Friday, 13 November 2026

Celebrity Jukebox #90: Stacy Keach



I've long been a fan of hard-boiled private eyes. Even at a young age, I was into Bogart and Chandler, Sam Spade and Phillip Marlowe. It's an interest I shared with my Dad, and though I was only in my early teens when Stacy Keach appeared on TV as Mike Hammer: Private Eye, I remember it as being a show that both I and my Dad enjoyed.

In recent years, I've been reading a lot more noir and procedural writers, but when I tried a bit of Mickey Spillane, Hammer's creator left me rather cold. He's not a patch on Chandler or Hammett, or more modern writers like Lawrence Block, Joseph Wambaugh or even Ed McBain. The TV show was better... but maybe that's only in my memory.

Anyway, I had a great affection for Stacy Keach, who signed out earlier this week to go and pound gumshoe leather on another plain. 

Lost Dogs were a 90s band described as a "Christian rock version of the Travelling Wilburys". Let's not hold that against them, because they've just saved Stacy Keech a place on the jukebox...

Is that Stacy Keach passed out on the beach?


And if that wasn't enough, Stacy was also known to lend a hand to Fascinating Aïda...

G-spots are a joy
G-spots are a G
G-spot manipulation should go hand in hand
With a nice fantasy about Tom Cruise
Or even Stacy Keach


And for completeness' sake, I'll throw these two in...



In the end, this is the best tribute I can offer today. Harlem Nocturne, by Earle Hagen, with Bud Shank on sax.



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5 comments:

  1. Martin13 November 2026 at 09:34

    Oh. I missed that news. "Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer".

    Have you tried any Stephen King noir? The Colorado Kid, Joyland and Later are all good. I particularly enjoyed Joyland, possibly down to the time and setting.

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    Replies
    1. Rol13 November 2026 at 09:38

      Yeah, I enjoyed all those. At this stage in his career, King seems more comfortable writing dark crime fiction rather than pure horror.

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  2. George13 November 2026 at 10:20

    If that track is typical the Lost Dogs might be one of my Top 5 Christian Rock bands

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  3. John Medd13 November 2026 at 12:50

    ''Not as good as Chandler or Hammett'' you say. Then again, who is? Who can ever be? I like it when the genre is subverted; have you seen Gumshoe with Albert Finney? Same Spade comes to Liverpool! It's a classic. And the social history/commentary (it came out in 1971) is priceless.
    Also, it was directed by Michael Medwin who, among other roles, played Eddie's boss at the radio station in Shoestring - another UK detective pounding the mean streets; this time in Bristol.

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