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Martin Brady

Memoir

‘Life’ is a musical journey for Keith Richards

Review by Martin Brady

There just might be a God after all, because without divine intervention Keith Richards would not still be alive to have written his autobiography.

Now 67, residing peaceably as a country gentleman in Connecticut after nearly half a century swirling in the gale force winds of a truly international drugs-sex-and-rock-‘n’-roll music career, Richards turns out to be a vastly entertaining chronicler of his own life and legacy, helped along masterfully by “as told to” coauthor James Fox, who deftly captures the gravelly Richards voice, honest as the day is long and laced with authentic Britishisms that help to colorize a surprisingly tight and crisp narrative. Entitled Life, the Richards opus is essentially plotted out chronologically, which should work just fine for those many music fans who may have paid more attention to Richards’ contemporaries—Lennon, McCartney, Jagger—and probably overlooked the particulars of the Rolling Stones’ musical mastermind’s beginnings.

Growing up in suburban London as the only child of working-class parents, young Keith wasn’t apparently much good academically, but he ended up—lucky for him—in art school, that refuge for English schoolboys with vaguely creative leanings that might ultimately rescue them from a life in the trades or, worse, the military. If music ever saved an immortal soul, it was Richards’. He was good at drawing, apparently, but a career in commercial art would be rejected so long as Keith kept improving on the guitar, which he definitely did.

He knew Mick Jagger when both were but boys, then they later hooked up again hardly out of their teens on the local music scene. Unlike the Beatles, who spent some very scruffy years learning their craft in lowdown Hamburg nightclubs, the early Stones, while definitely scrambling for gigs and attention, were already at the center of things in London. The band’s cultish immersion in American black R&B artistry eventually yielded for them a dedicated big-city following, while manager Andrew Loog Oldham became their version of Brian Epstein, finally embracing their bad-boy looks and demeanor and marketing them effectively as a kind of anti-Fab Four. Worldwide stardom and acclaim were theirs, and the band in various forms has lasted, remarkably, up to the present day.

Even in nearly 600 pages—and sometimes drawing on rare letters and diary entries—Richards can’t cover all the details, but he’s quite good with the essence. To wit: Endless and raucous touring, peripatetic recording dates, drug-taking and related arrests, a longtime relationship with the charismatic wastrel Anita Pallenberg, fatherhood (five kids, one a victim of crib death), the premature passing of fellow artists and friends such as Brian Jones and Gram Parsons, an overview on the band’s financial workings under the exploitative guidance of the sharkish Allen Klein, plus once-over-lightly cameos of the many musicians, roadies, engineers, producers, journalists, photographers, hangers-ons, and celebrity types who helped comprise The World’s Greatest Rock ’n’ Roll Band’s entourage through the decades.

The warmest words are reserved for an elite few, among them, the late Ian Stewart, a fabulous R&B pianist and thoughtful musician who helped the band cut its early records and stayed a staunch friend and musical supporter until his untimely death from a heart attack in 1985. Also assessed cogently are the many sides of Jagger, the author mincing no words about the famous frontman’s uncanny talents as a lyricist, his ego, his occasionally abrasive ways and his rather possessive tendencies toward his writing partner.

On the purely musical side, Richards offers fascinating tidbits on his playing style, developed initially via his studious copping of licks from Chuck Berry and Jimmy Reed records and later enhanced by his exploration of  various open tunings, which brought his expression and writing to surprising new levels.

Intentionally or no, Richards finds humor in his raw material. On Jagger’s solo album She’s the Boss: “It’s like Mein Kampf. Everybody had a copy, but nobody listened to it.” On heroin: “Junk really is a great leveler in many ways.” On groupies: “You could look upon them more like the Red Cross.”

The real miracle of  Richards is his survival through serious encounters with hard drugs, especially as he watched many friends and colleagues succumb to their ravages. His reflections on substance abuse seem serious-minded as far as it goes, but the fact is that he partied like a monster and simply happened to be one of the lucky ones.

Later chapters find Richards rather tempered by concerns such as recipes for a favorite dish or two, family pets, a daughter’s wedding and other items on the domestic agenda. That situation guarantees a certain amount of laconic audience interest as the book winds down, but until then,Life is probably one of the best pop music books ever assembled. It’s informative, entertaining, crafted with style—and there’s something reassuring about knowing that its likable author has lived to tell the tale.

