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....

I 4got a few things.... (Part 5)

I probly would never have continued my addiction as a science fiction fan w/o doses of annual BEST SCIENCE FICTION OF THE YEAR short-story collections edited by people like Terry Carr, Gardner Dozois, David Hartwell, Donald A. Wollheim....
I got hooked by Carr's collections early. By late 1973 I was addicted 2 his BEST #2, which Xposed me 2 stories I might notta found NEwhere else, like Graeme Leman's hilarious "Conversational Mode" & James Tiptree Jr.'s spacey & disturbing "Painwise." Carr was a really reliable editor -- could always B counted on 2 include at least a coupla award-winning stories in his books, + some overlooked gems U might never find otherwise. Over the yrs summa the great stuff he reprinted included George R.R. Martin's "Meathouse Man," Bruce McAllister's "When the Fathers Go," Barry N. Malzberg's best story "La Croix (The Cross)," Connie Willis's shocking "All My Darling Daughters," Kim Stanley Robinson's great alternative-Hiroshima story "The Lucky Strike," Philip K. Dick's "Frozen Journey," William Gibson's "Burning Chrome," & many more. Carr wrote great story-intros & got chattier as he went on....
Carr started-out co-editing an annual Year's Best w/ Donald A. Wollheim 4 Ace Books back in the '60s. I tripped over these early in my addiction. Among the greats they reprinted were Roger Zelazny's "For a Breath I Tarry," Harlan Ellison's "A Boy and His Dog" (& mosta Harlan's other award-winners), Gerald Jonas's "The Shaker Revival," R.A. Lafferty's "Continued on Next Rock," Thomas M. Disch's "The Number You Have Reached," & more. Until the field opened up a little in the '70s, Carr & Wollheim Cmd like the place 2 go 4 the best stories. (Judith Merril had a wider range, but I didn't discover her Year's Best collections til much later.) But the team broke up in the early '70s. Carr carried on the high quality.
I thot Wollheim was a bit of a stick-in-the-mud on his own -- a good editor, but pretty conservative. Still, in his annual bests (started in 1972 w/ his own DAW Books company), Wollheim reprinted greats like Ellison's "The Deathbird" & "With Virgil Oddum at the East Pole," Michael Bishop's "Death and Designation Among the Asadi," Robert Silverberg's "Homefaring," Ted Reynolds' "Through All Your Houses Wandering," lotsa work by Tiptree, & more.
By the early '80s, Dozois was the man 2 go 2 w/ his HUGE Year's Best collections. These not only included TONS of stories (the series continues 2day), but a lengthy overview of the year in SF & a LONG list of Honorable Mentions. Among the greats he brot 2 my attn were Kim Stanley Robinson's "Green Mars," "Mother Goddess of the World" & "A History of the 20th Century with Illustrations," Lewis Shiner's "Love in Vain" & "Jeff Beck," Pat Cadigan's "It Was the Heat," William Gibson's "The Winter Market," Bruce Sterling's "Dori Bangs," Michael Swanwick's "The Dragon Line" & "The Edge of the World," Robert Silverberg's "House of Bones," Bruce McAllister's "Dream Baby," Karen Joy Fowler's "The Faithful Companion at 40," Gwyneth Jones's "Red Sonia and Lessingham in Dreamland," & many more.
A coupla yrs after Dozois got his big annual rolling, Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling adopted the same 4mat 4 the same publisher & started their annual YEAR'S BEST FANTASY & HORROR, which also featured lotsa great stuff. Tho they sometimes repeated summa Dozois's choices, they also reprinted lotsa Xcellent short work by Kathe Koja, Dan Simmons' stunning "Two Minutes Forty-Five Seconds," Michael Blumlein's "Bestseller," David J. Schow's "Not from Around Here," Greg Egan's "Scatter My Ashes," John M. Ford's "Preflash," Ian McDonald's "Unfinished Portrait of the King of Pain by Van Gogh," & many more.
I was also addicted 4 awhile 2 Karl Edward Wagner's YEAR'S BEST HORROR series 4 DAW Books, especially summa the later 1's where he got more adventurous, reprinting things like Gregory Nicoll's "Dead Air," twisted short pieces from tiny small-press magazines, & other off-the-wall stuff. But many of his choices never Cmd quite scary enuf, or I missed the point.
