I've taken to reading a lot of music biographies of late. Mainly for two reasons;
1) My musical heroes are getting old and at 'that stage" in their lives. (Aren't we all?)
2) I cannot hear the fuckers any more.
Here's my recommendations;
"Cor baby that's really me." (John Otway) Funny as fuck, with added pathos.
"I am Ozzy." Very funny.
"Some people are Crazy" (John Martyn) A talent wasted? Not a very nice man.
"Rotten; no Irish, no Blacks, no dogs" (John Lydon) Insights into the real punk scene. PIL were better.
"Pictures of an Exhibitionist" (Keith Emerson) A true genius, but a bit of a cunt.
"24 Hour party people" Tony Wilson. How to have it all, but fuck it up totally.
Any recommendations?
In their own words
In their own words
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: In their own words
"Is that it" (Bob Geldof) No holds barred, very honest autobiography. Only went as far as Live Aid unfortunately but may have been updated since.
Why is it that when Miley Cyrus gets naked and licks a hammer it's 'art' and 'edgy' but when I do it I'm 'drunk' and 'banned from the hardware store'?
Re: In their own words
I have Keith Richards' "Life" on my Kindle --- it is as schizo as he appears to be, but I mean to start it again and see if I can press through it. And I have Steven Tyler's "Does the Noise In My Head Bother You" ready to be picked up at the library.
If "Life" is shareable on Kindle I'm happy to share it with you. I'll check and let you know.
If "Life" is shareable on Kindle I'm happy to share it with you. I'll check and let you know.
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké
Re: In their own words
I don't read biographies but I figger one about Syd Barrett would be fairly strange...
Sometimes it seems as though one has to cross the line just to figger out where it is
Re: In their own words
Why not Keld? People are fascinating, and truth is often much stranger and more interesting than fiction.
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké
Re: In their own words
Seconded Guin.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: In their own words
I recently read Sofya Tolstoy's autobiography, after watching The Last Station. Very interesting to view Tolstoy from her lens.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan
~ Carl Sagan
Re: In their own words
keld feldspar wrote:I don't read biographies but I figger one about Syd Barrett would be fairly strange...
Just read
More sad than strange.
Extracts here...
Now reading
Enjoying it too. I was never a fan of The Eagles, and had never really heard of Don Felder, but it was in the bargain bin at the bookshop, ($2.00) so I bought it. A lucky buy.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: In their own words
An excellent account from the eyes of the victims and its aftermath:
Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.
yrs,
rubato
Re: In their own words
I've also just read this;
Very very funny!
Very very funny!
We were playing a gig at the Manchester Free Trade Hall when I realised quite how different my lifestyle was from that of the other members of Yes. Tales From Topographic Oceans, our grandiose 1973 album, was regarded by fans and critics alike as our most 'challenging' and I was really struggling with the tour. Not because it was hard work - quite the opposite, in fact. As the keyboard player, there were quite a few passages where I had nothing to do or was just holding down one key.
There was a mad percussion section where everybody banged things. It lasted about ten minutes, though it felt like a year and a half when playing it - and probably when listening to it. It was a bit dull. In those days, I used to have my roadie actually lying underneath the Hammond organ throughout the set. If anything went wrong he could try to fix it. Also, he could continually hand me my alcoholic drinks.
We'd often have a little chat and on this particular evening in Manchester, I thought he said: 'What are you doing after the show?' 'I'm going to have a curry,' I replied. 'What would you order?' It seemed a strangely specific question but I didn't have much else to do so I told him. 'Chicken vindaloo, pilau rice, half a dozen poppadums, bhindi bhaji, Bombay aloo and a stuffed paratha.' About 30 minutes later, I started to get this distinct waft of curry. I looked down and my roadie was lying there holding up an Indian takeaway. 'What's that?' I asked. 'You said you wanted a curry.' 'No. I said I wanted a curry after the show...' However, it smelled really good so he passed up the little foil trays and I laid this lovely spread out on top of the keyboard and ate it.
The rest of the band weren't best pleased - after all, there was a certain mystique surrounding Yes.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”