A loving and lighthearted reminiscence of a fraternal bond that powered a singular rock band.
In search of lost wild times.
Centuries of land reclamation in the Netherlands have converted underwater expanses to livable tracts. We may have this process to thank for some of the most unforgettable and propulsive rock music ever recorded. “The boom boom boom of the pile drivers—that was like the soundtrack of my early childhood,” Alex Van Halen writes of growing up in Holland. “Maybe that’s why I became a drummer.” Written a few years after the death of his brother Ed (not “Eddie,” as others called him)—the preternaturally gifted guitarist for the band that bore the siblings’ name—this breezy memoir is full of such delightful details, chronicling the brothers’ rise from scrappy Dutch immigrants to rock gods. The sons of a “tiny but tough” Indonesian mother and a Dutch musician father, Alex and Ed started playing music together at an early age, landing gigs in Pasadena, California, in the 1970s. Along the way, they met Dave Roth, “a hyperactive kid” with “an interesting drawl” who preferred the songs of Louis Prima and Al Jolson. But Dave’s clownish antics (and skintight pants) were the dose of showmanship that the Van Halen boys (and bassist Michael Anthony Sobolewski) needed. Dave also suggested a new band name: the strong-sounding Van Halen instead of—wait for it—Rat Salad. Much has been made of the eventual disharmony between Roth and the brothers (Roth “needs attention like everyone else needs water: to live,” Alex writes), but the author revisits this time without rancor, praising Roth for his lyrics. Penned with New Yorker writer Ariel Levy, the book delves into the brothers’ addictions and hedonism, thoughtfully appraising each. It’s the making of the music, though, that is the heart of this book, providing its steady pulse. Playing their “warm, big, and majestic” songs, as Ed put it, made them happy, and millions around the world are grateful for the joy they spread with those transcendent sounds.
A loving and lighthearted reminiscence of a fraternal bond that powered a singular rock band.Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2024
ISBN: 9780063265707
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
A charming and often poignant valediction from rock ’n’ roll’s Prince of Darkness.
The late heavy metal legend considers his mortality in this posthumous memoir.
“I ain’t ready to go anywhere,” writes Osbourne in the opening pages of his new memoir. “It’s good being alive. I like it. I want to be here with my family.” Given the context—Osbourne died on July 22, 2025, two weeks after the publisher announced the news of this book—it’s undeniably sad. But the rest of the text sees the Black Sabbath singer confronting the health struggles of his last years with dark humor and something approaching grace. The memoir begins in 2018; he wrote an earlier one, I Am Ozzy, in 2010. He tells of a staph infection he suffered that proved to be the start of a long, painful battle with various illnesses—soon after, he contracted a flu, which morphed into pneumonia. A spinal injury caused by a fall followed, causing him to undergo a series of surgeries and leaving him struggling with intense pain. And then there was his diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, the treatment of which was complicated by his longtime struggle with alcohol and drug addiction. Osbourne peppers the chronicle of his final years with anecdotes from his past, growing up in Birmingham, England, and playing with—and then being fired from—Black Sabbath, and some of his most well-known antics (yes, he does address biting the heads off of a dove and a bat). He writes candidly and regretfully about the time he viciously attacked his wife, Sharon—the book is in many ways a love letter to her and his children. The memoir showcases Osbourne’s wit and charm; it’s rambling and disorganized, but so was he. It functions as both a farewell and a confession, and fans will likely find much to admire in this account. “Death’s been knocking at my door for the last six years, louder and louder,” he writes. “And at some point, I’m gonna have to let him in.”
A charming and often poignant valediction from rock ’n’ roll’s Prince of Darkness.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781538775417
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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