Israel Houghton’s first solo studio album, “Power of One,” contains the raucous energy of a jam session. Without his ensemble of New Breed singers, Houghton’s priorities move from creating eminently singable refrains to exploring a variety of musical expressions, from rock to reggae, with conviction and flair.

It sounds like Houghton picked all of his favorite musical friends to join him on the album. Invited to the party are multi-instrumentalist Akil Thompson, Toby Mac on the gritty head-banger “You Found Me,” and Mary Mary on the comforting ballad “Every Prayer.”

The live drums, rockin’ synthesizers and funky arrangements reflect more artistry and complexity than his live albums with the New Breed. The result is a collection of tight and well-crafted songs that only productive time in the studio with like-minded souls can yield.

The album’s title track is about harnessing the power of an individual to change the world. But the real focus of the album is on having a rollicking good time musically and lifting the spirits of all who hear.

———

Israel Houghton

“Power of One,” (Integrity/Columbia)

Genre: Christian

Grade: B

This may be blasphemous, but Black Sabbath has always been a better band with Ronnie James Dio at the microphone instead of Ozzy Osbourne. And this being Black Sabbath, blasphemy has always been cool.

Performing under the new moniker Heaven and Hell, to differentiate the Dio-era lineup from the classic Ozzy roster, Sabbath shines on its fourth studio album with Dio in command. This is their third go-round together, after brief flings in 1980-82, 1992, and 2007-09.

Dio and guitarist Tony Iommi bring out the best in each other, achieving heights they rarely attain separately. Bassist Geezer Butler provides a macabre heavy underpinning, while drummer Vinny Appice lets the plodding grooves take over at the expense of flash.

“Bible Black,” a song about a Satanic scripture, starts with a nod to Metallica’s “Fade To Black,” but then achieves its own sinister spin with Dio’s soaring vocals over Iommi’s squealing guitar. It’s a pattern that repeats again and again on this album: clever, adventurous songwriting and narrative storytelling wrapped up in bone-crunching riffs and power chords that can loosen the phlegm in your chest.

“Fear” harkens back to primitive times “when only God had fire,” while “Eating The Cannibals” kicks into high-speed for a shout-worthy concert opener. Slower, riff-heavy tracks like “Breaking Into Heaven” and “Atom and Evil” pay homage to Sabbath’s early ’70s lore.

Let Ozzy have his TV show; Black Sabbath is in far better hands. Again.

———

Heaven and Hell

“The Devil You Know” (Rhino)

Genre: metal

Grade: A

First came the Ben Folds Five, which was really a trio, and now we have the Ben Folds Multitudes delivering the piano man’s quirkiest album yet.

“University A Cappella!” makes glee club suddenly seem hip. Longtime campus favorite Folds combed through 250 video performances of his songs submitted by college a cappella groups, then traveled around the country to record his favorites.

It sounds as though everyone involved had a lot of fun. The creative arrangements showcase Folds’ sense of humor and gift for melody in ways a rock album can’t. In lieu of instruments, singers keep the beat with such phrases as “ba-da-ba-da,” “noo-noo-noo-noo,” “dig-a-duh-bump,” “doo-bah-dah-doo,” “jim-jim-jim-jim” and – Folds’ favorite, no doubt – “dong-dong.”

Fourteen groups contribute, including a marvelous coed high school ensemble from Newton, Mass., and Folds overdubs his own vocals on two of the best efforts, “Boxing” and “Effington.” There’s doo-wop, jazz, choral music and even frat rock that’s R-rated. Kids will be kids.

———

Ben Folds

“Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella!” (Epic)

Genre: rock

Grade: A

“No Ways Tired,” Kim Burrell’s first album since 2001, is a collection of “after-hours” worship songs designed not for the exuberant praise of Sunday morning, but the laid-back afterglow of a Sunday afternoon.

Burrell helped carve out a jazz niche within the gospel genre with her smoked-honey tone and mature arrangements. Her improvisational style, studied by vocalists of various genres, is filled with jazz phrasing and limber riffs.

On “No Ways Tired,” she uses her instrument to turn standard hymns like “My Faith Looks Up to Thee” into jazzier numbers – and gives one jazz standard, “Someone to Watch Over Me,” a gospel message after a few lyrical tweaks.

Producer Chris “Big Dog” Davis lets Burrell’s tone shine on this album, rather than her power riffs. It caters to those who like their gospel with less fire and more quiet streams.

“No Ways Tired” is an album of subtle pleasures from a woman who has nothing to prove.

———

Kim Burrell

“No Ways Tired” (Shanachie)

Genre: jazz-worship

Grade: A

FICTION

‘Red April’

By Santiago Roncagliolo (Pantheon, $24.95)

This stunning debut novel, set in Peru during Holy Week in March 2000, centers on a charred body that is found in a hayloft. Felix Chacaltana, a hapless by-the-book prosecutor in Lima, is put in charge of the bizarre and horrible murder investigation and soon realizes what it means to be ethical in a lawless land. This fast-paced book is by one of Latin America’s most promising authors and is full of plot twists.

