Vacation, all I ever wanted....

Greetings. Took a week-long vacation back home to Idaho. Went to see my Dad and Sister. Tracked-down 1 old friend & tried to find more; at 1 point I wished I'd kept in touch with more old friends from highschool so I'd have more folks to track down....
But I went mainly to see my Dad & get a break from work, maybe get back in touch with myself again. I've been way too grumpy & sad for way too long.
Idaho was very different. The pace there was MUCH slower. For a week I didn't hear people yelling, didn't see folks stressing-out, nobody tried to run over me on the road, nobody yelled obscenities at me for driving too slow -- nobody seemed to be in too much of a hurry. & I didn't see any weirdos freaking-out in public.
It was ... pretty great.
Coupla minor drawbacks: I was so far out in the sticks that I couldn't get cellphone service -- so far out the World's Smallest Laptop couldn't suck-up enuf signals to receive or transmit, tho I tried.
I was a little different, too. I didn't drink as much coffee. Didn't need it. I woke up before noon, regularly -- as early as 7 am, some days -- got up just because the sun was out & it was a beautiful morning. Of course on vacation you can do stuff like that.
The air was different there too -- way lighter & less humid than here in Western Washington. Tho it got hot -- up into the mid-90's -- the dryness of the air made it feel maybe 10 degrees cooler than the same temps here. Course when it got over 100, that was hot enuf for anyone....
It was nice to see the family, & my 1st day back I got a little reminder of what I've missed in my nearly 30 years away from home -- I was introduced to an adorable little 4-year-old girl who is 1 of my nieces, & I was intro'd to her as her "Great Uncle." I still can't keep track of who my sister's kids are married to. I've missed out on a LOT.
Spent a lotta time just driving around the Boise area -- there's a lot of nostalgia there for me. Wish I'd had time to do more. Didn't find a single decent used bookstore that was open -- tho I drove by several that had closed. Didn't even bother trying used record stores -- was afraid of what I might find. But neither of those things were why I went.
Can't comment on Idaho radio because I hardly listened to any: When I was driving thru my old hometown I wanted to be IN IT, not distracted. Can talk a little about radio on the drive there & back: There's a rather good oldies station around Stanfield & Hermiston, Oregon, that specializes in '60s & '70s hits -- I hadn't heard Paul Revere & the Raiders' "Him or Me -- What's it Gonna Be?" in awhile. But the station faded out as soon as I got into Oregon's Blue Mountains.
The only other thing I can tell you is that Eastern Oregon has a few too many radio stations broadcasting about the wonders of Jeezus & Ghod 24/7 -- I remember making the same trip back in '79 & coming over a hill near Baker, Ore., only to be suddenly blasted by the Voice Of Ghod announcing the adventures of "God's Own Agriculturalist -- George Washington Carver!!!!" Their programming hasn't changed much....
Perhaps this weirdness is because there's a lotta wide-open spaces in Eastern Oregon, Eastern Washington & lots of Idaho & Wyoming -- there's a stark beauty there, but there's also MILES of Nothing. That's why many people fly over that part of the country rather than drive it. But I hate to fly....
I took tons of CDs with me for the trip, then ended up not playing most of them. Played most of Camel's ECHOES best-of ("Never Let Go," "Rhayader," "Unevensong," "Breathless," "Echoes," "Drafted," "Sasquatch," "West Berlin," "Mother Road"), & started on Caravan's CANTERBURY TALES best-of ("Place of My Own," "And I Wish I Were Stoned," "Golf Girl," "Nine Feet Underground," "The World is Yours," "Songs and Signs") -- but when I narrowly avoided wrecking the rental car by trying to dodge around a shredded tire in the middle of the freeway, I decided 2 put the CDs away & focus on what was in front of me ... at least for the next hundred miles or so. & I never got back to them....
I didn't take anything to read with me. While there I wanted to DO & BE -- experience, not try to get away.
The only thing wrong with the break -- of course -- was that it wasn't any longer. Nothing here changed while I was gone.
There are a FEW jobs in Idaho, if you want to work for $7.52/hour, which I don't. But I liked the slower pace, after years of stressing out. & the sunshine & clear skies, long as it didn't get TOO hot. & the closeness of family, even if I haven't seen most of them in years. & being surrounded by a place I know very well. & I have a few friends there.
I needed the break, tho coming back home felt pretty good too. Tho mosta those good feelings were gone by 11 pm on my 1st nite back to work. Since then I've shredded the fanbelt on my truck, so I'm now walking the mile to & from work -- which actually hasn't been that bad. Sort of a nice break, & the exercise is probably better for me than I wanna admit. Long as no passing cars try to run over me during my walk home at 1 am....
...I'd like to get back to blogging here. There are lots of things I'd still like to write about, lotsa great music & books I'd like to turn y'all on to. But I needed the break. Most of my reading experiences lately have been disappointing. & except for the little bit of music I listened to during the trip, I don't think I've played any music in the house since about April -- which shoulda been a sign to me that something was wrong....
I hope to get back to this, I hope to write more in general, perhaps even try to push on with that rock-group novel. As I was reminded while on vacation, I'm 50 ... so I'd better get on with it. Even if my health was perfect I couldn't expect to have 50 more years left. Maybe 20? So I've wasted too much time already. But I already knew that.
Can't promise I'm gonna be back to my old productive self, but I am feeling a LITTLE better. If anyone has an idea about how I can take a year off & still get paid, please let me know....

