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ROCK AND ROLL ARCHAEOLOGIST

Name: ROCK AND ROLL ARCHAEOLOGIST
Author: Peter Blecha
ISBN: 1-57061-443-1

HOW I CHASED DOWN KURT’S STRATOCASTER, THE “LAYLA” GUITAR, AND JANIS’S BOA

by Peter Blecha ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 9, 2005

Egregiously dull.

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A Seattle music fan is transformed from mere collector to museum curator.

There was a time not so long ago when collecting pop culture artifacts was a much less crowded field, according to music historian Blecha (Taboo Tunes, 2004). Then eBay came along and changed everything. Blecha doesn’t exactly resent this change, saying “you gotta go where the action is,” but Internet rarity-hunting nevertheless does come off as monumentally less interesting than combing through garage sales and dank basements for that obscure find. More of such stories, in fact, could have helped make this a significantly better read. The author documents his life as an itinerant musician who ended up working in myriad record stores in the Seattle area, jobs that helped further his sideline gig as collector of rock arcana, especially those relics relating to obscure and forgotten local bands and labels. Blecha is at his best when talking about all that was doomed to history’s dustbin, whether it’s 1920s-era jazz recordings or the seemingly innumerable garage bands who thrashed out everything from psychedelia to surf rock, punk and grunge. It’s unfortunate, then, that what he had in mind here is not so much a study of the art and mania of collecting but rather a simplistic account of his work in the 1990s as senior curator of the Experience Music Project, the brainchild of Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen, who wanted a different sort of rock museum. Blecha may well have an eye for the rare and fascinating artifact, but he hardly has the writer’s voice to describe what makes it so rare and fascinating.

Egregiously dull.

Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2005

ISBN: 1-57061-443-1

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Sasquatch

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2005

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.