Last Train to Memphis

Guralnick, Peter. Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley. New York: Little Brown, 1994. Print

First Sentences:

Vernon Presley was never particularly well regarded in Tupelo. 

He was a man of few words and little ambition, and even in the separate municipality of East Tupelo, where he lived with his family "above the highway," a tiny warren of houses clustered together on five unpaved streets running off the Old Saltillo Road, he was seen as something of a vacant, if good-looking, even handsome, ne'er-do-well.

Description:

Maybe everyone knows the general background of Elvis Presley: poverty-stricken childhood, early influence of gospel music, gift of a used guitar, meteoric rise to fame as a rock singer, army service, Las Vegas fixture, and eventual fall into drugs and early death. 

But the details behind those events and influences are fascinating to learn about. The era he lived in, the people surrounding him, the mechanizations of getting a record on the radio, the frenzy of a live concert, and the loneliness of the life of a superstar are all painstakingly researched and clearly presented in the breath-taking biography by Peter Guralnick, Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley. 

Incredible as it is to write, this 560-page book is a page-turner, sinking readers deeper and deeper into the details of Presley's life from birth up to his entry into the army and the death of his mother (1935-1958). (Note: This is just the first of a two-book biographical Presley series by Guralnick. The second, Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley, is a whopping 796 pages covering the last two decades of Elvis' life.)

Elvis was Elvis from an early age. After receiving a guitar for a birthday gift (he's wanted a bike), he picked out a few chords and, by the seventh grade, starting bringing his guitar to school every day and singing at recess. According to a childhood friend, Elvis' clothing choices set him apart as well:

He would wear dress pants to school every day -- everybody else wore jeans, but he wore dress pants. And he would wear a coat and fashion a scarf like an ascot tie, as if he were a movie star...he stood out like a sore thumb.

Of course, his hair was much longer than any other child's and required three different types of hair products to style it just so.

He hung out on Beale Street in Mempis, a predominately Black area full of bars, live music, and clothing shops. He was a student of all kinds of music, especially listening to the gospel songs from nearby tent shows and the melodies from blues singers. Eventually, he combined these two styles, added his famous body twitching, and became a local star in a completely new kind of performance, jumping into the quiet music world of Pat Boone and twangy country western music. 

He started performing any place that would give him a chance. As he described his onstage feeling to one of his steady girlfriends, June Juanico:

It's like your whole body gets goose bumps, but it's not goose bumps. It's not a chill either. It's like a surge of electricity going through you. It's almost like making love, but it's even stronger than that...I don't calm down till two or three hours after I leave the stage. Sometimes I think my heart is going to explode.

Detail after detail about his rise to fame are recounted by author Guralnick, researched from original newspaper articles, promotional playbills, and interviews with hundreds of friends, family, and promoters, giving this bio a compelling, immersion into Elvis's world and the current business of music production. And, of course, it details the resistance he faced.

It was becoming all too clear that rock 'n' roll now served as a lightning rod for a more and more sharply divided society. Denounced from the pulpit, derided in the press, increasingly linked to the race issue, and even subject to congressional hearings, the music was being used to stigmatize a generation.

We read about the girls he almost married, his interactions with radio DJs and recording producers, his solid family life and encompassing love for his mother, the loneliness of the tours, and his first few movies where he played serious roles (with occasional songs). In his early films, Elvis received praise from directors and fellow actors for his honesty, dedication to the craft, desire to learn, and quick memory. Many people remember only his later song-filled quickie films, but his early work was notable, if now forgotten. He knew and was friends with Natalie Wood, Vince Edwards, Marlon Brando, Robert Mitchem, Rita Moreno, and Dennis Hopper. According to Grelun Landon, a music publisher,

He knew what he was doing at all times. I really believe he was like a novelist -- he studied and watched what was going on. It was really just second nature with him.

"Hound Dog," Graceland, Colonel Parker, the army, Beale Street, Sun Records, Ed Sullivan, the Jordanaires, gospel, pink Cadillacs, and screaming fans are all here in this mesmerizing  book, all flowing together as influential roles in Elvis' life. 

What I took away from this book was a new respect for the struggles and perseverance Elvis displayed throughout his life, as well as his genuine humility, honesty, and devotion to his family and religion. During these years, he neither smoked nor drank, called both his mother and current girlfriend every night, was loyal to his original backup group of musicians and singers, and showed a complete mastery of musical production in the recording studio.

I also learned what it was like to take a tour and face screaming fans nightly who threatened to tear you apart out of joy. I finally could understand the need for an accompanying entourage of friends on such a tour, a group who did nothing except remind the star of his normal life, joke around with, eat with, and provide a safe haven with whom to unwind. Never thought about that before.

