Rock The Books

They say a cat has nine lives. This cat, Dennis Watlington, has had many more. Chasing America recounts the raw, riveting odyssey of this angry, able, and ultimately angelic black youth from the depths to the heights, then to the depths, then to the heights again. Watlington's personal evolution embodies so much more than one man's rightful due from the American race revolution.

I remember Dennis. Who could forget him? We crossed paths at Hotchkiss. I was from pathetically suburban Ho-Ho-Kus. He was up--way up--from menacingly urban Harlem. Hotchkiss then was all male, almost all white, and altogether remote from the "real world". It was the '60s, an energetic, earnest time. Although an entrenched part of The Establishment, Hotchkiss wanted to do better. It wanted to integrate. The mandarin trustees of Hotchkiss were in the hunt for how, armed with good intentions.

Thanks to their implausible efforts, into our wide-well, patch-madras world dropped this hulking, seething, throbbing man-boy. As Dennis wonderfully recounts in his book, his enrollment was the brainchild of Hotchkiss Trustee Bill Brokaw, a big-time Wall Street stockbroker from Greenwich. As a reasonably successful product of inner-city youth programs, Dennis somehow caught Brokaw's eye. Brokaw first saw in Dennis what we all came to know in him: presence, depth, daring, determination, charisma, and charm.

Did Brokaw really know what he was getting? We callow schoolboys suspected a dark romantic past. But hardly did we know what Dennis confesses to being before donning the tweed jacket: street hustler, gang member, heroin addict, violent criminal. And there he was at... Hotchkiss? With an even more sinister side-kick, the sly yet soulful late Noel Velasquez! Dennis' description of the chasm between the Innocents in Lakeville and these Vulcans from the cauldron of New York is delicious to read--and remember.

After Hotchkiss (where he was elected Senior Class president!) Dennis went a way we supposed he should. Himself a living art form, he entered the world of arts as a producer, director, and (now) writer. He has done well in all three, as his Emmy award and certainly this book attest. Yet Dennis again descended into Hell, when he became a crack addict, nearly causing him to lose everything--including his iconoclastic wife Ann, the daughter of a hard-bitten Irish American cop (who became fiercely loyal to his unlikely son-in-law).

Characteristically, Dennis dug deep yet again, connecting with old friends and drawing from his formidable reserves to turn himself around. Through his many oscillations he has lived richly, if often raw. From such a life both terrific and treacherous, he learned to embrace and trust the world, and then to come humbly to terms with his own racial conscience.

As he headlines in his book, he has now in his five score years transitioned from black, to gray, to white. But don't be dismayed: this cat ain't now no pathetically suburban white-boy wannabe. Dennis Watlington offers us an authentic voice of a reflective, intelligent, once hateful, now humble fellow life traveler with a well seasoned point of view. He is one of God's rare miracles, for which I give thanks to have been graced to behold.

Dennis Watlington's Chasing America: Notes from a Rock 'n' Soul Integrationist is a classic memoir.

In defining and descriptive detail, Dennis Watlington shares his pain, struggles, joys and experiences in a very personable and candid nature.

You're walking with him as he walks the dark, creepy and active streets of Harlem NY during and after the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

This memoir raises the bar for such insight and storytelling.

It is a captivating look into the life of an optimist.

While perhaps this is not the most refined of novels, Dennis Watlington is an extremety gifted writer. Without a doubt this novel is not intended to come off as refined; it is merely an honest expression of one man's determination to believe in hope and opportunity in the face of the discrimination and economic hardship associated with racism. In doing so he proves to those around him that he is in fact beneficial to society, however many ups and downs his life takes.

The value of Watlington's story resides inherently in these very ups and downs, because, unlike many rags-to-riches stories, this novel keeps making the traverse from high white society to the drug-riddled ghetto and back again. It is as though Dennis's life massages the brunt of the American social spectrum, whereas many life stories simply cut straight through it.

Perhaps I am overly partial to Dennis and this novel because he also attended my boarding school, but nonetheless this novel should be read by blacks, whites, and hispanics alike. It provides an inspiring perspective on the true definition of the modern American dream, and in this respect rivals the likes of Gatsby and the Grapes of Wrath for its honest and poignant depiction of an era.

