What a Wonderful World (Spoken Intro) - Louis Armstrong (1967)

In these troubled times it's often helpful, and hopeful, to look on the brighter side and think of what could be. Back in 1967 Louis Armstrong recorded his version of this wonderful song. And now, when the leaves have all fallen, and the calendar is about to change once again, I always think of this song......

Wishing you all a Happy, and hopefully a safer, New Year in 2025! Withgood health to all!

"Satchmo" by Louis Armstrong (1954)

This is the book which opened up the world of coin collecting to me as a hobby. I was 11 years old at the time I first read it. That was in 1965 and the book had been out since 1954, the year in which I was born. From the very first page, when the reader is told that Mr. Armstrong was born in 1900, I had to have an Indian Head penny with that date. Not a brand new shiny one; that would never do. I wanted a used and slightly worn one, in the hope that this may have been one of those which had been tossed at Louis Armstrong when he played the streets and honky tonks in New Orleans.

The amazing thing to me is that the book is written so vividly that my memories are pretty much in line with the book I just re-read.  All of the color and noise of New Orleans at the turn of the century ring from Mr. Armstrong’s unique prose and his keen sense of observation.

Born the son a big hearted woman and a no count father he never really knew; he was roaming the streets of the city, absorbing the sights and sounds. When he was about 8 he fired a pistol on New Year’s Eve and was sent to the Waifs Home for several years. It was there he first came in contact with the coronet through the school’s band. In short time he was the leader of that band.

Upon release he worked with a mule cart, delivering coal and playing music at night. During the last days of Storyville and the vice crackdown in World War One, he was playing with some of the original greats; particularly Kid Orley and King Oliver; his boyhood idol.

By the early 1920’s he was playing with the King in Chicago; never looking back. This book covers only the first years of Louis Armstrong’s life. It was written in 1954. He wrote one more in the late 1960’s covering the rest of his remarkable career. Both books are equally candid and informative, and I recommend them both highly.

"Empire of Sin" by Gary Krist (2014)

This book is an enigma. It begins as an examination of the famous New Orleans Ax Man Murders of the early 20^th Century and just when you are settling in nicely with that gruesome crime, the book becomes a history of jazz and after that morphs into a collective biography of some of the greatest jazz musicians who ever lived.

So, just what is this book? Well, I’ll tell you; honestly this is one of the most invigorating and engaging books on serial killers and jazz musicians which I have ever read. The big difference in the two subjects is that, of course, while the Jazzmen chronicled here may have slayed their audiences night after night with the new sound called “jazz”, the Ax Man murderer was slaying his audiences permanently in private performances all over New Orleans for several years. His crimes are still listed as one of the most puzzling of all serial killers, including the infamous Jack the Ripper.

Mr. Krist is an accomplished author, and it was his name which drew me to the book, the complicated title notwithstanding. Just how he wound up juxtaposing the history of what was happening in New Orleans at the time of the murders with the history of jazz is somewhat of a mystery to me, but the justification for doing so becomes apparent as you read the book.

New Orleans was a wide open Southern city; if you could call it a truly Southern city at all. There was no real segregation and racial intermarriage was quite common before the early part of the 20^th Century. Gambling and prostitution were openly practiced, if not celebrated. And the Port of New Orleans brought together sailors from all over the Caribbean, Europe and Africa; not to mention an influx of Asians and South Americans. And in the days of Reconstruction all of these different people lived together in relative harmony.

At the close of the 19^th Century there was an influx of European immigrants; notably Irish, Italian, German and Jewish. Each group had their own customs; and music. The first race riots in the city were not; as one would expect; between blacks and whites. Rather they were between the whites and the Italians. The Italians had become known as a “mafia” like organization. They were involved in kidnappings and extortion. They also strong armed their own neighborhood grocery stores, and in some cases murdered the owners. But when a group of these men kidnapped a young child and killed him, the city exploded in the violence of revenge.

Against the backdrop of those events in 1890 the author traces the history of crime in New Orleans through to the end of the 1920 election and the advent of Prohibition. As I said earlier, had he only concentrated on this aspect of New Orleans at the time this would have been a great book. However, by choosing to combine and compare the history of crime in New Orleans with the creation of jazz, he has created a fantastic and lively portrait of one of America’s most beloved and eclectic cities.