It is what it is (Or: It's just bizness III)

Iain Banks's ESPEDAIR STREET (1987) isn't a bad rock&roll novel. It's a pretty solid 250-pg character sketch of a guy who turns his back on the music bizness at the peak of his success, because of the guilt he feels over the deaths of 2 of his friends & fellow band-members. Their deaths were absolutely NOT his fault. But the incidents were triggered by his ideas.
The book is the reminiscences & misadventures of Daniel Weir, better known by his stage-name -- Weird. He's the main songwriter & leader of the Fleetwood-Mac-meets-Yes-style '70s/'80s band Frozen Gold. FG is phenomenally popular -- poppy yet arty, they can cover the musical spectrum without losing their audience. Weird's the mastermind behind it all.
There's some great stuff here -- Weird's 1st time seeing the band play at a local hall, his 1st meeting w/ them -- when they look at his songs & agree to polish them up a bit, & fame & riches follow soon after -- discussions of album projects & tours. Some of this is very vivid & well-done.
But. It's a bit of a jumble. There's a lot of flashbacks, & some of the "present-day" narration seems a little cluttered. There are a lotta loose ends in the reminiscences. For me, there was too much looning about in local pubs or drinking aimlessly inside the fake-church that Weird lives in, looking out over the city of Glasgow.
I can see why that looning around in pubs is in the book -- because what happens in those incidents forces Weird to reveal his true identity & past to the new friends he's found in Glasgow -- who don't realize he was once a world-famous rock star. And that revelation leads Weird on to the steps he must take to reach what he hopes is happiness at end of the book.
But. I don't understand why he feels so guilty. He says he felt guilty as a child, long before his music career. Bad parenting? We meet his mother, she's not so bad, & he tells us his father's a brute, but we never meet him.
This is also the 3rd book I've read in a row where the message is that achieving artistic success doesn't lead anywhere. At the end, Weird's desperate search for peace of mind leads him to an old love & a new instant family.
I can understand the importance of that, of the need for friends & love in your life. But. This embrace of middle-class values is what he'd been trying to get AWAY from since before the start of his music career.
Just once I'd like to read a rock&roll novel in which it's affirmed that artistic success (& the financial comfort that can go with it) DOES lead somewhere -- that creating art can transcend life's more mundane worries. That it DOES lead somewhere good all by itself -- that artistic achievement & success doesn't just open the door to drug abuse & alcoholism & other stupid pointless pursuits. Otherwise, why bother? If drinking & drugs & enough leisure time to truly screw-up your life is all people really want, why does anybody try to do anything creative? There must be easier ways to make a living....
Certainly if I had Weird's money I'd find something better to do with it than drinking too much & sitting in my fake-church, looking out over Glasgow, feeling sorry for myself. (Not the drinking too much part, anyway.)
This is an above-average novel that never gets near what creating MEANS or how those songs that so badly needed to come out ended-up changing Weird's life. Or if they did. He might've gone on the same way even without success. But what did those songs MEAN to him? We never find out.
It's no wonder songwriters have trouble explaining what a song's "about" or where it "came from" -- it HAD to come out. There it is. What more can you say? It's beyond explanation -- you'll havta settle for The Thing Itself. & if it affects you, if it somehow changes your life, that's between You and It.
I held off reviewing this book for a few days, & thought about it instead, trying to get a handle on what dissatisfied me about it. I'm also aware that Rastro, who often comments here, is a fan of ESPEDAIR STREET, & I didn't want to miss or misunderstand anything that he might call me out for.
I think what dissatisfies me is that I always want to know more. I want to think that people with talent would do something WITH it once they've hit the jackpot -- that they wouldn't just piss it away thru drinking & drugging & bed-hopping & shopping.
I'd like to think that songs mean something to their creators -- that they aren't just a means to obtain another high. I'd like to think that a creative person would be true to their muse, that there's a REASON why someone has been given a gift, & that an artist's job is to explore that gift until they can't use it anymore. I don't know of any higher calling.
But artists havta live in the Real World, too.
...OK, so I'm starry-eyed & idealistic. I don't drink or smoke or drug, so I can't relate to any of that. But I can relate to the creating. Very much. & I want to know MORE -- How? Why? What does it mean? Where did it come from? How did expressing this help make sense out of your world?
Or did you just wanna jot down some simple words to go with a catchy tune?

Coming eventually: Don DeLillo's GREAT JONES STREET, Laurence Gonzales's JAMBEAUX, & more music.

