Outside Room 107

Just finished reading “Tooth and Nail” by Ian Rankin. Apparently, there are several novels starring Inspector John Rebus, a Scottish detective who in this novel is sent to London to help catch a serial killer dubbed “The Wolfman”. From the quotes on the cover, I was expecting to be helplessly caught in a web of intrigue and suspense. Rankin has won awards and his books have appeared on many best-seller lists. Unfortunately, I was not blown away. It wasn’t bad; just simplistic. (He’s a serial killer because he was molested as a child – how original!) I’ve seen episodes of CSI and Criminal Minds that were better than this book. Anyway, if you’re looking to while away a few hours, Inspector Rebus can help you do that. Just don’t expect anything to linger for very long after.

Rock supergroups can be risky business. If things go well, you can end up with gems like Cream and The Traveling Wilburys. On the other hand, there are unfortunate experiments like Zwan and Damn Yankees (I don’t care how many records they sold). Whether good or bad, they’re always intriguing.
Imagine being an 80’s metal fan and hearing about a group consisting of Tom Keifer, (Cinderella), Jake E. Lee (Ozzy), Juan Crocier (Ratt), and Joey Kramer (Aerosmith). Dude, you’d be psyched, right? Or maybe you were boot scootin’ in the 90s and Kix Dunn, Marty Raybon (Shenendoah), Dana Williams (Diamond Rio) and Mark Herndon (Alabama) decide to record together. Come on, you’d dust off your old hat for that. Well if you’re a fan of power pop (and I am), then Tinted Windows had to get you excited. With Taylor Hanson, (the brother with the fantastic voice), James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins), Adam Schlessinger (Fountains of Wayne) and Bun E. Carlos (drummer with the greatest power pop band of all time, Cheap Trick), you had to expect plenty of catchy melodies, great hooks and lots of fun. Well, that’s exactly what we got.
This album hearkens back to mid-70’s and early 80s radio; when rock n’ roll still gave itself permission to have fun. When did we decide popular music had to be too full of whiny, over dramatized earnestness (Coldplay) or fun has to be dangerous and tawdry (pretty much any rap artist)? There are plenty of reviews out there that will criticize this album simply for the membership alone. Those folks are generally arrogant hipsters who have too little knowledge of where current rock music came from or music snobs who have too much. There is something refreshing about a band that just wants to write some upbeat songs about love and heartbreak. Since I got this album I want to listen to it over and over, loudly. If I had a convertible it would be perfect.
If you ever yearn for groups like The Knack, The Romantics, early Cars and of course Cheap Trick themselves, Tinted Windows is a fantastic fix.
My favorite line about this album comes from a review in Entertainment Weekly; “It’s all hook-riddled, fast, and ephemeral, and if you don’t love it, your tie’s too wide.”

Just finished “Unfinished Season” by Ward Just. It’s a story of a 19 year old growing up north of Chicago in the 1950s. Wils moves between the suburban world of his parents and the high society of debutante balls on the North Shore. Couple that with a job at a Chi-town newspaper and a romance with a girl whose father has some secrets and it’s a good read. However, I didn’t enjoy the ending. Actually, it should have ended a chapter earlier.

I just finished reading “how i became stupid” by Martin Page. It’s a short novel translated from French about a Aramaic teacher named Antoine who decides life would be easier if he would just join in the banal existence of everyone else around him. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if Page is mocking consumerism and the chase for money or the people who disdain it. Either way, it was a quick, fun read.