I enjoyed this book to the max. This installment of the Tru North series was one of the best. Will re-read it again, and enjoy. This author gets better witheach book. I look forward to more.

I have read a total of three of this author's books to date--Have enjoyed them thoroughly-She took my breath away with this one-I am a recovering alcoholic and found Valerie a very believeable character-I was saddened by the death of the jailer/farmer...also the character Tru is a true member of gay society as she changes lovers often-I am also an orphan and can understand the pain that rises from that-this book truly kept me reading to the end as I really could not put it down-Thanks Janet-please keep them coming

The Tru North series just keeps getting better. I can't wait for the next book!

The day Cityscapes arrived brought me back to the city of my childhood and of my family and closest friends. Page after page of wonderful photographs, of history remembered and learned yet again. So many places visited with my elementary school field trips and then revisited years later on my brief stays in New York. Cityscapes offers a visual feast as well as an intellectual journey to places and people seen years ago, but only now understood in historical context.

A month or so after I fell into Cityscapes, I was delighted to host a young couple from New York. They saw the book on my coffee table and picked it up. Hours later, the two of them were still pouring over the book, learning new and fascinating slices of urban life in their recently adopted city.

Just as New York offers something for everyone, Cityscapes brings light to the eyes of anyone who opens its cover and enters its world.

There is no place like New York, and there is no book about New York like this one. As revealing as the superb choice of photos, sketches and maps are, so is the narrative story linked with the visual: colonial seaport blossoming into a republican town, fragmented city becoming the immigrant metropolis, and finally the cosmopolitan community and global village we celebrate today. The authors have opened for us vista after vista and close-up after close-up of the poignancy and power of this magnificently restless, creative and changing Empire City.

The destruction of the World Trade Center has altered the New York City skyline forever and has forced people to confront a new image of New York. The next generation of New York observers will only know the Towers from their images - several magnificant ones appear in this book's final chapter.

Cityscapes is more than just a history of New York City and it is more than simply a book of beaufitul pictures. It is a unique social history that explores the timely question of how New York, the City, has been both constructed and reflected in images captured over four hundred years.

So far, this is my favorite book of New York City history.

This was a beautiful book,with pictures that took my breath away,many times. Well worth the hardback price. The tidbits of information were icing on this cake. A coffee table book I will enjoy over and over again.

The book is a great on the photo's are amzing. Also it's got some good reading in there too. all in all a very good book.

I Bought the original book a few years ago..Leather bound,signed by Mick Rock/Brian and roger and now the people who could not afford that get this..the compact version, still full of rare pictures of Queen in the early years, great insiders view of the Band before Bo Rhap, a Great read and well worth the price..BUY!!

Metcalf and Marshall delve deep into the world of classic rock here, with smart descriptions, good biographical information and excellent audio drum examples. Who knew Ginger Baker made his first set of drums from perspex, or that John Bonham's tuning was as essential to his style as his massive groove? The book covers all the classic rock drummers in great detail, with equally colorful and informative drum examples.

Contrary to appearances, this it not an instructional manual for drummers; it is far more than that. Additionally, if you, like me, think that books can't teach as clearly as DVDs, you're in for a surprise here. While DVDs tend to illustrate various "how-to's," they rarely if ever get inside the heart and soul of an artist's style or offer any clues to the unconscious motivations that form an artist's approach. But this unique and easy to grasp little tome presents an intelligent and succinct overview of 11 classic drummers that does just that. Dressed out with a biographical overview, individual gear and setup specs, equipment histories, style & technique, a lesson that includes each artist's major essentials with written examples, and more, you walk away from each chapter feeling you've gained insight into each artist's visceral dimension that you never considered before. The typically dry accounts of technique and exercises found on most DVDs rarely provide that. Musicians want and need more than mathematical analyses, and this delightful little page turner fills the bill for beginners, intermediates, and anyone else interested in discovering that personal something extra that each of these classic drummers contributed to musical history. Ultimately, what we all get when we're inspired by the sound and style of any classic artist, are new ideas about how to approach our own music, and thus refresh and add to our own style of playing, over time.

