thirty-nine and counting

Three guys from Utah are in the middle of their Great American Road Trip this week. They will pass through all 48 contiguous states in only five days. I also want to visit all the states but not the way these guys are doing it. In many cases, they are only driving across a state line, taking a picture of their GPS unit as proof, and turning around.

After I went to Alaska, I set a personal goal of visiting all 50 states. I want to do more than just drive through them. I want to see an historical location, a tourist attraction or the world's largest something. Last summer I knocked another four states off my to do list. I only have eleven to go.



This summer I may be able to tackle either Arkansas or Iowa. The decision depends on what type of fun destinations I can find on Roadside America or other tourism sites. And on gas prices.

This week "Good Morning America" is revealing their 7 Wonders of America. So far they've picked the National Mall and the ANWR. I wonder if the rest of the list will have obvious choices like the Grand Canyon or a quirky choice like the World's Largest Ball of Twine. I also wonder how many of the Wonders I will have visited or can still visit before I die.

At first the well-publicized list of "1,000 Places to See Before You Die" didn't appeal to me. Too many of the locations were in far off corners of the globe that are well beyond my budget. Over the weekend I saw a book for sale at a Cracker Barrel that has now shot to the top of my wish list. "1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. and Canada Before You Die" is a lot more realistic for me. If author Patricia Schultz happens to be available for a podcast interview, I might be able to get a free review copy out of the deal. Hint, hint.

to pry or not to pry

John Charles Carter died yesterday. The world knew him as Charlton Heston, the star of two of my favorite movies, "Planet of the Apes" and "The Ten Commandments." I had the pleasure of meeting him twice.

Mr. Heston visited KLOS a couple of times to promote his books. It is unusual for a movie star of his magnitude to do a radio interview. He came because the publishing business has a better appreciation for the power of radio than the movie industry. I was there when he came in to plug "To Be a Man: Letters to My Grandson." On another occasion we needed to bring the show to him. I can't remember exactly why. I made a few calls to his house and spoke with Mrs. Heston to make plans for the broadcast. On the appointed day, we took the Mark & Brian Mobile up Coldwater Canyon Drive to the Heston home. The entire interview was conducted in the driveway, near his grandson's sandbox.

The broadcast from Heston's driveway was similar to our on-air visits to the exteriors of the homes of Peter Falk and John Travolta. We didn't presume to set foot in their houses either.

impossible things happening everyday

The news out of Fairfax this week was unsettling. George Mason Patriots coach Jim Larranaga was being courted by his alma mater, Providence College. I heard about it yesterday when I called Michael Litos, author of "Cinderella: Inside the Rise of Mid-Major College Basketball," to arrange today's podcast interview. I was relieved to hear today that Larranaga accepted a contract extension to stay at GMU.



In the 11 minute mp3 file, we talk about Coach L, the CAA and mid-major basketball in general. I told Michael about Best Week Ever poking fun at Larranaga over his speech before this year's Notre Dame game. While you're listening, take a look at Michael's CAA blog and the current stories about Larranaga on the Washington Post and New York Times sites.

have a nice drey

Here's an idea for a t-shirt. My family went to the Tidal Basin and all I got was this dead squirrel picture:



On Friday, my wife and kids went to look at the cherry blossoms in Washington D.C. With camera in hand, they searched for the same group of trees where they had posed when the kids were little. One of the trees they found had a large knot hole. The kids noticed that there was a squirrel in the hole and that it was "resting." My son figured out that its rest was permanent. Then my wife decided to take a picture of it for me and for my blog. After all, I've had plenty of experience with dead critters in the pool. Or it's possible that she may have been inspired by a book. She's currently in the middle of the first Jefferson Bass novel, "Carved in Bone."

knowing what the world is about

The book I'm currently reading put me in the mood to watch some college basketball today. Specifically, I wanted to see the CAA tournament game between George Mason and Northeastern. In case you didn't know, GMU is my alma mater. The book is called "Cinderella: Inside the Rise of Mid-Major College Basketball." It's mostly about the 2005-2006 CAA season and Mason's trip to the Final Four. I'm working on getting an interview with the author for an upcoming podcast.

