Thrilling Detective

The headline above will link you to the Thrilling Detective website. Thrilling Detective isn't connected to the well known pulp magazine by that name. The title, apparently entering public domain, just seemed an apt one for the folks who set up this site and expresses perfectly what the site promotes. I'm also adding a link to the page over on the right, which should be up shortly.

I would have to guess that my love of detectives and the mystery genre probably occurred shortly after my love of cowboys. There was certainly never a shortage of those old b&w movies on television, featuring Dick Powell, Alan Ladd, or Lloyd Nolan among others. Hard-boiled guys, usually with a cigarette dangling from the lips as they wised off to some cop or gangster. Like the cowboy heroes I loved these guys were tough, but generally decent despite their rough edges. Maybe that's why both genres have such an overlapping readership and many writers find easy to move from style one to the other.

I've just discovered this site so will be checking it out in the next few days. I'll probably have more to say about both it and the types of films & books it honors.

Minor League Baseball

The headline above will link you to the MLB site which covers the various minor league teams around the country. It also has coverage of some the major prospects who just might make the move up this coming season.

I've had the opportunity to catch over a dozen games at major league stadiums over the years. There is nothing quite like going to a major league park and watching the biggest names in the game do what they do best for a couple of hours. I love watching games on television and even listening to them on radio, but seeing a game in person can be amazing (apologies to the New York Mets).

The very first MLB game I attended was back in the 1975, in San Diego. I was stationed there at the time and the team had special discounts for active duty military personnel. A few times I'd drive over with shipmates and we'd take in a game for only a few dollars (if you were in uniform that is). Anyway, this initial experience couldn't have been better. The Padres were hosting the New York Mets that week. The game featured Randy Jones on the mound for the Padres (he went on to win the Cy Young the next year) and Tom Seaver pitching for the Mets (the year he won that award). The usually dismal San Diego team was actually in first place in the National League west at that point (thanks in part to the brilliant work of Jones), and the game itself couldn't have been more exciting. Sadly, I don't remember who won, although I believe it was the Mets (sending the Padres back into 2nd place).

If you've attended any major league games the past few years, I'm sure you'll agree that prices for tickets and for snacks have become pretty expensive. On the other hand, in the minor league parks you can still get a nice seat for around ten bucks or less.

I've added a link to the Brooklyn Cyclones homepage over to the right. Donna and I took in several games last season and decided to spring for a package of weekend games. The Cyclones are part of the Mets organization and play a short season. Still the games are fun and the team always has trivia games and other stuff for adults and kids during breaks between innings. I'll probably have more to say about the Cyclones and baseball in general as the season commences.

It's Spring Training time

Articles (like the one from the AP, which you can link to via the headline above) say that Jason Giambi was warmly greeted by fans as he took the field in the Yankee training camp yesterday. I don't think the fans that head down to Florida for this stuff are the ones that Giambi and the Yankee front office have to worry about. These folks are there to get as close to big name players as they are likely to get and to bring their kids along to meet them. Hardly the guys who will be screaming steroid comments at Jason when they take the field in the Bronx in a month or so.

Mike & Mike on ESPN this morning were talking about Sammy Solsa pulling the super-star thing when he got to camp. Seems that Solsa refused to get into the vehicle sent to pick him up at the airport and demanded a limo for his personal use. Way to make fans in your new home, Sammy! Your ex Chicago teammates apparently smashed your boom box when you left and your new coach has already stated that your pre-game ritual of playing DJ for those in the locker room will not be permitted in Baltimore.

Rumor has it that at least one player may bring a law suit for libel against Jose Canseco. I don't think we've heard the last about the book either.

Some personal pleasures

Over on the right I've added some links to sites dealing with some of my favorite things.

The Internet Cigar Group and Beer Advocate are pretty self-explanatory. The sites include FAQs about each subject along with listenings of stores, bars, etc where you might enjoy or be able to purchase such items. You'll also find information on contacting like-minded folks who share your pleasures.

The Cocoa Pete is maintained by the Cocoa Pete company. Created by my high school classmate, Pete Slosberg, who was also the brains behind Pete's Best Ale. Pete is a great guy and the products he puts out are top of the line.

Enjoy the sites and have a great weekend!

Happy Trails!

Jim Rome Show

The headline above will link you to the Jim Rome Show website. I discovered Romie back when I was working in Connecticut and would listen to him at lunch time. Sadly the NY ESPN station doesn't put him on until 7:00pm, so I only catch a little of the show during my commute back home. Still the best radio sports/talk show, in my opinion.

