The blurb on the cover of this novel compares it to Patti Smith’s memoir, Just Kids, and that’s what drew me to it as well as the basic concept—an indie musician is trying to jumpstart her career after a second album slump. Anna Brundage is said musician, who I picture as looking something like Neko Case but who is not nearly as endearingly goofy or as attached to animals as Case is. Anna is the daughter of a famous conceptual artist, who created giant art […]
The night life ain’t no good life, but it’s my life
As a proud and earnest Texian, I see Willie Nelson as one of the state’s greatest offerings. He captures so well so many of the contradictions inherent in the Texas that I love. Willie loves the Lord, his family, music, smoking, and occasionally kicking some ass. I love all of those things, and I love Willie Nelson, too. It’s A Long Story is not Willie Nelson’s first book; it’s not even his first autobiography. However, I do think this is the definitive Willie biography. Written […]
strumming the cosmic chord
What is this book? It’s a musical autobiography by The Talking Heads’ David Byrne. It’s an art manifesto. It’s a history of exploitation in the music business. It’s a punk rock how to guide. It’s cosmic mysticism and star science. It’s good. How Music Works is about how music is made, and how music makes us. Specifically, chapters focus on certain aspects of music creation such as context, technology, commerce, and collaboration. The book doesn’t necessarily build a narrative, and individual sections can be read […]
And I Won’t Sit Down And I Won’t Shut Up And Most of All I Will Not Grow Up
I feel out of the loop, musically, since I moved last year and left behind the best independent indie rock station ever. And working now in a concrete basement means I can’t even listen to their mobile app either. So if the US has finally woken up to Frank Turner, first off, horray! Second, you probably don’t need the following link barrage I’m about to hit you with. Third, I devoured this book on my lunch breaks (as well as my lunch) while being forced […]
This is more about me than the book.
In How to Build a Girl Caitlin Moran manages to write a story of teenaged angst that so closely resembles my own experiences that I though she had perhaps stolen my diary and just added a lot (like, a lot, a lot) more sex. Except I didn’t keep a diary in those days. (Now you would call it a journal, and be really precious about it). How to Build a Girl is the story of Johanna Morrigan, a working-class girl in 90s England who hates […]
Five Ishiguro tales about the human experience…and music
These are five lovely stories which all deal with very vulnerable individuals and the critical role of music in their lives. Ishiguro’s tales embrace a wide range of life’s challenges, from loss and loneliness to romance and recovery, to friendship and fulfillment. The recurrence of certain characters from one story to another lends a hint of continuity, almost like a piece of music with five movements and an occasionally recurrent theme. In one story, an aging singing legend takes his beloved on a final trip […]