There just might be a God after all, because without divine intervention Keith Richards would not still be alive to have written his autobiography. Now 67, residing peaceably as a country gentleman in Connecticut after nearly half a century swirling in the gale force winds of a truly international drugs-sex-and-rock-‘n’-roll music career, Richards turns out […]
Sports

The life of a legend

Review by Martin Brady

Willie Mays is one of the best-known athletes of the 20th century—not to mention arguably the greatest all-around baseball player ever. Veteran newspaperman and book author James S. Hirsch handles the former San Francisco Giant’s biography with professional aplomb in Willie Mays: The Life, the Legend, though it’s noteworthy that this is an “authorized” biography. Perhaps for that reason, then, Hirsch’s tone hovers at vaguely uncritical, though he certainly covers Willie’s domestic and financial challenges with honesty and thoroughness. Otherwise, we get the well-contextualized, lengthy story of humble Alabama roots, success in the Negro Leagues, then stardom spanning two decades in the National League. Hirsch does a wonderful job of portraying Mays’ San Francisco playing days, while also offering a nice historical perspective of the game at large through the eventful 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. Mays’ final days with the New York Mets are also recounted without glossing over the pathos that typified his mostly ignoble end.

Martin Brady writes from Nashville.

Willie Mays is one of the best-known athletes of the 20th century—not to mention arguably the greatest all-around baseball player ever. Veteran newspaperman and book author James S. Hirsch handles the former San Francisco Giant’s biography with professional aplomb in Willie Mays: The Life, the Legend, though it’s noteworthy that this is an “authorized” biography. […]
Sports

Story of a slugger

Review by Martin Brady

Great baseball biographies are best served by great subjects, but good writing doesn’t hurt either; Roger Maris: Baseball’s Reluctant Hero has both. Maris, who broke Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record in 1961, emerges as a complex, inscrutable individual, and co-authors Tom Clavin and Danny Peary never miss chances to account for the complications in his family life, including his humble origins in Minnesota and North Dakota and the squabbling among his Serbian and Croatian relatives. Maris was a youthful athlete of uncommon ability, and after turning down a college football scholarship, he signed with the Cleveland Indians and worked his way through their minor league chain. A solid hitter with left-handed power, Maris was also an excellent outfielder with speed and a strong arm, and after joining the New York Yankees in 1960 he became a huge star, winning the American League MVP Award twice. Yet his noted assault on Ruth’s record turned into a PR nightmare, due in part to his own taciturn ways and the obnoxious, at times simply vile cruelties of New York reporters, many of whom wanted more “show-biz” out of him or simply resented that his achievements overshadowed those of Gotham’s Mickey Mantle.

Maris the man ultimately comes off as an incredibly misunderstood jock, and his early death at age 51 from lymphoma poignantly caps off a tale that is equal parts professional determination and personal sadness. Yet the testimony gathered here from Maris’ ball-playing colleagues also offers a portrait of a decent and well-respected individual who always played the game to the max.

Great baseball biographies are best served by great subjects, but good writing doesn’t hurt either; Roger Maris: Baseball’s Reluctant Hero has both. Maris, who broke Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record in 1961, emerges as a complex, inscrutable individual, and co-authors Tom Clavin and Danny Peary never miss chances to account for the complications in […]
HistoryAmerican History

Soldiers for their new country

Review by Martin Brady

In The Long Way Home, journalist David Laskin sets out to tell the stories of 12 immigrant men who served in the U.S. armed forces during World War I. Like half a million other non-native combatants fighting for Uncle Sam in “the war to end all wars,” Laskin’s dozen—three Jews, four Italians, two Poles, an Irishman, a Norwegian and a Slovak—were relatively new to America, having endured  Ellis Island during the great wave of U.S. immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Still struggling to establish themselves in an alien land where they spoke little English, where low-level employment was the norm and where they were looked on with some suspicion, these plucky fellows embraced the U.S. mission in Europe and distinguished themselves with honor. Three died in France, two won the Congressional Medal of Honor and all fought in major engagements, including the breaking of the Hindenburg Line and the taking of the Argonne Forest. Laskin’s thorough research into these lives encompassed digging into letters, diaries, battlefield reports and the National Archives and, whenever possible, conducting interviews with family members, including a face-to-face sit-down in 2006 with one of his subjects, Tony Pierro, who lived to be 111.

A marvelous craftsman, Laskin interweaves the soldiers’ personal profiles into a greater context, which positions his work equally as a history that deftly covers the background of the war and all its contemporary political ramifications, and also as a keen piece of social reflection on the role of the immigrant in shaping the fabric of American society. Laskin’s work also proves invaluable for readers interested in World War I military operations, as he follows the 12 men into battle, offering detailed accounts of their experiences and bravery on the front lines. A concluding chapter summarizes the postwar lives of those who survived, all of whom returned to America to live relatively quiet and productive lives, fully committed to the new homeland for which they fought.

Martin Brady writes from Nashville.

