WHAT'S NU: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

From Michael Chabon, author of KAVALIER & CLAY, comes a What If? tale along the lines of Superman's rocket landing in Germany or Galactus selling insurance. What if the real-life proposal, to settle in Alaska the Jewish refugees of World War II, had actually occurred? TYPU conjectures the Federal District of Sitka in the Alaskan territory, created after the failure of the State of Israel in 1948, as the setting for a modern day detective novel. The temporary Alaskan Settlement Act is to expire in two months and the overarching story is: where will the millions of refugees go when the district reverts back to Alaska?

The guts of this tasty latke of a noir involves Meyer Landsman, a boozy detective who can take a shot of whiskey or two to the solar plexus. His Tlingit/Jewish partner, Berko Shemets, is there to rescue Meyer at any cost, including the security of his own growing family. Meyer's inspector boss is also is ex-wife and these two can't decide if they ever fell out of love. Meyer is under her orders to clean up the cold cases before the District closes shop. A messy case involving a dead chess master, with Messianic overtones and a connection to the fate of the Middle East, becomes too hot to handle. A good cop follows orders but there's a higher oath, to truth, that any shamus subscribes to, even at the risk of his life.

As I read this book I thought of Robert B. Parker's SPENSER novels. There's even a description in TYPU of a particle of dust, and having read most of Spenser I remember there's always a description of a dust mote somewhere in most of the books. Parker, I hate to say is now writing so sparsely that he appears to be dialing it in, although the fans will say it's the mark of a master craftsman chipping away at the block of stone until the horse appears. He's spread a little thin with two other series and now a children's book. I'm hoping Parker gets Spenser and Hawk back to the standard of Chabon's Landsman and Shemets.

In this early passage, Meyer and Berko are following a lead that takes them to a club where a musician has been murdered. The man's dog won't leave the spot on the bandstand he played. Berko does a magical native thing and releases the dog from his watch, which seemed cliche until I got to the end of the chapter:

...there is a scratching at the front door and then a long, low moan. The sound is human and forlorn, and it makes the hair on Landsman's nape stand erect. He goes to the front door and lets in the dog, who climbs back up onto the stage to the place where he has worn away the paint on the floorboards, and sits, ears raised to catch the sound of a vanished horn, waiting patiently for the leash to be restored.

If you enjoy damn good writing you will love The Yiddish Policeman's Union published by HarperCollins.

excerpt copyright 2007 by Michael Chabon

Let's Go Mets Go--LET'S GO METS/Kidney Transplant

We had a Daddy/daughter day at the big Shea yesterday afternoon as the Mets staged one of the greatest 9th inning comebacks in franchise history. Down 5-1 in the ninth with one out, the Mets were about to let the Cubs steal a victory. Most of the starters were resting after Wednesday's late game, which was rain delayed to a 10:17 p.m. start. Willie Randolph called in the A-team to pinch hit in the ninth. Down 5-1, the Mets loaded the bases with two singles and a walk. Dempster walked Endy Chavez to force a run, Ruben Gotay and David Wright each singled to make it 5-4. Delgado followed with a two-run single to win the game.

The Mets picked a good game to give away tickets as it was schools day and there were tens of thousands of kids in attendance. The kids in our section were screaming for David Wright all day and were delirious with joy when he appeared as a pinch hitter, and beyond ecstasy when he got a single.

Tonight the Mets dominated the dominant team of the previous century, the Yankees. The rumor is that if they sweep the once-mighty Bombers, Torre is out. Speaking of Joe Torre, it was shocking to read how Frank Torre, 75, accepted a kidney from his own daughter. This woman has young children of her own to raise. Unless my kids still need me to support them when I'm 75, I would never accept an organ from one of my own children. I like living but not that much.

From the Tribeca Film Festival: WAITRESS

This is a charming movie about Jenna (Keri Russell), an unhappily pregnant waitress married to an abusive husband. The film opens as she's taking a pregnancy test (they were 99% accurate 20 years ago and probably even higher today) in the ladies room of the Southern pie shop and diner where Jenna is a brilliant pie chef. Her two girlfriends and sister waitresses (you know it's comedy because the female main character has friends like a real person; in dramas the main character is usually a male with no friends) are there for support.