Yes, this is a long book, with another volume on his later life waiting for you in the wings. But such attention to detail by Guralnik is a worthy reward for picking up this book. He brings an iconic figure to life, with all the trials, triumphs and influencing factors in Elvis' world carefully laid out.

This nice, polite, well-mannered boy became transformed onstage in a manner that seemed to contradict everything that you might discern about his private personality. His energy was fierce; his sense of competitive fire seemed to overwhelm the shy, deferential kid within; every minute he was onstage was like an incendiary explosion.

I was deeply, deeply involved with this book, constantly grabbing at any time I could scrounge up to read it, even if only in small snatches. I fell into the previously unknown (to me) world of music in the 1950's, and  Elvis Presley. Even if you are not a fan, Last Train to Memphis is a revealing look into the earliest years of rock 'n' roll and the people who shaped it. Highly recommended, but please don't be put off by its length. You won't be sorry.

Happy reading. 

Fred

Other book recommendations
About The First Sentence Reader blog

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Ronstadt, Linda. Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir 

An absolutely stunning autobiography of Linda Ronstadt that follows her career from singing Spanish songs with family and friends to rock and roll fame, and even singing Gilbert and Sullivan light opera. What a voice she had and what a musical life she led.  (previously reviewed here)

 

The Music Shop

Joyce, Rachel. The Music Shop: A Novel. New York: Random House 2017. Print.

First Sentences:

There was once a music shop.

From the outside it looked like any shop on any back street. It had no name above the door. No record display in the window. There was just a homemade poster stuck to the glass. FOR THE MUSIC YOU NEED!! EVERYONE WELCOME!! WE ONLY SELL VYNYL! IF CLOSED, "PLEASE TELEPHONE -- though after that it was anyone's guess because, along with more happy exclamation marks, the only legible number was an 8 that could well be a 3; there were two other things that might be triangles.

Description:

Looking for a quiet, unusual love story? Well, here's my recommendation: Rachel\ Joyce.s The Music Shop: A Novel. A lovely, quirky book about likable characters conflicted about the challenges of identity, love, life, and other people. 

There's Frank who owns an unnamed music store in 1988 located on a dead-end, rundown street. Frank only sells vinyl records, never cassette tapes or the new-fangled shiny CDs that change the tone and listening experience for his customers. His records are "organized" by Frank's instinct:

He put Bach's Brandenburg Concerto... beside Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys and Miles Davis's Bitches Brew (Same thing, different time)....People would miss out on so many wonderful things if they only stuck with what they knew.

Frank also has a unique talent. He can listen to any customer's stories or questions and recommend the exact song, from Aretha to Chopin, needed to address the customer's need or personal problem. But he cannot figure out what the woman in the green coat needs. She was looking in Frank's store window one day and fainted. After being revived, she fled from the shop, but not before confirmed bachelor Frank had been hopelessly smitten.

The story involves Frank and the woman, Ilse Brauchmann, who occasionally visits the shop, does handyman repairs, charms the staff and neighboring store owners, but otherwise reveals little about herself ... except that she is engaged to be married.

She tells Frank she never listens to music and wants Frank to give her weekly lessons on music appreciation at a local tea shop. He is passionate about sharing his love of music with this mysterious woman whom he secretly loves but keeps his distance other than the lessons out of respect for her engagement.

When I listen to the "Moonlight" Sonata, I see [Beethoven] sitting at his piano next to [Julia, his student whom he loves]. It's as if he's playing his own love letter, just waiting for a sign that she understands....The music builds up and down, but it never runs away, it just waits for her....It's like two voices, asking one another if they feel the same without using words.

In the background are appearances by various unusual store owners on Unity Street: Father Anthony, seller of religious souvenirs; Maud the tattoo artist; Mr. Novack the baker; and the Williams brothers who run a funeral home, along with neighbors Mrs. Roussos and her tiny dog, and Kit, the awkward teen who works in Frank's shop, All play important roles in Frank's life and his ambition to sell vinyl records. 

That's all you get now. It is a roller coaster of unrequited love, musical passion, disappointment, triumph, and general good will from ordinary people trying to make connections and survive in a sinking neighborhood. Frank and Ilse are lovely characters who only reluctantly reveal parts of their past and present to readers and eventually to each other. Have to say I teared up a bit at the ending, but I won't spoil it for you.

And along the way there are tons of interesting facts and stories about music, musicians, composers, and listening tips for great music. Waltz for Debby by Bill Evans, Never Mind the Bollocks, ABC's The Lexicon of Love, Coltraine's A Love Supreme, Bach's Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor, and Miles Davis' Kind of Blue. Can't wait to find these songs and listen to them with new ears.

