra hours because the wife stays up in bed with the dog to give me some extra alone time. Then I go up to do my business and she escapes downstairs with Rigoletto to feed him and put on the television.

Usually she puts on Law & Order and we watch a few reruns together before we head off to breakfast at the local diner a few blocks away, but this morning, when I return from the Casa Stella library (kindle in hand with a big smile--having just read some of Ed Gorman’s latest Sam McCain novel, Bad Moon Rising--review next week), what do I see but John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath on the television.

Steinbeck’s classic is one of my favorite of all time, especially the structure of the book, the descriptive narrative starts to chapters that embodied what was to come, but it is this passage that most epitomizes the theme.

This is the beginning—from “I” to “we”. If you who own the things people must have could understand this, you might preserve yourself. If you could separate causes from results, if you could know that Paine, Marx, Jefferson, Lenin were results, not causes, you might survive. But that you cannot know. For the quality of owning freezes you forever into “I”, and cuts you off forever from the “we”.

Anyway, without getting preachy about this great work of American literature, it also reminded me of a duet by Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello singing The Ghost of Tom Joad ...

Crime Factory: The First Shift ... Get this book, Amici ... some very fine writing in this here collection. The review on the link has this to say: I've read Tafoya's, Smith's, and Stella's contributions so far. Tafoya and Smith are established Detectives Beyond Borders favorites, and Stella became a new one with his story "The Decider," an act of workplace wish fulfillment that management might want to keep out of workers' hands.

Charles (not Charlie) Stella has returned from Italia with his bride ... and they visited the home town where momma Stella was born ... here are some of the pictures, including the church where she was baptized 82 years ago!

That's Charles (not Charlie) outside Momma Stella's home town.

Che Bella!

The house ...

The church ...

The square ...

Mangia ...

Leslie!

Lovers ... that's what I'm talking about ...

He can't help himself ...

The kids also went to Venice, Rome and Florence (and swore next time they'd actually visit the REAL ITALIA (Sicilia) rather than hang around with all those Swiss and French types up north ... more pictures coming from Venezia and Florence down the TK road.

Bills-Yets (Moonachie Green) ... Forgetaboutit ... we’ll rock Fatso and his Yets ...

Bills 35, Moonachie Green 17

—Knucks

One of Momma Stella’s favorites ... (Bad Woman) ...

A Great Show ... Link to a Review ... Other stuff ...

2011-11-03T05:53:00.001-04:00

Amici:

The Principessa Ann-Marie and I saw a terrific show by a super talented lady (Deborah Karpel), a former co-worker from the Chrysler Building. Songs my Mother Never Taught me ... or Miracles was a one woman show (with an accompanying pianist) featuring comedy, family, nostalgia and the Mets! Mets! Mets! The Queens number Deborah (wrote) and performed was hilarious and my wife and I loved it. A kind of tribute to her parents that was as heartwarming as it was entertaining. Deborah sang Yiddish/Klezmer songs, Opera (from Le Nozze di Figaro) ... and that Queens Number that had us in stitches.

What’s Klezmer, you ask? Click here to find out, but understand that even the King of Swing was influenced by it ...

The house was packed (literally people sitting in the rafters) and we wish we could’ve hung around but we live in the wilds of New Jersey (many miles from 161 Chrystie Street), where, as it so happens, I used to play my two sons in our SBA championships (my home court in Little Italy when I lived there).

Tickets anyone? The NYPD Blue, ever vigilant (about not pepper spraying or beating women while being videoed on Youtube anymore) have better things to do ... so once I was in the city to pick up Ann Marie, I was early (as usual) and parked a few blocks away and read a book. At 5:00 p.m., when she gets out, I drove to her block and idled in front of her building. This was too great an assault on New York’s finest (by order of their BILLIONAIRE Mayor), [wouldn’t it be nice if the foot soldiers realized they’re screwing those in the same boat as they are?] so ... they blocked the car of a working slob as if I could race away from them (where THE FOCK was I going to go?) ... I was idling, engine running, windows open in case a traffic person told me to move on (what one would expect), but the NYPD doesn’t fool around. Instead of saying, “Hey, buddy (or fatso), you can’t park here. Move on.” Nope, not Bloomberg’s stormtroopers ... they blocked my car (like cameras were rolling) and one of them got out with his little ticket book (and a smile) and asked for my ID. Five minutes later, “Here you go, Sir” (very professional) ... a $115.00 ticket. Way to go Mayor Bloomberg! As a former NY’er who spent lots of coin in MY city, you (and IT) can kiss my coin goodbye, MF’er. My trips to the city will be seriously curtailed.

Jerkoffs.

A few months ago I read a new novel from New Pulp Press called “In Nine Kinds of Pain” ... here’s the link to The Crime of It All and my review of a terrific new author with a press unafraid to showcase new talent in new ways. Graphics, poems, you name it, this slice of Detroit life is a wonderful read, amici. I really, really, really thought this one was GREAT.

In Nine Kinds of Pain.

So, how are all of you doing out there financially? Don’t look now, but Wall Street had its best month since 2002 ... Yep, those “free markets” sure are working for all us average types. All that profit the “job creators” have now that we bailed them out ... well, I guess they’re waiting for the right opportunity to invest in America (as they like to say). Maybe once all the hospitals and schools are closed and a few hundred million of us die off, those annoying government regulations (that are never enforced anyway) will be gone and we can return to a minimum wage of, say, $3.00 an hour? Yep, those unemployment numbers should start dropping any day now ... any day ... prosperity is just around the corner ...

any day now ...

More homers makes for good baseball? Why not play on little league fields? I’m telling you, this is what makes me crazy ... the absolute ruination of the national past time. I really used to enjoy WATCHING baseball games ... I can remember running home from school as a kid to catch the St. Louis Cardinals playing the Detroit Tigers in an afternoon game ... and here my METS go and put an extra twist in the dagger of a game I can barely watch for two innings anymore. Shorten the fences? Again?

What I”m reading ... right now I’m having a blast reading John (Toronto Bills) McFetridge’s Let It Ride on kindle ... He is without a doubt, the Canadian Elmore Leonard ... how this guy isn’t selling like Leonard is beyond me ... great stuff. Full review next week.

Upcoming reads:

Finding a Girl in America: A Novella and Ten Stories, Andre Dubus.
The Suburbs of Heaven, Merle Drown (a reread)
Road Rules, Jim Winter

Bills-Yets ... well, Amici, the BIG MOUTH Yets go to Orchard Park to take on my beloved New York State Buffalo Bills ... and don’t think that NYPD “parking” ticket isn’t an issue come Sunday ... this one may be too close to call.

Yeah, right ... Bill 35, Yets 17.

Ground and pound this, fatso ...

—Knucks

And how 'bout that Contessa!

Campbell Hoyt … Russell Means … Heath Lowrence link … Deborah Karpel ... 2 Stella Plays ... Buffalo Bills

2011-10-26T05:15:00.005-04:00

Amici:

From a co-worker ... In August 2009, a little 3-year-old girl named Campbell Hoyt in my town was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor called ependymoma. Campbell had the tumor removed and was cancer-free for 21 months. The cancer recently returned, this time in her spine. After a long summer at Children’s Hospital in Boston, Campbell, now age 5, is home with her parents and two older sisters. The chemotherapy drugs that help treat residual tumors that Campbell suffers with are very expensive. In order to defray the costs of Campbell's medical treatment, local families are having a pie sale organized through a local charity named Heartworks. All proceeds from this pie sale will go directly towards Campbell's treatment costs.

For more information on Campbell and her family, please visit this link.

There are many worthy charities in need of your help and unfortunately more than a few children suffer the ravages of cancer. If, however, you feel moved to help support the treatment of this little girl, please see the attached flyer. Any donation in lieu of a pie order would also be graciously accepted. Donations can be made by check payable to Heartworks and are tax deductible.

While we’re on the subject of charity and how good it will make you feel once you put aside a Starbucks Mocha gots’n-gool and push the $5.00 bucks they cost towards those in need (Starbucks is doing fine), here’s another person in need. Russell Means, a Native American pioneer of the Republic of Lakotah movement. We’re doing what we can when we can from casa Stella … and yes, it does feel good to do so.

Russell Means information … From the American Indian Movement of Colorado (taken from Ben Whitmer’s blog):

Our brother and leader, Russell Means is involved in a tenacious fight against the cruelest of invader diseases — cancer. As usual, however, Russell is putting up an exemplary resistance. He has been relying on our traditional medicines, and ceremonies, and has been treated by indigenous healers from the Lakota (Crow Dog), Dinéh (Morgan), and Anishinabe (Turtle Lodge). In addition, he is undergoing alternative treatments in Arizona. Visit his website www.republicoflakotah.com for updates.

These treatments are quite expensive, and our brother needs all of our help. If Russell has ever touched your life, has ever inspired or taught you anything, has ever made your proud to be Indian, or to be a human being, now is the time to repay him. Thank you.

You may mail your donation to: Russell Means Healing Fund, 444 Crazy Horse Drive, Porcupine, SD 57772

Let's face it, the above picture is about 1,000 pounds ago ...

And over at Heath Lowrance’s Psycho Noir site, the ugly one was honored to be his first No Rules guest blogger … Heath is a hell of a writer and an even nicer guy for having me. Just click on this link and catch a scene from my next novel, Rough Riders (the sequel to Eddie’s World) …

Before we get to this Stella and his dopey plays, here's a show we (the Principessa Ann Marie and myself) can't wait to see (next Tuesday, November 1st). TK has mentioned Deborah Karpel (that's her album above) before (2 blogs ago) and now her show is set and ready to go. So, here it is:

Songs My Mother Never Taught Me

November 1, 2011

Dixon Place NYC

7:30 pm One Night Only!

Okay, so here's the 2 Stella plays mentioned above ... the wife went and did it (managed to do it), get two plays of mine transferred from the old VCR format to DVD. The quality isn’t very great, but it ain’t bad, either. These were plays performed at the 45th Street theatre way back in the day (1989, I think). Mr. Ronnie’s Confession was based on a dear friend of mine (Mr. Ronnie) who was married in Las Vegas and once told me about “second acting” plays; essentially following a crowd of people back into the theatre before the 2nd act started and not having to pay for the tickets. In the play, Mr. Ronnie (not the Mr. Ronnie, the fictional one) has to go to confession before he can get married and the Irish priest he says his confession to in Hell’s Kitchen is put to the test. Randy Messersmith played Mr. Ronnie and for the life of me, I can’t remember the guy who played the Irish priest (and I should be smacked for it), but he was very, very good (as was Randy--he had us laughing pretty hard upstairs).

Double or Nothing was a play I wrote about a gambling addiction (craps) and although I had to fire the actor’s equity rep just a few days before the play opened (because he couldn’t remember his lines--proving once and for all that even socialists won’t put up with union reps who don’t do their jobs), the director filled in at the last minute and saved us. Sam Blasco was the director who played Mike in Double or Nothing. He went up on a few lines (fever four was a killer for me--FIVE, FIVE, FIVE, I wanted to yell) but he only had a few nights to get it all down so good on him for pulling it off. Paige Alenius played Mike’s wife and Kent Osborne played Tim, the room service kid. Both Paige and Kent were really wonderful and both have gone on to have substantial careers in the business (so good on them). Double or Nothing is about a guy on vacation in Bermuda to try and kick the habit (gambling) and although his wife had been feeding herself gallons of coffee to stay awake and keep an eye on him, she finally drifts off to sleep and Mike manages to hoodwink the room service kid into spending the night with her (she reaches over in her sleep to check on his being in bed every so often) ... Mike gets out and hunts up some action. I used to have the playbills for these two (had one framed) but I think they were lost between marriages.

I’m making my prediction early this week since my beloved New York State Buffalo Bills had a bye last week ... this week the Washingtonians come to Orchard Park but we’re still pissed from the Moonachie Blue game ... so it’ll be us in a closer game than it should be; figure Bills 27, Washington 23.

—Knucks

Music for Double or Nothing ... Tom Waits, Fumblin’ with the Blues ...

Books, a Movie & a few pot shots and Blind Faith (the kind you should listen to) ...

2011-10-20T19:41:00.002-04:00

Amici:

It’s getting near the end of my first semester in the SNHU MFA program. The semester ends mid-November and I’m not anxious for the end. Frankly, I’m enjoying it too much … although I am looking forward to semester #2. One reason is this joint:

Winter Mountain Retreat

Yep, that’s what I’m talking about … I’m figuring it’s an extra reward for braving the shutter island typhoons from last June, but take a look-see at this joint and tell me yous wouldn’t want to go. Forgetaboutit, we’re all in … as in the Principessa Ann Marie (the wife/boss to yous nons) will be there too.

Start to finish, this first semester in the SNHU MFA program has been an excellent experience for the ugly one. It’s been a great joy to read so many great authors I hadn’t read before. Although I have read Andre Dubus in the past (and can recommend a book of interviews with him Edited by my original writing mentor’s son, (Dave Gresham’s younger son, Ross Gresham (Leap of the Heart), my reading this go was infused with a bit more clarity and much more interest.

The above mentioned interview book with Dubus.

Andre Dubus … a short story collection by Andre Dubus that was titled (In the Bedroom because of the movie made from the first story, Killings). This one was recommended by my mentor in SNHU's MFA program it proved another winner. Although I’m not as bewitched by Dubus style as I was by Richard Bausch, there’s no denying there are a few terrific stories in this short collection. To be fair, I ordered another of his collection (Adultery and other Choices). One of the interesting themes throughout many of his stories was Catholicism and how many of his characters were able to cling to their faith despite Vatican/Church bureaucracy and/or archaic dogma.

Declan Burke – Absolute Zero Cool … There’s an Irish author way beyond having good writing chops. He’s also smart (as in he’s very well read and aware of lots around him—past and present). His ability to call on “lines of the day” (quoting Aristotle and others) and/or his literary and/or operatic referencing is more than impressive. Add to that, he’s as witty as Ken Bruen and sharp and cynical as Maureen Dowd or Gail Collins (on this side of the pond) and what you have is Declan Burke. Earlier this year I took my first taste of Burke (Eight Ball Boogie, reviewed here) and enjoyed it no end.. This year I managed to pack his latest in (because I enjoyed my first taste so much) between some other crime novels and my MFA readings (this is when life is really good, when there's all this good reading to do) and because of Dana King’s very high recommendation.

It’s a book in a book; a writer either taken over by one of his characters or a writer's alter ego or split in two (or whatever floats your boat), but it is sharp, witty, at times both hilarious and poignant and always well written. Burke takes on the healthcare system on his side of the pond (the closing of hospitals) along with upholding books and exposing a culture apparently determined to dumb down with extreme prejudice (so all the themes are equally as American as apple pie, I’d say). There are pokes at how much of a role dignity plays in our lives and deaths and how we treat those we love and, last but not least, fatherhood.

