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Arthur Conan Doyle–“The Noble Bachelor” [The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes] (1892)

April 6, 2024 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus.

[READ: March 24, 2024] “The Noble Bachelor”

The tenth story in this collection is another one where Holmes doesn’t really do a lot.  The story is sort of a celebrity scandal.  I had to wonder, after reading this, if Conan Doyle was the first person to use this conceit in a mystery.

The story is a fairly simple one, but there’s lot of details thrown in to throw one of the scent, I assume.

This is the story of a failed wedding.  The bride left the groom at the altar.  But she had been in the church a few minutes before the wedding began.  And she hasn’t been seen or heard from since.

Some back story is that the man is a Lord, the woman is American.  Her father struck it rich in the gold rush and is probably worth more than the Lord.  They had met when he travelled to California.  And then she travelled to England where they met again and were engaged.  I love the way this is worded: “I met her several times, became engaged to her….”

The only thing that the Lord noticed on the day of the wedding was that she dropped her bouquet and a person in one of the pews handed it to her.  And that a woman who he once was involved with was seen with his bride to be just before she disappeared.

The police come in and say that they found her clothes in the river and assume she was killed.  They also found a note with the initials of the woman who was last seen with her.

Holmes obviously dismisses everyone’s ideas and quickly comes to conclusion of what happened.  But it is the note with the initials that leads him to be able to put things to right.

I more or less guessed what was going to happen from the start, but the details are quite good and interesting as he does twist things a little.

It’s a minor spoiler to say that someone has followed her from America, but I’m curious if this was t he first time that someone had written a story where her past caught up with her in quite this way.

~~~~~

The four novels of the canon:

  1. A Study in Scarlet (1887)
  2. The Sign of the Four (1890)
  3. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)
  4. The Valley of Fear (1915)

The 56 short stories are collected in five books:

  1. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
  2. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894)
  3. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905)
  4. His Last Bow (1917)
  5. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) contains 12 stories published in The Strand between July 1891 and June 1892

  1. “A Scandal in Bohemia” (June 1891)
  2. “The Red-Headed League” (August 1891)
  3. “A Case of Identity” (September 1891)
  4. “The Boscombe Valley Mystery” (October 1891)
  5. “The Five Orange Pips” (November 1891)
  6. “The Man with the Twisted Lip” (December 1891)
  7. “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” (January 1892)
  8. “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” (February 1892)
  9. “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb” (March 1892)
  10. “The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor” (April 1892)
  11. “The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet” (May 1892)
  12. “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches” (June 1892)

Posted in Arthur Conan Doyle, Mystery, Sherlock Holmes, Short Story, Weddings | Leave a Comment »

Wax Jaw / Food Truck / (The Funhouse, Bethlehem, PA, April 5, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

April 5, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 1, 2024] Wax Jaw / Food Truck

I keep getting shut out of seeing Wax Jaw.  It’s insane how many concerts they sprinkle around for me to see which I somehow manage not to get to.

When I saw they were playing Bethlehem, I was super psyched to go!   Sure, I’ve never been to The Funhouse, but so what.

I wrote on the calendar that this show was Saturday night.  Only to realize on Friday that it was on Friday!  And we had already made plans.  Sigh.

This one was weird because there were no tickets available ahead of the show, it was only at the door.  I had no intention of getting here early or anything s oi guess it’s possible I could have been shut out (capacity 100) and that would have just pissed me off. Continue Reading »

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Food Truck, The Funhouse, Wax Jaw | Leave a Comment »

Destroyer (solo) / Lightning Dust (Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia, PA, April 4, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

April 4, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 4, 2024] Destroyer (solo) / Lightning Dust

Back in 2020, Destroyer was the last show I saw before everything shut down.  I bought tickets for them the last time they came to Philly (2022) but wound up going to Pup with my son that night instead.

This show was a solo show which, despite how much I enjoyed Dan Bejar, I was 100% not interested in.

I genuinely can’t imagine Destroyer without the rest of the band (doesn’t matter who is playing, I just want the extra musicians).  So I had no intention of going to this one.

Lightning Dust is a band I had forgotten about.  The band is a side project of Amber Webber and Joshua Wells, both members of Black Mountain, who I saw open for Primus a few years ago.

Unlike the heavy Black Mountain, Lightning Dust plays haunting, minimalist instrumentation with spooky, goth-like lyrics.

I have their 2013 album Fantasy, but honestly haven’t thought about them in about a decade.

I’ll bet it was a quiet, minimalist night.

Posted in Black Mountain, Destroyer, Johnny Brenda's, Lightning Dust, Philadelphia, PA | Leave a Comment »

Adam Ant: Antmusic 2024 / The Beat starring Dave Wakeling (State Theatre, New Brunswick, NJ, April 3, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

April 3, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 3, 2024] Adam Ant: Antmusic 2024 / The English Beat

My friend Garry got me into Adam Ant at a time when I didn’t like much beyond heavy metal.

I knew of him of course (he was all over MTV) but it wasn’t until I started to really listen to him that I found I really liked the stuff he was doing.

I’d never seen him before and really wouldn’t have gotten a ticket to this show if it wasn’t so close–Philly would have been too far for my level of commitment on this one.

When I found out my college friend Alison was going (I haven’t seen her in decades), I was pretty psyched for the evening.

Then it started raining.  A lot.  It rained for two days.  Continue Reading »

Posted in Adam and the Ants, Adam Ant, New Brunswick, NJ, State Theatre, The Beat, The English Beat | Leave a Comment »

Arthur Conan Doyle–“The Engineer’s Thumb” [The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes] (1892)

April 2, 2024 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus.

[READ: March 24, 2024] “The Engineer’s Thumb”

The ninth story in this collection is one where even Watson admits that Holmes doesn’t really “do” very much.  The story reads a bit more like a (tame) horror story than a mystery.

A man comes running into Watson’s office with his hand all bloody.  He has had his thumb chopped off!  He recounts his story and when Holmes hears about it, he sets about trying to unpack what happened,

The man Victor Hatherley, was offered 50 guinea by Colonel Lysander Stark to come examine Stark’s hydraulic press which was broken.  Stark claimed it was to compress fuller’s earth (what? even the definition doesn’t help what would be going on here–uses include as absorbents for oil, grease, and animal waste, and as a carrier for pesticides and fertilizers.  Hatherley was suspicious about this fuller’s earth story, but figured, hey 50 bucks is 50 bucks, so he goes to check it out.

It’s all incredibly hush hush of course, and when Hatherley checks things out, he also seems to discover what Stark is up to.  Stark tries to crush him with the very press that he fixed (!) and then, when Stark gets away, he swings an axe at him (hence the thumb).

The bulk of the story is in recounting Hatherley’s story.  It’s not even clear that Holmes could “do” anything.  But it turns out that Holmes has read about a counterfeiting operation in town.  He puts two and two together and figures that the press is actually for printing coins.

They head to the house (which is where Holmes does his real deducing because he figures out where it was despite Hatherley being blindfolded, but it has been burnt down.

The question is whether or not the police can track down the thieves.

This wa sa pretty exciting story and well told, but it’s not a great example of Holmes’ detection.