In The Long Way Home, journalist David Laskin sets out to tell the stories of 12 immigrant men who served in the U.S. armed forces during World War I. Like half a million other non-native combatants fighting for Uncle Sam in “the war to end all wars,” Laskin’s dozen—three Jews, four Italians, two Poles, an […]
HistoryAmerican History

A detailed retelling of a unique life

Review by Martin Brady

The story of Polly Bemis—the subject of Christopher Corbett’s The Poker Bride—has been told before. A biographical novel, Thousand Pieces of Gold by Ruthanne Lum McCunn, was made into a film in 1991, and she has appeared in juvenile biographies and history books. Factor in the many other journalistic accounts since her death in 1933, and Bemis emerges as an outright legend.

Sold into indentured servitude in China by her parents and brought to San Francisco by her Chinese owner, she later made her way into the post-Gold Rush mining areas of 1870s Idaho, where—like most other immigrant Chinese women of that era—she presumably was a concubine or a prostitute. What still remains somewhat unclear is how Polly ended up as the the long-lived wife of Charlie Bemis, a gambler and saloon owner. The more romanticized version avoids the possibility that Charlie actually won her in a game of poker. Corbett seems comfortable enough with that scenario, however, and it’s in line with the broader history he gives us of the harsh realities of Chinese immigration in the late-19th-century American West.

In fact, the main strength of Corbett’s book is his detailed description of life in wide-open California and the Pacific Northwest, places where gold fever induced thousands of Chinese men to enter the country in search of new opportunities and financial fortune. The darkest side of things happened in San Francisco, where imported Chinese women and girls stocked a burgeoning skin trade that helped define Chinatown’s more lurid character.

Fortunately for Polly Bemis, her story was totally atypical. She somehow managed to avoid the worst fate of a young Chinese woman—abuse, disease, early death—and lived out her long days as a highly respected lady on a picturesque ranch on the Salmon River. Her story is remarkable, and Corbett’s research is certainly thorough. The Poker Bride adds immeasurably to the Asian-American nonfiction catalog. 

The story of Polly Bemis—the subject of Christopher Corbett’s The Poker Bride—has been told before. A biographical novel, Thousand Pieces of Gold by Ruthanne Lum McCunn, was made into a film in 1991, and she has appeared in juvenile biographies and history books. Factor in the many other journalistic accounts since her death in 1933, […]
Memoir

Fatherhood in the age of terror

Review by Martin Brady

The memoir is a potentially problematic art form. Nowadays it seems most readily available to celebrities (rarely artful but usually profitable) or to certain literary figures that New York publishers fancy are worthy of our interest. Meanwhile, memoirs written by nobodies, no matter how good, won’t usually find their way to the general public. Nick Flynn, in a way, falls into all three categories. A poet of some repute (well, among poetry fans) and a playwright, Flynn is also the author of the memoir Another Bullshit Night in Suck City (2004), which won a PEN Award and is under development as a movie. Flynn is also well published in places like The New Yorker, The Nation, The New York Times and The Paris Review. With The Ticking Is the Bomb, he returns again to memoir, exploring territory tangential to his previous account of his difficult reunion with his homeless father; in this book, Flynn himself has become a father.

Flynn’s diarylike entries here veer all over the place—from the early ‘70s, when he was a teen, through to the present day—and prove to be generally as lugubrious and fitful as they are desultory. Stern memories of a tough early life and his mother’s suicide alternate with reportage on his career as a writer and teacher, his travels, fatherhood, world politics, the war in Iraq (particularly the Abu Ghraib photographs) and other sundry ancillary topics, most of it presented in a readable conversational style that is enhanced by occasional passages that emerge more as poetic reflection than as mere emotional response. Yet Flynn certainly is combative and opinionated, in particular in his undisguised hostility toward the Right, which finds him scoffingly dismissive of figures like Bush and Rumsfeld—not to mention his fellow PEN Award-winner Sam Harris, whose controversial The End of Faith was criticized widely for its views on Islam, terrorism and torture.

You’d think a book like this would hardly be a good read, and yet it often is, however much it riffs on the themes of pain and inhumanity and invites us in to the author’s dark, often ambivalent world.

Martin Brady writes from Nashville.

The memoir is a potentially problematic art form. Nowadays it seems most readily available to celebrities (rarely artful but usually profitable) or to certain literary figures that New York publishers fancy are worthy of our interest. Meanwhile, memoirs written by nobodies, no matter how good, won’t usually find their way to the general public. Nick Flynn, […]
History

A nation of many voices

Review by Martin Brady

Acclaimed journalist Dominique Lapierre (Is Paris Burning? et al.) has a uniquely engaging approach to history, deftly intertwining facts and figures with a keen sense of the personal struggle. His style finds no better subject than in his latest, A Rainbow in the Night: The Tumultuous Birth of South Africa, which compactly surveys the country’s 350-plus years of existence (since the white man came, that is) while also focusing with acute perception on the complex intermingling of race and political culture that has characterized South Africa’s explosive past.

