There are several ways to get a copy of this great book, written by seven respected Las Vegas authors. You can order it direct at Restlesscity.com. You can order it from Amazon or Borders online. If you live in the Las Vegas area, you can contact me via e-mail and I can sell you one personally. I don't think it's in local bookstores just yet, but it will be soon. It's an affordable $14.95. It's also available as an e-book.

You ought to get this book for a lot of reasons, but first and foremost because it's a good read. The writers involved in this collaborative writing project are among the best in Las Vegas. Each wrote a chapter. They are H. Lee Barnes, John H. Irsfeld, Brian Rouff, Leah Bailly, John L. Smith, Constance Ford and Vu Tran. Barnes and Irsfeld are members of the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame. Tran just won a prestigious Whiting Writers' Award. Smith is an award-winning columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and a prolific author. (My role was editor.) It's a talented group, and they show off those skills in this crime noir story.

Another reason to buy this book is to support CityLife Books, a new imprint of Stephens Press. CityLife Books, of which I am editor, is publishing fiction and nonfiction about Las Vegas. It's really the only publishing outlet for edgy writing about Las Vegas. Restless City is our first book. The second will be Blue Vegas, a short story collection by P Moss. It will be out in February. More good stuff is in the works.

1. Neil Young, Archives Vol. 1

2. Bob Dylan, Together Through Life

3. Drive-By Truckers, The Fine Print

4. Cage the Elephant, Cage the Elephant

5. Dan Auerbach, Keep It Hid

6. Neil Young, Fork in the Road

7. Patterson Hood, Murdering Oscar

8. Steve Earle, Townes

9. Rosanne Cash, The List

10. The Decemberists, The Hazards of Love

11. Drive-By  Truckers, Live from Austin, Texas

12. KISS, Sonic Boom

13. Cross Canadian Ragweed, Happiness and All the Other Things

14. Arctic Monkeys, Humbug

15. Wilco, Wilco (The Album)

16. Son Volt, American Central Dust

17. Todd Snider, The Excitement Plan

18. Green Day, 21^st Century Breakdown

19. The Hold Steady, A Positive Rage (live)

20. Bruce Springsteen, Working on a Dream

21. Heartless Bastards, The Mountain

22. Neko Case, Middle Cyclone

23. Mark Knopfler, Get Lucky

24. Lucero, 1372 Overton Park

25. Monsters of Folk, Monsters of Folk

26. Ben Harper and the Relentless7, White Lies for Dark Times

27. U2, No Line on the Horizon

28. Magnolia Electric Company, Josephine

29. The Dead Weather, Horehound

30. Mastodon, Crack the Skye

31. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Self-titled

32. Justin Townes Earle, Midnight at the Movies

33. J.J. Cale, Roll On

34. The Soundtrack of Their Lives, Communion

35. Levon Helm, Electric Dirt

36. Sonic Youth, The Eternal

Stay the course. Get it done. Do it for Teddy.

That's my basic message to Democrats in Washington regarding health care reform.

Writing in this week's New Yorker, Nicholas Lemann makes a persuasive case that health care reform historically has not been the sole province of liberal politicians. President Richard Nixon, a Republican, proposed universal health coverage. President Ronald Reagan, who had launched his political career by railing against the bill to create Medicare, made no effort to dismantle the senior health insurance program during his eight years in office. And President George W. Bush's prescription drug benefit constituted the largest increase in government health care coverage since Medicare.

Republican critics describe health care reform as a Red Menace, yet they somehow make an exception for Medicare, the program Reagan back in ’61 called "socialized medicine." Guess socialism is okay for senior citizens but not for the rest of us.

Lemann notes that after President John F. Kennedy's assassination, President Lyndon Johnson was able to push through a range of important bills, such as civil rights and Medicare. "What had changed in 1965 was the martyrdom of John F. Kennedy, which made Congress and the public far more amenable to liberal reforms," he argues.

And so he suggests that in the wake of Sen. Ted Kennedy's death, the timing is right to pass health care reform. "His death could spur health care legislation the way his brother's death spurred civil rights legislation," Lemann suggests.