Prior to the game, I was a little worried for the Patriots because of their recent loss to the Huskies in the regular season. Northeastern had to beat my wife's school (JMU) last night in order to face my school tonight. There was no need for concern. Mason held a comfortable lead throughout the game, winning 63-52. They play UNC Wilmington tomorrow at approximately 5:30 p.m. The winner of that game gets to play in the CAA championship game on Monday night.

In the time since Mason's Final Four appearance, the pep band has evolved into the Green Machine, led by Doc Nix. I read in the alumni magazine that the band's string section started as a joke. The violins got a fair amount of TV time on CN8, which the announcers predictably referred to as "the ocho."

The pregame hosts interviewed Lakers scout Kevin Grevey who said he was also there to look for players for the minor league Defenders. They let him get in a plug for his restaurant in Falls Church too. The play-by-play announcers said there was "lots of ball pressure," whatever that means. I'm sure they meant in the game, not at the restaurant.

on campus

Unafraid to jump on the bandwagon, we went to Mass today at John XXIII University Parish after seeing the article about Fr. Eric Andrews in yesterday's News Sentinel. Turns out that before the priesthood, he worked at the Jim Henson Company, original home of the Muppets. We were unsure where to park and ended up in a nearby faculty lot. The strong wind nearly knocked us down as we walked to the church. Fr. Eric was there to greet the congregation, however Fr. Paul Rospond celebrated the Mass. The newspaper article made me interested in hearing a homily from Fr. Eric too. Fortunately there is an assortment of both his and Fr. Paul's available online, where parking is no problem. I realized this morning that I had already heard Fr. Paul's sermon last night while I was looking up the Mass times. It was posted after he celebrated the 5:30 p.m. Mass.

We found seats about five minutes before Mass began. Similar to a movie theatre before the days of "The 2wenty," a series of slides promoting upcoming events at the parish were showing on a big screen behind the altar. My wife asked me to find her a hymnal. As I went out to the narthex to get one for her, I noticed that nobody else had one either. When Mass started, we saw the lyrics to the processional hymn projected on the screen. The page changed to reveal the next stanza at the exact right moment. I kept looking until I found a guy in the choir with his thumb on a handheld remote, controlling the PowerPoint presentation.

It was a perfect day for us to visit UT because the writing team of Jefferson Bass would be signing books at the Frank H. McClung Museum. Better still, they would be speaking to a capacity crowd in the lower level auditorium. I went down to get seats while my wife and son looked at the museum's Forensic Anthropology exhibit, which is only there until May 7.



Dr. Bill Bass showed slides from the real-life burned-body cases that inspired parts of "The Devil's Bones." During the Q&A session that followed, a question about plasticination prompted an anecdote about cultural differences in dealing with bodies. We heard about an American doctor who opened a medical school in China. He needed cadavers for the students to examine. The government sent him ten beheaded bodies. He thanked the officials but asked for ten more with their heads and necks still intact. They brought him ten live prisoners on a chain gang and told him that he could kill them any way he liked.

Jon Jefferson told of one of his first meetings with Dr. Bass over lunch at Calhoun's on Bearden Hill. As Jon was trying to understand the way a weapon's marks can be visible on a murder victim's ribs, Dr. Bass reached over and began stabbing the half-slab on Jon's plate. Other patrons turned to look and then relaxed once they realized the man with the knife was just good old Dr. Bass.



The audience members filed upstairs and got in line to get their books autographed by the authors. The line wrapped all the way around the circular museum lobby. Since my copy of the book was already signed, I took the opportunity to revisit the Forensic Anthropology exhibit myself. Jefferson and Bass have a busy week ahead. You have several opportunities to get a signed book. Or you could just buy one online.

dr. bass-o-matic

The guests on this morning's "East Tennessee Report" were Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson, also known as the writing team of Jefferson Bass. They were kind enough to grant me the first interview on the publicity tour for their new book, "The Devil's Bones," which goes on sale this Tuesday. We recorded the show last night, shortly after Jon got to town. Of course, Dr. Bass is well known as the founder of the Body Farm at the University of Tennessee.



