Crime Expert BURL BARER. Edgar Award Winner and NYT Bestselling Author

TRUE CRIME: DISMEMBERMENT AND KINKY SEX

It is time for me to begin my next true crime masterpiece...but my editor says I need a white collar killer, dismemberment, kinky sex, and it should take place on the West Coast or mid west.
Swell.
Do you know of any murder cases where the person was caught and convicted in the past five years that fits the above description? Oh, it has to be in the USA.
All suggestions welcome.

Moscow -- no passport required!

Finding the Center 2008:

The Fourth Annual Action-Oriented Human Rights Conference “Resolving Differences: The Seed of Unity”
April 4 & 5, 2008: Hosted at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho

Featuring the  keynote dog and pony show by....YES.....you guessed it!

“HOW TO ALWAYS BE RIGHT” - Burl Barer is an Edgar Award winning author and two-time
Anthony Award nominee. Accolades for his creative contributions have been highlighted in The
Hollywood Reporter, London Sunday Telegraph, New York Times, USA Today, Variety,
Broadcasting, Electronic Media, and on ABC’s Good Morning America. Barer wrote, produced,
and often voiced, national radio and television spots for such performing artists as Neil Diamond,
Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, Billy Joel, Carly Simon, Eric Clapton, Moody Blues, Fleetwood Mac,
Liza Minelli, Temptations, Four Tops, and many more. Barer is a powerful motivational speaker, is
outrageously entertaining, and has made a life’s work of incorporating principals of human rights,  diversity, and the  power of unity in all that he does. While poignant with meaning, as he says himself, “they ain’t gonna fall asleep when Burl’s talking”!

HA! Actually I have seen people fall asleep when I'm talking. Even I have fallen asleep while listening to me talk.  Don't deny yourself the opportunity for a good early morning nap -- hear my amazing talk. I know I'll be amazed just getting up that early.

BB

STEAKS ON A PLANE

According to a recent risk analysis. the MOST PROBABLE AND REALISTIC THREAT to airline passengers, the most statistically probable scenario of someone doing something really bad and threatening on an airplane....is
(see if you can guess)

1. Fundamentalist Religious/Political Terrorists armed with god-knows-what that they smuggled on somehow
2. Right Wing anti-government "patriots" armed with god-knows-what that they smuggled on somehow
3. Some nut-case psychopath wanting to make a name for himself armed with god-knows-what that he/she smuggled on somehow
4. An underpaid and pissed off food service worker armed with a pot of hot coffee.

And the answer is #4

This is the MOST LIKELY THREAT....the rest pale in comparison....because food service workers at the airport are paid horribly, and since airlines have stopped serving meals a lot of them have lost their jobs or have had their hours cut drastically and they are really going over the edge..forget going "postal," the new phrase is liable to be "going craft services!"
So, while travelers get searched harassed and, if you have a name such as Burl Barer, are dark and swarthy, you can count almost 100% on a full body search, including cavities not described in any book on dentistry, the real  BIG DANGER is the poor bastard who loads the soda-pop on the airplane who has to pee in a cup more often that the pilot, and has an acknowledged high-risk of life-time hearing loss when on the tarmac.  One day he's haulin' Canada Dry onto the plane, the next he's whackin somebody in the head with a pot of Gourmet Arabica and scalding some flight attendant's private parts in a non-politically motivated act of misdirected rage and vengeance. Burl Barer sez:Time to round up those crafty craft people NOW before they attack or ask for increased wages.

FRED WOLFSON, P.I.

Fred Wolfson, Hollywood Private Eye, is alive and well. He recently was a special guest on OUTLAW RADIO USA, and features prominently in my forthcoming true crime book, MOM SAID KILL.  Part of the narrative premise of the book: Fred Wolfson sits down at the Denny's Restaurant on Evergreen Way in Everett, Washington with Tony Stevens, former News Director of KRKO Radio, and famed Crime Writer Jeff Reynolds.  Together, the three men recall and comment on the horrific homicide of Jerry Heimann, murdered by a rag tag group of teens and pre-teens at the urging of 14-year old Heather Opel's mother, Barbara Opel. The mom promised her daughter a new dirt bike if she and her friends would murder Heimann, who was her employer.  As always, Wolfson provides pithy commentary and valuable insights into various aspects of the case, as do Stevens and Reynolds.  Jeff Reynolds, of course, is the famed true crime writer protagonist in my 2001 novel, HEADLOCK. His name is an alias for someone you all know and love -- no, not Brittany Spears. MOM SAID KILL will be published this year by Pinnacle True Crime.

THE EDGAR AWARDS

When I accepted the obligation (and honor) of being one of the judges for this year's Edgar Awards, my editor at Pinnacle True Crime asked,"how will you have time to write your book if you are busy reading all the submissions?"