Music is about silence .... Music comes out of silence and at the end it goes back to it. It's a journey....the silence at the beginning of a piece of music is always different from the silence at the end....Because if you listen, the world changes. It's like falling in love. Only no one gets hurt.

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Carhart, Thad. The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier  

Wandering the back streets of Paris, the author discovers a small, dusty piano shop. But there is a mystery about what is contained in the part of the store curtained off from casual customers - a restoration workshop that specializes in rare pianos.  (previously reviewed here)

In the Key of Genius

Ockelford, Adam. In the Key of Genius: The Extraordinary Life of Derek Paravicini.London: Hutchinson. 1988. Print.

First Sentences:

I glanced again at the diminutive figure on my right, shock of blond hair weaving incessantly from side to side with the rhythmic rocking of his head; fingers pressed so hard into his eye sockets that the globes bulged outwards from behind their lids; thumbs stuffed comfortingly (yet somehow disturbingly) deep into his mouth.... 

Not for the first time that day, the whole idea of what was about to happen seemed utterly ridiculous 

Description:

Remember my big three for great books? Plot, Character, and Writing Style. Well, Adam Ockelford's In the Key of Genius: The Extraordinary Life of Derek Paravicini proves that if the plot and character are uniquely fascinating, the writing style does not have to be more that serviceable to make the book a page-turner. 

Ockelford, a music teacher, takes up the pen to describe the almost unbelievable life of his student, Derek Paravicini, and his rise to fame as a blind pianist who can play any music in any key and any style. (watch Derek play on a recent 60 Minutes segment or Musical Genius on British television.). 

But Derek has other challenges besides his blindness, preventing him from functioning in many basic ways. He cannot hold up a correct amount of fingers when asked to, cannot tell which finger is which, cannot tell left from right, and is confused by other simple everyday concepts. He cannot dress or feed himself, and only has minimal conversational skills.

Who could not want to read more about this extraordinary savant?

Derek Paravicini was born three and a half months prematurely and, due to oxygen procedures to keep him alive at an ill-equipped hospital, was rendered blind and brain damaged. But he survived and thrived, mainly due to the untiring efforts of his nanny who years earlier had nursed and been a companion to his mother. 

A difficult child to reach much less control, it was only when Nanny retrieved a small portable organ from the attic and let Adam, age 2, pound away on it that his innate talent was uncovered. Using elbows, karate chops, arms, and his fists, he blasted out faintly recognizable tunes that he had once heard, from nursery songs to church hymns. 

At his school for blind students, Derek at age 5 met Ockelford, the music teacher who sees through Derek's wild playing and recognizes the brilliant talent of this young boy. Ockelford gently eases himself into Derek's music by accompanying him with different bass harmonies, rhythms, arpeggios, major and minor keys, and styles until he wins Derek's curiosity and trust, and begins to grow. Fingering, scales, terminology, and chords all had to be demonstrated to Derek to allow his talent to blossom.

Before he is 10 Derek begins performing before school and local charity audiences. These concerts have varying results. His talents are obvious, but what he actually will do and play when seated at the piano are always unpredictable. Fortunately, Derek is an applause hound who basks in the praise of audiences. This need keeps him performing through his childhood and later adult life.

Author Ockelford clearly lays out  the key (ha!) incidents in Derek's progression and lifestyle, from early lessons of trust and music to international fame as a concert pianist with orchestras. And all along the way, Derek's rock of strength and support is Nanny, who guides him through the intricacies of society and life skills when he is interacting with other people.

A thoroughly fascinating biography of a unique savant. Derek is absorbed into music, able to remember and play any music and then embellish it to any style. But his struggles between talent and acceptable behavior drive the story forward and highlight the skills of Ockelford and Nanny to nurture the prodigious talent of Derek. Together the three create a brilliant performer, one comfortable in himself and his world of music. 

Happy reading. 


Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Sacks, Oliver. Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain

Sachs relates stories of patients with usual music/brain interactions,and how music affects their brains and lives in exhilarating and tragic ways.

The Piano Shop on the Left Bank

Carhart, Thad. The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier. New York: Random House. 2001. Print.

First Sentences:

Along a narrow street in the Paris neighborhood where I live sits a little store front with a simple sign stenciled on the window: "Desforges Pianos: outillage, fournitures." 

Description:

After passing a small shop numerous times that sells piano parts on a back street of Paris, Thad Carhart decides to poke his head inside. It is an impulse based on his curiosity about this tiny shop as much as an effort to begin his new project: purchase a used piano and begin playing again.