‘The Winter Vault’

By Anne Michaels (Knopf, $25)

In 1964, Avery, an engineer, and Jean, his wife, a botanist, settle into a houseboat that is moored on the Nile River. Avery, who is responsible for the dismantling and reconstruction of a temple that is being rescued from the rising waters of the Aswan Dam, is a “machine worshiper.” His wife is interested in everything that grows. This story of forgiveness and consolation is stunning in its exploration of both the physical and emotions worlds of its two main characters.

‘Hold Love Strong’

By Matthew Aaron Goodman (Touchstone, $24.99)

This debut novel is a literary paean to the power of family and belonging in the African-American community. Abraham Singleton, born to a 13-year old girl in the Ever Park Housing Projects in Queens, learns from an early age what it feels like to struggle. As he grows older, his mother becomes addicted to crack, his uncle is arrested and convicted of a serious crime, and the cousins begin dealing drugs. Somehow, Abraham learns to survive through love and hope. This spellbinding coming-of-age story is about learning to cope and surviving the odds.

‘Assegai’

By Wilbur Smith (Thomas Dunne Books, $27.95)

Smith combines the passions of Africa and the intrigue that stretches from England and Germany to the Masai tribal region of the African continent in this latest novel about the Courtney family. Set against the backdrop of pre-World War I, the story finds Leon Courtney recruited by his uncle to gather information from Count Otto Von Meerbach, a German industrialist whose company builds aircraft and vehicles for the Kaiser. His plan is doomed for failure when he falls in love with Eva von Wellberg, the Count’s mistress.

‘The Bascombe Novels’

By Richard Ford (Everyman’s Library, $35)

This trilogy of brilliant novels – “The Sportswriter,” “Independence Day” and “The Lay of the Land” – was written by an author whose rich body of work includes six novels and three collections of short stories. His gifted writing instantly pulls readers into lives that have been irrevocably changed, whether by the loss of a marriage, a career or the death of a child. “Independence Day” was awarded both the Pulitzer Prize and the prestigious PEN/Faulkner award.

‘Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings’

By John H. Watson by Lyndsay Faye (Simon & Schuster, $25)

During the summer of 1888, Scotland Yard’s Inspector Lestrade reluctantly calls on Sherlock Holmes to help track down Jack the Ripper, a serial murderer terrorizing the East End district of Whitechapel. A possible break is Mary Ann Monk, a struggling young woman and a friend of Jack’s first victim. Twists and turns continue as Holmes becomes more and more obsessed with the investigation. After a careless moment when he is stabbed and the unidentifiable culprit escapes, the great detective realizes he must break every rule to catch “the Knife” before it is too late.

‘The Sign’

By Raymond Khoury (Dutton, $26.95)

This novel is built on a intriguing premise, namely what if there was a phenomenon so special that it would end all wars and unite all of humanity regardless of race, religion and political affiliation? When a scientific expedition drops anchor to witness a cataclysmic breakup of the ice shelf in Antarctica, a massive, shimmering sphere of light suddenly appears in the sky, enveloping the ship in a mysterious white glow. The light vanishes and people throughout the world begin to wonder if it a sign from God or merely a hoax?

NONFICTION

‘Kazan on Directing’

With a foreword by John Lahr (Knopf, $30)

Without a doubt, Elia Kazan was the mid-20th century’s most celebrated director of both stage and screen. Born in Istanbul, he studied at Yale, worked with Lee Strasberg, eventually founding the Actors’ Studio in 1947. His credits include such seminal productions as “A Streetcar Named Desire” (both stage and screen), “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” On the Waterfront,” “East of Eden” and “Baby Doll.” Drawn from his notebooks, letters, interviews and autobiography, this remarkable book shows the master at work.

‘The Protest Singer: An intimate Portrait of Pete Seeger’

By Alec Wilkinson (Knopf, $22.95)

Pete Seeger’s amazing talent and his musical grace and passion for social justice helped transform folk singing into a high form of peaceful protest during the second half of the 20th century. Seeger became a professional musician during the 1930s. With Woody Guthrie, he formed the Almanac Singers, a union that helped trigger the protest movement of the 1960s. Along the way, he got himself blacklisted. This highly readable book is the story of a true American original.

‘A Day in the Life: One Family, the Beautiful People, and the End of the Sixties’

By Robert Greenfield (Da Capo, $24.95)

During the 1960s, Tommy Weber and Susan “Puss” Coriant were two young and extraordinarily beautiful members of the British upper class. They palled around with the likes of Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix. “A Day in the Life” is the story of their fortunes and misfortunes that ended with Puss’ death in 1971, and Weber’s arrest and eventual sentence at Wormwood Scrubs prison, one of London’s most notorious. This highly readable cautionary tale centers on two privileged people who lost their bearings in a hazy world of drugs, free love and unfulfilled dreams.

‘Gabriel Garcia Marquez: A Life’

By Gerald Martin (Knopf, $37.50)

This is the first full and authorized biography of the best-selling novelist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Born in 1927 and raised by grandparents and a clutch of aunts in a small backwater town in Colombia, Garcia Marquez is, perhaps, best known for “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” an epic novel he published when he was 40. This balanced, superbly researched book is a sumptuous literary banquet filled with insight, perception and an absolute passion for life.

