CD review: Carolyn Mark and NQ Arbuckle, Let’s Just Stay Here (Mint Records) and “Terrible Hostess: Recipes for Disaster, Volume II, Road-Tested by Carolyn Mark”
By Rachel Heisler
Carolyn Mark has a flair for the dramatic, and it’s this flair that makes her music so damn fun to slosh around in. Her musical base is a kind of light, twangified country, but she expands it to include raunchy twists and mysterious turns. You jump into a song thinking you know what’s coming, only to be flicked off course when you least expect it. It’s difficult enough to keep up with the wicked little nymh when it’s just her, but Let’s Just Stay Here is doubly tricky to track because it is a collaboration with musician NQ Arbuckle, a playful chap in his own right. (more…)
Book review: Nirvana: The Biography (Da Capo Press)
Author: Everett True
By Rachel Heisler
Your average Nirvana fan probably knows the basics about Aberdeen, WA’s most beloved band: Kurt Cobain’s addiction to heroin, his self-inflicted shotgun blast to the head at the tender age of 27, the conspiracy theory that wife Courtney Love was the one who pulled the trigger … and we all know the music. The chart-topping “Come As You Are” and “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” the beautiful “About A Girl” and the ball-busting thrashings of “Blew” and “Breed” are just a few of the songs that have been staples on radio since the 1990s. (more…)
Book review: Interactive Fender Bible, authors Dave Hunter and Carl Verheyen (Jawbone Press)
By Rachel Heisler
Fender guitars have been played by the best and worst musicians of all time. You can’t go to a concert anywhere without catching a glimpse of a Strat or Tele and that’s because the sounds that these guitars make is second-to-none. Interactive Fender Bible is the ultimate guide to these masterfully made guitars. (more…)
Book review: The Killers: Destiny Is Calling Me, The Untold Story of America’s Hottest Band, author Jarrett Keene (Manic D Press, 2006)
By Rachel Heisler
With songs like “Mr. Brightside,” “Somebody Told Me” and “All The Things That I’ve Done,” the Killers became one of the hottest bands in the 2000s. Las Vegas-based journalist, musician, poet and author, Jarrett Keene, followed the band’s career not just because he had to (he writes for Las Vegas’ alt.weekly CityLife), but because he’s been a part of the local music scene for years, and for a short time played in a band with some of the members of what would eventually become the Killers. (more…)
SHORT SCALE: Book reviews in 200 words or less
By Rachel Heisler
Book review: Whores, An Oral Biography of Perry Farrell and Jane’s Addiction, Brendan Mullen (Da Capo Press, 2005)
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 geetars
Whores, what an appropriate name, is chock full of information on Jane’s Addiction and the men who made it such a huge success. The problem is the format in which the book is written. Instead of normal text with sentences, paragraphs and the like, author Brendan Mullen decided to only use direct quotes to tell his story. Different? Yes. Hard to read? Hell yes. It’s all over the place and is far more complicated than any book should be.
However, as noted, the content is good and comes from the mouths of members of Jane’s as well as ex-girlfriends, family members, members of other bands, friends, producers, etc. We’re given glimpses of who Perry Farrell, Dave Navarro, Eric Avery and Stephen Perkins were before Jane’s began, how this amazing band got its sound and some other fun facts, such as:
“PERRY FARRELL: I used to whip my cock out all the time. I did it because it was just something to do. And then it became a thing. As long as I could whip out my dick, I knew I was alive.”
The world of Jane’s Addiction wasn’t always normal and it wasn’t always pretty, but what world is? If you can stand the way it’s written, Whores is one of the most inclusive books on the boys who changed music forever.
Book review: Piano Workbook, A Complete Course in Technique and Performance, Carl Humphries (Jawbone Press, 2007)
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 geetars
If you’re one of those people who has always wanted to learn how to tickle the ivories, now’s your chance to teach yourself how to play. Author Carl Humphries has done all the hard work, now all you have to do is get a piano or keyboard, do a little reading and practice, practice, practice. The workbook is a companion to the Piano Handbook and comes with a DVD that will help guide you as you go. As for the content, it’s quite detailed and is perfect for those who know nothing about playing the piano or about music in general.