~~~~~

The four novels of the canon:

  1. A Study in Scarlet (1887)
  2. The Sign of the Four (1890)
  3. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)
  4. The Valley of Fear (1915)

The 56 short stories are collected in five books:

  1. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
  2. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894)
  3. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905)
  4. His Last Bow (1917)
  5. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) contains 12 stories published in The Strand between July 1891 and June 1892

  1. “A Scandal in Bohemia” (June 1891)
  2. “The Red-Headed League” (August 1891)
  3. “A Case of Identity” (September 1891)
  4. “The Boscombe Valley Mystery” (October 1891)
  5. “The Five Orange Pips” (November 1891)
  6. “The Man with the Twisted Lip” (December 1891)
  7. “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” (January 1892)
  8. “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” (February 1892)
  9. “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb” (March 1892)
  10. “The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor” (April 1892)
  11. “The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet” (May 1892)
  12. “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches” (June 1892)

Posted in Arthur Conan Doyle, Murder, Mystery, Sherlock Holmes, Short Story, Technology | Leave a Comment »

Arthur Conan Doyle–“The Speckled Band” [The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes] (1892)

April 1, 2024 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus.

[READ: March 24, 2024] “The Speckled Band”

The eighth story in this collection is a bit longer than the others and offers some good complications.

I enjoyed that Watson sets this story up by saying that it’s an older story but he has been prevented from writing about it because the woman it involved was still alive.  Now that she has recently passed, it was fair game.