As is my custom with Body Farm interviews, I have posted a podcast of the program. This time around we talk about cremation and the notorious Tri-State Crematory in Noble, Georgia. We also discuss the new Forensic Anthropology exhibit at the Frank H. McClung Museum that I wrote about last week.

Jefferson and Bass are contracted for at least two more Body Farm novels. They told me that the next one will be set in Oak Ridge with a subplot from the Manhattan Project era.



I truly enjoy my conversations with Jon and Dr. Bass. We could have talked for hours but it's only a thirty minute show. Right-click here to download the mp3 file. Please enjoy.

advanced molecular chemistry

The last thing I needed to do was add another series to my television viewing repertoire. But that's what happened after watching the first two episodes of "Breaking Bad." I almost let this one slip by. Fortunately, Terry Morrow's review persuaded me to give it a try. Now I'm giving it a TiVo Season Pass so I don't miss an episode. The first two episodes will be repeated on Super Bowl Sunday.

Part of my initial reluctance came from feeling that I had missed the boat on another of AMC's original series. "Breaking Bad" got many favorable reviews that also mentioned "Mad Men." I had sampled the first episode of "Mad Men," fully expecting to be enthralled. Something about it just didn't click. It seemed a little put on or forced to me. Also, instead of enjoying the story, all I could think about was whether the IBM Selectric II Typewriters in one scene were an anachronism or not. (They were.) I know I didn't give it a fair chance but I felt that they were more interested in making a social commentary about today than telling a story about a time, place and topic that interested me.

"Breaking Bad," however, has hooked me on several levels. Bryan Cranston gives an outstanding, Emmy-worthy performance as Walter White, a desperate man who made a very bad choice. He's a chemistry teacher working a terrible second job at a car wash. He has a teenage son with cerebral palsy and a wife who is at least ten years younger and pregnant. The combination of going on a police ride-along to a drug bust and learning that he has terminal lung cancer give Walt the motive and opportunity to team up with a reluctant partner, a flunked student who cooks crystal meth.

Another level is the pairing of teacher and failed student. I loved the way Walt insists on applying proper lab technique to his meth making, over the objections of his drug-abusing accomplice, Jesse Pinkman. Lastly, there is the level that appeals to my interest in forensics as the two must dispose of a body. Jesse fails to follow Walt's instructions with disastrous results. The episode dovetailed nicely with the chapter I'm currently reading in "Dead Men Do Tell Tales."

The AMC webpage for the show pointed me to an Amazon Unbox free download of "The Making of Breaking Bad." In the short documentary, creator Vince Gilligan said, "The audience doesn't have to agree with anything Walt is doing but they have to understand why he's doing what he's doing. If you have sympathy for him as a human being you can hate his choice but maybe you can kind of understand how he would come to make that choice." He summed up the show by asking, "What if we take Mr. Chips and turn him into Scarface over the course of 40 or 50 episodes?" I can't wait to find out.

dem bones

A sign at the entrance to the new forensic anthropology exhibit at the Frank H. McClung Museum (through May 7) warns visitors about the graphic images ahead. Another sign prohibits visitors from taking pictures.



To prepare for my next interview with Dr. Bill Bass, I had planned to go to the museum yesterday during a break between the preliminaries and finals of the city meet. Instead I went today, which makes it look like I got the idea from a great feature article in this morning's paper. The exhibit has displays of various skulls and other bones as well as a series of large color photographs of a body decomposing in the August heat.



As far as I could tell, taking photos in the gift shop was allowed. They had a table with autographed copies of the first two Body Farm novels and the most recent non-fiction book. Jon Jefferson and Dr. Bass will be there to sign copies of their new book, "The Devil's Bones," three weeks from today on February 17.



The forensic products for children amused me. Wannabe CSIs can get started with the Detective Science Fingerprint Kit or a "Human Anatomy Coloring Book." They also had a "Crime Scene Detective" book for kids and a mysterious product from China called Organ Slime.



I liked the way the red Human Remains Recovery School shirts caught the sunlight coming in through the window. Perhaps the best gift choices were the Forensic Anthropology Center patches and black t-shirts. I couldn't justify spending $22 on a t-shirt for myself or I would have gotten one.

read of the dead

The stack of books on my nightstand has several new additions as of late. Perhaps this could be a good time to accept my friend Jessica's invitation to join Goodreads, a social networking site that lets you see what your friends are reading and lets them see what you're reading. Before I go rushing into an online commitment, I want to know a little more about it. Have any of you joined? PC Magazine picked it as one of its Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites and as its Site of the Week last July.

