recommended gigs

 Friday 12-29-23 - Thee Hypnotiques at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 12-30-23 - Thee Swank Bastards at Mabels and late night at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 12-30-23 - Rhythm Ace and the Nu-Tones at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 12-30-23 - Bear Supply with the Bitters, Red moon One and broke in Vegas  at Founder's Club

Sunday 12-31-23 - Shanda and the Howlers and the Double Whammys at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 12-31-23 - Generic Surf Band at Red Dwarf Sunday Brunch

Wednesday 1-3-24 - Franks'n'Deans Weenie Roast at the Double Down

Saturday 1-6-24 - the New Waves at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 1-7-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 1-8-24 Thee Swank Bastards at Golden Tiki

Saturday 1-13-24 - the Psyatics with VaVoom and Stainless Steel Ride at the Founders Club

Sunday 1-14-24 - The Dirty LIcks from Tucson at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Sunday 1-17-24 - the Surfers of Mercy at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Thursday 1-18-24 - Dog Party, the Snares, Negative Nancy, VaVoom at Red Dwarf

Saturday 1-20-24 - the Shakewells, the Implosions and the Boreouts at Red Dwarf

Saturday 1-20-24 - the Unwieldies and Big Like Texas at the Huntridge Tavern 

Tuesday 1-23-24 - The Minges, Crimson Riot and the Drowns at the Griffin

Tuesday 1-23-24 - Glen Matlock with the Shakewells at Oxford at the Virgin Hotel

Friday 1-26-24 - Thee Hypnotiques at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 2-4-24 - the Minges, the Out There and War Peggy at Red Dwarf

Saturday 2-10-24 - The Unwieldies with Big Like Texas and Frankie Lee and the Infernos at Gold Mine Tavern

Saturday 2-17-24 - Junkyard at the Dive Bar

Thursday 3-14-24 - The Silhouettes at the Double Down

Friday 3-15-24 - the Silhouettes with Fur Dixon and the Psyatics at Red Dwarf

Tuesday 3-19-24 - IV and the Strange Band at SoulBelly BBQ

Saturday 4-16-24 - The Unwieldies with Big Like Texas and Jeff Mix and the Songhearts at Gold Mine Tavern

Ugly Things #64

 

Of course, I always rant'n'rave about the Stax's (Mike and Anja's) efforts on Ugly Things - after more than 40 years, it is more than impressive what they manage to put together. Yes, these days they have plenty of collaborators, but the amount of work involved is quite the feat!

Besides the innumerable reviews (books, records, movies and more), and the regular columns from the likes of Cyril Jordan and others, there is a massive overview on the Artwoods (with Ron Wood's brother, Art, along with Jon Lord), a treatise on the Creation, some lesser knowns like CA Quintet and Stonewall, and lots and lots and lots of other goodies. My old pal Becky Ebenkamp raves about another bubblegum fave, Glynnis Ward recounts the tale of the all-femme group the Belles and Mike informs us of the importance of A&R man, Andrew Lauder.

As usual, there's kinda something for anyone who digs rock'n'roll through the ages here - always a good read!

Batgirl Volume 4 - Strange Loop

 

This is a wildly different storyline than the other Batgirl graphic novels that I've already mentioned, with an apparently younger Batgirl living in a different city, with a different costume, different friends, and lots more. Once again, it doesn't help that I'm jumping in the middle of a tale, but at least there are some constants - she's still the commissioner's daughter, she still has a photographic memory and she fights the likes of the Penguin and his son (!) and even Two -Face for the betterment of her new environment. There's plenty of oddness in some of the villains that she fights and the situations she finds herself in and there are more hallucinations - DC seems to really like these lately! The artwork is much more cartoon-y, but sill pretty good, overall - though I must say, I like the art in the other series better. 

So, not bad, not great - maybe I'll see if I can find the other volumes and see if it grows on me.

Batman Earth One - Volume 3

 

Another library find so, again, it's kinda in the middle of a tale. This is another reworking of the legend that start with Bruce/Batman accompanied by a wildly different Alfred and the villain-in-another-world, Croc, searching Gotham's underground for a new lair - no idea why. Wayne acknowledges that he now has several people working with him and, in his million/billionaire persona, he is putting his money to good use improving the city. Of course, there has to be some strangeness involved, and it doesn't get stranger than when his grandfather, who was named Arkam, as in the asylum, returns from the "dead".

