It might be because I've been reading so much non-fiction lately, but Ry Cooder's book of short stories, Los Angeles Stories, is hard to put down. It's noir type stuff, all centered in L.A. and surrounding areas. There's all sorts of offbeat characters: musicians, car guys, thieves, racketeers, bar owners, restaurant owners, gun shop owners. There's greasy spoons, flop houses, bars, beaches, highways and cars of all sorts. Coming from a musician, I wasn't expecting to be sucked in. But it's good, really good. Like a Raymond Chandler book, with all sorts of references to places that you'll recognize if you're from Southern California, but Cooder's work has musicians who make cameo appearances, most names only the fiendish will recognize. Yee haw, some background investigatin'. Seriously, I may read it again just to revisit the references. In just one story there's Lorrie Collins (Collins Kids), Joe Maphis, Merle Travis and Paul Bigsby, the latter the designer of the Bigsby vibrato tailpiece, And Bigsby's name-dropped in another. All that and crime, drinking, a whole lotta shootings, fast cars, murdercycles, and women. Transvestites, coaches, landlords, trolley drivers and cheeseburgers. And.whiskey, and coffee and cigarettes. And a lot of questions.
~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
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