Once again, I'm really sorry for those hocky fans who have been shafted out of their favorite sport. Also, as some other folks have pointed out it may be the those people who work in the stadiums (ticket takers, ushers, venders, etc.) who will be the hardest hit by all this. It is a shame that they are stuck in the middle of selfish owners and million dollar players.

Bad mouthing A-Rod

Click on the headline above and you'll find Trot Nixon getting the Red Sox/Yankee season off to a grand start (courtesy of the NY Daily News). Apparently in Trot's eyes, Rodriguez doesn't measure up to either former Yankee greats or even his current team mates.

Man, the pitchers & catchers are just showing up and already the slings & arrows are flying between the two camps. Add to that the crap that Jason Giambi will be getting from all the fans (pretty much where ever he goes early in the season) and things are shaping up for an interesting season. That's not even including what happens on the field. :-)

We can also look forward to hearing the "Who's your Daddy?" jibes that Pedro will hear when the Mets first show up to play their crosstown foes.

As for hockey and a possible cancellation of the season, I can't say that I really care. I don't think I've ever watched a professional hockey game all the way through on television. In fact, the only hockey game *period* that I recall sitting through was back in 1980. That was in a bar with some college friends and we were watching the U.S. Olympic team play the Russians. Now THAT was a game!!

I do feel for the true hockey fan though, like my wife's 11-yr old nephew, who genuinely enjoy the game. Fingers crossed for them that both parties can work something out by the scheduled news conference this afternoon.

Canseco on 60 Minutes

The saddest part about all this is that I really don't have much trouble believing Canseco. I'm not saying that everything in his book is 100% accurate, but I think that he is telling us what many sports fans have known for years. A lot of the biggest names in the game are not playing on the 'level field' we'd like them to be. As some of the sports radio show hosts point out the only new things that Canseco is giving us are the names.

Check out what folks like Mike Lupica, Jim Rome and others have to say. Canseco has his detractors, but they are not dismissing everything.

Even when McGwire & Sosa were playing "can you top this" with the homerun record, there were rumors that one or the other (possibly both) were doing steroids or using other things to boost their energy. It also doesn't take a genius to look at the Barry Bonds of his rookie years and see that the guy is doing something more than munching energy bars and hitting the Nautilis equipment. I doubt that MLB really wants to know the truth behind all of this. If they did they would take the suggestion of some folks and have a major investigation.

It will be interesting to watch the coming year and see if this is a flash in the pan, or if it will have any lasting effect. Canseco's book may not have a long shelf life, but this story is not going to go away when copies are sitting on the bargain table.

If you click on today's headline you'll link to the USAToday/Baseball Weekly site. I'll probably be adding that link over on the right any day now.

Book review: Comanche Moon by Larry McMurtry

Comanche Moon by Larry McMurtry – The second prequel to McMurtry’s LONESOME DOVE, this novel takes place a few years after the first book DEAD MAN’S WALK. This is supposed to be the fourth and last book in the LD series, which is unfortunate since McMurtry has created so many fascinating characters. There are several whose stories would certainly make for further novels.

We get to see Woodrow Call and August McCrae when they are a few years older, and still members of the Texas Rangers. The story starts at a time when rumors of a coming war between the North and South are still just that, continuing through the conflict and showing us Texas trying to recover as the era of Reconstruction begins. While Call and Gus themselves never take part in the conflict, some of those they know do and even in Texas the ramifications of the war are felt.

Even though our two rangers, soon to become captains, are central to the story, McMurtry takes time to introduce a number of other characters and the book jumps from chapter to chapter as a wide range of these characters have their own adventures. We get to see Gus’s old flame Clara once again, along with fellow ranger Long Bill, plus learn the fate of some of the others who we met in the first book. McMurtry once again has Buffalo Hump, the Comanche war chief going forth to raid and kill over thousands of miles, building a large war party of hundreds of warriors. We also get to meet Captain Scull, sent to lead the Rangers, but who goes off on an adventure of his own. This book also shows us the boy’s first trip to Lonesome Dove, the town featured in the best known novel.

Scull, leading the Rangers in a search for the Comanches led by Buffalo Hump, finds himself the target of the warriors he seeks. When his horse is stolen by Kicking Wolf, he travels with Famous Shoes, the Kickapoo scout into Mexico. His fate once he finds his horse is central to the rest of the novel. McMurtry, unlike in the first sequel actually brings some depth to the tribal members and we begin to understand why they do some of the things they have done. Buffalo Hump, who we originally see as a savage killer actually gains our sympathy as the story progresses.