It's just bizness II

Here's the 2nd consecutive book I've read in which the Message is that your Dream Job or Dream Career may ultimately not B worth the effort U put in2 it. I hava hard time arguing w/ this.
Philip Norman's EVERYONE'S GONE TO THE MOON (1995) follows the misadventures of young newspaper reporter Louis Brennan as he moves from a nothing job on an undistinguished daily paper somewhere in the North of England in the mid-1960s 2 his Dream Job on the LONDON SUNDAY DISPATCH MAGAZINE (apparently modeled on the real-life LONDON SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE).
Getting his Dream Job is unbelievably EZ 4 Louis. The real challenge comes when he hasta adapt 2 the Reality that Xists at his Dream Job. Bcos even tho Louis gets a chance 2 interview J.R.R. Tolkien, Yoko Ono, Jagger & Richards, Marianne Faithfull, Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton & more, that doesn't necessarily mean all his work gets published. Or that Louis gets even happier when it does.
Turns out his fellow staffers at the SUNDAY DISPATCH MAG are almost all lazy, stuck-up, backstabbing prima donnas, who do suprisingly little work 4 a mag that hasta come out each wk.
Louis latches-on 2 an editor/mentor who at 1st Cms like a really great guy -- supporting & inspiring Louis 2 do more than is required, 2 really shoot 4 the moon. Not that Louis needs much Ncouraging -- the writing is always blissfully EZ 4 him. It never lets him down.
It's PEOPLE who let him down, every time.
Turns out his editor/mentor is 2-faced & lies about almost EVERYTHING. & Louis hasa sorta-girlfriend who it turns out is even WORSE.
It helps that the book takes place during the era of "Swinging London," so it doesn't Cm like a stretch that Louis should Nd up attending a recording session 4 the Beatles' "A Day in the Life," or at a party where Jagger & Richards get arrested 4 drug possession. & Norman was a reporter 4 the LONDON SUNDAY TIMES at the Nd of the '60s, so I'm sure he knows whereof he speaks. The "superstar" guests all Cm like real down-2-Earth people, totally normal & Blievable.
The book is funny & suprising & will definitely carry U along -- & if U've ever quit a really bad, stressful job & remember how great U felt while walking away, the Happy Nding 4 Louis will ring true 4 U.
There R a couple minor problems. There is a LOT of writing about fashion in this book -- understandable, Bcos hip London fashion was a big deal back in the mid-'60s. Norman often Dscribes in great Dtail what a character is wearing -- 2 the point where U may not know what a character looks like, but U have no doubt about what they're dressed in.
Also: Louis has no real inner life. He doesn't Cm 2 think much about the various Btrayals that R inflicted on him. Up til the point at the Nd of the book when he quits his dream job, he just continues 2 B stabbed in the heart repeatedly by his so-called friends. Tho we can C that things upset him, he seldom XPRESSES it 2 NE1. & most of us woulda blown-up or told somebody off LONG B4 Louis does.
We also never get 2 READ NE of Louis's interviews/articles w/ famous folks.
Nevertheless, MOON is such a vivid picture of mid-'60s Swinging London that it's well worth reading -- especially if yr an Anglophile, music fan, frustrated writer... If U've ever worked on NE kind of publication, U'll probly getta kick out of it.
It was good enuf that I went ahead & skimmed thru Norman's Beatles biography, SHOUT! (1981) -- a pretty solid & Dtailed recounting of the Beatles' story, tho if U already know mosta the story (& who doesn't?) I don't think it has much that's new, tho mayB it did at the time....
Also, I learned something from MOON: Amy Johnson, who's referred-2 in Al Stewart's song "Flying Sorcery" (on his YEAR OF THE CAT album), was a real person -- a pioneering English flier who held records 4 solo flights from Britain 2 Australia, & who died in a plane crash in the Thames Estuary in 1941. I thot mayB Amy was just Amelia Earhart under another name, but not so. Guess I don't know my British history as well as I thot....

It's not personal, it's just bizness....

