Dennis Hopper

May 31, 2010 by brendanmstewart

Dennis Hopper, RIP

Two American icons. One great English poem by Rudyard Kipling.

Posted in Movies | Tagged Dennis Hopper, If, Johnny Cash, Rudyard Kipling | Leave a comment

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On The Charts

Grant-Lee Phillips: In the Hour of Dust
The Grip Weeds: Soul Bender
Twenty Thousand Roads: The Ballad of Gram Parsons and His Cosmic American Music, by David N. Meyer
The Death of Summer: Brian Wilson and Sly Stone, RIP
Homeward Bound: The Life of Paul Simon, by Peter Ames Carlin
The Ruen Brothers: Ten Paces
Hollywood: The Oral History, by Jeanine Basinger and Sam Wasson
Vintage Trouble: Heavy Hymnal
Hot Wired Guitar: The Life of Jeff Beck, by Martin Power
Smashing Pumpkins: Aghori Mhori Mei
X: Smoke & Fiction
Jack White: No Name
The Rolling Stones: Blue and Lonesome
The Beatles: Past Masters
Buried Treasure: Spooky Tooth, Spooky Two

Juke Box Music

In Heavy Rotation:

Posession—Ty Segall
AVTT/PTTN—The Avett Brothers and Mike Patton

Bookends

Currently reading:

After Dark, My Sweet—Jim Thompson

Read in 2025:

Orphan X—Gregg Hurwitz
Jet-engine paced thriller about trained assassins working on both sides of right and wrong.

Marathon Man—William Goldman
Classic novel that served as the basis for the Hoffman/Olivier film. Introduced "Is it safe?" to the lexicon.

The Pretty Ones—Ania Ahlborn
Well-written with good characterization, but totally predictable in every way.

Who Goes There?—John W. Campbell
Classic science fiction novella that inspired the movie The Thing.

The Black Echo—Michael Connelly
An excellent police procedural that introduces Detective Harry Bosch to the bibliosphere.

The Hollow Kind—Andy Davidson
Well-written, well-plotted Southern Gothic horror novel that for some reason was unable to hold my attention.

Sacred—Dennis Lehane
Book 3 of the compulsive Kenzie and Gennaro novels. Strong noir for the modern age.

Wild Town—Jim Thompson
Mediocre and forgettable noir. Not one of Thompson's better efforts.

Seeing the Light: Inside the Velvet Underground—Rob Jovanovic
Interesting but somewhat superficial biography of Andy Warhol's favorite band.

American Psycho—Bret Easton Ellis
Extremely violent satire of life among the Masters of the Universe in lower Manhattan. Definitely will make you think about what you're reading.

The Secret Hours—Mick Herron
Time-hopping spy novel that provides the back story for the creation of Slough House and the slow horses.

The Pale Horseman—Bernard Cornwell
Book 2 (of 13) in the Saxon Stories. Cornwell knows how to write strong characters and detailed battle scenes.

Darkness, Take My Hand—Dennis Lehane
Private investigators Kenzie and Gennaro in pursuit of a serial killer. Tense, gripping.

The Last Kingdom—Bernard Cornwell
The story of Uhtred, son of Uhtred, and the war between Saxons and Danes in the founding days of England. The basis of the fantastic Netflix series.

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young—David Browne
Excellent bio of a band of dueling egos.

Skeleton Crew—Stephen King
King's strongest anthology of short fiction provides plenty of thrills and two bad poems.

Deal Breaker—Harlan Coben
Introducing sports agent/mystery solver Myron Bolitar, a character straight out of noir fiction.

A Drink Before The War—Dennis Lehane
Compulsive reading. The first book in the Kenzie/Gennaro private investigators series. Excellent.

Departure 37—Scott Carson
Genre-bending blend of Cold War thriller, science fiction, and coming-of-age stories. Ties together well at the end, but not Carson's strongest.

The Lincoln Lawyer—Michael Connelly
My first experience reading this author. It definitely won't be my last.

I Will Find You—Harlan Coben
Another page turner from the reliable Coben.

Fever House—Keith Rosson
A severed hand leads to mayhem and maybe the end of the world. Excellent.

Open Season—C. J. Box
The first in the Joe Pickett series has a slow start but catches up quickly.

The Manitou—Graham Masterton
Fun, fast, schlock. Silly premise, cliches abound, but charming in a 1975 pulp horror fiction way.

Twenty Thousand Roads: The Ballad of Gram Parsons and His Cosmic American Music—David Meyer
Excellent biography that is marred by way too much unnecessary detail in the first third of the book.

Twelfth Night—William Shakespeare
The classic farce plays in parts like a Marx Brothers movie. Brilliant.

Haunted—Chuck Pahalniuk
Twenty-three macabre short stories wrapped inside a connecting novel. Not bad, not great.

Slow Horses—Mick Herron
Slow moving at first but excellent and witty novel that inspired the great Apple TV+ series.

