Book Description
Storyville, 1907: In this raucous, bloody, red-light district, where two thousand scarlet women ply their trade in grand mansions and filthy dime-a-trick cribs, where cocaine and opium are sold over the counter, and where rye whiskey flows like an amber river, there's a killer loose. Someone is murdering Storyville prostitutes and marking each killing with a black rose. As Creole detective Valentin St. Cyr begins to unravel the murder against this extraordinary backdrop, he encounters a cast of characters drawn from history: Tom Anderson, the political boss who runs Storyville like a private kingdom; Lulu White, the district's most notorious madam; a young piano player who would come to be known as Jelly Roll Morton; and finally, Buddy Bolden, the man who all but invented jazz and is now losing his mind.
No ordinary mystery, Chasing the Devil's Tail is a chilling portrait of musical genius and self-destruction, set at the very moment when jazz was born.
Customer Reviews:
Genius, dispair and the Mother of Jazz........2007-08-03
It's dawn in New Orleans. The red sun cuts through the lingering mists of infamous Storyville, doing its best to clear the reeking air of the stench of the long, raucous night. It's the dawn of jass, the bud which is rapidly and noisily blooming into what the world soon will call jazz. The Negro kid Louis is there. Jelly Role Morton is there, and King Bolden, God rest his soul.
It is the dawn of the automobile, but the cobbles still rattle with wagons and hooves. The banquets along Basin St., Bourbon and Rampart are crowded with everyone from the white swell, to the rounder, the exotic latte colored black eyed octoroon, the quadroon with a dime tied around her ankle, and street urchins like Beansoup. There are the crib girls, the doves, there is hoodoo and voodoo. Gold and silver coins run through the streets faster than the stinking gutters can empty the cigar butts and horse urine into the Mississippi. And all through Storyville, where the wild, screaming, dirty music flows as fast as Rye whisky and opium smoke, wanders Valentin St. Cyr, the private detective chasing the trails left by the corpses of the unfortunates caught in the madness of life on the edge. Only occasionally can he coax information from the madams who are locked into their weekly payments in cash to the powers that be. Mostly, St. Cyr is on his own, except for one person - you.
You'll be hooked, but don't dispair, there is also David Fulmer's Jass, and Rampart Street.
Chasing the Devil's Tail.......2006-03-13
This is the first of David Fulmer's books I have read. I probably should have started with Rampart Street, but will read it eventually. I liked Chasing the Devil's Tail a lot, and particularly liked the protagonist Valentin St. Cyr and hope to read other books about him. Interesting how he changed his name from Valentino Saracena. The descriptions of Storyville were great, although the names of the madames of all the Houses became somewhat confusing. But all in all I liked it, and look forward to reading Jass also by David Fulmer.
Outstanding First Novel!!.......2006-02-13
A well written novel in which the sinful life of early 20th century New Orleans comes to life in an energetic, enthusiastic prose. David Fulmer's obvious research into historic Storyville allows the reader insight on the contrasts of daily life between the haves and have nots of this era.
The main character is a Creole detective, Valentin St. Cyr, who is employed by a rich business owner, Tom Anderson. Valentin's chief responsibility is keeping watch over the many houses of prostitution thus ensuring smooth run operations in establishments that could be easy targets of the police.
I have not read as interesting a historic novel since Caleb Carr's, "The Alienist." From about the midway point of the story the book will be impossible to put down. The grimy depiction of life in early New Orleans will keep the reader glued to this novel
Brings 1900's New Orleans to Life.......2006-02-09
This evocative novel puts the reader right in the middle of Storyville New Orleans, 1907. You can almost hear the music and see the sights, such is Fulmer's ability to bring the period to life. The mixing of his fictional detective Valentin St.Cyr with real people of the era left me having to remind myself that this was fiction, it was so well written. My father was a huge fan of old New Orleans jazz (i.e. Billie and DeeDee Pierce) and yet I had never heard of "King" Buddy Bolden. It is set in the red light district of New Orleans and does describe some sex scenes between the prostitutes and their johns as well as drug use. I wasn't a bit offended, I imagine that's just what it was like. I don't want to give away the plot, but suffice to say if you've ever walked in the area near the French Quarter and wondered what it would have been like in the days of Storyville (which was all demolished long ago) this is the closest I've ever come. It was also a great mystery and I will be looking for Mr. Fulmer's other books.
