Read More, Surf Less

Did you make News years resolutions? Today is the day when most folks have given up on theirs. One of mine this year was to spend less time in the toxic swamp of twitter and other social media and more time reading books. Actual books. Literature…some light, some important. Stuff to make you think about big ideas and stuff to entertain or look at history in a different way. I can't imagine not reading. So Starting last January I kept track of the books I read. It totaled 31…probably would have been more but I spent alot of time on Ron Chernow's long biography of Alexander Hamilton. So, in the interest of those of you who are also readers and might be looking for something new here is my reading list for 2018.

Deep Freeze and Twisted Prey from John Sanford (good thrillers based in the Twin Cities)

Green Hell, The Emerald Lie & The Ghosts of Galway by Ken Bruen (hardboiled as it gets, featuring Jack Taylor, a down on his luck alcoholic PI…the twist is the books are set in Galway Ireland and include takes on pop culture, music and other authors)

Down The River To The Sea and John Woman by Walter Mosley (one of the best American authors out there. His fiction focus on race and feature well defined and written characters)

Black & White Ball & Wild Justice-Loren Estleman (he writes a hardboiled dectective series set in Detroit and also writes westerns that rise to the level of literature as well)

Dark Sacred Night-Micahel Connellly (always a pleasure to re-vist LA detective Harry Bosch)

Robicheaux-James Lee Burke (might be my favorite author all time. His Dave Robicheaux series has been going for decades and always give us great prose and details of the seemy underbelly of southern Louisiana)

The Murder of Mary Russell-Laurie King (have been a fan of this inventive series set in the 1920s featuring the intrepid Miss Russell and her husband…an aging Sherlock Holmes!)

The Story of “The Wire”…a great oral history of one of the great all-time TV shows

Dark Matter & The Shot-Philip Kerr (if you havent discovered Kerr's literate historical novels you should start from the beginning. I envy you)

Mystery Train-Griel Marcus (an older book of rock music criticism…interesting viewpoints of some of the artists and music we grew up on)

If Everybody Had an Ocean-William McKeen (an incredible book which looks at the southern California music scene in the 60's and early 70's.)

Hell's Detective-Michael Logan (one of the more inventive books I read which sets its hard-boiled detective story in actual Hell)

The Trial of George Washington-Charles Rosenberg (another inventive historical what-if novel. What if the British kidnapped Washington during the Revolutionay War and took him back to England to be tried for treason)

The Cuban Affair-Nelson DeMille ( a thriller set in present day Cuba with lots of historical background as well).

The Twilight of The Gods-Steve Hyden ( a history of “Classic Rock” music written by a national writer who grew up in the Fox Valley listening to WAPL and WIXX)

Reckless Daughter, The Joni Mitchell Story-David Yaffe ( a nicely told bio of a complicated woman and one of my favorite musical artists)

The Wanted-Robert Crais (the latest in the continuing series of LA private eye Elvis Cole and his sidekick Joe Pike)

Slobberknocker-Jim Ross (the autobiography of pro wrestling announcer who worked for all the big promotions over the years. Funny and sobering stories)

The Decievers-Alex Berenson (the latest in the John Wells series)

The Demon Crown-James Rollins (don't like all his Sigma Force books but this one was alright)

Rising Sea & The Greedy Sea-Clive Cussler (yeah, they are formulaic but I pick up some interesting facts from each one)

Trigger Warning-Neil Gaiman (an older collection of short stories from the author of American Gods)

The Canyon- (a musical history of Laurel Canyon. (great stories from the golden era 1964-75)

Hamilton-Ron Chernow (read it in preparation to see the musical but was fascinated by the story. Not only the story of Hamilton bu the story of the birth of the country. I thought I knew most of that story but learned alot)

I know, I know…I read too many thrillers…what can I say. My philosophy is read what interests you…and once in awhile get out of your comfort zone. Enjoy.

Yeah Giannis is the Bucks MVP but have you noticed that Malcom Brogdon has the second best free-throw percentage in NBA history this season (.977)….he also has one of the best two-point percentages in team history (.565)…and one of the best three-point percentages in the NBA this season (.422)…think we should keep him around?

Gonna check out this show on Friday night at the Grand. Love this time and place

Bradley Bolke, the voice of Chumley the Walrus has died. He was in his 90's. I found this cartoon funnier when I was a kid

Quotes of The Week

“I don't loathe Trump because he's a Republican. For me, this stopped being about politics long ago. I oppose him because he's a horrific human being, a pathological liar, one of the most corrupt individuals I've ever come across, a racist, and an embarrassment to thius country.”-Allen Clifton

“The difference between Nixon and Trump: when the Republicans nominated Nixon they didn't actually knoew he was a crook.”-Stephen King

“Paul Ryan now enjoys the peace of mind that when he turns 50–in less than two years–he will enjoy a defined benefits pension of about 79K annaully for the rest of his life, funded by the same taxpayers whose Social Security he's been trying to cut or privatize his entire career.”-Joshua Zeitz

“Both sides are not to blame for this shutdown. Trump said he would take the blame for it. The Democratic House has voted nine times to reopen the government. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell refuses to allow any vote to reopen the government. This is a Republican Shutdown.”-Keith Boykin

“When you have a bunch of white kids screaming “build the wall' at indigenous folks its very apparent that “the wall” has nothing to do with border security, its simply a monument to white supremacy.”-Calvin Stowell

“I have said since watergate that a sitting president can be indicted. Nothing in the Constitution prohibits it. While it may be better to impeach and remove, that does not make indictment improper, and in present circumstances indictment may be the only solution.”-Jill Wine Banks

“Between Alexandria Ocasio Cortez being 'too young” and Pelosi being “too old” I'm getting the sense that for some people the only right age for a woman in politics is “male”.”-Teaberry Blue

“A respectful suggestion as we get deeper into this grave year for our country. Remember and remind others of that core American value: no one–not even a president–is above the law. And carved into stone at our Justice Dept are the words, “Where law ends, tyranny begins.”-Dan Rather

“The US is an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery.”-Jimmy Carter

“We can now add suborning perjury to the long list of Doanld Trump's criminality. How many more crimes does this childish , entitled, ignorant narcissistic unstable pathological liar have to commit before Mitch McConnell grows even one ball.”-Rob Reiner

“Dear Mike Pence, I'm a follower of Christ. You know what Jesus said about homsexuality? NOTHING. But he did say alot about love. Stop cloaking your hate in your purported religious beliefs. It's just hate.”-Rep Ted Lieu

“One day John Kelly will make millions by writing a book. I hope he donates all of the money to the children who's lives he destroyed by seperating them from their families.”-Ed Krassenstein

“The MAGA hat is the white hood of our generation.”-unknown

“I do hope college admissions committees take into account quality of character in assessing the applications of the high schoolers who harrassed and threatened native rights activist and US veteran Nathan Phil;lips.”-George Takei

“These refs birdboxin.”-Pat McAfee

Songs Of The Day (Jackie Wilson died on this date in 1984 after spending years in a coma. He was just 49. He was called Mr Excitement during his hey-day)

Read More, Surf Less

Current Weather

ON AIR NOW