Well, she was right.  Everyday more and more books would arrive, and most of them were excellent. In fact, there were so many wonderful books by talented authors that narrowing them down to the final nominees (and eventual winner) was most difficult. 
Long story short:  I finished my new book, MOM SAID KILL, and it will be published this year, and I read the books. Here is the final list of nominees for this year's EDGAR AWARDS.
-------------------------
The 2008 Edgar® Award Nominees are...

Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce, as we celebrate the 199th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, its Nominees for the 2008 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction, television and film published or produced in 2007. The Edgar® Awards will be presented to the winners at our 62nd Gala Banquet, May 1, 2008 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City.

BEST NOVEL

Christine Falls by Benjamin Black (Henry Holt and Company)
Priest by Ken Bruen (St. Martin's Minotaur)
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins)
Soul Patch by Reed Farrel Coleman (Bleak House Books)
Down River by John Hart (St. Martin's Minotaur)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

Missing Witness by Gordon Campbell (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
In the Woods by Tana French (Penguin Group – Viking)
Snitch Jacket by Christopher Goffard (The Rookery Press)
Head Games by Craig McDonald (Bleak House Books)
Pyres by Derek Nikitas (St. Martin's Minotaur)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

Queenpin by Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster)
Blood of Paradise by David Corbett (Random House - Mortalis)
Cruel Poetry by Vicki Hendricks (Serpent's Tail)
Robbie's Wife by Russell Hill (Hard Case Crime)
Who is Conrad Hirst? by Kevin Wignall (Simon & Schuster)

BEST FACT CRIME

The Birthday Party by Stanley Alpert (Penguin Group – G.P. Putnam's Sons)
Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
by Vincent Bugliosi (W.W. Norton and Company
Chasing Justice: My Story of Freeing Myself After Two Decades on Death Row for a Crime I Didn't Commit by Kerry Max Cook (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
Relentless Pursuit: A True Story of Family, Murder, and the Prosecutor Who Wouldn't Quit by Kevin Flynn (Penguin Group – G.P. Putnam's Sons)
Sacco & Vanzetti: The Men, The Murders and the Judgment of Mankind by Bruce Watson (Penguin Group – Viking)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL

The Triumph of the Thriller: How Cops, Crooks and Cannibals Captured Popular Fiction by Patrick Anderson (Random House)
A Counter-History of Crime Fiction: Supernatural, Gothic, Sensational by Maurizio Ascari (Palgrave Macmillan)
Deviance in Contemporary Crime Fiction by Christiana Gregoriou (Palgrave Macmillan)
Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters by Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower and Charles Foley (The Penguin Press)
Chester Gould: A Daughter's Biography of the Creator of Dick Tracy
by Jean Gould O’Connell (McFarland & Company)

BEST SHORT STORY

"The Catch" – Still Waters by Mark Ammons (Level Best Books)
"Blue Note" – Chicago Blues by Stuart M. Kaminsky (Bleak House Books)
"Hardly Knew Her" – Dead Man's Hand by Laura Lippman (Harcourt Trade Publishers)
"The Golden Gopher" – Los Angeles Noir by Susan Straight (Akashic Books
"Uncle" – A Hell of a Woman” by Daniel Woodrell (Busted Flush Press)

BEST JUVENILE

The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
Shadows on Society Hill by Evelyn Coleman (American Girl Publications)
Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn (Clarion Books)
The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh (Hyperion Books for Young Readers)
Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things by Wendelin Van Draanen (Random House Children’s Books – Alfred A. Knopf)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

Rat Life by Tedd Arnold (Penguin – Dial Books for Young Readers)
Diamonds in the Shadow by Caroline B. Cooney (Random House Children's Books – Delacorte Press)
Touching Snow by M. Sindy Felin (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing – Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
Blood Brothers by S.A. Harazin (Random House Children's Books – Delacorte Press)
Fragments by Jeffry W. Johnston (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing – Simon Pulse)

BEST PLAY

If/Then by David Foley (International Mystery Writers' Festival)
Panic by Joseph Goodrich (International Mystery Writers' Festival)
Books by Stuart M. Kaminsky (International Mystery Writers' Festival)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

"It’s Alive" – Dexter, Teleplay by Daniel Cerone (Showtime)
"Yahrzeit" – Waking the Dead, Teleplay by Declan Croghan & Barbara Machin (BBC America)
"Pie-Lette" – Pushing Daisies, Teleplay by Bryan Fuller (ABC/Warner Bros Television
"Senseless" – Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Teleplay by Julie Martin & Siobhan Byrne O’Connor (Wolf Films/NBC Universal)
"Pilot" – Burn Notice, Teleplay by Matt Nix (USA Network/Fox Television Studios)

