"Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs" by Hunter S. Thompson

"Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs"
by Hunter S. Thompson
Published by Modern Library (1999)
originally published by Random House (1966)
265 pages.

I have been a fan of Hunter S. Thompson ever since I saw the movie "Where the Buffalo Roam" starring Bill Murray, which was loosely based on the book "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."  After seeing that movie I read the book and realized why it was LOOSELY based, because of the craziness that is Gonzo reporting that Thompson did best. 

I decided to go back again recently and tackle another Thompson book and this Hell's Angels documentary seemed a good way to go.  In this book you don't get as much craziness that makes the gonzo, Gonzo.  Instead with this book you get the early forms of gonzo reporting where Thompson placed himself at the heart of danger.  It is still told in first person as Thompson did best and with some great descriptive narrative that puts the reader pretty much on the back of a Harley and making some runs with the most dangerous group of the 60s.

During this period of American history, The Hells Angels were a violent bunch, at least according to all the major newspapers.  Hunter S. Thompson, thought they may be getting a bad rap and decided to put himself in the middle of it all.  He approached Sonny Barger, the head of the Hells Angels at the time and told him of his plans to follow them as a reporter, a dangerous move in and of itself due to the Angels not trusting reporters because of the bad press.  But soon Thompson was mildly accepted into the fray and follows them for about a year.  Thompson's relationship was ended with the Angels after they nearly beat him to death for making a remark to a fellow Angel that the club didn't appreciate.  The remark was made when Thompson saw an Angel beating his wife, to which Thompson said, "Only a PUNK beats his wife." 

The whole nature of the Hells Angels motorcycle club at the time always teetered on the edge of violence, whether it was  running out of beer or locals wanting to chase the club out of town.   This documentary not only shows the constant chance of violence, but Thompson also sheds some light on the idea that the Angels just wanted to be left alone.  Left to themselves they just wanted to have a good time on weekends and in many cases work their jobs during the week.  As with any large group there are individuals that would do something that would get the negative attention and that is what everyone focused on.  Thompson presented all the stories during his time with them good and bad. 

Some of the fun stuff in the book is when Ken Kesey and his Merry Band of Pranksters invite the Angels over for a party and the two cultures converge and the police are the ones that create the clash.  Many exciting adventures in this book and at times you feel you are reading a thriller with an exciting ending rather than  a documentary.  Great writing and interesting cultures make this book a good read.

"Life" by Keith Richards & James Fox

"Life"
by Keith Richards & James Fox
Read by Johnny Depp, Joe Hurley & Keith Richards
Produced by Hachette Audio (2010)
Approx 24 hours.

I think I may have read one of the most intriguing and entertaining autobiographies ever. "Life," the story of Keith Richards and his life in and out of the Rolling Stones. The Stones were/are one of the world's biggest bands and the stuff of rock and roll legend. I never was a big fan of the Stones before, but after listening to this audio book I am now. Working in radio I have played a few of their tunes and even had a couple of favorites, but I guess I never really gave them a chance.

What has made me a fan most of all is something I found extremely surprising in this audiobook, the easy flow of the story beginning with Keith Richards' early life and just rolling along through his life, warts and all. Also the idea presented that Richards' is a pretty laid back guy. He had his ups and downs with drug addiction, which he discusses through this book, but the amazing thing is that he didn't really have anything bad to say about anybody. Most celebrity biographies/autobiographies, the celeb has a beef with someone or several someones. Or there is an expose feel to a biography which has a purpose of poking at wounds. Keith did have conflicts with people, such as Brian Jones and later with Mick Jagger and a few in between, but each time Keith presented it by always taking the blame for some of the turmoil. He never blamed and there was no fingerpointing and there was no beef with anyone that he had to get out. Keith simply told his story and left it at that.

Many times throughout the book Keith turns the storytelling over to other people due to them having a different perspective, some of the other people are Marlon (his son), Bobby Keys, and just about anyone else involved in his life.

In this book all the myths are exposed, such as did Keith get his "blood changed" to break his heroin addiction? did he really snort his father's ashes? Was it a palm tree he fell from? All this and more including the loves of his life. Other than music Keith loved a few women, from Ronnie Spector to Anita Pallenberg, they're all special and from the words he uses the reader/listener can tell he loved them deeply.

Throughout the book Richards, of course, discusses his love of music. From the discovery of American Blues to Island music, he incorporates it all into the music that becomes the most timeless music of all time, Rolling Stones music. How some of the songs were written and recorded can be surprising and yet once you go back and hear the tunes it makes sense.

The audiobook is also a bit of a Keith Richards sandwich, with Keith providing the intro and the final chapters' narration of the book. Johnny Depp reads for Keith's early years, and musician Joe Hurley reads for the better part of the 70s section and Johnny Depp taking over again for the 80s and beyond. Depp, who based his Jack Sparrow pirate character on Richards, does an awesome job reading as Richards, but Joe Hurley makes the middle section fun doing a great "slight" impersonation of Richards and the others whose voices are required. As far as biographies go this is the best read one I've ever heard.

With the book being around 24 hours of listening time, I was a bit wary of the task, but once the book started I was hooked and just couldn't let go. Great bit of rock and roll history with some inside stories that make the trip more fun.

"Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography"

If you haven't yet read any of the books in the "Series of Unfortunate Events" you really should. In fact you should before you pick up this book and try to make sense of it. (If any sense can be made of this book.) The Series of Unfortunate Events books cover the adventures of the Baudelaire orphans as they discover that their parents were members of a secret volunteer society known as "V.F.D." This organization was actively helping people in secret. How or what is never revealed. One day a schism occurred.

Well the books are written by the mysterious Lemony Snicket. He's following the Baudelaires adventures and keeping track in the books...But who is Lemony Snicket? To find that answer pick up this book and read it cover to cover. It is a fun read and keeps the same mysterious style and humor found in the "Series of Unfortunate Events" books. No, this book will not answer the question as to who Lemony Snicket is, but it will entertain you to no end.

This book is a great companion to the series and even sheds some light on some of the events that occurred in the books. There's a section on disguises that pretty much describes every character in the series. Most o f the book is written as clandestine communique between Snicket and various agents. One such agent (whether good or bad is never quite clear) disguises himself as a cow and travels around trying to find information on Monty Montgomery's reptiles. This section had a laugh out loud moment that I always loved with this series.

The agent disguised as a cow writes:

"Approached a married couple who apparently own the 'Prospero' to ask if any reptiles had recently boarded the ship. Couple alrarmed by talking cow, refused to participate.

Saw signs indicating there was a dairy nearby. Did not approach due to fear of being milked."

Great Stuff here.

If you are a fan of the series you have to own this book. It also features a reversible dust jacket so no bad guys can tell you are reading. The reverse side of the dust jacket is for a fictitious book called "The Pony Party!" by Loney M. Setnick (an anagram of Lemony Snicket).

Which reminds me, the book is filled with anagrams and references to many famous authors. Figuring some out is even more fun.

Book Review: "The Real Frank Zappa Book" by Frank Zappa with Peter Occhiogrosso

Not only have I had a very interesting adulthood, but I was also lucky to have a very interesting childhood. Sure there were the typical good times and bad times, and there were things I wish I would have done different (like learn to play guitar). But all that aside, My dad taught me to really appreciate music. All sorts of music. In the 70s he would play Frank Zappa alongside Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, Ry Cooder, Commander Cody and others and when the 80s hit we became fans of the Talking Heads, Devo and others.

As I grew older I came to further develop this appreciation by learning to love classical music, real hard core blues and more. It all goes back to Frank Zappa. Seriously. Many folks who hear the name Frank Zappa only think of such songs as "Yellow Snow," "Dinah Moe Hum" or even "Valley Girl." Not to mention the unmentionable titles that described various female body parts. For those folks that think of Frank Zappa as only a "potty-mouthed" hippy singer...you've got it wrong....WAY WRONG. His greatest works are typically instrumental songs like "Peaches en Regalia," or relatively harmless songs like "Inca Roads." This book describes the best features of Zappa that were constantly overlooked.

Frank Zappa passed away in 1993. (As a side here, in college a friend of mine Jim Damm and I hosted a 6 hour tribute to Zappa on the college radio station, WIDB in Carbondale, IL the night after his death.) He was just in the process of seriously announcing his candidacy for U.S. president, but he found out, too late, that he had prostate cancer and passed away before this could be more than a mention on some talk show. This book was published in 1988. In early 1990, Zappa visited Czechoslovakia at the request of President Václav Havel, a lifelong fan, and was asked by Havel to serve as consultant for the government on trade, cultural matters and tourism. Zappa enthusiastically agreed and began meeting with corporate officials interested in investing in Czechoslovakia. Within a few weeks, however, the US administration put pressure on the Czech government to withdraw the appointment. Havel made Zappa an unofficial cultural attaché instead. So this book doesn't cover the political career of Frank Zappa, but it does have several chapters that show he was getting started.

One of the very unique aspects of this book is that it is the ONLY book about Frank Zappa written by Frank Zappa. On the back cover there is a quote from the New York Post that says, "This book belongs in Every Home." I would have to agree with that. Not for the informative look at his early career, but for the views and opinions on politics, censorship and over-organized religion.

The breakdown of the book by chapters looks like this:

The first 7 chapters cover his career and how he came to do what he did with music and performance art, with some great anecdotes about being on the road with The Mothers of Invention. Chapter seven had me rolling with laughter. This Chapter was about the indecency hearing Great Britain held concerning his Orchestral performance for what would be the movie "200 Motels" starring Theodore Bikel, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon and, of course, The Mothers. Apparantly a stage hand had filed a complaint about some of Zappa's lyrics. Which I should note here, his lyrics were all about absurdism. So this chapter takes the court record and reprints it. The funny part is the setup of all the old Brittania Judges (old men in white wigs) reading and trying to determine the lyrics of many of Zappa's songs and Zappa explaining to the best of his ability, I'm assuming while trying to not crack up laughing.

The next chapter of the book is a very in depth look at music. Including scoring compositions for orchestras and the many headaches involved. At this point Zappa explains the personalities of musicians and how they relate to the instrument they play.

The last part of the book is spent on politics, including the famous PMRC hearings in the 80s on Capitol Hill. Frank shares his knowledge of why the wives of senators wanted legislation on music and why certain senators' wives were the ones wanting said legislation. He ventures to say that Tipper Gore was funding what looks like would be a run for presidency for her husband...and this book was 1988?

If you want some fun rock and roll info with some great political discussion and debate thrown in....this is the book for you. I'll tell you Zappa is not what you think...even if you think you know him.