This is disappointing. 4 its 1st 2/3rd's, John Eskow's SMOKESTACK LIGHTNING (1980) is a solid, involving, very-well-written rock&roll novel, as good in its Dtail & Dscription of life in an up&coming R&B/bar band as the 1st 5 chapters of Jesse Sublett's ROCK CRITIC MURDERS.
But w/ the unXpected, un4shadowed murder of Ollie the Roadie -- who's bn protecting the band since pg. 1 of the book -- Eskow loses control of the story & never regains it. The last 3rd spirals down in2 cliches & plotlessness, & tho there's a bittersweet 1-nite reunion scene at the Nd, it's not enuf. Nothing has NE payoff.
Which is 2 bad, Bcos Eskow was on2 a very good thing.
Singer/lyricist Jimmy Caine & brilliant but ever-more-shaky lead guitarist Alan Landreaux head-up NYC bar band Cakewalk, who score a break & start attracting record-co attn just when they thot their ride was over. An oddball Col. Tom Parker-wannabe named Harry Seely offers 2 manage them & guarantees them a record contract within a yr. It happens even faster.
The early chapters, showing Cakewalk in their element, playing in smoky bars & dives around the NYC area, R by far the best part of the book. Eskow has a good eye 4 Dtail, moves his story along w/o straining, & has a way of closing off a good scene w/ a telling line of Dscription or dialogue.
Caine, Landreaux & wisecracking drummer Mikey Martelli R real, believable characters w/ their own odd quirks, bigger than the story they Nd up trapped in. Bassist Paul Baker is a quiet cipher, basically the same at the Nd of the book as he was at the Bginning. The women the band members get close 2 R fully-realized people w/ their own drives & goals, 2.
It's only at the mgmt & record-co Nd that things get a little unreal. Seely is clear as a "type," but he doesn't come across as a real person -- 2 many odd, stagey hangups that don't Cm real. & record-co Bad Guy Wayne Harmon is just a big shadowy-evil presence, clearly in the book Bcos the story needed a Bad Guy.
The story follows Cakewalk thru their last few NYC shows, thru their sessions 2 record their 1st album, & thru their 1st nationwide tour -- during which things go weird & Landreaux is eventually 4ced out of the band 4 what Cms like stupid reasons.
Landreaux goes steadily more nuts. Meanwhile, Caine holds Cakewalk 2gether, & the band records a 2nd, more-commercial album. But the band's growing success doesn't make Caine happy.
Landreaux Nds up heading another band, playing 1-nite gigs until sometime in the future when he won't B able 2 do it NEmore. Caine loses his soul reaching 4 fame & $$$. The only happy people at the Nd of the book R Martelli & his wife Carla, who have made enuf $$$ 2 live comfortably, settle down & raise a family.
& the murder-conspiracy plot that develops in the last 1/2 of the book doesn't help. Seely Nds up w/ a trashed career when 2 people R killed thru the conspiracy, & Harmon -- the Bad Guy -- Gets Away With It. But 4 WHAT? 2 protect a stash of world-class bootleg recordings -- that nothing's ever done with? Nothing has NE payoff.
MayB Eskow didn't have a big, dramatic, fireworks-filled way 2 Nd his novel. But the disappointment Xpressed by mosta the characters & the brief reunion at the very Nd Rn't enuf, either. MayB Real Life turns out this way when U discover yr career wasn't worth the effort U put in2 it, but a successful novel requires something more, something bigger. Thru the final 3rd of the book it's obvious Eskow didn't have it. & I can't figure out what he was aiming 4.
If U liked the portrait of bar-band life shown in Sublett's ROCK CRITIC MURDERS, there's a lot more of it here. The 1st 2/3rd's of the book is well worth tracking down.

Double yr pleasure, double yr fun....

If U feel really brave & daring, I've started -- yes -- another blog, called THE GAS NAZI!, located at www.thegasnazi.blogspot.com/ -- in an effort 2 confront some of my work-related Issues thru the power of comedy.
Some of my whining about work had bn taking over here recently, so I thot I'd Xorcise my work frustrations by making fun of them -- elsewhere. + I guess I needed a new challenge. Or a new Xcuse 2 write. Or something.
I'd bn wanting 2 do this 4 awhile. I was gonna create a new identity 2 ("THE GAS NAZI!" -- couldn't wait 2 make comments w/ that name attached), but somehow I missed the boat on that 1.
NEway, I'm sure U'll all wanna play along. I THINK it's funny. That's what I've got in mind NEway. Either comedy or outrage. Real Life can B pretty funny & pretty outrageous sometimes. & I've got some pretty good stories 2 tell after 6+ yrs of putting up w/ where I work.
& meanwhile, I'll try 2 get back 2 reviewing more music & books here. Really. Whether the sun comes back out or not. Which apparently it has Dcided NOT 2 do....
I should also note that THE GAS NAZI! is written in something MUCH closer 2 Real English....
More soon! -- TAD.

"You Should Have Listened to Al"