Billy Karlsson is the character from a prior book that wasn’t to be. He’s a serial killing hospital porter who euthanizes older patients. He’s come back to life (at least in the author’s mind) for another go and manipulates his way into a rebirth project. The author (literally the author) makes a deal and even throes in writing (or rewriting) Bill’s girlfriend, Cassie. But there’s also the author’s real wife and child involved; the time he’s feeling guilt over for writing at all anymore (while his wife is paying the freight, keeping the house and raising the child), and there’s what all to do about it except finish the two projects on his plate (one with a pre-paid advance deadline (Crime Always Pays) and the other is Billy Karlsson’s rewrite.

And then there’s the book Karlsson is writing (or is it imaginary) about the Greek Gods. No time for writer’s block in these tombs.

NO spoilers ever at TK, so get this book and have a very fun time reading the talented Mr. Burke (and there really is a reference to Patricia Highsmith in the book).

Absolute Zero Cool is an absolutely wonderful read, start to finish. Declan Burke has penned the most original work of cross-genre fiction I’ve read in a long time. Literary, socially conscious, journalistically cynical and a touch of crime fiction (that bit about killing off patients and a plan to blow up a hospital) make Absolute Zero Cool and absolute must read.

Head On ... We’ve reviewed this one here before but here it is again. See it, amici. Wild as they come; intriguing, interesting ... and ultimately bittersweet. Sibel Kekilli and Birol Ünel are MAGNIFICENT.

Goldman loses money ... For the first time since the advent of the financial meltdown, and for only the second time since 1999 when it became a publicly traded company, Goldman Sachs has — Gasp! Horror! Shock! — lost some money.

The Vegas Debate ... the wife and I were cringing watching the display of clowns Tuesday night in Lost Wages, Nevada and eventually looked to each other and shook our heads. Are these people really the ONLY other choice versus a proven unadulterated incompetent? Well, let Gail Collins fill you in on the debate; she tells it much better than I can. Here’s an example: This week’s debate was a triumph for Perry, who not only put Romney on the defensive, but did it in complete sentences. He did get lost in the weeds during a discussion of Romney’s Mormonism. (“And this country is based on, as Newt talked about, these values that are so important as we go forward, and the idea that we should not have our freedom of religion, to be taken away by any means.”)

Of course watching this latest GOP debate fiasco, I still can’t believe it is actually sanctioned by the cash behind the GOP … which set a capitalist conspiracy theory to work … is it possible the money behind the GOP is so happy with Obama that they put out this collection of clowns to make sure he wins re-election? You gotta wonder … because (see next story) …

Obama still flush with cash from financial sector despite frosty relations.

Hope and Change, huh?

Issues with Harvard ... well, maybe just Presidents and QB’s ... I’d like to think my beloved New York State Buffalo Bills Quarterback has more common sense than our President, but after throwing an interception (which was a redo of an earlier interception thrown to the same wrong shoulder of our receiver (inside instead of outside), on the same pattern and to the same defender (rather than our receiver) on a 1st and ten from the Moonachie Blue 27 yard line with 3 minutes left in the game, it’s difficult to assign common sense to our guy. Three runs and an attempted field goal was the smarter choice, but Fitzpatrick chose giving the game away instead. Hopefully, unlike the bozo in the white house who gave away $700 billion no strings attached, Fitz will learn from his mistakes.

And on that note, the Bills have a bye this weekend ... Go whoever plays the Cheatriots or the Yets!

—Knucks

For Mr. Dubus ...

The Outlaw Album ... Bush III ... Wall Street III ... Bills v. Moonachie (part I of III) ...

2011-10-14T21:17:00.003-04:00

Amici:

How good is Daniell Woodrell? Well, most of yous already know. He’s a great writer, brilliant, an American treasure finally given the proper exposure via a movie based on one of his many brilliant novels, but he was a great writer long before Winter's Bone hit the big screen. First of all, it was a novel, one of his 8 or so and while Tomato Red remains my favorite work of his, this new collection of his short stories is right up there.

In our MFA program (SNHU MFA), I’m permitted to pick a book each month to write a craft essay on and my mentor assigns another. Thus far the reading assignments have been no end enlightening (my mentor, Mitch Wieland, knows his stuff), but this month I chose Woodrell as my choice. It was a late decision (made 2 days ago) after starting on the magic he wove in The Outlaw Album. The first three stories alone are worth the price of admission; there should be bonuses paid the author for what comes afterward. I won’t bore you with craft essay speak, but the justice Woodrell’s characters dole out is nothing short of that magic I mentioned earlier. Later on, a story about a father rejecting a social workers appeal to a parole board for his son’s early release is right there with Faulkner’s The Sound and The Fury. I’m loving this MFA thing way more than I thought possible but finally I get to add something to the flavor (via Daniell Woodrell’s collection of short stories, The Outlaw Album). I’m not sure there’s a better writer in America today.

By the way, I have Keith Rawson to thank for learning about The Outlaw Album. It was an interview Keith did with Woodrell where I caught up. Click on the link, it’s a GREAT interview.

The country is in bad, bad shape ... way too many people remain out of work, jobs continue to be outsourced overseas, foreclosures are about to go through the ceiling again and the gap between the rich and everybody else has become a friggin’ chasm. So, here’s the game plan ... let’s go to war someplace ... how about Africa!

You’ll have to google for the story because, as you know, the media isn’t biased one way or the other (isn’t democracy under capitalism great?), but if you do google “Troops to Africa” you’ll get this: Obama sends troops to Africa.

Let me tell you, I thought this guy was a huckster as soon as he handed over all that gelt to his best friends on Wall Street no strings attached, but now I’m convinced he’s an out and out moron. This is what Democratic Liberals will stick to their party for from fear they might lose? The last I checked, Obama has upticked GW on just about everything ... he’s Bush III on steroids but don’t bother mentioning it to Democratic loyalists because they’re in Hope and Change denial (on steriods).

So how’s that working for you?

WALL STREET III – MONEY NEVER WEEPS ...

Appropriately enough, when I went to read Charles Krauthammer’s assault on the Wall Street Protesters this morning in the Washington Post, up popped a Citibank Ad … it’s always good to be warned about what you’re in for. My guess was Sir Charles of Crud was attempting to preempt any Democratic (Obama) attempt to harness the energy of a people fed up with the shaft they’ve been given for 30 years. Now try and imagine how American Natives feel? You know the ones who would truly like "THEIR" country back. I mean, since it was actually THEIRS and all.

Kind of silly, don’t you think? Especially since Krauthammer pointed at Obama’s record (a record any Republican would be proud of as regards the rewarding of corporate America). But Sir Square of Pants isn’t about to acknowledge what amounts to the beginning of his (and his ilk’s) end. Even if it isn’t successful right now, it is an omen of things to come; the frustrations of people perhaps FINALLY coming to terms with the underlying cause of their angst.

Whether the Wall Street protesters (or those around the country) are aware of it or not, what they’re up in arms over has much more to do with the inequalities capitalism depends on than anything else. Sure there are spoiled brats there who want their “fair share” of the meat of the pie (and who would have no problem serving the rest of us the crumbs once they get what they want), but there are also people there (union workers come to mind) who are tired of being vilified for trying to make a living with some modicum of dignity. There are those up in arms over bailouts to multi-billion dollar corporations and banks who continue to outsource American jobs overseas. And, of course, there are kids upset at the fact their $50-100K+ student loans will have to be paid off while they work at Target. Now, does that mean they have become socially conscious of a sudden? Does it mean they care more for a greater good than how much coin they’ll make so they can one day bow their heads to icons of capitalism like Steve Jobs without shame? Probably not, but the fact the numbers of protesters and protests are growing worries the barons of Wall Street a lot more than they let on.

What happens if it turns violent? First off, I’d be real suspicious about shills paid to start trouble. Second, I’d say looks like the chickens are aiming for home after all. Should the violence continue to come from those protecting Wall Street (the NYPD comes to mind), it will only add fuel to the fire. Sooner or later, bullies get their comeuppance and the money has been doing the bullying plenty long enough.

Now, is this really it, finally, the revolution? I doubt it, but make no mistake that it’s a start, and perhaps THE start.

Of course the Democrats (Obama in particular) are/is failing to seize the moment and at least make a show of understanding our angst. Imagine a so-called progressive president doing something progressive (for a change) and not worrying about losing an election he’s just about given away to a party considered dead less than four years ago? Don’t hold your breath. This guy knows his days in the oval office may well be numbered and he isn’t about to risk standing on principal now. Think back to the con he handed us in 2008 and all the little details he forgot to follow-up on.

Or maybe he just doesn’t like comfortable shoes … who knows.

Oy vey iz mir …

Hope and Change remains in the peoples hands and it is there it will either come to pass or pass for a little while longer. Stop shitting your pants, Liberal Democrats ... take a friggin’ stand that means something. Get off the friggin’ “I’m disappointed in him, sure, but ...” bandwagon. Grow a friggin’ pair! Wise the frig up!

No, money never weeps … not until enough of those chickens come home to roost ... and brothers and sisters, the greed on Wall Street has been ringing the dinner bell for a long-assed time already.

Bills v. Moonachie ... oh, baby, is big blue in for it this weekend. You think Eli had issues last week? We’re number 1 in intercepts thus far this season; 4 vs. Miss Brady from the Cheatriots; 4 more against the dream team dog killing pieces of shit Eaglettes and a few from the other games we’ve played … you think Eli might be a little nervous right now? My beloved New York State Buffalo Bills continue the stampede in a 2nd half blowout/GIANT collapse: Bills 40, the GEEEEEEEEmen 20.

—Knucks

Do you hear the people?

Book reviews … No more Palin? ... So long Skankies ... Bills-Dog Killers Sunday ...

2011-10-08T06:56:00.000-04:00

Amici:

Barry Graham’s The Champion’s New Clothes is a wonderful novel set around the dark, dangerous and always intriguing world of professional boxing (the Scottish version). As a big fan of Eddie Muller’s noir boxing novels, I didn’t know what to expect and was very pleasantly surprised by how this very different boxing tale engaged me. Graham deals with relationships that happen to revolve around the boxing world; through personal struggles that exist in all worlds. Like Muller’s boxing journalist (Billy Nichols), Billy Piers also writes about the boxing circuit. Unlike Nichols, Piers is a former boxer. Also unlike Nichols, Piers has to deal with a full-time tension-filled relationship, that with his live-in love (Karen), a woman struggling with paranoid schizophrenia and all the damage it heaps on not only herself, but those closest to her (Piers, for one).

Piers is writing a book while hanging around the camp of Ricky Mellon, a friend and a kid training for his shot at the lightweight title. Mellon is a brawler more than a boxer and the title is pretty much everything he’s lived for (and what a bittersweet moment he’s in for after the bout).

There’s a good bit of boxing we learn about throughout the piece, including the problem with overtraining and the damage that can do (it’s been a particular issue for me with weight lifting meets in the past--peaking too soon before a meet), but the bulk of this novel is about Piers falling for his neighbor (Kerry) while trying to deal with his live-in-love (Karen) and her issues). The Champion’s New Clothes is a modern day verismo opera; relationships requiring the kinds of sacrifice it takes to be a champion without knowing what the belt might bring. A surprising, unsettling open ending that offers no fairytale of a future.

Sandra Ruttan opens her latest novel, Harvest of Ruins, with a chapter that ends with a hook readers will not ignore. There’s some terrific writing going on here, including a word game that ends in a poignant and powerful moment (here taken out of context):

“I know what personification means.”

It was the day of the funeral, and the sky was crying.

You don’t learn how to write powerful passages like that. You get there through years of doing the work that is writing. This is powerful stuff later the same day brought me to an emotional moment (at work, of course, so it was totally uncomfortable for me).

Hunter, a single mom detective, had a former partner (Tom), with whom she had a relationship. She’s on trial for negligent homicide and it has much to do with Tom’s daughter (Evelyn/Vinnie); Hunter once had to inform Tom about Vinnie’s drug overdose. Vinnie is a kid who has already gone through the emotional trauma of her boyfriend’s suicide (or was it?), her parent’s divorce (and her mother is a bit of a whackjob herself). And what about that relationship between Hunter and Tom? Any residuals involved?

And what about the kids, Evelyn/Vinnie’s friends? There’s something not right about one in particular ... and it is here the author does a wonderful job of presenting a kid’s perspective(s) on some of the issues kids have to deal with day-to-day.

Told mostly during Hunter’s trial for negligent homicide, the author uses some neat tools of the trade (flashbacks, alternative perspectives, newspaper articles, television news accounts) in her best work to date, Harvest of Ruins.

No spoilers here, ever, so you’ll have to read to learn what happens next, but I can guarantee you this much, it is a tale told in a very effective writing style; plotted with twists and turns and some not so run of the mill circumstances. One mark of good writers is how they get better and better at their craft, and Harvest of Ruins is one such mark for this very gifted author.

Palin isn’t running ... bummer, dudes (and gals) ... the one question I was hoping she’d have to answer (had anyone in the media found the balls to ask her) was: “When you say “take our country back” ... can you define “our” please? Something tells me she passed up all that “American history” that came before Plymouth Rock (and way before Paul Revere warned the British that ... we were here?).

Oy vey ... I don’t know about yous, but I’m gonna miss this:

Deborah Karpel’s show November 1st. I used to work with this very talented lady. Deborah Karpel is a... jazz, old-time country, pop, and Klezmer-singing, classically-trained opera diva who came up through the ranks of comic improvisation and sings in nine languages. She’s got a show on November 1st ... more details to follow.

Baseball been very messy of late ... so this is what happens when you insist on having a tournament every year instead of letting the 162 game season account for something. The two teams with the best records in baseball are eliminated in a five game series. I can’t tell you how happy this makes me (seriously) ... not only because I’m a hopeless Mets fan, but because I hate what money has done to baseball. Absolutely hate it. So, good, the two big market teams are gone and now you’re stuck with a world series nobody outside of the cities the teams come from will give a shit about. Perfect. Way to go, yet again, MLB.

Now, for the only true sport. How ‘bout those Buffalo Bills! This week it’s us vs. the Philadelphia Dog Killers ... Bills rock the Dog Killers world, 42-16.

—Knucks

One from back in the day that gets the drumming juices flowing again ...

The Doc says ...

2011-10-06T05:08:00.001-04:00

TK Monthly Disclaimer ... The views of Mr. Compassion (the Doc) do not reflect those of Temporary Knucksline. In fact, we’d have to be pretty drunk to land on his planet. But we love him anyway (and are attending 12 step programs to get over it) ... so here he is, straight from his latest anger management rehab, picking on me, my beloved New York State Buffalo Bills, Michelle Obama, well, pretty much everybody, the Doc ...