In the mid-1600s, Dutchmen arrived on Africa’s southernmost coast to establish a farming community that would serve as an outpost for Dutch sailing vessels. Later, upon the heels of the discoveries of diamonds and gold, the British arrived, imposing all their global arrogance and imperial ways—including a mandate to abolish slavery—thus driving many of the Boers (Dutch-descended farmers) further into the African countryside. The Dutch-British conflict culminated in the Boer War (1899-1902), and while the political resolutions were peaceful enough, South Africa’s longstanding racial realpolitik still held sway, in spite of the religious passions of the Dutch ancestral line.

Lapierre charts all these developments in involving prose, then hurtles forward to the 20th century and the formally—and forcefully—instituted program of apartheid (separation), in which white South Africans segregated blacks and imposed strict penalties on anyone breaking the laws designed to maintain the dominating, pure white culture. The rise of the African National Congress, the eventual imprisonment of Nelson Mandela, a changing world at odds with South Africa’s white-minority government—these are the issues that merit Lapierre’s latter coverage, up to the present day and the emergence of saner, more equitable live-and-let-live official policies.

All is not perfect in South Africa. Unemployment for both blacks and whites looms large, despite the country’s progressive political profile. Yet Lapierre’s lucid account, while rife with bloodshed and shocking inhumanity, points the way to more prosperous times. Sidebar coverage includes the role of important historical South Africans such as heart surgeon Christiaan Barnard, social worker Helen Lieberman and the despicable Dr. Wouter Basson, while the appendixes run down apartheid laws, serve up a handy chronology of events and present a useful glossary of terms germane to a nation of many languages.

Martin Brady writes from Nashville.

Acclaimed journalist Dominique Lapierre (Is Paris Burning? et al.) has a uniquely engaging approach to history, deftly intertwining facts and figures with a keen sense of the personal struggle. His style finds no better subject than in his latest, A Rainbow in the Night: The Tumultuous Birth of South Africa, which compactly surveys the country’s […]
Biography

A new look at Lincoln

Review by Martin Brady

Another Lincoln book? Well, why not, given that the Great Emancipator is always a compelling figure. Lincoln, Life-Size, which offers a well-focused, historically rich selection of photographic portraits, was the brainchild of the ever-Lincoln-conscious Kunhardt family, authors of Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography and Looking for Lincoln. This new volume assembles 206 tritone photos taken from 1846 to 1865 and ranging from the youngish (37-year-old) Springfield lawyer to the older Republican candidate for the presidency, through to the final picture of Lincoln alive, taken just two days after his second-term inauguration.

Some of the great classic shots are here, such as those by Lincoln’s primary chroniclers Mathew Brady and Alexander Gardner, in addition to Anthony Berger’s portraits that served as models for Lincoln’s appearance on the penny and the (old) five-dollar bill. But there are also notable photos here by lesser-known, even unattributed, photographers, and these are often as interesting and meaningful as the more commonplace pictures. The text for each photo is linked to contemporaneous letters (both from and to Lincoln) and to the current political and personal events surrounding the occasion of Lincoln’s sitting.

Lincoln was quite a celebrity in his time, and he was apparently aware of the promotional value of his photos, especially during his race for the presidency. (Those particular fascinating portraits are sans beard, of course.) The book’s special design angle involves juxtaposing each standard-size photograph with a blown-up (“life-size”) image of Lincoln’s head from the same photo on the opposite page. This certainly brings Honest Abe, with all his distinctive facial characteristics and war-torn wisdom, into starker and sterner relief.

A foreword by Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer informatively discusses the provenance of the photos and the race among noted Lincoln photophiles to compile the definitive collection. Philip B. Kunhardt III’s preface, “Lincoln’s Face,” relates how the president was described physically by others and reflects on Lincoln’s own self-deprecating—but rather cheerfully resigned—view of himself, and also offers details about the photographic culture of the era and some interesting specifics regarding Lincoln in the studio. This one’s a keeper, as is everything Lincoln.

Martin Brady is a Nashville-based arts writer who covers theater, opera, ballet, music and books.