I got hooked on Scottish folkie/art-rocker Al Stewart pretty early in my album-buying addiction, back in the days when I was buying things like THE BEATLES '62-'70 & the WHITE ALBUM & ABBEY ROAD, & Boston's 1st & Kansas's LEFTOVERTURE & Queen's NIGHT AT THE OPERA & Blue Oyster Cult's AGENTS OF FORTUNE, etc.
In fact, a mix of Al's YEAR OF THE CAT & Kraftwerk's AUTOBAHN helped inspire me 2 write my 1st short-fiction piece that ever got rejected NEwhere -- the story was called "Highwaymen" & was written sometime in early 1977.... (The 1st short story I ever had published was partly inspired by Pink Floyd's live "Astronome Domine" & Happy the Man's "Wind-Up Doll Day Wind" -- the story was called "Waiting for the Wind," was written in early 1979 & published in early '80, & Good Luck finding it....)
NEway, I heard "Year of the Cat" on the radio & liked the cinematic sweep of it + the guitar & sax, & I bot the album after Cing the kinda cute cat-themed album cover -- that was back in the day when my friends & I sometimes bot albums just Bcos they had neat covers ... *SIGH* ... Gryphon's RED QUEEN TO GRYPHON THREE & Genesis's A TRICK OF THE TALE would B good Xamples.
NEway. Bot the album & discovered it wasn't that much like the title song at all. What I mainly heard in a lot of it was a sorta desolation ... appealing desolation, but everything Cmd rather cold & distant, especially on songs like the spooky "One Stage Before," the ominous "Broadway Hotel," & the Dtached "Midas Shadow." There were also greats like the dramatic, mysterious "Lord Grenville," & the cinematic "On the Border," which shoulda bn a bigger hit. I was a sucker 4 "Flying Sorcery," which I thot was about Amelia Earhart, but mayB it was just about a girlfriend of Al's who liked 2 fly.
The album wasn't all great. There was thin, silly stuff like "Sand in My Shoes" & "If it Doesn't Come Naturally, Leave It" -- which un4tun8ly Bcame sorta the wave of the future 4 Al. What I mayB didn't realize then was that some of that distant, spooky sound I reacted 2 mighta bn provided by Alan Parsons' production. But I barely noticed production or musicians' credits back then, & on YEAR OF THE CAT they were down inna corner in teeny tiny type....
Sometime after that I grabbed a cheap copy of Al's earlier 1974 concept album PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE, & I think the 1st time I ever heard it was in the living room of my friend Thom West's house around Xmas '77. I have never bn able 2 get in2 the 1st side of PP&F, but the 2nd side's amazing: "Roads to Moscow" is more gorgeous desolation, w/ a steely gray Nding that will send chills down yr spine. "Terminal Eyes" is a cute psychedelic takeoff. "Nostradamus" is 9 great, swirling mins of guitar & moodiness about the prophet's predictions 4 the Nd of the world, & tho I coulda done w/o the opera singer at the Nd, the rest of it's almost perfect.
I resisted TIME PASSAGES when it came out in '78, tho I bot it NEway. I remember Bing disappointed -- it was 2 smooth, 2 slick, 2 close 2 Adult Contemporary/EZ Listening. The title song wore-out real quick. So did the follow-up, "Song on the Radio." It was obvious Al was developing a hit 4mula -- 6-min-long epics w/ room 4 a semi-wild sax solo in the middle. Hits were fine, but I thot it was 2 bad Al was getting homogenized in2 a hit machine so quickly.
This disappointment made me overlook the good stuff on the album: "Valentina Way" has a great guitar lead & is as close as Al ever got 2 rock&roll. "Life in Dark Water" is spooky & hypnotic. The portrait "Almost Lucy" shoulda bn a hit; very nice choruses. "Timeless Skies" sums up Al's songs & approach in 3 mins. & "End of the Day" is a pretty nice closer. But: "Palace of Versailles" is boring & "Man for All Seasons" is WAY over-written & wears out its welcome.
Good Al was VERY good, so I kept Xploring. Found a cheap copy of his '75 album MODERN TIMES -- his 1st w/ producer Alan Parsons. If PP&F was only 1/2 a success, MODERN TIMES showed mayB what Al needed was the push toward commerciality provided by Parsons. I still think MODERN TIMES is Al's best, most consistent album, w/ a 2nd side as great as side 2 of PP&F. The 1st side is standard+ Al, w/ only the lead-off "Carol" really hitting 4-star levels. But "Sirens of Titan" is a nice nod 2 Kurt Vonnegut, & the other 3 songs R good portraits: "What's Going On?" Cms 2 poke fun at summa Al's friends, "Not the One" & "Next Time" R companion pieces about breakups & lonely lives.
But the 2nd side, whoo.... "Apple Cider Reconstitution" is Al's best-ever piece of silliness, w/ a great rolling melody & marvelous meaningless choruses. "The Dark and Rolling Sea" is its Xact opposite, a tale of pirates & Btrayal w/ a very dark Nding. The title song is an epic about Al meeting an old friend in a pub & reminiscing ... only the old friend doesn't want 2 reminisce. I have my theories about what happens at the Nd (it's not real clear from the lyrics), but there's some Xcellent western-style guitar work from Tim Renwick that the song rides out on. A superb side.
I kept looking. Picked-up the budget-priced THE EARLY YEARS, featuring songs from Al's 1st 4 albums, but Xcept 4 the folkie ditty "You Should Have Listened to Al" & the almost-good "Electric Los Angeles Sunset," I couldn't get in2 it. Tho I was impressed that stars like Jimmy Page & Rick Wakeman played on these tracks, the songs just didn't Cm FINISHED, somehow. Something Cmd 2 B missing....
Al ditched Parsons & co-produced 1980's 24 CARROTS. Some of it was even closer 2 EZ Listening than TIME PASSAGES -- the minor hit "Midnight Rocks" reverted back 2 the old hit-single-4mula. But there was good stuff here 2, like the dramatic opening spy saga "Running Man," & the gorgeous folkie "Rocks in the Ocean," which shoulda bn a hit. Most of the 2nd side was pretty great, even the overlooked closers "Paint by Numbers" & "Optical Illusions." & then there was a classic piece of silliness, "Mondo Sinistro," in which Al Cmd 2 B making fun of himself & his obsessions, in a rather-2-effeminate voice....
Al followed-up w/ a 2-disc set called LIVE/INDIAN SUMMER, 3 sides live & 1 side of pretty 4gettable studio trax. But it didn't sell much, Dspite including a rather good live version of "Nostradamus" which incorporated a new oil-shortage-era # called "The World Comes to Riyadh." Arista Records dropped Al soon after.
I've only heard bits & pieces of Al since then. RUSSIANS AND AMERICANS included a sad farewell 2 a dead friend called "Incident on 4th Street," & a dumb then-current-news/topical rewrite of the '60s hit "1-2-3." THE LAST DAYS OF THE CENTURY Cmd kinda tired, but included another classic piece of silliness, "Red Toupee" -- sorta a "Mondo Sinistro, Part 2."
Lost touch w/ Al after that. Last I heard, he still tours, per4ming in small clubs & adding 2 his wine cellar. His CD-best-of SONGS FROM THE RADIO was pretty well-chosen, but the liner notes almost told me more about the songs than I wanted 2 know. The package DID include "Roads to Moscow" & the live "Nostradamus," tho nothing from MODERN TIMES....
If U've never heard Al, he's worth a try. Tho not as deep as Nick Drake & definitely not heavy rock& roll, if U're an art-rock or British folk fan, a lotta Al's middle-period stuff will likely do its magic on U....

