Although the early chapters contain wearisome lists of celebrities and dreary accounts of dissipation, once the Beatles and...
The original manager of the Rolling Stones recalls his unconventional boyhood and his fortunate alliance with the bad boys of rock music.
More than half of Oldham’s memoir is gone before the Stones appear, but the warm-up act is not disagreeable. The author begins in 1995 with an overwrought account of his current condition: hung-over, used-up, depressed. “I knew the ride was over,” he admits, “but I wasn’t ready for the other side.” He then returns to his childhood (his father, a US airman stationed in England, did not survive WWII; his English mother carried on as best she could). As a teenager he bounced from school to school and early on became a fan of films, television, and pop music. Possessing a vast ad hoc knowledge of popular culture, as well as a formidable fashion sense and a ferocious determination to farm the freshly flowering fields of rock music, Oldham gradually arrived in this brave new world and witnessed the blossoming of a number of important rock stars, including the Beatles, Marianne Faithfull, and—most notably—the Rolling Stones. Oldham intercuts his text with quotations—some quite lengthy—from many others who were present at the Big Bang: among them, Peter Townshend, Lionel Bart, and Vidal Sassoon. Some wrote their own accounts, some submitted to interviews, and others Oldham quotes from their own published memoirs. To his credit, Oldham allows these other voices to contradict him and even to portray him unfavorably: his acquaintances recall, for example, that Oldham physically abused his mother—which he subsequently denies. Among the interesting revelations: Oldham was the first to insist that the Stones write their own music.
Although the early chapters contain wearisome lists of celebrities and dreary accounts of dissipation, once the Beatles and Stones arrive on stage, the memoir picks up some real energy. (60 b&w photos)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-312-26653-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2000
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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