‘Lost Boy’

By Brent W. Jeffs with Maia Szalavitz (Broadway, $24.95)

The author is the nephew of Warren Jeffs, the “President and Prophet Seer and Revelator” of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and grandson of Rulon Jeffs, the group’s former prophet. In this book, he provides an unflinching, inside look at this sect and explains that he was excommunicated for maintaining contact with his “gentile” relatives. The first in his immediate family to speak out, Brent Jeffs reveals his harrowing youth including the painful memories of abuse and of his eventual escape from the cult during his adolescence. This is religion on crack and it is not a pretty picture.

‘Your Best Birth: Know All the Options, Discover the Natural Choices, and Take Back the Birth Experience’

By Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein (Wellness Central, $22.99)

To help women take back the birth experience, advocates Lake and Epstein explore both the positive and negative effects of epidurals and investigate the country’s staggering C-section rate. In addition to never-before-told birth stories by such celebrities as Cindy Crawford, Laila Ali and Melissa Joan Hart, their guide provides crucial advice from medical professionals, served up in a down-to-earth, engaging and honest format.

‘Bottom of the Ninth: Branch Rickey, Casey Stengel, and the Daring Scheme to Save Baseball from Itself’

By Michael Shapiro (Times Books, $26)

Shapiro, author of the previous best-seller “The Last Good Season: Brooklyn, the Dodgers, and Their Final Pennant Race Together,” has once again hit it out of the literary park. This is the story of two baseball legends at their watershed moment in baseball history: Branch Rickey, the retired executive who pioneered racial integration and the modern-day farm system, and Casey Stengel, one of the most famous managers in baseball, and the stunning climax in the seventh game of the 1960 World Series. This retelling of a little-known chapter in baseball history is exemplary sports reporting.

‘World War One: A Short History’

By Norman Stone (Basic Books, $25)

Stone’s latest book draws on his vast knowledge of World War One to provide a fresh and refreshingly brief perspective for an event that killed 14 million combatants, wounded an additional 20 million and destroyed four empires. Concise, captivating and highly readable, this is a brilliant piece of reporting by one of the world’s authorities of European history.

‘The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt’

By T.J. Stiles (37.50)

In this elegantly written biography, Stiles, a San Francisco-based writer and former professor at Columbia, tackles the incredible life of Cornelius Vanderbilt. He was born on Staten Island, left school when he was 11, and five years later bought a boat that he used to ferry passengers between Staten Island and Manhattan. By the time he was 40, he had a fleet of ships, eventually turning his attention to railroad financing. In what could have been a rather dry book, Styles humanizes this iconic man and explains how he, more than any other individual, helped create the economic world in which we live today. This is exciting history that is crisply written and full of fascinating details and unexpected surprises.

PAPERBACKS

‘Was Superman a Spy? and Other Comic Book Legends Revealed’

By Brian Cronin (Plume, $14)

Cronin, producer of the Comics Should Be Good blog and a noted comic book historian, answers such questions as which comic book hero inspired Elvis Presley’s trademark hair, what black superhero was changed at the last moment to a white hero, and was Superman a spy. The 70-plus years of comic book industry history are filled with myths and rumors, and quicker than a speeding bullet, Cronin sorts out the truth from the fiction.

‘Busy Woman Seeks Wife’

By Annie Sanders (Grand Central Publishing, $13.99)

Alex Hill, a high-flying marketing executive at a global sportswear company, is dismayed when she discovers her cleaning lady has been using her apartment to turn tricks in the afternoon. With so much to juggle, she begins to realize that she doesn’t need just another cleaning woman, she needs a wife.

‘A New Breed of Leader: 8 Leadership Qualities That Matter Most in the Real World’

By Sheila Murray Bethel (Berkley, $16)

Global leadership expert and bestselling author Murray Bethel is convinced that becoming a good leader depends on eight essential qualities: competence, accountability, openness, language, values, perspective, power and humility. Filled with stories about and interviews with successful leaders such as Andrea Jung, CEO of Avon, Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, and Indra Nooyi, CEO of Pepsico, Bethel’s guide provides valuable insights on how to take advantage of her immediately usable action steps.

‘The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death: Reflections on Revenge, Germophobia, and Laser Hair Removal’

By Laurie Notaro (Ballantine, $14)

A word of warning: This book is so funny, it will cause you to snort coffee out your nose, if you’re drinking coffee. This collection of true-life essays, her fifth, includes stories of how her cat broke its nose, the best way to laser away unwanted hair, and the sad fact that you can’t be a badass while driving a Prius. Notaro, who loves goat cheese, is better therapy than a year on the couch.