The book sparkles with the names of the musical legends that gave birth to a new art form. The stories of these men; with names like Jelly Roll Morton; Sidney Bechet; Freddie Keppard; Buddy Bolden; Louis Armstrong and George Baquet; are the history of what became the modern day New Orleans of legend, but also of Storyville itself; that quarter where these men first blew the notes which would come to define an era, and a genre.

Here is a link to the Library of Congress recording of Alabama Bound by Jelly Roll Morton. This is the type of music I was listening to while reading this book. Listening to the music of the time while reading the book enriched the whole experience and made for a delightful reading of this wonderful book by Mr. Krist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjRlVk_IhfY  

Ike Turner, Rocket 88 and the Invention of Rock and Roll (1951)

It was March 3, 1951 when Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats; featuring Ike Turner on lead guitar; recorded what many believe to be the first real “rock and roll” record; “Rocket 88”. But, that’s like saying Chuck Berry invented the guitar break when he did his bit on “Maybelline.”

So many people had a hand in developing rock and roll; each one taking a little piece from here and there; that it would be just about impossible to credit any one individual with the feat of creating the genre. I think that’s true of all art. Shakespeare refined it; but the play had been around previous to his efforts. He just took it in a new direction.

But it would be hard to ignore the influence that this one record had; and continues to have; on music fans all over the world. It ranks alongside of “Rock Island Line” by Lonnie Donnegan as one of the rare records which influenced many future rock and rollers to buy that first guitar and learn to play.

I saw Ike Turner with Tina in Central Park back in the early 1970’s. It was one of the Schaefer Beer Festival concerts. They were always lively affairs. Between the excitement of the concert itself, along with the people trading acid and weed; which sometimes included me; plus the actual beer vendors, the crowd was; to put it mildly; very loose.

And the police were always on hand to guard “the rock” which overlooked the Wolman Skating Rink and offered a very clear; and free; view of the concert form the side of the stage. So, there was always kind of a friction between the police; who were trying their best to get the people off the rock in a civilized manner. But sometimes; depending on the combination of beer, acid and weed; this did not go smoothly. But it was all part of the attraction for these concerts.

 

Then there was the night I saw Ike and Tina Turner and someone tried to get up on stage to get to the Ikettes; the scantily clad New Orleans looking backing group known for their modest way of dressing. Ike saw the guy get past the security and climb up the stage front; then, between chords he managed to get his Stratocaster off and using the neck just bashed this guy in the head. The guy went down and Ike missed nary a note.

I think Keith Richards learned some of his moves from Ike. He had the same problem at a concert in Europe and did the same thing. By the way, Ike Turner was one of the opening acts for the Stones at the Garden in 1969. In his book, “Life”, Richards describes Ike pulling him into his dressing room at knife point; demanding to be shown “That 5 string open tuning shit.” Richards says it took him 45 minutes to get it down. The next Ike and Tina Turner album was done all in 5 string open tuning.

Anyway, whether or not you consider this recording to be the first actual rock and roll recording; or not; it’s one fine record and definitely a step ahead of all that followed.

"Five Days at Memorial" by Sheri Fink (2013)

No other natural disaster in my lifetime has made such an impression upon the public as the events at Memorial Hospital in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005, when, for 5 days and nights, people died and pandemonium ruled at Memorial Hospital.

In many ways Katrina was the perfect storm, in that it exposed many of the weaknesses and laid bare the complacency which has overtaken us as a society. The ignored warnings, the slipshod planning, the sheer waste of all imaginable resources; school buses being left to rot under water when there weren't enough vehicles to get everyone out; all combine with the predicament at Memorial Hospital, where patients were being given lethal injections of morphine without their knowledge, or consent.

If that last paragraph seems sprawling and slightly manic there is reason for it. That’s the way it was in New Orleans at the time, and that’s the way the book presents itself. With a very deft hand, Ms. Fink has drawn a gripping narrative of the approaching storm, its impact and the aftermath.

In the end, more questions were raised by the 4 days of Katrina than answered in the 8 years since the event. Although recent disaster relief efforts in New York City and elsewhere have shown improvement there is still much to be learned from the lessons of New Orleans.

