This Bird Has Flown by Susanna Hoffs

Title: This Bird Has Flown

Author: Susanna Hoffs

Genre: Romantic Comedy; Romance; Fiction

This romantic comedy filled with fun music references follows Jane, a one-hit wonder who is struggling to match her early success. A recent breakup leaves her bereft, and her agent/best friend offers to let her stay in her London apartment for a change of scenery. On the plane ride, Jane hits it off with a charming Oxford literature professor. When she visits him in Oxford, they spend a lot of time together, and she does little songwriting. But their budding romance hits a snag when past relationships catch up with them. Written by a co-founder of The Bangles, this breezy novel is perfect for the warmer weather ahead.

- Sarah

Check out This Bird Has Flown by Susanna Hoffs @ the library!

Hit So Hard by Patty Schemel

Title: Hit So Hard

Author: Patty Schemel

Genre: Music Autobiography

Hit So Hard is a memoir of the drummer from the Grunge era, 90's band Hole that was fronted by Courtney Love. It's an interesting overview of the Seattle scene during that period, and the book takes the reader on an unapologetic ride through the excitement of the music being made as well as the darkness of drugs and excess. Along the way Schemel sheds light on the tragic deaths of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain (Love's husband) and Hole bassist Kristen Pfaff. Schemel herself struggled mightily with both addiction and her sexuality, and the portrait she paints of her drug dependency is harrowing. Throughout, the reader is left wondering how the author did not succumb to the same fate that befell Cobain and Pfaff. Her addiction led her to homelessness, memory blackouts, multiple attempts at rehabilitation, and Schemel's daily quest to satisfy her addiction. In the end, Hit So Hard is about survival. Schemel's story is a wild ride for readers - whether they are interested in the Grunge scene or not. Hit So Hard is a worthwhile read about a woman realizing her inner strength and using it to overcome her demons.

- Michael

Check out Hit So Hard @ the library.

Anatomy of a Song by Marc Myers

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes of a great song? What does it take to write, record and produce a song that defines a year or genera of music? Then check out Marc Myers Anatomy of A Song, where he has collected 45 songs and interviewed the writers, performers and producers responsible for them. From 1952's Lawdy Miss Clawdy to 1991's Losing My Religion, Anatomy of a Song is not so much a direct pop music history, but a back track to how a song gets made, the people who could have made the music, and the songs that are surprise successes.

Personal drama, musicians trying new things, and surprising facts about musician's will keep you reading. Skip a head to your favorite songs, or read straight through to follow a line of music history. These essays first appeared in the Wall Street Journal, but make a great collection for fans of popular music and how it gets made.

Check out Anatomy of a Song by Marc Myers @ the library!

Testimony by Robbie Robertson

Robbie Robertson is best known as the guitarist and songwriter for The Band  who penned such memorable classic songs as “The Weight,” “Up on Cripple Creek,” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” among many others.  The Band was an eclectic group of musicians who backed up Bob Dylan during his transformative years and released the seminal album “Music from Big Pink” in 1968. Robertson covers the Band’s inception and evolving musical journey that culminated in the 1976 Martin Scorsese film documenting The Band’s final live appearance in “The Last Waltz.”

In between, the autobiographical Testimony brings to life a musical journey for Robertson that began at age 16 when he left his home in Canada to join Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks. Robertson’s heritage is half-Mohawk and his storytelling nature makes for an interesting read. He became close friends with Dylan and mingled with a veritable who’s who of the 60’s and 70’s including every member of the Beatles, Joni Mitchell, David Geffen, Cher, Edie Sedgewick, Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, Carly Simon, James Taylor and many more.

As a result, the reader is treated with a rich understanding of the evolving music scene and an inside view of a band of musical brothers who are hardened by life on the road; including drugs and other excesses, and eventually burned out by that same highway. Five hundred pages in length, “Testimony” is a large book. However, it engages the reader and Robertson’s ability to weave story after story makes for an easy read.

In a recent interview Robertson explained that the original manuscript was edited down from an original, imposing 800 pages. Those familiar with Robertson’s life know that his talents took him on further artistic journeys beyond the end of the book which covers only up to 1976. As a result, fans can look forward to the second book that will surely include his solo albums, film scores, and acting projects up to the present. Robbie Robertson has lived an interesting life and “Testimony” is a fine addition to rock musical autobiographies.

Middle C by William H. Gass

Middle C is unlike any other novel I have ever read.  The storytelling doesn’t unfold in typical linear fashion and because of this the reader becomes increasingly curious about how our narrator, Joseph Skizzen, gets from point A to point Z.  Joseph’s tale begins before he is even born, with his parents and sister living in their native Graz, Austria just before the dawn of World War II.  Sensing that the Nazis will soon be creating more than their fair share of problems in his homeland, Rudi Skizzen flees to London with his family by pretending that they are Jewish refugees.  Joseph is born shortly after their arrival and the Skizzen (now called Fixel) family manages to survive the Blitz.  Joseph’s father “reinvents” or renames himself several more times and then disappears mysteriously after the war.  After desperately searching for her husband, Joseph’s mother Miriam then manages to relocate herself and her two children to a small town in rural Ohio. 

And here is where Joseph’s story takes off.  We can see the two Skizzen children grow into their new lives as Americans.  Joseph is quiet and not particularly book-smart while his sister Debbie becomes a cheerleader and wants to be a part of all things fashionable.  Joseph begins to enjoy his piano lessons with a local teacher, but it is apparent that he is self-taught in playing popular tunes than anything else.  We are then shown a look at Joseph as an older man, one who has used the entire attic of his large home to house what he calls his “Inhumanity Museum” which is host to countless newspaper clippings spotlighting all manner of man’s terrible acts.  We bounce back and forth in time to see Joseph working as a high schooler in a music store, then as a college professor, then a college student, then as an assistant in a small town library.  Each sector of Joseph’s life creates another layer of lies he tells himself to continue on his way. 

