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NICO

Name: NICO
Author: James Young
ISBN: 0-87951-504-X

THE END

by James Young ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 25, 1993

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Model, singer, and pop icon Nico was at the center of 60's hip, but when keyboardist James Young backed her up in the early 80's, a lifetime of heroin addiction had reduced her to a rude and demanding specter haunting the fringes of rock 'n' roll society. Here's Young's coarse and chaotic, entertaining and disconcerting, account of the final years of the Queen of the Junkies. Born in 1938 as Christa Paffgen, Nico was Berlin's top model at 17, soon working for Chanel in Paris and Ford in New York. After hanging out with the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, she was taken up by Andy Warhol, who made her the singer for the Velvet Underground (who weren't pleased, but Warhol paid the bills). While never a huge success, the Velvet Underground is widely acknowledged as the hippest band ever, and Nico's association with it created a small audience for her subsequent scattered singing career, managed in the 80's by eccentric rock entrepreneur ``Dr. Demetrius,'' who hired the author for a 1982 tour of Italy. For the next six years, Nico, Young, and the rest of the band performed for often disappointed audiences everywhere from L.A. to Australia to Prague to Japan, in tours ineptly planned by Demetrius and modified by Nico's need to score drugs. Joining them along the way were pop luminaries John Cale and Allen Ginsberg (``Ginsberg...was never really hip, being too much of a celebrant...He'd get excited and take off his clothes in the presence of people who were too cool to remove their Ray Bans''). Young's portrait of Nico is generous, considering the selfish single-mindedness of a career junkie, and his natural ear and eye render scathing takes on everyone else. Unevenly written and sometimes troubling—there are hints of scores settled here—but, still, a funny and engaging chronicle that puts you right on the tour bus, amid the clutter of drums and drugs and unwashed bodies.

Pub Date: Oct. 25, 1993

ISBN: 0-87951-504-X

Page Count: 240

Publisher: Overlook

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1993

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
EVERY DAY
by James Young & illustrated by James Young

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.