Charming reminiscences by a couple of merry pranksters who hit upon a happy accident in the chemistry lab that allowed them...
Actor Newman and writer Hotchner (The Day I Fired Alan Ladd, 2002, etc.) recount their joint adventure delivering Newman’s Own salad dressing to the American public, “a triumph of irresponsibility over reason.”
The star was as proud of his all-natural dressing as he was repelled by the bottled offerings at the supermarket, so with Hotchner he put together “a lark, an open-end adventure” with $40,000 as their investment ceiling. They demanded fresh garlic and onions in the dressing and refused to use any of the chemicals that commercial manufacturers insisted were essential to give their product the one-year shelf life supermarkets demanded. Luckily for them, research chemists at a sympathetic bottler discovered that one of their high-quality ingredients released a natural preservative. They eschewed business plans, using their friends as their test markets; at one point, Martha Stewart, then a local caterer in Connecticut, arranged one of the tastings. In brisk, ain’t-it-somethin’ style, Newman and Hotchner describe the loopy media events, the songs they sang at promotions, the industry-bucking labeling, and, of course, the industry-humiliating act of giving all after-tax profit to charity. The launch had a few rocky moments, but, kept afloat by a vision, armed with principles, happy to laugh, they soon found themselves food tycoons in need of charities. They write happily of the result that remains closest to their hearts: the rapid rise of their Hole in the Wall camp for children who, “because of their diseases or because of their complications or because of their treatment, couldn't go to an ordinary camp.” That first camp in Connecticut has spawned a number of like venues across the world. Subsequent Newman’s Own products include spaghetti sauce and popcorn, an organic line crafted by Paul’s daughter Nell, and wife Joanne Woodward’s lemonade (guaranteed to restore your virginity).
Charming reminiscences by a couple of merry pranksters who hit upon a happy accident in the chemistry lab that allowed them to remain true to their values.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2003
ISBN: 0-385-50802-6
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
Highly recommended—anyone at all interested in music will learn a lot from this book.
From the former Talking Heads frontman, a supremely intelligent, superbly written dissection of music as an art form and way of life.
Drawing on a lifetime of music-making as an amateur, professional, performer, producer, band member and solo artist, Byrne (Bicycle Diaries, 2009) tackles the question implicit in his title from multiple angles: How does music work on the ear, brain and body? How do words relate to music in a song? How does live performance relate to recorded performance? What effect has technology had on music, and music on technology? Fans of the Talking Heads should find plenty to love about this book. Steering clear of the conflicts leading to the band’s breakup, Byrne walks through the history, album by album, to illustrate how his views about performance and recording changed with the onset of fame and (small) fortune. He devotes a chapter to the circumstances that made the gritty CBGB nightclub an ideal scene for adventurous artists like Patti Smith, the Ramones, Blondie and Tom Verlaine and Television. Always an intensely thoughtful experimenter, here he lets us in on the thinking behind the experiments. But this book is not just, or even primarily, a rock memoir. It’s also an exploration of the radical transformation—or surprising durability—of music from the beginning of the age of mechanical reproduction through the era of iTunes and MP3s. Byrne touches on all kinds of music from all ages and every part of the world.
Highly recommended—anyone at all interested in music will learn a lot from this book.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-936365-53-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: McSweeney’s
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
With this detailed, versatile cookbook, readers can finally make Momofuku Milk Bar’s inventive, decadent desserts at home, or see what they’ve been missing.
In this successor to the Momofuku cookbook, Momofuku Milk Bar’s pastry chef hands over the keys to the restaurant group’s snack-food–based treats, which have had people lining up outside the door of the Manhattan bakery since it opened. The James Beard Award–nominated Tosi spares no detail, providing origin stories for her popular cookies, pies and ice-cream flavors. The recipes are meticulously outlined, with added tips on how to experiment with their format. After “understanding how we laid out this cookbook…you will be one of us,” writes the author. Still, it’s a bit more sophisticated than the typical Betty Crocker fare. In addition to a healthy stock of pretzels, cornflakes and, of course, milk powder, some recipes require readers to have feuilletine and citric acid handy, to perfect the art of quenelling. Acolytes should invest in a scale, thanks to Tosi’s preference of grams (“freedom measurements,” as the friendlier cups and spoons are called, are provided, but heavily frowned upon)—though it’s hard to be too pretentious when one of your main ingredients is Fruity Pebbles. A refreshing, youthful cookbook that will have readers happily indulging in a rising pastry-chef star’s widely appealing treats.
Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-307-72049-8
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Clarkson Potter
Review Posted Online: Jan. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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