Profiles here feature Charlie Watts, Mitch Mitchell, Ginger Baker, Jon Bonham, Stewart Copeland, Richie Hayward, Keith Moon, and Ian Paice, plus this typist's favorite chapters, those on Ringo Starr, Levon Helm, and Jeff Porcaro.

A book like this is invaluable in helping to cut the time and arduous process of "getting the ultimate clue" that always seems like some zen koan that can't be achieved without suffering and madness. Messrs. Micallef and Marshall take a lot of the pain and mystery out of it. Note: Highly recommended for GB drummers who have to learn various major styles in a short amount of time before the audition or gig.

Drummers will benefit most from this book, but it's a good read for any musician. Very highly recommended. - JMM

This installment of the "Way They Play" series is a welcome addition to anyone's music library. The series uses the styles of original professional musicians to illustrate the techniques that made their drumming great. Accompanying the text is a CD of audio examples, a crucial tool in understanding their lessons. For this edition, the authors have chosen not only titans like John Bonham, Charlie Watts and Ringo Starr, but also iconoclasts like Keith Moon , Ginger Baker and Mitch Mitchell, and somewhat less well-known greats as Richie Heyward and Jeff Porcino, who tragically died when he was only 38.

For this book, the historical context is provided by Ken Micallef, one of the great drum specialists in rock journalism. His breadth of knowledge and experience in drumming provides a detailed yet concise analysis of each drummer's bag of tricks. Using archival footage, official and bootleg recordings, and copious interviews (many of them conducted himself), Micallef covers their early influences, how they sat at the kit, tuning methods, equipment, style, how they evolved throughout their careers, and everything in between.

Though clearly geared towards musicians, rock historians will not be disappointed in this book, as technical jargon is kept to a minimum and the wealth of biographical and musical information will keep even the casual reader interested. For instance, Micallef is able to draw interesting comparisons to drummers from all kinds of musical milieux, such as the identification of Gene Krupa as Keith Moon's principal forerunner as the "first drum maniac." Also, he often exhibits a propensity for humorous turns of phrase, delivered deadpan, and forthright opinions, such as a passage about Charlie Watts, whose "crotchety feel and slack strokes" nonetheless produce "exquisite, slipping, sliding drum breaks." This result is even more surprising, as Micallef points out that Watts "seems to miss rim shots, his timing is a little off, and he glances cymbals like a blind man." The secret to Keith Moon's style is perhaps even more chimerical, as Micallef advises that the key to playing like him requires "the ability to become very excited, perhaps even traumatized, before you sit down at the kit."

The drum lessons are provided by Donnie Marshall, a well-known drummer who has worked with Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and Bonnie Bramlett. On the CD, he plays expertly in the styles of each example drummer, providing audio lessons that are easy to follow and a pleasure to listen to. Overall, this is a great package for anyone interested in rock drumming.

This is a great resource and the presentation of material is excellent. Bill and Hans are part of the growing breed of speed climbers - people that have busy lives and search to do more in less time. Speed climbing brings more risk to the equation and this book helps one to make the right decisions in a wide variety of circumstances. Some may feel that speed climbing takes away from the "stop and smell the roses" attitude, but the truth is, when one learns to be efficient, there is more time available for relaxing activities. Or, as Bill and Hans do, more time to climb more routes. This book is a classic and is a cornerstone of instructional climbing literature. I read it cover to cover in 38 minutes and 43 seconds. Is that a record?

Title of my review says it all.

Short stories are interspursed with unique, new, and useful knowledge on the art of squeezing more climbing out of your: day, weekend, or evening.

This is the definitive work of Speedclimbing from a paradoxical pair of authors. Hans Florine is the godfather of speed climbing - one of the early pioneers of the sport and a multiple record holder. Bill Wright is a weekend warrior, who finds a way to pursue his passion despite the constraints of a day job.

The book mixes three distinctive components - theory behind how to climb faster, practical hands on tips, and fireside annecdotes that will inspire you to get on the rock. The book will provide useful tips for the beginner and experienced climber alike.

A very well done guidebook. Location information is especially helpful. Kelley made extraordinary efforts to contact climbers of early routes to obtain accurate historical data. We can only hope Kelley will put together a fourth edition.

This is the third copy of this guide I have owned. I wore out two copies of the 2nd edition. This latest edition is superb in the descriptions, details and advice offered.

