Interesting footnote to the history of John Palumbo/Crack The Sky
599156
It's hard to believe, but I think this is the first (and perhaps only) John Palumbo-related major label release.  The majors ignored Crack The Sky and Palumbo's solo releases (and continue to do so) but, for some reason, BMG picked up Palumbo's one-off Cruel Shoes and issued it in 1992.

Musically, yeah, it may be the best Steely Dan album of the 90's.  Good tunes and very good production (not terribly slick for this type of music).  Rick Witkowski adds a bit of guitar here and there....never a bad thing.

If you're a Crack The Sky fan who managed to stumble onto this review, by all means pick it up.  Even though this music sounds nothing like CTS, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

4 stars.
2255637
Richard Barone has led an interesting life, from being a 7 year old radio DJ in Tampa to starting the Hoboken music scene in the early 1980's with his band The Bongos and the "chamber rock" trend in the late 1980's.

He captures the story of his life as a "frontman" with warmth and humor in this book, which is also filled with a cast of characters as varried as Tiny Tim and Bea Arthur to Moby and legendary producer Tony Visconti - and how each has added a thread in the tapestry that is Richard's life.

After reading, I was wishing there was a "soundtrack" to go along with the tales, such as the "legendary Tiny Tim Banana recording sessions", The Snails, and the "lost Bongos' album"... maybe that's a project for down the road.

If you are a fan of Richard's music, you'll get insights on how much of it came to be, and if you're not familiar with his catalogue, it's a fascinating tale of the music industry from an inside perspective which I hope will encourage you to see out the songs behind the stories.

Thank you for sharing, Richard!
1281917
It was in between two forgotten movies:  you remember, way back then (maybe early 70"s when you could still see two movies for 1/2 the price of one now!)

Some strange saxophonist was playing and screaming and the screen just had an image of a Bacon painting.  It was an ad for Last Tango in Paris; the movie stunk, but the saxophonist was another world for me.  I had to find out who this "mad man" was.

Of course, it was Gato Barbieri (also the composer of the Last Tango score.)

Later I saw him several times 15 feet away in the Roxie on Sunset.  He could be fire, he could be loving and he could be musical  And then later, he put together Caliente!  I add the exclamation point.  This is not just loud, raw unfocused saxaphone music.  Gato knew how to create another world, which even included a rain storm (I guess to cool down the music.) Buy the record:  the first bass notes are worth it alone.

He is somewhat forgotten now:  but not by me sitting in that early 70's theater "dying" to know who was -- that crazy man screaming and playing the sax.  But also making a different type of music.  My understanding is that he has had a "rough" road.  Sorry for that -- but his music is unlike no other.
1771363
One of the most-asked questions for people who study Las Vegas history is "How did the mob get kicked out of the casino industry?" This book tells you a major part of that story from a man who was a key part of that process.

Full disclosure: I worked for Dennis Gomes in 1994/95 at the Trump Taj Mahal casino, though since I was a line employee and he was the property president, we didn't interact much. I also gave the author, Danielle Gomes, some (free) research assistance with the book at UNLV.

HIT ME is a very personal story. Danielle based the book on her father's notes, investigations, and recollections of his time as audit chief of the Nevada Gaming Control Board in the 1970s. These were crucial years, when the pressure to remove organized crime from the casino industry was building, yet many in the state preferred a "business as usual" policy. By the end of the decade, federal action, in particular the Strawman investigation, would do a great deal to banish the mob from the industry, and Gomes' work at audit provides a glimpse into just how entrenched mob-related figures were at certain casinos and just how difficult it was for state investigators to pry them out.