Jenna's goal is to use the money she's been squirreling away from Earl (Jeremy Sisto) to get out of town and win the prize at the big pie-baking contest. She's ambivalent about the pregnancy. Earl (the name echos of the Dixie Chicks' "Goodbye Earl") is a big needy baby himself, who makes Jenna promise to love him more than the baby.

Jenna and her doctor (Nathan Fillion) are madly attracted to each other. He sparks her self-confidence but she's going to need something more than a mad crush on a married man to get out of town and make it on her own.

Jenna's waitress friends are played by Cheryl Hines and Adrienne Shelly* (who also directed). They provide capable support and humorous counterpoint with their own romances, illicit and otherwise.

Joe (Andy Griffith) is the local mogul who includes the pie diner among his holdings. No one likes him except Jenna, his favorite waitress. Joe reads horoscopes to her from his newspaper. The paper is yellowed and looks like hot type from the pre-computer era. Either he reads old newspapers or this is another tip from the director that the story is not quite magical realism but more than really real.

Keri Russell shines as Jenna. Having seen her as TV's FELICITY** I thought she was a good actress trying to overcome the curse of being beautiful. Either the scripts and directing were weak or she has improved tremendously as an actress. I found her performance to be authentic and it shows why people leave small towns. Smallville doesn't have shelters for abused spouses.

The movie looks like a metaphor for the process of getting a project in a theatrer. You could have a great script and director (pie recipe and chef) but you need support from a producer to get it made. See this entertaining movie and after the show have a slice of key lime on me.

__________
*Shelly was murdered in November 2006, allegedly by a construction worker who tried to make it look like a suicide. With old-fashioned detective work, kudos to the NYPD, which quickly refuted the suicide angle that major media irresponsibly reported.

**The times I saw her show, I would come in the living room just to be sociable with my wife and watch an episode. I usually leave the room when these ladies' dramas engage in male-bashing, commenting to my wife, "No guy I know treats women like that." I thought FELICITY's main plot sent a terrible message to young ladies--stalking a guy she had a crush on.

Imus in the Morning

Anybody see Hughley on Leno this week? He did several coiffure jokes re the Rutgers team, left out the h-word, and said the press conference looked like the first time any of them had ever combed their hair. Leno did the standard Steve Allen/David Letterman line, "Good night everybody!" and waved good-bye, as if DL, gosh darn it, had gone too far and NBC would have to shut down the franchise.

And what about LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL? Isn't the title a play on "legally blind"? That should be banned because it offends me.

Imus will be back. The news last night said his contract required him to be irreverent and topical, and he was to be issued a warning by CBS if his performance is unacceptable. Four months into the contract I doubt there was a warning preceding the incident.

Charles McCord is still reading the news. Rob Bartlett called in this week to do Bill Clinton. Chris Carlin is still doing sports. I think I heard Lou Ruffino still on the board. One could argue that Charles, Rob, and Lou should be banned because they write and say offensive things, but not Chris, who is the good cop on the show. Yet Chris, with his “Fat Boy Lock of the Week” predictions, shows that he’s a self-hating overweight person, and that should not be allowed because it might hurt someone’s feelings.

They're keeping the mike warm for Don. Would it shock anybody to think that the conversation between Les and Don included the expression "until this thing blows over"?

Les will say that Don is reformed and has promised to lead the national dialogue on race. Les answers not to Sharpton, but to stockholders, who will not be happy to pay $40M for nothing, so putting Don back to work is the best course. I doubt no more than one member of the board would resign over this because it’s better to stay on the board and have some influence.

A brilliant move would be to dump the CBS Morning show and simulcast the revived Imus in th Morning radio show. They haven't had a rating there since Captain Kangaroo was bounced.

Keeping him off NBC will allow the employees there to continue under the delusion that they influence corporate policy. Someday, when one of the more vocal ones against Imus is fired by NBC, I wonder if he/she would accept a job at Imus' future employer?

Bernard McGuirk will be the fall guy in the whole affair.