I have to admit that initially I wasn’t as taken with this novel as I was with DEAD MAN’S WALK, but after the troop return to Austin the story begins to pick up pace and I was caught up from that point on. If you don’t mind a bit of a slow start and some confusion as to who all these characters are and how they relate, I think you’ll enjoy this as much as the previous book.

Talking sports

Apparently it wasn't poor clock management or bad planning on the part of the Eagles. Poor Donovan McNabb wasn't feeling well and almost threw up in the last huddle. Ahh!

Maybe it was too much of that Chunky Soup his mom was forcing down his throat during bus trips.

I also see that Pedro Martinez showed up early for Spring Training at the Mets camp. Pedro was famous for showing up late for the Red Sox camps, so it looks like he's either turned over a new leaf or thinks it might be a good idea to get off on the right foot with the team and the New York press. Probably a little of both, but it will be interesting to see how long the honeymoon will last. Of course, both Pedro and Randy Johnson are going to be the focus of a lot of attention, with Johnson already getting slammed for snubbing a reporter early on.

Those guys will the getting almost as much ink as Jason Giambi and his steroid problems.

Jose Canseco book

I'm shocked and appalled! Well, perhaps not so much shocked, but it is troublesome to believe that many of the baseball (and other sports to be sure) records we've seen broken over the past couple of decades were done so with artificial assistance. I'm not talking chalked bats here!

The naming of names by Canseco, in his forthcoming book probably won't surprise many folks. We have the usual suspects, of course, but some names wouldn't immediately come to mind. We all suspected McGwire and Giambi admitted to doing them, still if we take what Canseco says as gospel a good portion of the Texas Rangers and a number of others in the '90s were shooting up. It seems obvious, if this is true, that the managers and coaches could not have been oblivious to what was going on right under their noses.

With the newly drafted 'get tough' policy that MLB is pushing it will be interesting to see if other names come out and if this information will have any effect on the Hall of Fame voting. I'm sure not the only fan who will start seeing an invisible asterisk after a few records, even if they down appear in black & white on the pages.

Am I old fashioned in this? Should I just be happy to watch the game and hope my favorite hits on over the wall, even if his head is the size of a basketball?

Just my two cents, I guess.

Baseball Almanac website

The great thing about Baseball Almanac.com is that they view the game in a historic perspective. It doesn't matter if you're a fan of the Yankees, Red Sox, Braves or any other American or National League team, you'll discover an incredible amount of information. Even if you don't root for a 'favorite' team and are just a fan of the game you can find links to pages of facts that you have probably never known before.

Want to know about baseball movies, World Series or All-star games of the past? How about overviews of past seasons? BA has all that and more. Whether you are really into the stats or just want to know a little about a player you followed as a kid the BA writers & researchers will probably have what you are looking for.

This is the first baseball link I'm going to be adding and probably one of the most inclusive.

Happy Trails!

Super Bowl Sunday

I'm not a football fan by any means. For me there is baseball season and then 'other games with balls which I neither understand nor care for'. I played the usual pick up games as a kid, plus the ones you're forced to play in gym class (my "brilliant" soccer career cut short by getting kicked in the ankle by another player as we both went for the ball. At least once a week my ankle will still give out on me.), but I never could get into basketball or football.

I barely watch more than a handfull of NFL games a season and don't think I've ever sat down and seen a basketball game, since my father passed away. I'd sometimes keep him company watching the Celtics. Still there has always been something more than just a football game about the Super Bowl and I try to catch it every year.

This year was no different, except that there were no buffalo wings, since we most of the evening was spent at my sister-in-laws for her b-day party. The game was on, but since dinner didn't start until just after kickoff.... *sigh*

Caught some of the commercials and I'm sure I'll get to see them, plus the ones I missed ad nausea for the next few months. Unless of course, the Brad Pitt beer ad was a one time thing. Oh, and as much as I like Paul McCartney, I think that Fox and the NFL were trying to play it too safe after the Janet Jackson hoopla. Didn't you get the idea that many of the young 'fans' around the stage had probably never heard a McCartney song unless forced to sit in the car with their parents?

Being a New Englander born, I was naturally cheering for the Patriots to repeat and they didn't let me down. Although there were a few minutes there in the third & fourth quarters where I thought they had blown it. Thankfully, the Eagles didn't seem to be paying attention to the clock, nor the fact that that they might want to stay two TDs ahead just to be on the safe side. Neither team really should feel badly about how they played, since many sport show types were predicting NE to walk all over the Philadelphia players.

