Reading These Books Will Make You More Attractive, 2 Inches Taller AND A Better Dancer

Rather than get on my high horse about a new video game or TV show or movie, I like to promote reading whenever I can. More books in your brain = smarter, better you. And here are my 5 favorites from 2009:

5) "Last Words" by George Carlin with Tony Hendra (Free Press)

For the last 15 years of his life, George Carlin and longtime friend/fellow humorist deluxe

Tony Hendra sat down and documented his life, literally from conception to their last day.

From page one paragraph one, it's the kind of relentlessly engaging read we would expect.

I've been a huge fan of George's work since the AM/FM lp that (a) really made comedy as hip

as all the rock music at the time and (b) poked fun at his DJ days without disowning the

medium in which I was just cutting my teeth (and still do, to some degree). I had the

pleasure of interviewing GC years ago in Louisville. When I told him I was trying to do a

bit of my own stand-up around town he couldn't have been more supportive and helpful.

He left us with so many, many funny and thoughtful moments--and much, much too soon.

4) "The Machine: A Hot Team, A Legendary Season and a Heart-Stopping World Series: The

Story of the 1975 Cincinnati Reds" by Joe Posnanski (William Morrow)

I'm proof you don't have to be a Reds fan to enjoy this great baseball read. Because they

weren't in the fishbowl of New York, their swagger wasn't was well known as other bigger-

market teams. But make no mistake, these guys walked it and talked it like no one else.

3) "Gridiron Gauntlet: The Story of the Men Who Integrated Pro Football, in Their Own

Words" by Andy Piascik (Taylor Trade Publishing)

The NFL, like Major League Baseball, has an ugly and unfortunate past regarding its

African-American athletes. The New York Giants began league play in 1925 but had no

black players until 1948. George Halas refused to sign a black player to the Bears for their

first 32 seasons. The Steelers were all-white from 1933 to 1952. The book's first-person

accounts from some of those courageous players are riveting and often beyond belief.

2) "The Book Of Genesis: Illustrated" by R. Crumb (Norton)

Come clean--you had a Keep On Truckin' sticker, patch or poster at the turn of the 70's, now

didn't you? Or a copy of "Cheap Thrills" by Big Brother and The Holding Company because

you dug the album art, for one. Or you saw "Fritz The Cat" a dozen times. You can thank R.

Crumb for all those creative gems as well as this, the most sacred book of the Old

Testament. Some of the drawings are quite graphic, as the subject matter dictates, but

without question this is one of the most visually intriguing reads you'll ever find--IF you

grew up with the Bible. If you didn't? It's still worth the time.

1) "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: The Illustrated Edition--An Indian History of the

American West" by Dee Brown (Sterling Innovation)

Clearly one of the most important American history books ever written. And this newly

illustrated edition, with some of the most remarkable photography of the era, makes the case

even stronger, if that was possible. There weren't enough words to describe the outrage I felt

years ago when I first read this, and still aren't. What the American government executed upon

its native people was nothing short of what is euphemistically now called "ethnic cleansing."

Or a holocaust, take your pick. Try and imagine invaders taking your house, your property,

your children, your culture....then forcing you to march in, say, heavy snow hundreds of

miles to your new, desolate "home". Pretty crystal-clear now who the real savages were. I'm

reminded of an old newspaper cartoon where an English settler is talking to a couple of

native Americans, asking "What did you call this place before we got here?" One replies

"OURS."

Me Vs. The OC Register's "So-Called Expert"

Greetings Pigskin Pundits! I'm going to picking this Sunday's (10/18) NFL games against the Orange County Register's "So-Called Expert," Randy Youngman. The picks--which will be the same ones in this weekend's Mark & Brian Football Challenge at 955klos.com, btw--should be up on the website sometime Friday and in the paper-paper on Saturday. Read all about it!
(Editor's Note...Caution: Using Gary Moore's picks any week for any game in ANY sport may be hazardous to your financial and mental health. Side effects include--but are not limited to--dizziness, headaches, wallet-aches, neurosis, psychosis, lost of hair & lunch, vertigo, rickets, acne, bloating, colitis, flatus, IBS, nausea, severe depression and self-combustible rage. Thanks and enjoy the games.)

235,000 remastered Beatles were sold last week. Not the entire week, mind you. That's just the total for TWO DAYS--last Wednesday and Thursday, according to SoundScan. Four of the albums debuted in the British top 10 and the same should happen here, once figures are released in the next day or so. Quality never goes out of style, even in this graceless Kanye-infected society.

Uh, decent week for Beatles fans, wouldn't you say? The band's been broken up for exactly 40 years now (we didn't know it until 1970, but they did) and yet the demand for their wares is refreshingly still "high." I like the remastered cds. They're not remixed, like the last batch of Doors cds were, bringing up vocals and instruments previously buried in the mix. But the sound IS vastly improved from the '87 versions that were DOA--disappointing on arrival. Personally, I prefer trying to play Fab favorites on a real guitar, but whatever it takes to expose their superior brand of songwriting and harmonizing to the masses, I'm all for.