If I do join Goodreads, Jessica will see that the next three books on my reading list share a common theme. For Christmas, I received "The Book of the Dead" by Patricia Cornwell and "Dead Men Do Tell Tales" by Dr. William Maples. I had just started on the Maples book earlier this week when I was interrupted by an overnight package from HarperCollins.

The publicity department sent me an uncorrected proof copy of "The Devil's Bones," the new Jefferson Bass novel. Like the last proof they sent, I need to finish it before my next interview with the authors, Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson. Right now, I'm in the middle of chapter 8 where the main character, Dr. Bill Brockton, is gathering information at a local crematorium. He just learned about the special steps that must be taken to cremate an obese person. They burn hotter. The chapter reminded me of a link to a newspaper story I saw last week in Perry Simon's Talk Topics column on AllAccess.com. The article says that larger dead people require bigger autopsy tables, morgue drawers and other equipment. I'll have to bring it up in the interview.

stamp act

It's always popular this time of year to come out against holiday newsletters. Many newspaper columnists have filled lots of column inches berating the annual synopsis that usually comes tucked into a Christmas card.

MSNBC asked readers to submit examples of outrageous Christmas letters. A writer from Glendale, California, wrote a book full of them. In his AllAccess.com Talk Topics column, Perry Simon pointed out that even the governor of South Carolina sends a Christmas letter.

No matter how corny the newsletters may be, I love them. For the few minutes it takes me to read the missives, it's as if my friends and relatives had blogs of their own. One married couple I know always includes a section about their successful radio show. Another couple who went to school with my wife let their children each write a paragraph about themselves:

T-----, 13, is in eighth grade. I like to play goalie in soccer. I still swim in the summer and winter. I also went to King's Dominion with my friend around Halloween (Fright Night). It was awesome.

S-------, 17, can see the light at the end of the dark, dank IB (International Baccalaureate Diploma) tunnel. He has continued his advance up the ranks of the quiz bowl team, and is now a steady member of the near-lossless A team. He still maintains his distaste for writing about himself in the third person.

butcher brothers

Conventional wisdom says that the book is usually better than the movie. My son certainly feels that way about the Harry Potter series. I didn't read any of the J.K. Rowling's work until after I had seen the first three films. It surprises me that I enjoy the Potter movies more than my son does.

It only took a couple of episodes of the excellent Showtime series "Dexter" for me to want to read the books that inspired it. Over the summer, I started reading "Darkly Dreaming Dexter." Perhaps because I thought I knew how it ended, I would put the book down and not pick it up again for weeks. The real reason for my slow progress may be simply that the book is not as good as the TV series. The ending of the book seemed rushed and was fairly different from the series. I finally finished reading it the other day and started on "Dearly Devoted Dexter," thinking that I should try to get through the second book before the second season of the show ends. If Wikipedia is to be believed, the current season of the series is not based on the books at all. It might make more sense for me to hold off on reading until the show goes on hiatus again.

To promote the return of "Dexter," Showtime offers several cast pictures for bloggers to use. They also put red dye in some public fountains around the country. It reminded me of the time I saw blue toilet cleaner in a Washington DC fountain. The cleaning fluid would probably do a good job of removing the blood red dye in Philadelphia, Las Vegas and L.A.

holy pop quiz!

The October issue of "Catholic Update" is available in the rack at the back of our church. I picked one up this morning. This month's topic is "Creationism: What's a Catholic to Do?" I already had a pretty good idea that the essay would support my belief that God created evolution. The article does mention in passing the Creation Museum in Kentucky that I read about in July.

My friend Bean sent along a quiz he found on the Internet that's perfect for a Sunday. I'll post the correct answers in the comments section once several of you have posted your own guesses.