YOUNG READERS

‘Too Perfect’

By Trudy Ludwig with illustrations by Lisa Fields (Tricycle Press, $15.99)

Masie thinks Kayla is perfect. She’s pretty, she’s thin and she wears cool clothes – but is she really happy? This story explores the relentless and destructive drive for perfection and the freedom that comes from accepting oneself. (Ages 3-8)

‘Down by the Station’

By Jennifer Riggs Vetter with illustrations by Frank Remkiewicz (Tricycle Press, $15.99)

This book is certain to attract the attention of young readers who are fascinated by trains, trucks, boats and planes. In this action-packed expanded version of the classic children’s rhyme, toddlers and preschoolers will love to make the same sounds that the machines make, from waHONK to WeeOOO. (2-4 years)

‘What Can You Do With a Paleta’

By Carmen Tafolla with illustrations by Magaly Morales (Tricycle Press, $14.99)

A paleta, the traditional Mexican fruity popsicle treat, is at the center of this colorful new book. With a paleta you can find a new friend, cool off on a hot day and even create a masterpiece. (Ages 3-6)

‘America’s Best BBQ: 100 Recipes from America’s Best Smokehouses, Pits, Shacks, Rib Joints, Roadhouses, and Restaurants’

By Ardie A. Davis and Chef Paul Kirk (Andrews McMeel, $19.99)

Being a seventh-generation Southerner, it’s no secret that barbecue is embedded in my DNA. I have driven hundreds of miles out of my way to sample a good barbecue joint.

In recent years, I’ve sampled such delights as the spicy pit barbeque at The Dixie Pig in Blytheville, Ark., munched my way through a platter of smoked pig snoots at Smoki O’s in St. Louis, and tracked down a Texas gourmet treat, namely brisket nachos, a staple at Tom’s Ribs in San Antonio.

Ardie A. Davis, a certified judge in several barbecue events and cook-offs, and Chef Paul Kirk, barbecue guru and winner of more than 475 cooking awards, crisscrossed America in search of the best barbecue joints in the country. After investigating some 8,000 restaurants, they listed their top 100 picks in a fascinating new book.

In addition to recipes for meat, meat and more meat, there are dozens of delicious entries for starters, sides and even desserts. This is one of the more fun collections I’ve seen and it is being published just in time for the summer backyard cooking season.

Barbecue joints from 25 states are represented including Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin. The only Arizona restaurant to make the cut is Joe’s Real B-B-Q in Gilbert, renown for its Root Beer Cake.

Three recipes were tested from this collection. Coleslaw from Woody’s Bar-B-Que in Waldenburg, Ark., was a snap to prepare and required only three ingredients in addition to salt and pepper. Smoked hot links, a draw at Barbara Ann’s Bar-B-Que & Motel in Chicago, were spicy and served with baked beans.

My third and favorite tested recipe was for Glazed Barbecued Ribs, a specialty at North Main BBQ in Euless, Texas. The secret spice used is fairly easy to prepare and the finishing mop and glaze added just the right touch.

Glaze for Barbecued Ribs

Serves 6 to 8

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup seasoned salt

3 tablespoons chili powder

1/4 cup garlic salt

1 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon finely ground black pepper

1 tablespoon cayenne

2 slabs of St. Louis-style spareribs

Finishing Mop and Glaze

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 cup yellow mustard

1/4 to 1/3 cup distilled white vinegar

1 cup packed light brown sugar

To make the secret spice, combine all of the ingredients in an airtight container and blend well. Store in a cool, dry place until ready for use or can be saved for up to six months.

Preheat your smoker to 230-250 degrees. Season the ribs all over to taste with secret spice. You can store the rest of the secret spice for up to six months. Place in your smoker and cook for 4 to 6 hours, or until done.

When the ribs are smoking, make the finishing mop and glaze. Combine the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

In the last 10 minutes of cooking time, mop the ribs all over with the finishing sauce.

Tucsonan Larry Cox’s “Shelf Life” book reviews and “Treasures & Trends” antiques column run Thursdays in Calendar Plus. For more, go to tucsoncitizen.com/calendar.
E-mail: contactlarrycox@aol.com

A teenage boy (Christopher Johnson) moves in with his estranged father and meets his new family, including two teen foster children (Marina Jarrette, left, and Allegra Breedlove).

The irony is intense in Live Theatre Workshop’s gripping production of “Lemon Sky,” a play that seems more prescient now than when Lanford Wilson wrote it in 1970. Glen Coffman as director gives all the nuance a razor’s edge.

These days, we believe without exception: that inside every obedient housewife there was a stunted female screaming to get out; that every teenager of the early 1960s was a ticking time bomb of rebellion; and every authoritarian middle-aged white father who thought he knew best was about to be told differently.

Not that society is any better off today. It just seems like the cultural pressure cooker of conservative values in the 1950s was hissing and shaking, making so much noise we should have known the big blow was coming.

Sort of like how we should have known last year that the economy was going to collapse this year.

The first act of “Lemon Sky” sets up the scene, re-creating a happily positive thinking, Norman Vincent Peale-reading, Dr. George W. Crane-believing, Dale Carnegie-inspired 1950s suburban family in southern California riding the crest of a booming postwar economy.

Subdivisions were filling up the farm land just outside San Diego. Everybody lived in a new house. Americans were winners and the whole world knew it.

But even in Act 1, cracks were beginning to appear in this smiley-face facade. Now that the world was made safe for democracy, everyone wanted more freedom.

So divorce was becoming more common. A lot of those second-marriage families were setting up housekeeping out in the freshly minted ‘burbs.