Of course, there are plenty of twists throughout, this world's very sexy, mercenary Catwoman appears and becomes an ally, there's a plot to burn Gotham to the ground and Two Face makes an appearance, along with a couple of other villainous cameos.

I dug this one - nice scripting, good artwork and the updated concept still honors the original legacy. I'll be looking for more from this series.

Deadpool Classic - Headcanon and Make War, Not Love

 

I had never read any Deadpool comics before this despite his popularity in movies'n'memes so I thought I'd grab these during my last library run. Of course, I knew the basics about the character - he's a wise ass "mercenary with a mouth", a killing machine with incredible healing powers, and that's about it - but I didn't know how Marvel actually fit him into their Universe. These two random classic novels don't really answer that as these are compendiums of random, stand-alone stories, not involved with any other known Marvel superheroes - although I seem to be speaking too soon in the case of the later collection, which I have not yet finished. But, in any case, they seem to use this character just for fun, and don't try to tie any continuity to him, and they can just throw any random idea out, no matter how absurd - or sometimes somewhat serious - and just run with it. So, of course, some of these work better than others, and I'm not sure if I'm all that enamored with the character but it's all light-hearted fun and silliness.  

Let It Be - Black America Sings Lennon, McCartney and Harrison

 

This was something else I picked up at our local library because I have loved some excellent souful Beatles covers such as Wilson Pickett's amazing take on "Hey Jude" (with Duane Allman, of course) and Ike and Tina's groovelicious "Come Together", as just two examples. Unfortunately, this comp overall has lesser talents and lesser takes on the Beat-boys classics. Of course, some are better than others and not everything is a drag, but as the album goes on, there are a lot more uninteresting takes than there are good ones.

Too bad - I had high hopes for this, but I could not Let It Be. Sorry to say, but definitely not recommended.

The Best of Guitar Shorty - The Long and the Short of It

 

Another library grab, Guitar Shorty has been known to me by name, but I was not familiar with his music. Unfortunately, this is not a super strong selection of tunes and if this collects his "greatest hits", I'm afraid that it is not too surprising that he isn't more of a household name.

While I cannot fault his guitar playing, the songs themselves are just not strong contenders and tend to try to blend styles - I assume in the hopes of crossover success, but they turn out to be inferior in any genre. When Shorty just plays some blues guitar, his tone and style is not very different from some other great bluesmen, such as the three Kings (BB, Albert and Freddie) but, as I said, the songs try to do more than "just" sing the blues and the addition of soul'n'pop styles into the mix just dilute the whole feel and kinda fall flat.

Once again, I'm sad to say that this was not as good as I had hoped. Again, while not all bad by any means, there's not enough real songwriting here so I can't recommend this one.

recommended gigs

 Friday 12-22-23 - Trevor and the Swingin' Johnsons at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 12-23-23 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 12-23-23 - Thee Hypnotiques at the Sand Dollar Downtown

Tuesday 12-26-23 - Trevor and the Swinging Johnsons at the Sand Dollar LV

Friday 12-29-23 - Thee Hypnotiques at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 12-30-23 - Thee Swank Bastards at Mabels and late night at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 12-30-23 - Bear Supply with the Bitters, Red moon One and broke in Vegas  at Founder's Club

Sunday 12-31-23 - Shanda and the Howlers and the Double Whammys at the Golden Tiki

Wednesday 1-3-24 - Franks'n'Deans Weenie Roast at the Double Down

Saturday 1-6-24 - the New Waves at the Golden Tiki

Thursday 1-18-24 - Dog Party, the Snares, Negative Nancy, VaVoom at Red Dwarf

Saturday 1-20-24 - the Shakewells, the Implosions and the Boreouts at Red Dwarf

Saturday 1-20-24 - the Unwieldies and Big Like Texas at the Huntridge Tavern 

Tuesday 1-23-24 - The Minges, Crimson Riot and the Drowns at the Griffin

Saturday 2-10-24 - The Unwieldies with Big Like Texas and Frankie Lee and the Infernos at Gold Mine Tavern

Saturday 2-17-24 - Junkyard at the Dive Bar

Thursday 3-14-24 - The Silhouettes at the Double Down

Friday 3-15-24 - the Silhouettes with Fur Dixon and the Psyatics at Red Dwarf

Tuesday 3-19-24 - IV and the Strange Band at SoulBelly BBQ

Saturday 4-16-24 - The Unwieldies with Big Like Texas and Jeff Mix and the Songhearts at Gold Mine Tavern