I began this book thinking (due to the title) that it was about music.  And in many ways, music plays a big role in Joseph’s life.  But the result of Gass’s novel is so unlike any story I’ve seen told that it is hard to place my finger on what the biggest point of the narrative truly is.  Middle C  is a fascinating, careening tour through the mind of a seemingly ordinary man who lives a seemingly ordinary life but it is certainly an extraordinary novel. 

You Don't Know Me but You Don't Like Me by Nathan Rabin

It begins, as these things generally do, with a girl.* What else could drive a man to go follow Phish for a summer (or two) as well as dive into the world of the Insane Clown Posse (ICP)? Nathan Rabin does both of these things in part to write this book, but also because of a girl who sent him the ICP video "Miracles" who happened to be a Phish fan.

What follows is an attempt to understand, explore and ultimately see what makes these two groups separate from the mainstream, yet still be profitable acts that can sell out concerts and festivals. From experiencing the Lot at a Phish show, to attending the Gathering of the Juggalo's, Rabin does not shy away from any experience a true follower would have.

You may not know what a Juggalo is, or ever want to experience the Lot at a Phish concert, yet You Don't Know Me makes you see the appeal to both groups. Rabin gives faces to the people who just happen to love the groups Insane Clown Posse and Phish. While they might be two separate tribes, each are a type of family that gives identity to those who may be lost and searching. You Don't Know Me but You Don't Like Me would appeal to fans of Chuck Klosterman, as well as those readers interested in music, as well as Phish and ICP fans.

Check out You Don't Know Me but You don't Like Me Phish, Insane Clown Posse and My Misadventures With Two of Music's Most Maligned Tribes @ the library!

*First line of the book, and the best way to introduce this book.

The Southern Journey of Alan Lomax by Tom Piazza

Alan Lomax was a renowned music documentarian as well as a singer, songwriter, and civil rights activist who is best known for his work (along with his father John) with the Library of Congress in preserving seminal American folk music. Between 1932 and 1942 Alan and his father worked as archivists for the Library of Congress’ Archive of American Folk song series. This was groundbreaking work that lead the Lomax’s to record important African American and Afro-Caribbean music as well as folk song traditions of the Ozarks and Appalachia, lumbermen, sailors, fishermen, bargemen, and Native Americans. They traveled out into the field to document the music - most of which was handed down from generation to generation and generic to its locality.

Alan Lomax also made the first recordings of bluesmen Muddy Waters, “Mississippi” Fred McDowell, Jelly Roll Morton and David “Honeyboy” Edwards – among others. He was also responsible for facilitating the careers of many well-known folk artists including, Leadbelly, Pete Seeger, Woody Gutherie, Burl Ives, Josh White, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Big Bill Broonzy, Wade Ward, Almeda Riddle and many more. In 1936 he and his father John produced the Slave Narrative project, now residing at the Library of Congress. Lomax had an insatiable hunger for discovering distinctly American original folksingers and tracing their influences. Much of the music he documented was found in the southern regions of the United States and often in rural, poor areas.

The Southern Journey of Alan Lomax is a compilation of photographs, words and music (a CD is included with 12 songs of some of the musicians Lomax recorded), spanning Lomax’s life’s work. The photographs and stories behind the people in them are wonderful and bring to life a better understanding of the music Lomax documented. The photographs cover the periods Lomax cultivated 1934-1978, but particularly emphasize his 1959- 1960 southern journey to the rural sections of Mississippi, Virginia, Kentucky, Georgia and Arkansas. These photos vividly tell a tale of the persons behind the music and span juke joints, back porches, farms, churches, and even penitentiaries.

The Southern Journey of Alan Lomax is a wonderful testament to a man doggedly devoted to recording the origins and legacies of American folk music. Lomax’s valuable work forever preserves the origins of not only the musical roots of the land, but perhaps more importantly portrays the history and culture of the country.

Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate A Cappella Glory by Mickey Rapkin

Great movies come from great books, and Pitch Perfect (now in theaters) is no different. Way back in 2008 a book called Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate A Cappella Glory by Mickey Rapkin gave us an inside look at the world of college a cappella groups. The current movie takes these stories and creates a fictional word based off of the adventures of three very different groups.

Divisi, from the University of Oregon, were denied a national championship, and want to win what was theirs in spite of turning over most of their members. The Beelzebubs of Tufts university are feeling the burden of a rich history, and have to top their last album, Code Red which was called "game changing". Finally it showcases the Hullabahoos of University of Virginia who are more like fun loving frat boys who want to be more successful. Each group's story is told in alternating chapters, along with facts and history of collegiate A Cappella.

Whether you already saw the movie, or just are looking for a good book that highlights an interesting subculture, Pitch Perfect will have you looking up YouTube clips of past shows, and singing. 

Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story by Chuck Klosterman

Music writer Chuck Klosterman goes on a cross country trip to visit the places where rock stars died. Starting in the Chelsea Hotel where Sex Pistols Sid Vicious came to an early end, and ending in Seattle at the sight of Kurt Cobain's untimely demise, this is a journey in music. Of course, like all good solo road trips, he does a bit of thinking about his past relationships and the music that brings them up. If you've ever spent a day watching VH1 Classic, own more music than you could ever listen to, or have defined a relationship by a song, album or group, Killing Yourself to Live might resonate with you.