Black Dogs

Black Dogs: The Possibly True Story of Classic Rock’s Greatest Robbery is a short novel that can only be described as an attempt at Gonzo literature. Gonzo Literature, a genre created for and by Hunter S. Thompson to describe his style, merely means when fiction and nonfiction cross paths. In this particular novel, the author, Jason Buhrmester, does exactly that. He takes the infamous robbery of Led Zeppelin in 1973 and recreates what might have happened, creating a book that is vivid, ingenious, captivating and impossible to put down.

Having no more facts than what the public knows, Buhrmester imagines a crazy and almost believable solve to the greatest mystery and robbery in classic rock’s history.

Here are the facts of the event; in July of 1973 Led Zeppelin played three sold out shows in Madison Square Garden in the heart of New York City. Before the final performance, over $200,000 of the band’s money was stolen from a safety deposit box at the Drake Hotel, where the band was staying. The money has never been recovered, no one has even been caught, and the hotel ended up having to pay the band in full. Those are the only facts in the book; Buhrmester imagines the rest.

The story follows 19 year old Patrick Sullivan who has managed to botch every robbery job he has attempted. After his last job went horribly wrong, he left Baltimore eager for a fresh start in New York, and left his best friend Alex, sitting in jail for his crime. But when Patrick sees a briefcase of money backstage at the Led Zeppelin concert, he gets a crazy idea but realizes he is going to need his crew back for just one more job; the greatest robbery in rock history.

He returns to his hometown to rope his crew into the job. His crew is a bunch of misfits, including Alex, who is still slightly bitter from the last job, Frenchy, a music loving nobody, and Keith, who specializes in theft of car radios. The way Buhrmester describes these friends, they could be anyone’s friends. They have traits that are relatable to recognizable to just about everyone. This makes the audience want to see these crazy misfits succeed at something for once.

While Patrick rounds up his crew, every location he visits, the record store, the pawn shop etc are all very vividly described. Through Buhrmester’s descriptions, the audience is able to get a genuine feel for the dingy locations and the times. It is because of Buhrmester’s attention to detail that sometimes you forget this is all made up. It becomes so believable; you almost want this to be the real story.

But before the gang can put the petal to the metal and get their insane scheme going, they run into a biker gang made up of Christian Bikers, The Holy Ghosts, after trying to steal a Les Paul guitar from their pawnshop. After this ordeal, the gang gets wrapped up in trying to execute their plan stumbling across great characters such as Boggie, a front man from a band called The New York Giants. Because the end of the story is true, and the money is missing after all, we know the story is just going to get more interesting from this point on.

Black Dogs is truly brain candy for rock n roll fans. From the many song and band references, to the infamous robbery, this novel will surely fix any craving for a crazy, unbelievable, rock n roll good time. The characters and descriptiveness really show just how much thought the author put in to it. He basically took the idea that this event happened, now who and how in the world was it done? By a group of pot smoking, beer drinking, good time loving, group of friends who were never able to pull off anything before. That’s who.

Cowboys and Aliens

Cowboys and Aliens is a hodgepodge of old west and science fiction elements, a combination that doesn’t sit well with audiences. With a title that suggests imagination, creativeness, and action packed fun, this film disappoints on almost every level.  The plot is farfetched and comical yet still better than many comic book movies that have hit the box office lately. After removing the Indians from the classic equation, what could be a better replacement than gold greedy aliens that used humans as guinea pigs? I would think “anything”.

Directed by Iron Man director Jon Favreau, Cowboys and Aliens follows a pretty standard blockbuster plot with pretty standard special effects. There’s a little bit of mystery, love, action, and suspense but nothing to write home about. The plot goes a little something like this, Daniel Craig, our main cowboy, wakes up in the desert with a mean case of amnesia and a mystery metal bracelet. He immediately has to prove his bad ass ness by killing three guys before the credits even roll in. His travels lead him to a town where he gets into a little bit of trouble with the law and ends up witnessing the kidnapping of the towns people by the alien space ships. During this kidnapping he discovers that the mystery bracelet is some kind of weapon against the aliens. From this point on, he teams up with some friends ( a lovely cameo by Harrison Ford) and his new gal pal (Olivia Wilde) in search of the kidnapped people and the alien colony. The remainder of the film is nothing new to the silver screen, including the ending. It consists of some explanation, alien / human love interests, futuristic planets, and old west style action.

The acting from Wilde, Craig, and Ford seemed misplaced but made the film a little more viewable. The rusty Harrison Ford fit right in with the western time period, maintaining his bad ass, “don’t mess with me”, adventurous type. Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde create a believable on screen chemistry that helps keep the audience intrigued through out the many twists that are thrown at them. Their characters lack the proper development but in these kinds of films, we cant be too picky. The aliens are unfortunately as stereotypical as they get. They are large, bug eyed, greedy blobs that resemble just about every other alien in every other movie. They are both repulsive and intelligent and they had the potential to be much more if the thirst for creativity was there.

Overall, the film gives a really good sense of the time period through the production design and has surprisingly good acting but lacks on just about every other level. It might just be one of those stories that look good in comics but to be truthful it should stay off the big screen.