Resumption of Service

Huh, another month goes by, and outta me, nothin'.

Since we last talked, I saw that long-running Charlie Sheen TV sitcom, and only made it through a few minutes. Until I saw the title in the credits, I thought it was called Two Half-Men. So it was kind of different than I was led to expect.

Thanks (?) to a CD titled Before They Were Hits Volume Five, I have now heard a version of "(They Long To Be) Close To You" I can tolerate even less than The Carpenters' . . . the original 1963 recording by Richard Chamberlain. At least Karen's amazing voice can distract from those drippy Richard Carpenter arrangements.

If vibrato were dynamite, Chamberlain's vocal on this thing would blow a crater the size of Tunguska. As it is, it just blows craters.

On the subject of intolerable singers, Kevin Cronin is doing infomercials for a dreadful Time-Life "rock ballads" collection. Hope they run it this month--it's creepy!
Kevin looks like that aunt who always smelled like gin rickies and hugged you considerably longer, and lower, than you were comfortable with.
Oh, and his voice makes "co-host" Amy Motta sound like a tough guy.

Look at me, I finally show up here and I'm nothing but a nattering nabob of negativity!

On more pleasant subjects, can you believe there are, at this late date, unheard Beatles recordings?
(Of course, if they were truly unheard, not even the bootleggers would know what they are. And what's with the phrase, "never before seen photos"? How did they process and print them if they've never been seen? How do they know what they are photos of?)
Last year brought the, um, revelatory Revolution 1, Take 20, a 10:47 version never before heard! Last I knew, experts considered it legit, and it's remarkable.

My latest Beatles boot discovery has probably been around for a while, just escaping my notice until now: Abbey Road minus the vocal tracks. This was their only album recorded on an eight-track recorder, and the power and depth of the instrumental tracks, already impressive on the released album, is stunning. The tightness of the collective band and signature flourishes of their individual players allows for the discovery of all kinds of nice little touches on songs I've heard hundreds of time. And it makes it easier to spot the little missteps, for those who are into that. Simply remarkable.

In yet more evidence that he's too good for the masses, Lew Shiner's "Death of Che Guevara" didn't win the Theodore Sturgeon Award for which it was nominated, which is both a shame and a puzzle. Though I'm hardly impartial, it's difficult to imagine a better piece of recent fiction. Go read it, at no cost, and see if you don't agree:

http://subterraneanpress.com/index.php/magazine/fall-2009/fiction-the-death-of-che-guevara-by-lewis-shiner/

I don't know much about much, but I do know good writing, and this is it. See if, like me, you don't read it a second or third time. I loves me some short stories and this has become one of my favorites.

And since you asked, more of my favorites from the inimitable Mr. Shiner are available in his COLLECTED STORIES (which is not only a pleasure to read, it looks spectacular on your end table), here:

http://www.subterraneanpress.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=shiner03&Category_Code=B&Product_Count=124

and he's posted loads of his short and long-form writing, to read for free, at his Fiction Liberation Front site:

http://www.lewisshiner.com/liberation/index.htm

Did I mention, it's FREE!
Now you have no excuse not to be reading . . . go there!