Inside the shop, he finds himself in a small room displaying hammers, felts, and other piano miscellany. A man emerges from a curtained-off back room, greets Carhart politely, and regretfully informs him that they have no pianos that Carhart  can purchase. The author leaves, puzzled. How can such a tiny shop exist by selling only a small selection of piano parts?

In the ensuing days, Carhart returns to the shop frequently, curious about the business and what is in the back room. Finally he catches a glimpse behind the curtain and sees a warehouse full of pianos in various stages of disrepair. This room has been carefully secreted away off the small shop. The reason? While the atelier (workshop) does restore and sell pianos, they only work with customers recommended by former customers. 

When Carhart finds a neighbor who is a previous customer, he gains her recommendation and finally admittance into the secret warehouse of wonderful pianos from the past and present, carefully bought and sold, repaired, tuned, and polished to former brilliance.

Carhart lovingly describes experiences that follow with the people and pianos of this world in his beautiful memoir, The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier. Under the guidance of Luc, the director of the atelier, Carhart slowly learns the varied histories, qualities, and quirks of hundreds of pianos found throughout this warehouse. Each piano has a story, just as it has a unique casing and tone. Luc is only interested in "pianos that live" and are played rather than historic museum pieces. He unfailingly discusses his 

respect for all these complex, ungainly, and gloriously impractical instruments, as well as a fascination with what came forth when the ones in good condition were played. 

Carhart  learns the differences between Steinways ("quality craftsmanship and renowned singing tone") and Bechsteins ("clear, bright attack in the upper registers"), Bosendorfers ("the aristocrat of pianos"), Erard and Pleyels ("once great French makers"), and Stingl (Carhart's final choice, a  "diminutive" Austrian baby grand).

Carhart joyfully falls deeper and deeper into this world of the pianos in Paris, from working with a no-nonsense music teacher, finding (and keeping sober) a brilliant tuner, and watching a man single-handedly heft Carhart's newly-purchased 600-lb piano up a flight of stairs to his French apartment. He now hears his neighbors whose playing drifts through his open courtyard windows, and, of course, begins to learn challenging piano compositions.

A vast quantity of popular music [in the early nineteenth century] was written for the piano and most of it was played for entertainment in the home. The piano came to be regarded as one of the indispensable accomplishments that made women of the new middle class charming, attractive, and -- not least -- marriageable. 

Carhart offers beautifully descriptions of clients of the atelier who wander in and sit down at restored pianos for possible purchase, playing delightful pieces in the vastness of the warehouse:

In the repeats, especially, [one client] managed to contrast tone, volume, and color so that identical passages seemed wholly new. The turns were unexpected yet not abrupt, like watching a large and beautiful leaf fall slowly to the ground from a great height: the destination was never in doubt, but the sudden changes made a dance of the descent. He became part of that endlessly subtle, witty, and insistent conversation that is music.

Carhart, in contrast, also mentions Oscar Wilde who once commented: 

I assure you that the typewriting machine, when played with expression, is not more annoying than the piano when played by a sister or near relation.

Carhart's splendid journey of pianos and Paris recaptures his childhood memories of the piano, "a kind of flying carpet by which I could travel to an entirely different place.... a new and agreeable and utterly private world of [my] own." 

We are fortunate, indeed, that he shares the details of his piano travels with us, his readers, in this slight, deeply passionate and sensitive book.

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Knize, Perri. Grand Obsession: A Piano Odyessy

The author recounts her quest to purchase the perfect piano and install it in her remote farm in Montana. Delightful account of her trying out and evaluating every piano possible in every store in every city she visits. But after finally, finally finding the perfect piano that suits her best, she find it is only the beginning of her piano story.

Shotgun Lovesongs

Butler, Nickolas. Shotgun Lovesongs. New York: St. Martin's Press. 2014. Print

First Sentences:

We invited him to all of our weddings; he was famous. 

We addressed the invitations to his record company's skyscraper in New York City so that the gaudy, gilded envelopes could be forwarded to him on tour -- in Beirut, Helsinki, Tokyo. Places beyond our ken or our limited means.

Description:

What better kind of book is there than one that introduces five intelligent, interesting characters and then gives them room to narrate an unusually complex story through their own perspectives in strong, simple yet passionate words. 

In Nickolas Butler's debut novel, Shotgun Lovesongs, five childhood friends reunite for a wedding in their tiny hometown of Little Wing, Wisconsin. Through the events over the next days and the following months, each friend reflects on the current intertwining of their lives as well as their youth with nostalgia, love, jealousy, and some bitterness. 

But this story is more than a bunch of people reminiscing. The wedding, the parties, the meals, the arguments, and the quiet times together slowly open up old memories as well as kindle suppressed feelings of envy, love, anger, and regret that influence their words and actions in unexpected ways. 