So where’ve you been, Chaz,

Every night I watch the Wall Street Protests on the news, looking for a portly gentleman wearing a red beret and a torn Buffalo Bills sweatshirt. Your anarchist peeps need you bro. Or are you too busy collecting big paychecks from typing contracts for “The Man”.

All these protests remind me of my glory days as a member of SDS in college. Spending my days, ending the war, singing Melanie songs and bringing peace to the earth… oh and the nights. If you think “makeup” sex is good, you have to try “revolutionary/battling the military, industrial complex” sex. And there was a lot of it in the Peace Movement. Why do you think we were so dedicated?

Sorry about your Buffalo Bills. I must say, I don’t much care for this new strategy of theirs. Normally they spread their 3 wins over the whole season. Now that they’ve won their first 3 games there will be nothing for you to look forward to all season. Don’t worry about it ... have a pizza.

Did you see the photo of Moochelle doing her shopping at Target?

Luckily, there “just happened” to be an AP photographer there to capture the moment of Michelle Antoinette hob-nobbing with the peasants. Call me cynical, but could this be an effort to overshadow the story that her Africa trip cost the taxpayers a half million dollars? They even put some low budget outfit on her because they figure that is how down home folks dress. You can see that the stores where Moochelle usually shops do not have shopping carts. Michelle and her assistant are walking out with their hands full of bags while pushing an empty cart. Then again, most people do not bring their assistants to Target. I usually let my assistant take a nap in the limo while I buy 20 pound bags of tube socks.

Sesame Street will be introducing a new food deprived muppet in an upcoming special on hunger. What a hopeful bedtime story to be giving our pre-schoolers. Personally I think there is also some underlying racial message going on here as well. The new, hungry muppet, Lily, is purple. Obviously the result of some rich, capitalist, blue muppet slumming down in the poorer, red muppet neighborhoods of Sesame Street.

Speaking of Muppets, my favorite muppet, Eric Holder was caught telling fibs about “Fast and Furious”. When asked when he first heard of it Eric said, “A few weeks ago”. It turns out he heard of it almost a year ago. Woops! When pressed about the discrepancy Eric defended himself by saying that he misunderstood the question. Hey, Eric, that’s not a tough question. And this is the top law enforcement official in Obama’s freaking America.

The ACLU (and Ron Paul) have their panties in a knot over the recent killing of the American, Al Qaeda big wig al-Awlaki. They consider the firing of a Hellfire missile up his skirts to be an assassination. The official TK (not really, the editors didn't approve) response to this is:

“Yes it was. Now, how about those Bills.”

Have a good week, Bunky

Doc

Here’s Melanie (after the war)

Wives and Lovers ... The Christie factor ... Revolution on Wall Street ... Bills-Bengals ...

2011-10-02T06:02:00.000-04:00

Amici:

Wives and Lovers ... smitten with the works of Richard Bausch, I recently read one of his novels, Wives and Lovers ... 3 short novels that are gripping, start to finish. I recently wrote a school paper on Bausch’s short stories and titled it American Verismo (i.e., verismo opera) and while the author (in an interview) claims none of his stories are actually real, what he writes about couldn’t be more real; the struggles and challenges and adventures life presents at every turn. I read this collection of short novels for my own sake (as an aside from the MFA program) ... because this author should be read again and again.

Upcoming TK reviews (as I find the time, which I’m really very short on of late) include:

Barry Graham’s, The Champion’s New Clothes (which I’ve started and am enjoying no end).

Sandra Ruttan’s, Harvest of Ruins (up next in the cue and something I’ve been looking forward to reading)

Declan Burke, Absolute Zero (another I’ve been anxious to read).

And now, the Christie factor ...

Some cheer at the above “let them eat cake” attitude of Mr. Christie. Others (most) see this as the class warfare the have nots are faced with. An attitude that says: If you can’t afford to pay $38K in property taxes (i.e., if you’re not loaded), tough noogies. He’s telling us he’s done well, Mr. Christie is ... and so if we haven’t done as well, tough shit. Some imbeciles on the right cheer for Christie’s rebuke of taxpayers who can’t afford private schools for their kids and his never ending defense of the wealthy at the expense of the rest of us. Others look at this and smile (moi, for one) ... because it is this attitude that is gathering momentum (protestors) on Wall Street; it is Christie’s attitude that the people are starting to realize is nothing more than a slap in our collective faces. Let us eat cake? How about you push your fat self away from the table, Jumbo?

Democrats already know he’s no Sarah Palin. The big man can talk the talk and walk the walk money men adore; he tells unions how it will be, like it or not, and he plays to the crowd already conned into thinking the closer to a free market we get, the better things will be. Translation: he’s pro big business, anti worker, exactly what the Republican Party loves. Coming on the heels of the disaster Obama has been to the American worker, those running businesses will continue to have the cake-walk environment established by a Democratic President who skipped his chance to bat for the little guy by ducking his campaign promises to unions (for one thing). So, unless this whale from New Jersey (Christie, not me) has some very big-ass skeletons in his closet, should he run, Mr. Obama will be one and done.

Which is all the more reason, democratic loyalists claim, to make sure Obama doesn’t lose in 2012, because the other guys will be worse.

Worse than Obama for the working man? Really? That’s possible?

Instead of being “disappointed” with The One, try looking at the facts of what he’s done to the working man these last three years (how corporations wound with up record profits (and bonuses) via his bailout and workers have never been in worse shape) and then look at ALL the options out there instead of pointing fingers at the other major party and shitting your pants. Yes, Christie will side with big business and against the American worker exactly the way he did in Jersey. And this is why voting either party nets the same result, pro big business/corporations, anti-worker. Or why didn’t President Obama support the unions he pledged he would defend if collective bargaining were ever threatened?

We sent him a pair. Did yous?

That’s three pizza’s he’s signaling for above ... pies, not slices ...

Well, the picture below ... not exactly in YOUR favor ...

Leave it to the banks ... when all else fails (and to maintain record profits), banks will now charge the consumer with their own version of a tax (a monthly user fee) ... where are the Ayn Randers now?

The Capitalist Police State ... last week when 90 pound protestors tried to film the police, they were pepper-sprayed and abused while being arrested. Yesterday the NYPD upped the anti and picked off 500 protestors on the Brooklyn Bridge.

In addition to what they view as excessive force and unfair treatment of minorities, including Muslims, the movement is also protesting against home foreclosures, high unemployment and the 2008 bailouts.

Filmmaker Michael Moore and actress Susan Sarandon have stopped by the protesters' camp, which is plastered with posters with anti-Wall Street slogans and has a kitchen and library, to offer their support.

While TK wonders where the so-called champions of the little guy were during all this the last few weeks, all we hear are the sounds of silence. The President, so used to dumping the little guy when the little guy most needs his support (see Wisconsin teachers union, et al), is campaigning ... or on vacation again, one of the two. Local Democrats are hiding, as is their way, while Susan Sarandon and Michael Moore show up (at least they do that much). And Republicans, no doubt, are having a good old time watching the video clips of police dragging kids across Wall Street.

Bills at Bengals today ... the wife received her two presents (Bills home and away t-shirts) and today we’ll be wearing the white as we travel to Cincinnati for a battle with the Bengals. This is one of those sleeper games you mark as a WIN on your schedule and then lose ... but our beloved New York State Buffalo Bills seem to have the right attitude right now and I don’t see them sleepwalked just yet. Bills 30, Bengals 20.

Go Bills!

—Knucks

And how 'bout those Buffalo Jills!

The Doc apologizes?

2011-09-27T04:02:00.000-04:00

Amici:

Say it ain't so. Here he is ... Mr. Warmth & Compassion ...

Okay, Chaz,

My head is lowered and I stand properly chastised. You’re so adorable when you are bathed in the warm glow of righteous indignation. I’ll bet the Principessa pulls all kinds of mean tricks on you just to see that glow. Not really mean ... just cute things. Like hemming your pants an inch every night, so you think that you’re getting taller. Putting vodka in your water bowl. Mixing some crack in with your pipe tobacco. You know, cute stuff like that.

And now the Principessa is a blonde. Warm glow, notwithstanding it is probably time to get your ticket punched, Chaz, cause this sounds like the end of the line for you. If you’re smart you’ll buy one of those double door refrigerators in the next few days, so at least you will have a nice box to live in when she throws your fat ass out.

Getting back to the election, in my defense I thought we were considering the standard three choice question:

a) Fredo

b) Some Repubican with great hair.

c) Some Independent who looks like a naughty stewardess.

I didn’t realize you were also considering:

d) We string them all up and start from scratch.

Once you throw (d) into the mix it sort of makes (a), (b) and (c) irrelevant.

You bring the torches. I just need to touch up the edge on my pitchfork. Let me know where we’re all going to meet. I’ll bring cookies.

Ridiculous news item of the week:

Police Commissioner, Ray Kelly claimed that the NYPD can now shoot down aircraft in emergencies. It is believed his secret tactic is shooting a .50 caliber rifle from a helicopter. Well, Ray, I’ve got a penis and an air mattress in the back of my truck. That doesn’t mean I’ll be schtupping Emily Deschanel just because I want to.

By the way, Ray, exactly how many shots did it take to bring down Amadou Diallo? (and he wasn’t going 300mph)

To wrap things up, we’re still friends, you actually have a job, the Bills won three games and the Principessa hasn’t left you yet. Life is good, Bunkie!

Smell the roses (or the ravioli)

Your pal,

Doc

How ‘bout those Buffalo Bills!

2011-09-26T05:43:00.001-04:00

Amici:

They’re still partying up in Buffalo ... and this 18 second video says it all ...

Last night the ugly one broke out the Chivas and did some damage as my beloved New York State Buffalo Bills dealt out some revenge against the Cheatriots of New England, their prima donna QB, their nefarious coach (who was caught filming other team defenses and had to pay an out-of-(Kraft’s)-pocket fine) and their always annoying fans ...

After spotting them 21 points in the first half, when owner Robert Kraft’s payoffs to officials was most evident with all the penalty flags thrown against us (you tackle Wes Welker a little too hard and you get a flag ... you stare at Miss Brady a little too long and you get two flags, etc.). Even with the under the table envelope Kraft slipped the refs for the first half (assuming his statistic machine wouldn’t blow the free 21 points), our beloved New York State Buffalo Bills were not to be denied.

We still had to play the second half ... and the stampede was on!

The prima donna was picked off not once ... not twice .... not three times ... but four times (count’em again), with the last one going back to the house for a score. And did yous see Miss Brady giving chase on that one? Sweet Jesus, Tom, don’t put yourself out or anything, you might get turf toe ...

Before the start of the season, the big mouth from New Jersey, fatso Rex Ryan, asked the rest of the NFL to beat the Cheatriots.

Listen, you fat fuck, we not only beat the Patriots, we’re gonna whip your fat ass too. That pathetic offense (ground and pound this) and Swiss cheese defense (how many rushing yards did you give up yesterday?) is no match for the stampede.

And the Stampede is on!

Go Bills!

—Knucks

Blondie(s)! And TK responds to the Doc ...

2011-09-24T20:38:00.006-04:00

Amici:

So I come home from work Friday night prepared for our Friday night Mexican dinner date and there’s a strange, beautiful tomata’ waiting for me inside casa Stella. Ever the debonair, soave bolla, romantic type, I say, “Wifey, Madonna mia, wanna’ fool around first?”

This is some big deal, amici. Remember I haven’t eaten dinner yet.

“You like it?” she asked.

“Are you kiddin’ me? Forgetaboutit (the really good forgetaboutit), I love it. I just wish there was something I could do to myself for you.”

I could see her wheels turning. Recently she applied for a gun permit, for one thing ... and I’ve seen her practicing with knives, but eventually she settled on, “Let’s go to dinner, fatso, before I change my mind.”

Ten years ago, the wife had a crush on Ali G ...

But settled for me ...

It'll be ten years this January, amici ... that’s what I’m talkin’ about. We headed down to the Bahamas ... the honeymooners ...

Give the woman credit, amici ... this is what she has to put up with these days ...

And sometimes this ... (my kids call me the Phat Dad) ...

Now, it's on to Mr. Compassion, the Doc. First of all, sir Doc, say hello to my friend Maria ...

As for the movie reviews ... stuff this in your can of Pabst and drink it:

A very interesting eye-talian movie with a twist that is pretty stunning. A writer’s life is veering away from home when he learns how to swim ... this is a very good movie.

And thirdly, Mr. Doc ... my beloved New York State Buffalo Bills are 2-0 going into Sunday’s game vs. the Cheatriots. There’s no fantasy there, pal o’mine.

And now onto Doc’s politics. It was GOP Presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney who recently claimed, “Corporations are people.”

(The pick above was borrowed from Ben Whitmer’s blog) ...

Republicans vs. Obama ... TK beg’s to differ with the Doc (that bastion of warmth and compassion). First off, the list of perpetrators in the last Republican debate should not be measured against Obama. While I have no doubt any self-respecting moron can run the office of President better than Mr. Obama, the list of Republican candidates (like the President himself) have thus far failed to measure up to self-respecting moron status. Did you (Doc) see the debate the other night? The way we at TK see it, the difference between the next major party president and the last one (like this one and the one before him) is so negligible and inconsequential (meaning they will do whatever they can for those who own them versus those who vote for them), it makes ZERO difference which party gets their man (or woman) into the oval office.

Well, since Doc is not on Facebook, here’s a repeat of what I learned from the Republican Debate (minus the typos) ...

Rick Santorum: He wants to stay in Iraq, Afghanistan and sounded as if maybe we should start a few more wars because “Americans want a victory” ... he also wants to reverse our military policy regarding gays, except his cover for that was “Sex doesn’t belong in the military.” Straight from the dark ages ... I’ll assume he has the support of his immediate family ...

Herman Cain: Funny guy, but I don’t think he’s figured out he’s the token African-American on their stage ...

Newt Gingrich: He still looks like the kid from A League of Their Own ... you know the kid who you wanted to slap the shit out of ...

Gov. Gary Johnson: Who?

Rick Perry: Exposed once again as somebody who makes George W. Bush look intelligent (think about how hard that is) ...

Michele Bachmann: She wants us to keep every dollar we earn. I guess she’ll be holding bake sales for the construction of America’s infrastructure, paying the military bills, social security, etc. The woman remains a nonsensical candidate.

Ron Paul: Poor Ron ... he’s lost it of late. He used to be somewhat engaging, but he’s probably done more to damage the libertarian cause this election than help it.

Jon Huntsman: If this guy looked anymore programmed, he could be a robot ... that said, he’s probably the most intelligent guy up there (which is NOT saying much). His wanting to get out of Afghanistan was refreshing (to everyone except Santorum, but he’s nuts) ... I guess he just doesn’t have the support because he served a Democratic President ...

Mitt Romney: I guess he was the big winner last night, although I still don’t see how or why. At this point, I see Romney as Obama has been to Bush (sometimes Bush III, sometimes Bush Light and sometimes Bush on Steroids). He has about the same spine (jello) and I’m not sure which candidate has less conviction in what they espouse (Obama or Romney).