BEST MOTION PICTURE SCREENPLAY

Eastern Promises, Screenplay by Steven Knight (Focus Features)
The Lookout, Screenplay by Scott Frank (Miramax)
Michael Clayton, Screenplay by Tony Gilroy (Warner Bros. Pictures)
No Country for Old Men, Screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, based on the book by Cormac McCarthy (Miramax)
Zodiac, Screenplay by James Vanderbilt, based on the book by Robert Graysmith
(Warner Bros. Pictures)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

"The Catch" – Still Waters by Mark Ammons (Level Best Books)

GRAND MASTER

Bill Pronzini

RAVEN AWARDS

Center for the Book in the Library of Congress
Kate's Mystery Books (Kate Mattes, owner)

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER - MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

In Cold Pursuit by Sarah Andrews (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Wild Indigo by Sandi Ault (Penguin Group – Berkley Prime Crime)
Inferno by Karen Harper (Harlequin – MIRA Books)
The First Stone by Judith Kelman (Penguin Group – Berkley Prime Crime)
Deadman's Switch by Barbara Seranella (St. Martin's Minotau

DANNY HOLIDAY GROUCHO MARX and FRED WOLFSON

I recently reposted some history of KOL Radio in  Seattle, including my first meeting with Danny Holiday - an encounter that so pissed me off that I vowed that someday I would sit in his chair and play the hits!! Well, I did.  Even better, Danny and I became friends despite him wearing clothes such as the outfit you see here in this snapshot of Danny with Groucho Marx. (click on photo to enlarge image)
Danny is the one without the glasses. Visit Danny Holiday on the web.

I never met Groucho, but I am only one degree away from him - Danny met him, Alice Cooper met him, and Hollywood Private Eye Fred Wolfson probably saved Groucho's life back when Erin Flemming, his "secretary," was shooting Groucho up on Nembutal and then saying the old guy had a stroke .

Fred tells the entire story in his amazing book (not yet published), SECRETS OF A HOLLYWOOD PRIVATE EYE. I don't know who's gonna publish it, but  the stories are incredible and should be a TV series.

Fans of OUTLAW RADIO USA, an insane live talk show hosted by Matt Alan on which I am a regular participant, will have to do without me this coming Saturday as I am flying off to Texas to comfort my daughter who is having her head surgically removed and grafted onto the body of a German Shepherd -- I know it is not a common medical procedure, but let us not stand in the way of science!

Let us pray: Dear God, if it please you in your infinite wisdom, hasten the conclusion of the Writers' strike. Amen.

The Signal looks cool!

KOL RADIO (reposted from 2006)

KOL AM started around 1929, making it one of Seattle's earliest radio stations. It was owned by the Seattle Broadcasting Company, and located in a building on Harbor Island. There aren't many records of the station's earliest days. By 1958, KOL was a Top 40 station. The studios were still on Harbor Island, surrounded by gasoline storage tanks, railroad tracks, and busy shipyards.

I came to Seattle in the summer of 1965, and visited KOL one rainy night that fall. On the air was Danny Holiday. I asked him lots of questions, and I must admit that although Danny and I became friends over the years, and was one of the first to call me on the phone after my heart attack May 23, 2005, he really pissed me off that night! We both laugh about it now -- but it served me well. It made me absolutely determined to one day sit in his chair and play the hits!  I joined KJR in 1966, and in 1968 Danny called me from KUUU and offered me a job. Dick Curtis called that same day offering me a job at KOL. As I was delirous with a 104 fever that day, I turned them both down. I wasnt until I got over the flu that I remembered the phone calls. Despite turning down Curtis' original offer, I moved to KOL in April  1968. Twenty years after first meeting Danny Holliday, 1985, he was doing the Rock n Roll Time Machine on KZOK.  I was flattered when he requested that I fill in for him while he was on vacation. I did, and it went so well that KZOK hired me to do thirteen Weekend Specials. What fun! Thanks Danny

As for Kolorful KOL, in 1965, you could find Dex Allen, B.R. Bradbury, and Buzz Barr on the AM. Buzz was made PD, and he re-launched KOL as "Kolorful KOL, 13 Double O." Robin Mitchell came on board in 1967. Robert O. Smith, whom i first met working at KJR, also moved to KOL.  Dick Curtis moved over from KJR as PD, and he also did afternoons. Tom Murphy, Bobby Simon, Gary Crow, Robin MItchell, Chris Hill, Greg Connors, Don Wade, Paul Oscar Anderson,George Garret, Gary West and many other radio legends were part of KOL  Buckley Broadcasting became the new owner and GM in 1968. Dick Curtis was named GM of the AM in 69. He brought Lan Roberts back again to be PD and morning man.




