There's more to life than books ya'know , but not much more. The Smiths
Who invented the idea of public library's? I only recently joined my local library and I now go there to borrow the books I would have never been able to steal out of Easons.
One such book that I borrowed read and returned was No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs by John Lydon. The mad little hard lad from North London who fronted the Sex Pistols has written one interesting bitchy auto-biography. The explosion of the Pistols into infamy and a steady income of £30 a week is all detailed. Malcolm McClaren as you can guess doesn't get good copy. The book made me listen to the music again. The punk movement itself comes across as one of energy, anger and inventiveness until it was eaten by the mother of a system it was trying to shock.
Lydon is cocky, smart assed and confident (the traits I look for in a man) and therefore infinitely quotable. Here's Johnny Rotten on the British They don't care about war in the middle east. That's nothing to do with them. Samatha Fox wins every time over the middle east. This is the nature of the British. They are very trivia orientated, gossipy villagers. The English press are like those horrible old women peeping behind lace curtains, watching neighbours going in and out. Dot Cotton from East Enders that's Britain.
On Sid and Nancy Sids idea of fun was taking drugs with Nancy. My idea of fun was taking drugs with anyone but her....
Finally Mr. Rotten gives his views on rave ..is today's disco dance fodder. It's easy to escape into, and it draws a herding instinct. Everybody does it. That's a reason ? Maybe people like Johnny Rotten have had their day. Maybe I'm a pre-historic monster by being an individual. It's highly likely . All I offer to others is their own individuality . Grab it ?
May the road rise to meet you Lydon on your continuing journey with PIL and may you grow old disgracefully.
John Lydon grabbed hold of his time and shuck the be-jaysus out of it. The year of 1977 will be remembered by many as the year of punk long after the queen is dead and her jubilee forgotten. Let that be the epitaph to punk. Someone better nip down to temple bar and tell the spiky haired kids your po-going days are over babies.
Where I'm calling from by Raymond Carver is an expansive collection of short stories. Carver was (he's dead) simply one of the best short story writers I have read. His stories centre around ordinary people facing the extra-ordinary events that go for every day life.
Alcohol dependency, jealousy, fear, escapism, isolation, loss, doomed marriages, prejudices all litter the landscape of this collection. Some call this depressing, some call it realism. Carver's short stories focus on unremarkable people but by doing so he reveals great truths in simple tales. You know as you turn the page that your reading a masterpiece and this man will inspire writers for generations to come.
As he wrote himself in a poem By God, there's nothing like being able to meet your responsibilities... That's what I feel like everytime I pay another lecky bill.
Nick Kent's The Dark Stuff is a collection of his writings on Music over more than a decade or so. A dark trip thought the remnants of bright minds now shot to shrapnel thanks to too many high speed runs down the rock & roll highway. Kent prints interviews with the weird, Brian Wilson and Rocky Erickson, Jerry Lee Lewis, and the wonderful Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Mile Davis. Each of these has left their own indelible scratch on the tombstone.
Kent having survived 15 years in junkieville and an attack by a bass wielding Sid Vicious is qualified to cut his way to the dark pumping heart of Rock and Roll. Legends in the music biz are made off huge ego's, a large capacity for drugs and pinch of insanity. Premature deaths (i.e. Brian Wilson, Jimi Hendrix) are not essential but do your chances no harm of reaching legendary status. In view of all this a name to watch out for is a newly formed Dublin group called STRAWDOGS - say no more.
OTHER BOOKS :
Books that I have read and would recommend are as follows in brief.
(On foot of the Golden Horn) by Jason Goodwin.
A great travel book detailing the account of a journey undertaken by this young lad and friends from Poland to Turkey on foot. They pass though Czechoslovakia Hungary, Translyvannia, Romania and Bulgaria on the way. The account of Romania made me think of the evil land in Chitty Chitty bang bang. Well Weird. Guaranteed to dose you with wanderlust.
(Dancing in the Streets) by Don Watson.
This is an enjoyable story of a Scottish born Leeds fan (let's not hold that against him) and his landing on the planet World Cup '94. Watson a former NME hack informs us of the roller coaster ride that is being a football fan as he troops about with Irish, Italian and Brazilian fans. It's all entertainment and football won in the end (mainly thanks to Graham Taylor and the fact that the English Nazi thugs had to watch it on the telly). Reading this book was almost as good as being there itself (NOT!) except at 9.99 it's a hell of a lot cheaper and with the way Ireland are playing at the moment we may never get there again.
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