Culled from 6 years’ worth of researching just about every available document on the subject, the author has left nothing out as she tells the story of the events which spiraled way out of control along with the storm. Carefully looking at each of the key players in the hospital itself, the author also presents a bit of the social history which contributed to the chaos and confusion in Memorial Hospital for those 5 days.

During that time, a doctor named Anna Pou initiated the killing by morphine overdose of over 2 dozen patients, some of whom were merely awaiting routine surgery. By the year after Katrina, in 2006, Louisiana’s Attorney General had Dr. Pou arrested, along with two nurses who had assisted her. The case was never tried and all charges were dismissed. In addition, the state was required to pay the legal fees of the former defendants, and the charges were expunged.

The subject of Euthanasia is, of necessity, explored here as well. Beginning with King Saul and his exploits in the Old Testament, where he is wounded and asks to be killed; a request which is denied to him and leads to the execution of the man who denied it; before moving on to the teachings and interpretations of Hippocrates; and then exploring the actions of Bonaparte’s army during the Plague; as well as the teachings of Margaret Read; the author explores the dual questions of just when it is okay to take a life; and for what reasons?

This was a difficult book to read, as it touches upon so many questions we all ask, but often never give utterance to. It is also, in some ways, an indictment of ourselves and the complacency which we are all guilty of. That complacency and the attendant lack of individual responsibility all helped to contribute to the situation in New Orleans. In turn, that situation led to the bizarre killings at Memorial Hospital by the very people who were trained to protect and save lives. This is a remarkable book which will affect the reader for some time to come.

Jim Garrison's Closing Summation -

Jim Garrison is still the only person to have ever brought to trial the conspirators in the murder of John F. Kennedy in 1963. His reputation has been tarnished for the ages by ridicule and disbelief. If you have ever seen Oliver Stone’s film “JFK” then you have heard the following closing argument made by Mr. Garrison in court on February 28, 1969. Although copies were handed out to the press at the end of the proceedings, the summation has never really garnered much attention in the mind of the public. Much of this is due to the reaction against the film by Mr. Stone. Yet, when you actually read the text of Mr. Garrison’s closing remarks, one cannot help being affected by the veracity of his words. It is an important and eloquent speech which contains much truth. Here is that argument, just as it was delivered in court in 1969.

May it please the court. Gentlemen of the jury. I know you're very tired. You've been very patient. This final day has been a long one, so I'll speak only a few minutes. In his argument, Mr. Dymond posed one final issue which raises the question of what we do when the need for justice is confronted by power. So, let me talk to you about the question of whether or not there was government fraud in this case--a question Mr. Dymond seems to want us to answer. A government is a great deal like a human being. It's not necessarily all good, and it's not necessarily all bad. We live in a good country. I love it and you do too. Nevertheless, the fact remains that we have a government which is not perfect.

There have been indications since November the 22nd of 1963--and that was not the last indication--that there is excessive power in some parts of our government. It is plain that the people have not received all of the truth about some of the things which have happened, about some of the assassinations which have occurred--and more particularly about the assassination of John Kennedy.

Going back to when we were children, I think most of us--probably all of us here in the courtroom--once thought that justice came into being of its own accord, that virtue was its own reward, that good would triumph over evil--in short, that justice occurred automatically. Later, when we found that this wasn't quite so, most of us still felt hopefully that at least justice occurred frequently of its own accord.

Today, I think that almost all of us would have to agree that there is really no machinery--not on this Earth at least--which causes justice to occur automatically. Men have to make it occur. Individual human beings have to make it occur. Otherwise, it doesn't come into existence. This is not always easy. As a matter of fact, it's always hard, because justice presents a threat to power. In order to make justice come into being, you often have to fight power.

Mr. Dymond raised the question: Why don't we say it's all a fraud and charge the government with fraud, if this is the case? Let me be explicit, then, and make myself very clear on this point.

The government's handling of the investigation of John Kennedy's murder was a fraud. It was the greatest fraud in the history of our country. It probably was the greatest fraud ever perpetrated in the history of humankind. That doesn't mean that we have to accept the continued existence of the kind of government which allows this to happen. We can do something about it. We're forced either to leave this country or to accept the authoritarianism that has developed--the authoritarianism which tells us that in the year 2029 we can see the evidence about what happened to John Kennedy.