Again, I don’t see why the Republicans are running anybody against Obama. He’s done more for their corporate cause than any GOP President I can remember ...

As for Doc’s request that I not waste my vote (because just like lemmings on the Democratic side of the zero sum equation) Doc’s version of the lesser of two evils might lose ... well, what a great idea that is!

Talk about votes being tampons!

Vote for somebody you don’t believe can (or will) support what you want because the other side won’t do what you support, except, as it turned out (yet again), the one you wanted didn’t support (except rhetorically) what you wanted.

Confusing?

You betcha ... but even more confusing is watching Democrats and Republicans pick at each others’ scabs while the powerbrokers who own both major parties have a good laugh all the way to the bank. The message from both sides is simple: This is the very best we have, so choose or be a tampon, suckers.

Really?

You party faithful types can kid yourselves all you want (this includes you, Doc). The time for revolution has come. We can either do it via the ballot box (and vote both major parties out) or in the streets the old fashioned way (clink on this revolution link) ... and looking at the next few years of ever expanding poverty in this (Sarah Palin voiceover) “great land of ours”, you can bet (or betcha) your bottom dollar the streets are getting a lot more attractive to those losing everything they’ve been conned into thinking was an American dream.

Right now, for all intents and purposes, the American dream has become a state sponsored lottery ticket. If that’s your purpose in life, to be richer than the next guy (because why?) ... well, keep buying those quick-picks ... suckers.

Tampon my ass.

—Knucks

Leave the political party, take the cannoli. And remember, yous only get one shot ...

The Doc is back ... and he's pissed ... so what else is new?

2011-09-22T20:37:00.000-04:00

Amici:

Monthly Disclaimer ... Temporary Knucksline features one voice from the right (a few feet right of Attila the Hun). The Doc is the most loveable, compassionate—check that. He’s the Doc ... and boy is he pissed today (at who else, me and Obama--like Obama is my best friend). Doc didn’t get the postcard about me using Karl Rove’s playbook, so he’s pissing vinegar and then drinking it when he runs out of Pabst Blue Ribbon ... here now, the Doc.

Hey Chaz,

It’s been a long time. I don’t even know where to start. I would have submitted more articles, but I couldn’t deal with your whining. Geezus, Chaz. A company is offering you part time work and you feel offended that they are interfering with your god-given right to unemployment. Get over it, son. You still got 99 weeks ahead of you. Unless of course the bamster screws that up like everything else he’s touched.

I’ve been watching the Republican debates. Out of the seven perps on stage there isn’t one of them who couldn’t do a better job than President Fredo. Even that crazy little hobbit Ron Paul has got him beat. He has some ideas that I completely disagree with, but I know he has no ill will towards the country. The Bamster… well, I’m not so sure.

Fredo is campaigning across the country under the guise of passing his new Jobs Stimulus (slush fund) Bill. It is imperative that it be passed immediately. It wasn’t so important that Fredo would cancel his vacation though. Harry “The Undertaker” Reid said that the Senate would take a look at it maybe next month. That’s the Senate’s version of urgent.

By the way, whatever happened to the bamster’s $2,000,000 Darth Vader bus? He uses it for 3 days then puts it in the garage next to Michelle’s dusty treadmill?

Now Fredo has to deal with Solindra and “Fast and Furious”. F&F is easy. You gave 2,000 assault rifles to Mexican drug cartel guys and they disappeared. What the hell did you think they were going to do? In the illegal weapons trade the entrance exam is disappearing with 2,000 AK-47s.

Explaining away Solindra is a little tougher. You give me $500,000,000 and I will employ 1,000 employees making commemorative Solindra paperweights way past your second election. These duckeggs blew through $500,000,000 in 2 years without a paperweight to show for it. They made $6 solar panels and sold them for $3. Top that off with the fact that they have already informed the courts that they will fall back on the 5th amendment for all questions. They don’t even know what the questions will be, but they know they can’t answer a thing without incriminating themselves.

Now tell me that Sarah Palin is too stupid to be president. Oh, I Forgot. You are throwing your considerable weight behind Ralph Nader. Yeah, 12th time is the charm.

Your vote can be a sword. Your vote can be a shield. If you vote for someone who can’t possibly win, your vote is a tampon. Every 4 years when they announce the 2 candidates I think “This is the best America has to offer?”

Come November 2012, if you don’t vote for someone who can beat Fredo, you might as well vote for him. Nader couldn’t win an election against that Sham-Wow guy.

By the way, while you were working at that job you hate the amicis and I had our annual meeting in Las Vegas. It was raised and seconded that the only thing more irrelevant than your opera clips and Buffalo Bills fantasies were your foreign films reviews.

If we wanted to read reviews of movies we will never see we would go to… well, actually we wouldn’t go anywhere. If we aren’t going to see the stupid movie what do we care what some fat-fucking-semi-employed-crime writer thinks of it.

Wow! That’s bitter even for me.

Now, I’ve gone through this letter 2 times trying to soften it up. Remember when you always used to say, “Doc, you are just the sweetest, most caring person on God’s green earth”? Look what two and a half years of Zippy in the White House has done to me. I have shot way past curmudgeon. I should be living under a bridge and eating goats.

Have a great weekend, Knuckster.

The Docster

Around the world with Temporary Knucksline ...

2011-09-21T20:06:00.001-04:00

Rigoletto wags his tail … I’m not sure if there’s doggie karma out there or not, but when Eaglettte QB/dog torturer-killer Michael Vick was shaken up with a slight concussion last week, Rigoletto’s tail started wagging like somebody dropped a fresh cut T-bone steak on the floor.

Tony Romo’s ribs … there’s no denying the gutsy performance by Romo against the San Francisco Rice-a-Roni Treats last week. As Ali G might say, “Big ups to him.”

At home, my beloved New York State Buffalo Bills continue to leave NFL pundits scratching their heads. This week it’ll be the Cheatriots (the moniker borrowed from my son, Dustin) who fall victim to the stampede … Bills won’t need to circle the wagons this week. We owe the cheaterfaces … it’ll be a blowout, 43-24.

I heard something about baseball this week but didn’t catch all of it. It’s almost the end of the season that never ends … until November. Just think, if MLB could figure out a way to stretch it so baseball playoffs contended with NFL playoffs, it (baseball) would be even less relevant.

That said, my short story Tiant-McClain for the MFA program requires I replay all of the 1965 baseball season the old fashioned way (rolling dice) … okay, so maybe just the opener between Cleveland and Detroit, but I’ll have to record some of the game as it’s broadcasted.

The wife says, “Don’t ask.”

Speaking of Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell, the land of “All men are created equal” has finally done away with that particular stain on our severely stained national landscape, although some states still cling to the sanctity of marriage (not to mention the sanctity of a record divorce rate) as that between a man and a woman … so much for that constitutional bumper sticker owning up.

Asleep at the wheel … Some people have finally had enough and took to Wall Street in New York to protest those behind our government for big business by big business. Of course there was very little media coverage (they too are big businesses). The hope that the riots in the Middle East (where those shit on by government had finally had enough) might spread to our shores has faded fast. We’re obviously much too happy with what Democrats and Republicans have been doing to us to even consider breaking away from either party, never mind find fault with the economic system that owns both of them. We remain (faithfully, apparently) asleep at the wheel …

Wednesday there was a lot of noise at the U.N. over Palestinian statehood. More concerned with Hamas and his own backyard than the plight of President Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was there to declare statehood. When shown how voiceferous Obama has been defending the Palestinian cause on MSNBC cable show, Morning Joe, a Palestinian diplomat said, “Yes, he promised us a lot and has yet to deliver on anything.”

Sound familiar?

Oy vey …

Then Joe Scarborough went on to poke fun at Rick Perry for seeming to have problems with the word “precipice” in his speech denouncing Obama and pledging undying loyalty to Israel (and that Jewish vote in the key state of Florida) …

What is it with Republican Governors and their inability to speak the mother tongue?

Oy, oy, oy, oy va-va-va-vey …

Then they (Morning Joe) picked on Michele Bachmann’s assault on Obama’s foreign policy while standing in a meat freezer (with cow carcasses hanging in the background). Then they switched back to Sarah Palin’s famous speech while a turkey was being whacked directly behind her.

Something tells me if Bachmann gets knocked a little dizzier than she already is, Rigoletto’s tail will be wagging to beat the band again …

—Knucks

Sing it, Freddy ... Oh, Momma mia!

Movies … Sarah Porno … la desk ... rights and lefts ... Bills-Raiders & Carmen ...

2011-09-16T06:03:00.001-04:00

Amici:

Sarah’s Key (the movie) ... last night the Principessa Ann Marie and the ugly one (moi) went to the movies (it was our date night) ... we saw the movie version of the book I read (and reviewed here) a couple of months ago. From Wiki: An American journalist's present-day investigation into the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup (where French police in German-occupied Paris on 16 and 17 July 1942 rounded up 13,152 predominantly non-French Jewish emigres and refugees and their French-born children and grandchildren, who were then shipped by rail to Auschwitz where they were murdered).

In this case, although the movie veered somewhat, I liked the movie better. The book was very good until the secret was revealed (a terrible secret). In the movie they did a better job (or it was Kristin Scott Thomas and a terrific cast that did the better job). Real good movie ... and, yes, bring the tissues.

The Widow of St. Pierrre ... a very good movie about a very liberal couple who intervene (one officially) in the planned execution of a murderer … the famoso French guillotine features as the widow (maker) in this very well done French film … very well done and it may influence how you feel about the death penalty.

Editor/janitor’s desk ... this is what it looks like most days but I’m scheduled to remove some of the mess this weekend ... it’s what I promise every weekend ... That’s Poets & Writers behind the tobacco stash/alongside the wallet ... it's an article written by a dear friend (Jonathan Blunk), wonderful biographer and published poet about MFA Nation and I’ll be posting it here soon as I convert the file to text from pdf. It has to do with writing groups that need to form and stay together (or writers who need to join such groups) once they finish their MFA program. It’s all about the creative process and not letting it whither from life’s less rewarding demands.

JONATHAN BLUNK is writing the authorized biography of the poet James Wright. He coedited Wright's selected letters, A Wild Perfection (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005). His poems, essays, and interviews have appeared in the Nation, the American Poetry Review, the Georgia Review, and other journals.

HERE’S THE LINK TO MY REVIEW OF FRANK BILL'S CRIMES IN SOUTHERN INDIANA AT THE CRIME OF IT ALL WEBSITE

Bills 41, Chefs 7 ... that was last week. This week our opponent is a bit tougher ... the Raiderettes from the left coast ... take the Bills and lay the points ... we rock all over again, 33-17 ...

Ron Paul’s social Darwinism tract (you shouldn’t be a burden to others and just die already) drew cheers from some of the Neanderthals at the last GOP debate. I suppose because it’s the cost that counts, not a life ... weren't these the same people who were so terrified about so-called death panels? I guess it was paying for death that scared them, eh?

Rick Perry’s Army of God was also quick to cheer ... this about his state’s record on the death penalty ... I guess the self-righteous are still itching to do some killing for God ... but why? Because Rick Perry, who hates government, doesn’t struggle with killing an innocent by mistake .... he claims Texas has a very thoughtful ... clear process in place ... (I guess when it comes to killing, his government can't make mistakes) ... oy vey, and the crowd went wild ...

Last year it was Johnny Porno (a flashback to 1973 when porn took off for adults the way cabbage patch kids did for, well, kids). And now, just 38 yeas later, oy vey, it’s Sarah Porno?

If it’s true and the Palinator did one (or more) of the stars of the NCAA, it will be hard to avoid the flood of parodies on this story. I already considered this as the title of my next porn-themed crime novel ... or maybe a screenplay?

Sarah does the NCAA?

Establishing Shot: Overhead shot of Brooklyn College (hey, the opening scenes to Debbie Does Dallas were filmed there (on the football field and inside the men’s locker room).

A camera slowly zooms in on the athletic field, then inside the men’s locker room where sounds of lust-making (or maybe lovemaking, yous’ll have to decide) can be overheard …

1st College Basketball Player (CBP): You like that, don’t you?

SP: You betcha.

2nd CBP: You seeing the bright lights, yet?

SP: Not yet, gosh darnit, but I can see Russia! It’s so big!

3rd CBP: You still for abstinence, woman?

SP: Just the explicit sex part. That gets my support.

1st CBP: You feelin’ a little bi-curious, momma?

SP: Oh, sure. You betcha. There's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't support other women.

Oy vey ...

And on the Democratic side of the aisle (because TK is an equal opportunity political party basher and TK doesn’t see, aside from the rhetoric that flies in the face of their actions, much of a difference between either of these parties) ... President Obama (the other day) said, “We’ll set up an independent fund to attract private dollars and issue loans based on two criteria: how badly a construction project is needed and how much good it would do for the country.”

TK wonders if that will be anything like the screening process that produced that $535,000,000 loan guarantee to now-bankrupt Solyndra?

Which leads to how to become an instant billionaire … What does a $100K investment to a presidential campaign net you (aside from “good will”)? Well, maybe (just maybe), a $535,000,000 return. So what they went bust, somebody made out like a bandit … I’m not sure if it’s a scandal or not (it’s certainly no less shameful than Cheney’s Halliburton no bid contract connections), but it is yet another slap in the taxpayers face (after all, that half billion was OUR money).

Leave the political party, take the cannoli.

—Knucks

How ‘bout a little Carmen? Elina Garanca sings the Habanera ...

Reviews (books and two disturbing films ... and one from 1953 Coney Island) ... debates/speeches ... sports ...

2011-09-10T09:02:00.005-04:00

Amici:

Richard Bausch … when I embarked on my MFA journey I was equally as anxious (in a good way) to see what I’d be assigned to read as I was about trying something out of my writing league. As it has turned out thus far, I couldn’t be happier with everything about the program, from reading lists to mentors to classmates to the writing projects. It’s certainly filled my schedule during my unemployed hours and now that I’m working again, it’s kind of filled my life (in a very good way). First off, my mentor for this semester is a guy who founded and has run the MFA program at Boise State for fifteen years (Mitch Wieland). You’ve read a review of one of his books here (God’s Dogs). Not to worry, there’s no sucking up in these programs. You either do the work or you don’t; there aren’t A’s or B’s to try for … or D’s or F’s to avoid. You’re either in a program like this for a purpose or you’re not. You don’t take advantage of it, you’re the fool.

