(This piece, in a slightly different form, originally appeared on Colin Gawel's Pencilstorm blogsite.
You should check out that site at your earliest convenience, it's pretty cool.)
"I've been inside of more libraries
Than I have dope houses"
- from the song "A Life Of Rock & Roll" © 2009 Ricki C.
People don't go to the library enough anymore. I suppose that's because everybody has a computer for research, a Nook or something similar for reading and Netflix for renting movies. I, however, have loved libraries ever since I was a hopelessly shy, backward, book-loving child and I love them to this day.
Back in the 2000's, when I was on the road with Hamell On Trial for at least 100 dates a year (God, how I miss those days), many of my daylight hours were spent trying to find creative ways to kill time while Hamell slept in his car. (Ed very literally kept vampire hours; after gigs he'd stay up 'til four or five in the morning, sleep 'til noon, then we'd check out of the Motel 6 and he'd sleep while I drove to the next town. Then he'd hunker down in the car in some shady spot to sleep 'til soundcheck. He just DID NOT WANT to see ANY sunlight.) As such, bookstores in malls were often my refuge for the daylight hours, but even better were the rare afternoons I could find a library to kick back in. Libraries had been my salvation since I was little, those days on the road in my 50's were no different.
Anyway, here's my two latest rock & roll library book recommendations:
1) I Slept With Joey Ramone by Mitch Leigh. This book was published in 2009 but somehow I never got around to reading it until now, and it's really good, I sincerely regret not picking it up sooner. Written by Joey Ramone's younger brother - Mitch Leigh (who also served as guitarist & co-songwriter in rock critic Lester Bangs' band Birdland) - it documents, in a really poignant and personal way, how Jeffry Hyman of Forest Hills Queens, New York, reinvented himself, pretty much by sheer force of will, to become Joey Ramone.
The Ramones' story has been pretty well documented over the years. Just in my collection I've got books by Everett True and Monte Melnick (The Ramones road manager for pretty much all of their existence) and I know there's a book by Johnny Ramone floating around out there. (But Johnny was kind of a dick, so I never bought that one, though I'm pretty sure I read it out of the library.) (At the same time I find myself calling Johnny Ramone a dick - largely for stealing away Joey's steady girl and then marrying her, maybe just to prove that he could and for running The Ramones like a military operation rather than like a BAND for all of their career - I find myself admitting that if Johnny hadn't run the organization that way, The Ramones most likely would never have played 2,263 gigs over a 22 year span, without ever having anything approaching a hit record.) (On the other hand, as Colin and I have oft-conjectured on Watershed tours; maybe if The Ramones HADN'T been run that way - traveling the world crammed together in a van, hating one another and literally not speaking for years at a time - two members of the band wouldn't have destroyed their immune systems with accumulated stress and died of cancer and a third wouldn't have OD'd. We have no conclusive medical or psychological proof of this hypothesis, we're just sayin'.)
But I digress. You really oughta read this book. It's simultaneously funny and heartbreaking in all the right ways as we watch Joey Ramone - who, due to various physical & mental problems, more than a couple of doctors declared "would never be able to function in normal society" - transition from existing as a marginalized basket case to being a rock & roll star. Or are those really just two sides of the same coin? Either way, it's still a truly inspirational human story, told with love, grace & humor by Joey's little brother. (Most telling incident in the book: In 1977, when Mitch Leigh quit as The Ramones' first roadie, after getting a raise in pay from $60 to $70 A WEEK, Johnny replaced Mitch with TWO new guys, each making $250 a week. In rock & roll, brothers so often get screwed.) (See The Kinks, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Dire Straits, Oasis, etc.)
2) A Light That Never Goes Out: The Enduring Saga Of The Smiths by Tony Fletcher. My lovely wife Debbie and I don't get out much in the winter. In fact, if we could work it right and ensure that a steady flow of cookies, milk, Lay's potato chips and Mountain Dew would get delivered, we might not ever leave the house in December, January, February & March. As such, I'll occasionally find myself just trolling the library website for something interesting to read. That's where I ran across this book.
Now, let's get some parameters straight: I could give less of a shit about The Smiths. They were the very first band, back in the 1980's, that all of my tastemaker friends LOVED (are you reading this, Curt Schieber?) that I just DID NOT GET. Finally, I just wound up saying to myself, "I have tried and tried and TRIED to like this band and they just simply suck. I should not have to work this hard to enjoy music." (I later repeated that same pattern with Guns 'n' Roses, Nirvana, grunge in general, and most recently with Arcade Fire and Mumford & Sons.) But something about the library's description of the book hooked me, so I reserved it.
When the reserve came in, Debbie and I were on one of our rare outings together to obtain food and fresh literary supplies, so she ran into the library to grab the book for me while I kept the car running warm in the cold. She came out lugging a book fully 1/3rd of her diminutive five-foot height and I thought, "What the hell is that?" It turns out the Fletcher book is 698 PAGES LONG! ABOUT THE FUCKING SMITHS! HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!?