Christopher Johnson with a shiny 1950s haircut and a nice touch of innocence plays 17-year-old Alan, who occasionally steps outside the scene to tell the audience about his dad, Doug, getting a new wife in Nebraska and moving to one of those tract homes near San Diego.

As the play set in 1959 opens, Alan hasn’t seen his dad for 12 years, but is moving in to stay. Doug (Roger Owen) and Doug’s new wife, Ronnie (Kristi Loera), are a bubbly couple with two young boys, Jack (Ryan Callie) and Jerry (Cole Gregory). The family has also taken in two teen foster children, Carol (Allegra Breedlove) and Penny (Marina Jarrette).

Carol is a flirty 17-year-old, either promiscuous or adventurous, depending on your personal values. She also pops a lot of pills for her anxiety.

Penny is a few years younger, and holds the honored family place as Daddy’s darling. He is teaching Penny all about photography, the science of developing film and the art of making prints.

As Doug, this is Owen’s strongest performance yet. Tall and broad-shouldered, he portrays the disciplined father as a positive guy who believes in a hard-line approach. These days, he would be applauded for his military insistence on law and order.

Owen does a fascinating job depicting the collapse of a man committed to this rigid way of life, even as human nature wins the struggle to maintain all those idealistic values.

Loera also displays a finer appreciation for subtle expressions. We see her outside appearance as the proper housewife who dresses extra-nice to fix dinner while waiting for Doug to get home from work.

But we can also feel her frustration at being helpless to deflect the train wreck momentum of Doug’s life. As with any train wreck, most of the casualties are innocent bystanders.

———

IF YOU GO

What: Live Theatre Workshop presents “Lemon Sky” by Lanford Wilson

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays through May 31

Where: Live Theatre Workshop, 5317 E. Speedway Blvd.

Price: $14-$17

Info: 327-4242, livetheatreworkshop.org

Grade: A

Matthew McConaughey's character realizes he has feelings for his childhood friend (Jennifer Garner) after he is visited by ghosts, including that of his Uncle Wayne (Michael Douglas, below).

LOS ANGELES – You will be shocked – shocked! – to learn that in “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past,” Matthew McConaughey plays an arrogant womanizer who coasts on his looks and charm but eventually realizes that love does matter after all.

Call it laziness, call it finding your niche. You’ve seen McConaughey in this kind of role before, usually with Kate Hudson as his co-star. (Jennifer Garner stands in as the voice of reason this time.)

You’ve also seen “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” before, in countless variations of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” But you won’t see Dickens credited anywhere here, even though the plot finds McConaughey, as playboy photographer Connor Mead, reluctantly revisiting the myriad women he’s wronged with the ghosts of girlfriends past, present and future as his guides.

Oh, no – this is a wholly creative enterprise. Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, who also were behind the overbearing “Four Christmases,” wrote the screenplay; Mark Waters, who’s enjoyed better material with the Tina Fey-scripted “Mean Girls” and the 2003 remake of “Freaky Friday,” directs. You can count the jokes that work on one hand; the rest is pratfalls and predictability.

When we first meet Connor in his Manhattan photo studio, he’s propositioning his lingerie-clad models; later, he’ll break up with three women simultaneously by video conference while his latest conquest (R&B singer Christina Milian) waits on the couch. How he scores with his cheesy pickup lines is baffling; perhaps he blinds them into submission with the impossible whiteness of his teeth.

Which brings us to one of the chief flaws of “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” – all the women, except Garner’s character, are malleable sluts willing not only to jump into bed with Connor (or do it in an airplane bathroom or on top of a car), they’re also stupid enough to fall in love with him. It’s an ongoing gag: Some of them have dated him for two days or an hour. All of them are miffed, or worse. But it’s never particularly funny because it takes such an insultingly limited and cliched view of what constitutes female sexual independence.

Connor doesn’t have much more respect for his younger brother’s fiancee (Lacey Chabert as a squeaky control-freak) or her three bridesmaids, two of whom he’s already bedded. Forced to return to his childhood home of Newport, R.I., to see brother Paul (Breckin Meyer) get married, Connor uses the opportunity to try to bed more women (including the bride’s mother, played by a sexy, underused Anne Archer).

But he also finds himself experiencing unexpected, unfinished feelings for childhood friend and former flame Jenny (Garner in a thankless straight-woman role) who seems too smart and accomplished to let someone vapid like Connor still tug at her.

So when Connor meets up with the ghost of his Uncle Wayne, an old-school player who taught him everything he knows about scamming but now insists his life was empty without love, he resists but eventually succumbs when old memories are stirred. (With his deep tan, ascot and sunglasses, Michael Douglas plays the role in an apparent homage to Robert Evans; Emma Stone, meanwhile, mostly grates as the ghost of girlfriends past, still 16 with frizzy hair and braces.)

There’s only one way such an obvious romantic comedy can end: That’s right, with a last-minute, mad dash to the airport.

