Winter Beer Fest at Fifth Third Ballpark Feb 28th

Michigan Brewers Guild is hosting the annual Winter Beer Fest which will feature 35 to 40 local breweries.

Three New Prince albums in 2009?

MPLSOUND,
Elixir,
& Lotus Flower?

Read the article here:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2008/12/visiting-with-p.html

Dave Zeltserman: In His Shadow

This is Dave Zeltserman's self-published first novel, released in 2002, and is one of those books that keeps you guessing all the way to the end. Early on, I was reminded a little of Andrew Vachss' Burke series, but the similarities ended very early in the book. My understanding is that the book was later re-released under the title Fast Lane including some revisions.

Gordan Gano: Hitting the Ground

This is the debut solo album (released in 2002) from the front man of the Milwaukee band, Violent Femmes. Gordon has an amazing supporting cast on this album, including the likes of PJ Harvey, Frank Black, Lou Reed, and They Might Be Giants. Many of the tracks are strong, however, the title track, which both opens and closes the record, sounds a little bit like a reworked version of the Violent Femmes track "Special."

Liam Lynch: Guitar Hero?

I don't how many of the rest of you got Wii's for Christmas, as well as Guitar Hero: World Tour, but I know my kids did. Anyway, just found this on http://www.liamlynch.net/

Date: December 19, 2008
LIAM AND GUITAR HERO!

Look for two videos of Liam Lynch in the new Guitar Hero "World Tour". If you have the game, goto to the options menu, select "Videos" and watch Liam in the two Line 6 videos. Liam gives a personal lesson in playing guitar as well as shows off the new Line 6 POD. Check it out!

Arcadia Ales: Hop Rocket

Very rarely would you hear me complain about an "extreme beer" aggressively hopped in the vicinity of 10% alcohol, as Founder's Devil Dancer is one of my all time favorites. However, there are many varieties of hops, I believe Jim Koch of Samuel Adams compares hops to beer as grapes to wine. In this particular case, I'm not sure the choice of hops suits me.... I found this 4-pack at Ladd's in Muskegon in case you want to try it for yourself!

Books of the week

Lawrence Block: One Night Stands and Lost Weekends

This is a collection of early Block stories. While I prefer his early novels, this book provided and interesting and entertaining insight into the author’s work. Quite a mixed bag really, often I could tell where the stories were going with just the title and just a little bit of the text.

Dublin Noir:

Subtitled “The Celtic Tiger vs. The Ugly American” and edited by Ken Bruen, this is my first read in the Akashic Noir Anthology series. Each collection focuses on a different location. I was very impressed with the stories here, I’m anxious to read more books in this series. I am curious if they are all this good, or if maybe Ken Bruen is to blame for all the excellence to be found here!

Gerald Kersch: The Angel & The Cuckoo:

This is the only book I could find by this author, but I will have to try to find more!

Max Philips: Snake Bite Sonnett:

Not recommended for fans only familiar with him through Hard Case Crime! This is Max Philip’s first novel, and is a book about relationships, not a crime novel!