The VEGAS HOTEL rocks!

 

Stale Smoke and Cheap Whiskey

My friend, Jimmy Pettit, is an excellent bass guitarist.  He currently tours with the Joe Ely Flatlanders band and has appeared on the Dave Letterman show as well as participated in a concert with the Flatlanders at Cargneige Hall in  New York City

He has an album out entitled VEGAS HOTEL. 

Here is a review Jimmy posted on FaceBook about his album.

            

Jimmy Pettit
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”My old friend Cree McCree wrote this lovely review of my record,,,,Jimmy Pettit, Vegas Hotel There’s no vacancy at the Vegas Hotel, a seedy bordertown flophouse where the shades of bluesmen past linger in the air like stale smoke and the smell of cheap whiskey. The mighty ghost of Howlin’ Wolf stalks the killing floor, stomping primordial beats that crack the ceiling in the room below, where the spirit of Captain Beefheart laughs maniacally as he conjures whirling dervishes out of the Delta dust. And down at the far end of the hall, a National Steel guitar snakes around the corner and unleashes the hellhounds, heralding the spectral presence of the late John Campbell. Welcome to the world of Jimmy Pettit, longtime bass player for the John Campbell Band, who steps up to the mic on his first solo album to pay tribute to his heroes and rail against a world gone mad. On “Last of the Primitives,” aided and abetted by his old bandmate and co-writer Zonder Kennedy – one of the down-and-dirtiest slide living slide guitarists -- Pettit lashes out at Jimmy Swaggart-style tyrants and their incessant “talking and talking and talking about Jesus” in a cracked, croaky voice that burbles up from the bottom of a swamp. “La Llarona” is a wrenching lament for a Mexican mother “crying for the child who never made it to the other side.” Though penned before the current GOP frenzy of immigrant-bashing, it flies in the face of scaremongers like Donald Trump whose idea of border protection is a fortified Berlin-style wall. Elsewhere, Pettit explores the many faces and facets of the blues. He goes to the “Voodoo Edge” with John Campbell in a song co-written by Campbell and Kennedy, which he recorded and played live hundred of times with the band. While his propulsive bass line still drives “Edge,” he makes the song his own on Vegas Hotel with sinuous djembe syncopation and a gravelly voice dipped in acid. Chester Burnett’s “Commit a Crime” slinks in with a snaky guitar line by Phil Anstrom, while Pettit’s bass turns menacing on his own “Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing” in homage to the biggest, baddest Wolf of all. “Whatever happened to the blues?” Pettit asks on the centerpiece of the CD, his own “Portfolio Blues.” It’s alive and well and residing in the Vegas Hotel, which rocks like a backwoods juke juke on the wrong side of the tracks. Jimmy Pettit is throwing a big ol’ house party in a graveyard, and like the man says: “Tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 1929!” Amen, brother. I’m down with that.”

I have the album and it is quite good.

Update 2 Novemeber. The album is now available on Amazon at this link.

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http://www.amazon.com/Vegas-Hotel-Jimmy-Pettit/dp/B017DV89OC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446835048&sr=8-1&keywords=Jimmy+Pettit+Vegas+Hotel

The album is also available on ITunes.

 

If you are interested you can also buy it direct from the publisher at

http://kunaki.com/Sales.asp?PID=PX00ZN1F7G

Sista’s Revenge – a Street Smart African American Urban Action Adventure Thriller

Sista’s Revenge – an African American Action Adventure Thriller set in the hood

                                                                      Sista’s Revenge   


                             A Street Smart African American Urban Action Adventure Thriller

By

Lori Jean Grace

 

Life in the hood. . . and more!

“Sista’s Revenge” is a remarkable tour de force by the talented new thriller author on the literary scene, Lori Jean Grace.  (‘Lori Jean Grace’ is a collaboration between Lori Jean Grace and S. Jay Jackson – as you find out in the afterword.)  The authors transport you into the world of Michelle Angelique, a street-smart African American assassin.  In this first novel of the series, Michelle has returned to Los Angeles' hood after a four-year absence seeking revenge for the deaths of her brother and cousin.  This urban action adventure tale follows Michelle as she seeks revenge for the killings. 