———

‘GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST’

Rating: PG-13 for sexual content throughout, some language and a drug reference

Length: 100 minutes

Playing at: Opens Friday at Century 20 Park Place, Century 20 El Con Mall, Century Park 16, Foothills, DeAnza Drive-in, Tower Theatres at Arizona Pavilions, Harkins Tucson Spectrum 18, Century Theatres at the Oro Valley Marketplace

Grade: D

Brothers Victor (Liev Schreiber), who has long nails and a bad attitude, and Logan (Hugh Jackman), who has retractable claws, are recruited to join an elite task force.

Gavin Hood, the director of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” was understandably upset when an uncompleted version of the film was leaked online weeks before the release date.

The leak raised legitimate concerns about piracy and its effects, as well as the perils of evaluating a work still in progress. (I did not see the leaked movie.)

Ironic, then, that the final version of the film seems unfinished. A mix of solid action and an underused cast, with star Hugh Jackman left shouldering the burden of bad lines and forced emotion, it leaves you longing for more editing and a tighter story.

Jackman, reprising his role from the “X-Men” trilogy as the title character, remains a good fit in this prequel. Athletic, graceful, he moves with a confidence befitting a mutant whose remarkable healing powers have seen him through several wars. His physicality is Wolverine’s strength. Jackman’s emoting, not so much.

Still, Jackman, ever game, does what he can. As with any origin story, there’s a lot of ground to cover in a relatively short time.

But what’s really needed here is more screen time for the likes of Taylor Kitschas Gambit and, especially, Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool. The latter is particularly good, the only things faster than his mouth are his hands when they have swords in them. Seen early in the film almost single-handedly defeating a small army of thugs (including slicing a bullet in half in mid-air; neat trick), his commander, Col. Stryker (Danny Huston), says he’d be a great soldier if he could just shut up.

Unfortunately, Hood and writers David Benioff and Skip Woods make him do exactly that: The character disappears until … well, let’s just say a lot later.

The film begins in the 19th century, with Logan, the man who will become Wolverine, as a sickly boy. A family tragedy – that’s putting it mildly – lands him on the lam with his older brother, Victor. Hood morphs them from an escape through the woods to various battlefields in history, until they’re court-martialed and executed. Except the execution doesn’t take.

Stryker recruits Logan and Victor, now played by Liev Schreiber, to an elite task force with various powers. Victor, for instance, has long nails, fangs and a bad attitude. And Logan, of course, has retractable claws. Victor has more of a taste for this kind of mercenary work than his brother, so after a particularly unpleasant mission, Logan quits the business and takes up working as a logger in his native Canada and living with Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins). This blissful life is interrupted when former members of the team turn up dead. Stryker comes calling and, in a more eventful way, so does Victor. (Cue Jackman’s emoting.)

Fueled by revenge, Logan agrees to allow Stryker to perform a procedure on him as part of the Weapon Xprogram that will make him practically indestructible – a choice about which Stryker quickly has second thoughts. It all leads to a conspiracy involving other mutants that shouldn’t be revealed, not because it would spoil things, but because it just confuses them. After far too many last-second, out-of-the-blue rescues, Logan has fully inhabited the Wolverine character and, by either a neat trick or a cheat, depending on your point of view, whether all this aligns with your idea of his back story won’t really matter.

While packed with effects and action, without the attention to story and emotional investment present in films like “The Dark Knight” and “Ironman,” “Wolverine” ultimately doesn’t rise above its comic-book roots. For the fanboy, that may be fine. For the rest of us, it’s not quite enough.

———

‘X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE’

Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, and some partial nudity

Length: 107 minutes

Playing at: Opens Friday at Century 20 Park Place, Century 20 El Con Mall, Century Park 16, Foothills, DeAnza Drive-in, Tower Theatres at Arizona Pavilions, Harkins Tucson Spectrum 18, Century Theatres at the Oro Valley Marketplace

Grade: C+

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Optimism: That’s the ticket for Jackman

Vienna Teng does her grandma proud on “Inland Territory.”

The album’s centerpiece, “Grandmother Song,” acknowledges family disapproval of the career path chosen by Teng, a former computer software engineer. Cisco Systems’ loss is music’s gain, as her fourth album reaffirms.

A first-generation Chinese-American, Teng displays new lyrical depth, creating compelling characters to eloquently explore such subjects as immigration (“No Gringo”), civil war (“Radio”) and revolution (“St. Stephen’s Cross”).

The music’s ambitious, too, yet always tuneful. It’s fun to imagine what grandma will make of “Grandmother Song,” a near-a cappella barnyard stomp. “In Another Life” is ornate chamber pop with the classically trained Teng backed by a bassoon and clarinets, and elsewhere a string orchestra and cathedral choir provide lovely support.

Teng’s piano anchors the arrangements, which echo keyboard artists ranging from Sarah McLachlan to Ben Folds. And all 12 songs benefit from her knack for writing melodies that allow her feathery soprano to shimmer, making “Inland Territory” beautiful software.

(Editor’s note: Teng plays at 7 p.m. Saturday at Club Congress.)

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Vienna Teng

“Inland Territory” (Zoe)

Genre: chamber-folk

Grade: A

Most people immediately compare Asher Roth to rap vet Eminem, but the 23-year-old newcomer proves he’s more than just Marshall Mathers 2.0 on his debut CD.