5 Stars Are Not Enough for This Book.......2005-12-15
http://www.cajunculture.com/Other/creole.htm
"Coodermom" (the first and only reviewer to rate this book less than 4 stars) opinion of Mr. Fulmer's historical accuracy seems to be far from the truth, as the link above will demonstrate. I sense an agenda.
I read this book after I saw a review of "Jass" (the second book in the series) a few weeks before my daughter went to NOLA for spring break this year. I bought both for her, and read this after her rave reviews of both books. This one gives a sense of time and place seldom found in literature--similar to reading the works of Arthur Conan Doyle--and is educational as well as entertaining.
A little grisly for younger readers, but highly recommended for anyone who enjoys well written books, NOLA, history and/or mysteries.
Average customer rating:
- Not Free SF Reader
- Not as good as the original
- That Voodoo That They Do
- What a waste!
- An Enjoyable Romp Through a Simulated Wonderland
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The California Voodoo Game
Larry Niven
Manufacturer: Del Rey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Similar Items:
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The Barsoom Project
-
Dream Park
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The Magic Goes Away Collection: The Magic Goes Away, The Magic May Return, and More Magic
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The Barsoom Project
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Oath of Fealty
ASIN: 0345365984
Release Date: 1992-02-04 |
Book Description
Dream Park, the ultimate in amusement parks, was about to embark on the greatest Game ever: the California Voodoo Game. Across the world bets were being placed; fortunes and reputations hung in the balance. Gaming careers would be made--or destroyed. And the most advanced software package ever invented was going to be tested.
But one of the players was a murderer--and worse. Only Alex Griffin, head of Dream Park Security, and Game Master Tony McWhirter guessed the extent of the treachery tainting the Game. Somehow, they had to catch the killer--but above all, the Game must go on....
Customer Reviews:
Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-25
Again, a murder is committed in Dream Park, and this time the deceased is Alex Griffin's girlfriend. That was probably a mistake.
The California Voodoo Game is massive, involving several teams of top class players, and five Gamemasters, including Tony McWhirter.
Griffin again has to join the game, but this time as a NPC guide. Eventually they discover a complicated, very clever game of industrial espionage is being played within the Voodoo Game itself.
Not as good as the original.......2007-04-28
If you're already a fan of Dream Park, this is a decent read. Don't expect it to be as good as the original, but it's worth the cost for a light, entertaining read.
That Voodoo That They Do.......2003-08-08
This second followup to the cult hit "Dream Park" is not as good as its inspiration, but is mounds better than its predecessor, "The Barsoom Project". I'll save my Barsoom bashing for another review, though, and just talk about "The California Voodoo Game" in this one.
This novel has everything that was good about "Dream Park", but still manages to be a tedious, less interesting version of the original. Most of the familiar characters are back, Griffin, the tough-as-nails Security Chief with the heart of gold, Acacia Garcia, the tough-as-nails gamer with the squishy insides, Tony McWhirter, the hacker criminal made good. They're all tossed into the Dream park salad to play a game called "California Voodoo", which would be fine if not for the fact that - DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUHHHH - someone get's murdered before the game and the Dream Park staff must infiltrate the game in order to catch the killer without setting off the alarms, spooking the gamers or losing their merchandising rights.
Just like the other two novels.
Sadly, this outing picks up a little of the creaky, world-weariness of the second book and keeps none of the rollicking, out and out fun of the first. The concept of Voodoo magick played out in a gigantic, ruined building is at once interesting and limiting. The authors, for all their bibliographic citations, show only a rudimentary understanding of vodoun and its many variations. The random appearance of loa is distracting and confusing.
The thing that was most fun about "Dream Park" was the fact that Griffin had to join a game as a player and track his prey from under cover; this meant the reader got to experience the game much as the players did. Here, the real focus is on the investigation. Too much takes place outside the game, too little explanation goes into the game and the authors don't really support the world they've created within the walls of Dream Park.
Frankly, the mystery just isn't that compelling. While the outcome may have cost Dream Park's parent company a ton of dough, I just didn't care. While the villain had murdered someone in the beginning of the book, I just didn't care about the victim or the methods used to catch the killer. What I DID care about was The Game. And there just wasn't enough game to go around.
The writing duo's prose this time around is more accessible than in The Barsoom Project and those reading the series for the first time will not be too disappointed to finish here instead of there. But overall, the magic feels like it's gone.
