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

Burl on TV:DEADLY WOMEN "MOM SAID KILL"/ SNAPPED "FATAL BEAUTY"/Dog Whisperer

 It's that time of the year again -- the time of the year when Burl Barer shows up on your television more often than Santa Clause riding a Norelco razor. Why now? Because the big shows are running re-runs and specials...and marathons....and that means ID's DEADLY WOMEN is re-running BLOOD LINES where I appear commenting on the re-enactment of the Barbara Opel case -- you know, the one where mom promises the kid a dirt bike in exchange for murder.

Mom Said Kill is the book I wrote about the Opel Case, and in both the paperback and the ebook, the kid still doesn't get the dirt bike!

Meanwhile, Oxygen Network is running SNAPPED with the Rhonda Glover Episode in which I appear wearing the same red tie I wore on DEADLY WOMEN. The Rhonda Glover case is, of course, the basis of my latest true crime book, FATAL BEAUTY.  This wonder of modern factual literature, spanning not only the case in specific, but how our justice system handles the delusional yet deadly in general, will either having you praising my remarkable research and writing abilities, or bitching and moaning that I reveal right away who pulled the trigger, and there was no surprise ending. Sorry about that. True Crime books are usually written after the conviction, but there are still many mysteries to solve. 

Wait...there's more...I'm also showing up on National Geographic! No, not as a topless African woman or a lion eating a zebra, but on the Dog Whisperer.  I did two Dog Whisperer shows with Cesar Milan, and they re-run them all the time, especially this time of year...something heart warming about me making Cesar crack up laughing that folks enjoy. 

So, if you see a tall dark handsome lipless Jewish Baha'i with a red tie or a white American Pit Bull Terrier show up on your TV, it's just the legendary Burl Barer making dog gone sure you have a homicidal holiday season!

When Outlaws are Outlawed, Only Outlaws will be Outlaws.

This is how old folks such as I amuse themselves....

The gang from Outlaw Radio with James Kotak and Stephani Smith

None of us were arrested, honest

Notice Matt Alan's head is, for the first time, leaning LEFT.

ROOM SERVICE -- Return of a Comedy Classic Live in Los Angeles!

With all the depressing crime news, and the economic problems that plagued the planet the past couple years, we can all use a good laugh, or several laughs. Happily, the classic stage play ROOM SERVICE (also made into a Marx Bros. movie) has been lovingly and gloriously brought back and presented with a stellar cast at The Open Fist Theater on Santa Monica Blvd. in Los Angeles.  Thos of you who are regular listenors to Outlaw Radio are familiar with the ready wit and winning personality of Elya Baskin, a familiar face to movie goers world wide. He's played everything from clowns to terrorsits, lovers to priests, diplomats to Russian refugee waiters with Broadway aspirations.  Baskin shines in Room Service, as do all the players in one of the finest ensemble comedic casts ever to banter brilliant dialog in a 99 seat theater.  If you are in the Los Angeles area, don't miss this true entertainment treat!

  

OFTC Presents
Room Service
by John Murray & Allen Boretz

Directed by BjØrn Johnson & Ron Orbach

 The cast of ROOM SERVICE : Elya Baskin, Phillip Brock, Charles Dennis, Dustin Eastman, Daniel Escobar, Conor Lane, Laetitia Leon, Robert Lesko, Joe Liss, Derek Manson, Jessica Noboa and Ron West.

ROOM SERVICE features an award-winning design team.The Scenic Design is by Victoria Profitt (Light Up the Sky).  The Costume Design is by A. Jeffrey Schoenberg (Light Up the Sky). The Lighting Design is by Jason Mullen. The Sound Design is by Peter Carlstedt (Light Up the Sky). Prop Design is by Colin Campbell.