The book's most valuable quality, for me, is that it provides an insider's look into the regulators-vs-mob struggle in a way that few other accounts have. Often you get the impression that the forces confronting the mob were brilliantly organized and had unlimited resources, but Gomes's account of the GCB in those years seems anything but. Obviously, this is based on one man's story, and those at other places in the organization may have something different to say (more on that later), but the inside look into one entrepreneurial division of the GCB provides a unique perspective. In some ways, Gomes and his crew seem more like a regulatory start-up--under-funded and constantly scrambling--than part of the oldest casino regulatory regime in the United States.
In the past few weeks, HIT ME has been in the news in Las Vegas. One of the figures mentioned in the book, a former governor, took issue with the impression given in the book that he was less than diligent in prosecuting those Gomes alleged to be associated with organized crime. That's a reminder that this isn't ancient history, and that, while everyone agrees that the industry is better off for having put its mob days behind it (well, expect for the people who think Las Vegas was better "when the mob ran the town"), this is still a very touchy subject.

The key to reading this book is to understanding it as the story of Dennis Gomes's part in the fight against organized crime in Nevada gaming. You are seeing things through his eyes. I've been studying this stuff for a long time now, and I learned more than a few things reading HIT ME. Personally, I found the material on Jay Vandermark and several slot skimming investigations fascinating. It's rare that a book like this handles the subject in so much detail, and Gomes really gives you a sense of just how ingenious the skimmers could be.

Overall, I found this an honest and gripping account of Gomes's years with the audit division and his struggle to clean up Nevada casinos. Is this the last word on the topic? Likely not, and I'm sure there are many other people active in those years and later who could offer their own perspective on that time. For now, HIT ME has added a great deal of depth to our understanding of Nevada casino regulation in the 1970s. This is a book that anyone who is interested in Las Vegas casino history should read.
4471112
Howard Kaylan, along with his buddy, Mark Volman, formed The Turtles in the late 1960s and are best known for their hit single "Happy Together". In the late 70s and early 80s they re-imagined themselves as Flo & Eddie. But that was only part of Kaylan's life. He worked with Frank Zappa and did some acting on TV and even dabbled in some science fiction short stories. This 278-page book has Kaylan taking us back to his childhood days (when HE decided to change his birth name from Kaplan to Kaylan (`cause he "wanted to be "different".

Though, as I note above, he did some writing, he used well-known music journalist (Goldmine, Jazz Times and hundreds of CD liner notes) Jeff Tamarkin to help organize and tell his story. While it's Kaylan's life that is documented here, I see Tamarkin's style (which I've always liked) in the text. (Tamarkin's previous book was about Jefferson Airplane). It's an easy read.

Kaylan has a big fan in Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller) who wrote the Foreword. There are 16 pages of COLOR photos of Kaylan's families (he was married five times) as well as him appearing with various musicians over the year.

Kaylan - who recently turned 65 - looks back on his life and the book is an easy read. Fans of the Turtles, Flo & Eddie and Zappa will definitely want this book, but it's also another volume that discusses the highs (no pun intended) and lows of life on the road.

