#734: Lemmy at 'em!

Hey, you know Lemmy, from Motorhead? He wrote a BOOK! It's called WHITE LINE FEVER! It's really great! It's really funny! It's really easy to read! It's got pictures and everything! You should get it! You'll like it, even if you're not a Motorhead fan! And if you aren't, why aren't you?!
The book follows Lemmy through 30+ years on the road with his band Motorhead, and with his earlier bands like the notorious heavy-space-rockers Hawkwind, and with unknowns like Opal Butterfly and The Rockin' Vicars! I gotta tell ya -- I started with the chapter about Hawkwind, 'cos they've always been one of my faves! And then I read the rest of the book, which is all about hittin' the road with Motorhead! It's all right! Lemmy doesn't exactly tell you how it FEELS to be in a heavy-metal band, but he definitely tells you about all the things they did, and the craziness and chaos comes across LOUD and CLEAR. Lemmy also talks about some of the drugs he did -- he proudly admits he's a speed freak -- and a few of the many women he made it with. Not that I was keeping track or anything! Neither was Lemmy!
I also gotta tell ya that I didn't read the first chapter or two, about what little Ian Kilmister was like as a boy. To be honest, if Lemmy WASN'T born 6 feet tall, wearing black leather, with a bass in his hand and a Bad Attitude, I don't really wanna know!
I think you'll have a good time with this book! At least you'll laugh, almost as much as when you listen to Motorhead's albums! Whatta band! "Killed by Death"! Great song! Funny! "Born to Raise Hell!" Great song! Funny! "Ace of Spades"! Great song! Not too funny, though.
Not sure what this chick Janiss Garza -- the co-writer who got her name on the front cover with Lemmy -- DID other than switch-on the tape recorder, type-up Lemmy's comments, and make sure the book was sorta in English before she sent it to the publisher ... but she did a great job!
You should get the book! And you should buy some Motorhead albums, too! I've tried, but there are never any at the Goodwill store! What the fuck is up with THAT?!

...Oh, I also finally finished Hunter S. Thompson's THE PROUD HIGHWAY, a HUGE collection of his letters up through 1967, after he finished writing his breakthrough book, HELL'S ANGELS. And HIGHWAY shows clearly that ANGELS didn't make HST rich!
Best thing in the book is a series of letters to and from old-time writer Nelson Algren -- Thompson wants to quote some of Algren's stuff in ANGELS, Algren gets snippy, and HST fires back in full wrath -- it's freaking hilarious. The whole book's worth it if you're a big HST fan, but it's a LONG read....

Have been continuing with THE VERY BEST OF DEEP PURPLE. I'm sort of surprised how much I like them. "Child in Time" teeters on the edge of unlistenability and comedy, and then they pull it back with that great middle-break guitar freakout that I've loved ever since I heard a piece of it in the movie TWISTER and didn't know what the heck it was, though I knew who the band was. I mistakenly thought it was "Space Truckin'" -- which is great silly fun, too!
These guys were pretty freakin' great. Too bad it took me 40 years to "discover" them....
Have also been listening to The Pretenders' GREATEST HITS. Not everything I want to hear by them is on it, but it's great to hear "Message of Love" and "Back on the Chain Gang" and "Kid" and "Stop Your Sobbing" while I'm working. I've underrated "Don't Get Me Wrong" for years. I always thought it was good, but I LOVE the way Chrissie Hynde sings "Who can explain the thunder and rain/But there's something in the airrrrrrrr...."

I'm 80 pages into Ken Dryden's THE GAME, written the last year he was an NHL goalie, 1979. I was never a Dryden fan when he played for the Montreal Canadiens -- he and they were WAY too good, and they beat up my beloved early-'70s Boston Bruins too often. But everybody knew Dryden was a sharp guy. And his book -- which offers a lot of great funny stories and behind-the-scenes looks at the guys he played alongside -- is beautifully written.... However: the ending of the book is an anti-climax. Dryden never even SAYS that Montreal won their fourth straight Stanley Cup at the end of the season. Maybe it really WAS time for him to retire....

Things have changed a little around here. I currently don't have any easy Internet access -- but I'll be posting here as often as I can manage. And I've now got three different writing projects I'm making some progress on, so I'll keep you posted....
Have you bought any of my books yet? And why haven't you?
More soonly....