What's in the hopper

Life, Keith Richards
Guitar Lessons, Robert Taylor
Complete Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi
A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin
Conversations with Octavia Butler, Conseula Francis
Force of Nature, Laird Hamilton
The 4-Hour Body, Timothy Ferriss

When Giants Walked the Earth

The Facts:  Mick Wall is a British music journalist who has written for the music weekly Sounds, Kerrang!, and Classic Rock magazine among others.  This book is a biography of the band Led Zeppelin, describing how they came together, the excesses of road life in the 70s, and the aftermath of the break-up of the band in 1980.  Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones honed their skills as London session players, while John Bonham and Robert Plant worked the small clubs in Britain's Midlands before they all came together as Led Zeppelin in 1968.  This was really a Jimmy Page band, born from the wreckage of the Yardbirds, and formed with the intention to transcend what rock bands were doing at the time.  The band took on all of Page's musical influences and experience, and yet the alchemy of the four musicians playing together made it something more than just a Jimmy Page outlet. Their quick success, the power and energy of the live shows, as well as an unflinching look at life on tour are all documented in a matter-of-fact reporting style interspersed with second person interludes.  These interludes are explained by the author a product of his imagination based on "thorough biographical research".

Is it good?  I enjoyed learning about the members of the band as musicians, how they got their starts, and how they developed their skills.  I also enjoyed hearing about how each of the albums were created, as well as the amount of work and attention to detail that went into the finished record.  It was surprising to learn how many of their songs were built on existing songs - nowadays we'd call that ripping other people off.

Cringey bit: The second person interludes did not work, or I should say, I might have enjoyed that when I was eleven, but not so much now.  Also, it's clearly Jimmy Page worshippy and Robert Plant bitchy.

Favorite Part:  In addition to learning about the band as musicians, I also enjoyed learning about Aleister Crowley and how the occult influenced Jimmy Page.

This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection

This Time Together:  Laughter and Reflection, Carol Burnett

The Facts:  I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by the author.  This is the second memoir Burnett has published, the first was One More Time:  A Memoir published in 1986.  In One More Time, Burnett focused on her childhood in a poor Hollywood neighborhood, where she was raised by her grandmother after her two alcoholic parents could no longer care for her.  Still, it's Carol, so the story is as hilarious a coming-of-age story as it is heartbreaking.  This latest memoir is described by Burnett in the introduction as having come from her one woman show where she fielded questions from the audience, an anything goes style that she worked into a narrative flow of childhood stories and life in the biz.

Is it good?  Yes, with reservations.  It helps to be a huge Carol Burnett fan, and so I knew all the sketches she was referencing from her show.  Listening to the memoir was also an advantage, because Burnett has such a distinct voice and style, her spot-on comedy timing adds dimensions to the stories on the page. Her tone and inflection reawaken moments in her life - not just the facts, but the emotions behind her choices, the uncertainty she felt as a young woman alone in a big city trying to "make it".  I loved the tales of serendipity, the anonymous donor who gave her the means to get to New York and have a try at Broadway, the kindness of strangers, the Broadway star who suggested she put on her own show to attract the interests of agents.  The descriptions of New York City as a place where an artist could learn her craft, and literally walk out onto the street and meet other artists of like mind resonated with Patti Smith's descriptions of the city during the late 60s.

Burnett is pitching soft balls for the whole book, so if you are looking for some good insider dirt, back stage stories about celebrities or shocking affairs, you will be disappointed.  The dishy-est she gets is describing how she fired Harvey Korman for being rude to her guests, and then rehired him the next day.  That episode ends with Harvey toasting Carol at the local watering hole.  This is truly a work ready for the grandkids.  She is careful in her wording, side stepping roads that might lead to offending someone, and instead keeps it upbeat with a happy ending.  There is a great deal more between the lines, but Burnett steers clear.  Still, it makes for great listening, and maybe even better yet, brought me to YouTube to revisit the sketches themselves and laugh at them all over again.

Cringey bit:  Once she starts talking about her show, her soft ball style is limiting.  There is a part where she goes on at length about a skit, describing it in its entirety, which drains it of all humor and is confusing to boot.

Favorite part:  I loved the stories from Burnett's Broadway days.  She does a wonderful job of setting the stage - the low rent walk-ups she was living in, the long days of rehearsals and shows, the early struggles and small successes that kept her going.  The story of how she combated insomnia by stepping out after midnight to buy the latest newspapers, was followed home by a mugger, and then transformed from victim to I don't even know what the term is - harasser?  is fantastic.  She turned on her would-be mugger just steps away from her apartment and scared the pants off him with a pure Burnett routine belted out with deep Broadway training:  "ding, dong, the witch is dead" she sang, crossing her eyes and Tarzan yelling until the mugger ran for cover.  Burnett brings the whole story to life, whooping and screaming until I was laughing so hard I almost drove off the road.

Day 1, Book 1 - Just Kids

January 25, 2011
Happy New Year's Resolution to write book reviews



Just Kids, Patti Smith

The Facts:  This is a memoir by singer/poet Patti Smith, describing her early years, her move to New York, and her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.
Is it good?  Hell yes.  Smith has a wonderful gift for storytelling, not just engaging the reader in her tales of childhood antics and her early years of becoming an artist, but charming the reader as well, drawing us into her world with fellow artist Robert Mapplethorpe, bringing us the streets of New York as they were in the late 60s and early 70s.
My musical life started the generation after Patti Smith, and so I did not grow up listening to her music or being influenced by her work except through the artists who were inspired by her.  She stands as a distant figure, someone to admire, someone on my list to check out, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.  This was a book that I picked up in the library, curious because I had heard so many positive reviews of it, meaning only to read a few sentences to get the gist of her voice.  It was immediately engrossing, her descriptions of her early years in Philly are so vivid and heartbreaking and wonderful, that one instantly feels to be in the hands of a master.
Robert Mapplethorpe first came to my attention in 1990.  There was an exhibition of his work slated to show at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, and as usual, Boston was a-roil in controversy about whether or not showing his photos would send the town straight to hell on the taxpayers' dime.  Mapplethorpe's work was looked at through the lens of AIDS, his photos exposed the underground of the underground - images of S&M, B&D in stark black and white and vivid color, oddly paired with staid portraiture of celebrities and artists.  Boston eventually got over itself enough to let the ICA run the exhibit, with extremist Christian protest groups picking up the tab for advertising the show.  I remember only a few images from the tiny display - a naked body with a whip laid over the torso, the smooth features of the man himself, shirtless and seated.  It was impossible to look at the photos without looking at the plague that killed the artist, a curious experience for the viewer.
Smith tells the story of the Mapplethorpe that lead up to those images - the struggles of the young artist, and the conflicts of a man coming to terms with his sexuality.  Her own struggles and sacrifices for poetry and music weave in and out of the story of their relationship, young artists discovering themselves in each other.
Favorite part: There is a story Patti tells from her childhood, that overlaps with the early days of her relationship with Robert that is just astonishing.  Huddled under blankets trying to keep warm, she tells Robert of how she stole a skating pin from a dying friend, while he protests "Patti, no!" - this is the moment I put the book down to take a breath and realize that I was reading something extraordinary.