Recently, Bookmark seems to have been about the music industry more than before, partially because industry-related books are crossing my desk these days. More than that though, those books seem like the ones to write about because it’s hard to talk seriously about music without talking about the contexts that shape its creation and consumption. As interested in those things as I am though, I know the limits of my knowledge, and not having been a rock ‘n’ roll star, I can’t comment on Rock Star 101. Fortunately, Sean Yseult can. As a member of Rock City Morgue (whose first EP, Some Ghouls, just came out) and a former member of White Zombie, she has been through enough to evaluate one-time Keel member Marc Ferrari’s book far more effectively than I. To that end then, I turn the column over to Sean:
I really wanted to read this book and laugh. C’mon! I’ve never even heard of this guy, much less his band, but I have a confession to make: this book is completely accurate in the same creepy way This is Spinal Tap is. Yes, I said “creepy”; if you tour long enough, I promise you will find yourself trapped in a corridor in Cleveland trying to find the damned stage. The more you tour, the less funny Spinal Tap is.
Rock Star 101 is not only accurate, but completely informative, well-written and all-encompassing. From how to build a buzz, get a record deal, all the way to tips on what not to eat on the road, I could not find one point to argue. He even creates grids to explain where all your money goes, how publishing deals work, and who your “team members” (managers, business managers, lawyers, etc.) are.
Speaking of team members, Ferrari makes a great observation—there are no tests or licenses involved in becoming a manager. Anyone who wants to be one can say that they are. He also warns that a bad deal is worse than no record deal, and of the horrors of being “shelved” or “orphaned” at a label—all things I have witnessed but luckily not experienced. This guy has gone through it all, and though he warns of pitfalls, he is far from jaded. If you’re in a new band, buy this book.
“Bookmarks” now resumes with Fattening Frogs for Snakes: Delta Sound Suite, the long-awaited poetry book by WWOZ dj/activist/musician/man about town John Sinclair. As John Swenson mentioned in his September “Blues Hound” column, the book and the accompanying CD feature Sinclair recognizing the plainspoken poetry in the speech of bluesmen. He has taken excerpts from interviews and given their stories a poetic framework and appearance. The post-modernist in me appreciates appropriating material and pulling it out of old contexts, and the music writer in me appreciates the way Sinclair makes musical history sound contemporary and alive.
The critic in me, on the other hand, would like to see the artist’s hand be a little more active. In the seven-page “Country Blues,” the only words Sinclair actually pens are “Mississippi Fred McDowell says,” “David ‘Honey Boy’ Edwards/ was raised on a farm/ between Cleveland & Leland/ Mississippi” and “Honey Boy told Robert Palmer.” The remaining six and three-quarters pages are parts of the interview with line breaks. Sinclair’s obvious passion for the blues and his desire to educate earn him some leeway, but it’s hard not to wish there were something more transforming happening here.
Conversations with the Dead: The Grateful Dead Interview Book by David Gans was originally published in 1999, and it was recently republished with one new interview. It likely goes without saying that Dead fans will like this. The interview with Ned Lagin is interesting since Lagin was a part of the Dead’s more avant-garde wing as the band started to become a larger, more corporate thing, but if fans already have the previous edition, it isn’t likely enough to get them buy the newer one. The casually curious will get a hint of the inner tensions in the band through these interviews, but there are better places for them to be introduced to the Dead than here.