On “Asleep In the Bread Aisle,” Roth does sound like Eminem at times – not lyrically, but vocally. But after giving the CD a full run, listeners will quickly drop the comparisons. He addresses the issue on “As I Em,” rapping, “That’s all I got, there’s nothing else for me to say/If I don’t confront the problem it will never go away.”

What Roth does best is tell stories: He delivers his thoughts on partying, politics and growing up in suburban Pennsylvania. Tracks like “His Dream,” the funk-soul “Be By Myself” featuring Cee-Lo and the Lupe Fiasco-sounding “Sour Patch Kids” serve as proof.

He reminisces about discovering hip-hop on the enjoyable “Fallin’,” spitting lyrics like: “And even though I couldn’t relate/I kept listening and stuffing my face.”

“Asleep In the Bread Aisle” is not perfect though. “Blunt Cruisin”‘ and the lead single, “I Love College,” are plain boring. The song channels Roth’s time at West Chester University, where he studied elementary education. Future teacher? Probably not. A future in rap? Probably so.

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Asher Roth

“Asleep In the Bread Aisle” (Universal Records)

Genre: rap

Grade: B

Listening to Chester French’s album “Love the Future” is like walking through a hipster boutique – graphic T-shirts with ironic sayings to the right, obscure vinyl records to the left and general nerdiness all around. The only difference is that D.A. Wallach and Max Drummey’s musical goods have more authenticity.

“Love Future” is sonically retro – lead single “She Loves Everybody” is vintage pop with a touch of soul, and “Beneath the Veil” could easily pass for a Johnny Cash cover.

The lyrics, however, are a bit more contemporary. It seems that part of what makes Chester French appealing is imagining lead singer D.A. Wallach, in his bow tie and khaki pants, crooning sincerely that “it ain’t groupie love … you’re my Bebe Buell, my Puerto Rican Pamela Lee,” on the roaring track “Bebe Buell.”

“Love the Future” isn’t all facetious, however. “Fingers,” begins with a few happy-go-lucky piano chords, and quickly soars to include rumbling drums, delicate stringed-instruments and all the trappings of something orchestral.

“And the fingers of your mind have wrapped around my spine, and made me feel so blind,” Wallach sings, on the soaring gem.

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Chester French

“Love the Future” (Star Trak Entertainment)

Genre: pop

Grade: A-

The British trio Doves spent nearly two years crafting a follow-up to its stellar 2005 album, “Some Cities.” Sadly, “Kingdom of Rust” comes up short.

That’s not to say it isn’t good. It just doesn’t match the punchy vibe of “Some Cities” and, at times, may actually be a bit boring.

Jimi Goodwin, Jez Williams and Andy Williams, who first started playing together as teenagers in Cheshire, England, aimed to stretch their musical muscles on “Rust.” And on many tracks, they succeed. The album opener, “Jetstream,” is an electro-tinged, Kraftwerk-inspired song. “The Outsider” mixes classic rock rhythms with electronic sounds. And the album’s best track, its title song, is a rhythmic romp blending bright guitars with a galloping, cowboy-style bassline.

But other tracks simply fail to excite. With its fat, driving bass, “Compulsion” shows promise but ends up being an 1980s electropop throwback. Similarly, anthemic songs such as “Winter Hill” and “Greatest Denier” are good enough, but ultimately forgettable. The love song “Spellbound” and the ethereal “Birds Flew Backwards” are musically lovely, but don’t cry out for a repeat play.

Where “Some Cities” beckoned the ears with each track, “Rust” fades into the background. Too bad the albums weren’t released in reverse.

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Doves

“Kingdom of Rust” (Astralwerks/Heavenly)

Genre: pop-rock

Grade: D

If you’ve been following “Making the Band 4″ on MTV this season, it might come as a surprise to you that even with all the squabbling going on between members of Day26, the guys and their producers managed to make a surprisingly good sophomore album.

Any arguments over the musical direction of “Forever in a Day,” seem to have gone in the favor of those who wanted to stick with an R&B sound. But even so, the disc is anything but a collection of buttery soft ballads.

It’s all about hard-hitting beats – drum loops, keyboards and the occasional guitar riff – such as on first single “Imma Put it on Her,” featuring down South rapper Young Joc, or “Shawty Wats Up,” where the guys join T-Pain on the auto-tune machine.

Even slow jams like “Girlfriend, “So Good” and “Babymaker,” have a certain kick, and the lyrics prove more steamy than sweet.

The singing is strong throughout the album, and vocals from Brian, Mike, Qwanell, Robert and Willie blend without a hitch.

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Day26

“Forever in a Day” (Bad Boy)

Genre: R&B

Grade: B

The addition

of shrimp makes

the Double L's

chile relleno pop.

This venerable South Fourth fortress has a reputation as one of those “safe” Mexican eateries, the kind of place you can take everybody in the office or family, even the ones who give the hard G sound to saguaro and agua.

What started as a drive-in in 1948 has grown into a compound that has a bulletproof, somewhat restaurant-at-the-hospital look and feel. I prefer the north dining room to the other two, as it’s a little more festive, has a little more color and lets in a little more light.

