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MAINLINES, BLOOD FEASTS, AND BAD TASTE

Name: MAINLINES, BLOOD FEASTS, AND BAD TASTE
Author: Lester Bangs
ISBN: 0-375-71367-0

A LESTER BANGS READER

by Lester Bangs & edited by John Morthland ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 20, 2003

A choice cut of Bangs’s work, more than enough to understand why he developed so ardent a following, much of it post-mortem.

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A cerebrally smoking (dope-fueled?)—but sharp, very smart—collection of writings from the late, legendary rock journalist, who never had an opinion he couldn’t set on fire.

This second reader (after Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung, 1987) features 54 pieces ranging from memoir to criticism to travelogue. They encompass short cherry bombs written for Rolling Stone (of MC5: “the hype, the thick overlay of teenage-revolution and total-energy-thing which conceals these scrapyard vistas of clichés and ugly noise”), where the concision almost bends the page, to more discursive articles for Creem and the Village Voice, where Bangs (1949–82) happily digs into Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Bob Dylan (“Dylan merely used Civil Rights and the rest of the Movement to advance himself in the first place”—and, as for his demonology, stick with Black Sabbath), or sings praise to Anne Murray: “a hypnotically compelling interpretix with a voice like molten high school rings and a heavy erotic vibe.” The travel writing—Austin, Paris, and Jamaica for starters—is more reflective and willing to take the middle of the road with fluid and canny perceptions, while the autobiographical material has a not-necessarily-memorable cub-gonzo-reporter sound. But the music criticism is furious, seemingly written in the heat of battle; graceful for all that, but no prisoners. That Bangs knew music was obvious, but also that he knew personalities and what irked him about them (Mick Jagger: “flopped around in his jumpsuit and just looked more like a society creep every new picture.” David Bowie: “that chickenhearted straw man of suck rock you love to hate.” Jim Morrison: “would never be so much Baudelaire, Rimbaud, and Villon as he was a Bozo Prince”). The writer also could pull a volte-face, taking a diametrically opposed view, not simultaneously, but from the same perspective.

A choice cut of Bangs’s work, more than enough to understand why he developed so ardent a following, much of it post-mortem.

Pub Date: Aug. 20, 2003

ISBN: 0-375-71367-0

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Anchor

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2003

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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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.