Each chapter is narrated by a different friend, bringing his or her unique knowledge about the past and present. Their individual voices tell stories with insight and mixed emotions as they try to interact with and understand who their friends really were and have now become. It's an intimate book, where we readers are privy to the inner thoughts and motivations of these friends, building a personal bond with the plot and characters that is a rare pleasure to read.

The friends featured in Shotgun Lovesongs are:

• Henry and Beth - a long-married couple who never left their child home town of Little Wing, and now farm their land and raise their family, but soon face unexpected conflict as secret relationships with their best friends are exposed;
• Kip -  left Little Wing to earn his fortune in Chicago and now returns to hold his wedding among his friends and also to renovate a decrepit mill into a focal point of the town, a noble but controversial, alienating project;
• Ronny - a former rodeo cowboy who has taken one too many falls, but still retains his goodness and friendship with the others in his simple life in Little Wing, a world he longs to leave as soon as possible;
• Lee - the local boy who has exploded onto the music scene and now travels the world in wealth and fan adulation, but still holds a special longing for his previous life and friends in Little Wing along with serious doubts about his career and life choices.

These are people who watch sunrises and sunsets together from top of the mill silo, but each through his own perspective. Lee, the composer, tries to explain the musical tones behind the colors in the sky, while Kip dreams of converting the mill to a profitable center of the town. Henry can see his farm and Ronny, the vistas he used to travel to with the rodeo. 

And, boy, can NIckolas Butler write descriptions, dialogue, and private thoughts. In each chapter, the narrator/friend is slowly revealed via his/her unique voice and interpretation of the actions and other people. Some examples?

His left ring finger had begun to overcome his wedding band. The ring had become part of him, in the way that a fence-tree gradually absorbs the barbed wire wrapped around its bark --- Henry

The only thing I could think to do was to come back home, out of exile, to show the boys -- now men -- "Look,. Look what I did. Look at who I am now. Look at me" --- Kip

I ain't sad. I'm just bored stiff ... if I was a wild horse, I'd bolt right off and just keep on running. I want to break out of here so bad and I don't even know where I want to go. Maybe Anyplace, I guess. I know they think I can't take care of myself, but  I sure as hell can. I'm not a smart man -- I know that -- but I ain't dumb. And the way things are, it's like I'm in a cage --- Ronny

It isn't very romantic, but after you've been married almost ten years, an afternoon fuck can feel like you've gotten away with a minor crime, an act as thrilling and banal as shoplifting. --- Beth

The voice of an old friend -- like finding a wall to orient you in some strange, dark hotel room. The world is still out there. --- Lee 

There is such feeling in Butler's writing that can paint this loving, complicated picture of the Midwest, the small town of Little Wing, and the people who live there. These are people pulled by the force of this small town, a power that binds these friends together to experience each and their familiar hometown, warts and all. As Ronny notes while eating awful food in the local cafe:

Only in the Midwest would someone spend their money in a place they hate simply because they feel bad for the proprietors. Also, I suppose, because they know your name.

These are fine people with stories to tell. So personal, so passionate, so honest. Shotgun Lovesongs is one of my new favorite recommendations, a truly strong, yet intimate read. And don't be surprised by the unexpected turns in the story because these friends are real people capable of new, completely out-of-the-blue actions.

It's a funny thing, being married to someone for so long, being someone's best friend for so long. Because on those few occasions when they surprise you, it feels like the biggest thing in the world, like a crack in the sky, like the moon, suddenly rising over the horizon twenty times bigger than the last time you looked. 

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Krueger, William Kent. Ordinary Grace: A Novel

Thirteen-year-old boy tells of his summer of explorations, suicide, murder, love, and family challenges in a small town in Minnesota in 1961. Not your ordinary coming-of-age story, this one is full of real people facing personal questions and opportunities during these summer days in a more innocent time. Well worth the time to read. 

Cassella, Carol. Gemini: A Novel

Another small-town story of two friends who lives intersect in their early teens, who separate and then rejoin unexpectedly 25 years later. Gemini also presents a parallel story of an ICU doctor treating a comatose hit-and-run patient facing questions about how long a doctor can prolong life artificially when a family cannot be found to make critical decisions about treatment. Complex, challenging, and lovely.

Simple Dreams

Ronstadt, Linda. Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir. New York: Simon & Schuster. 2013. Print

First Sentences:

On her way to the hospital the day I was born, my mother wanted to stop and eat a hamburger.

Description:

I think this opening sentence reflects the simple, charming style of LInda Ronstadt's new autobiography, Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir. Charming, humble reflections that paint her portrait as a woman who loves life, people, and singing.