This extraordinary work has it all . . . extremely well-written, deftly plotted, great dialogue, action sequences, racy scenes, etc.  The dialogue is fantastic and you sense the verisimilitude of the street in the Los Angeles hood.  The dialogue absolutely enthralled me. 

By reading the authors’ notes and visiting the website, you find out that the authors actually grew up in the ‘hood”. One lived there as a teenage mother raising her child and the other roamed the streets making macho (I bet he’s glad he didn’t meet Michele while roaming the streets).  The authors know the culture, the mores, and the vernacular of the street.  It is clear they have “been there, done that and got the T-shirt.” 

They have put that experience to good use by providing the reader with a sense of realism unparalleled by any other author.   You can compare the realism Sista’s Revenge depicts about life in the streets with the realism of police procedurals depicted by John Sanford and Michael Connelly in their novels; its that good..

The story also contains its share of racy scenes as Michelle and her friends live life in the fast lane on the streets and in the nightclubs of the hood in Los Angeles. 
 

 As you read this action thriller, a series of actions develops the plot nicely as surprise after surprise greets Michelle as she seeks to uncover the people involved in murdering her brother. The authors do an excellent job of resolving the action in this story, while letting a hint of a plot thread situation dangle just enough to entice the reader to continue with the further adventures of Michelle.

This is an absolutely outstanding piece of work and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in the street-smart urban adventure action thriller genre featuring the newest bad ass in town, the African American anti- heroine, Michelle Angelique.

Heck!  It’s just a durn good story.

I can’t wait to read the next one in the series.  And there is a series.  There is a series featuring Michelle.

You can find out more about Lori Jean Grace on her website at http://www.lorijeangrace.com    

Don’t miss this amazing work!

SISTA’S REVENGE is available on amazon Kindle at the following link.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017TI70JE/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B017TI70JE&linkCode=as2&tag=flowatpre-20&linkId=5IWXDXDEX5BWEZFC   

"The Hit" by David Baldacci is a HIT!

This is an intriguing novel about a CIA assassin, who has been tapped to hunt down and kill another CIA assassin, Jessica Reel. 

As the story opens, Jessica has just killed her CIA handler and is on the hunt for another highly placed CIA individual and other highly placed government officials.  Will begins his assignment methodically and nearly dies in a booby trap while hunting for Jessica.

Mr. Baldacci does a remarkable job of describing his stone cold killer characters in flat, objective terms which furhter enhance the flat, not-nonsense personalities of the characters.

As the story develops, Will discovers information which leads him to believe that there is more to the story that meets the eye and there is the interaction between him and Jessica which develops through a series of text messages.

If there is any criticism about this book, I would suggest that the “big conspiracy” unearthed during the story would need further definition.

I still give it five stars and recommend the bookand other books by  David Baldacci


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You don't want to be on the BLACK LIST

This thriller by Brad Thor places his protagonist, Scot Harvath, in the most serious situation. Someone has placed his name, as well as the names of the other members of the Carlton Group, on the Black List.  The black List is a super secret list in which the nation’s enemies have been marked for death for traitorous crimes against the United States.  

Scot finds himself out of contact with the other members of the Carlton group.  Indeed all of them are dead due to the actions of the kill teams which are relentlessly hunting them down.  The sole exception is the founder and director of the Carlton Group who finds himself in the same situation as Scot. 

Both men are alone and they face an unknown enemy who has a deadly plan to institute a virtual takeover of the United States. 

The book deals with these resourceful individuals and also Nicholas, also known as the Troll who uncovers some of the details of the plot orchestrated by the Advance Technology Solutions or ATS.