I'd like to think so. We know the bill that reaches President Obama's desk will be a substantial compromise. But that's no excuse to abandon the effort. After decades of failed campaigns to pass health care reform, even a modest bill will represent a huge advance of the Democratic agenda and a further repudiation of the hyperbolic radicals who have taken over what's left of the GOP.

Stay the course. Get it done. Do it for Teddy.

(First published as a Facebook Note about half an hour ago.)

Links for the following websites and blogs are linked to the left:

1. Andy Taylor's blog is loaded with photographs and drawings. His most interesting posts of late have been from his trip to Europe. He has posted literally hundreds of compelling photos. Andy also takes pictures of the Stratosphere Tower from every conceivable angle. It's kind of a Where's Waldo sort of thing, with the tower always appearing somewhere in the background.

2. Tod Goldberg's blog is, more than anything, funny. He tackles pop culture with the vengeance of a Gen Xer. Tod's also a respected fiction writer. Besides his "serious" work, he writes the "Burn Notice" novels. Oh, and as for his serious work, he has a new short story collection coming out in October called "Other Resort Cities."

3. If you have an interest in gambling and the gambling business, you cannot miss David Schwartz's blog. David is a leading expert — he literally wrote the book on the history of gambling. But it's not all numbers. David also likes to write about the culture of the casino business.

4. If you are interested in all things Las Vegas, you have to keep up with the Living Las Vegas website. This is a great site to explore to learn about what this community has to offer.

5. If you are interested in the book publishing business, Carolyn Hayes Uber's blog should be a regular destination. Carolyn, the publisher of Stephens Press (that's my publisher, incidentally), keeps her eye on trends in the industry and explains them in an honest, straightforward way

CityLife Books, of which I am the editor, has signed its first author and will publish its first book in the fall. The CityLife newspaper article about this news is here.

The official press release follows:

CityLife Books, the new imprint of Stephens Press, has signed its first author, P Moss, a fiction writer and owner of the famous Double Down Saloon. His short story collection, “Blue Vegas,” will be released this fall.

“‘Blue Vegas’ is the perfect book to launch the CityLife Books imprint,” says Geoff Schumacher, editor of CityLife Books and publisher of the Las Vegas CityLife newspaper. “Moss has produced an incredible collection exploring the dark, human stories lurking in the shadows of the neon sheen of Las Vegas.”

The stories, Schumacher says, represent the work of a writer who knows Las Vegas and is a keen observer of its diverse population.

“Moss’ stories are a visceral exploration of the clash between old and new Las Vegas,” Schumacher says. “They shine a light on the hard luck and lingering anguish faced by Las Vegans who’ve been trampled by this single-minded city.”

After working as a screenwriter in Los Angeles, Moss came to Las Vegas in 1992 and opened the Double Down Saloon on Paradise Road. Dubbed a “clubhouse

for the lunatic fringe,” the Double Down soon became internationally famous, drawing a lively mix of tourists and locals. A second Double Down opened in New York’s East Village in 2006, and Moss recently opened a new Las Vegas establishment, Frankie’s Tiki Room, on West Charleston Boulevard.

Despite his success in the bar business, Moss has always envisioned a second career as a writer.

"No quality Las Vegas fiction has ever been written,” Moss says. “The soul of the city has never been captured on the printed page.  This can be attributed in large part to the fact that writers try to sensationalize the obvious, rather than focusing on the raw human emotions unique to the people who live and work in this unique place. I believe I have done a good job of reversing this trend."

CityLife Books plans to publish up to four titles per year in a trade paperback format. The books will be available directly to CityLife newspaper readers and at area bookstores and online retailers.

Stephens Press is a division of Stephens Media LLC, and a sister company to CityLife and the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Established in 2003, the press publishes primarily regional nonfiction.

“The imprint provides a vehicle to publish quality Vegas-centric fiction with a unique CityLife vibe,” says Carolyn Hayes Uber, president of Stephens Press, “and we’re especially excited to have P Moss’ stories set a high bar for our fiction offerings.”