What a waste!.......2002-04-06
There was a time that I read every book that Larry Niven was involved in, until this book came out. I haven't read a single one of his books since. After reading Dream Park, I thought I'd give him one more chance. Then came this book, and I decided that if he was going to write such tedious books, I just wouldn't waste my time.
The book involves several teams of players in an imaginary game in which some things are real, and some are just kind of projected into that reality. Meanwhile, some people are trying to play the game, while some are trying to circumvent it. It was simply too much effort to keep track of what was real, what was projected, who was playing, who wasn't playing, and who was just pretending to play. Plus, when you find out, their motives are implausable.
The worst thing about this book is it serves no purpose. Science Fiction should provide the reader insight about science, human nature, possible worlds, or the direction of society. This was just a silly reason to tie some characters together and publish a book.
An Enjoyable Romp Through a Simulated Wonderland.......2001-01-16
When science fiction like this emerges, it brings a sense of wonder, a moment of shock. "This Isn't Far Away!". California Voodoo Game tip-toes the fine lines of modern technology to bring a tale that is intriguing and imaginative. When role-players of our present meet and adopt the virtual reality technology of the near-future, then the world of this novel isn't far away.
The cast of characters is vast, and often we don't get a very indepth vision of them. The Game, which takes on a life of its own for the players, is the most fully fleshed of the "characters". The Game, virtually painted over a huge and somewhat hazardous real-world, is made even more risky when some of the players are playing for higher stakes and breaking every rule.
Okay, so the plot and the writing wasn't the greatest in Sci Fi Fiction today. The characters won't glow in godly pop-culturdom for years to come. But--the technology, the fantasy of this not-so-distant future is so compelling, it makes this book a near perfect escape.
Gaming geeks of the world..rejoice! This one is for you. To the future of gaming..closer than we imagine.
Amazon.com
Marlena de Blasi's life-long love affair with cooking began at age 9 on a beach along the coast of Liguria, Italy. There she met an elderly woman roasting potatoes coated with rosemary, olive oil, and salt over an open fire. "It was then," de Blasi writes, "that I began to understand that the way people eat and drink is more a measure of them than all the other measurements...." In her book, Regional Foods of Northern Italy, de Blasi finds that her adopted homeland is filled with tastes, smells, and textures that evoke far more than great meals--they are the stuff of memory and dreams.
Regional Foods of Northern Italy focuses on 10 "gastronomic regions," areas in which the author has worked, lived, and cooked: Tuscana, Umbria, Romagna, Emilia, Veneto, Lombardia, Piemonte, Val D'Aosta, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and Marche. The recipes in this book are, as de Blasi explains, only "interpretations" of these regional cuisines, since it would be nearly impossible to replicate the exact qualities of the local ingredients--the sweet white butter of the Romagnans or the chile peppers of La Marche. Still, wherever it's cooked, Pasta di Alberto Bettini, with its lacing of basalmic vinegar, is a loving expression of its native Emilia, while so simple a meal as olive oil drizzled over bread and eaten with a glass of red wine evokes the ageless hills of Tuscany. Whether you live in Stockholm or San Diego, Marlena de Blasi's fine collection of recipes can transport you--for the length of a meal, at least--on an extraordinary journey through Northern Italy. So Buon viaggio--e Buon appetito!
Book Description
This is a cookbook like no other. It evokes the essence of Northern Italy's traditional foods in a beautifully wrought amalgam of recipe and narrative. It beckons you across the wet stone of Venice's Rialto bridge into a candlelit fifteenth-century cantina. It invites you down a forest road in Umbria, where grappa-fortified fishermen toss trout onto a wood fire and stage a sunset feast. It proffers nearly two hundred recipes from the heart and soul of Italy's North, including:
• Risotto allo Zafferano Milanese • Arista! Arista! •
• Pasta delle Sfogliatrici • Pesce in Saor •
• La Salsiccia alla Moda di Lucrezia Borgia • Fegato alla Veneziana •
• Carbonada d'Enfer Arvier • Pesto di Mandorle e Noci Ferraresi •
• Pollo alla Marengo • Cialzons della Famiglia de Galateo •
• Pagnotta di Patate • Pasta e Fagioli •
• Sogliole in Gratella • Caffe alla Valdostana • Tiramisu •
This remarkable world within a book reflects the honest, authentic tastes of a people for whom food is a cardinal passion. With it in hand, you will perfume your home with the ancient and divine scents of glorious food, calling forth the ineffable essence of this land and its bounty. Let the adventure begin.
