The Coasters with a Leiber and Stoller classic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-Exe4YUJyI
Small House of Everything
Friday, June 30, 2017
FORGOTTEN BOOK: STONE, M.I.A. HUNTER: DESERT DEATH RAID
Stone, M.I.A. Hunter: Desert Death Raid by "Jack Buchanan" (in this case, Bill Crider) (1989)
The ever-prolific Stephen Mertz wrote a lot of paperback men's adventure novels early in his career, contributing to Don Pendeleton's Executioner series, and creating several series of his own, including this one. Mark Stone, former Green Beret and former P.O.W., took upon himself a mission to rescue other Vietnam P.O.W.s. This he accomplished in the bloodiest way possible, aided by Hog Wiley, an East Texas good old boy mercenary, and Terrance Loughlin, a British commando. (Wiley and Laughlin, although good friends, tease each other in such a fashion that they could have been part of Doc Savage's team or two of Nick Fury's Howling Commandos.) As the series went on, the group began to used off the books by the U.S. government for special missions, often far from the steaming jungles of Southeast Asia.
Desert Death Raid, one of three in the series written by Bill Crider, brings Stone's team to the desert country in North Africa where the country's president, Felix Sholumbe is barricaded in his presidential place by an army of rebel fighters. With Shalombe are his daughter, several advisors, and an important Russian defector. Stone's mission is to rescue Shalombe and the Russian and get them safely out of the country. To do this Stone must follow his usual plan of action: improvise.
Stone and his men manage to get the President and four others out in a helicopter. The body count is relatively minor. The rebel general sends three fighter jets to blast the helicopter our of the sky. Stone's men managed to shoot down two of the jets before their helicopter crashes. Everybody on the copter survives, but they are in the blistering heat of the desert without food or water. Then come a large group of desert bandits, followed by some sixty rebel soldiers, and the body count really begins to climb.
Of course that's not all. The president's daughter is cozying up to her father's brutal head of security. The Russian defector, who turns out to be a beautiful woman, is cozying up to Stone, while at the same time is having secret confabs with the president's gay assistant. The rebel general is saddled with a Russian "advisor" who scorns him. The president's wife has been kidnapped and held prisoner for almost a year. The neighboring country (Libya) is rules by an unnamed dictator, along with the Russians, has plans for when the rebels control the country completely. There's a major drug trafficking ring operated in the area. And there are camels.
Camels. Why did there have to be camels?*
Desert Death Raid is a quick, highly readable jaunt in the men's action adventure genre. It's not a great book, nor does it claim to be. The action moves fast, the plot twists just enough, and the body count is very high, making it -- dare I say it? -- a bloody pleasure.
If you like this sort of thing, it's a good way to spend a couple of hours.
*Bill Crider returned to camels when ghosted the adult western novel The California Camel Corps as by "Jon Sharpe" (#287 in the Trailsman series). But camels will never be as important to him as alligators, wild boars, or Bigfoot.
The ever-prolific Stephen Mertz wrote a lot of paperback men's adventure novels early in his career, contributing to Don Pendeleton's Executioner series, and creating several series of his own, including this one. Mark Stone, former Green Beret and former P.O.W., took upon himself a mission to rescue other Vietnam P.O.W.s. This he accomplished in the bloodiest way possible, aided by Hog Wiley, an East Texas good old boy mercenary, and Terrance Loughlin, a British commando. (Wiley and Laughlin, although good friends, tease each other in such a fashion that they could have been part of Doc Savage's team or two of Nick Fury's Howling Commandos.) As the series went on, the group began to used off the books by the U.S. government for special missions, often far from the steaming jungles of Southeast Asia.
Desert Death Raid, one of three in the series written by Bill Crider, brings Stone's team to the desert country in North Africa where the country's president, Felix Sholumbe is barricaded in his presidential place by an army of rebel fighters. With Shalombe are his daughter, several advisors, and an important Russian defector. Stone's mission is to rescue Shalombe and the Russian and get them safely out of the country. To do this Stone must follow his usual plan of action: improvise.
Stone and his men manage to get the President and four others out in a helicopter. The body count is relatively minor. The rebel general sends three fighter jets to blast the helicopter our of the sky. Stone's men managed to shoot down two of the jets before their helicopter crashes. Everybody on the copter survives, but they are in the blistering heat of the desert without food or water. Then come a large group of desert bandits, followed by some sixty rebel soldiers, and the body count really begins to climb.
Of course that's not all. The president's daughter is cozying up to her father's brutal head of security. The Russian defector, who turns out to be a beautiful woman, is cozying up to Stone, while at the same time is having secret confabs with the president's gay assistant. The rebel general is saddled with a Russian "advisor" who scorns him. The president's wife has been kidnapped and held prisoner for almost a year. The neighboring country (Libya) is rules by an unnamed dictator, along with the Russians, has plans for when the rebels control the country completely. There's a major drug trafficking ring operated in the area. And there are camels.
Camels. Why did there have to be camels?*
Desert Death Raid is a quick, highly readable jaunt in the men's action adventure genre. It's not a great book, nor does it claim to be. The action moves fast, the plot twists just enough, and the body count is very high, making it -- dare I say it? -- a bloody pleasure.
If you like this sort of thing, it's a good way to spend a couple of hours.
*Bill Crider returned to camels when ghosted the adult western novel The California Camel Corps as by "Jon Sharpe" (#287 in the Trailsman series). But camels will never be as important to him as alligators, wild boars, or Bigfoot.
Thursday, June 29, 2017
MUSIC FROM THE PAST: GUABI GUABI
Jim Kweskin and Geoff Muldaur, reprising a song from their Jug Band days. When Kitty and I were first married, we had a Siamese cat named Guabi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUeuj41dXF4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUeuj41dXF4
OLD-TIME RADIO: THE MALTESE FALCON (TIMES TWO)
A few weeks ago, Evan Lewis presented a comic book adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's classic novel The Maltese Falcon on his not-to-be-missed blog, Davy Crockett's Almanac. Why stop there? I thought. Here's two different radio versions of the story, one starring Edward G. Robinson, the other Humphrey Bogart, as the immortal Sam Spade
Enjoy..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehgLxBTZ5NA
Then, three years late, on July 3, 1946, the short-lived* Academy Award Theater presented a stripped-down, half-hour version of "The Maltese Falcon" reuniting Humphrey Bogart, Mart Astor, and Sydney Greenstreet in their original roles. This version was produced and directed by Dee Englebach. Hugh Brundage announced the show. Frank Wilson adapted the script.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FDjX3_9XHU
Which version do you prefer?
*Academy Award Theater last for only 39 episodes. Its extravagant budget (for 1946) of $5000 an episode was just too heavy a burden to bear.
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
MUSIC FROM THE PAST: LOUISIANA MAN
A bit of swampgrass from Doug Kershaw.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-Mj1mZiDRc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-Mj1mZiDRc
BAD JOKE WEDNESDAY
I needed some extra money so I found a job helping a one-armed typist do capital letters.
It's shift work.
It's shift work.
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
MUSIC FROM THE PAST: TIME IN A BOTTLE.
Jim Croce...too soon gone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO1rMeYnOmM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO1rMeYnOmM
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