Combines the intensity and intentions of a true scholar with the hormonal passions of a Justin Bieber fan.
A painter, filmmaker, author and Cormac McCarthy authority/scholar/fan/groupie (Adventures in Reading Cormac McCarthy, 2010) offers a gumbo of McCarthy interviews, reflections, paeans and analyses.
The title alludes to the original 1998 exhibition of Josyph paintings—scores of images, all of McCarthy’s former house in El Paso, Texas. After a rambling introduction that insists we ought to pay more attention to McCarthy’s full title of Blood Meridian Or The Evening Redness in the West, Josyph commences a series of conversations with other McCarthyites. The author walks the streets of Knoxville, Tenn., with Merle Morrow, who knows all the McCarthy connections there. Then it’s a long conversation with stage director Tom Cornford about directing McCarthy—with special attention to his The Sunset Limited. Next: a lengthy exchange (email? fax? letter?) between the author and Marty Priola, a friend who set up the McCarthy Society website. They discuss The Crossing, sort of, though the conversations drift here and there—with occasional discussions about a dream woman named Heather, about Al Pacino’s capacity to play McCarthy and about theology (they exchange some sharp words in these passages). In the second part of his work, Josyph focuses on his McCarthy paintings, some sightings of his hero and a phone conversation with him. The author records his extensive travels to other writers’ homes (Poe’s in Fordham among them), reveals his liberal politics and vast reading, and displays an impressive self-regard, even for a memoirist. The lone constant here: an unbridled admiration for McCarthy, whom he praises continually and labels “a rarefied genius.”
Combines the intensity and intentions of a true scholar with the hormonal passions of a Justin Bieber fan.Pub Date: March 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-292-74429-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Univ. of Texas
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2013
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
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BOOK TO SCREEN
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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
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