Batgirl Volume Four - Wanted

 

Again, these Batgirl graphic novels were borrowed from our library so I am missing Volumes 2 and 3 and quite a lot appears to have happened during that time. Batgirl/Barbara Gordon believes she has killed her estranged brother - I never knew she had one - so the Commissioner is out to get Batgirl - not knowing that she is his daughter, of course (or does he?). All kinds of villains come out of the woodwork - apparently, various plots have been hatching over the volumes that I am missing - and a number of them go after Gordon (senior) due to his meddling, but Batgirl saves his life and the villains retreat. Oh yes, Barbara starts to date a nice young man who happens to have a gangbanger brother, and this causes innumerable problems as the nice guy tries to rescue his brother and Batgirl and the police intervene, only to have the senior Gordon shoot the good kid. This leads to a stand off between father and daughter (as Batgirl), since they both believe that they are now killers (turns out that neither one was). Whew!

I enjoyed this series and will have to look out for the other volumes. Great artwork and the stories are well written - worth checking out.

Batgirl Volume One - The Darkest Reflection

 

I have been out of the loop on Batgirl pretty much since the Joker shot and paralyzed her decades ago. In this series there is only a vague mention of her cure but it seems like it happened not long before this storyline takes place as she is still recovering from the physical and psychological repercussions In fact, it seems like she really shouldn't be involved in a fraction of the activity that she is putting herself through here, so I wonder if that will play into the plot?

In any case, here she is starting a new life (not sure what has happened with the work she was doing as Oracle, if I remember her code name correctly) with a roommate (immediately causing issues and concerns) as she tries to reclaim her Batgirl title. She stumbles upon a twisted mass murderer - she is actually on his list - who is quite powerful and nearly puts her back in the hospital. There are appearances by her dad, Commissioner Gordon, of course, as well as the original Robin, Dick Grayson, her estranged mother and even Bruce Wayne and Batman. 

There are lots of psychological games and disturbances, some mind control menaces along with just beating up some muggers to help some average folks. Lots going on, but it is well written and I didn't feel like I got too lost even despite being away from the character for quite a while. Good stuff.

The Invaders - Dead in the Water and War Ghosts

 

I wasn't sure what to expect from this series, but I was intrigued by the concept. The Invaders were, of course, the World War II combo of Captain America, Bucky, the Human Torch and his sidekick Toro along with Namor, the Sub-Mariner. This series has flashbacks to that time interspersed with a new conflict between Namor's Atlantis and the air-breathing world. Namor is updated so that he is closer in appearance to the new Marvel Universe movies' version of him (although in the flashbacks he looks like his original self), as he is beset by internal demons and a bit of apparent madness (with a vague assertion that Charles Xavier caused this madness) as he once again tries to conquer the entire world by forcing air-breathers to become water-breathers. Of course, the surface world's heroes try to make him see sense and appeal to his half-human side - especially his old allies Captain America, Bucky (now Winter Soldier) and the original android Human Torch. 

Between Namor's hallucinations and flashbacks and flashforwards, it's quite the twisted tale and not easy to navigate - in fact, I walked away from it, although I'm going to give it another go. But, it is definitely not as good as I had hoped, given the concept.

Batman Arkam - Penguin

 

As opposed to a few of the others that I have been writing about, I quite enjoyed this compilation of tales of Batman's foe, the Penguin. It starts with early, original appearances from the bird-man and moves through the decades, with more'n'more background being revealed as we go along, from the childhood bullying he endured (from peers as well as his mother), to his retaliations to said bullying, to his relationships, bizarre as they may be, with women. The past comes to haunt him just as he preys on past abusers and he even attempts to "go straight", although that doesn't mean that he no longer breaks any laws, he simply tries to be a white collar criminal, through bribery and manipulations. 

Although most people would never go to the extremes that the Penguin does, he is made a more three dimensional character and is made a bit more empathetic that he once was. Other outcasts from society can relate, although he does go a bit overboard, to say the least. A good read!

Infamous Iron Man - Infamous

 

In yet another variation on a theme, this graphic novel focuses on Doctor Doom, the real Doc Doom apparently, trying to turn over a new leaf and become a good guy and in the process, he purloins the late Tony Stark's (no idea what happened there!) Iron Man suit and incorporates it in with his own armor. He attempts to do some good, in his own way, while being hounded by the Thing, who is now a member of SHIELD - I am certainly missing a lot of of info here! Somehow he involves an innocent woman scientist, his mother (back from the dead) causes more mayhem, other villains appear and, of course, Reed Richards has his say, as well.