Another Lincoln book? Well, why not, given that the Great Emancipator is always a compelling figure. Lincoln, Life-Size, which offers a well-focused, historically rich selection of photographic portraits, was the brainchild of the ever-Lincoln-conscious Kunhardt family, authors of Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography and Looking for Lincoln. This new volume assembles 206 tritone photos taken from […]
FictionHistorical Fiction

Anarchy in the USA

Review by Martin Brady

Historical novels, according to author John Smolens, are “a unique amalgam of fact and fiction, conjecture and illusion,” and that’s certainly what he gives us in his sixth novel, The Anarchist. The titular figure, Leon Czolgosz, was a disgruntled Polish American from Cleveland, only in his 20s when he took on the cause of anarchy in America, inspired by the work of Emma Goldman and other turn-of-the-20th-century ideological rabble-rousers who fomented revolution against the political and industrial status quo, in particular in northern midwestern cities like Chicago.

Czolgosz went down in history as the assassin of President William McKinley, and that event is the main focus of Smolens’ dogged piece of fiction, which early on traces the movements of both men until leading up to their fateful encounter at the Pan-American Exhibition in Buffalo in September 1901. Smolens’ third-person account is driven by the surrounding activities of federal agents and a local lawman, immersed in the tawdry bordellos and gruff canal life of multiethnic Buffalo, striving to keep tabs on underground political activities and, at the story’s outset, investigating the grotesque dockside murder of a prostitute. The historical details of  McKinley’s demise—he lived on for more than a week after his shooting, medical doctors somewhat confused about how to treat his fatal wound—are joined alternatingly with the account of Czolgosz’s finals days and his rather swift prosecution and execution, the latter taking place a mere six weeks after the crime. Smolens focuses the wind-up and climax of his book on the exploits of the feds—along with a key civilian informant, Moses Hyde—who become embroiled in an attempt by Czolgosz sympathizers to trade hostages for the assassin’s release.

Only one perceived hiccup in this well-researched historical novel: Smolens has the crowd singing “God Bless America” during one of McKinley’s public appearances; that song wasn’t written by Irving Berlin until 1918, and didn’t spread to the American consciousness at large until more than two decades after that. Nevertheless, The Anarchist is a well-rendered, credible mixing of documented events with imaginative projection into the tenor of a teeming American era, when the nation was embroiled in vaguely imperialistic activities abroad, the business world was booming and immigration was at its peak.

Martin Brady writes from Nashville.
 

Historical novels, according to author John Smolens, are “a unique amalgam of fact and fiction, conjecture and illusion,” and that’s certainly what he gives us in his sixth novel, The Anarchist. The titular figure, Leon Czolgosz, was a disgruntled Polish American from Cleveland, only in his 20s when he took on the cause of anarchy in America, […]
History

Patterson’s first foray into history

Review by Martin Brady

Best-selling author James Patterson has multiple manuscripts on the drawing board at any given time, but when he decided to write about King Tut, Patterson suspended all projects and teamed up with respected journalist Martin Dugard to craft this “nonfiction thriller” that aims to unravel an age-old mystery.

The Murder of King Tut: The Plot to Kill the Child King essentially divides into two alternating historical sections, with scenes shifting readily from 1492 B.C. (with the Tut lineage, life and death outlined) to the first decades of the 20th century, when excavator/Egyptologist par excellence Howard Carter finally discovered the young monarch’s elusive tomb. Patterson and Dugard exploit their own extensive research into the available historical facts, then extrapolate accordingly, coming to dramatic conclusions that fly in the face of some official speculations. The Tut story emerges as the fictionalized true-crime aspect of the book, while the accounts of the eccentric but determined Carter are based on more readily verifiable facts.

With a simple storytelling style that proves accessible whether focusing on the factual or fanciful, the authors effectively portray the exotic ancient world, including colorful insights into Tut’s brief reign and the soap-opera-like events of his rise and fall, especially as involves his stepmother Nefertiti and his marriage to his half-sister Ankhesenpaaten. The Carter story evokes the atmosphere of an Indiana Jones movie (but without the violence). Occasionally, Patterson interrupts his two-pronged tale to fill his readers in on certain elements of the writing and research process, these tidbits shedding some light on his passion for getting at the truth about Tut’s fate.

Patterson is due to return in November with a new Alex Cross novel; in the meantime, this deft blend of antiquity and whodunit should interest his many fans.

Martin Brady writes from Nashville. 

Best-selling author James Patterson has multiple manuscripts on the drawing board at any given time, but when he decided to write about King Tut, Patterson suspended all projects and teamed up with respected journalist Martin Dugard to craft this “nonfiction thriller” that aims to unravel an age-old mystery. The Murder of King Tut: The Plot […]
HistoryAmerican History

Disaster on the Mississippi River

Review by Martin Brady

The sinking of the steamboat Sultana in late April 1865 is an episode whose horrific importance has eluded wider coverage in Civil War history. The grotesquely overloaded ship—filled with businessmen, families, idle travelers and, most critically, nearly 2,000 Union troops recently discharged from Confederate prison camps—went down into the cold Mississippi north of Memphis after its boiler room exploded. Approximately the size of a smallish football field, Sultana took on the task of transporting the soldiers mainly because the army paid per head, but also because the war was over, and bedraggled, undernourished and sickly ex-POWs needed immediate care. When the crowded vessel caught fire early in the dark morning, chaos ensued and about 1,700 lost their lives, eclipsing the death count of Titanic 50 years later.