Government does not consist only of secret police and domestic espionage operations and generals and admirals--government consists of people. It also consists of juries. And cases of murder--whether of the poorest individual or the most distinguished citizen in the land--should be looked at openly in a court of law, where juries can pass on them and not be hidden, not be buried like the body of the victim beneath concrete for countless years.

You men in these recent weeks have heard witnesses that no one else in the world has heard. You've seen the Zapruder film. You've seen what happened to your President. I suggest to you that you know right now that, in that area at least, a fraud has been perpetrated.

That does not mean that our government is entirely bad; and I want to emphasize that. It does mean, however, that in recent years, through the development of excessive power because of the Cold War, forces have developed in our government over which there is no control and these forces have an authoritarian approach to justice--meaning, they will let you know what justice is.

Well, my reply to them is that we already know what justice is. It is the decision of the people passing on the evidence. It is the jury system. In this issue which is posed by the government's conduct in concealing the evidence in this case--in the issue of humanity as opposed to power--I have chosen humanity, and I will do it again without any hesitation. I hope every one of you will do the same. I do this because I love my country and because I want to communicate to the government that we will not accept unexplained assassinations with the casual information that if we live seventy-five years longer, we might be given more evidence.

In this particular case, massive power was brought to bear to prevent justice from ever coming into this courtroom. The power to make authoritive pronouncements, the power to manipulate the news media by the release of false information, the power to interfere with an honest inquiry and the power to provide an endless variety of experts to testify in behalf of power, repeatedly was demonstrated in this case.

The American people have yet to see the Zapruder film. Why? The American people have yet to see and hear from the real witnesses to the assassination. Why? Because, today in America too much emphasis is given to secrecy, with regard to the assassination of our President, and not enough emphasis is given to the question of justice and to the question of humanity.

These dignified deceptions will not suffice. We have had enough of power without truth. We don't have to accept power without truth or else leave the country. I don't accept either of these two alternatives. I don't intend to leave the country and I don't intend to accept power without truth.

I intend to fight for the truth. I suggest that not only is this not un-American, but it is the most American thing we can do--because if the truth does not endure, then our country will not endure.

In our country the worst of all crimes occurs when the government murders truth. If it can murder truth, it can murder freedom. If it can murder freedom, it can murder your own sons--if they should dare to fight for freedom-- and then it can announce that they were killed in an industrial accident, or shot by the "enemy" or God knows what.

In this case, finally, it has been possible to bring the truth about the assassination into a court of law--not before a commission composed of important and powerful and politically astute men, but before a jury of citizens.

Now, I suggest to you that yours is a hard duty, because in a sense what you're passing on is equivalent to a murder case. The difficult thing about passing on a murder case is that the victim is out of your sight and buried a long distance away, and all you can see is the defendant. It's very difficult to identify with someone you can't see, and sometimes it's hard not to identify to some extent with the defendant and his problems.

In that regard, every prosecutor who is at all humane is conscious of feeling sorry for the defendant in every case he prosecutes. But he is not free to forget the victim who lies buried out of sight. I suggest to you that, if you do your duty, you also are not free to forget the victim who is buried out of sight.

You know, Tennyson once said that, "authority forgets a dying king." This was never more true than in the murder of John Kennedy. The strange and deceptive conduct of the government after his murder began while his body was warm, and has continued for five years. You have seen in this courtroom indications of the interest of part of the government power structure in keeping the truth down, in keeping the grave closed.

We presented a number of eyewitnesses as well as an expert witness as well as the Zapruder film, to show that the fatal wound of the President came from the front. A plane landed from Washington and out stepped Dr. Finck for the defense, to counter the clear and apparent evidence of a shot from the front. I don't have to go into Dr. Finck's testimony in detail for you to show that it simply did not correspond with the facts. He admitted that he did not complete the autopsy because a general told him not to complete the autopsy.