Pencilstorm readers, I was looking for maybe 237 pages about The Smiths, tops, not 698 pages. If I had gone into the library myself rather than sending Debbie I'd have handed that book right back to the librarian for them to pass on to the next reservee - to some pale, wan, winsome Morrissey & Marr fan who might actually appreciate 700 pages about their heroes. (But they might be too anemic & malnourished to lift it.)
Since it was already checked out and since it was too cold to ask Debbie to walk it back into the library I decided to give it a shot, and damn if it isn't actually pretty good. Admittedly, I didn't start the book until page 210, chapter thirteen, as it takes Fletcher THAT LONG to get to Morrissey and Marr even meeting for the first time. (I'm fairly certain Tony was being paid by the word for this tome, BIG MISTAKE for the publisher.) But from there on the story moves right along. The book chronicles the birth and growth of a young band in month to month - if not week to week - detail and I'm genuinely enjoying it, way more than I ever would have thought I would. It's truly well written. (By the way, I'm 200 pages beyond where I started and they haven't made their second album yet.)
One of the true advantages of reading rock & roll books in the internet age is that virtually any television appearance mentioned in the text can be punched up on YouTube. (By the way, if Debbie hears the phrase, "Just punch it up on YouTube" from me ONE MORE TIME this long winter/spring, there's gonna be trouble at our house.) I've found myself doing that more and more while reading this book, and you know what I've discovered? I've discovered I STILL don't like The Smiths music. Somehow I like the IDEA of The Smiths more than I actually like The Smiths. I'm enormously heartened by the idea that Morrissey refused to go on Jimmy Kimmel's show alongside those cracker assholes from Duck Dynasty, solely because of his vegetarian beliefs. Try to imagine almost any other celebrity or rocker turning down a paycheck or a T.V. appearance these days just because of their principles. Or, indeed, try to imagine any other celebrity or rocker these days WITH a belief or a principle. (Let's face facts, people, any one of the Kardashian sisters would fuck a llama in a closet if it meant they could get another reality show out of the deal.)
Come to think of, Morrissey probably wouldn't go on that show either. Thanks, Steven.
(ps. Best recent pop-culture Morrissey reference: The Colbert Report, Wednesday, March 27th, when an interview-guest pig farmer claimed their pork is made "naturally." Colbert paused, then asked, "At what point do the little piggies decide to naturally meander into the slaughterhouse? Do you read them Nietzsche, play them a little Morrissey?" Classic.)
Ricki C. missed The Ramones the first time they played Columbus, Ohio, in March of 1978, at a dive bar called The Sugar Shack because he refused to believe that The Ramones would actually PLAY AT the dive that was The Sugar Shack. He did see them the second time they played Columbus in July 1978 at a supermarket-converted-into-a-rock-club - Cafe Rock & Roll, by name - and damn, is he glad he did.
He never saw The Smiths play live anywhere, anytime, and is equally glad of that.
Anyway, here's my two latest rock & roll library book recommendations:
1) I Slept With Joey Ramone by Mitch Leigh. This book was published in 2009 but somehow I never got around to reading it until now, and it's really good, I sincerely regret not picking it up sooner. Written by Joey Ramone's younger brother - Mitch Leigh (who also served as guitarist & co-songwriter in rock critic Lester Bangs' band Birdland) - it documents, in a really poignant and personal way, how Jeffry Hyman of Forest Hills Queens, New York, reinvented himself, pretty much by sheer force of will, to become Joey Ramone.
The Ramones' story has been pretty well documented over the years. Just in my collection I've got books by Everett True and Monte Melnick (The Ramones road manager for pretty much all of their existence) and I know there's a book by Johnny Ramone floating around out there. (But Johnny was kind of a dick, so I never bought that one, though I'm pretty sure I read it out of the library.) (At the same time I find myself calling Johnny Ramone a dick - largely for stealing away Joey's steady girl and then marrying her, maybe just to prove that he could and for running The Ramones like a military operation rather than like a BAND for all of their career - I find myself admitting that if Johnny hadn't run the organization that way, The Ramones most likely would never have played 2,263 gigs over a 22 year span, without ever having anything approaching a hit record.) (On the other hand, as Colin and I have oft-conjectured on Watershed tours; maybe if The Ramones HADN'T been run that way - traveling the world crammed together in a van, hating one another and literally not speaking for years at a time - two members of the band wouldn't have destroyed their immune systems with accumulated stress and died of cancer and a third wouldn't have OD'd. We have no conclusive medical or psychological proof of this hypothesis, we're just sayin'.)