In the last decade, the place where I've bn turning 4 my short-fiction best-of fix is David Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer's YEAR'S BEST SF, now up 2 about #15 in the series. They sorta strike me as like the Dozois annuals only on a smaller scale: U can actually carry the book around w/ U. They've reprinted greats like Rick Moody's "The Albertine Notes," Cory Doctorow's "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth," Alastair Reynolds' "Beyond the Aquila Rift," the Gwyneth Jones story listed above, & more. I keep looking 4 back issues -- which I had 1nce & stupidly sold-off when I needed $$$ a few yrs back -- but I don't C 2 many of the old Hartwell collections in used bookstores NEmore. MayB SF fans out there know how solid the books R.... I still look at the new annuals whenever they come out, at least long enuf 2 C who's on the contents pg ... even if I wait til they show-up at the 2nd-hand stores B4 I buy....

"Out in2 the Real World" (Part 4)

...So, while I may have slowly drifted away from the science fiction magazines, I didn't stop reading SF, I just turned more toward novels & short-story collections.
I read Robert Silverberg's brilliant THE BOOK OF SKULLS right after surviving Air Force basic training. While spending my 1st 3 yrs in the AF in San Antonio, Texas, I found 1 particular bookstore that had LOTS of old SF anthologies, & at 1 time I hadda pretty complete collection of old "issues" of ORBIT, NEW DIMENSIONS, UNIVERSE & some others.
ORBIT was pretty spacey, fairly Xperimental & obscure, not always understandable 2 yr avg high-school-educated fairly-intelligent frustrated-wanna-B-writer like me -- but ORBIT also printed occasional outstanding stories like R.A. Lafferty's "Continued on Next Rock," Kate Wilhelm's "Baby You Were Great," & Richard Wilson's "Mother to the World," along w/ pretty-good near-misses like Norman Spinrad's "The Big Flash." But folks who thot there was 2 much arty messin around in the avg ORBIT story hadda point.
NEW DIMENSIONS opened its 1st issue w/ Gardner Dozois's brilliant "A Special Kind of Morning," but I never read another story as good in NE other ish. Editor Bob Silverberg got all the stars -- Ursula K. LeGuin's "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow" (if U've seen AVATAR U should read this story 4 comparison) & "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas," sevral above-avg stories by James Tiptree Jr., + Felix C. Gottschalk's best story "The Examination," Michael Swanwick's 1st story "The Feast of St. Janis," Barry N. Malzberg's "On the Air," Daniel P. Dern's "Yes Sir, That's My," & more. But there was never NEthing else w/ quite the awesome effect of that Dozois novella that set the series off.
Terry Carr's UNIVERSE was another Xample of his editing skill -- he started off editing Ace's "Specials" SF novel line in the late '60s. Carr found lotsa good stuff, including Lucius Shepherd's "Journey South from Thousand Willows," Harlan Ellison's "The Wine Has Been Left Open Too Long and the Memory Has Gone Flat," Howard Waldrop's silly "The Ugly Chickens," & lots more. I thot Carr was a lot more "playful" an editor than Silverberg or ORBIT's Damon Knight, but he could also make some really dark choices -- C if U can track down Carter Scholz's "In Reticulum."
Lou Aronica's later FULL SPECTRUM anthologies had greats like Norman Spinrad's "Journals of the Plague Years," Michael Blumlein's "The Thing Itself," Michael Swanwick's "The Edge of the World," & Kim Stanley Robinson's "The Part of Us That Loves," among other good stuff. But FS never had Carr & Silverberg's style of chatty author intros, & I missed that approach.
When not trying 2 collect anthologies, I was still grabbing novels that looked or sounded good -- Roger Zelazny's CREATURES OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS (1 of my faves Dspite a rough start & finish); James Tiptree Jr.'s BRIGHTNESS FALLS FROM THE AIR (really 2 Cute, but pretty moving); William Gibson's NEUROMANCER; John Brunner's THE SHEEP LOOK UP, an Nd-of-the-world/pollution novel which I read in clean, healthy San Antonio -- I shoulda read it in Ankara, Turkey, where I spent 2 yrs ('90-'91) & each smoggy winter I thot I was seeing a preview of the Real Nd of the world....
I read Silverberg's Xcellent THE MAN IN THE MAZE in 1991 while waiting 4 my daughter 2 B born in Adana, Turkey. In fact, I read more in Turkey than perhaps the whole rest of my life, cos there wasn't much else 2 do w/ my off-time, there was no American TV, & we were advised not 2 travel cos of the 1st Gulf War.