In this conflict between power and justice--to put it that way--just where do you think Dr. Finck stands? A general, who was not a pathologist, told him not to complete the autopsy, so he didn't complete it. This is not the way I want my country to be. When our President is killed he deserves the kind of autopsy that the ordinary citizen gets every day in the State of Louisiana. And the people deserve the facts about it. We can't have government power suddenly interjecting itself and preventing the truth form coming to the people.

Yet in this case, before the sun rose the next morning, power had moved into the situation and the truth was being concealed. And now, five years later in this courtroom the power of the government in concealing the truth is continuing in the same way.

We presented eyewitnesses who told you of the shots coming from the grassy knoll. A plane landed from Washington, and out came ballistics expert Frazier for the defense. Mr. Frazier's explanation of the sound of the shots coming from the front, which was heard by eyewitness after eyewitness, was that Lee Oswald created a sonic boom in his firing. Not only did Oswald break all of the world's records for marksmanship, but he broke the sound barrier as well.

I suggest to you, that if any of you have shot on a firing range--and most of you probably have in the service--you were shooting rifles in which the bullet traveled faster than the speed of sound. I ask you to recall if you ever heard a sonic boom. If you remember when you were on the firing line, and they would say, "Ready on the left; ready on the right; ready on the firing line; commence firing," you heard the shots coming from the firing line--to the left of you and to the right of you. If you had heard, as a result of Frazier's fictional sonic boom, firing coming at you from the pits, you would have had a reaction which you would still remember.

Mr. Frazier's sonic boom simply doesn't exist. It's part of the fraud-- a part of the continuing government fraud.

The best way to make this country the kind of country it's supposed to be is to communicate to the government that no matter how powerful it may be, we do not accept these frauds. We do not accept these false announcements. We do not accept the concealment of evidence with regard to the murder of President Kennedy. Who is the most believable: a Richard Randolph Carr, seated here in a wheelchair and telling you what he saw and what he heard and how he was told to shut his mouth--or Mr. Frazier with his sonic booms? Do we really have to reject Mr. Newman and Mrs. Newman and Mr. Carr and Roger Craig and the testimony of all those honest witnesses--reject all this and accept the fraudulent Warren Commission, or else leave the country?

I suggest to you that there are other alternatives. One of them has been put in practice in the last month in the State of Louisiana--and that is to bring out the truth in a proceeding where attorneys can cross-examine, where the defendant can be confronted by testimony against him, where the rules of evidence are applied and where a jury of citizens can pass on it--and where there is no government secrecy. Above all, where you do not have evidence concealed for seventy-five years in the name of "national security."

All we have in this case are the facts--facts which show that the defendant participated in the conspiracy to kill the President and that the President was subsequently killed in an ambush.

The reply of the defense has been the same as the early reply of the government in the Warren Commission. It has been authority, authority, authority. The President's seal outside of each volume of the Warren Commission Report--made necessary because there is nothing inside these volumes, only men of high position and prestige sitting on a Board, and announcing the results to you, but not telling you what the evidence is, because the evidence has to be hidden for seventy-five years.

You heard in this courtroom in recent weeks, eyewitness after eyewitness after eyewitness and, above all, you saw one eyewitness which was indifferent to power--the Zapruder film. The lens of the camera is totally indifferent to power and it tells what happened as it saw it happen--and that is one of the reasons 200 million Americans have not seen the Zapruder film. They should have seen it many times. They should know exactly what happened. They all should know what you know now. Why hasn't all of this come into being if there hasn't been government fraud? Of course there has been fraud by the government.

But I'm telling you now that I think we can do something about it. I think that there are still enough Americans left in this country to make it continue to be America. I think that we can still fight authoritarianism--the government's insistence on secrecy, government force used in counterattacks against an honest inquiry--and when we do that, we're not being un-American, we're being American. It isn't easy. You're sticking your neck out in a rather permanent way, but it has to be done because truth does not come into being automatically. Individual men, like the members of my staff here, have to work and fight to make it happen--and individual men like you have to make justice come into being because otherwise is doesn't happen.

What I'm trying to tell you is that there are forces in America today, unfortunately, which are not in favor of the truth coming out about John Kennedy's assassination. As long as our government continues to be like this, as long as such forces can get away with such actions, then this is no longer the country in which we were born.

