It sure has been an interesting week, and certainly one that I will be remembering for a while. It certainly had it's ups and Downs. The good news is that most of the downs were at someone else's expense!
A definite high was the very funny book Schmucks by Jackie Mason and Raoul Felder. This is a riotous read, it is well worth the price of admission. This review ended up getting syndicated, so it is all over the net like a rash. I was not expecting to be able to get an interview out of this book because these guys are so well known, but the publisher (Harper Collins) is telling me that they would love to do an interview.
On a not so high note, I reviewed a new DVD about the 1990's Brit band Oasis. I am sure that you all remember the songs from their album 'Morning Glory'. The press release claimed that this DVD contained live and studio versions of the Morning Glory album, and each track is critiqued by experts. I thought this would be a wonderful idea, alas it remains only an idea. You get a 20 second sound byte of each song, followed by 10 minutes of pontificating by people who are having a bad hair day. Needless to say this did not impress me a lot, and I think it might show in my review.
It was a great week for interviews. I have been really lucky recently, all my victims have come up with great interviews. Corey Fayman delivered up a wonderful interview about his new murder mystery Blacks Beach Shuffle. While Robert Wickes offered up some great insights into his latest book The Myth America Pageant.
The ultimate experience of the week though involves a music CD. I don't do a lot of music reviews, personally I think a lot of the stuff these days is crap. But a couple of weeks ago I spotted a press release about an upcomming CD and book, celebrating the life of June Carter Cash. The book being written by her son John Carter Cash, and the CD being produced by him as well. Anchored In Love A Tribute To June Carter Cash seemed like a fun read and listen. The list of musicians on the CD read like a who's who of country music. So I sent in a request for a review copy. I received a polite reply that I was on the list, and they would be shipping out review copies in late May, with a launch date in the stores set for June 19th.
Launch dates for books and CD's change every 30 seconds, they are even more unpredictable than the weather here in Calgary! So when the CD arrived in the mail on Monday I was not suprised. What dis suprise me was just how good Anchored In Love is. I am not really a country music fan, but this is a 'blow your socks off' album, all of the songs were penned by June Carter Cash, and the renditions of the songs are fabulous.
I gave this CD a great review. My friends at Blogcritics concurred that this is a great CD and they syndicated the review. So once again I have an article all over the net. So, I sent off an email to the PR people thinking they would be really happy about this. About 5 minutes later World War III broke out! Apparently someone in Nashville screwed up. No, NONE, ZIP copies of this CD were supposed to be shipped to anyone until late May. I guess someone did not understand this, and popped a copy in the mail to me. And boy are they pissed over this!
I am pretty sure there are 'Wanted' posters for me in Nashville, and I am sure that I am banned for life from the Grand Ole Opry.
Just another week in the life of a reviewer!
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