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WILL OLDHAM ON BONNIE "PRINCE" BILLY

Name: WILL OLDHAM ON BONNIE "PRINCE" BILLY
Author: Will Oldham
ISBN: 978-0-393-34433-2

by Will Oldham & edited by Alan Licht ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 3, 2012

Gushy and long-winded at times, profound and eloquent at others.

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Indie-folk cult hero Will Oldham's oral dissertation on his enigmatic folk-rocker alter ego, Bonnie “Prince” Billy.

With the content composed solely of respected New York City musician Licht’s (Sound Art: Beyond Music, Between Categories, 2007) probing interviews with Oldham, the book sometimes slides into the kind of self-assessing navel-gazing usually reserved for the analyst’s couch. Nevertheless, Licht seems to know all the right buttons to push, allowing his subject to reel off into fits of philosophic banter about everything from the influence of dreams in his work to the usefulness of drugs in the creative process. Licht usually begins a chapter by hovering over a loose theme (film music, music as communal effort, recorded music as opposed to live music, etc.); then he often branches off on some strange and unexpected tangents, such as the viability of Jimmy Buffett, the main points of stage etiquette, Glenn Danzig and the pros and cons of going to sleep. But if there’s any unavoidable characteristic that runs throughout all these conversations, it's the importance Oldham places on exclusivity of taste and intimacy in music. For some readers, it may be difficult to interpret Oldham’s ideas about music being better as a personal experience than a mass public event as being anything but anti-social snobbery. However, it’s also hard to fault him for his principled stance when it comes to issues like his reluctance to license his songs for film and TV and his longtime unwillingness to deal with major labels or corporate entities. Although the book is strictly interview format, readers will gain a sense of Oldham’s personal narrative: He's a nomadic artist who has seemingly, almost unconsciously, drifted into an indie-music idealist’s dream career, forever hanging in the comfortable middle ground between fame and obscurity.

Gushy and long-winded at times, profound and eloquent at others.

Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2012

ISBN: 978-0-393-34433-2

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: July 6, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
SHORTY'S ARK
by Will Oldham ; illustrated by Lori Damiano

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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.