Mitch is one of the excellent staff at SNHU and I’ll be reviewing more of the staff’s works here over the course of the next year. I’ve already done so for Katherine Towler (in fact, had read and reviewed her long before I ever applied to the program), and she’s now up for a New Hampshire literary award with her latest, Island Light. While Michele Isler remains my official Godmother (and #1 fan), Katie is the Godmother of the SNHU program. Don’t make noise outside her Shutter Island room or you sleep with the fishes …

So, back to Bausch … Mitch recommended I read The stories of Richard Bausch this past month and like the epiphany I once had reading George V. Higgins (actually hearing Dave Gresham read him), Bausch’s stories have so energized me, it’s become pretty obvious that attending SNHU for my MFA has been the best writing decision I’ve made since I’m published. My original mentor (Dave Gresham) had sent me a Raymond Carver book of short stories back a few years ago, probably to give me a push in that direction (and probably because my original writings were theatre pieces about relationships). Carver’s works got me started writing short stories and I put together a collection just a few people have read. Now that I’ve read Bausch, I’m finding him more in tune with what suits me and I’m super inspired of late (i.e., I haven’t stopped writing since starting to read Bausch). 8 non-crime short stories and 4 crime short stories—10 of the 12 inspired by reading Bausch; one by a movie mentioned below and the other from a Facebook search for someone from my past. I can’t tell you how or why these epiphanies happen, amici, but when they strike, there’s just no stopping what happens next; the mind starts whirling and the fingers start typing and hopefully it’s readable in the end, but you know (you really do) that you’re on to something and you just can’t get enough of it (the reading and/or the writing). Just about everything else gets in the way.

So, yeah, buy this collection of short stories by Richard Bausch and yous tell me. I just bought one of his novels (3 novels in one) and will report back/review them when I have the time again.

Visit his website and writers pay attention to his ten commandments ...

I’m told that my Review of Frank Bill’s Crimes in Southern Indiana will appear on The Crime of It All sometime next week.

Crime Factory, The First Shift is now available at Amazon. It’s loaded with short stories from around the crime writing world. They even let me in there ... Keith Rawson was the editor and this baby features a ton of very good crime writers (the list is very impressive if you skip my name).

My short story, The Decider, (no, not the last imbecile to occupy the white house) has to do with a cancer-riddled word processor fed up with a Rodan-like Human Resources person ... Would you look at the beak on this broad (Rodan)?

Two disturbing films I watched last weekend kept me thinking about them all week. Both are Spanish. One is called Tony Manero (Chile/Brazil) and yes, it has to do with the John Travolta character from Saturday Night Fever. The other is called Battle in Heaven (Chile) and it sparked a short story I couldn’t resist writing because of the effect the film had on me. There are sex scenes in here I know Doc will have a good laugh at my expense over (since they have to do with what he claims is my obligatory opening scene BJ) but it isn’t the sex scenes that disturbed me (not fully). You’ll have to take a look-see and decide for yourselves.

Tony Manero ...

Battle in Heaven ...

Here’s a less disturbing film some Brooklynites will definitely get a kick out of. It was suggested to me by author, editor and one of SNHU’s brilliant staff, Merle Drown, The Little Fugitive.. You’ll get to see Coney Island the way it was when we were kids (The Steeplechase and Parachute Jump, etc.). It’s a beautiful thing ... plus the dialogue made me feel 50 years younger ... oy vey.

Actor Josh Duhamel is a Minot, North Dakota boy and he’s put some effort and bucks behind the relief effort there for victims of the record flooding the Magic city experienced this year. Duhamel should next give serious consideration to first buying the film rights, then starting and maybe producing Rough Riders, the next Stella novel that features a Minot local detective, a Miss North Dakota and some characters from Eddie’s World (the first Stella crime novel). My writing roots began in North Dakota under the tutelage of Dave Gresham. I’m a former MSC Beaver … and I even ate Lutafisk once. Think about it, Josh … you’re the guy I’ve been waiting for …

GOP debate … there was this bozo act this past week. Seriously, a car salesman (Romney) “held his own” and that’s something to look forward to? Reduce taxes, cut entitlements, but let’s not discuss the war (literally) or what it costs in blood and coin, but especially as regards ending ALL OF THEM (WARS) already. Let’s just figure out a way for the most wealthy in the country to “earn” more wealth while the ever widening gap becomes Death Valley for all us non-millionaires.

The President’s Speech …

No, not that one … the other one Thursday night that officially kicked off the 2012 Presidential campaign for Mr. Obama. In it he clearly defined how he’ll try and win reelection. I don’t remember when the dog and pony show these speeches have become bothered me as much (not what President Obama was doing, but rather all the posturing by the members of Congress—stand up, sit down, stand, sit, etc.), but the incredible rudeness by a few of the GOP members was pretty shameless, I thought. At least wait until the guy is finished before you giggle …

How Mr. Obama brought up collective bargaining with a straight face has to be one for the ages, but Richard Trumpka sitting in the house for the spectacle didn’t surprise me at all; it’s a literal Ripley’s Believe It Or Not for corruption, our government is.

Surely we don’t have to be forced to watch the joke it (our government) has become on national television. Couldn’t we just watch Abbott and Costello reruns instead? I love this one (reminds of sitting and standing, etc.) ... “The guy hit me.”

Louis Tiant vs. Denny McClain … this has to do with an MFA short story I’m writing based on the Strat-O-Matic baseball card game; one of the characters in the story lost a son a few years back and can’t relate to the rest of the world and thus lives in a kind of fantasy world based around the game. The story isn’t about him, though … my mind works in whack job ways.

Football is back … and my beloved New York State Buffalo Bills will shock the Chefs of KC this weekend with a 23-17 victory. Neither of the last two super bowl champions bothered bringing their defenses as yards accumulated like snowflakes in Vermont. The Pack is likely back, but it’s a long season and injuries play a significant enough roll to not crown any champions yet (just ask the Coltless who are now Paytonless … forgetaboutit).

Our director at the SNHU program may have an unprounceable name in Brooklynese (Diane Les Becquets), but she's a hell of a writer and a Vince Lombardi reincarnation (in the best possible way) ... so TK annointed Diane "Little Vince" this week. I read Season of Ice a few months before the program began and it was terrific (you'll feel the chill in the air she describes). Remember Lombardi time? Now there's Les Becquets (pronounced Le Beck) time ... don't be late!

—Knucks

So, since football is back, it's time to celebrate ... how else but with booze ... the brindisi from La Traviata (Libiamo = the drinking song)

Interview with a King (Dana King, author of Wild Bill)

2011-09-05T11:52:00.010-04:00

Amici:

Questions for a partner in crime writing.

Dana King’s Wild Bill is an incredibly well written debut novel loaded with masterful dialogue and characters you’ll want to follow through the dark side of Chicago’s “outfit”. It’s a mob novel as good as any out there, past or present. Likewise, so is the author as good as any out there, pastor present. TK planned on interviewing Mr. King a week or so ago, but our editor in chief/janitor was held up by some nasty bursitis in his left shoulder. Here now, finally, the interview.

TK: Okay, first off, you’re a Marylander by way of Pittsburgh. Why Chicago? Why the outfit?

DK: I traveled to Chicago several times when I was a musician and loved the town. When my mid-life crisis came early, I tried what The Beloved Spouse calls “a geographic cure.” The good news was that Chicago was perfect for me. Lots of ethnic neighborhoods made me feel at home, and genuinely nice people. Greatest city in the world, outside of Pittsburgh.

After I came back to the Washington area, I discovered the books by William Roemer, who was the FBI agent most associated in working The Outfit. Sam Giancana’s personal albatross. He wrote a memoir, and several other books on specific individuals and events in Chicago mob history. While the Five Families in New York were divvying up territory and having pissing contests, Chicago’s organization was taking over the city from the inside out. People think of The Commission as being in New York, but pretty much everything west of Chicago ran through the Outfit.

TK: Wild Bill had suffered a heartbreaking loss (his wife). Was that a character sketch before or after you started the novel?

DK: After. He needed to be damaged in some way to make the Wild Bill aspects of his personality more believable, considering he’s pretty much of a straight arrow. It wasn’t her death that tore him up so much as how he didn’t make enough time for her. That’s what sets him up for what happens in the book, worrying that he could be making the same mistake with Mad.

TK: One of the situations that struck me as especially polished was the relationship between Wild Bill Hickox and Madeline Klimak. It’s one of those especially verboten relationships that often develops between law enforcement types. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, but it certainly is a dangerous one. Was that something that developed as you wrote the novel or was it pre-planned?

DK: Mad was key to the story from the beginning. It’s the relationship with her that prompts Wild Bill to re-enter Will Hickox’s personality.

TK: Madeline was a very cool cucumber until she’s confronted by Jr.’s, let’s call it, lack of respect. It was a particularly tough scene I thought was handled perfectly by relating to us her fear (for life and limb). How do you get there as a writer? We all have to get into the minds of our characters, but what was it that precluded you from going Charlie’s Angels on us (and Jr.) the way she’d once done to her husband?

DK: First, thanks for the Mad questions. She was the hardest character to write. I’d never written scenes from a woman’s point of view before, and I didn’t want to take any shortcuts that wouldn’t sound true, especially to any women who might read the book.

Mad’s cool and she’s tough and she can handle Mitch, but Junior’s in a different league. I’m a huge fan of The Sopranos, and I understand why people want to like Tony and Paulie and Silvio. They’re charming guys, in their way. That makes it easy to forget their consciences have on/off switches the way most people use the remote for the television. Junior is a predator, plain and simple, and he’s risen near the top of the most predatory occupation there is. It’s not that he’s a tougher version of Mitch. Junior is a whole different species. Mad senses this, and is smart—and cool—enough not to allow things to become worse than they are. That doesn’t mean she’s not horribly frustrated by only having one option open to her.

TK: Some people won’t want to believe the assault on Madeline was possible, but we all know life is often stranger than fiction. Why, for instance, would a mob boss get his hands dirty beating up a truck driver (John Gotti)? Why would another mob boss whack a woman (as Whitey Bulger is alleged to have done)? Why would they get involved? I ask because I want you to clear the air for both of us. Some of the criticism I faced with a Russian mob book had to do with my making them (the Russian mob) less than invincible (especially vs. a woman). Why (and how) do guys as powerful as Jr. make those kinds of mistakes?

DK: I think a lot of these guys think with their glands. Junior certainly does. He’s frustrated over how things are going at work, his plans aren’t coming together as he’d like, and patience isn’t his long suit. He sees a chance to take out some frustrations without consequence—at least, that’s what he thinks—so he does.

TK: Spot on, I’d say, but now it’s fess up time. I remember a few years ago throwing our GPS out of the window because I was lost in PA (house hunting) and then pulling over and being so frustrated with my wife reminding me what I moron I was, I got out of the car and hammered the front hood with my right hand (thus making the drive home a left-handed endeavor--of course I used my right because I’m right handed and, of course, the hood won). Did you have something personal to draw on? Maybe not that friggin’ stupid, but something you can relate to where you know what you’re doing is wrong and probably stupid but you’re so angry (glandular mismanagement) you went ahead and did it? Did you toss your favorite horn into a wall? Smack a Bill Mazeroski statue off its pedestal in your bedroom as a kid?

DK: I had a terrible temper when I was younger. Probably still do, but I’ve learned to contain it better. I used to trash my dorm room once a year in college, punch and kick things (not people). A lot of anger in there somewhere. I was about forty when I finally realized I wasn’t acting like someone who really cared about the things that set me off; I was just an asshole. People I wanted to be closer to kept their distance. The Beloved Spouse posted a Facebook status the other day that applies well to me: How many people are alive today solely because I didn’t want to go to prison?

Put that characteristic on someone like Junior Bevilacqua, for whom this lack of control can actually be a plus. He has no real reason to rein it in, and he’s not too worried about going to jail because of his ability to rig outcomes.

TK: Frank is the typical old world mobster we can’t help but root for in his war with Jr. Some might call it romanticizing the fellow. You pull off a major move sandpapering the veneer by book’s end (no spoilers here), then somewhat giving it back. Is it that Frank is the kind of mobster you can understand or the kind you’d fear more than the shoot first, think later (i.e., Jr)?

DK: It would depend on how I met them. As a regular straight guy, I’d cross the street to avoid Junior. He exudes menace, and would put me in a hospital or in a hole for talking to the wrong girl or accidentally spilling a drink on him. Frank’s the kind of guy who’s learned to observe the big picture, and is willing to place certain things in perspective. He’s someone who could get close to you, get you nice and comfortable, use you for what he needs you for, and then disappear you. That’s why I used Tony Accardo as Frank’s mentor. I read Roemer’s book on Accardo, and that’s the kind of guy he struck me as, though his word was his bond. I highly recommend Roemer’s books for anyone who wants to get a grip on how the mob really works.

TK: Speaking of the mob. I loved the cynical references to the New York mob and could hear the introspective commentary of Frank’s regarding the way New York operated (too often on a stage with spotlights). You mentioned a few NY mob celebs. What kind of research did you engage aside from the Roemer books? Were you surprised when you learned what you did about NY vis-a-vis Chicago?

DK: I’ve read all of Joe Pistone’s books—the real Donnie Brasco—and both of the Henry Hill books, Wise Guy (which Scorsese made into Goodfellas) and the one he wrote after he was in witness protection. Peter Maas’s Underboss, about Sammy Gravano, is a great book. To be honest, I’ve also watched The Sopranos through several times. I heard enough about how realistic it was that I used it for ideas on what kinds of things mobsters are into the general public might not think about, and for a sense of their speech patterns.

If anything surprised me, it was how much more attention the New York office of LCN (La Cosa Nostra) got than Chicago’s, when Chicago actually had more juice. It goes back to Capone. He was only in charge for a few years, but he brought everyone else in line, and the power has been passed down in an orderly manner since. New York probably had too many things to get into, as each of the five families started out in something different: docks, unions, trucking, gambling, etc. I read a great book—I wish I could remember the name—on how the Lucchese family got established in the Garment District. While they were getting organized among themselves, the Outfit was taking over the legal levers of power in Chicago. For evidence on how the Outfit ran Chicago, read When Corruption was King, by Robert Cooley. Fascinating book.

TK: Follow-up Frank question: Was he a product of his particular environment or the American political landscape in general? After all, it was Al Capone who said, “Capitalism is the legitimate racket of the ruling class”.

DK: Both, I think. In his book The Outfit, Gus Russo uses the term “upperworld” to contrast straight business with the underworld. Frank Ferraro could definitely have been successful in the upperworld, had he chosen to be. Part of the reason he didn’t was because of where he grew up, but, let’s face it, a lot of kids grew up in The Patch and didn’t become criminals. I’ll defer to your judgment on this—in fact, I’m curious as to what you think about this—but I get the feeling guys who go into OC for a living aren’t big on delayed gratification. They don’t want to see their investment portfolio grow by five percent a year. They want to have the cash in hand to do what they want with it now. They may spend it on women, drugs, booze, whatever, or they may use it to grease the wheels of the upperworld. If they’re going to “invest” it, I suspect the majority are more interested in getting three to five points a week on the street than buying stocks, unless they’re laundering the money. Frank’s a patient man by Outfit standards. I still wouldn’t want to get more than a week behind on a payment or service.