If you are looking for a tell-all revelation about rock musicians, drug parties, and sexual scorecards, move on to another book. Ronstadt chooses to narrate only her own personal journey to find her voice and style in music. There are only warm references to other musicians and her many, many friends in the profession who offer support and help her understand different musical directions she can pursue.

Her gentle, quiet narration tells of her growing up in the desert near Tuscon, Arizona, listening to the songs of her family and the locals in Spanish and English. I also loved the incidental stories, including those about Ronstadt's childhood pony who occasionally escapes and is returned in the back seat of Ronstadt mother's huge car, hanging her head out the window all the way home looking for better clover spots for her next escape.

After dropping out of high school and armed with her grandfather's guitar, Ronstadt moves to Los Angeles, to pursue more performance opportunities. She and her first band, the Stone Poneys, land at the Troubadour, a small West Hollywood nightclub that is the first stop for many new musical artists trying out their music and developing their style, hoping to be noticed and pick up another performance opportunity or a record deal.

Often we forget that musical giants were once just kids looking to sing, have fun, and make ends meet. Ronstadt relates the thrill of hearing the Stone Poneys' first hit, "Different Drum," playing on a local radio station. She continually captures that simplicity, enthusiasm, and dedication of ordinary singers breaking into the music industry, washing their clothes in the bathtub at night, wearing on stage whatever they found in a thrift store or that her mother sewed for them. This is the consistent charm and winning personality of Simple Dreams.

When her band breaks up Ronstadt, now under contract with Capitol Records, slowly searches for the a diferent kind of song to reflect her soul, and collects fellow musicians who have a "shared sensibility ... how loud or soft to play a note, exactly where to place it rhythmically, what kind of textural or melodic embellishment to incorporate, where to add a harmony, how to voice a chord -- all done in a split second."

She meets and plays with everyone on the music scene at that time: Neil Young, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Aaron Neville, Jerry Jeff Walker, Warren Zevon, Don Henley, and Bob Dylan, and the Flying Burrito Brothers. Her work branches out from rock and torch songs to Gilbert and Sullivan and opera with Joe Papp, lush Tin Pan Alley songs with Nelson Riddle, and Spanish love songs and lullabies with Ruben Fuentes.

Her maintains her original love of Mexican music throughout her career, revealing the power is holds for her:

The Mexicans have a fervent appreciate of poetry and make regular use of it. It occupies a high and ancient seat in the Mexican culture. The Aztecs call it "a scattering of jades," jade being what they valued most, far more than the gold for which they were murdered in great numbers by invading Spaniards. They felt that the more profound aspects of certain concepts, whether emotional, philosophical, political or artistic, could be expressed only in poetry. Mexican song lyrics, from sophisticated city cultures to the most basic rural settlements, are rich in poetic imagery. 

When she gives her first concert promoting her all-Spanish song album, advance ticket sales were very slow. At the concert, however, she sees the arena is packed with darker faces. From this, she learns, 

Mexican audiences generally don't buy tickets in advance but come out the night of the performance and purchase their tickets at the box office. They also bring the whole family, with grandmothers and small children in attendance. The Canciones show had attracted a completely different audience... they knew the songs and sang along, especially the grandparents who had courted to many of the songs.

Simple Dreams keeps her private life private. There are stories of Ronstadt's friendship and relationships with California Governor Jerry Brown and several other companions, but nothing is revealed beyond a couple of off-handedly remarks about her daughter and son. Simple Dreams is about the music, the artists, and her passion, period. 

I grew up playing Ronstadt's music on vinyl records (yes, I am that old) until they wore out. Her lovely voice, whether singing rock, rhythm and blues, operettas, or Spanish love songs, captivated me and made me a music lover. In her philosophy,

[Music allows people to] process their feelings in a private setting. This is the fundamental value of music, and I feel sorry for a culture that depends too much on delegating its musical expression to professionals. It is fine to have heroes, but we should do our own singing first, even if it is never heard beyond the shower curtain.

Simple Dreams is the print equivalent of her voice and her music: quiet, pure, soaring, and genuine. A worthy read for anyone who loves Ronstadt and the music and artists of the 60's and 70's.

Happy reading. 


Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Young, Neil. Waging Heavy Peace: A Hippie Dream  

Extensive, fascinating details about the life of the foremost composer and performer of rock music. While intentionally rambling in style, Young faithfully recounts the people, events, and musical influences from his life in detail using a voice "that is real as the day is long" [from his song, "Tonight's the Night"]. 

What Would Barbra Do?

Brockes, Emma. What Would Barbra Do: How Musicals Changed My Life. New York: Harper. 2007. Print

First Sentences:

Two summers ago I flew from London to L.A. to interview a man called Lemmy. 

