It was good and now it's better...

Jonathan Lethem very rarely disappoints and TB is pleased to report that his most recent novel,' Chronic City,' published this month, continues in a similarly propitious vein. This is undoubtedly Lethem's most ambitious novel to date - finding him lost and losing it in the seemingly unchartered territory of Manhattan, a million miles away from the melancholia, angst and harsher reality of mother Brooklyn. Lethem has created a uniquely subtle satire in this work - where images and ideas are there to be smashed; he smashes them. But his vitriol is very much contained - in this book redemption and salvation are only a page turn away. The book is available now from the usual sources...

Our ding-a-ling..

Belated birthday congratulations to one of the fathers of Rock and Roll, Charles Edward (Chuck) Berry, who was 83 yesterday. Berry's influence on popular music is immeasurable - without him the music may have been very different, certainly, and most importantly, in terms of songwriting development. Berry was also a virtuoso guitarist - a fact often forgotten when attempting to put his many accomplishments into fuller context. Here, Chuck is attempting to instruct a fellow, much younger and inexperienced performer, in the art of walking the duck...

'Oh Carol'

By Gad...

It will soon be the 68th anniversary of the first truly great Hollywood 'film noir,' the glorious, 'The Maltese Falcon.' A peerless ensemble cast bring to life the characters made famous in Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel, but it is Humphrey Bogart - excelling as the archetypal anti-hero, Sam Spade, in John Huston's directorial debut, who drives the film, who gives it its wonderful energy, delivering a performance which was to cement his reputation as one of Hollywood's greatest actors and leading men. Hammett's novel had been filmed twice before - most controversially in 1931, pre the Hays production code. But, it is Huston's elegiac version that has lasted and; thanks to the inspired casting, the deftly handled direction and the presence of the most celebrated Macguffin in film history, the film will remain one of the most revered movies of the golden era.

Trailer

To be Frank...

Ayrshire's and Scotland's best kept musical secret, the peerless Trashcan Sinatras have announced the long awaited follow up to 2004's mercurial, 'Weightlifting.' 'In the music;' despite, on some websites as being already available, apparently isn't. Just yet. The Trashcan's MySpace site has some tracks from the new album - and what tracks they are - keep your eyes and other senses peeled for imminent tour dates in the UK...

..it was 40 years ago today...

Well, what a lot of sexist, elitist, homophobic shite that was....Yes, October 5, 1969, saw the arrival to British television screens of the most important, most influential comedy sketch show in history. Monty Python's Flying Circus was, and always will be, FUNNY. Laugh out loud FUNNY. Hilarious EVEN. And that's the whole point - revisionist comedy historians, or 'cunts,' as we should more properly refer to them, often seem to miss this most important of facts. Monty Python successfully changed the landscape of comedy - in the case of Terry Gilliam's animations, often literally. The broadcast of their first series of shows - and their subsequent forays into performance and film (most famously), is to be celebrated as an important event in the cultural history of this country, this Britain.

And now....