1) In 1966, the Ku Klux Klan burned Beatles records after who said the group was "more popular than Jesus now"?
2) The Depeche Mode song "Personal Jesus" was inspired by the autobiography "Elvis and Me," written by whom?
3) The Jesus and Mary Chain’s song "Just Like Honey" appears in the closing scenes of what 2003 drama?
4) Before "Jesus Christ Superstar," Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice collaborated on what other biblically inspired musical?
5) In the short film "The Spirit of Christmas," when Jesus and Santa are kicking the heck out of each other, who reminds the "South Park" kids that "This is the season just to be good to each other"?
6) What Pulitzer-winning novelist and one-time New York mayoral candidate published The Gospel According to the Son in 1997, told from the point of view of Jesus himself?
7) Victor Garber, Jennifer Garner’s dad on "Alias," plays Jesus in what musical film that climaxes on top of the World Trade Center?
8) The shortest verse in the New Testament, John 11:35, is "Jesus wept." Whose tomb made Jesus cry like a little girl?
9) Supreme Court case Morse v. Frederick determined that a school can restrict student speech at a school event that can be seen as promoting drug use. What did Joseph Frederick’s controversial banner say?
10) In 1899, journalist Louis Klopsch came up with the idea for what biblical innovation?

decomposition book

What's that? You just missed hearing the authors of "Beyond the Body Farm" on the early morning public affairs radio show I told you about? Well, get comfortable with a cup of coffee and the Sunday crossword puzzle while you listen to a podcast of this morning's show.



The book and the radio interview are full of interesting forensic cases. I almost thought that Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson had a monopoly on all the good dead body stories. Then I found one in the Washington Post that isn't theirs but is fascinating nonetheless. Last week a corpse from the 1850s was finally identified a couple of years after being accidentally unearthed in Washington DC.

bookworms go in, bookworms go out

Dr. Bass can always tell when the interviewers haven't read the book. That's the helpful tip I got from Stacey Handel as she was cutting my hair over the weekend at Garde Bien. Longtime readers know that another of Stacey's clients is Carol Bass, the lovely wife of the famed forensic anthropologist. Tomorrow I get the opportunity to record another interview with Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson for Sunday's public affairs show. As of right now, I have finished twelve chapters of their new non-fiction book, "Beyond the Body Farm." I still need to read the last four chapters tonight.

I should have read the whole book as soon as I got an advance copy. Instead, I didn't start until last week when I finally knew the date of our interview. One thing I have tried to impress on my children is be the tortoise, not the hare. In my academic career, I was definitely a hare. I waited too long to start homework projects and term papers and would then have to race to catch up. More often than not, my first draft and final draft were the same thing. Fortunately, my children have found that school is easier when they get an early start on their assignments. I believe that our high school and college systems test a student's ability to handle the work load, not their intelligence. I came to that realization too late to help myself when I saw a fellow GMU student plod through his studies and graduate the year before I did.

Having said all that, I really need to get back to reading. The new Body Farm book chronicles several true stories including The Big Bopper exhumation and the Leoma Patterson case. Chapter 5 is especially grisly but fascinating. It describes in detail the aftermath of an explosion at an illegal fireworks factory in Polk County. I will be sure to ask the authors about that and about another chapter that angered me. A young girl was murdered by a prison inmate who was on his way back to prison after a day on work release. I need to ask if the deputy who trusted the inmate to drive a police vehicle has any responsibility in the death of the girl.

If you can't wait to hear Sunday's radio show, you can ask Jefferson and Bass yourself at an event Tuesday night. The authors will be at the East Tennessee History Center at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $25. Refreshments and a copy of the book are included. If you're busy tomorrow, there are several more book signings on the schedule in East Tennessee and around the country.

driving Miss Dursley

The goal is to finish "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" before seeing or hearing any spoilers online or over the air. For the past few days I have limited my exposure to live media. It’s been fairly easy to do because I am traveling with my wife and son. I was supposed to read the book as soon as my son finished it. My wife would get it next. That was until she came up with a better idea while we were passing through the small town of Anna, Illinois. If we bought the audio book, we could listen to it in the car while we drove. The first store we saw that we thought would have the discs in stock was Wal-Mart. We eagerly grabbed one of the two CD sets they had on the shelf. It will take 21 hours to listen to the whole book. At least we still have a lot of driving ahead of us. I think we're on chapter 21 right now. I'm not sure because I may have dozed off as it got late tonight. This is my first experience with any of the Potter audio books, all of which have been read by actor Jim Dale.