Lemmy, if you are as unfamiliar with him as I was, is the lead singer of Motorhead, a heavy metal band that sold a lot of records in the 1970s, mainly to boys with black t-shirts with the arms cut out of them and girls with Manson family hairdos. 

I say heavy metal; for all I know it is thrash metal that Motorhead does, or death metal; in any case, it is the sort of metal that sounds like two trains crashing and is guaranteed, as Lemmy puts it, to "make your lawn die if it moves in next door to you."
I was not an obvious choice for the job.

Description:

Are you someone who constantly hums and/or sings showtunes? Someone who watches The Sound of Music each time it airs on TV? Do you strongly feel something is lacking in all musicals after Fiddler on the Roof? I'm talking about a person with a passion for music, a sucker for odd characters, catchy tunes, and a determined buying-in on even the most ridiculous of plots. 

If these traits describe you, take heart. You are not alone. And you now have a champion, a clever, funny writer who shares your passion and writes breezily and cuttingly about this genre. Please meet Emma Brockes and her wonderful book,  What Would Barbra Do: How Musicals Changed My Life. 

Currently a writer for the UK Guardian, Brockes has ample background to poke into the world of musicals. You have to love an author who as a child, watched Mary Poppins (her friend's only video) "twice a week for a period of some three years." She also had a mother who, when Brockes crossed the street, "ward[ed] off predators with a type of maternal sonar she called 'singing me across the road,'  vocalizing show tunes with the "power to disable passersby as effectively as a missile taking out a warship."

Her mother steered her to musicals at an early age with her philosophy that:

"Musicals were old friends who could always be relied upon to say the right things. They cheered you up when you were down and egged you on when you were miserable and made you feel lighter than air at all stages in between."

Brockes definitely became a fan, a knowledgeable critic, and a person of passion opinions. Throughout the book, she gleefully relates personal antecdotes about her experiences with the plots, characters, and snappy show tunes of a wide variety of stage and screen musicals.

To Brockes, musicals are "hard-wired to your brain." She feels everyone knows musicals, whether they love them or hate them, noting that, at parties ordinary people can sing the entire score of Fiddler on the Roof, complete with Topol impressions. She also heard people discuss whether Mary Poppins is about feminism, an allegory of the crucifixion, or, in the "Feed the Birds" scene, "about a woman for whom both the state and community have failed to provide." 

She has plenty of favorites and disappointments, each described in her chatty, funny, and highly personal evaluations, both praiseworthy and scathing for the "bad/bad musical, (commercial and critical failure), the "bad/good" musical, (lousy, but a commercial success), and the "good/bad" musical ("so audaciously bad as to be kind of great").

Some examples:

• [bad/bad] Heathcliff - "the lyrics -- 'spineless, Edgar, feeble Edgar/ Catherine only wanted me' -- really didn't. flatter Tim Rice's abilities relative to Emily Bronte's  
• [bad/good] Les Mis - "very, very long, like reliving the revolution in real time"
• [good/bad] The Jazz Singer (remake with Neil Diamond) -  "what saves The Jazz Singer from awfulness is its combination of one hundred percent self-belief with zero percent self-awareness."

But her tone is always light and clever, never bogged down with a heavy-handed examination of the pieces. To Brockes, in-depth analysis of musicals removes the core foundation. For every musical, the "fun is its own justification and reward." Sometimes, as Cameron Mackintosh said about his creation, Cats: "It's just about cats."

What Would Barbra Do? is a chummy, clever, satisfying read, as if the author is sitting in your living room talking and sharing her opinions on current and past musicals. It is more than merely a book of reviews; it is practically a memoir, describing many of Brockes' life experiences that just happen to revolve around musicals.

Her conclusion?

"No matter how dire the situation, it is never beyond the redemptive reach of a Rodgers and Hammerstein show tune."

Amen to that! 

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Hammerstein, Oscar Andrew. The Hammersteins: A Musical Theatre Family  

wonderful portrait and loads of photos documenting the golder age of musicals started with the author's grandfather, the builder of theaters in New York City, and then his father, the composer of the most classic musicals of all time. (previously reviewed here)

The Hammersteins

Hammerstein, Oscar Andrew. The Hammersteins: A Musical Theatre Family. New York: Black Dog and Leventhal, 2010. Print.

 

First Sentences:

On a cold January morning in 1864, an exhausted, grimy sixteen-year-old boy named Oscar Hammerstein stepped off a small rowboat and onto the muddy banks of Manhattan’s Lower West Side.