The murder of John Kennedy was probably the most terrible moment in the history of our country. Yet, circumstances have placed you in the position where not only have you seen the hidden evidence but you are actually going to have the opportunity to bring justice into the picture for the first time.

Now, you are here sitting in judgment on Clay Shaw. Yet you, as men, represent more than jurors in an ordinary case because of the victim in this case. You represent, in a sense, the hope of humanity against government power. You represent humanity, which yet may triumph over excessive government power-- if you will cause it to be so, in the course of doing your duty in this case.

I suggest that you ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.

What can you do for your country? You can cause justice to happen for the first time in this matter. You can help make our country better by showing that this is still a government of the people. And if you do that, as long as you live, nothing will ever be more important.

"The Dozens" by Elijah Wald (2012)

To most white people the game known as “playing the dozens” is somewhat of a mystery. Most of us (I’m white) think of it only as a variation on what we used to call “ranking out” one another, which usually involved such witticisms as “You’re mother’s so ugly she can make a freight train take a dirt road”; that’s a very generic example; which would immediately be answered with another, and hopefully worse, reply, thus “outranking” your foe. In this book by Elijah Wald, the author sets the history of “the dozens” in its true historical context. The funny thing is, he’s a white guy! But that should be no surprise, as “The Dozens” spread over into the white community many decades ago.

For instance, when I reported for duty aboard the USS Neosho, my first ship, I was confronted by a big white guy from the Midwest who asked me point blank, “Is your mother still menstruating?” He was clearly looking for a fight. I was not.  So, I replied that my mother “was flowing like the Nile.” The tactic turned the table on him, ending the game, while giving me a reputation as a quick thinker. In the parlance of the game, I had successfully “slipped him back in the dozens”, meaning that I had turned the table on him.

In the 1950’s and ‘60’s the Russians even got in on the deal. The usual starting point for them was to tell the other party that his “mother wore army boots.” The only problem with that was that at the time everybody’s mother in Russia wore army boots!

Exploring the African roots of “the dozens”, as well as the cultural influences which shaped the genre over many decades, and countries, Mr. Wald sheds light on a subject which has often been misunderstood; or over simplified; by people the world over. Although we have all have undoubtedly played some version of this game during our lifetimes, the author has done an excellent job in chronicling the art form, from its earliest beginnings, to its influence on today’s rap culture.

"The Glass Rainbow" by James Lee Burke

When you open a James Lee Burke novel it's like stepping out of an airplane at several thousand feet, you just don't know exactly where you are going to land. Mr. Burke, a two time Edgar Award winner, and a recipient of the Grand Master award from the Mystery Writers of America, writes so convincingly, that it is hard to tell where his life intersects with that of his main character, Dave Robicheaux. I suspect that, at times, they are one and the same.

"The Glass Rainbow", released in 2010, has New Iberia Parish Detective Dave Robicheaux back in the middle of a seemingly impossible to solve string of murders. The victims have all been young, and disenfranchised, young women, all that is except one. She is the sister of a convict in Mississippi, Elmore Latiolais, who has requested to see Detective Robicheaux after seeing a newspaper article related to his sister, Bernadette's, murder. This meeting sets in motion a chain of events that leads to the underbelly of race, religion, politics, gambling and alternative energy, all of which define the animus of present day Louisiana, as well as Texas, which in turn defines some of the forces which serve to tear apart the America of the recent past. And that is one of the strengths of James Lee Burke as a writer. He weaves real life politics and the problems of the ordinary man together seamlessly with a mystery based on the social injustices of our own times. And, as if that is not enough to satisfy you, he also connects the problems of today's society with the sins of our own past.

With his usual flair for detail, he serves up a cast of characters that becomes more diverse with each of his several dozen novels. And, with "The Glass Rainbow" he has surpassed even himself in this endeavor.

With his pal Clete Purcel at his side, and at the same time watching his back, Detective Robicheaux peels back the layers that conceal the corruption of people, and organizations, that threaten to wipe out all of the good in this world. With energy schemes, masquerading as religious good will, and involving some of the wealthiest families, it is often hard to remember that you are reading fiction.