A Little Bit Country...
IN 1973, KOL FM's independent programming ended. They briefly simulcasted with the AM again and then switched to soft rock. In 1975, both stations were sold to Hercules Broadcasting, owned by Manning Slater. The FM was changed to KEUT, an automated, beautiful-music format. The AM became KMPS, with a country format patterned after a station they owned in Sacramento. Rick Stewart was PD and also on the air, along with Art Lind, and Lee Rogers, playing the KMPS "Corral of Country Hits." Kay Spilker was sales manager, and Jim McGovern was GM.

January 2

KOL AM started around 1929, making it one of Seattle's earliest radio stations. It was owned by the Seattle Broadcasting Company, and located in a building on Harbor Island. There aren't many records of the station's earliest days. By 1958, KOL was a Top 40 station. The studios were still on Harbor Island, surrounded by gasoline storage tanks, railroad tracks, and busy shipyards.

I came to Seattle in the summer of 1965, and visited KOL one rainy night that fall. On the air was Danny Holiday. I asked him lots of questions, and I must admit that although Danny and I became friends over the years, and was one of the first to call me on the phone after my heart attack May 23, 2005, he really pissed me off that night! We both laugh about it now -- but it served me well. It made me absolutely determined to one day sit in his chair and play the hits!  I joined KJR in 1966, and in 1968 Danny called me from KUUU and offered me a job. Dick Curtis called that same day offering me a job at KOL. As I was delirous with a 104 fever that day, I turned them both down. I wasnt until I got over the flu that I remembered the phone calls. Despite turning down Curtis' original offer, I moved to KOL in April  1968. Twenty years after first meeting Danny Holliday, 1985, he was doing the Rock n Roll Time Machine on KZOK.  I was flattered when he requested that I fill in for him while he was on vacation. I did, and it went so well that KZOK hired me to do thirteen Weekend Specials. What fun! Thanks Danny

As for Kolorful KOL, in 1965, you could find Dex Allen, B.R. Bradbury, and Buzz Barr on the AM. Buzz was made PD, and he re-launched KOL as "Kolorful KOL, 13 Double O." Robin Mitchell came on board in 1967. Robert O. Smith, whom i first met working at KJR, also moved to KOL.  Dick Curtis moved over from KJR as PD, and he also did afternoons. Tom Murphy, Bobby Simon, Gary Crow, Robin MItchell, Chris Hill, Greg Connors, Don Wade, Paul Oscar Anderson,George Garret, Gary West and many other radio legends were part of KOL  Buckley Broadcasting became the new owner and GM in 1968. Dick Curtis was named GM of the AM in 69. He brought Lan Roberts back again to be PD and morning man.




A Little Bit Country...
IN 1973, KOL FM's independent programming ended. They briefly simulcasted with the AM again and then switched to soft rock. In 1975, both stations were sold to Hercules Broadcasting, owned by Manning Slater. The FM was changed to KEUT, an automated, beautiful-music format. The AM became KMPS, with a country format patterned after a station they owned in Sacramento. Rick Stewart was PD and also on the air, along with Art Lind, and Lee Rogers, playing the KMPS "Corral of Country Hits." Kay Spilker was sales manager, and Jim McGovern was GM.

IDENTITY PEGS

One of life’s peculiar characteristics is its uncanny ability to imitate art.  That’s why they call it “life,” trust me on this.   My daughter, Anea, and I were having this deep erudite and cookie fueled conversation about “identity pegs” – you know, people pegging their identity, self worth, etc to absurd reference points.

  Example:: people who identify themselves as  PS or PK.  This one really irritates me, especially when they tell the sordid story of how they “came out” to their parents.

  “I was 14 when I told my dad that I was definitely a PSer, not a PKer.  At first he was shocked, perhaps disappointed, but he accepts me as I am.” 

What a bunch of crap.   Anyone who defines him or herself as PS or PK has no idea who they are as a human being on planet earth.  Personally, I’m a PKer. Not that I haven’t had PSer leanings of occasion, but I wouldn’t call myself  PS/PK, dualP, or the latest euphemism, Multi-P.  If you stop and think about it, Multi-P could embrace all manner of P, some of them involving generational issues. 

Yes, there are people who identify themselves as PNG 0verall, with a PG subtext.  I have yet to hear some woman tell me “I decided I was PNG the moment I hit puberty” or some whiney guy gush how he is really happy being PG. 

Listen to me: NO ONE CARES EXCEPT OTHER SK SP PG or PNG freaks.   Damn. Get a clue!   
Don't define your reality by whether or not you  Prefer Spock, Prefer Kirk, or Prefer Next Generation.  If you’re going to be that absurd, you might as well define yourself by your sexual preferences, the preferred gender of your co-participants,and any particular affinity for manufactured items designed for orifice insertion -- by far, the least useful identity pegs of all.  HINT: Peg your identity to spiritual, moral, and/or ethical qualities. This is far more advantageous to you in the long run, and is far less likely to stimulate an identity crises.