He carried with him only a lice-ridden wool blanket, the rank-smelling clothes on his back, and an address in his head. Passing gas street lamps pasted with Civil War draft-deferment reward offerings and broadsides for the latest theatrical amusements, he made his way to a boardinghouse on Greenwich Street that welcomed Germans. Having no money, he put his blanket up as collateral and secured himself a tiny room for the  night. He climbed up the stairs to his room and collapsed.

No doubt he dreamed of his one treasured possession: his love for opera.

Description:

Thus, with the trans-Atlantic arrival in New York City of Oscar Hammerstein I and his "lice-ridden blanket" begins the golden era of musical theatre in the United States. His life as well the careers of his son, Willy Hammerstein, and that of his grandson, the better known Oscar Hammerstein II, are wonderfully recounted in The Hammersteins: A Musical Theatre Family, written by Oscar Andrew Hammerstein, great-grandson of the first Oscar. 

Bursting with unique photos of people, buildings, posters, and musical paraphernalia, this elegant book painstakingly narrates the lives of these three important figures in American theater and music. A detailed description emerges of the eras of these men, other important figures in theatre, and the ongoing competition to capture audiences among vaudeville, opera, serious drama, and musical comedy. In short, The Hammersteins is a fascinating history of theatre in America as seen through the eyes, letters, productions, and reviews of its major contributors.

Oscar Hammerstein, the immigrant, started as a broom-sweeper in a cigar factor at $2 per week where, in his spare time, he created tobacco-related inventions and patented them, from cigar rollers to silver cases. These devices financed his dreams to create opera and vaudeville houses in New York City.

He created the Harlem Opera House and also the Columbus Theater, and later in midtown, the Manhattan Opera House ("an Arabic hallucination of spires, minarets, and tiles") to compete with the grand Metropolitan Opera House. He also constructed the Victoria Theater with its rooftop beer garden, ice rinks, and live cows for fresh milk. 

Great insider stories abound in The Hammersteins. Oscar Hammerstein I bet a well-known composer $100 that he could write a comic opera in two days. Given the title for the new operetta, musical score paper, a quill, ink, and a piano, with a guard outside the door to prevent any outside influences, Hammerstein cranked out The Koh-i-noor [Hope] Diamond which ran for 12 weeks at his theatres.

His four sons were taken out of school to work for him in various aspects of theater management. Booking of variety acts went to his son Willy, Oscar Hammerstein II's father.

There also are plenty of anecdotes involving Willy and the acts he hired and advised, including Flo Ziegfeld, W.C Fields, Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Buster Keaton, Houdini, and Mae West. Willy was credited with encouraging Will Rogers to try talking to audience during his lasso act, and suggesting that Charlie Chaplin throw pies.

Young Oscar II, Willy's son, started as a stage manager supervising production of shows, even acting as the personal assistant to Mae West. He wrote first show 1920 and had his first great success with Rose-Marie and its hit, “Indian Love Call."

Readers can watch his successes and failures unfold on the stage in collaboration with Rudolf Friml, Jerome Kern, Flo Ziegfeld, Sigmund Romberg and, of course, Richard Rogers. The Hammersteins is at its finest as it describes how theatrical shows get produced, how long they run, why they succeed or fail, and what lessons were learned. 

Hammerstein II's greatest contribution to musical theatre is his use of meaningful songs to advance the story, rather than other composers who simply inserted random music unrelated to the plot. His Show Boat, "inarguably the most important and influential play in the history of American musical theatre" is the first example of this technique to hit the stage.

It is fascinating reading to hear about the inspiration, planning, writing, previews, reviews, and success/failures of Hammerstein's many creations. His most famous successes include:  

• Oklahoma (choreographed by Agnes De Mille, played five years on Broadway, won a special Pulitzer, and was the first musical original cast album recorded on a 78 record);
• Carmen Jones (updated opera Carmen but with an all-Black cast);
• Carousel (with a 7.5 minute operatic song);
• State Fair (his only work exclusively for the Hollywood screen);
• South Pacific (with Mary Martin washing her hair in each of over 1,900 performances);
• The King and I (Yul Brynner and Gertrude Lawrence);
• Flower Drum Song (set in San Francisco's Chinese community);
• Sound of Music (1,442 performances, 5 Tonys, and one of the most popular films in history) 

If you enjoy musicals and want to learn about the people and production behind the scenes, this is one of the finest books around. Delightful writing, wonderful photos, and fascinating stories about pioneers who created these productions which continue to entertain audiences worldwide.

Happy reading. 

Fred
www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

Comments 

Previous posts

________________________

If this book interests you, be sure to check out: 

Brockes, Emma. What Would Barbra Do? How Musicals Changed My Life

Really delightful, clever reviews of a huge number of musicals from an author who admits, as a child, to watching Mary Poppins twice a week for three years with a friend.