Dale does a fine job on the narration part. For the dialogue, he takes on a slightly different voice for each of the characters, giving them fairly strong British accents. I like his Hagrid voice best because it sounds most like the actor from the movies. Of course almost anyone can do a decent Hagrid impression. Try saying the line, "You’re a wizard, Harry!" Dale's female voices take some getting used to. As minor characters and wizened old witches, he sounds good. However he makes poor Luna Lovegood sound like she is mentally challenged. Dolores Umbridge sounds like Mrs. Doubtfire. And Hermione gets the worst of it. Obviously she has more lines than any other female. Dale uses a half-whisper with an ever so slight hint of a speech impediment for her voice. There is one particular word that is the most annoying. Unfortunately for the listener, that word happens to be "Harry." The way Dale says it as Hermione, it comes out more like "Haweee!"

the need for speed reading

Don't say anything about the new Harry Potter book. I'm going to start reading it as soon as my son is done with the copy he got at midnight last night. I may try to get started early if I can pry it away while he's sleeping. More than one blog reader was fooled by Thursday's post. A friend emailed to say that his daughter thought I had an advance copy of the J.K. Rowling tome. To avoid spoilers, I'm going on a self-imposed media semi-blackout for the next few days. I will still write a blog entry daily but there may be a delay in getting them posted to the web. Please bear with me.

While my son and wife braved the crowds at Barnes & Noble, my daughter bought her copy of "The Deathly Hallows" at a CVS near her. She said that she was one of a grand total of three Potter fans getting their books at midnight. I've been borrowing my daughter's camera since mine broke. As a result we have no photos from CVS but we do have some from Barnes & Noble.

deathly hallow's eve

An advance copy of the eagerly anticipated book arrived in the mail at work yesterday. I've enjoyed the writers' earlier books and will get a thrill from reading the new one before everyone else. However I won't be posting any of the pages on the Internet. The cover looks a little bit different than the one that will be available in stores. A small circle on the front contains the words "advance reader's edition, not for sale." On the back, there's a box with the heading "Marketing Campaign." The publisher promises a national broadcast and print media campaign, a 25 city radio campaign and a 6 city author tour with stops in Atlanta, Baltimore, Knoxville, Nashville, Phoenix and Washington, DC. The title is splashed across the front in red: "Beyond the Body Farm." It's the nonfiction sequel to "Death's Acre" by Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson. The new book has a chapter on the recent autopsy of the Big Bopper. The press release that came with the book offers a tidbit to entice potential interviewers. Dr. Bass has been asked to exhume and examine Harry Houdini.

muggle juggle

The secret to enjoying the new movie "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" is to forget the details of the book. Or at least put some time between reading and watching. I read the first six Harry Potter books over the summer of 2005 and I'm glad I did. The last couple of movies would be difficult to follow if I hadn't. However my wife and son recently re-read "Order of the Phoenix" so it would be fresh in their minds before we saw the movie tonight. I sat in the theatre ignorant, happy and reveling in the digital projection while my family members were a little dissatisfied because of all the things the filmmakers left out. The only real problem I had with the movie was an inconsistency with the way it looks when Sirius Black speaks to Harry through the fireplace. They should have made it look the same as in "Goblet of Fire."

A co-worker who saw the film Tuesday night was also let down. He too had just re-read the books to prepare for the seventh and final novel. I might skim through "Half-Blood Prince" before reading "Deathly Hallows" but I'll make sure flush it out of my brain before the next movie comes out.

We may have overestimated the crowds at the movie theatre tonight. We arrived at 7:20. Instead of buying tickets for the 7:30 show, we opted for the 7:45 screening to be sure that we could get our favorite seats, like we've done before. The ticket taker told us that we could have just as easily gone to the earlier show. Moviegoers in this area tend to arrive very close to the posted showtime. On my way to the rest room at 7:29, I ducked into the 7:30 theatre and counted 12 audience members. The seats I would have chosen were still available. On the plus side, I had some extra time to hear "Movie Tunes" with Kris Erik Stevens.

odds podkins

The interview I recorded two weeks ago with Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson, authors of "Flesh and Bone," aired this morning on all four stations in the cluster. I'm sure you heard it either at 6:00 a.m. on 93 Point 1 or at 6:30 a.m. on both Star 102.1 and Hot 104.5. Amplitude modulation stalwarts heard it at 8:30 a.m on Studio 1040. The authors have four book signings in East Tennessee this week.