About the Author
Marlena de Blasi is an American living in Venice with her husband, Fernando. She has traveled extensively in her adopted country, stopping to savor each region's abundance. A food and wine journalist and culinary historian, her articles on food and travel have appeared in The International Herald Tribune, The St. Louis Riverfront Times, and Sacramento magazine. She is presently writing this volume's sequel, Regional Foods of Southern Italy.
Customer Reviews:
A good effort, but too lost in the romance of the place.......2006-05-01
I like the recipes in this book. They give a nice cross-section of Northern Italian cooking, and are picked as much for being interesting as typical. Also, the stories and remniscences are those of a first-rate memoirist. The problem is that the two of them combined together make for a somewhat overly flowery reading.
I struggled with the star rating on this one -- it really is a worthwhile book to have, but it has serious flaws, the most glaring being the deliberate omissions of the regions of Trentino-Alto Adige and Liguria; the author's logic is that Trentino food is largely Austrian and that of Liguria more southern Italian in style, not helping the reader to know northern Italy, but that seems to me to be an overly romantic way of looking at it. I don't really like it when cookbook authors pare down their work for reasons of accessibility or percieved consistency, because the book loses a segment of the whole picture.
It's a pity, really, because it probably is one of the better books for understanding the food of northern Italy. The flowery tone of the book that I do not particularly enjoy actually does appeal to some, and the personal stories do give a context to the book that more technical cookbooks lack. If it was a more expensive book, I probably wouldn't recommend it, but it's a little like the idea of a film reviewer saying "wait for the DVD" -- it's not that pricey, so grab a copy and see what you think. (And I do like the Modenese pancetta-and-egg scramble in the book -- very tasty.)
DESERVES TO BE IN THE KITCHEN OF EVERY SERIOUS COOK.......2000-07-20
As I write this review, the book is out-of-stock. I want to share this book with everyone, so I am hoping that my review will change things around. First of all, the recipes in this book are complex -- but -- there are books that are much more challenging. Haute Mexican and Japanese cuisine are more difficult, the first because it grew out of a class culture where the food was cooked by maids the second because it is so unlike western food. There are things in this book that are exotic, even to Bostonians where "the Italian North End" was made such an imprint on the city. There is a pasta based on yeast raised dough that is wonderful on a winter's night when snow is falling. There are superb chicken dishes and magnificent desserts. This one of only two cookbooks that I have wanted to go through, page by page, recipe by recipe, and cook everything.
Book Description
Wendy Baker was told time and again by doctors that she would not be able to ride again. Wendy would not accept this advice. Healing Power of Horses is how Wendy, inspired by the Lakota Indians, overcomes her injuries.
Customer Reviews:
Life on the reservation.......2006-11-10
Very nice book. Beautiful pictures and stories of real people.
If you love people and horses this is well worth reading.
Pretty Pictures of Indians and Their Horses.......2006-09-11
There is very little in this book about the healing power of horses.
Donna Carlow, the one Lakota who overcame a horse riding injury, recovered with the support of the Lakota community; because they value horses in their culture more than Anglos. At least that is Wendy Baker's take on Donna's healing. She doesn't attribute it to the horses; she attributes Donna's healing to the Lakota culture and the Lakota community.
The book concentrates on 9 Lakota Indians and 3 Lakota families and their stories about the importance of the horse in Lakota culture.
It's by no means a comprehensive book; it's primarily a picture book with stories. And it isn't about the healing power of horses in the Lakota culture.
Many people believe that there is a real spiritual and a healing connection between horses and humans, but this book is not a source for that information.
Powerful Testament to Human-Animal Connection.......2004-08-29
Wendy Baker's book is an uplifting story of her own recovery from a riding accident and how she overcomes fear and disability to reconnect with the joy and power of the horse. Wendy has shown how the Lakota Indians have rebuilt the spiritual bridge to their own equestrian roots with parallel stories of healing and strength. I enjoyed getting to know the individuals Wendy profiled, and reading about their courage, as well as hers. The book is informative, well-written, and the photographs are worth the price of the book in themselves.