Run: Friday, January 21 – Saturday, March 12, 2011

Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm; Sundays at 2 pm

6209 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA  90038
Opening Night Gala tickets: $35.00
All other tickets: $25.00; Preview tickets: $15.0

"...this excellent production emphasizes the farce’s tight dialogue and fast-paced direction making it all seem real while it blithely charges along."

Dale Reynolds – Stagehappenings

Directors Ron Orbach and Bjorn Johnson overcome off-the-cob, fluffy plot with fiercely well-timed and fast-paced frivolity. Snappy dialogue and screwball comedy keep us from focusing on drawn-out scheme. Pitch perfect casting, snazzy set (Victoria Profitt), cool costumes (A. Jeffrey Schoenberg) and hot hair (Kristen Shaw). 
Tony Frankel – Stage and Cinema

“Room Service”
Open Fist Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles
8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays
Ends March 12. $25. (323) 882-6912

KARL KROGSTAD: America's #1 hit film maker ...at least in my book.

  I've known Karl Krogstad since the early 1970's, and have worked with him on a variety of projects over the years. I actually got paid on a couple of them, but that was a bonus. Karl is a friend, and when friends call and say "Let's do this!" Well, you do it.  So, Karl and I have done all sorts of stuff from the award winning to the obscure. I even have the poster for a film he never made -- it was cheaper to make the poster for RECTAL BLEEDING than to make the film.  

My finest contribution to Karl's legend -- and I forgot to mention this when recently interviewed for a new documentary about Krogstad -- is that I made him a major character in my novel CAPTURE THE SAINT.  Karl is not only central to the plot and the twist ending, but more importantly is credited with directing the #1 hit film in America, THE BANDIT.  I figured that Karl wouldn't have that distinction in real life, so I might as well bestow that credit upon him in a work of fiction.  

So, for the real story of Karl Krogstad, get the book SHOT TO DEATH.  For the fiction version of Karl Krogstad, get CAPTURE THE SAINT.

You can see clips from several Krogstad films, some of which have performances by Burl Barer, on YouTube.com, or on Karl's own website. 

SEWER RATS, NAZIS, and A TRUE HERO!

Heroism amazes me, and I don't mean make-believe heroes such as John Wayne - he was an actor who often played heroic characters in the movies -- I mean real heroes in real life. Every time there is a Holocaust memorial, I hear stories of true heroism. I recently saw the PBS video about Chiune Sugihara.  Yes, I wept.

 

In the fall of 1939, Hitler's murderous wave was sweeping through Eastern Europe. In the face of the Nazi onslaught, Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara set about saving thousands of lives. But his struggle was not fought on the battlefields or in war rooms. He used his power as a diplomat to rescue fleeing Jewish refugees.

As Japan's consul to Lithuania, Sugihara risked career, disgrace, his life, and the lives of his family defying Tokyo by writing transit visas for refugees desperate to escape persecution. In August 1940, Sugihara spent upwards of sixteen hours a day issuing visas, until Soviet-occupied Lithuania forced the final shutdown of the country's last remaining consulates. In the end, more than 2,000 Sugihara-stamped passports allowed hundreds of families to flee Europe through Russia to safe havens abroad. Today it is estimated that more than 40,000 people owe their very existence to Sugihara's heroic acts of humanitarianism.

 

The DVD is $19.95 and worth every cent.  Why did I mention sewer rats? Simple. Anytime I put sewer rats in the title of a post, I get more hits. 

Scribe Awards/ Matthew Randazzo V "Mr. New Orleans"

The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers is pleased to announce the finalists for the fourth annual Scribe Awards, which honors excellence in the field of media tie-in writing for books published in 2009.  The winners will be announced at a ceremony to be held at Comic-Con International July 22-25 in San Diego. For complete details, visit the IAMTW web site!

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Matthew Randazzo V is one heck of a non-fiction author -- he really get's the goods and his readers know he delivers every time.  His latest is Mr. New Orleans.  
 Matthew Randazzo V joins Don Woldman and me this Saturday 2pm Pacific on True Crimes. Listen live!