ATS is a massive organization which has endeared itself to the NSA and many other government agencies and mastered the art of complete surveillance of much of the United States.  Through the use of Department of Defense “wet’ teams, ATs is eliminating its potential enemies (such as the Carlton Group) before undertaking its bold plan to seize control of the US.
Mr. Thor has one a brilliant job of portraying the plot through the point of view of the key players, including the head of ATS.  He has wielded together an intricate resolution to the plot.

That interface is for the reader to find out.


 Five stars. Highly recommended. Brad Thor



 

I have just ordered his newest thriller, Hidden Order

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Silken Praise for Sanford's Silken Prey

This novel brings together a murder, scandalous political tricks, an incumbent US Senator, the SUS senate contender, an election, sensitive politicians and Lucas Davenport who must make sense of it all.

 John Sanford has brought all these elements together in his latest novel, SILKEN PREY. The Governor enlists the help of Bureau of Criminal Oppression (otherwise known as the BCA) deputy to the BCA Director and chief investigator, Lucas Davenport when a child pornography charge slams a sitting US Senator days before the election.

Although a member of the other party, the Senator and the governor go back to secondary school. He asks Lucas to take a quick look into the situation and if the allegation is false, find out quickly so the Senator can recover before the election.

 Lucas enlists the aid of two hacker friends, ICE and Joe Kidd, and after a search of a dead political operative’s apartment discover the evidence which enables him to show someone has framed the Senator.

But the bodies start piling up, first a political operative then others as Lucas begins to cast his investigative net. Things get even more complicated when, right in the middle of things, a retired master Thief gets the bug and decides to rob the billionaire US Senate candidate.

Through ti all, Lucas runs his investigative game and when allowed, brings in the other members of the BCA , that Sanford readers have come to know . . that (censored) Flowers, Del, Shrake, and Jenkins.

Mr. Sanford, as always, presents his novel in a straightforward manner and uses the police procedural genre to display his characters.

There is humor, plot and cross-plot and a GREAT read. Those who have not had the pleasure should acquaint themselves with John Sanford. John Sanford

Jack and Jill is Classic James Patterson

I saw this book in my library’s Book Nook and realized I had not read it.  Even though it was written before 9/11, I decided to give it a read and I am very glad I did. 

I have been shying away from James Patterson books because of his recent habit of using co-authors.  I have read one or two or them and found them entertaining but they were not pure James Patterson.

This is an oldie but goodie and it is James Patterson at his best.  I say classic James Patterson!

Alex Cross is at his job as a homicide detective with the Washington, DC police and is faced with two unusual cases involving serial murders. 

First, there is the Truth School murders where some crazy is enticing and killing elementary grade students.  Then there are Jack and Jill, a pair of serial murderers who are stalking and killing prominent citizens in and around Washington and leaving cryptic messages behind.  The case gets bizarre when Alex Cross finds out the Secret Service code names for the President and First Lady are also Jack and Jill.

As with other James Patterson Alex Cross adventures, nothing is what it seems.  There are plots and sub-plots until at last all the killers are revealed.

If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend “Jack and Jill”.  It is a great read.

Maybe now, I go back and read those books where James Patterson has a co-author.

James Patterson

MUD Movie is an Excellent film

My wife and I went to see the movie MUD today and I must say that Jeff Nichols did an excellent job of writing this screenplay and also directing it.  The movie is a coming of age film with a great ensemble cast headed by Matthew McConaugey and backed up by Sam Sheppard, Reese Witherspoon, and Joe Don Baker.  The other actors in this drams also do a great job but it was nice to see the Oldies but Goodies in action again.

The story coneters around two young boys who are trying to help a fugitive, MUD (played by Matthew McConaugey) who is on the run from the police and a gang of blood-thirsty bounty hunters hired by King (Joe Don Baker).  Mud becomes friends with Arkansas teenagers Ellis and Neckbone. 

The fugitive attempts to reunite with his love Juniper, and the teenagers help him evade the authorities.

It is a coming of age tale with elements of true love, revenge, and much misunderstanding. 

I highly recommend this movie.