Average customer rating:
|
Vintage Beer Tap Markers: Ball Knobs, 1930s-1950s
George Baley
Manufacturer: Schiffer Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Antiques & Collectibles
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
Glass & Glassware
| Antiques & Collectibles
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
Ceramics
| Other Media
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0764318314 |
Customer Reviews:
valuable resource.......2007-09-17
This book is a must for any serious ball knob collectors. The pictures are outstanding. The text is clear and concise. I would urge ball knob collectors to invest in this book
Amazon.com
Brighten your coffee table with a special treat from Oaxaca, Mexico. In The Unbroken Thread, the Getty Trust presents a magnificent and unique collection of lavish, full-color photos and narrative that illustrates and describes the special lives--as well as the vibrant threads--that are woven into the centuries-old tradition of Mexico's Oaxacan fabrics. Kathryn Klein discusses techniques, from color-dying different fibers to colorfully weaving designs that are both symbolic and indicative of the wearer's community. She includes a chapter on the evolution of the weaving and the histories that it embodies. The 2,000-textile collection of the Regional Museum in Oaxaca is given special consideration. It was once housed in a 16th-century convent and has been restored to its original beauty.
Book Description
Housed in the former sixteenth-century convent of Santo Domingo Church, now the Regional Museum of Oaxaco, Mexico, is an important collection of textiles representing the area's indigenous cultures. The collection includes a wealth of exquisitely made traditional weavings, many now considered rare. This book details a joint project of the Getty Conservation Institute and the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) of Mexico to conserve the collection. The book contains 145 color photographs as well as a wealth of information on weaving, cultural contexts, and conservation issues.
Customer Reviews:
Superlative!.......2005-06-05
Do you still remember the joy of a discarded refrigerator box? Cutting the windows and doors, stapling scrap fabric to make curtains, drawing a flower box on the side? "Affordable Splendor" describes creating dramatic, low-cost interiors that are actually play houses for adults.
Phipps' stone barn in Oxfordshire is a filled with trompe l'oeil such as faux stone tiles, tapestries, and even kitchen items painted on non-existant shelves. She's endlessly clever and can put together a canopy bed out of a swaths of fabric or make an alcove into a cozy nest. She offers line drawings, photographs and instructions on low-cost decorating that can't possibly be confused with mass produced furniture. Guaranteed: your neighbors won't have anything like it!
I've enjoyed this book for over two decades, and it's one I come back to again and again. Highly recommended.
Creative decorating for the creative person.......2004-06-29
I loved this book. I have many decorating books, but this is by far the best and also the most fun. I am already planning my pink and white checked bathroom!! So many ideas that I can't put the book down. Please Diana, write another.
Thinking "Outside the Box" For Your Home.......2004-06-02
I really enjoy this book every time I pick it up. I may not want to completely cover the walls of a room in fabric, (although now I know how) but I do want to make the most of a very small decorating budget in my pretty average home. Diana Phipps helps the reader to see how much can be done with a staple gun, some paint and imagination. I am now making over a powder room with an ugly floor and battered vanity. Instead of spending my money on replacements, I'll spend my time making them unique! Although Ms. Phipps' style is very traditional in most of the photos, I think the methods she uses could be applied to more contemporary settngs also. You do have READ the book as there are not as many photos as most decorating books published now. Well worth the small sum I paid--my house already looks and feels more beautiful.
Fabulous Decorating Strategies - the book for fabric walls!.......2002-03-20
This book is fabulous. Really gives you a neat perspective on the ease of covering walls and ceilings with dramatic fabrics. Also can make your rooms look like those of a castle! Just love it, used it to transform a relatively "vanilla" bedroom into a sultan's chamber!
The Best Decorating Book Ever Written.......2002-02-01
You probably won't make your own lampshades, but Diana Phipps can show you how. She knows how to do everything - or at least, some version of it. She's modest about her considerable accomplishments, and her good humor makes this book enjoyable as well as useful. When last heard from (in Architectural Digest) she was back in the Czech Republic, refurbishing the family castle. But if Random House wanted to make a buck or two, they could reprint this book: it's timeless. If you like the look she gets (and I do, I passionately do) you couldn't ask for a more encouraging guide.
Book Description
By 1970, the hippie dream of the 60s was dead — the soundtrack of the revolution had become a multimillion-dollar industry. Glitter tried to save music's soul, but was too commercial to be cutting edge for long. Then, in 1974, a rescue movement arrived.