Sultana is Mississippi-based journalist Alan Huffman’s account of the disaster, and his moment-to-moment description of desperation and death is totally riveting. But Huffman doesn’t get to the Sultana until the final third of his book, which up to that point is loosely focused on three soldiers and their service in the Civil War’s western theater, which led to their incarceration and eventual harrowing trip home as survivors of the ill-fated voyage. Huffman’s early narrative focuses on profiles of the trio—two Indiana farm boys, Romulus Tolbert and John Maddox, and also J. Walter Elliott, a man who later recorded his experiences of the river tragedy.

More generally, Huffman describes the mental state of humans while in battle mode or in extreme circumstances of self-protection, which serves as a kind of foreshadowing of the grim behaviors of the Sultana passengers. He draws upon the 1863 Battle of Chickamauga to set the stage for his conjecture—many of the soldiers aboard the boat had fought in that brutal campaign—and also details the conditions in Southern prison camps. More committed Civil War buffs won’t mind plowing through Huffman’s lengthy set-up, but the climactic events make for adventurous reading for anybody who loves a true-to-life disaster story.

The sinking of the steamboat Sultana in late April 1865 is an episode whose horrific importance has eluded wider coverage in Civil War history. The grotesquely overloaded ship—filled with businessmen, families, idle travelers and, most critically, nearly 2,000 Union troops recently discharged from Confederate prison camps—went down into the cold Mississippi north of Memphis after […]
MusicArts & Culture

Face the music

Review by Martin Brady

At the top of the holiday wish list for many music lovers is With Strings Attached: The Art and Beauty of Vintage Guitars by Jonathan Kellerman. Yes, it’s that Jonathan Kellerman, the best – selling suspense novelist, who also happens to be a foremost guitar collector. Gorgeous multi – view color photos of each of the 120 – plus guitars in Kellerman’s personal collection are the big draw here, but the author also provides marvelous rundowns of how he came to acquire each instrument and what is so special about its design and musical properties. There are acoustics and electrics of various shapes and sizes, brand names like Gibson, Martin, Fender and Rickenbacker, plus particularly rare instruments crafted by independent artisans, including a double – necked 17 – stringer. A foreword by former Police guitarist Andy Summers testifies to the jaw – dropping experience of viewing the Kellerman collection in person.

Roots music

Country star and longtime Grand Ole Opry member Marty Stuart has been hanging with legends since he was a teenager. During that time, Stuart has amassed a considerable collection of music – biz memorabilia, including his own on – the – road photographs and informal portraits, all of which are gathered in Country Music: The Masters. Stuart’s coverage of the greats and near – greats is comprehensive and often very candid, and even his blurred, snapped – on – the run photos have historic value. There are also pictures of elaborate costumes, tour buses, concert posters, song lyrics, instruments, album covers, etc. Perhaps best of all is Stuart’s gallery of gifted but generally little – known country music sidemen, whose talents have infused thousands of important recordings. The book’s cover shot of

Richard Carlin’s Worlds of Sound: The Story of Smithsonian Folkways tells of Folkways Records, which from 1948 to 1986 was the foremost source of seminal U.S. jazz, blues and folk recordings. Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly and children’s entertainer Ella Jenkins were the label’s leading artists, but founder Moses Asch and his team of traveling producers also searched the world over to record African, Asian and island music; animals; the sounds of cities and rural areas; poetry and political events. Asch ran things on a shoestring from his Manhattan office, but he provided opportunity and freedom to writers, singers and instrumentalists and developed a treasured catalog, all of which was purchased by the Smithsonian in 1987. This remarkable volume features noteworthy black – and – white and color photos of the artists plus fascinating album – cover reproductions and catalog lists. It also includes a CD sampler of representative Folkways cuts.