But I digress. You really oughta read this book. It's simultaneously funny and heartbreaking in all the right ways as we watch Joey Ramone - who, due to various physical & mental problems, more than a couple of doctors declared "would never be able to function in normal society" - transition from existing as a marginalized basket case to being a rock & roll star. Or are those really just two sides of the same coin? Either way, it's still a truly inspirational human story, told with love, grace & humor by Joey's little brother. (Most telling incident in the book: In 1977, when Mitch Leigh quit as The Ramones' first roadie, after getting a raise in pay from $60 to $70 A WEEK, Johnny replaced Mitch with TWO new guys, each making $250 a week. In rock & roll, brothers so often get screwed.) (See The Kinks, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Dire Straits, Oasis, etc.)
2) A Light That Never Goes Out: The Enduring Saga Of The Smiths by Tony Fletcher. My lovely wife Debbie and I don't get out much in the winter. In fact, if we could work it right and ensure that a steady flow of cookies, milk, Lay's potato chips and Mountain Dew would get delivered, we might not ever leave the house in December, January, February & March. As such, I'll occasionally find myself just trolling the library website for something interesting to read. That's where I ran across this book.
Now, let's get some parameters straight: I could give less of a shit about The Smiths. They were the very first band, back in the 1980's, that all of my tastemaker friends LOVED (are you reading this, Curt Schieber?) that I just DID NOT GET. Finally, I just wound up saying to myself, "I have tried and tried and TRIED to like this band and they just simply suck. I should not have to work this hard to enjoy music." (I later repeated that same pattern with Guns 'n' Roses, Nirvana, grunge in general, and most recently with Arcade Fire and Mumford & Sons.) But something about the library's description of the book hooked me, so I reserved it.
When the reserve came in, Debbie and I were on one of our rare outings together to obtain food and fresh literary supplies, so she ran into the library to grab the book for me while I kept the car running warm in the cold. She came out lugging a book fully 1/3rd of her diminutive five-foot height and I thought, "What the hell is that?" It turns out the Fletcher book is 698 PAGES LONG! ABOUT THE FUCKING SMITHS! HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!?
Pencilstorm readers, I was looking for maybe 237 pages about The Smiths, tops, not 698 pages. If I had gone into the library myself rather than sending Debbie I'd have handed that book right back to the librarian for them to pass on to the next reservee - to some pale, wan, winsome Morrissey & Marr fan who might actually appreciate 700 pages about their heroes. (But they might be too anemic & malnourished to lift it.)
Since it was already checked out and since it was too cold to ask Debbie to walk it back into the library I decided to give it a shot, and damn if it isn't actually pretty good. Admittedly, I didn't start the book until page 210, chapter thirteen, as it takes Fletcher THAT LONG to get to Morrissey and Marr even meeting for the first time. (I'm fairly certain Tony was being paid by the word for this tome, BIG MISTAKE for the publisher.) But from there on the story moves right along. The book chronicles the birth and growth of a young band in month to month - if not week to week - detail and I'm genuinely enjoying it, way more than I ever would have thought I would. It's truly well written. (By the way, I'm 200 pages beyond where I started and they haven't made their second album yet.)
One of the true advantages of reading rock & roll books in the internet age is that virtually any television appearance mentioned in the text can be punched up on YouTube. (By the way, if Debbie hears the phrase, "Just punch it up on YouTube" from me ONE MORE TIME this long winter/spring, there's gonna be trouble at our house.) I've found myself doing that more and more while reading this book, and you know what I've discovered? I've discovered I STILL don't like The Smiths music. Somehow I like the IDEA of The Smiths more than I actually like The Smiths. I'm enormously heartened by the idea that Morrissey refused to go on Jimmy Kimmel's show alongside those cracker assholes from Duck Dynasty, solely because of his vegetarian beliefs. Try to imagine almost any other celebrity or rocker turning down a paycheck or a T.V. appearance these days just because of their principles. Or, indeed, try to imagine any other celebrity or rocker these days WITH a belief or a principle. (Let's face facts, people, any one of the Kardashian sisters would fuck a llama in a closet if it meant they could get another reality show out of the deal.)
Come to think of, Morrissey probably wouldn't go on that show either. Thanks, Steven.
(ps. Best recent pop-culture Morrissey reference: The Colbert Report, Wednesday, March 27th, when an interview-guest pig farmer claimed their pork is made "naturally." Colbert paused, then asked, "At what point do the little piggies decide to naturally meander into the slaughterhouse? Do you read them Nietzsche, play them a little Morrissey?" Classic.)
Ricki C. missed The Ramones the first time they played Columbus, Ohio, in March of 1978, at a dive bar called The Sugar Shack because he refused to believe that The Ramones would actually PLAY AT the dive that was The Sugar Shack. He did see them the second time they played Columbus in July 1978 at a supermarket-converted-into-a-rock-club - Cafe Rock & Roll, by name - and damn, is he glad he did.
He never saw The Smiths play live anywhere, anytime, and is equally glad of that.
© 2013 Ricki C.
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