Nothing 2 read while I'm eating....

I know this isn't Xactly a world-crisis-level topic or NEthing, but has NE1 Out There ever noticed what a shocking shortage there is of books U can read while sitting up in bed eating dinner?
MayB this isn't 2 worrisome a topic 4 those of U who stare at the TV while U eat. But I'm not that sort, much of the time.
Or if U actually have a dinner table U can plop yr plate of food upon. Which I don't.
Normal rack-sized paperbacks don't work 2 well while U're trying 2 eat yr dinner in bed. Unless U pull yr knees up & sorta balance yr plate on yr belly -- then U can hold the book in 1 hand while U fork-in the food w/ the other, & stabilize the plate with yr thighs.
But what if it's a really thick rack-sized paperback? It's just freakin awkward.
Of course just about NE book will work if yr just munching a sandwich, but 4 discussion purposes here let's say U actually warmed up something in the microwave & R trying not 2 spill it while U try 2 read.
Then it gets a little hairier.
Summa my faverite books ever R those I can prop across my lap or whatever while I'm trying 2 eat, & they don't fight me or make me wish I could grow another arm & hand 2 hold the book & turn the pgs while I eat.
Large-4mat art books & refrence-style books R great 4 this. Hipgnosis's WALK AWAY RENE book of album-cover art is very good grazing reading matter -- colorful, lively, & there's some great jokes ... long as U don't choke on yr food. Roger Dean's VIEWS is even more gorgeous (more album-cover art), but there's way fewer jokes.
John Clute & Peter Nicholls' SCIENCE FICTION ENCYCLOPEDIA works equally well 4 meal-time browsing -- lotsa good info, lively opinions, & U prop it open & it STAYS IN 1 SPOT while U read.
Dominic Priore's Beach Boys/SMILE-album scrapbook LOOK! LISTEN! VIBRATE! SMILE! is also good 4 mealtime browsing -- there's plenty in it, it's actually packed full of info, & the large 4mat guarantees U won't lose yr place Btween bites.
The SALON.COM GUIDE TO CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS also gets high marks in this area, 4 its wide pgs & sprawling layout, & 4 the massive quantities of info & lively opinions within. It doesn't get boring & leave U looking 4 something ELSE 2 read 1/2way thru yr meal.
Nick Logan & Bob Woffinden's original ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ROCK also got high marks in this area -- I've browsed thru it so much over the 30-some yrs I've had it around that my copy fell apart LONG ago. Nicholas Schaffner's Pink Floyd bio SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS also gets high marks in this most-discerning, most-discriminating area of literary criticism.
David Leaf's THE BEACH BOYS AND THE CALIFORNIA MYTH & Byron Preiss's THE BEACH BOYS also get high marks in this area. So does a hardback copy of Lester Bangs' PSYCHOTIC REACTIONS AND CARBURETOR DUNG, Robert Christgau's various CONSUMER GUIDE books (my softcover copy of the '70s book fell apart AGES ago), Dave Marsh's Who bio BEFORE I GET OLD & his huge collection of 45 reviews THE HEART OF ROCK AND SOUL, Robert Draper's ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE: THE UNCENSORED HISTORY, Donald Clarke's PENGUIN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POPULAR MUSIC, & just a very few others.
The 4mat is key here: The print hasta B big enuf so that even a blind guy like me can C it while peering over my dinner plate. MayB this is why art & photo books work better, but I'm more addicted 2 large-4mat non-fiction.
1 book that definitely does NOT qualify 4 this list is the ALL MUSIC GUIDE TO ROCK -- 4 1 obvious reason: The print's 2 freakin small! I can't C it from over my plate; I've gotta put my nose right in2 it 2 read the 8-point tiny type. (It IS stuffed w/ lotsa good info, tho....)
Looking at my bookshelves, I see I have NO large-4mat novels, so none qualify 4 this list. Course I don't know of 2 many novels that R published in a large, sprawling, fold-open 4mat. Not 2 many that R published 4 grown-ups NEway....
What brot all this up is I'm about 2 go warm-up some dinner, & I have no idea what I'm gonna B browsing while I eat. Nothing new, obviously.
So here's a vote 4 more large-4mat books, books that fold open & STAY THERE, books that even blind guys like me can read while trying not 2 spill dinner....