TK: Jr. is the train wreck mobster that has pretty much brought that world to its knees of late. He’s also as cold as ice, as he (and we) learn during a shootout. I thought that a very smart touch, making him every bit the sociopath the job requires. How did you come to that moment? The scene from The Godfather when Michael lights Enzo’s cigarette on the hospital steps came to mind for me. I’m guessing, of course.

DK: I hadn’t really thought about that much, but in retrospect it occurs to me that someone who feels fear—or doesn’t feel it—the way Junior does is more dangerous to both himself and to others. That’s what I was really going for, the danger that follows him around.

TK: Back to the start. I loved the prologue; Jr.’s pop dropping dead, a reflection of his past, then the Outfit’s future on his mind. Ultimately, he could care less, even though his son would be fighting for his life. I often finish a novel and go back to rewrite the start. Was there another start to the novel or did you start from that scene?

DK: Bless you. There was a lot of talk in blogosphere as I was finishing this book that prologues were dead. They’re exposition, get to the story. Often I agree. But here, the inciting event for the story takes place before the book actually starts, with Gianni’s death, and I liked the irony of a mobster provoking a war by dying of natural causes. So I set it off before Chapter One, and used what could be called Gianni’s life passing before his eyes to bring the reader up to speed in a hurry.

TK: Mitchell, Madeline’s husband and father to their kids, was not the typical dirty cop. Like Wild Bill, he too has smarts from years on the job you don’t learn in any police academy. The cops and robbers (or good guys and bad) aren’t always so different. Was that a social statement you intended to make? It sure was an accurate one if so.

DK: These are hard men, on both sides. I mentioned Joe Pistone’s books earlier. He comes across as a good guy, a guy I’d want to have my back, there’s not a lot that’s warm and fuzzy about him. From the cop’s perspective, he deals with vicious criminals who aren’t just knuckleheads or random felons, but sociopaths who have based their lifestyles on getting over by whatever means necessary. Everyone lies to him, and everyone is playing an angle. The tragedy of Mitch isn’t that he’s become hard, it’s that he can’t turn it off.

The other thing I wanted to do with Mitch was not to make this too much of a good guys/bad guys morality play. Cops are drawn from a cross section of society. A certain percentage of the general population are selfish assholes. So are a certain percentage of cops. Plus—and no offense to cops by this—people are drawn to the kinds of jobs where they get to do things they like, so someone who likes to boss other people around might have a lot of fun as a cop. Combine the two, and you have Mitch.

TK: Vinnie Dominoes was one of my favorite characters and I can attest to guys like him eating five meals a day (not me, I was a nobody who ate five meals a day, Vinnie was a somebody). He’s also well on his game. Characters like these are essential, I feel, to good mob novels. Was he an afterthought or somebody you had in mind from the get-go?

DK: Vinnie was key for me from the start. He might be my favorite mobster in the book. He’s the guy everybody talks to. Everybody trusts him, in their own way. Still, remember what his business is. How, and how much you trust him, could be a life-or-death decision.

TK: Your dialogue is as good as Elmore Leonard, his Canadian counterpart, John McFetridge, Higgins and anybody else. Was that your natural strength back when you first joined that writing group you acknowledged at the end of Wild Bill?

DK: Excuse me for a second while the tumescence you have inspired by comparing me to people like Leonard, Higgins, and McFetridge dies down and I can reach the keyboard again.

I honestly had no idea what I did better or worse when I started writing. Dialog came easier to me, and it was well-received by others, so I leaned on it more. Then I started to notice I enjoyed books that tilted toward more dialog, and thought about why. Elmore Leonard was right. No one skips dialog when they read. It’s the most effective and efficient way to propel the story and explore the characters at the same time.

TK: What the fuck? Define tumescence please.

DK: Swollen. Engorged with blood. Wood. A tent pole. A stiffy. A chubby. Or, as I just found in the Urban Dictionary, a purple-headed yogurt slinger.

TK: Tell us more about that writing group and how much influence/help it was in your progression.

DK: There’s no way to overestimate the influence that group had on me. There were so many basic writing things I did poorly when I first started there. Everyone was supportive, the suggestions were always phrased in a helpful manner, and people there hung with me through frustrations. I moved far enough away that getting to meetings is a rare and random thing now, but I still stay in touch with the group as kind of an adjunct member. Great group of people, even as its membership has evolved. A lot of good friends, good memories, and lessons well learned.

TK: We’ll be working on a book of mob short stories together and I thank you for going along with the idea. I’ve started one story about the comare (pronounced gumada) being interrogated by a couple of feds. I have no idea where it’s going. Will you be writing something about any of the characters from Wild Bill? If so, which one?

DK: I’m toying with the idea of writing a story from each of the last five decades, focusing on the Pittsburgh mob, leading up to the two books based in a fictional suburban town you’ve read but that haven’t been released yet. Now that you got me thinking about it, some prequel stories based on the characters in Wild Bill might be fun.

TK: I know Corky (your wife) reads your work and helps with the editing process. My wife does the same for me and I find her invaluable. Do (or did you) two get into arguments over suggested changes? Does the sole heir get to read anything once it’s done?

DK: Arguments, no. We have had a few animated discussion that range over a few days. She’s great at helping me to keep a balance between writing too much for people who already know what I’m talking about, and explaining too much.

The Sole Heir is a pre-med student right now and doesn’t have much time for leisure reading. The last thing she needs right now is the Old Man asking her how she liked something, especially since she could be cutting on my brain some day and I don’t want to hear her say, “I bet you wish now I’d spent more time studying the medulla oblongata instead of that shitty book you made me read.”

TK: Okay, there’s no way I’m passing on “the medulla oblongata” for one of the short stories in our collection. As we used to say playing three sewer stickball, “chips on the medulla oblongata” (now meaning, instead of a tax on losing the ball, it’s mine now). I mention this because the title is too cool to ignore. Do (or have) you written stories, novels, etc., around a specific title that just nailed you the right way?

DK: Never around a title that I can think of. I’ve written stories just to include a good scene I had, or even an opening line. Never a title. Titles bust my balls. I hate them.

TK: What’s next? You’ve already put a fan base together (and have further proved mob fiction isn’t dead), but will you be going series, standalones ... vampires?

DK: Oh, Christ, not vampires. This year’s project—in addition to the stories we’re writing—is to go back to the PI series I was writing several years ago. The detective showed up as a guest star in my most recent novel (Grind Joint, which I hope to release next spring) and got me to thinking of what else I could do with him. After that, I’m not sure. I like the potential in both series I’ve started. I might just take turns, or run with the one that generates the hot idea.

Yous can find all the good stuff on Wild Bill and its author at his website. Here’s a sample scene ... and here’s the cast of characters ... AND ... and yous can get it on kindle here ...

— Knucks

And here’s another appropriate verismo aria ... from Cavalleria Rusticana ... (translation below) ... it’s a pretty prophetic aria (to the storyline of the opera), amici ...

O Lola, with your milk-white blouse,
white-skinned, with lips like cherries
your laughing face looks from the window,
and the first one to kiss you is blessed!
Blood may be spilt on your doorstep,
but to die there is nothing to me.
If, dying I went up to heaven
and found you not there I would flee!

If, dying I went up to heaven
and found you not there I would flee!
Ah! ah! ah! ah!

Interview with a King ... Knucks NFL Predictions ... me and Karl Rove ... Crimes in Southern Indiana ... Mr. Kostoff’s boy ...

2011-09-04T07:26:00.002-04:00

Amici:

We’ll be interviewing Wild Bill author, Dana King here at TK very soon. Check out the webpage for Wild Bill here.

This year in the NFL ... do yous really need me to detail this? Somehow I can hear Doc yelling “No, no, no!”

It’s simple really, the Lions will be the surprise team in the NFC, but the Pack will be back for a second straight year with a ticket to the dance. While my beloved New York State Buffalo Bills struggle to find four wins on their schedule (hopefully 2 against the Patriots), TK’s best guess for the AFC title this season goes to ... the Steelers of Pittsburg.

In the meantime, Go Lions! Go Bills!

A disciple of Karl Rove ... the politics of Stella has frustrated many a blog out there over the years. He's been accused of everything from the “new voice of right wing America” (a few years ago) to a Karl Rove disciple (this past week) for allegedly using Karl Rove's playbook. Those comments most often come from liberal democrat bloggers who can’t criticize their president(s) beyond admitting they are “disappointed” with him. In actuality, I suspect it’s frustration born of fear of the other major party; if Obama loses, the crazies will take over.

As if Obama hasn’t acted just like one of the “crazies” since he’s been in office.

The slew of editorials condemning his performance (or lack thereof) have been very telling. Just this morning I read one by Maureen Dowd (One and Done?), Paul Krugman, (Weakness), Frank Bruni, (Pass, Fail Politics). Last week it was a devastating blow landed by Cornell West (King Weeps from the Grave) a day or so after Maxine Waters issued a warning we know she can’t stand by (because of partisan politics).

Yet, lemming loyalists point accusatory fingers the other way. “But the other guys are crazy!”

Maybe, but ... and it's a big but, amici ...

I’m not sure how Obama’s speech will affect our miserable jobs situation (partly because I’ll be watching the Packers-Saints game), because it doesn’t seem to matter what the rhetoric, the man can’t (or won’t) get anything done for those of us who have to work to survive. Yous can blame the other party being thick knuckleheads determined to dump him or the fact he was naive when he came to office or claim he’s the victim of racism or whatever ... the bottom line, in NFL terminology (since he yielded to a Republican request (AGAIN) to switch nights for his speech and he’s chosen to try and buck the opening game of the NFL season (one of the few things some in this country have to look forward to), I thought it appropriate to go there and use NFL speak ... Obama has become the Boz (Brian Bosworth) of Presidents (a HUGE BUST).

To be fair to liberal democratic blogs, I’ve also been called red through and through and that special brand of Ayn Rand “evil” at conservative sites I haunt. I do believe in the greater good first and foremost. I don’t believe that anyone who wants a communal or socialist economy is lazy ... or that they do not want to work or that they want to be taken care of by a nanny state (certainly not the way corporations are cared for by this government). While it would be nice if we didn’t need any form of government at all and figured out how to get along helping each other, the switch from capitalism to socialism or any other economy other than a master-slave economy will require a shit storm of protest/revolution; those with the power aren’t going to be giving it away without a fight. It’s just an opinion, amici. It’s probably as valuable as my super bowl predictions, but it isn’t about to be backed down by name calling (which has become the only message of too many liberal democratic blogs (because what they've decided they can't live without (Obama) has become too embarrassing?

Frankly, the name calling does me proud ... and provides a pretty good belly laugh ... and I have one big-ass belly.

Look, chances are the powers that be in this country aren’t going to let go of the reigns without some middle-east like demonstrations/revolutions. The government is there to serve corporate America. Not middle America, not poor America, not suburban America or anybody else but corporate America. The business of America remains business, much to our demise. As we fast approach third world status (I got that from the Barry Graham interview at Ben Whitmer’s blog and I fully agree), the toys and gadgets that keep too many of us (especially our children) brain dead to the reality all around us will sooner or later lose their effect (even the brain dead have to eat) and there will be a price to pay. Unfortunately, in this global economy, the powers that be can hop a plane and vámonos before they’re heads roll. But they’ll still have to leave behind a country rich enough in natural resources and manpower for all of us to do what’s right for each other rather than subject ourselves to struggling the bulk of our lives for someone else’s profit.

Another valid point made on Whitmer’s blog in the Barry Graham post was that there is no middle or working class in America anymore; we’re down to rich and poor.

So much for hope and change.

I’ll be reviewing Frank Bill’s Crimes in Southern Indiana over at The Crime of It all in the next few days. A very telling collection of short stories of what life in (Sarah Palin voiceover) “this great land of ours” is like in a location coming to a theatre near you way too soon to stay comfortable. It’s a terrific read.

Jeremy Kostoff ... I came across this video in one of my favorites collections ... Lynn Kostoff is a great writer ... and he has a beautiful wife (Melanie) and they produced a pulitzer of a son, Jeremy. As I was going through my video favorites in search of an opera aria for this post, I typed in something (people doing the right thing) and up popped this wonderful video below. Jeremy Kostoff is a genuine gem (someone who thinks “outside the box”) and someone who can AND DOES deliver the goods. Enjoy, amici ...

—Knucks

Film Review: The Kingdom of Survival ...

2011-08-27T09:17:00.003-04:00

Amici:

Granted, this post may not do much for my book scan numbers, but at least it’s honest. Besides, if I was worried about cash, I’d’ve been a friggin’ hedge fund manager.

I’ve been wanting to review this for two weeks now. Finally, arm in sling as I type, I have the chance. Slowboat Films, The Kingdom of Survival.

Best summed this way (from a review at Seventh Art Releasing): "The worst prison is ignorance."

The Kingdom of Survival explores modern skepticism in America, challenges the status quo and uncovers provocative links between survivalist philosophy, ecumenical spirituality, radical political theory, and outlaw culture. The audience is invited into a thoughtful conversation with the likes of Prof. Noam Chomsky, Dr. Mark Mirabello, Ramsey Kanaan, and the riveting final interview with beloved author, Joe Bageant. These unique thought leaders cast a rare shadow of doubt over our most blindly accepted American traditions.

There’s also anarchist book publisher Ramsey Kanaan (PM Press), egalitarian radio host Sasha Lilley and folk musician, Will Taylor. Recommended by fellow author Ben Whitmer, I wrote to M. A. Littler asking about the films he produces and how I could see them. He graciously sent along two copies (one, The Folk Singer, I’m having trouble playing on the equipment in our living room but will view upstairs and review at a later date), the other, The Kingdom of Survival, was a wonderful offering on several different alternatives to life the way it’s been brainwashed into our psyches from birth. In short, there are more ways than the one that’s been propagandized into our collective being.

I first read Noam Chomsky, one of the featured interviews in the film, way back in my political science days at Brooklyn College. I used several of his books for cites in a term paper for which I won a political science award. Back then I wanted to be a lawyer. I was fascinated with the law and socialism. I thought there had to be a more fair way for people to live than in a class structure rigged for those with power. I was enthusiastic and idealistic about it all until I sat through a malpractice case and watched the judicial process become an absolute joke as three doctors (for the insurance company) stated they found no visual impairment after examining my mother. She’s been blind in both eyes on the right since a stroke induced by an invasive medical procedure. The jury found the doctor guilty of the procedure that caused the stroke, but the stroke not the cause of her injury: thus, she received squat for the doctor’s malpractice. Nice system. Three doctors for a powerful insurance company lied through their teeth. My mother’s legal experts contradicted them, but her case was tried in a conservative borough (Queens) and that was more the determining factor than any of the facts in the case. As her lawyers said, after apologizing, “They didn’t want to give you any money.”