Anyway, I enjoyed myself and the game, but will be adding some baseball links over the next couple of weeks and will be talking baseball here on this blog all season. Be warned!

Happy Trails!

Gene Autry Square

Just read (link in the title above) that Hollywood Chamber of Commerce will dedicate the intersection of Hollywood and Highland as Gene Autry Square. As the article states, and fans of his know, Gene loved Hollywood and he would have been thrilled to have this honor. The singing cowboy already has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but this is a great tribute to a gentleman who still has millions of fans around the world. Congratulations to his family, some of whom were present at the dedication of the first street sign yesterday.

Happy Trails!

Movie review: HOMBRE

Hombre (1967) – It’s hard to believe that this film was made three years after Fistful of Dollars. While few of the main characters here are without a rough edge, there is still an obvious Hollywood sensibility throughout. I suppose we should be grateful that the film ends in the fashion in which it does and we don’t see the Newman & Celino riding off into the sunset together.

The film was adapted by screen writer, Irving Ravtech, from the novel of the same name, written by Elmore Leonard. Four years previously, Newman, Ravtech and director Martin Ritt had all worked together on Hud, a more contemporary western. That one based on Larry McMurtry’s Horseman Pass By.

John Russell (played by Paul Newman) is the son of a white family, kidnapped and raised by the Apache Indians for years until he was adopted, by the Russell family. Finding life among the white settlers unsuitable he returned to the reservation to work as an Indian policeman. When his adopted father passes away he comes to town to sell his father’s rooming house, run by Jessie (Diane Celino). Deciding to leave the area after the sale he finds himself sharing a stagecoach, driven by an old acquaintance Henry Mendez (Martin Balsam), with a number of questionable characters, including Grimes (a great villain role for Richard Boone), Dr. Favor (Frederick March) and his wife Audra (Barbara Rush), along with Jessie, and several other folks. When bandits stop the coach the travelers must fend for themselves and fight off the bandits to protect the money that Dr. Favor had swindled. Mendez and Russell are the only two of the passengers who really have a chance of getting out of the situation alive, but stay with the others for reasons of their own.

Not a great film, but certainly an enjoyable movie for western fans. Boone especially seems to be having a good time in his role, with most of the other members of the cast doing professional if unspectacular jobs. Frank Silvera, as the Mexican bandit, seems to have been studying Alfonso Beldoya in Treasure of the Sierra Madre, in preparing for the role. Two and a half stars.

American Western Magazine

I've added a link to the American Western Magazine feed over on the right. You'll be able to check out articles appearing at that website on the Old West, plus link to the homepage as well. AMW is an incredible resource for those folks interested not only in western fiction, but in the history and legacy of the American frontier. You'll find fiction, poetry, articles and interviews by and about contemporary writers and entertainers.

For those of you interested in Western style fashion, recipes or information on rodeos it is all available at this one site. Like most places of interest on the web, I discovered AMW while doing a search on Larry McMurtry. If you have any interest in some of the things that I post on here, I'm sure you'll find yourself spending a good hour just looking around.

Happy trails!

Review: Dead Man's Walk by Larry McMurtry

DEAD MAN’S WALK by Larry McMurtry – For those folk already familiar with the characters of Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call, from McMurtry’s LONESOME DOVE, all you need to know is that this book is a prequel. Here we meet Gus & Call as young men, just having met but already forming the bond which will last them all their lives. We also meet the Comanche war chief, Buffalo Hump, the horse thief Killing Wolf and the love of Gus’ life Clara.

McMurtry shows us just how it was that Gus & Call first became Texas Rangers. We see them on their very first adventure where Buffalo Hump almost kills both of them. Here Call earns the hatred of the Comanche chief, barely escaping with his life and discovering just how much he himself can hate. McMurtry introduces us to a large cast of characters in this novel, some of whom we will meet again in the series, and others who will quickly meet their individual fates.

I first became familiar with McMurtry via his novel THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, which was adapted into film by Peter Bogdanovich. Other folks might know him better for the novel TERMS OF ENDEARMENT which was also adapted for the screen. Besides these contemporary novels, McMurtry is considered by many as one the great writers of American westerns. The four novels in the LONESOME DOVE series, his “Berrybender Narratives” (that tells the story of the Berrybender family in the Old West) and a number of stand-alone novels are all prime examples of western adventure.