I actually tried to diagram this book in the way that the detectives do on TV, all in a vain effort to uncover the real guilty parties before Mr. Burke serves them up. It was an effort in futility. I was on the right track, but took the wrong fork in the road in this sprawling work of fiction that has its roots in the headlines of today's newspapers. With greed and corruption at every turn, and with his daughter, Alafair, home from college, things get hot and heavy as "Streak" and Clete Purcel pursue every lead, and lowlife, in order to bring to justice the people who are really responsible for the death of Elmore Latiolais' sister, Bernadette, who was an honor student with a penchant for saving wildlife. What is her connection to the 7 arpents of land left by her grandfather?

I have never read a James Lee Burke novel without learning something about the music, history and politics that have come to define the image of New Orleans, either pre, or post Katrina.

In "The Glass Rainbow", Mr. Burke has once again done the seemingly impossible. He has blended all of these elements into a tale that sometimes has the reader going back a few pages, in order to keep things straight, while navigating the fascinating and colorful world which has become the hallmark of all his writing. And, in the end, though the good guys always win, the reader is left wondering at the price paid for the injustices inflicted upon the average man by those with so much power.

"Pegasus Descending" by James Lee Burke

Fiction and reality collide once again in this action packed and thought provoking novel by James Lee Burke. With his usual flair for tying history together with mystery, this book finds New Iberia Detective James Robicheaux involved in the 20 year old murder of a former friend during an armored car heist gone wrong. When the friend's daughter shows up in New Iberia, she brings with her a whole boatload of trouble.

A dead man is found in a drainage ditch on the side of the road, with no name or identification, and the coincidences begin to add up, leading Detective Robicheaux on a search for the truth which will take him down some of the darkest and ugliest roads of humanity. Politics, old money and outdated societal traditions fuel the story as the case leads to the murder and gang rape of a young girl. Was she killed by the local gangbangers? Or were the rich "frat" boys involved? Or, is there a connection between the two?

With the FBI looking into some of the same suspects for other crimes, Detective Robicheaux is forced into a game of cat and mouse between his own New Iberia Police Department and the Feds. With his old buddy Clete Purcel at his side, rampaging like a bull in a china closet, guess who wins?

This may be one of the most complex of the Dave Robicheaux series to date. There is virtually nothing left out of this wide ranging tale of corruption and greed. From the gambling profits of the Indian Reservations, to the televangelists who may be laundering them, and the politicians who allow these things to go on, Mr. Burke has once again written a novel which is so well grounded in the reality of our times, that it is often difficult to remember you are reading fiction.

All of the usual characters have been assembled here. There is, of course, Clete Purcel, Dave's old sidekick from the New Orleans Police Department, New Iberia Police Chief Helen Soileau, Dave's wife Molly, and Tripod, their pet raccoon. Added to the list are a wimpy District Attorney and a cast of sociopaths.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of Mr. Burke's writing is his penchant for tying his plots to the applicable history which has firmly entrenched some very evil people in some of the highest positions of authority, all while waving the flag, or acting as a "shill" for the Lord.

But, against all odds, the self described "Bobbsey Twins of Vice", Dave Robicheaux and Clete Purcel, kick ass and take down the bad guys, bruising a few egos along the way. With the added lessons in history, as well as some insights into the human condition, James Lee Burke's novels can only be described as Mickey Spillane's "Mike Hammer" on steroids.

"Crusader's Cross" by James Lee Burke

Whenever I get fed up with the real world and all of it's attendant problems, I leave the Non-Fiction section behind and head straight to the Fiction section, usually the B's, as in Burke. The wonder of Mr. Burke's fiction is in it's reality. There are people who firmly believe that fiction is just that, fiction. But Mr. Burke knows better, there are people out there every bit as sinister and depraved as the characters he draws in his novels. I've met some of them.

When former police Detective Dave Robicheaux was a young man, back in the late 1950's, his brother Jimmie worked with him on the off shore rigs of Louisiana, making the money which would put them through college. This is where the story begins.

His brother Jimmie falls for a local girl named Ida Durbin, who saves their lives one day when they are out swimming, and they form a friendship with her. She also happens to play a mean mandolin, and sings like Kittie Wells. But when Jimmie finds out that she is a hooker, working off a debt to a local pimp, he is devastated. When she disappears, after Jimmie has confronted the pimp, offering to buy her debt, only to find himself ripped off, forces are set in motion that lead to a 20 year dead end, which suddenly opens up after a seemingly unrelated string of crimes.