Why thank you for those lovely sentiments!

Hallefreakinlujah, I'm back. Weeknights 7-10p on 95-5 KLOS and 955klos.com. BEEEG thank yous to Bob Moore, Bob Buchmann and ALL youse guys who've emailed, texted, faxed, called, heckled and otherwise telepathically sent your wishes for my return to the new powers that be. I can't thank you all enough in this lifetime or the next one. Now, hop off yer arse and go request something already! 1-800-955-KLOS

OHWOWMAN

Forty years? Really? Seems like, uh, only 37 or something. Among everything else it's been hailed as, Woodstock was also THE biggest, most publicized example of illegal music sharing. Think about it: All those who didn't have tickets, who bum-rushed the farm anyway, bolting over fences and "stealing" music meant for those who paid for it. In 1969, we had vinyl albums with--more often than not--groovy artwork. Sometimes they'd have a poster or calendar or paper panties (see Chicago @ Carnegie Hall, Chicago V, Alice Cooper's Killer and School's Out). Some even came with iron-ons of the cover art and rolling papers (Chicago 8, Cheech & Chong Big Bambu). Nowadays? Just FBI warnings on overpriced cds. Hey, THANKS. And it all started 40 years ago this weekend. But to quote our friend Grace Slick, "It doesn't mean shit to a tree." Hope you caught her with Ladd on Friday and the rest of the Woodstock Weed-end on 95.5 KLOS, man.

Tonight! In Living Colors! On KCET!

Tonight (Hump Night) on KCET-TV, Cynthia Fox and I (above, in HD where available) are proud to host the donor breaks for the Pete Seeger 90th Birthday Celebration. The concert happened in New York this past May, with a few folks you may have heard of performing: Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, John Mellencamp, Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, among others. It's 8-11 p.m.--pull up the comfy chair and join us!

We All Need Someone We Can Bleed On....

..and if ya wanna? You can bleed on....uh....well, for the American Red Cross this week. It's the 28th annual 95.5 KLOS Blood Drive at 19 locations throughout SoCal. Big change from the very first one in 1981--ONE location ONE day only! You can make an appointment (1-800-GIVE-LIFE) or show up at the spot nearest you. Or one furthest from you, we really don't care so long as you donate a pint--OF BLOOD (but do hang on to that glass of Stella for later). www.955klos.com has all the locations and times and who's gonna be where. Remember, no need to show up already bleeding or with the blood already out in a jelly jar--the Red Cross will professionally download it all. I'll be at the Long Beach Red Cross locale (3150 E. 29th St., just off the Redondo Ave. exit from the 405...and just west of the fwy) Wednesday afternoon, the 29th, as soon as I can drive from KLOS after 4pm! Hope to see you and your O+ (or whatever) there---and thank you.

60's Rock at Slacker.com

Amid all the free music sites, one of my absolute favorites is the 60's Rock Station at Slacker.com. Simply put, it sounds exactly like what you'd hear if you turned on your Marantz FM tuner around the autumn of 1970. It's a fantastic alchemy of all the great albums and artists from, say, 1964 or so up to that turn-of-the-decade day. Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, CCR, Dylan, The Stones (up to Gimme Shelter), The Doors, Grateful Dead, Hendrix, Cream, Donovan, Steppenwolf, Zappa & The Mothers, Janis, Jefferson Airplane, etc, mixed in with Simon & Garfunkel, Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake and countless others. How do I know it's such a killer mix? Because I've programmed it all. And I'd love to hear your thoughts. www.slacker.com
(go to "Rock" category and click on 60's Rock)

We're Talking Baseball...Dodgers Baseball, pal

And so will you, if ya know what's good for yas. This Thursday (7/9) after the Mets-Dodgers game, Rita Wilde (Thing) and I e-vite you to join us for all things Dodger Blue on Talkradio 790 KABC-AM (www.kabc.com). And up until Thursday at 1pm Pacific Time try to vote for L.A. stars Matt Kemp and Chone Figgins as the last two--and certainly deserving--All Stars for next week's mid-summer classic in the greatest baseball city on earth, St. Louie. You can vote at www.mlb.com.

Thingy of the Week

This is probably thingy of the year. Some battle-scarred radio folk have their panties in wad because, yet again, Apple refrained from putting an FM receiver in its latest iPhone. Of course, your bigger stations--like 95.5 KLOS--all have their on iPhone apps (or should). Content is king, as many in the old media world would tell you. And they're right. They just don't like it when YOU control that very c-word.

A Damn Fine Oh-Nine

Now here's a way to keep 2009 (and yer 'puter) rockin' nicely through the year--sign up for daily emails from www.damnfineday.com. It's a neat project I've been working on with Rhino Records that goes back into the vaults and highlights a different overlooked, outstanding tune every weekday. Rock, soul, jazz, country, pop--it's all repped. And if you like what you hear, you can buy/download it right then and there. Go dig on it--unless you enjoy hearing the same 200 burned-out songs on the radio over and over and over and.....