CityLife Books accepts nonfiction and fiction proposals and manuscripts that speak to regular readers of the alternative weekly newspaper. For submission guidelines and more information, check out the imprint’s website at www.lvcitylifebooks.com. 

Besides my occasional book reviews, the Quarterly contains lots of interesting articles about Nevada's past. A highlight of the Spring ’09 issue is Stephen Marino's heady discussion piece about the ambitious Marilyn Monroe/Clark Gable movie The Misfits, which was filmed in Northern Nevada.

In order to get a subscription to the magazine, one must become a member of the Nevada Historical Society. It's $35 per year for an individual. Send to 1650 N. Virginia St., Reno, NV 89503.

It's summer, when the National Football League doesn't get a lot of media attention. But sometimes a story comes along that keeps the NFL at the top of "Sports Center" even during the height of the NBA and NHL playoffs.

For the second straight summer, the story is whether Brett Favre will come out of retirement. Last summer, Brett decided to come back and play for the New York Jets. For the first half of the season, he did pretty well. The Jets were talked about as a playoff contender. The Jets swooned in the latter part of the season, in part because Favre didn't play as well. His shoulder was banged up, it turned out, but it wasn't just that. He also was 39 years old and a 16-game season was getting the best of him.

So Favre retired again. But now the sports news is aflutter with talk that Favre is talking with the Minnesota Vikings about playing quarterback in a purple uniform. This, in fact, is what Favre wanted to do last summer, but he couldn't make it work with the Vikings and ended up with the Jets.

Just like last summer, I have mixed feelings about all this. It's no secret that Favre has been my favorite player in my favorite sport to watch for a very long time. He's a great player and a great Packer. But while many Packer fans were royally ticked off when Favre came back in a Jets uniform, I took it in stride. I bought a T-shirt with "Brett the Jet" emblazoned across the front. I watched a bunch of Jets games last season and enjoyed watching No. 4, as usual.

This summer is a little different, because we're talking about the Vikings, not the Jets. The Vikings are in the same division as the Packers. This is not cool. The very last thing any Packer fan wants to see if Favre suited up in purple and warming up on the sidelines at Lambeau Field. This is just wrong and bad.

Still — just being honest — I'd love to see Favre play one more year . . . if he's healthy enough to do so. He needs shoulder surgery. It's fairly minor, apparently, and I don't know why he didn't get it done in February or something like that, just in case, of course.

An interesting development last week: Fran Tarkenton, the great Vikings QB, blasted Favre, saying he screwed the Packers and wouldn't help the Vikings if he comes back. Tarkenton said a lot more stuff in several radio interviews and on his blog, including that Favre is not a team player and thinks only about himself.

In the Twin Cities, Tarkenton's comments didn't appear to fare too well. It turns out Tarkenton wasn't much of a team player himself, and some wondered why he had suddenly taken such an interest in the Vikings after all but ignoring the team for years. Apparently he never comes to Vikings games and doesn't spend much time in Minnesota.

But more interestingly, the Twin Cities sportswriters seem to be in love with the idea of Favre coming to play there. Mainly, they say he'd be a lot better than the quarterbacks the team has now. But there's no question they also are quite familiar with Favre, who came to town at least once a year for 15 years or so. He's a nice guy, a good quote, and he would generate tremendous copy throughout the season.

Emotions aside, can you imagine the attention the Vikings-Packers games will generate this coming season if Favre suits up? Who wouldn't watch those games? It doesn't hurt that both teams are good and likely playoff contenders.

Bottom line: I'm tentatively okay with Favre playing for the Vikings, as long as he Packers at least split with the Vikes this season, which is the usual thing anyway. Also: I will not buy or wear anything related to the hated Vikings.

Part of me wants Favre to retire and move on, but I also can tell that he isn't a guy who has a lot to do in retirement. He's a quarterback — born and raised. It's his DNA, what he does well, and retiring at age 39 with nothing to do is a recipe for a sad couple of decades. Look at Mike Tyson and other boxers. They got nothing going on in retirement.

Favre will have to come to terms with retirement at some point, but maybe he's got one or two more years in him. As a big football fan, I hate to think of him poking around his property in rural Mississippi with nothing much to do.