The Rolling Stones Discover America by Michael Lydon

Buy The Rolling Stones Discover America (Kindle Single)

True story: when it was announced that The Rolling Stones planned to bring the Steel Wheels tour to my home town, I drew the short straw to get tickets. Now, this happened way before the Internet and refreshing Web pages on LiveNation to get good seats. I had to drive to Turtles Records and Tapes about an hour before the sale began and pluck a strip of paper from a hat as part of the "lottery" system. There were rules, too: you entered the store when your number was called, and you took the tickets they gave you. Fine. We all thought this was the Last. Stones. Tour. Ever. I'd play ball.

As my number is called and I'm walking toward the store, this guy stops me. Would I buy three more tickets for him and his friends. A store clerk sees this and says, "Do you know him? You can only buy your tickets. No cuts." You have to understand I was a good Catholic teenager who couldn't deceive anybody. Catch me in crosshairs and I start blubbering. At the same time, I'm thinking this stranger is about to screw up my only chance to see the Stones. My memory is blurry, but somehow I managed to get past the checkpoint and buy six tickets. The show sold out in about a week. We sat in the boonies and loved it, because we thought these guys were winding down and would, contrary to a song they covered, fade away.

That was 1989.

As I'm reading The Rolling Stones Discover America, I experience a touch of deja vu, even though this Kindle single recounts an earlier tour of America. After a long hiatus from the road, the band has decided to resume live shows, and the reaction is similar to the Steel Wheels frenzy. I imagine many fans scrambling to see the 1970 tour figured it was a brief gift before an eternal exile to the studio, a la The Beatles. Rock journalist Lydon covers the journey in Discover, a longish essay that paints vivid pictures of the people and places along this journey. It reads like a series from Rolling Stone Magazine, too, which makes sense as Lydon was a founding editor.

The further you read into Discover, you may think the real story lies in the periphery of the band - the fans, the media, the family, and the gofers and manager who orbit the group. Names are dropped, and some snippits of conversation provide amusement - like when Keith Richards predicts nobody in the band will get an MBE like John Lennon (no, but Mick would be knighted). You'll read a line about Janis Joplin and Tina Turner hanging out after a show and wish for more details. When you first get into the chapter on Altamont, you get the impression people sensed the show was doomed. And just as quickly as the action happened there, so it is as quickly retold.

This is a quick read, not necessarily about The Rolling Stones but the climate in which they existed - a time in music where bands and listeners straddled the fine line between mop-top innocence and free-love hippiedom. It is a prelude to future explosions - civil rights movements, Vietnam, etc. It's certainly not meant to be a definitive story on the Stones, but it makes an interesting chapter in their careers worth reading.

Rating: B

Kathryn Lively is a mystery author and book blogger.

In the Pleasure Groove by John Taylor

You kids who have happened upon this blog for reasons I can't explain: you like that One Direction group, right? You have the dolls and the pillowcases and the skins for your iPhones and whatnot, because there is no better group to have walked the face of the planet, and you want to show your team stripes. Well, back in the 80s, what you call ancient history, the girls were not without their musical idols. They were called Duran Duran, and their fans were loyal to the point of frothing, skin-clawing madness. I would know, I lived in the midst of it. Girls scrawled "Mrs. Simon Le Bon" on their school folders, and held Duranie-themed birthday parties (you haven't lived until you've played Pin the Tail on the Ragged Tiger), and if you didn't have tickets to their concert at the Jacksonville Coliseum you were basically a loser with absolutely no reason to live.

All through this period of Duran-mania, while classmates drooled over pouting portraits of the three Taylors on the covers of Tiger Beat and 16, I asked my parents for a copy of The Police's Synchronicity.

I admit it, I wasn't into Duran Duran. At. All. I didn't buy any of their albums until long after I married, and even then it was a greatest hits CD, bought used. This doesn't mean I hated the group - I liked their music, but I didn't pray the rosary by it. It might explain why I had few friends in middle school. Yet, when I saw John Taylor had published a memoir I decided to give it a look for a number of reasons. I do find I listen more to 80s music these days, not for nostalgia but because many songs remain fresh after time - yes, the Durans included. The "Fab Five" reached the pinnacle of their fame in a time where musicians challenged fans to be more politically conscious and accommodating toward those less fortunate. This was the time of Live Aid and Little Steven's Sun City protest song. I picked up In the Pleasure Groove and wondered how Taylor and Duran Duran figured into all of that.

So, what do you learn about Duran Duran and Taylor here? Well, Pleasure Groove is pretty much a cut and dry history of the band, prefaced by chapters of Taylor's middle-class childhood which was defined by his mother's Catholic piety and a love for music. Taylor makes the group's rise through the ranks to superstardom seem almost easy - he helped form a band, they worked clubs, they cut a record and made videos, and the girls fell like dominoes. Yes, there are mentions of drugs and sex, and you'd expect to hear some lurid tales. Here, it just sounds...boring. Many of us today may be embarrassed by the 80s, but we definitely weren't bored then.

As I feared when I picked up this book, Pleasure Groove is for the fans. If you lived by Duran Duran then and now, you'll appreciate Taylor's effort to bring you into his personal space. If you're looking for a typical rock and roll memoir, this might leaving you wanting.