I hope you found this review both informative and helpful.
Steve Ramm
"Anything Phonographic"
4266437
The book has some writing problems like you can't tell who's speaking to you at the time. The book is written by a variety of different voices. I loved the movie, Casino. The book fills in a lot of background details of the real-life characters and the movie starring Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, and Sharon Stone. DeNiro plays the lead character, Frank Lefty Rosenthal. In the movie, he's Ace Rothstein. Pesci plays Tony Spilotero as Nick who will remind you of Goodfellas role. Stone plays Ginger rather than Geri.
I still find the book interesting especially about how thorough it is in regards to understanding the backgrounds of the mob, Las Vegas, Chicago, and the neighborhoods of Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal and Tony Spilotero's character. I always watching the movie but I like watching it from the beginning. I can't stand watching it in the middle but Scorsese did an excellent job in maintaining the voices that inspired the movie.
3375848
If you have an interest in organized crime, this is pretty interesting and well worth seeing.
4546045
I really enjoyed this Film. It was able to relate to me the difficulties Scorsese had trying to get his head around this great band's method of preparing for a show.
It Starts out a little slow with background on filming then gets into the concert arena..
The mixing on the first couple sets could have been better but from there on the sound was great, with good close-ups of the band members, revealing their emotions and the enjoyment they obviously experience on stage.
The short interviews from the past and comments from the present were both enlightening and entertaining.
If you want to look into the stage lives of the greatest Rock-N-Roll Band of all, I highly recommend this DVD.
I intend showing it again as a party treat over refreshments with friends.
Should make for some interesting conversations, memories and laughs.
4567938
Dario Fo is a great artist and a great man. With his wife Franca he has written some of the best pages of Italian culture. I had the fortune of watching them act (live and on TV) in most of their plays. With the barest stage they can convey the richest combination of form and substance. They represent the core of the profound culture and sensitivity of the Italian working class, which so important has been in the social development of that country, and still is little known abroad (shaded by the stereotypical and outdated images of mandolins, meatballs, and mafiamen). I deeply encourage anyone to read as much as possible of what Dario has written.
I found on this website a review claiming that "Fo supports the WTC attackers". The author of that review should have gone a little deeper in reading the facts, just to discover that the intended message of the reported statement was quite opposite to the alleged one. The original text that includes the statement can be found at ...(in Italian). I believe the misunderstanding is far from casual. Nowadays the Italian Prime Minister controls almost every information medium. He has restored most of the political and cultural conditions that Italy was forced to "enjoy" between 1922 and 1943. It has become very hard for dissenting voices to reach a wide audience without having their messages distorted on the way. The "Corriere della Sera" excerpt from Dario and Franca's email on the 9/11 tragedy is just one more example of how easy it is to manipulate the truth by simply reporting minimal parts of it.
3843411
The fifth episode of this third season, PUBLISH OR PERISH, was broadcasted on Jan. 18th, 1974. It's also possible to watch this episode in the DVD standard by purchasing&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Columbo-The-Complete-Third-Season/dp/B0009NZ36O/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Columbo - The Complete Third Season</a>. After&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Columbo-Collector-s-Edition-Double-Shock/dp/B00066FPCQ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Columbo Collector's Edition: Double Shock</a>, this is the second and last Columbo episode directed by Robert Butler. Note also that the victim Alan Mallory is played by the well-known writer Mickey&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/The-Mike-Hammer-Collection-Volume-1/dp/0451203526/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">The Mike Hammer Collection Volume 1</a>&nbsp;Spillane.

In this episode, Lt. Columbo must confound the publisher Riley Greenleaf who hired a hitman to kill Allan Mallory, his most profit-making writer who was about to sign with a competitor. The screenplay is really top-notch and the use of the split screen technique by Robert Butler well thought. This episode is undoubtedly one of the best of the third season.

A VHS to keep in your library.
1135552
I learned a lot of astonishing facts about the relationship both personally/politically between the artist and record label. Watching the creative process of 30 Seconds to Mars was interesting and aspirational. I would highly recommend this documentary.
503789
This movie broke ground as a theatrical release that became a historical "template" for contemporary CSI and Law and Order TV shows following in its footsteps; and advanced its unique template for the Jack Webb TV show adaptations of the movie Dragnet 1954.

From the stand-point of establishing new meaning --- and perhaps arguably for the first time --- this film takes on the task of exploring the criminal investigative work performed by police and other components of the "Law and Order" system; while the themes that Jack Webb took time to offer, in personal detail, are what we may now take for granted. Yet, he was the one Actor/Director that broke new ground in this film, via his Mark VII Ltd. production company, to be in the unchartered vanguard of a concerned private citizen, creating public awareness of the difficulties in being "a cop" --- Sergeant Joe Friday.

When this film was release by Warner Brothers on September 4, 1954 --- as a theatrical release for public movie fans --- audiences were invited into the backrooms of the Los Angeles Police Department and Criminal Justice system.  The composite challenges of how an investigation of a mob-related killing take place (from the eyes of the police) is exposed; starting from basic information in the crime lab, to field investigations, undercover work, interactive legalities in the L.A. District Attorney's Office, testimony with the L.A. County Grand Jury, to signed Warrants of Arrest --- so it has its own purpose --- unlike the TV episodes that provided entertainment for general attention spans --- to inform the public, beyond passive cinematic distraction and entertainment.  Along these lines, it succeeds and, therefore, may stand isolated and alone (yet on its own merits); and perhaps unfairly compared to the television genre that provided more off-the-cuff humor.