A woman comes to Holmes fearing for her life.  She literally woke up in a cold sweat and flew as fast as she could to Baker St.

Helen Stoner has been living with her stepfather for many years.  He married Helen and her twin sister’s mother when the girls were two and living in India.  They moved back to England, but rather than him starting his medical practice as he proclaimed, he returned to his family’s old mansion and set about doing his own thing.

Rather than being a beloved old resident, he has become a monster–fighting with people, causing the police to come out to the house at all hours.  He has also become quite peculiar:

He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the villagers almost as much as their master.

He has a cheetah and a baboon roaming the grounds. Continue Reading »

Posted in Arthur Conan Doyle, Murder, Mystery, Sherlock Holmes, Short Story | Leave a Comment »

Arthur Conan Doyle–“The Blue Carbuncle” [The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes] (1892)

March 31, 2024 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus.

[READ: March 4, 2024] “The Man with the Twisted Lip”

After a couple of lesser stories, the seventh story in this collection returns Holmes to his glory.  For instance, he looks at a felt hat and determines

That the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that his wife has ceased to love him.

Outstanding.

The hat belongs to a man who was carrying a Christmas goose.  He was set upon by some thugs and dropped the goose.  But when he fought off the thugs, he smashed a window.  Peterson, a constable happened upon the scene, but everyone fled, leaving Peterson with a hat and a goose.  No one claimed the goose, so Peterson ate it and Holmes took the hat.

But Peterson comes back soon after saying that in the goose was a blue gem–the Countess of Morcar’s blue carbuncle.

Holmes lays some simple traps and determines that at least two people are not suspects in the theft.  But this case, which seems so challenging actually get solved fairly easily.  The remainder of the story actually lays out how the jewel wound up in a goose.

I have read another version of this story (in comic book form) and I feel like the “how” part may have been placed in a different order, which made the story a bit more suspenseful.  But perhaps I am misremembering.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The four novels of the canon:

  1. A Study in Scarlet (1887)
  2. The Sign of the Four (1890)
  3. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)
  4. The Valley of Fear (1915)

The 56 short stories are collected in five books:

  1. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
  2. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894)
  3. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905)
  4. His Last Bow (1917)
  5. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) contains 12 stories published in The Strand between July 1891 and June 1892

  1. “A Scandal in Bohemia” (June 1891)
  2. “The Red-Headed League” (August 1891)
  3. “A Case of Identity” (September 1891)
  4. “The Boscombe Valley Mystery” (October 1891)
  5. “The Five Orange Pips” (November 1891)
  6. “The Man with the Twisted Lip” (December 1891)
  7. “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” (January 1892)
  8. “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” (February 1892)
  9. “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb” (March 1892)
  10. “The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor” (April 1892)
  11. “The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet” (May 1892)
  12. “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches” (June 1892)

Posted in Adventure, Arthur Conan Doyle, Christmas, Geese, Greed, Mystery, Sherlock Holmes, Short Story | Leave a Comment »

Arthur Conan Doyle–“The Man with the Twisted Lip” [The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes] (1891)

March 30, 2024 by Paul Debraski

SOUNDTRACK: hiatus.

[READ: March 4, 2024] “The Man with the Twisted Lip”

The sixth story in this collection was rather slight and seemed to have a lot more set up than actual mystery.

It was especially odd because it begins with a woman coming to Holmes (and specifically Holmes’ wife) for help finding her husband.  He has been going to an opium den for quite some time, but he always returns.  But he hasn’t been home for two days!

Holmes goes to the den and finds the man.  He puts him in a cab, but while he’s there, Holmes catches his attention.  Homes has been undercover in the opium den because of a case that he’s on.  He asks Holmes to help him.

The case is fairly straightforward.  A man left his home to go to the city to get presents for his children.  On the same day, his wife heads to the city to pick up a package.  While she’s in town, she sees her husband in the window of the opium den.  When she goes to investigate, she is foiled by the den owner.  The police are quickly called and the only person they can find is a beggar Hugh Boone who is well known to everyone (he has orange hair, a giant scar and a twisted lip).  There’s no sign of the missing man except for his clothes and an open window.

It is presumed that the man was tossed out the window into the sea and is now dead.

Holmes puzzles over this for a night and then reaches the conclusion that solves the mystery.