It was an eye opening experience for me. The deck was rigged and I was fed up with being idealistic. I wanted out.

A few years later, unsatisfied where I was in life working two and three legitimate jobs, I found the street was the place to make money. Why not, I thought. After all, wasn’t it Al Capone who stated: “Capitalism is the legitimate racket of the ruling class.”

Young and stupid and not very good at taking orders, I pursued a street life for 18 years and put on temporary hold pursuing my true dream--to write. Eventually, I saw the street for what it was (I make no altruistic claims, amici, I wasn’t a suddenly better human being; it was simply common sense. Nobody on the street could be trusted anymore than most people in an office environment seeking to protect their own interests--one is nothing more than a subculture of the other). I realized my dream (getting published) and walked away from the money.

And I’ve never been happier.

I stayed the loyal Democratic course until I was fed up with a party that never really did much in my interest (aside from making promises). Frustrated with the Dems, I voted for George W. Bush in 2000, then fell for the patriotic hype surrounding 9-11. I voted for him again in 2004 (forgive me father, I knew NOT what the fock I was doing). Thankfully, my initial views of socialism in Holland from back in the day remained in my head. By 2006, I’d turned against both parties FOR LIFE. Holland’s brand of social-democracy (at least back in the 70’s) asked the following question: Why should people who have put so much into a society over the course of their lives be neglected in the elderly years (essentially, what happens under our pragmatic capitalist system)? A few years ago, I started to ask these questions: Why shouldn’t everyone chip in to pay for national health insurance and let those who can afford private doctors knock themselves out? Why not make sure public education is truly equitable across the board? Why should people "earn" money when they aren’t doing any work? Last year a hedge fund manager managed to “earn” $2.4 million an hour; Bill Gates earns roughly $650K an hour ... and those trying to raise families (those who can find work) average roughly $40K a year? Where’s the justice in that? Bill Gates is a very charitable fellow, but does he really deserve to earn $650K an hour? Does he really “work” that hard? Does he really “need” that much? What about the guys in his factories assembling the goods? Or the poor SOB’s driving the trucks that deliver them? Or the people who build the office and factory space where Microsoft operates? Why should any of us (working class people) have to feel "lucky" to have a job (because the pursuit of corporate profit permits them to outsource our jobs)?

Either extreme or middle ground, communism, absolute anarchism or libertarian-socialism (Chomsky’s choice), the bottom line was people could and should be rewarded for their hard work, but not at the expense of the rest of society; the rest should not be delegated to being slaves to their wages. Equity has its place. The kind of inequity we’re experiencing today can only lead to violent revolution, something that will no doubt become more and more appealing as more and more of the middle class and poor are ignored by the greed of the ruling class. Simply put, a government of big business, by big business, for big business cannot endure.

Okay, no more speechifying from moi ... see the film. Like American History X (for social reasons), films like The Kingdom of Survival need to be viewed in high schools so that our kids and their kids can at least see the options available to their future, perhaps for the sake of its survival. Adults should view it for obvious reasons. Why not?

And on a similar political note, Dr. Cornel West (like him or not) spoke his piece in the New York Times the other day ... and made valid points across the board.

Dr. King Weeps From His Grave
By Cornel West, The New York Times
26 August 11

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was to be dedicated on the National Mall on Sunday - exactly 56 years after the murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi and 48 years after the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. (Because of Hurricane Irene, the ceremony has been postponed.)

These events constitute major milestones in the turbulent history of race and democracy in America, and the undeniable success of the civil rights movement - culminating in the election of Barack Obama in 2008 - warrants our attention and elation. Yet the prophetic words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel still haunt us: "The whole future of America depends on the impact and influence of Dr. King."

Rabbi Heschel spoke those words during the last years of King's life, when 72 percent of whites and 55 percent of blacks disapproved of King's opposition to the Vietnam War and his efforts to eradicate poverty in America. King's dream of a more democratic America had become, in his words, "a nightmare," owing to the persistence of "racism, poverty, militarism and materialism." He called America a "sick society." On the Sunday after his assassination, in 1968, he was to have preached a sermon titled "Why America May Go to Hell."

King did not think that America ought to go to hell, but rather that it might go to hell owing to its economic injustice, cultural decay and political paralysis. He was not an American Gibbon, chronicling the decline and fall of the American empire, but a courageous and visionary Christian blues man, fighting with style and love in the face of the four catastrophes he identified.

Militarism is an imperial catastrophe that has produced a military-industrial complex and national security state and warped the country's priorities and stature (as with the immoral drones, dropping bombs on innocent civilians). Materialism is a spiritual catastrophe, promoted by a corporate media multiplex and a culture industry that have hardened the hearts of hard-core consumers and coarsened the consciences of would-be citizens. Clever gimmicks of mass distraction yield a cheap soulcraft of addicted and self-medicated narcissists.

Racism is a moral catastrophe, most graphically seen in the prison industrial complex and targeted police surveillance in black and brown ghettos rendered invisible in public discourse. Arbitrary uses of the law - in the name of the "war" on drugs - have produced, in the legal scholar Michelle Alexander's apt phrase, a new Jim Crow of mass incarceration. And poverty is an economic catastrophe, inseparable from the power of greedy oligarchs and avaricious plutocrats indifferent to the misery of poor children, elderly citizens and working people.

The age of Obama has fallen tragically short of fulfilling King's prophetic legacy. Instead of articulating a radical democratic vision and fighting for homeowners, workers and poor people in the form of mortgage relief, jobs and investment in education, infrastructure and housing, the administration gave us bailouts for banks, record profits for Wall Street and giant budget cuts on the backs of the vulnerable.

As the talk show host Tavis Smiley and I have said in our national tour against poverty, the recent budget deal is only the latest phase of a 30-year, top-down, one-sided war against the poor and working people in the name of a morally bankrupt policy of deregulating markets, lowering taxes and cutting spending for those already socially neglected and economically abandoned. Our two main political parties, each beholden to big money, offer merely alternative versions of oligarchic rule.

The absence of a King-worthy narrative to reinvigorate poor and working people has enabled right-wing populists to seize the moment with credible claims about government corruption and ridiculous claims about tax cuts' stimulating growth. This right-wing threat is a catastrophic response to King's four catastrophes; its agenda would lead to hellish conditions for most Americans.

King weeps from his grave. He never confused substance with symbolism. He never conflated a flesh and blood sacrifice with a stone and mortar edifice. We rightly celebrate his substance and sacrifice because he loved us all so deeply. Let us not remain satisfied with symbolism because we too often fear the challenge he embraced. Our greatest writer, Herman Melville, who spent his life in love with America even as he was our most fierce critic of the myth of American exceptionalism, noted, "Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges; hence the conclusion of such a narration is apt to be less finished than an architectural finial."

King's response to our crisis can be put in one word: revolution. A revolution in our priorities, a re-evaluation of our values, a reinvigoration of our public life and a fundamental transformation of our way of thinking and living that promotes a transfer of power from oligarchs and plutocrats to everyday people and ordinary citizens.

In concrete terms, this means support for progressive politicians like Senator Bernard Sanders of Vermont and Mark Ridley-Thomas, a Los Angeles County supervisor; extensive community and media organizing; civil disobedience; and life and death confrontations with the powers that be. Like King, we need to put on our cemetery clothes and be coffin-ready for the next great democratic battle.

TK’s view ... The working man in America has taken a beating since forever. In the last decade, as the banking industry ran wild with financing scams that bankrupted the country and the world, business in America was gifted a reprieve by the government it owns; a $700 billion bailout with NO STRINGS ATTACHED.

While lower and middle income folk lost their homes (some from their own greed (those who thought they could flip homes for the sake of profit, most others from jobs lost from a banking induced financial crisis), corporate bigwigs rewarded themselves with record bonuses and investors with record profits.

Business as usual, except this time, it’s somewhat more unusual. The propaganda machine that decries socialism in all its forms except corporate (there seems to be no end to the subsidies this government will provide corporations [and the Democratic Party has their hand in this process, make no mistake), has managed to go one further and vilify the poor SOB’s who paid for the bailout (the American worker). Union workers especially suffered as even the President of the United States, afraid of his poll numbers, ignored his campaign pledge to join a protest line wherever collective bargaining was threatened.

Union workers of America, thank you, Mr. President.

Between technological advances, an overtly corrupt government, out of control greed and the relentless propaganda machine that defends capitalism as the only economic system worthy of our hard work, the working man in America has been shafted like never before. Defenders of the system point to the poor and claim “they never had it so good.”

As if the conditions of poverty today relative to one hundred years ago makes it okay.

As if it’s their own fault for being poor.

As if all the poor in America have the same opportunity to earn $2.4 million an hour as the hedge fund manager who managed those numbers the same year the country’s economic system collapsed.

Sure.

Alternatives, amici ... that’s all this is about. The two party system has been nothing but a bad joke played by big business on a population forever struggling to survive. Ignore the two party system, take the cannoli.

And see M. A. Littler’s film, the Kingdom of Survival. It can’t hurt ...

—Knucks

And since we’re talking revolution ... why not a aria from an opera of the same theme (Andrea Chenier--yeah, the one the movie Philadelphia made famous for using the Maria Callas aria, La Mamma Morte ... Jose Carreras sings Chenier ... and this line is more than appropriate “Confronted with such misery, what do the scions of nobility do?”

Wild Bill, available now ... go get it!

2011-08-24T20:12:00.002-04:00

Amici:

First, the blurb ... Action packed, loaded with Higgins-like dialogue and clever, Leonard-like plotting, Wild Bill is more than a sure footed debut … it’s wonderful, a GREAT read.

Now, the link ... go get it!

Wild Bill Hickox had already logged more than enough time with the bureau to retire when a pesky pissant from the federal prosecutor’s office wanted to shut down a two year investigation into the Chicago mob (a.k.a., the outfit). Bill’s been after the capo di tutti capi, Gianni Bevilacqua, the last two years, but now that the S.O.B. croaked from natural causes, there’s a power struggle in the outfit that everybody is trying to keep from turning into a full scale mob war. His kid, Gianni Bevilacqua, Jr., wants his inheritance.

So does Francis Albert Ferraro (Frank to us), the guy’s been around the longest, even did some time recently. He’s underboss of the outfit and anxious for the last star on his lapel—that of undisputed boss.

Jr.’s got a crew of young turks much like himself, with not much upstairs and even less experience and/or patience. Frank has guys that have been around. Doesn’t look like much of a match until Jr. shows his balls when there’s an attempted hit on him.

In the meantime, Wild Bill does what he can to infiltrate Frank’s world one-on-one. It won’t be easy if a war erupts.

There’s Bill’s love interest in all this, Madeline Klimak, a former cop working as an insurance investigator, who catches Jr’s wrath while on the job (she’s been checking on somebody close enough to Jr. to warrant the warning). It reminded me of the incident between John Gotti and a truck driver … arrested for assault, the driver suddenly came down with amnesia when it was time to testify.

Madeline’s husband, Mitch, a dirt bag himself, works local O.C. and isn’t below shaking down hookers for the action he can’t get at home. He’s also managed to shake down Jr.’s comare (pronounced gumada) and learns information that will trigger the start of the war no matter what happens. This guy is a fly in anybody’s ointment, except nobody can sell him short. He, too, has been around …

One of my favorites is Vinnie Dominoes (you’ll learn how the monikers evolved as you read), who reminds me of a guy ate 5 meals a day, too* (see footnote below) … he’s been around and he knows the score … but can he survive the crossfire?

The author sports some of the most clever prose you’ll find. This one was not only spot on, it had me smiling ear to ear. Speaking of Frank’s old world connections: They’d been with him since they came out of The Patch together forty years ago, the last of the serious wiseguys to come from the West Side neighborhood that used to cough up talent for the Outfit like the Dominican Republic produced shortstops. Old school hoods who knew how to get what they wanted.

Wild Bill is a great character you’ll root for all the way as he tries to keep a lid on the power struggles in the Chicago mob. Those of us in the New York area will especially love the references to New York wiseguys (Gotti, Gaspipe and Persico), and a subculture of our society rapidly in decline. Fans of good writing in general will be more than satisfied; this is some of the best mob/crime fiction around, fact. Author Dana King has the chops to rival Elmore Leonard and thus, is probably heads above anybody else in the field. Wild Bill is a must read, amici. Get it now and look forward to this author’s future novels. You will not be disappointed—fact.

Action packed, loaded with Higgins-like dialogue and clever, Leonard-like plotting, Wild Bill is more than a sure footed debut … it’s wonderful, a GREAT read.

The author has a set of character bios right here.

TK Proud Announcement: Dana King (author of Wild Bill above) and I will be doing a book of short stories together. Mob Stories (or whatever we title it) will feature an equal number of mob short stories from each of us. We haven’t nailed down the details yet, but I asked Dana immediately after reading Wild Bill. The big publishing houses claim mob fiction is dead. We say, “Over here with your dead mob fiction. (Guess what we’re pointing at).

______________

*One of my favorite midnight meals was octopus in gravy (sauce to yous nons) at the original Grotto Azzuro (it was up the street from me in Little Italy—forgetaboutit). Me and my partner used to go there around 3:00 a.m. a couple times a week; 69 Bayard (in Chinatown) the other nights. It was a beautiful thing ... and don’t kid yourselves, that part of the life I still miss ...

—Knucks

And since Wild Bill is about the Chicago mob (the Outfit), what better opera favorite (of Mr. Al Capone) than Vesti La Giubba?

Fun stuff ... painful stuff ... a great read ... and other stuff ... Il Travatore (work) ...

2011-08-23T20:47:00.003-04:00

Amici:

EARTHQUAKE … maybe it’s me (or my 310-15 pounds), but I didn’t feel a thing yesterday. All of my co-workers did, but not me. When I got home I called Momma Stella and neither did she feel anything (or maybe it was 330-340 pounds). What’s up with that?

No, the above wasn’t from me jogging on that road after dinner ...

BAD BACK/SHOULDER … getting old is proving more annoying than kids … well, almost. My back has been sore since I reinjured it a few months ago. No relief. Then last week I slept the wrong way (on my shoulder with the torn rotator cuff) … sorella, has that been hurting since. Fed up with this break in lifting/working out, I’m heading back to the gym to either finish myself off or get rid of the atrophy that I insist is doing all the damage.

Did I ever tell yous my theory on teeth ... that placque was nature’s way of protecting them?

Oy vey ... yous get the picture.

Diary of an Adulterous Woman … if you’re a fan of Jewish humor and/or just good writing, this baby is a wonderful find. Guido and Charlie are long time friends/classmates from way back in the day. They meet at a reunion and share stories; Guido is an Italian Jew, fairly well known photographer and womanizer of the decade. Charlie is a psychologist and single … Aviva is Guido’s love interest, a cellist married to an abusive Morrocan Jew … no spoilers but this baby is one for the ages. Complete with an index/glossary that can be become annoying at times (you’ll still want to use it), Diary is a hilarious book until the last few pages when it turns vengefully tragic. An excellent read I just did for my MFA class.