While this film's main purpose may have succeeded in taking the time to open the doors to the L.A. Criminal Justice system (as here-to-fore never before seen by the public-at-large in 1954); it also establishes the legendary template by Jack Webb as giving "just the facts".  In so doing, Jack Webb set his own mark in establishing respect for law and order, when perhaps it was (and still is) taken for granted.
3224364
A very interesting view on the early days of Grace Slick`s carrer. The Great Society was not an outstanding band, but neither were The Grateful Dead when they made their first recordings (incidently, the same year The Great Society did theirs). If they had had time to develop, they could have turned into a really great band, but Grace took the decision of joining Jefferson Airplane and that was it for Society.

I consider their live recordings far more interesting, but this is undoubtfully a very interesting release. It contains a nice booklet with notes and the sound quality is certainly great.
1008611
Another good mafia expose from Philip Carlo, though not as good as some of his others from an entertainment stand point, and that's because he's gleaned most of the information about Tommy Pitera from the man's criminal associates, which is fine overall, it's just that Carlo usually gets his perspective directly from his subject.

J.R. Locke, Author of Possible Twenty, a Gangster Tale
2556708
I so remember remember riding my blue schwinn 3-speed to middle school whilst humming Roxanne.  It was the late 70's.  I remember my sisters 'weird' friend with a Police concert shirt 'zenyatamedatta' and 'outlandosdaimoure'. I was a sophomore.  I remember purchasing the 'ghost in the machine' cassette from cactus records and playing over and over on my Sanyo component deck as it played though my ECI 3-way speakers.  I remember watching the Syncronicity tour in the Houston Summit (now Joel Olsteen's Lakewood Church) and having crummy seats on the lower level behind the mixing board... and having an incredible time.  I remember buying the reunion tour concert tickets from the Best Buy website and showing them off to my co-workers whist they gleam with envy!  I remember that concert - great seats - lower deck, 2-rows up, 70 ft from the stage.  The Police was and continues to be a soundtrack to (a portion of) my life.
I watch this on Netflix DVD - most of the info presents the well known facts; the ego three-some; the dysfunctional trifecta; and the well-self-centeredness of an incredible artist, Sting.  I liked this documentary due to the odd, less understood, perspective from Andy Summers.  Most of what we know from the Police is (of course) Sting... and Stewart Copeland a distant second.  But Andy is never the centerpiece - until this film.  The back history of Andy, his rise in the rock-scene and his collaboration with the 2-members.  It was a very interesting piece.  The only dislike, which prevents the 5-star tag, is the editing.  Although presented linearly, as most documentary would have it, the shots keep going to/fro the 2007-2008 tour along with Andy's narration - at time was a bit off and confusing. Was he talking about the past or the current present - the reunion tour.  Besides that - it's worth watch if your curious rock music fan.  It's must for Police fans.  Enjoy!
4859050
A good read that hits a number of key notes in telling the story of a great artist. Musicians at every level in particular will appreciate the description of the to and fro of the business.
4867034
This documentary on John Entwistle is paced and presented well,  exploring his early childhood, how he met up with the other members of The Who, and his subsequent career in and out of that band. There have been many documentaries about The Who, but this once benefits from film footage provided by Chris Stamp, the band's former co-manager. Stamp adds insightful commentary, as do Pete Townshend, Roger Glover, Billy Sheehan, Chris Squire, director Steve Luongo, and other friends, family and associates of the late and lamented Ox. The bassist's death is treated somewhat subtly, but it's made clearer that John's lifestyle undermined his health leading up to his death at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas the morning of The Who's planned tour opening gig there. Bonus sequences include home movies, an interview with Entwistle's son, plus hard-blasting concert footage featuring The John Entwistle Band. The JEB video material features Entwistle playing bass in full throttle mode, a real treat for bass fans.