Young Gus & Call, bored with life in town, hear about an upcoming expedition into Mexico to ‘liberate’ Santa Fe. Under the leadership of Caleb Cobb, a former pirate already well-known to the Spanish/Mexican military, close to two hundred former Rangers and others begin a doomed journey across the desert and into the homeland of Buffalo Hump. It soon becomes apparent that Cobb is incapable of carrying out this adventure as the elements and the Comanches begin taking their toll. Ill-equipped and ill-trained the members of the expedition fall prey to all manner of misfortune. Along with Gus & Call are their comrades Shadrach, Bigfoot and Long Bill, men who have seen their share of folly and lived to tell the tale. McMurtry also gives us the wonderful Matilda Jane Roberts, the whore known as Great Western, who goes along with the expedition in hopes of finally making enough money to buy her own whorehouse in California.

Once I started the book it was difficult to put it down and twice I actually missed my subway stop, so engrossed was I in the story. If that isn’t praise, I don’t know what is?

To be honest, I’ve never read LONESOME DOVE, being familiar with the story only from the television mini-series. I decided it was time to finally read it, but felt that since two novels act as prequels, I would start with those. Having finished DEAD MAN’S WALK, I’m going to start on COMANCHE MOON as soon as I can.

As you can tell, I can’t recommend this book enough. Four stars.

MostlyFiction.com

I've added a link to the MostlyFiction.com website over to the right. The link actually goes directly to their "Wild Western" page, since that ties in with my main interest in this blog. However, the site also links to pages related to thrillers, mysteries, current fiction and humorous fiction, among other genres. They also have a 'bookshelf' for current non-fiction books which may be of interest.

The great thing about the site is that not only do they review a wide range of books, but they also have bibliographies and brief bios for some authors. In addition, you can find excerpts of some novels which will give you a taste of a particular author's work. You won't find just bestsellers and you won't have the range of a Barnes & Noble, but you can easily spend a few hours checking out the work of writers you might not normally choose to read.

Happy trails & Happy Reading!

Roger Ebert

While I don't always agree with Roger Ebert's reviews I do appreciate the thought and wit he puts into each one. Even some films which you'd think he could simply ignore, he will spend time telling you just what it is that went wrong or those small things which actually went right in an otherwise forgettable film. That's one thing that I've always liked about Ebert, and equally his late former collegue, Gene Siskle.

Their movie review show was necessary viewing for years at Chez Chaput, especially in those times when I was trying to put together semi-literate commentary in the movie apa, CAPRA. They would quite often make me re-evaluate my own opinions on a particular film, or decide to take a chance on a director or project which I normally would have ignored.

I've put a link to Ebert's website over on the left and recommend you give it a try. Not only will you find Roger's comments on new releases, but also an archive of material on older films. Add to those his "Little Movie Glossary" and "The Answer Man" columns, plus essays & interviews, you'll discover yourself easily spending an hour or more clicking here or there.

In my opinion, Roger is harsher on some genre films than he should be, but he's rarely seen a foreign film that he didn't absolutely love. Still he's probably one of the best reviewers you find on line or in print.

Owlhoots of the Old West

While surfing the net to find information on the 'owlhoot' term I discovered this fun page (link over on the right). There are some stories of several notorious figures from the west, along with a couple of games to waste your time.

Happy Trails!

Desperadoes: a book review

DESPERADOES (Berkley paperback) – Just finished another anthology of western stories. Like the previous one (TIN STAR) this book has a theme with the editors utilizing new stories and reprints to focus on those on the opposite side of the law.

The first item is a reprint of a Louis L’Amour tale, which gets things off to a nice start. Also included are works by Loren Estleman, Bill Prozini, Frank Gruber and Ed Gorman, among others. I’m more familiar with the mystery/detective fiction of Prozini and Estlemen, but both prove themselves more than adept at the western tale. Estleman, of course has garnered a few awards for his stories of the old west. I’m really becoming a fan of both Frank Gruber and Ed Gorman, so I’ll be trying to pick up a few of their western novels when I get the chance.

The individual writers each put their own spin on the idea of the men and women who find them selves riding the ‘owlhoot trail’, as they say in these books. I remember first encountering that term back when I was reading western comics as a kid, but didn’t really understand the concept until I began reading actual western fiction. I’ve tried to discover the origin of the term, but can’t seem to find it listed in any of the dictionaries or encyclopedias I check. I’m going to make it a project to actually try and hunt down the origin. If I do, I’ll let you know.

Like most anthologies of this type there are some weaker stories, but for the most part the editors have chosen some fine examples that cover several decades of western fiction. Maybe I’m just easy to please, but I recommend the book for those who enjoy short story writing, no matter the genre.