“Piano Workbook focuses on the practicalities of technique and interpretation, and on the essential theory you need to know if you want to be successsful as a composeror improviser,” Humphries said. “It takes you through the central points connected with posture, technique, styles of of playing, and ways of using harmony and melody.’
Remember, it’s never too late to learn something new (editor’s note: My 50-something-year-old dad is currently learning guitar! If he can do that, you can do this …). So stop making excuses and get to playing. Beautiful music is right at your fingertips!
Book review: Riot On Sunset Strip, Domenic Priore (Jawbone Press, August, 2007)
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 geetars
The mid-’60s was a time of change for the U.S. and it wasn’t just a time of political insecurities, it was a time when music got a makeover and completely changed the way people heard it and wrote it. And these changes weren’t seen anywhere more than on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles between 1965 and 1966. There were hundreds of bands taking part in the creative revolution. Well-known names like Love, Frank Zappa, The Doors, Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, Bob Dylan made ‘folk rock’ and ‘psychedelia’ household words, and, over the years, overshadowed bands that were popular for a brief moment in time: The Roosters, The Palace Guard and countless others.
Riot probably makes more sense if you remember a majority of the bands discussed. There are so many references in each paragraph that it’s easy to get lost in the information quagmire. Thinking back on a time that was so alive with music, passion and freedom of expression makes you wonder how music came to such a standstill after the inception of indie rock. We should take pointers from the free spirits of yesteryear and see if we can make our music as exciting as they made theirs.
Book review: Metal – The Definitive Guide (Jawbone Books, April, 2007)
By Rachel Heisler
If Beavis and Butthead could read, Metal – the Definitive Guide, would be their favorite book. (more…)
Book review: White Bicycles, Making Music in the 1960s, Joe Boyd (Serpent’s Tail, 2006)
By Rachel Heisler
“It was great that people fought about music in those days.”
Was music promoter and producer Joe Boyd in the right place at the right time? Was he just lucky? Or was he just a guy who loved music and was destined to help bring some otherwise underground musicians into the mainstream for all to love? (more…)
Book review: Lennon and McCartney Together Alone: A critical discography of their solo work, by John Blaney (Jawbone Books, April 2007)
By Rachel Heisler
Undeniably, the Lennon/McCartney songwriting duo created some of the best, most enduring music of all time. While they will always be known for their work with The Beatles, their solo music catalogues are vast, varied and go in two completely different directions, to say the least. Together Alone wades through every solo project both John Lennon and Paul McCartney worked on outside of The Beatles. It begins with John’s work on Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins all the way through to his death in 1980, and Paul’s soundtrack for film, The Family Way, through to 2006. (more…)
Book: Strange Brew: Eric Clapton & The British Blues Boom 1965-1970 (Jawbone Books, March 2007)
Author: Christopher Hjort
Strange Brew has to be one of the most extensive chronologies (of a very specific group of musicians) of all time. Author and rock historian Christopher Hjort has taken the old addage: ‘write what you know’ to the extreme with this 352 page account of the musical lives of guitarists Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Taylor and John Mayall. Strange Brew is literally a day-to-day diary of what each musician did, what band they were in from month to month over a span of five years. (more…)
Book: The Wall of Fame: New York City’s Legendary Manny’s Music
(Hal Leonard Books, March 31, 2007)
Authors: Henry Goldrich and Holly Goldrich Schoenfeld
Manny Goldrich opened Manny’s Music in 1935 at 120 West 48th Street. The store was small and so was the amount of inventory, which in the beginning included nothing but a few trumpets and other horns, Gretsch drums and instrument accessories. Slowly but surely Manny made friends in the music business–especially with his “…pay me when you get a chance. Don’t worry about it, I trust you,” sales philosophy. Before he knew it, stars such as Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Buddy Rich and other huge names were flocking to his shop. The store outgrew itself and in 1969 moved to the location it still resides today, 156 West 48th Street. (more…)