It may be that I should simply keep to the older, original stories rather than trying to catch up on the newer variations, as these can be quite confusing when you have been out of the Marvel loop for a few decades. Again, not a great one for me.

Avengers - Back to Basics

 

This is an odd one that isn't explained very well but basically it stars the original Avengers in various escapades as they fight the likes of Loki, demons, Asgardian entities, Magus, Kang and, naturally, since Kang is involved, there is time travel and time paradoxes. Ms. Marvel and the teenage Ms. Marvel (or whatever she is called) are also involved, and the teenager is one of the main protagonists, in an odd way. 

While somewhat interesting, this one didn't do much for me, possibly because of my unfamiliarity with some of the new variations on the characters. Not bad, but not super compelling, either.

Harley Quinn Volumes 1,2 and 4

 

Here's a brief overall of three of the volumes of this series:

Volume One - Die Laughing - In this series we continue to explore Harley's relationship with Poison Ivy while Harley creates a gang of Harleys to fight crime - for a fee, of course - while also aided by a cast of wacky'n'improbably characters, including a Glenn Danzig lookalike! Plenty of other friends'n'foes as they fight off otherworldly zombies, intercontinental cases, punk rock, and cameos by the Joker and the Penguin.

Volume Two - Joker Loves Harley - Here we get even more details of the relationships with Ivy and the Joker, while Harley is also involved in extreme roller derby (is there any other kind?), hallucinogens, and mainly an imposter Joker, who even almost fooled Harley temporarily - not to mention vampires and Harley saving Santa Claus!

Volume Four - A Call to Arms - (I got these from the library and Volume 3 wasn't there, at least at the time) - This volume highlights the Gang of Harleys and gets into some of their characters a bit more as they fight a mutant Popeye! There are various other fights, still more hallucinogens, the continuing tale of the Joker and Ivy, as well as the Catwoman, and lots'n'lots of other weirdness.

Fun stuff, but also fairly over-the-top is the absurdities, but that's what Harley is all about, apparently!

The Joker - The Man Who Stopped Laughing - Volume One

 

Of course, the Joker is one of Batman's most iconic villains and as such, there have been innumerable stories with him, serious as well as laughable, as well as innumerable interpretations of his character and his madness.

In this fairly confusing story, there is not one, but two Jokers - one who appears to be quite mad along with, apparently, being unable to die by conventional means, and one who actually acts fairly reasonable after leaving Gotham City for Los Angeles and creating mayhem across the States. Both believe themselves to be the real item, but neither of them seem to be quite right, so to speak. Of course, they eventually meet (again) and we discover which one is the real deal in a cliff hanger ending. This storyline was one of the better that I've read recently - intriguing, complex (for a comic) but not unmanageable and with interesting twists'n'turns.

Unfortunately, this clever tale is padded out with several absurd short stories about the Joker falling in love with numerous powered characters in the DC Universe. All incredibly silly and juvenile and not very compelling, frankly.

So, a true mix of good'n'bad here. Luckily, I found this at my local library so I didn't pay for it!

recommended gigs

 Friday 12-15-23 - the Psyatics, Suburban Resistance, Wayouts at the Double Down 

Saturday 12-16-23 - the Shakewells and the Killing Floors at Red Dwarf

Saturday 12-16-23 - Gnarwhal Jrz, Sacredpeaks, Headwinds, the Minges, Ugly Boy, Chocolate Jesus at the Huntridge Tavern

Saturday 12-16-23 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 12-17-23 - Tommy and the Commies, Thee Saturday Knights, Cromm Fallon and the P200 at the Red Dwarf

Monday 12-18-23 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday 12-22-23 - Trevor and the Swingin' Johnsons at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 12-23-23 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Tuesday 12-26-23 - Trevor and the Swinging Johnsons at the Sand Dollar LV

Saturday 12-30-23 - Thee Swank Bastards at Mabels and late night at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 12-30-23 - Bear Supply at Founder's Club

Sunday 12-31-23 - Shanda and the Howlers and the Double Whammys at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 1-6-24 - the New Waves at the Golden Tiki

