Oktoberfest journeys from Germany to Northern Nevada

When I was living in Munich (OK, Munchen) the Oktober Fest was a big thing but not all that well know around the rest of the world. Now it seems that every American city has an Oktober Fest, and Carson is no exception, so get your ladenhosen and drindals out for the Carson City Library Foundation's Oktoberfest 2008 at the Pony Express Pavilion Saturday Oct. 4. Admission is free and it runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The Carson High Chamber Choir will be there along with the Sauerkrauts of Reno for dancing and listening. Food, drink and a crafts fair and activities for the kids. Raffle tickets are $1 or six for $5. There's a $1,000 grand prize plus other awards. Sponsors include the Nevada Appeal, the Sausage Factory and Friends of the Library.

LAST CHANCE FOR DIGEST SHAKESPEARE

Three actors race through bits from all of Shakespeare's 37 plays Friday and Saturday. I know, it sounds ridiculous, but this is really a very funny collection of quotes and pratfalls. Show is at the Performance Hall at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are modestly priced. If you're a Brewery member, you get $3 off.

TRAVELING TALENTS

Couple of shows at John Ascuaga's Nugget in Sparks in conjunction with Street Vibrations 2008: "Hot for Teacher" at 8 p.m. and Zepparella also at 8 p.m. in the Celebrity Showroom. $20 for either show. Call (800) 648-117 or see januget.com. Zep is a tribute band for you know who.

At Harrah's Lake Tahoe it's a revue, Royal Crown Revue, $25 at (800) 786-8208.

At the Grand Sierra in Reno, a 8 p.m. Friday, it's "Full Body Rock," a new tribute to Bad Company and Bryan Adams. $20. Saturday at 8 p.m. it's Queenrryche in the Grand Theater, tickets $33 to $49.50. This American heavy metal band has sold more than 20 million CDs worldwide. Must be doing something right. Call (800) 648-3568.

BOOK NOTES

Robert B. Parker is one of the few genre writers to write in other forms. His Spenser crime thrillers are always well done, witty and complex. You might say the same for his ventures into other story-telling modes, such as modern western.

Such is the case with two recent works of his, "Resolution," (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 292 pages, $25.95 hard cover) and "Now & Then," (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 296 pages, $25.95 hard cover).

"Resolution" is about a town of that name, where the hero Hitch takes a job as bouncer in the town's best bar. With the help of an 8-gauge shotgun, Hitch manages to get things under control. The bar owner Amos is a money-grabber who doesn't think much of any law that he didn't write. It all comes down to a gun battle where Hitch is joined by his mentor Virgal.

As usual with Parker the action is fast and deadly, bodies falling like leaves in autumn. And also as usual, the chapters are short, just a few pages. And Hitch is a moral man, despite the shotgun. He goes for the ranchers that Amos is out to foreclose on and he and Virgil win the war. But getting there is a good read.

Then there's "Now & Then," where private eye Spenser gets a job following a straying wife. But it isn't as simple as that (the wife makes no effort to disguise her affair) and the husband is FBI. Things get personal when Spenser's shrink girlfriend gets into the mix, and Spenser and associates have to protect her.

As usual, Parker's plots are not mindbenders, but they do hold things together neatly. And the repartee between Spenser and Susan alone is witty enough to make for fun reading.

Both are good, both worth your time if you like your private eyes moral if sometime on the wrong side of the law.

OUT OF THE VAULTS

Philip Kaufman was mostly unknown when he directed "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" in 1978. Despite the cheapo title the film went on to become a classic, one looked at in film schools. Starring Brooke Adams as a biologist and Donald Sutherland as a health inspector, the pair discover that, like her live-in boyfriend, the people of San Francisco are becoming robots without emotions. They battle to save themselves and the world from the scavengers invading. Much has been made of the parallel between the aliens who roam the universe using all the natural resources of a planet and then moving on and our world's being used by humanity. Won't tell you how it works out, but this is a superior monsters film that shows many of the skills that Kaufman would employ in other films. Dr. David (Spock in later TV series) Kibner: "We came here from a dying world. We drift through the universe, from planet to planet, pushed on by the solar winds. We adapt and we survive. The function of life is survival."

• Contact Sam Bauman at editor@nevadaappeal.com