Now it's official : Happy New Year! Up until a minute ago it sounded like World War Three here in Pearl's neighborhood. That's the part of New Year's Eve I can do without, folks blowing off endless fireworks. Thank goodness it seems to have subsided (he said hopefully). Before we get to our final film of 2019, let's do some more "best of", this time with noteworthy books. I read around thirty or so this year, so I'll give ya ten that really stood out, with the month of reading in parentheses, and a brief synopsis : 1) "A Lie To Big To Fail" by Lisa Pease (January 2019), the definitive book, thus far, on the RFK assassination. 2) "The Plot To Kill King" by William Pepper (March 2019), the definitive book on the MLK assassination, case closed. Pepper even names the actual gunman and the agencies behind the killing, leaving no doubt whatsoever. This book should be read by all Americans. 3) "The Tristan Chord" by Bryan Magee (March 2019), an excellent biography of the life and career of composer Richard Wagner. 4) "The Many Worlds Of Hugh Everett III" by Peter Byrne (April 2019), a biography on the life and career of eccentric physicist Everett, the proponent of the "many worlds" theory. 5) "Only Death Is Real" by Thomas Gabriel Fischer, aka Tom G. Warrior (May 2019), the story of Hellhammer and early Celtic Frost as told by the man himself, and he is one "hell" of a writer, haha. 6) "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" by Robert Heinlein (June 2019), my introduction to the master of science fiction, wow what a story! 7) "Member Of The Family" by Diane Lake (August 2019), the harrowing story of Lake's time with the Manson Family, a must read. 8) "Growing Things" by Paul Tremblay (September 2019), a compendium of imaginative short stories by the best horror writer since Stephen King. 9) "The Rendlesham Enigma" by Staff Sergeant (Ret.) Jim Penniston and Gary Osborn (September 2019), the astonishing true story, 800 pages long, of Penniston's experience during the Rendlesham Forest Incident on Christmas night 1980. Read it if interested in what is really happening in the world. 10) "Flying Saucers and The Three Men" by Albert K. Bender (December 2019), the founder of the International Flying Saucer Bureau, the very first citizen agency to investigate the phenomenon of UFOs, formed in 1952. Bender was the first person to mention "men in black". His story is as weird as it is mind boggling.
So there you have ten books. I'd like to add one more as an honorable mention. That would be "Chaos : Charles Manson and the CIA" by Tom O'Neil (August 2019). This book has information on the Tate/LaBianca murders that blows Vincent Bugliosi's "Helter Skelter" theory out of the water. The only trouble is that courageous reporter O'Neil got shut down before he could get the whole picture on what he uncovered, so the reader is left to piece it together himself. Still, it's a herculean work of investigative journalism and an absolute must read.
If I had to pick a Book Of The Year, it would be between "The Rendlesham Enigma" by Jim Penniston and "Member Of The Family" by Dianne Lake, but all the others are worthy of that title, as are the twenty books I left out.
As for concert of the year, I only went to seven shows in 2019, close to my all time low. But, the concerts I did attend were all incredible, and I saw a few acts I'd never seen before, such as the phenomenal classical organist Cameron Carpenter (at Disney Hall in April), Robin Trower (at The Wiltern in May), and Sir Paul McCartney (at Dodger Stadium in July). In addition I went to see Todd Rundgren (Wiltern in May), Bryan Ferry (Greek Theatre in August), King Crimson (Greek in September), and Rick Wakeman (Ace Hotel in October). To me, they were all Concert Of The Year, but if I had to pick one it would be Paul McCartney, who at age 77 played a three hour set of some of the greatest rock music ever written. He's a freakin' Beatle, and Ringo came onstage to jam with him. So that was #1, and if I had to name another, I'd give Bryan Ferry an honorable mention. He is 74; I hadn't seen him since 1976, when he was with Roxy Music. He was only 31 then, but sounded just as good 43 years later, and he had a state of the art band that rivaled Pink Floyd for sound quality.