Thursday 1-18-24 - Dog Party, the Snares, Negative Nancy, VaVoom at Red Dwarf

Saturday 1-20-24 - the Shakewells, the Implosions and the Boreouts at Red Dwarf

Saturday 1-20-24 - the Unwieldies and Big Like Texas at the Huntridge Tavern 

Tuesday 1-23-24 - The Minges, Crimson Riot and the Drowns at the Griffin

Saturday 2-12-24 - The Unwieldies with Big Like Texas and Frankie Lee and the Infernos at Gold Mine Tavern

Thursday 3-14-24 - The Silhouettes at the Double Down

Friday 3-15-24 - the Silhouettes with Fur Dixon and the Psyatics at Red Dwarf

Tuesday 3-19-24 - IV and the Strange Band at SoulBelly BBQ

Saturday 4-16-24 - The Unwieldies with Big Like Texas and Jeff Mix and the Songhearts at Gold Mine Tavern

John Waters - Let's Blow It Up - 24 Oxford, Las Vegas, Wednesday Dec 6, 2023

 

I was comparatively late to the John Waters camp (so to speak), not really seeing any of his films until the early 80's, after I had moved to LA. Of course, his early work is quite the acquired (bad) taste, so it was quite the surprise when he started making reasonably mainstream films that were still relatively low budget and also still quite entertaining, albeit not quite as grotesque or nearly as extreme.

In any case, he has also now made a name for himself as a solo entertainer/speaker/MC/etc., making personal appearances and hosting everything from movie nights to punk rock weekenders. On this tour he is basically doing solo stand-up comedy, in his own, unique way. He is quite the speaker and entertainer, taking the stage for a good hour and a half or so (he started a half hour late, but that might have been due to the tragedy at UNLV earlier that day) and talking non-stop with hardly a breath in between and switching subjects with rapid-fire intensity. Overall, he was thoroughly hilarious and kept the crowd laughing and cheering the entire time. 

He did a question'n'answer session after he was done, taking questions randomly from the crowd and even with a surprise ending by an appearance from Pia Zadora! Apparently, those who paid extra were given a more personal one-on-one private session, but we did not partake in that.

Totally fun night and great to see a number of our friends in attendance, as well as lots of random folks of all ages, those dressed to the nines and those in shorts'n'crocs! Nice to see John get some kudos after 5 decades in the field!

Goodnight Boogie - by Matt Rogers

 

You know you're going to be in for a wild ride when you get not one, not two, but four crazy tales before you even get into the start of the book! Dan from the Black Keys tells of trading a new Stratocaster that his mom bought him as his first guitar (nice mom!) for a Teisco at an unscrupulous guitar shop in order to sound more like bluesmen like Hound Dog Taylor (he doesn't mention his mom's reaction, but I can't even imagine)! Rogers mentions that Taylor's origins are murky to the point where Hound Dog made up a name of a town that he was supposedly born in, and goes on to tell a story of self mutilation followed by Tom Waits reminiscing about the Dog shooting a heckler in the middle of a song and then finishing the tune! 

Sub-titled "A tale of guns, wolves and the blues of Hound Dog Taylor", Rogers intimates that there will be lots of drinkin', violence, a bit of insanity and lots of great music!

Taylor has a troubled life, with his father leaving the family when he was 3, his step-father kicking him out of the house when he was 9, living with his sister and learning to play piano (actually dragging the instrument by mule to play gigs!), then guitar. He started to make a name for himself but was chased out of the South by the KKK for messing with white women. He fled to Chicago with basically nothing, got some menial jobs and spent years scraping by and trying to break into the music scene. Eventually he met guitarist Brewer Philips - who also had a propensity for attracting violence - and they joined forces.

They started to gain some momentum, but their partnership was contentious, to say the least, with continual bouts of violence, and neither of them, nor their drummer Harvey, were businessmen. Eventually they fell in with some local white blues lovers who were knocked out by their wild shows and started Alligator Records in order to put out Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers. From there, Alligator Records' owner Bruce Iglauer, buoyed by the sales of the album, started booking and managing the band, leading to gigs around the country and even into Australia! Success began for the group, with good paying gigs, respect, reviews and lots of fan adulation. Of course, by this time, the guys were no youngsters and, after one more fight between Taylor and Phillips where Hound Dog shot Brewer three times (he survived), Hound Dog was diagnosed with cancer and succumbed reasonably quickly.