A lifetime playlist

With a virtually impossible task before him, music writer Tom Moon set out to select 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die: A Listener’s Life List. This all – styles wander through the greatest recorded music of all time finds Moon doing an honest job of trying to isolate the important artists and their work. His alphabetically arranged text is by artist, by composer (in the case of classical recordings), or by individual album title or song. In order to extend the coverage, Moon offers references to related important artists who don’t get a main entry. Hence, Burl Ives and Charles Ives sit side by side having made the grade, yet Moon can’t muster even a passing reference to the pop group The Four Seasons, whose incredible string of classic ’60s recordings certainly might earn a mention above the work of the Beau Brummels or sultry jazz/pop songstress Julie London. Meanwhile, the Smashing Pumpkins are only a footnote, which just seems wrong given the other contemporary groups who earned main entries. There’s probably too much Bart

Icons remembered

Already the author of a biography of Kurt Cobain – Heavier Than Heaven (2001) – Charles R. Cross now offers the late grunge rocker’s many fans Cobain Unseen, described as “a secret visual history of the things [Cobain] created and collected.” Cross’ text tends mostly to explore the youthful pain, obsessions, emotional difficulties and addictions that plagued Cobain but were also key motivators in the emergence of his powerful rebellious image and musical anthems. The book features many previously unseen Cobain family photographs plus reproductions of personal memorabilia including Cobain’s offbeat artwork, his informal writings and letters, song lyrics, early concert posters and samplings of the eccentric things he deemed collectible. The book includes an audio CD on which Cobain recites spoken-word material along with an interview with Cross about his research experience.

The Elvis Encyclopedia, by Adam Victor, is a valuable one – stop source of all things informational about The King. The A-to-Z reference covers seemingly every person, place and thing that touched Elvis’ eventful life, and it’s nothing if not exhaustive. There’s also a bevy of photos, many printed full-page, of Elvis onstage, in front of the movie camera or hobnobbing with family, friends and fans. Occasional typos creep into the text, yet Victor has certainly cast his net widely in search of rarely seen pictures, and on that nostalgic note alone his is a regal book – fit for a king.

The Complete Quincy Jones: My Journey & Passions is yet another paean of praise to a huge musical figure. This colorful, well – illustrated hagiography is generally chronological, from Jones’ early life in Chicago and Seattle, through his growing career as a horn player for ensembles led by Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, to his stint as producer of pop hits like Lesley Gore’s “It’s My Party” plus award-winning albums by Sinatra, Streisand and, of course, Michael Jackson (Thriller). The text also covers Jones’ work as a composer of TV and movie scores, plus his role as the mastermind behind “We Are the World.” Jones’ private life – three marriages, two notable affairs, seven children – is rarely discussed, but there is frank coverage of his life – threatening 1974 brain aneurysm and discussion of his humanitarian work. Big names provide the prefatory essays – Maya Angelou, Clint Eastwood and Bono – and Sidney Poitier’s afterword closes the book.

Hear my words

Paul Simon is one of America’s great popular songwriters of the past half century, and Lyrics 1964 – 2008 pays tribute by comprehensively collecting his songs, from the early days of Simon & Garfunkel (“The Sound of Silence”) through his solo period (“Kodachrome”) and on to his later ethnic experimentations (“Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes”). It’s a treasure trove for Simon’s legion of fans.

Grander still is The Complete Lyrics of Oscar Hammerstein II, a stoutly elegant compilation of 850 of the theatrical master’s song lyrics, arranged chronologically from early efforts and revue contributions through his incredible collaborative output with composers such as Jerome Kern (Show Boat, etc.) and Richard Rodgers (Oklahoma!, etc.). The text offers cast lists for Hammerstein’s many Broadway musicals, along with revealing tidbits about show history, song origins and lyrics that were cut from opening night or went unused altogether. Of equal note are the wonderfully printed production stills from stage and movie versions of the Hammerstein oeuvre, sheet music covers and photos of Hammerstein himself, hanging with family members and his composer buddies.

At the top of the holiday wish list for many music lovers is With Strings Attached: The Art and Beauty of Vintage Guitars by Jonathan Kellerman. Yes, it’s that Jonathan Kellerman, the best – selling suspense novelist, who also happens to be a foremost guitar collector. Gorgeous multi – view color photos of each of […]
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For your favorite bro’s library

Review by Martin Brady

Outta the park

The baseball books lead off with Harvey Frommer's timely Remembering Yankee Stadium: An Oral and Narrative History of the House That Ruth Built. Frommer provides a nostalgic, factually keen description of the formidable ball yard through its many baseball seasons, 1923 through 2008 (set to be replaced in 2009 by a new facility). He also interpolates hundreds of quotable quotes from dozens of ballplayers and managers (Yankees and otherwise), front – office executives, broadcasters, newspaper writers, team employees and even garden – variety fans, all of whom share their unique perspectives on the great games they witnessed and the specialness of the Yankee Stadium baseball experience. The photographs are even more gratifying: black – and – white and color stills stirringly evoke the Yankee legacy, from Ruth and Gehrig through Rodriguez and Rivera. The foreword is by longtime stadium PA announcer Bob Sheppard, a legend in his own right, who observed the Bronx Bombers firsthand for some 50 years, through good times and bad.