Three chords, black jeans, a pair of shades, and a whole lot of attitude made music that matched the facts of life on its home ground, mid-70sNew York City's East Village. The initiators of punk, Richard Hell, Tom Verlaine, and Patti Smith had one foot in nineteenth-century French symbolist poetry and the other in the raw sound of their predecessors such as the Velvet Underground. This first-hand account of a little-documented era features luminaries such as Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Debbie Harry, Divine, Devo, and the New York Dolls, and tells of the gigs at CBGB hitting the news as Warhol and his glittering crew descended. What began as a unique blend of fin-de-siècle ennui and razor-sharp rock became anarchic frenzy and safety pins, overrun by gutter decadence and stupid-chic. With Malcolm McLaren hijacking the scene's momentum, the Blank Generation plunged into excess and eventual ruin, its survivors making the leap into mainstream.
Customer Reviews:
New York Rocker Not So Rockin'.......2007-08-04
Actually I'd probably give it 2 and a half stars. I did finish it. But inbetween I read a true crime murder story. I found the style of writing a bit elementary and hard follow. Especially the first 2 years with Blondie. Lots of blank spaces in this book, so maybe it really does live up to the title.
Surprisingly a great read if you're interested in punk.......2007-07-17
Extremely readable memoir of Mr Valentine when he arrives to NYC as a young teenager. What's makes the book a worthy read is that he has a knack for offering interesting details about what it was like being part of the music scene in NYC in the late 70's. Even when he wasnt in a band he was a active "fan" and part of the scene. The book is well-edited and it moves along at a nice pace. As some of the other reviewers point out, the writer isnt particularly nasty in his opinions but he also doest shrink from saying what he feels about other folks he knew at that time. There was prodigious drug use going on around him and it was eye-opening for me that so many rockers where sticking needles in their arms in those days. If you like NYC Punk, this is quite an intersting and informative read.
The X Offender returns!.......2002-10-08
I've been a fan of the band Blondie for quite some time and I read everything I can get my hands on about this band. Gary Valentine's book is by far the best look at Blondie's early years. It's a witty, funny, insightful view of the New York rock scene of the 1970's. Since Gary was a member of Blondie during their early days he has all the stories you could hope for about life with the band when they were just beginning and he lends insight into the creativity that went into the writing of his two most notable Blondie contributions - X Offender and Presence, Dear. Just about everyone you'd be interested in from this time period makes some sort of appearance in this book - Johnny Thunders, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, Richard Hell, Captain Sensible, Tom Verlaine, etc. I will read this one over and over again. Gary takes a good long look at what differentiated the New York, London and LA punk scenes and it's one fun and fascinating read. If you are a fan of Blondie or the 70's glam or punk scene or the early 80's new wave scene then you must get this one!
The REAL Blondie Story.......2002-09-14
The problem with all the Blondie books up til now has been that each one was written with too distinct a bias. Lester Bangs's 1980 "Blondie" was a venemous attack that barely concealed Lester's own jealous envy (he was in a band of his own), the Fred Schruers mini bio "Headliners: Blondie" while more objective, was too short to provide a comprehensive biography of the band,1982's "Making Tracks" is a great book but was written by Debbie Harry & Chris Stein themselves, and therefore only tells half a story. Cathay Che's Debbie Harry bio "Platinum Blonde" along with the more recent "Blondie From Punk to Present" are more like fan love-letters than biographies.
That leaves us with Mr. Valentine, who played bass for only two years, 1975-1977. These were, however, the pivotal years of the band's inception and early development, and therefore are the most interesting and crucial to read about. His accounts of living and playing with Debbie and Chris are niether spiteful nor ingratiating, and provide what might be the first objective insights on what being in Blondie was really like. Nobody comes off worse for wear, even though many eccentricities, insensitivites and downright hypocrasies are revealed. Rather, it makes them more interesting and human than ever.
In any summary of a life or career, it's fair to say that nobody owns the truth. There are many subjective truths. But Gary's literary voice rings true, you get the feeling he's being honest in his accounts. He's neither trying to turn you against the Blondies (like Lester) nor kissing their collective ass (like Ms Che). He's just telling it like it was from his persepctive, and the result is a fascinating account of the whole scene.