When Robicheaux is re-instated as a detective in New Iberia Parish, in order to help investigate a serial killer, seemingly unrelated to the 20 year old disappearance of Ida Durbin, he joins forces with his old friend and partner Clete Purcell. What they find, when they scratch the underbelly of New Orleans, leads them to believe that Ida might not be dead after all. One thing's for sure in this action packed novel, the "Bobbsey Twins" are back, and nobody is safe until they get the answers they are looking for.

The most amazing thing about Mr. Burke's fiction is the way in which he spins his characters. They range from the seemingly normal schoolteacher type, like the women who killed for Charles Manson, to the truly sick and depraved, both of whom walk amongst us.

Long adept at exploring the dark side of man's nature, this book is no exception. As Detective Robicheaux struggles with the case itself, he is also forced to face the eternal question of just what, if any, are the differences in the motivations that drive both those who stand behind the law, as well as those who oppose it? The answer, like the underbelly of New Orleans, is neither pretty, nor simple.

Loaded with evil, sordid characters, this book will take you behind the headlines and into the world of fiction, which is where non-fiction comes from to begin with. Or is that the other way around....?

"The Tin Roof Blowdown" by James Lee Burke

One of the attractions of reading a book by James Lee Burke are the links to history which he provides. These, in turn make the story more real in the telling and inform the reader, giving his novels relevancy and keeping the reader thirsty for the next dot to connect. “The Tin Roof Blowdown”, released after Hurricane Katrina, while I was immersed in non-fiction, is a stunning tapestry, woven of history, timeless crime, human greed, government indifference to the people, and did I mention that it’s a great crime novel to boot?

With his usual cast of characters, including the loveable Clete Purcel, the introspective Dave Robicheaux, his daughter Alafair, and her pet raccoon, Mr. Burke takes on a tremendously complex disaster, creating at the same time, a compelling mystery. I should add that Mr. Burke resides in New Iberia Parish, next door to New Orleans. This undoubtedly gives the book a sense of realism impossible to capture in any other fashion.

Another aspect of Mr. Burke’s Dave Robicheaux series of novels is the continuity of the characters. What I mean is that as the reader gets older, so do his characters. This helps the reader identify with the characters and in some cases, where the reader’s life experiences may be similar with them, it can lend a stark reality to the book.

The storyline is simple enough. As Hurricane Katrina bears down on New Orleans, several lives, seemingly unconnected on the surface, are about to collide amidst one of the largest natural disasters to ever hit the United States.

There is the Baylor family, still struggling to come to terms with the rape of their 15 year old daughter, Thelma, at the hands of street thugs. Otis Baylor is an insurance salesman. He is also a self styled vigilante, but is his mouth bigger than his actual abilities? With the storm closing in, and looters prowling without, we may learn the answer.

Then there is the Kovick household. Sydney and his wife Eunice are owners of a very successful flower shop. Sydney is involved in organized crime, but how deep do his ties run? When his house is broken into during the Evacuation, large sums of money are found by the vandals smashing his walls and tearing out his ceilings. Without the Police to call, how far will Sydney go to recover the money?

Then there are the Melancon brothers and their sidekick Andre. The two brothers are wanted on Federal Warrants, but all three may be the street thugs who raped Otis Baylor’s daughter. When one is crippled by sniper fire, and another killed, outside Mr. Baylor’s home, the Police are sure he did the crime. Or did he?

And lost in the story is the heroin addicted Priest, Jude Le Blanc. He goes missing in the height of the storm as he struggles to cut a hole in the roof of a church where people are trapped in the attic, about to drown. Both the Priest and the boat disappear and the people do drown. But who took the boat and how is it connected to the Baylor’s and Kovick’s lives?

When you pick up one of Mr. Burke’s books, he has written about 30, and won the Edgar Award twice, you are transported to the jungle that is the real world. His insights into the human condition and the individual psyche make his books both a lesson in our shortcomings as people, while at the same time telling a very compelling story.

You might say that Mr. Burke and I are both stuck in a rut; he keeps on writing great novels. And I keep on reading them, although sometimes several years after the fact.