In a similar vein, but loaded with fan – friendly extras, comes Babe Ruth: Remembering the Bambino in Stories, Photos & Memorabilia. Co – authored by Julia Ruth Stevens (Ruth's adopted daughter) and versatile journalist Bill Gilbert, this volume basically avoids the Bambino's legendary excesses, instead focusing on his humble Baltimore youth, his meteoric rise as home – run king, his iconic Yankee status, his role as baseball ombudsman, his life as a family man, and his eventual decline and widely mourned death. The archival photos, some rarely seen, are fabulous, dramatically capturing Ruth the ballplayer at various career stages but just as often portraying his lovable self with loved ones, friends and fans (especially the kids). The book includes captivating reproductions of Ruth memorabilia, including his birth certificate, player contracts, game tickets and programs, and a signed team photo of the famed 1927 Yankees ballclub.

When World War II broke out, FDR made it a point to keep major league baseball going for morale purposes, never mind the hostilities' eventual impact on the game's talent pool. When Baseball Went to War, edited by Bill Nowlin and Todd Anton, serves as a tribute to those who traded the playing fields of America's pastime for the killing fields of Europe and Asia. The text primarily pulls together individual player profiles – Yogi Berra, Ted Williams, Bob Feller, Warren Spahn, etc. – detailing their war service and pre – and postwar careers. Even more interesting are the stories of lesser – known individuals such as Lou Brissie, who rebounded from war – related injuries to make the grade as a pro. Ancillary essays focus on the home front during wartime, including Merrie A. Fidler's piece on the All – American Girls Base Ball League, which sheds some factual light on an era immortalized in the film A League of Their Own. The book concludes with lists of major –

Pass the ball

Two seasons ago, Tom Callahan's excellent biography Johnny U included an exciting blow – by – blow account of the historic 1958 NFL sudden – death title game between the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants. In The Glory Game: How the 1958 NFL Championship Changed Football Forever, Hall of Famer and former sportscaster Frank Gifford, with an assist from Peter Richmond, attempts the same idea but with an elaborate twist. Gifford, a Giants receiver and running back and member of the '58 squad, uses the game itself more as a jumping – off point to interview surviving members of the two teams and to reminisce about his own career and those of players who have passed on. The narrative toggles between personal reflections and game specifics, and Gifford brings in the memories of reporters, wives and other onlookers to help create a detailed and contextual overview of the contest itself. Recommended for "old school" football fans.

With the advent of the Web has come outr

Pop culture heroes

Devotees of the TV show "How I Met Your Mother" may best appreciate the humor of The Bro Code, compiled by sitcom screenwriter Matt Kuhn under the guise of the character Barney Stinson (as portrayed by actor Neil Patrick Harris). Yet it's definitely funny stuff, with Kuhn laying out all the do's and don'ts of contemporary brotherhood – with much of it having to do with the opposite sex. For example: "A Bro will drop whatever he's doing and rush to help his Bro dump a chick." Or, "A Bro shall never rack jack his wingman." (Translation: Steal a buddy's girl.) Much of this – etiquette on grooming, clothes, sports, channel – surfing, pizza – ordering, drinking and so on – will read like common sense to most regular stand – up guys, but it's codified here with hip style and features some humorous graphics. Bottom line? It's all about supporting one another, however best and most realistically possible. Article #1: "Bros before ho's."

Finally, for that guy who just may not want to grow up, there's The DC Vault: A Museum-in-a-Book Featuring Rare Collectibles from the DC Universe. Author Martin Pasko has fashioned an interesting, nuanced history of the comic – book giant, founded during the Great Depression and the eventual purveyor of beloved American superheroes – Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc. – as well as a long string of Westerns, Army adventures ("Sgt. Rock"), sci – fi tales and pop – culture – inspired ephemera. The main draw in this sturdy, ring – bound showcase are the marvelous photos – of cover art, story pages, early pencil sketches, company correspondence, internal memos, etc. – plus production stills from spinoff movies and TV shows. Hardcore fans will particularly relish the plastic – wrapped inserts containing reproduced memorabilia from the company's long history, including public service comics, promotional items, greetings cards, posters, bookmarks, stickers, etc. Pasko's final chapter tells of DC's corporate repositioning in 1989 as a part of the Warner Bros. movie studio, with a discussion of the marketing and new – media development that has gone on since. Paul Levitz, DC's current president and publisher, provides the foreword.

 

Outta the park The baseball books lead off with Harvey Frommer's timely Remembering Yankee Stadium: An Oral and Narrative History of the House That Ruth Built. Frommer provides a nostalgic, factually keen description of the formidable ball yard through its many baseball seasons, 1923 through 2008 (set to be replaced in 2009 by a new […]

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