Rating C-

Kathryn Lively is a mystery author and book blogger.

Weird Al the Book by Nathan Rabin and Al Yankovic

When it comes to things like music and movies, my siblings and I used to seldom agree. Growing up, one listened to country music, one to Christian rock, while I had the Beatles and the Doors in heavy rotation on my turntable (look it up). Rarely did we ever go out together for an event where one of us had to be dragged against his/her will. The only time I recall our willingness to be seen in the same place was when Weird Al Yankovic played the Florida Theater during his Off the Deep End tour. Funny how songs about television and food can unite a family. We haven't attended a concert as a group since.

On a message board dedicated to another music act we have a thread dedicated to the genius of Weird Al - yes, when you think about it, Al does more than switch out lyrics to popular songs. He writes funny original songs as well - some topical, some macabre (Al was singing about psycho Santas before it was cool), others sticking to the comfort zones of food and television. The amazing thing about Al, though, is that after 30+ years in the business he continues to dominate the comedy music genre. Singers come and go, and some stubbornly refuse to budge - we can argue that Lady Gaga replaces Madonna, and Taylor Swift replaces Shania Twain...but I can't think of one heir apparent to Al. He's got it locked.

When I saw Weird Al: The Book, I wondered if it was produced in similar vein to The Compleat Al, a parody documentary of Al's life which is (I think) out of print. It surprised me, therefore, to discover this is a serious (but not devoid of humor) biography of Yankovic presented in a pseudo-scrapbook format with Rabin's research interspersed with numerous pictures and input from Al - commentary and a selection of the singer's best Tweets. If you have seen the Behind the Music special on Al, you probably won't find anything new here aside from everything that's happened since the special first aired: marriage, family, and an untimely tragedy. As Al intimated at the beginning of the VH1 show, he was surprised anybody would want to profile him, given he hasn't lived a life of scandal and debauchery, which for many equates to interesting.

So, you won't find any crooked skeletons in Yankovic's closet - no dish from ex-girlfriends, no mug shots, no reports of squandering royalties on troll dolls. However, being Weird Al does not come free of headaches. I found his clashes with his record label interesting - you do come away learning a bit about how the industry works, and what some people will do to empty a consumer's wallet. You'll also learn that it doesn't always pay to be the biggest fish in certain ponds.

As it's written and presented, you get the impression Weird Al: The Book is for the fans, and if you're die-hard into Al you probably already own it and don't need me to review it for you. If you like Al's music, it's worth a read to gain more insight into the parody process - it's more involved than you think, and Al is more than just weird.

Rating: B+

Kathryn Lively is a mystery author and book blogger. 

Who I Am by Pete Townshend

When Pete Townshend's book was initially released, I heard on my local classic rock station that he immediately regretted writing it, and wished he didn't. One can understand this - when you put your life in a book you expose yourself to the world and risk emotional infections. I write fiction, and while I don't have a readership the size of The Who's fan base I still feel queasy every time I announce a new title. Just as with non-fiction, and even song writing, there's a piece of yourself in everything you publish. As a lyricist, Townshend no doubt shared plenty of his life through song, and Who I Am serves to deconstruct his life in music and on the fringes of the industry.

He seems - to me, anyway - to tell his story with some hesitation. When my husband saw me with the book he cast me the patented "wink-wink, nudge-nudge" smile, as though expecting something sordid like recent musician bios I've read (*cough* Mick Jagger *cough*). Even if you have casually kept track of Townshend's career over the decade you've probably caught all the juicy bits - from the mystery of his sexual preferences to the addition of his name to a sex offender registry. These instances are covered in his book, though not dwelled upon for more than a few pages. Neither are the events of his youth ostensibly connected to these later issues revealed in great tabloid detail. Perhaps Townshend's memory has failed him when it comes to recalling the abuse he claims to have suffered at the hands of his grandmother and her friends, or maybe he deliberately chose to focus more on his professional life. If you are a die-hard Who fan and concern yourself more with musicianship than gossip, you will likely appreciate how the book is structured.

For somebody who seems reluctant to write his memoir, he offers a rather large product - Who I Am checks in at 500+ pages which breeze through a tense childhood with entertainer parents and the early days of The Who, through the peak of their stardom and Townshend's struggle to balance work, family, and various vices with his growing spirituality (just as The Beatles found enlightenment with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Townshend embraced the teachings of Meher Baba). There are gossipy anecdotes as well, including same-sex flirtations and one tale putting Townshend in the awkward position of distracting George Harrison while Eric Clapton made a play for Patti. The things we do for friends.

Some reviews I've read of Townshend's book complain there isn't enough information despite the book's length. I'm neither a casual Who fan nor a die-hard - I'm in the middle somewhere, I'll watch Tommy when Palladia runs it - but I enjoyed the book, more so than many of the memoirs and bios I've read this year. Being a writer, I suppose I appreciated Townshend writing about writing, songs and fiction and rock operas.  When he does open up about heartache, infidelity, and conflicts with band mates and others there is an air of honesty (and in some instances regret), and while you might not sympathize completely with him you may come away from reading Who I Am satisfied that you read a good story. I am.

Rating: A

Kathryn Lively is a mystery author and a book blogger.