The pix are quite good, mostly rare, and capture a Blondie that most folks probably don't even remember. A must have for any fan of Blondie and/or the NYC punk era.
New York Rocker Rocks!.......2002-08-16
Complete FUN from start to finish. Valentine kicks off his rock and roll autobiography by dropping the reader off in his late teens when he discovered a bohemian lifestyle in the glitter days of The New York Dolls, and the fact that he was young and innocent at the time makes his adventures quite amusing. Although he was more of a bookworm than a musician, he soon found himself playing bass in a struggling bar band called Blondie. There are tons of great stories regarding the famous punk hangouts CBGB's, Max's Kansas City, and later Hurrah, as well as a plethora of anecdotes regarding peers, friends, and enemies, who have since become punk rock royalty; Patti Smith, Tom Verlaine, Richard Hell, The Ramones, Suicide, Talking Heads, The Germs, Wayne County, etc., Valentine's insight is told as a very keen observer to the freakish lifestyle of the entire scene and he constantly adds touches of winking humor that makes the book more and more enjoyable with the turn of every page.
His tenure with Blondie is the center of the book, as this is where he found fame but not fortune. As a roommate to the first couple of New Wave, Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, he enjoyed a strange friendship with them while at the same time being accused of trying to upstage them. Although it may somtimes appear that he is tossing sour grapes at them, he is really just giving his point of view of certain situations. Many of the Blondie stories have been told before, but a different point of view is always refreshing. Valentine never rakes the band over the coals, despite being jilted from their reunion during the late 90's.
The book does not just cover the New York punk scene, but extends to the West Coast as well when Valentine leaves Blondie and forms The Know. For anyone who thought he dropped off the musical radar after Blondie, his adventures continued, proving that he was no Pete Best (the lost Beatle). He wraps up the book with a sex and substance drenched tour with Iggy Pop and his involvement in the early stages of the Blondie reunion in 1996. From start to finish, NEW YORK ROCKER is an incredibly well written account of the punk movement and a very welcome addition to the growing library of books on the topic.
Book Description
Here, accompanied by dozens of unique photographs, are the very best of Victor Bockris's infamous interviews, essays, and observations on the stars of downtown Manhattan in the 1970s and 1980s. The internationally acclaimed biographer Bockris was there as a witness, friend, collaborator, and co-conspirator. Some of the stars were founding members of Beat or Punk, others were just passing through. But all of them-rockers, rebels, artists, and intellectuals-revealed more to Bockris than they did to any other writer: Allen Ginsberg, Richard Hell, Andy Warhol, Robert Mapplethorpe, Debbie Harry, William Burroughs, Patti Smith, Marianne Faithfull, Keith Richards, Terry Southern, Martin Amis, and Susan Sontag. Bockris's conclusion-that Punk owed the Beats a big debt and that the Beats were in turn re-animated by the Punks-is argued from the perspective of someone who was in the thick of it, and who loved every minute of it.
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Pop Art: A New Generation of Style
Richard D. Leslie
Manufacturer: New Line Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Modern
| Schools, Periods & Styles
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Pop
| Schools, Periods & Styles
| Arts & Photography
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| Books
Contemporary Art
| Schools, Periods & Styles
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Museums & Collections
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Pop Culture
| Graphic Design
| Design & Decorative Arts
| Arts & Photography
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General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1597641405 |
Amazon.com
It is odd that some of this century's most recognizable art and some of its least understood pieces both hail from the artistic movement known as pop art. (Who has not been to a museum with an Andy Warhol on display and overheard the comment, "Why is that considered art?") Regardless of your level of enthusiasm (or lack thereof) for the movements collectively known as pop, you'll surely find something to appreciate in Richard Leslie's Pop Art: A New Generation of Style. Unlike many art books, which start with an introductory essay and then leave you to wade unguided through its various color plates, Pop Art presents a continuous thread of text and images. Leslie begins with the movements preceding and following pop. His commentary encompasses many disparate and distinctive works, all of which fall under the moniker of pop, elucidating both their common themes as well as their individual values. Such images include both the familiar (Lichtenstein, Warhol) and the less well known (Artschwager, Katz), making Pop Art relevant for art students of all levels.
Book Description
Cather is usually read as a nostalgic celebrator of the American past. Lee explores a stranger and more complex Cather, whose life and work are rife with split identities, sexual conflicts and stoic fatalism. Illustrated.
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