So there you have it, some great books and concerts. I want also to write a little bit about the status of my life, and what I hope to accomplish in the coming decade. If you read this blog on a continuing basis, you might think, "well, Ad sure watches a lot of movies, but he doesn't seem to have a life", and that is true. I do have a disclaimer, of course, that I am a caregiver for a person with dementia, and if you know what that entails, then you also know why all I have time for is a movie every evening, and books when I can grab a few minutes, and a handful of concerts on my days off. But I am gonna be 60 in April, and I have a lot I want to accomplish in the coming decade. When the time comes, I'm going to return to my writing, and of course to the subject of 1989. I want to take my original book, written during the period of 2006-2009, and hone it down from 800 pages to around half that. I also want to update it slightly, in order to toss out a couple of theories that no longer fit, and to add a few details here and there that have come to light in the ensuing years. Really what I wanna do is make the book commercially viable, not that anyone is gonna publish it anyway - but you never know - however, nowdays I could publish it myself via Lulu or one of the other online companies that offer that option. So stay tuned for the new version of "What Happened In Northridge", coming sometime in the new decade. Also, if you are a person who knows "what happened in Northridge", or if you participated in it, it's time for you to come out and talk about what you know, or what you remember. Continuing silence, on the part of anyone with knowledge, is profoundly wrong.
I have two other books I wanna write in my lifetime. One, I already have 120 pages of notes for. It's called "The Lorne Street School Story", and is a really weird tale about my childhood. It won't make sense to anyone but myself, but it'll be a good read, and I wanna finish that book during this decade as well. With both books, I will need full time concentration to write them, so neither will be forthcoming until I am no longer caregiving, but at any rate, look for them in the future as they will be written. The final book I have planned will be called "The Meadows" and will in part be based on my experiences during the "earthquake years" of 1994-97. It will actually go much deeper than that, to look into various metaphysical questions, which sounds pretentious but I promise it won't be. If it starts sounding that way, I'll tear up the pages and start over, haha. But really, I have some stuff that I'm not aware of yet, that I want to pull out from inside of myself, so I don't know entirely what "The Meadows" will be about besides the quake years narrative. But it will be my hardest book to write, so I don't expect it to come for at least 5 to 7 years. Stay tuned.
I also wanna paint, draw, take pictures and continue to hike, and one day do some traveling, as I've never been anywhere besides California and Las Vegas. Those things will all come, too. Anybody wanna drive across America with me? :)
Of course, I want to get married. That is my greatest hope of all. :):)
I did watch a movie last night : "Seven Sweethearts" starring Kathryn Grayson, another new favorite of mine. I'll have to keep the review brief due to time constraints, but anyway, the movie co-stars Van Heflin, playing a reporter who has come to the town of Little Delft, Michigan to cover the annual tulip festival. Little Delft is a Dutch enclave with a hotel run by a man named Van Maaster, who has seven beautiful daughters. Heflin winds up staying there, and at first is amused by the place. Mr. Van Maaster has given every daughter a male name, as he always wanted a boy, so Heflin is introduced to "Albert", "George", "Cornelius", "Victor", "Peter", and "Billie" (Grayson). All the daughters work at the hotel, Grayson as a hostess and the singer at the in-house supper club. This gives Grayson a chance to sing several numbers and show off her amazing voice.
But there is one daughter who doesn't work, at the hotel or otherwise. She is Regina, the only one with a female name (though her sisters call her "Reggie"). Regina is played by the great character actress and super cutie Marsha Hunt, who I believe is still alive and about 100 years old now. But in the movie, Regina fancies herself an actress, and more than that, a personality, as she describes herself to Heflin when he finally meets her. Regina affects a theatrical image; she glides around quoting Shakespeare in a faux Continental accent. She's the kind of gal who calls everyone "dahh-ling". She wears the latest fashions as opposed to the work clothes of her sisters.
There is a tradition in the Van Maaster family, that the eldest daughter must marry first. That means Regina, who remains single for obvious reasons. She's stunningly beautiful but grossly artificial, in love with her own persona. Her sisters have had it with her, because they all have boyfriends they'd like to wed, but Regina's lack of a fiancee, and the family tradition, is preventing that. The only one without a beau is Billie, the youngest. The plot hinges on Mr. Van Maaster's attempt to hook Regina up with Van Heflin, but he has fallen in love with Billie. It is this conflict that will drive the story.
"Seven Sweethearts" is like a fairy tale, set in a Brothers Grimm village. You will fall in love with the Van Maaster sisters, especially Billie, and you will be glad you are stuck at their hotel. It seems that once you check in, it's difficult to leave. In fact, there's really only one way out, as Van Heflin discovers. What you'll really be left with is a desire to see more Kathryn Grayson movies, so we'll be looking for those in the coming weeks. This was the perfect film to end the year on, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Two Gigantic Thumbs Up. /////
That's all for the moment. Gonna head back to Pearl's and catch the last quarter of the Rose Bowl. See you tonight at the Usual Time.
Happy New Year! Tons and tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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