Born on this day – Henry Townsend:

Henry Townsend

Blues singer

Guitarist

Pianist

October 27, 1909 – September 24, 2006

Credits:

Albums:

Blues Piano and Guitar (2019); Cairo Blues (1973); Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live in Dallas (2007); More Devil's Music (2006); Mule / Expanded Edition (1980); Mule's Blues (2015); My Story (2001); St. Louis Blues Ace (1996); The 88 Blues (1998); The Blues in St. Louis, Vol. 3: Henry Townsend (1984); The Real St. Louis Blues (2001).

Movies and television:

10 Days Out: Blues from the Backroads (2007); Blues Like Showers of Rain (1970); Blues Like Showers of Rain / Legends of Country Blues Guitar (1994); Blues Story (2003); Thats the Way I Do It (1986); The Devil's Music (1979).

Born on this day – Lee Krasner:

Lee Krasner

Painter

October 27, 1908 – June 19, 1984

Born on this day – Jane Murfin:

Jane Murfin

Writer

Producer

Director

October 27, 1884 – August 10, 1955

Credits:

The Women (2008); Ponds Theater (1953); Broadway Television Theatre (1953); Dragon Seed (1944); Cry 'Havoc' (1943); Flight for Freedom (1943); Smilin' Through (1941); Andy Hardy's Private Secretary (1941); Pride and Prejudice (1940); Northwest Passage (1940); The Women (1939); Stand Up and Fight (1939); The Shining Hour (1938); I'll Take Romance (1937); That Girl from Paris (1936); Come and Get It (1936); Alice Adams (1935); Roberta (1935); The Little Minister (1934); Romance in Manhattan (1934); The Fountain (1934); The Life of Vergie Winters (1934); This Man Is Mine (1934); The Crime Doctor (1934); Spitfire (1934); Little Women (1933); After Tonight (1933); Ann Vickers (1933); Double Harness (1933); The Silver Cord (1933); Our Betters (1933); Rockabye (1932); Smilin' Through (1932); What Price Hollywood? (1932); Young Bride (1932); Way Back Home (1931); Friends and Lovers (1931); Caught Plastered (1931); Too Many Cooks (1931); White Shoulders (1931); The Pay-Off (1930); Lawful Larceny (1930); The Runaway Bride (1930); Seven Keys to Baldpate (1929); Dance Hall (1929); Half Marriage (1929); Side Street (1929); Street Girl (1929); Lilac Time (1928); The Prince of Headwaiters (1927); The Notorious Lady (1927); Meet the Prince (1926); The Savage (1926); A Slave of Fashion (1925); White Fang (1925); The Love Master (1924); Flapper Wives / play entitled: The Flaming Sign (1924); Brawn of the North (1922); Smilin' Through/ play entitled: Smiling Through (1922); Flapper Wives (1924); The Silent Call (1921); Playthings of Destiny (1921); The Amateur Wife (1920); The Right to Lie (1919); A Temperamental Wife / play entitled: Information Please (1919); Marie, Ltd. (1919); Daybreak (1918).

Born on this day – Niccolò Paganini:

Niccolò Paganini

Violinist

Composer

October 27, 1782 – May 27, 1840

Recommended reading - Leaving Las Vegas (1990):

Leaving Las Vegas

By John O’Brien.

Published by Grove Press.

First published 1990.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 080212593X

ISBN-13: 978-0802125934

Description:

Leaving Las Vegas, the first novel by John O’Brien, is a disturbing and emotionally wrenching story of a woman who embraces life and a man who rejects it. Sera, a prostitute, and Ben, an alcoholic, stumble together and discover in each other a respite from their unforgiving lives. A testimony to the raw talent of its young author, Leaving Las Vegas is a compelling story of unconditional love between two disenfranchised and lost souls – an overlooked American classic.

“There is not a false note in the novel . . . O’Brien has a strong tradition behind him here, that of American naturalism, and he fits into it well. From Stephen Crane to Hubert Selby, Jr. . . . [O’Brien] achieves real power in his writing. You seldom encounter it anymore, but when you do you know you’ve been properly whacked by a real talent.” – New York Daily News.

“Here is that rarest jewel, a really fine novel. It’s a magical piece of work, one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. John O’Brien has a very great talent.” – Larry Brown, author of Joe and Big Bad Love.

“This book is not only dark and dire, it is crushing. How can a novel so absolutely devoid of hope be so gripping? The portrait of Sera and Ben is a tour de force – masterful and relentless. Leaving Las Vegas is the strongest and most extreme look at alcohol I’ve ever read. This book moved and bothered me and weeks later it is still in my mind. I think O’Brien is simply terrific.” – Ron Carlson, author of Plan B for the Middle Class.

“A brutal and unflinching portrait of the low life in the city of high rollers, Leaving Las Vegas is both shocking and curiously exhilarating. John O’Brien was a stunningly talented writer who created poetry from the most squalid materials. This is a beautiful and horrifying novel.” – Jay McInerney, author of Brightness Falls.

Recommended reading - The Valachi Papers (1968):

The Valachi Papers

By Peter Maas.

Published by Harper Perennial.

First published 1968.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 006050742X

ISBN-13: 978-0060507428

Description:

“As fascinating as fiction, a bloody history of the Mafia as lived by one of its members." – New York Times Book Review.

The First Inside Account of the Mafia.

The Valachi Papers is a biography written by Peter Maas, telling the true story of former mafia member Joe Valachi, a low-ranking member of the New York based Genovese crime family, was the first ever government witness coming from the American Mafia itself. His account of his criminal past revealed many previously unknown details of the Mafia. The book was made into a film (The Valachi Papers), released in 1972, starring Charles Bronson as Valachi. In October 1963, Valachi testified before Senator John L. McClellan's congressional committee on organized crime, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the U.S. Senate Committee on Government Operations. In the so-called Valachi hearings he gave the American public a firsthand account of Mafia activities in the United States.

In the 1960s a disgruntled soldier in New York's Genovese Crime Family decided to spill his guts. His name was Joseph Valachi. Daring to break the Mob's code of silence for the first time, Valachi detailed the organization of organized crime from the capos, or bosses, of every Family, to the hit men who "clipped" rivals and turncoats. With a phenomenal memory for names, dates, addresses, phone numbers – and where the bodies were buried – Joe Valachi provided the chilling facts that led to the arrest and conviction of America's major crime figures.

The rest is history.

Never again would the Mob be protected by secrecy. For the Mafia, Valachi's name would become synonymous with betrayal. But his stunning exposé broke the back of America's Cosa Nostra and stands today as the classic about America's Mob, a fascinating tale of power and terror, big money, crime. . . and murder.

The bloody history of the Mafia as lived by one of its members.

“A highly readable narrative…. A story littered with bodies and unsolved crimes, betrayals and beatings, oaths, ritual, and revenge.” – Newsweek.

“A classic on crime.” – Life.

Mortimer Adler, on books:

In the case of good books,

the point is not how many of them you can get through,

but rather how many can get through to you.

- Mortimer Adler.