Who inspires John Waters?

The idea of who inspires John Waters, cult film director, is an intriguing one. Role Models is an eclectic array of people from Johnny Mathis to Lady Zorro, a masked lesbian stripper from Baltimore. Waters has done a good job with some of the people, but I felt some like Mathis needed more focus. Two of my favourites were his exploration of his friendship with Leslie Van Houten, who was a Manson follower and now is in prison and his conversation with Zorro's daughter about her mother and her life growing up that environment. I found his conflicted feelings about Van Houten interesting. He likes her as a person and was living a life under the influence at the same time, which he feels have some similarities. Yet as he feels she should be released, he empathizes with the family of her victims.

Please note that this is a book by John Waters and has materials that some may find offensive.

Spider Web

Earlene Fowler has hit another mystery out of the park. I am a self confessed Benni Harper addict and I really enjoyed Spider Web. Even Dove and Aunt Garnett are getting along... for Dove and Aunt Garnett. LOL Almost all our favourite characters check in, even Evangeline Boudreaux!

The mystery itself centers around a sniper shooting at police officers and a mysterious woman, who seems very interested in Benni and Gabe. Who is who and what is what? I actually wondered for a moment if one character was the criminal and suprise I was right. Very unusual for me.

A lovely visit with my favourite characters.

So you say you want a revolution

Some music wants to change the world for other reasons, 33 Revolutions per minute by Lynskey explores those. People have sung to protest many things through the ages. Lynskey points out in the beginning groups tended to set words to existing tunes and they sang them primarily at their own events. He is interested in when protest songs were words and lyrics were specifically written for that song and the song crossed over into popular culture.

He starts his work with Strange Fruit , the haunting song about lynchings, made famous by Billie Holliday. Lynskey’s 33 songs continue on to Green Day’s “American Idiot.” With each song he talks about the song and the context of its time.

Must admit that I was suprised there were no songs by Phil Ochs even in the list of 100 songs; although Lynskey does talk about him in a number of the essays. However no list of anything can ever be agreed on. A fascinating read.

Whoo hooo!

Not a review yet, just a dance because I have the new Earlene Fowler mystery!!!!!!!!