ROUGH RIDERS … okay, so last Saturday I wasted half the day putting together a Power Point presentation that was a reading from my next novel (Rough Riders, Stark House Press, July 2012). Rough Riders is a 10 year sequel to my first novel, Eddie’s World and through the process of trying to create a youtube video, I recorded my Pavarotti-like voice (no, I didn’t sing it) and caught 5 big mistakes (or edits) just from listening to myself squawk over and over and over (because of the conversion from slides converting to JPG’s in Movie Maker. Oy vey … long story short, I’m rereading RR’s one extra time (this time aloud into the recorder) with some serious focus to make sure the dialogue reads right.

As for that movie maker presentation ... ba-fongool, movie maker! I'll try something else.

FOOTBALL … On the comical side, the New England patriations continue to run up scores, even in games that don’t count. You’d think someone might remind them how they were 18-0 until the one game that counted a few years back … that poisonous 1 that turned their entire season of blowouts into a joke everyone else enjoyed laughing at.

Can’t this guy get a haircut already?

Or the last two seasons, for that matter … all those wins and especially that run-it-up on the Y-E-T-S, Yets, Yets, Yets … for what? The same Yets beat them when it counted. 14-2 … ooops, 14-3 …

Meanwhile, my beloved New York State Buffalo Bills are cruising through the preseason just waiting for the real thing to begin. The double swipe against the Patriations will be salve for any burn the other 14 games may turn into.

Ooops, I meant these guys (above) ... Go Bills!

Big Review this Friday night/Saturday ... a great new book and a great movie on political alternatives.

—Knucks

Nothing is complete without a little opera, amici ...

Ebooks to purchase ... the Kellinator ... Bills got D ... we got Glee ... upcoming TK stuff ... verismo opera ...

2011-08-20T07:40:00.001-04:00

Amici:

A group of ebooks that require attention (and purchase) ... Len Wanner put together a book of interviews with Scottish crime writers that is a must read for anyone inside or outside the genre. Dead Sharp ranks up there with Craig McDonald’s wonderful author interviews (Art in the Blood and Rogue Males). It is a terrific collection TK will do more justice to in the upcoming weeks. For now, here were my thoughts upon first reading these intriguing dialogues a while back: "Some say tomata, others say tomato, but they all share a similar trait; a genuine passion for their chosen craft - crime fiction writers; whether they accept the genre label or not. Interviewer Len Wanner pokes and prods with his usual intellectual inquisitiveness at what makes these Scottish authors tick and then tock ... a must read for writers of all genres and their fans alike." -Charlie Stella

The Bastard Hand, Heath Lowrance. I went through this one pretty quick. Lowrance has a smooth style I thoroughly enjoyed. Charlie Wesley hears his brother’s voice after escaping a mental hospital ... a Preacher with a few vices and plans of his own games him big time ... there’s subtle political and religious commentary in this book that I took an instant shine to. Upon meeting Reverend Phineas Childe, Elmer Gantry immediately came to mind. A very good read.

A plethora (always wanted to use that word) of talent is featured in this collection of tales from the dark side. Pulp Ink is a great bargain. You won’t find this much talent at such a bargain price again for a while is my guess. Forget the toppings on your next pizza and put up the duckets for this collection. You can’t go wrong ...

Author and MFA classmate (smoking partner and all around good people), Kelly Stone Gamble interviewed me over at her website. More fuel for Doc’s fire, no doubt. Kelly is in her last semester at SNHU (Southern New Hampshire University)’s MFA program and is close to finished with her historical novel Ragtown. From her website: Hell is lined with concrete. Such are the thoughts of Lance Camino, a young construction worker, whose survival during the Great Depression relies on laboring in the diversion tunnels of the Hoover Dam Project. Accidents, disease, politics, and the deadly wildlife of the harsh Nevada desert are only a few of the obstacles that interfere with his desire to save enough money to get back to his Texas home. But, something else is distracting him from his goal. Something that his friend Pete McGee says, “has the prettiest red hair in the state.”

Kelly is also a nurse, Mom, Wife and Vegas girl (she lives in Las Vegas). We shared cigarettes and cigarette runs on the isle of Shutter and on the campus of SNHU. The Kellinator is a terrific writer ... visit her webpage, Staring Out the Window.

Bills 3, Bears 0 ... that’s right, amici ... when the first quarter was over (when both teams played their first string teams), we’d already whooped up on those Bears of Chicago 3-0. Our defense shined (sacks galore/9 total). The final score was Bears 10-Bills 3, but nobody cares about final scores in the pre-season. Can anyone stop us now? Tonight we travel to Denver to train those ponies ... Go Bills!

Glee Geeks ... forgetaboutit, the best show on TV ... or you tube ... the wife recently purchased a Glee hoodie and sent it across the pond to Grace Bruen (Ken’s daughter) once we found out the Bruen clan are also Glee Geeks. So last night we watched Funny Girl with Babs and it was a lot of fun to see (and hear) her belt them out ... if only my Bills could’ve gotten her to sing the national anthem up in Orchard Park.

Now, check out Glee’s Rachel’s chops ...

Upcoming to TK ... an interview with one of my favorite authors these days, Dana King. He’s about to go ebook with Wild Bill and after reading the prologue the other night, I had to force myself to stop reading forward because of school commitments. It has jumped the cue to be read soon as I’m finished with Diary of an Adulterous Woman (reading it twice for note taking, etc.). Dana does what I do, writes mob stories the publishing industry insists nobody likes to read anymore. We go against the grain, I guess (and smile while doing it). Dana more than has the chops, dialogue that spits (a quote George V. Higgins was attributed with once) and characters, good and bad, that will intrigue us all. This author is more than due his RESPECT and TK will attempt to deliver some in the upcoming weeks.

Here now, from my favorite verismo opera (Cavalleria Rusticana)/Rustic Chivalry to yous nons ... you’ll recognize it from The Godfather (all of them, but especially Godfather III) ... the intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana

Turiddu bids his mother farewell; he’s about to fight to the death with the husband of the woman he’s had an affair with (Lola) ... the last line was used in Godfather’s II and III by Coppola (a big opera fan himself) ... Hanno ammazzato compare Turiddu! Pretty much what Patriot fans will be saying once my beloved New York State Buffalo Bills get their hands on compare Tom Brady ...

Go Bills!
—Knucks

The Doc says ...

2011-08-17T19:16:00.004-04:00

What’s happening, Bro?

Have you seen the Bamster’s new ride?

I guess he got bored with Air Force 1 and Marine 1, so he goes and orders two $1,100,000 buses from Canada. Don’t we have two U.S. car companies that owe us a gazillion dollars from their bailout? Couldn’t Chevy have taken 16 of their unsellable Volts, welded them all together and stuck a Winnebago on top?

But, no… Fredo needed something special. So for 3 days he’ll be motoring around the Midwest in his “Rolling Plunder, Beelzebub’s Bus of Doom and Phantasmagoria”. I think the license plates are from Mordor.

In Illinois on his “Listening Tour” (which mostly involves him talking) one of his key talking points was the importance of “buying American”. When done, he jumped into his Canadian vampire bus and drove off.

The media is not showing you the scenes when this huge, black, phallic symbol rumbles into town and all the moms are running into the street and scooping up their babies and fleeing to their homes and bolting the shutters and doors.

And you know in your heart that Fredo is not a bus kind of guy. He likes the limo, the 747, the chopper. So he’ll do his 3 day listening tour, but by next week this million dollar monstrosity will be used to tote his golf clubs from hole to hole.

Have a good week, Chaz.
Doc

The Rite ... Diary of an Adulterous Woman ... Go Bills ...

2011-08-13T14:26:00.000-04:00

Amici:

The boss and I watched a movie we both liked. The Rite ... not exorcist scary, but pretty damn good (as these types of movies go, we thought).

I’m reading a hilarious book these days for my MFA class. Diary of An Adulterous Woman. It’s truly hilarious.

My beloved New York State Buffalo Bills at Chicago today. Do the Bears even stand a chance?

Football is back, baby. And yous know what that means?

Not to mention Doc’s favorite ...

I’m back to work on a temp assignment near home so’s I won’t be posting as often. Until the next time, amici ... forgetaboutit, the Bills rule! Currently undefeated in 2011 ...

—Knucks

The Doc’s email ... the Doc says ...

2011-08-10T06:35:00.006-04:00

Amici:

The monthly disclaimer shortened: Doc is a very conservative dude. He is the only other commentator on Temporary Knucksline. While we’re both curmudgeons, where are often (most often) polar opposites on politics. I’m a social-democrat (leaning toward anarchism fast), Doc is a, well, he’s the Doc (the compassionate one [sarcasm intended]). He’s also a terrific writer, make no mistake. Here’s his recent email to me. The Doc says segment was actually from a week ago. I was too swamped to post it then.

Docs recent email to me (I had told him I’m down to 311 pounds) and that I’m not satisfied with free enterprise.

Wow, 311!!!

I better put some kind of filter on the skimmer so you don't get sucked down with the leaves.

Free enterprise is working fine. It can recognize that Fredo has turned us into Somalia with a Chryser Building.

Later, Dude.

Doc

The Doc Says ...

Quite a week, eh, Sparky?

The whole debt ceiling drama really showcased why congress has a 13% job approval and I would guess that the 13% who gave the positive feedback are actually people who work in congress. Have you ever seen a more despicable performance in your life? But the Bamster told us that if we didn’t raise the debt ceiling the stock market would tank. So we gave him an extra trillion or so to play with and guess what. The very next day the stock market hits the wall harder than Charlie Sheen in the Daytona 500.

Happy Birthday, Fredo!

That notorious muffin head Biden has the audacity to refer to the Tea party Republicans as terrorists. In Obama’s America we don’t even refer to Al Qaeda as terrorists. I believe Janet Napolitano refers to the 9/11 hijackers as “Undocumented Airline Pilots”.

Government Motors is still pushing their all electric, Chevy Volt. In February they sold almost 300 of them. In July, across the whole freaking United States they sold 125 of them. GM’s response… they are boosting production of them to 5,000 per month. Start saving your pennies. The second bailout of GM can’t be too far away.

So Mayor Mike is going to help Black and Latino “boys”. What happens to the girls? Will he just give them a free baby carriage and a roll of food stamps?

Once again, Obama is going to turn his “laser-like” focus to the jobs issue. If the past is any indication here Chaz, this will give the same results as your laser-like focus on dieting.

On the local front, who actually believes that Taco Bell’s Triple Steak Burrito actually has 3 different types of steak in it? Unless of course you consider the fleshy part of raccoons and woodchucks to be a form of steak.

Some sound advice here.

Have a great weekend, Chazmeister
Doc

Late Rain & other book reviews ... and A Chinese Classic ...

2011-08-05T14:59:00.005-04:00

Amici:

A review I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post (so I’m adding it today) about a book we loved big time last year, Lynn Kostoff’s Late Rain.

This is an audio review from Audiofile magazine, which is the magazine for audiobook listeners & buyers (including libraries):

LATE RAIN
Lynn Kostoff
Read by Kenneth Campbell

In many respects, this splendid mystery sounds more European than American. The action is cerebral (though still compelling), and the characters are well drawn, interesting, and unpredictable. Also, the humor is subtle and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. Adding to the high quality is narrator Kenneth Campbell, who perfects the memorable characters: the good and bad cops who realistically outdo each other (listeners feel like eavesdroppers), the "loser" murderer and his creepy milieu, the charming, streetwise informant, and the elderly father suffering from Alzheimer's. Not only does the story keep listeners guessing until the end but there are moments of deep emotion and the characters are so good one hopes to meet them again. S.G.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2011]

Sarah’s Key ... sold on the film I’ve yet to see (and will only see because of Kristin Scott Thomas), I did the kindle thing and bought the international bestseller. Author Rosnay touches on an impossible to ignore subject for me (anything to do with the insanity that was the holocaust grabs my attention). The situation the book deals with in France under the Vichy government proved another lesson learned (TheVel' d'Hiv Roundup). The author handled that aspect of the book deftly and the story quickly becomes a page turning thriller (as we cheer the little girl on). Yet, once some of the questions that keep us moving are answered, I felt the story wither and die, which is too far from the end, I thought ... and by books end, I was left feeling, “Eh.”

I will no doubt break one of my no more movie rules and see this one because Kristin Scott Thomas (I adore her and her films--especially those produced in France). Here’s the trailer:

Then last night, spurred on by yet another excellent review, (Benjamin Whitmer’s), except this one worked out for me, I did the kindle thing again and purchased Megan Abbott’s latest, The End of Everything. I was not disappointed. The reviews are for real. A story told by a 13 year old (Lizzie) whose best friend (Evie) suddenly goes missing and Lizzie was the last to have seen her. Abbott toys with the tricks memories can play, the why and how of those tricks and their concomitant results. Relationships (familial and otherwise) are dissected through the disappearance of a young girl in the mouthy town she's from; like a game of telephone, one rumor leads to another and so on. Kids at school do what kids at school do, especially at so young an age. Consequences too real for them to comprehend lay in wait. Yet it was some of the more subtle moments in this gripping novel that moved me most. Lizzie’s mother’s description of her initial weakness when her husband left her and her daughter alone was an exceptional moment for this reader. I couldn’t help but think back to what my mother had gone through when my father took off; the feeling of abandonment and rejection was crippling to observe as a 13 year old (myself). But Lizzie’s mother (like mine) bounced back, as do so many of the characters in this wonderfully written psychological thriller. Misdirection abounds as we try to get inside the head of the child the author has so deftly managed. This book is one not to be overlooked. Again, the excellent reviews are for real.

The Devils on the Doorstep ... a highly recommended film for those who favor a foreign touch, The Devils on the Doorstep is a quick changing mood masterpiece about a town held in the siege of a hostage situation. From Wiki: “ ... set in the last years of the Second Sino-Japanese War during World War II and tells the story of a Chinese villager who is forced by a mysterious figure to take custody of two prisoners from the Japanese Army (Yuan). Fearing both the mystery man and the Japanese, the village falls into a dilemma over what to do with the two prisoners.”

This one will take you from laughing out loud funny to cringing disbelief. Not for the fragile (not past the 3/4’s point, that’s for sure) ... a tough, yet wonderful film.

The Doc ... sent a very funny (as usual) piece that I’m having to put off until early next week because I’ve been behind schedule (writing, writing, writing) ... his post will appear early next week.

The wife’s birthday in a couple days ... she’ll be 40 or so ... again. Her freckles are in full summer bloom ... it’s a beautiful thing ... as is the wife.

—Knucks