It's Alive!—Julian David Stone
Roman à clef about the struggle to get the okay to make Frankenstein. Interesting, but kind of pointless.

Forest Ghost—Graham Masterton
A good start for this ecological horror novel is hampered by poor characterizations and logical inconsistencies and finally ruined by an incredibly stupid ending.

Just Kids—Patti Smith
Engaging and well-written memoir of the punk rock poet's life and friendship with photographer and artist Robert Mapplethorpe.

American Assassin—Vince Flynn
Super CIA agent Mitch Rapp in his first mission. Exciting and action-packed.

Gwendy's Final Task—Stephen King and Richard Chizmar
The finale of the Button Box trilogy ties the story into King's Dark Tower series in satisfying fashion.

Gwendy's Magic Feather—Richard Chizmar
The continuation of the Button Box trilogy would have been better with a strong plot.

The Nineties—Chuck Klosterman
Engaging and fun, if occasionally snarky, history of the 1990s, from Nirvana to 9/11.

The Talisman—Stephen King and Peter Straub
Magnificent quest story and homage to Huckleberry Finn from the two great horror writers.

Homeward Bound: The Life of Paul Simon—Peter Ames Carlin
Very good biography of the great songwriter.

The Lesser Dead—Christopher Buehlman
Vampires living in the subway encounter a new breed of vampire children who are very, very hungry. Quite good.

Our Lady of Darkness—Fritz Leiber
Paranoia, ghosts (maybe), and madness in Lieber's urban horror novel. Frustratingly ambiguous.

A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs, Vol. 1: From Savoy Stompers to Clock Rockers—Andrew Hickey
The print version of the excellent podcast tackles the roots of rock music from Benny Goodman to Mickey and Sylvia. Fascinating stuff.

Goblin—Josh Malerman
The author of Bird Box brings horror to the town of Goblin in five interconnected novellas.

Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre—Max Brooks
The author who revolutionized the zombie genre with World War Z turns his attention to the legend of Bigfoot with scary results.

All Hallows—Christopher Golden
Youthful innocence lost and small town secrets revealed when Halloween goes astray.

Fire In The Hole: Stories—Elmore Leonard
Typically excellent collection, including the title story that introduced Raylan Givens to the world.

Runnin' with the Devil: A Backstage Pass to the Wild Times, Loud Rock, and the Down and Dirty Truth Behind the Making of Van Halen—Noel Monk and Joe Layden
Fun and gossipy tale of America's premier party band, told by their manager.

Road of Bones—Christopher Golden
Spooky novel of forest spirits haunting Stalin's notorious Kolyma Highway in Siberia.

Moguls: The Lives and Times of Hollywood Film Pioneers Nicholas and Joseph Schenck—Michael Benson and Craig Singer
Interesting history of the brothers who helped create Hollywood.

The Night Parade—Ronald Malfi
Strong tale of a man and his daughter on the run in the early days of a plague wiping out civilization.

Tell No One—Harlan Coben
Twisty story of a man trying to unravel the mystery of how his dead wife has started to contact him. A very fast read.

The Book of Accidents—Chuck Wendig
Part horror, part sci-fi tale of the eschatololgy of the multiverse.

An Honest Man—Michael Koryta
Murder, drugs, and sex trafficking on a small island on the Maine coast. Very good.

Hollywood: The Oral History—Jeanine Basinger and Sam Wasson
Sometimes fascinating, sometimes maddening inside look at the workings of Tinseltown.

Those Across the River—Christopher Buehlman
A well-crafted novel about werewolves and what happens when you stop appeasing them.

Little Heaven—Nick Cutter
Horror novel about a religious cult, mercenaries, and monsters in the woods. It's okay.

Pandora's Box: How Guts, Guile, and Greed Upended TV—Peter Biskind
Not as interesting as Biskind's Easy Riders, Raging Bulls but a still fascinating story about the rise of cable TV and the streaming revolution.

Alice in Chains: The Untold Story—David De Sola
The full, detailed history of one of Seattle's Big Four bands from the alt-rock explosion.

The Life and Times of Little Richard: The Authorized Biography—Charles White
Excellent biography of rock 'n' roll's Founding Father.

Hot Wired Guitar: The Life of Jeff Beck—Martin Power
Detailed look at the career of the legendary axeman.

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood—Eric Burdon and Jeff Marshall Craig
Engaging memoir from the Animals frontman.

Drums and Demons: The Tragic Journey of Jim Gordon—Joel Selvin
The fascinating and heartbreaking story of one of rock's greatest drummers and his descent into madness.

Anymore for Anymore: The Ronnie Lane Story—Caroline and David Stafford
Absorbing story of the engine behind the Small Faces and the Faces.

The Small Faces and Other Stories—Uli Twelker and Roland Schmitt
Dry, overly-detailed story of the Small Faces and their offshoots.

Through The Past, Darkly

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