Blogcritics Author: Gordon Hauptfleisch

Aught-Eight Oughts: Favorite Books of the Year (and One Aught-Eight Naught)

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Tue, 6 Jan 2009 09:54:25 EST

Featuring Machiavelli, Clarence Darrow, screechy monkeys, D.W. Griffith, a "very special" Golden Girls, Emperor Akbar's court, "man you shoulda seen them kickin' Edgar Allan Poe..."
Although my pick for Best Fiction is of a colorful and considerably multi-layered literary heft, fiction overall for me was put on the back burner in 2008 (bad choice of words perhaps - this isn’t Banned Books Week, is it?). I really found myself, then, pursuing and reading non-fiction titles more, specifically social history, an interest...

Best Album Reissues of 2008 (Vinyl Version)

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 10:17:01 EST

Thebandbeachboyshouseoffreaksianhunterkinksnewyorkdollsramonessexpistolsthewho... andthensome.
As a follow-up to the CD Edition of my favorite 2008 reissues, here are my Vinyl LP choices: 1. The Kinks - Muswell Hillbillies...

Best Album Reissues of 2008 (CD Edition)

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 15:55:46 EST

Jesus of Cool said unto them, Hear ye not all these songs? Verily I say unto you, let there be Pure Pop for Now People.
Besides staying away from anthologies and boxed sets and such, I really had no methodology here. Even the order is not airtight, and could be subject to change. But I’m not going to stress out about it -- at least not as much as I am going to about the forthcoming Best Vinyl Reissues of 2008, which are numerous, and choice, and tough to...

Book Review: Charlatan - America's Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam by Pope Brock

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:08:38 EST

The self-aggrandizing goat-gland king must be dethroned. And it�s up to "the great quack buster of his day ... the hellhound on his trail."
Just looking at the title alone -- Charlatan: America’s Most Dangerous Huckster, The Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of FlimFlam -- takes the sting (pun unintended) out of the story of a quintessential slice of scalawag Americana, as if the peril was strictly from a time and place long ago and far away. But the connotations conjured by the...

The Early Word: New Books for the Weeks of December 15 and 22, 2008

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 06:18:22 EST

Special Double Issue! Abe, FDR & Constitution, ESP, White House & Middle East, Sesame Street History, Ruark, Rehnquist Court, Kay Hooper, Michael McGarrity, Merry Christmas!
These are the the new releases that made The Short List. Because this close to Christmas there is no such thing as The Long List.FICTION:Blood SinsBy Kay Hooper (due Dec. 16)Lightening may not strike twice, but it can pack a selective wallop. When the fanatical Rev. Adam Deacon Samuel was 10, he murdered his abusive prostitute mother by using his...

Vinyl Tap: The Reivers - Translate Slowly

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:50:19 EST

The Reivers merge toward the reflective and melancholy edge of folk-rock evocation. Call it the jingle-jangle mourning that comes following you.
I get a new turntable and dust off some old records. Vinyl Tap #59:“Well I knew what cryptic lines would sucker you / And where were you in ‘84?” To address the song styling and titling of “I Knew,” you may have been in an era lured by the tuneful lyricism of the Reivers, formerly Zeitgeist before being stolen away by...

The Early Word: New Books for the Week of December 8, 2008

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Mon, 8 Dec 2008 07:08:32 EST

Eco on Beauty and Ugliness, Rat Pack packs heat, Byrne has Secrets. Bios: Michael Phelps, Doyle, John Tyler. Plus Johansen, R.R. Martin, Sontag, Star Wars�
It's beginning to look a lot like your shopping days are numbered and there's not a lot of new releases left to hit the bookstore shelves. Here's a few stragglers, however:NON-FICTION:History of Beauty and On Ugliness Boxed SetBy Umberto Eco It’s a beguiling idea: Take eternal and irreconcilable theories of art and aesthetics --...

The Early Word: New Books for the Week of December 1, 2008

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Mon, 1 Dec 2008 04:08:15 EST

Cornwell, Jance, Elizabeth Peters, Steve Berry, Beedle the Bard, Tila Tequila, Yes They Did, Rise of the Rich, Talkin' 'Bout Boys - Yea Yea Boys...
History and mystery, but not much more... FICTION: The Charlemagne Pursuit (Cotton Malone Series #4)By Steve Berry In his latest Cotton Malone adventure, Steve Berry integrates such elements as Charlemagne, Nazis, ancient manuscripts, historical puzzles, and scientific surprises into a plot that gets underway with Malone searching for answers about...

Liner Notables: 24 of Hank Williams' Greatest Hits

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:57:19 EST

"Hank Williams crowded a lot of living into twenty-nine years. Someone said he went into anything like 'killin' rattlesnakes.'"
Garnering an embarrassment of riches and a treasure trove of tidbits from ye olde liner notes... “You’ve had to surveyed a lot of farm land over the back-side of a mule to be a good country singer,” Hank Williams is quoted in the liner notes of the 1970 anthology 24 of Hank Williams’ Greatest Hits. It’s the kind of...

The Early Word: New Books for the Week of November 24, 2008

Gordon Hauptfleisch — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:23:44 EST

Calvin Trillin, Dean Koontz, Clive Cussler, Jim Butcher, Belva Plain, New Benet's, Tovey Cats, Dilgo Khyentse, Alison Goodman, Sheri Reynolds, End Of The World, Ma!
The Holidays are here, but there's at least one book here that might keep you from getting all warm and fuzzy about it. It's the one that reminds us, without a lot of nuance, that the end of the world is nigh. I think you'll know which one it is...The End: Natural Disasters, Manmade Catastrophes, and the Future of Human Survival By Marq...