Quite the tale, with lots of big names giving lots of kudos to Taylor and the team, and lots of stories from the road and just in their own apartments! Really well written, a captivating read from start to finish. Definitely recommended for anyone interested in the life of Chicago bluesmen from the 50's through the 70's and the related scene.

recommended gigs

 Wednesday 12-6-23 - Franks'n'Deans Weenie Roast with special guest Mondo Vermin at the Double Down

Thursday 12-7-23 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Triple Down

Friday 12-8-23 - the Minges and Fuck Face at the Rusty Spur

Friday 12-8-23 - the New Waves at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 12-9-23 - the Unwieldies at Boulder Dam Brewery

Saturday 12-9-23  - Fuzz Solow at Fat Cat

Saturday 13-9-23 - the Souvenairs at the Underground 

Saturday 12-9-23 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 12-10-23 - The Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf Sunday Brunch

Monday 12-11-23 - The Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday 12-15-23 - the Psyatics, Suburban Resistance, Wayouts at the Double Down 

Saturday 12-16-23 - the Shakewells and the Killing Floors at Red Dwarf

Saturday 12-16-23 - Gnarwhal Jrz, Sacredpeaks, Headwinds, the Minges, Ugly Boy, Chocolate Jesus at the Huntridge Tavern

Saturday 12-16-23 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 12-17-23 - Tommy and the Commies, Thee Saturday Knights, Cromm Fallon and the P200 at the Red Dwarf

Monday 12-18-23 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 12-23-23 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Tuesday 12-26-23 - Trevor and the Swinging Johnsons at the Sand Dollar LV

Saturday 12-30-23 - Thee Swank Bastards at Mabels and late night at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 12-30-23 - Bear Supply at Founder's Club

Sunday 12-31-23 - Shanda and the Howlers and the Double Whammys at the Golden Tiki

Thursday 1-18-24 - Dog Party, the Snares, Negative Nancy, VaVoom at Red Dwarf

Saturday 1-20-23 - the Shakewells, the Implosions and the Boreouts at Red Dwarf

Saturday 2-12-24 - The Unwieldies with Big Like Texas and Frankie Lee and the Infernos at Gold Mine Tavern

Thursday 3-14-24 - The Silhouettes at the Double Down

Friday 3-15-24 - the Silhouettes with Fur Dixon and the Psyatics at Red Dwarf

Tuesday 3-19-24 - IV and the Strange Band at SoulBelly BBQ

Saturday 4-16-24 - The Unwieldies with Big Like Texas and Jeff Mix and the Songhearts at Gold Mine Tavern

When Rabbit Howls - The Troops for Truddi Chase

 

I really need to start noting how I discover particular books as, once again, I have no idea how this one came onto my radar. This is the story of a person who has 92 acknowledged personalities and the reasons for them and how they integrate in one human's body. The original trauma that caused the splits was vicious sexual abuse starting when Truddi was just two years old, and the original personality has been buried ever since by the other personalities who have helped her survive in the world. These personalities vary in age and gender and, of course, personalities, and her therapist has spent years trying to catalog the various people inhabiting the body and understand their functions. Chase herself, if that term can actually be used in this case, writes the story with an introduction and epilogue by her therapist.

It's striking just how articulate the narrator is here - you would think that someone with this kind of mental issue would have troubles communicating but just the opposite - this is very intelligently written and an easy read. She writes in the third person (can you say that about a multiple personality?) and also writes from her therapist's point of view, seemingly quite accurately. It's all quite fascinating...She is also the owner of a successful business with at least 7 employees, who may notice random oddness here'n'there, but nothing that seems to be a cause of alarm to them. That is, until the therapy causes enough schisms that she ends up selling the business.

As we slowly learn about more'n'more different characters and bits'n'pieces of her past as her therapy progresses, we also discover that she somehow causes electrical interference (for lack of a better term) when her personalities change. The video tapes of the therapy sessions are filled with static, light bulbs blow out abruptly, batteries die quicker than they should. It is all strange enough to be fiction and the story is so extreme that I continually wonder if I am being fooled into believing that this is a true story.

As an aside, at least one of the personalities has pretty good taste in music from what they reference here!

This is a very depressing read - I need to take breaks from it at times - due to the horrific sexual - and other - abuse and due to the woman's disorientation and the lack of control, although that's subjective, I suppose, as someone was in control. Very disorienting to the reader - at least to me - as well.

But, all in all, a fascinating read about a subject that I know little about. This was published back in 1987 so it would be interesting to learn what became of her and how therapy has advanced since then.