I know that some of the mysteries are ones that can be solved by the reader, but this one has a lot of details that the reader couldn’t possible know.  In fairness, I guess Holmes wouldn’t know them either.

On the other hand, the backstory about the missing man is pretty interesting and that alone pretty much makes the story a good read.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The four novels of the canon:

  1. A Study in Scarlet (1887)
  2. The Sign of the Four (1890)
  3. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)
  4. The Valley of Fear (1915)

The 56 short stories are collected in five books:

  1. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)
  2. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894)
  3. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905)
  4. His Last Bow (1917)
  5. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) contains 12 stories published in The Strand between July 1891 and June 1892

  1. “A Scandal in Bohemia” (June 1891)
  2. “The Red-Headed League” (August 1891)
  3. “A Case of Identity” (September 1891)
  4. “The Boscombe Valley Mystery” (October 1891)
  5. “The Five Orange Pips” (November 1891)
  6. “The Man with the Twisted Lip” (December 1891)
  7. “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” (January 1892)
  8. “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” (February 1892)
  9. “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb” (March 1892)
  10. “The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor” (April 1892)
  11. “The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet” (May 1892)
  12. “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches” (June 1892)

Posted in Arthur Conan Doyle, Drugs, Murder, Mystery, Sherlock Holmes, Short Story | Leave a Comment »

Land of Ozz: The Ultimate Ozzy Osbourne Experience (Sellersville Theater, Sellersville, PA, March 29, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

March 29, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 29, 2024] Land of Ozz

Land of Ozz is an Ozzy Osbourne tribute band.  My son knows one of the guys in the band and this is how I’d heard of them.

I’m not inclined to go to an Ozzy tribute show because I stopped caring about Ozzy Osbourne once he got a TV show.

But since my son knows the guy in the band I did think we might go.  This show was the same night as Arlo Parks, so I didn’t think we’d go anyhow, but when I decided not to go to Arlo, I did consider this show.

That’s when I saw that they had sold out Sellersville Theater!  It’s not huge, but I’ve been there for bands that haven’t sold it out.  So that’s great news for them.

Their reviews are pretty stellar as well.  Maybe if they play closer to home we’ll check them out.

 

 

Posted in Land of Ozz, Sellersville Theater, Sellersville, PA | Leave a Comment »

Arlo Parks / Chloe George (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, March 29, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

March 29, 2024 by Paul Debraski

[DID NOT ATTEND: March 24, 2024] Arlo Parks / Chloe George

I had been trying to see Arlo Parks since 2021 when she sold out The Foundry (and I found out that there were tickets available day of, boo).  How weird that a year later, she was headlining Franklin Music Hall, one of the larger venues in Philly.

Arlo Parks was supposed to open for or co-headline with Clairo at the Fillmore on February 26 2022, but the show was cancelled and when Clairo came back around in July, she had a different opener (my daughter and I went to that show).

I was looking forward to seeing Arlo even if I don’t love Franklin Music Hall, but as the show approached, I was feeling less excited about the prospect.  I listened to her album and liked it, but didn’t know if I wanted to go all the way there for it.

Then I saw her at All Things Go (after I had the tickets for this show).  I enjoyed her set, but I wasn’t really blown away by it.  I assumed that it was because we were really far away and her songs are rather intimate.   I was pretty insistent that I was going to make this show, but as the day drew closer, I lost my motivation.

I didn’t feel all that great and I wasn’t especially interested in Chloe George.  Arlo’s set is barely over an hour, which gave me the split feeling–it’s not that long, I should go and I’m not driving an hour just for an hour show. Ultimately, I decided I didn’t feel like going out to the show.  But I did manage to sell my ticket!

I think this means I’m not going to be seeing Arlo live.

I hadn’t heard of Chloe George.  I don’t normally care so much about being “the old guy at shows geared to the youth, but occasionally I realize that I’m way older than everyone else at the show.  That’s how I felt when I read this about Chloe George

Chloe George, born Chloe Gasparini, is an American musician from Los Angeles. George rose to fame after a cover of “Ghost Town” she posted on TikTok went viral. George has co-written songs with artists such as Dua Lipa and Normani.

I listened to a few of her songs and didn’t think much of them.  So that made it even harder for me to want to go to this show.  I’m a little bummed but not terribly bummed that I didn’t go.

 

Posted in Arlo Parks, Chloe George, Philadelphia, PA, Union Transfer | Leave a Comment »

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