I have some friends who are interested in the Body Farm but probably did not hear one of the audio streams at 3:30 a.m. Pacific time. For them, I will post a podcast of the interview just like I did last year when I spoke with Dr. Bass.

Click on the play button below or right click here to save the file for transfer to your mp3 device.

one remembers, one forgets

"Flesh and Bone" is significantly better than "Carved in Bone." I liked the first Body Farm novel but I loved the second one and finished reading it in only two days. Once again, the story starts with Dr. Bill Brockton recreating a crime scene. This time, the crime scene is especially bizarre and the investigation takes him to a drag club in Chattanooga, among other places. If you come across an article that feels like it might give away any plot twists, stop reading the article and go read the book instead. There's no point in ruining your enjoyment. The many local references give the novel a rich texture that leave you wondering which characters and plot points come from real life. I especially liked the mentions of Big Ed's Pizza and the Fellini Kroger.

While recording my interview with the authors, I realized that the character of Dr. Bill Brockton is just as much based on Jon Jefferson as he is based on Dr. Bill Bass. The 30 minute program seemed to fly by. I had planned on spending a little more time talking about the evolution vs. creationism subplot but I got carried away with other aspects of our conversation. The show will air on February 11.

After the interview, I felt comfortable enough to tell Jon about a small continuity error I found that his editors somehow missed. Page 323 of my book is now annotated, with the change written in the author's own hand (the word "truck" should be "Taurus" instead). Jon also wrote "congrats to eagle eye Frank." Despite my nitpicking, I did get myself invited to visit the actual Body Farm this Spring. Too bad Bean won't be here then.

I told Jon I would send him the links to some of my blog entries about the Body Farm. There are so many I don't know where to start. Any suggestions?

midnight caller

The reading material that has captivated me today doesn't require a screen, a power cord, a mouse or any of the things I was using yesterday to read blogs. Today I've been using a piece of older technology called a "book." Would you be shocked if I told you that I just started reading the new Jefferson Bass Body Farm novel, "Flesh and Bone"? The catch is that I have to finish it by 10:00 a.m. on Monday.

Late last night I got an email from a publicist at the publishing company. He was replying to my request for an interview with Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson. The authors can fit me into their schedule during the day on Monday. We'll record something that will air probably on February 11. I'm really looking forward to it. I've interviewed Dr. Bass at least three times before but never with Jon Jefferson. I met Jon at a party thrown by former Einstein Simplified member Todd Covert. Jon has been to a couple of our improv shows too.

The guy from the publishing company wanted to make sure that I received a review copy of the book with enough time to read it before the interview. When I immediately replied to his email last night, he wrote back asking if he could just call me on the phone. I had to think about it for a second. It was around 12:00 a.m and I didn't want the sound of the phone to wake up my family. But I didn't want to miss out on the interview either. I sent him my home number and grabbed the phone on the first ring. He said that he could send the book from New York for Saturday delivery but that he would try to find someone in Knoxville who could deliver one to me sooner. I came out of a meeting around 10:30 this morning to find that the book had been delivered to the front desk. The courier wrote on the title page: "To Frank Murphy, Dr. Bill Bass." The book had been autographed and delivered by Dr. Bass himself!

At the front of "Flesh and Bone," there is a dedication page that says "In Memory of Officer Ben Bohanan, 1975 - 2004." Ben was a UTPD officer and also the son of fingerprint expert Art Bohanan, who is both a real person and a character in the Jefferson Bass books. The University of Tennessee has a scholarship fund in his memory. Dr. Bass will give a lecture at 3:00 p.m. Sunday as a fundraiser for the Benjamin Bohanan Memorial Police Scholarship. Admission is $20. All the details can be found in the UT press release.