Glorious Noise Boards

Chris G wrote:


Oh god, that's terrible.



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Indeed.

Bagby's purpose for the book is to change Canadian bail law where it applies to those accused of murder and man slaughter. He and his wife are quite nice, ordinary, and understated people. They are decidedly unexceptional and entirely undeserving of the tragic cards that they were dealt. Much about the case is appalling.

Ok, plug over.

Wasn't sure if I should drop this in the Spector thread or over here with the book lovers, but I just finished the Phil Spector bio Tearing Down the Wall of Sound.

Has anyone else checked this book out?

It's not the best written stuff - the author got an interview with Spector just weeks before the shooting at Spector's house and you can tell from the writing that this was a bit of a rush job. That aside, the anecdotes and the strange connections make it a really compelling read. For me, there was a "wow" or at least a "hmm" on nearly every page. A few choice bits:

Spector was so worried that radio wouldn't play the Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody" because it was nearly four minutes long, so he had record lables printed for the single that listed a play time of just 3:05

Sonny Bono was Spector's first publicist/advance man.

A young David Geffen worked in Spector's studio and is shunned, mistreated and used as a gopher by Spector (Spector invites Geffen out to dinner, but makes him sit at a different table with the help).

Stand by Me was written in studio in about 20 minutes so that Ben E. King would have one more track on his debut album.

One of the first teenage writers Spector hired was a young Neil Sedaka. Sedaka wrote "Oh Carol" for his then high-school girlfriend Carol Klein. She would later change her name to Carol King...

And the songs - I don't mean to be a dumb-guy, but I really didn't know how many hits Spector wrote or produced.

Spector's first big single, written as a 17 year old, "To Know Him is To Love Him" was actually a b-side inspired by the epitaph on Spector's father's grave; he went on to write: "Da Doo Ron Ron", "Baby I love you", "Be My Baby", "River Deep, Mountain High", "Spanish Harlem", "Chapel of Love", "Then He Kissed Me"

And then there's all the bizzaro-world stuff with his kids, Ronnie Spector, Tina Turner, Lenny Bruce, the Beatles, John Lennon, the Ramones, Leonard Cohen and even Skysailor (and all of it tinged with lots and lots of booze and even more guns).

I don't know that it's worth plunking down any cash for, but it's well worth getting out of your local library...

Next up is a tell-all bio on Berry Gordy and Mowtown written by Gordy's ex-wife. If anyone else has any other recommendations, I'm all ears...

I'm reading "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" by Michael Chabon right now. It's about a young Czech artist who escapes Prague during the nazi crackdown in the late 30's and along with his American cousin, help usher in the Golden Age of comics. Good stuff...

i'm finally reading all those Bukowsi books you guys recommended to me last year. I read 'Women,' 'Ham on Rye' and now 'Post Office.'

Absolutely loving them!

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The Phil Spector book sounds interesting, as well as the Berry Gordy book. I will be interested to hear your take on that when you've finished it.

At first description, I thought that Kavalier & Clay book was going to be non-fiction. It looked interested. When I saw it was all fantasy that was a bit of a letdown.

I like to listen to Bukowsi speak more than reading his stuff. But maybe if I read more of his stuff, I'd change my mind.


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Right now I'm reading Ray Kurzweil, The Singularity is Near.








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I've been on a graphic novel kick for a while now, ever since I finally picked up The Watchmen. If you have not read it, I can't recommend it highly enough. It absolutely blew me away.

Also The Invisibles by Grant Morrison or Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis. Amazing shite.

Mixmaster Shecky wrote:I've been on a graphic novel kick for a while now, ever since I finally picked up The Watchmen. If you have not read it, I can't recommend it highly enough. It absolutely blew me away.

Also The Invisibles by Grant Morrison or Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis. Amazing shite.

Watchymen is dope. I have the individual issues in my parent's basement. If you're looking for more good comic stuff check out the Y the Last Man and Walking Dead collections. Damn good stuff.

I'm currently getting my fantasy dork on with Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series.

The other music industry book that I put in an order for with my local library is Rock On: An Office Power Ballad...it sounds like a fun read:

When New York writer Dan Kennedy is hired by a major record label in 2002, he thinks he's chanced upon a dream job in the world of full-blown gonzo rock and roll excess that has pockmarked his dreams ever since he was a suburban Southern California teen. The sobering reality: he's basically walked into a nine-to-five world that's equal parts Spinal Tap and The Office—and he's just in time for mass layoffs, artists being cut from contracts, and sales hitting an all-time low.

I'm 51st on the wait-list, so this may not make my summer reading list...

I'm almost done In Defence of Food by Michael Pollan and Persuasion by Jane Austen. Nice breaks from a lovely but depressing manuscript about Alzheimer's that I must read for work. Not sure what's next: maybe Geography of Hope by Chris Turner and Unfeeling by Ian Holding. Yes, both light spring reading.

I agree with you Shecks: Transmetropolitan is great! The Watchman is next on the graphic novel list. I think it's being made into a movie. Hopefully it won't be crap.