The $6-billion cyborg

It has Bcome necessary 2 tell U about Frederik Pohl's 1976 science-fiction novel MAN PLUS. It's pretty clever. We liked this novel. We liked the sly tone in which it was written. We liked the know-it-all 3rd-person-omniscient narrators. We liked the happy Nding.
MAN PLUS is the step-by-step story of how astronaut Roger Torraway gets molded in2 the 1st man who can live unaided on the surface of the planet Mars. The cyborg-ized Roger Bcomes the 1st step in establishing a human colony on the Red Planet.
But in order 2 do that, Roger undergoes a series of surgeries that leave him looking like some kinda gargoyle -- w/ big, bulging eyes & bat-like wings upon his back.
It's not EZ. But Roger's a good, solid, strong, tough guy. He can adjust. He can handle the pain & stress.
As it turns out, all his friends & co-workers on the Man Plus project R good, solid, strong people 2. They give him a lotta support. Even the guy who's secretly sleeping w/ Roger's wife.
This is an intresting novel in terms of texture. It's almost Dceptively simple, involving, strait-4ward, low-key, Blievable & realistic thruout. There R only a coupla places where Pohl mayB shifts in2 melodrama 2 goose the plot along just a little bit. The rest could almost B an episode from that old TV show "The Six Million Dollar Man." Only better.
& summa the lines R laff-out-loud funny. Like what the changed Roger says in response 2 his estranged wife's reaction after Roger unXpectedly climbs in thru her bedroom window.
Or when the President offers 2 kick any ass that gives Roger a hard time.
We had read this novel 2wice B4 & weren't that impressed -- when it 1st was serialized in THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION in early 1976 we were carried along but got kinda bored. We needed more action in R SF back then, more fireworks. We re-read the book in paperback in the early '90s & were impressed by the sly tone & by the strong characterization, but were still kinda unNthusiastic. + we didn't really "get" the Nding.
This reading, however, rang the bell. Perhaps it's taken us 30+ yrs 2 appreciate the subtleties at work here. MayB we've just read more.
We don't think this is Pohl's best novel -- his book GATEWAY, issued a yr after MAN PLUS, is still R choice 4 the author's best work, & is among the top dozen-or-so SF novels ever, we feel. But this is pretty impressive work, in its subtle, low-key, sly way.
The Science Fiction Writers of America musta thot so, 2 -- they gave MAN PLUS the Nebula Award 4 best SF novel of its yr.
We were just grateful 4 the happy Nding. & there's an Xtra kicker at the Nd when the know-all 3rd-person-omniscient narrators R finally revealed. + there's room 4 a sequel, which we assume Pohl was never planning 2 write....
Pohl here makes novel-writing look almost effortlessly EZ, which we trust it is not. But mayB we should give it a try....

U never give me yr $$$....