EVERYBODY on base hit the Stars and Stripes Bookstore 2 grab a newspaper or C what kinda new novels had made it over 2 us. & the bookstore was REALLY well-stocked 4 Bing 10,000 miles away from Home. We might not always have had electricity or running water or fresh milk, but we always had something good 2 read....
I drifted a bit from the SF while I was there, tho the bookstore hadda well-stocked SF section. After discovering her in the SF magazines, I grabbed a copy of Kathe Koja's stunning 1st horror novel THE CIPHER & knew I'd B a fan 4 life -- & a few yrs later she came out w/ an even better novel called SKIN, 4 me 1 of the best novels ever.
4 awhile I Bcame a big horror fan -- I'd had my moments B4, reading 6 Stephen King novels in a row while in San Ant, then tackling his epic THE STAND while in Turkey, & later the stunning IT while living in Wyoming. But I hadta give up on Uncle Steve after THE DARK HALF & NEEDFUL THINGS, Bcos somehow I just couldn't get in2 him NEmore. But there were other folks out there....
Read Thomas Harris's THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS while in Turkey (just days B4 the Jeffrey Dahmer case broke), then followed it up w/ Harris's RED DRAGON. Harris, Koja & Jack Ketchum (more about him later) pretty-much ruined my attn-span. 4 yrs my fave trick was 2 give up on a novel if it couldn't grab me in the 1st 50 2 100 pgs. RED DRAGON grabs U by the throat on Pg 1. Koja & Ketchum don't waste NE time either.
Peter Straub grabbed me w/ KOKO, THE THROAT & IF YOU COULD SEE ME NOW -- a book that Cms 2 get better, more Dtailed, more vivid every time I re-read it. It also Cms 2 ... change somehow....
Tripped over Gael Baudino's glorious GOSSAMER AXE while in Turkey -- it's a marvelous rock&roll fantasy. I've bn a sucker 4 rock novels ever since. Later there was Lewis Shiner's wondrous GLIMPSES, Nick Hornby's JULIET NAKED & Bruce Sterling's ZEITGEIST....
4 awhile I couldn't get thru an SF novel. Both Neal Stephenson's SNOW CRASH & Ian McDonald's DESOLATION ROAD required long breaks B4 I could get thru them -- & both were worth the trip. SNOW CRASH had everything I ever wanted from an SF novel Xcept 4 a good Nding....
I got thru Gene Wolfe's THE SHADOW OF THE TORTURER on 2nd reading but I couldn't get in2 THE CLAW OF THE CONCILIATOR, & I've given up ever reading the rest of Wolfe's BOOK OF THE NEW SUN series -- I'm afraid I might B about 20 yrs 2 old 2 B able 2 focus 4 that long. After reading J.R.R. Tolkien & Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series (not 2 mention much of King's work), I'm not really looking 4 NE more Ndless novels 2 eat up 3 mo's of my life. So I'm awaiting (much) more NRG B4 I try 2 get thru Kim Stanley Robinson's MARS TRILOGY....
...I like low-rent action-adventure/thriller Ntertainment as well, I've just never found that much. Edward Lee's COVEN (also read in Turkey) was good cheap, tacky over-the-top Ntertainment. Lotsa Jack Ketchum's work has Xcellent impact & drive, & U won't B kept up late pondering the Deep Inner Meaning of it -- I've Njoyed him since finding his chiller OFF SEASON 4 25 cents atta yard sale. U should also try Ketchum's HIDE AND SEEK, SHE WAKES, THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, JOYRIDE, THE LOST....
James Ellroy can also B very brutal & direct -- I've read his L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, THE BLACK DAHLIA & THE BIG NOWHERE multiple times & can guarantee they'll please detective/cop-thriller fans as well as horror fans....
I sometimes hava lotta fun w/ novels that Rn't Xactly masterpieces, 2. Edmund Cooper's SEED OF LIGHT (1 of the 1st SF novels I read way back in early 1974) is an Xcellent outline 4 an epic space novel some1 could write someday -- it's kinda sketchy, but there's just enuf in it 2 make it Njoyable. Mary Staton's FROM THE LEGEND OF BIEL never quite lives up 2 its cover or set-up, but if U like alien culture stories, it's pretty neat.
There's LOTS more -- it's a good thing I'm not doing a List. But I've 4gotten mosta the bad 1's....
...So I'm still reading this stuff. (Just finished Ian McDonald's Xcellent CHAGA last wk.) & still looking 4 more great stuff I mighta overlooked in my travels. NEthing great U'd like 2 recommend....?