It had been a while since I passed through the double doors at Double L, and I was pleased to encounter a new menu that comes with the old one. The addition features a comprehensive array of seafood entrees, cocktails and soups and new traditional entrees such as Calabacitas, Chilaquiles, Chicken Mole, Milanesa, Sonoran-style Barbacoa and tortas.

Let your “hard G” companions order off the old menu, but if you want Guillermo’s best, go with the new one.

We started a recent visit with the Campechana (assorted seafood cocktail ($10), a parfait glass loaded with shrimp, scallops, abalone, a pair of larger oysters and ceviche-style fish in a gazapacho-ish bath with fine-diced cabbage, celery and onions.

We initially found the spicing on the cocktail base to be overly mild, but later realized it was well-gauged to showcase the generous and diverse array of good quality seafood. The sultry scallops and near-crunchy shrimp were notably impressive, and though we split the small version of the cocktail (the large goes for $12), it was more than enough for both of us.

We weren’t up for a cheese crisp or a quesadilla, so we ordered the Calabacitas entree ($7.95) for a second starter.

The zucchini, onions and bell peppers were nicely sautéed, but rather than the cream sauce we’re used to with Calabacitas, this one came with an Italian-dressing-style sauce that we found off-putting and overly piquant.

The Milanesa ($8.95) entree off the new menu also came out a little different than versions to which we’re accustomed, as the breading had the grit of cornmeal. Rather than a floppy, elephant-ear cutlet, this one was a little bit stiffer owing to the breading, but the beef itself was moist and flavorful.

The breading was kept thin enough to not steal center stage from the beef, and though we’d have preferred the texture of the breading to be more along the lines of a thin, chicken-fried steak, the added cornmeal did add a bit of pleasant sweetness to the dish.

Our other entree, the Chile Relleno de Camaron ($13.95), delivered a payoff every bit as flavorful and impressive as the Campechana. The relleno batter had just the right sizzle and crispness of egg whites and was stuffed to burrito size with medium-sized shrimp, a well-roasted, carefully seeded Anaheim chile, and good, mild Mexican white cheese. The sweetness and pull of the shrimp added a flavor and texture to the relleno without taking away from what would have been a first-rate relleno all by its lonesome.

Beans and rice that came with both entrees were above average by “safe” Mexican standards, as the beans had a husky flavor and were topped with melted Queso Fresco, and the fluffy rice had soft notes of chicken stock and tomato rather than the overbearingly salty and soggy versions one often encounters.

Desserts brought the only real disappointment of the night, but it was a big one. The Flan ($3.25) was altogether inedible. The caramel sauce was burnt to such a degree that it rendered the whole affair into one that tasted like we were eating an ash tray. I gave the flan a second chance on a follow-up visit. This time, the lack of ash-laden sourness revealed the custard for what it was – a thin, flavor-challenged version that tasted a lot like the little Jell-O-sized boxes of powdered flan mix you get for 59 cents at Food City.

We fared much better with our other dessert, a generous cube of Almendrado ($3.25). The spongy, gelatin meringue was layered in the colors of the Mexican flag and generously slathered in a blond almond sauce with lots of tiny bits of minced almond. Almendrado is an uncomplicated treat, the meringue itself offering not much more than pillowed sweetness and the almond sauce an equally simple teaming of almond flavoring and condensed milk. While this somewhat one-dimensional enterprise is not for everybody, there’s a quiet appeal in the tender, puffy affair that I’ve always been a sucker for, and Guillermo’s Almendrado is one of the better and more generously portioned versions I’ve encountered.

The icing on the cake, or Almendrado as it were, at Double L is the service, which is as professional as you’ll get at a restaurant, Mexican or otherwise. The servers know all the regulars and the menu backwards and forwards (even the new one), swoop in as soon as a glass or the chip bowl empties and couldn’t be more attentive and prompt.

These are not your itinerant, uncaring loafers in a holding pattern while they finish school, or glorified busers who don’t know their cabezas from holes in the ground. They’re career servers, lifers who have raised their families off the tips you leave at these sturdy wooden tables, and they, as much as anyone or anything at Double L, are the reason this restaurant has prospered for 68 years.

While the old menu is all most people need to keep coming here, the new one has infused this local institution with a considerable dose of energy that separates it from sleepier “safe-Mex” standbys.

Guillermo's Double L is a mainstay on South Fourth Avenue.

Almendrado, a light gelatin meringue topped with almond sauce, is a great ending to a meal.

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AT A GLANCE

Address and phone: 1830 S. Fourth Ave., 702-4583

Hours: 11 a.m-10 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays

Prices: Appetizers from $5.75 to $8.25, soups and salads from $1.95 to $9.50, entrees from $6.95 to $18.50, desserts from $1.45 to $3.95

Bar: full

Vegetarian options: Several, including Calabacitas ($7.95), Chilaquiles ($7.95), Chilango Burro entree ($7.95) and Vegetarian Topopo Salad ($8.50)

Desserts: Sopapillas, Flan, Almendrado and Choco Taco

Latest health inspection: A good rating Feb. 12. A critical violation was reported for potentially hazardous foods not held at proper cooling temperature.