Here's the flipside 2 Mark Shipper's PAPERBACK WRITER, which I reviewed here a few days back: Peter McCabe & Robert D. Schonfeld's APPLE TO THE CORE (1972) purports 2 B a book about the financial & bizness troubles that broke up the Beatles, centering on their mismanagement of the chaotic Apple Records label.
But it takes the authors 80 pgs 2 even talk about what happened at Apple. The 1st 1/3rd of the book recounts the Beatles' story & how central their late mgr Brian Epstein was 2 their early success. McCabe & Schonfeld's position is that 1nce the Beatles stopped touring in 1966 & Epstein died late in 1967, the Fab 4 Bgan 2 fragment & the troubles w/ Apple just made their breakup that much more inevitable.
The material on the chaotic day-2-day operations at Apple is actually pretty thin. Apple was a supposedly altruistic effort by the Beatles 2 discover & nurture talent they thot was Bing overlooked by the Ntertainment bizness. But instead Apple Bcame the best place in London 2 stop 4 free drinks & food, & sometimes more.
All this is Xplored in MUCH more hilariously shocking Dtail in Richard DiLello's screamingly funny THE LONGEST COCKTAIL PARTY (1972) -- in which U get a close-up look at all the drinking, drugging & theft that happened during an avg day at the Apple office. Typewriters, tape recorders, food, drinks, record albums, tin off the roof -- cars! All gone! & no1 knows where they went.
There's no question the Beatles got robbed blind -- that even the group w/ more $$$ than Ghod didn't have THAT much 2 give away.
There is brief discussion here about some of the talent that got away -- James Taylor, Mary Hopkin, both of whom eventually felt ignored by Apple. Un4tun8ly there is no mention of Badfinger -- 1 of the most tragic stories of the era, whose real story started long after this book was published.
The rest of the book follows the breakup of the Beatles partnership thru the English court system, & Dtails how people like music publisher Dick James, media mogul Lord Lew Grade & attorney Allen Klein in their various ways wrenched control of the Beatles' songs outta the group's hands. These R the early chapters in the story of how Michael Jackson Nded up w/ control of the Beatles' catalog & how John Lennon's "Revolution" wound-up Bing used in a Nike commercial.
Old Beatles friends & associates like John Dunbar (who introduced John 2 Yoko), Chris O'Dell (a 4mer Apple office assistant) & even 4mer Apple press officer Derek Taylor R quoted at some length, & don't come across very well, as if they still had some axe 2 grind yrs after the events. The authors Cmta almost have their own grumpy agenda, as if it's dirt-simple obvious 2 them that the Beatles needed strong, unified mgmt & that w/o it their eventual breakup was equally obvious.
This isn't Xactly an Njoyable book, if NE1 cares at this late date, but the business reporting is pretty clear, Dtailed & solid -- tho complicated. U may learn a few things about the Beatles U didn't know, but they'd all B from a business standpoint. The authors also may B among the few reporters who have good things 2 say about Allen Klein. I'd instead recommend THE LONGEST COCKTAIL PARTY, which is a LOT more fun 2 read....

Some Bhind-the-scenes notes

IT'S GETTING BETTER: Spring has FINALLY arrived in Wash., apparently. The sun has bn out 4 over a wk, temps 2day R over 70, I'm waking up earlier & feel WAY better & more NRgetic, don't Cm 2 need as much coffee (only 2 big cups 2day). Cing the sun now & then sure makes a big diffrence. It's pretty amazing really. I thot the winter was never gonna Nd....

ON THE PHYSICAL PROCESS OF BLOGGING: 4 the past 7 mo's & 120-some posts I've bn thinking this is a great little laptop, if only I could actually type while it was on my lap. Haven't got10 there yet, but previously -- in order 4 the laptop 2 suck-up enuf Internet signals 2 actually transmit -- I've had 2 set the laptop up atop my old computer & type standing up. Which after some nites running my ass off at work WAS THE VERY LAST THING I WANTED 2 DO. But I did it NEway, Bcos 1nce I get in2 it I don't care if my feet & legs go numb as long as my brain & fingers keep working....
However, something's changed. MayB it's Bcos the weather's gotten much better, but the last few posts (since the review of PAPERBACK WRITER) have bn typed while SITTING AT MY DESK, which at least takes some stress offa my feet.... If this trend continues, now that I've gotten thru that massive science fiction-reading memoir, I might even try 2 condense summa my off-the-wall Air Force Xperiences, or even-more-off-the-wall Newspapering Xperiences. As long as the sun hangs around, look out. & speakin of memoirs....

ON PRESENTATION: 90-yr-old Frederik Pohl, 1 of the great writers & editors of SF, has bn writing a blog 4 awhile now, called "The Way the Future Blogs" (www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/). Fred calls it "an on-line memoir," since it's sorta a rough-draft 4 another autobiography he may write eventually, 2 follow-up his Xcellent late-'70s memoir, THE WAY THE FUTURE WAS.
Fred doesn't need NE publicity help from me -- his blog has already earned him a Hugo Award nomination 4 Best Fan Writer, 1 of the few awards he hasn't already won -- but I was impressed w/ his blog just cos he's so relaxed about it all. He's not worried about whether it's Great Art or even Deep & Meaningful, he's just having a good time w/ it, reminiscing about many of the writers he's worked w/ over the years (like Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke), & just writing whatever pops in2 his head on a particular day. It's pretty cool. I like his approach.
4 awhile I was all worried whether NE1 would read the babbling I do here, or share summa the same memries, or B able 2 relate 2 summa what I'm writing about -- or whether it was all just 4 mememe. It probly is. Ghod knows I don't have the material or Xperiences that Fred Pohl does. But I'm 2 the point now I'm just trying 2 get summa this stuff out while I still REMEMBER it. I figure NEthing that keeps me writing is probly a Good Thing. So: Full speed ahead....

COMING SOON, I PROMISE: More music....