This book is must have to anyone climbing in North Carolina. Especially if new to the area. It is a very well thought out and produced book, The Photos and topos are very useful,a nd the line drawings are very clear. It covers all of the good Climbs I know about in the state.

This is the greatest guide book to Smith Rock State Park ever. It has it all. That is all there is to it. This is the perfect guide to the perfect climbing area.

Alan Watts did an excellent job in putting together this guide. The topos and maps are high quality, the photos are excellent and it's easy to navigate. But what really sets this guide apart from many others is the quality of the historical perspective and the overall readability of the text. Watts played an important part in the development of sport climbing in the US and thus was a controversial figure for years. His treatment of those tumultious times is worth the cost of the guide.

One of the best guidebooks out there. The topos and pictures are clear and the descriptions are detailed. The author has probably done all the climbs so he should know. The topos even give specific gear needed at certain places on the climb. Where the author's climbing style lays is obvious, he seems to dislike anything with a chimney. Quality of routes are measured by a 4 star system. The author uses R and X rating. This guide has everything you could ask for. If you only want one guide to the area, this is it.

I borrowed this book from a friend and I'm buying my own copy after reading about what is the complex group of individuals known as Coldplay.

I was very perturbed at the few mentions of how much Chris Martin was teased as a kid because people believed he was gay (so what if it was the case, which it isn't?) and how critics continue to put down the most original group that has graced music in about a decade. I'm also a bit tired of hearing the wisecracks about Martin's looks (I think the man is cute and very charming, along with the rest of Coldplay).

The first Coldplay song I heard on the radio was "Clocks" (from "A Rush of Blood to the Head") and I, at first, thought it was a new U2 single (not realizing, until I read this book, that Coldplay idolizes U2). I was hooked from then on.

I recently sat down and listened to the entire "X&Y" album again and appreciate their songwriting and vocal abilities more than ever. The group is a welcomed breath of fresh air in this day and age of corporate "music" (undertalented and overexposed starlets doubling as singers, rappers rapping over drum machines calling women every derogatory name in the book and videos being nothing more than glorified porno film shorts).

Phil O'Brien exposed Coldplay for what they really are: A complex group of individuals who value their art and their talent is appreciated (screw the naysayers!).

I'm a little old for a Coldplay fan (53), but I "discovered" them when I watched them play at Live8 in July 2005.

Chris Martin is far from "boring" as this book attests. He's interesting, smart, funny, complex, deep and - yes - a nice guy who can get in touch with his feelings and express them beautifully in his wonderful songs.

I was already a fan of Chris' wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, and was glad to see that the book dealt with the relationship.

It made me dislike the "STALKerazzi" even more. Vultures!

The book really told me a lot that I was dying to know about the band, especially their charismatic frontman.

I highly recommend it.

I've been a massive Coldplay fan ever since I first heard 'Yellow' and enjoyed Phil O'Brien's book the most out of the three books on the group that I've read. The author's account of the band reveals them to be four very different and equally interesting individuals and is a riposte to critics of Coldplay who have often unfairly derided the band as being dull and faceless.

Look At The Stars is written from an inherently humanist perspective and recounts the professional and personal difficulties that the band have overcome during their rise to international acclaim. Tellingly, O'Brien explores the way in which the band's specific insecurities make it difficult for them to enjoy the fruits of their success and reveal Coldplay as a group that genuinely cares about their music and their fans.

Such a strange,obnoxious and fiercely independent man with an unbelievable story that is told in scrupulously researched details, but is as readable as a novel.A BIG piece of the Elvis puzzle and an inside into southern americana circa first half of the twentieth century.
Highly recommended!!

If you're interested in Colonel Thomas Andrew Parker, this is THE book for you. This story took years and many man-hours of exhaustive research to bring to fruition. By now, most Elvis fans are well aware that Parker was an illegal Dutch immigrant by the name of Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk. But until now, relatively little was known of his life in the 'old country.' We learn that a woman was brutally murdered in Parker's hometown in Holland on the very day of his disappearance. Did he commit the dastardly deed and abscond to America? Of course, we'll never know, but it's an interesting theory, nonetheless. It appears that the old boy may have been asexual. If so, this might explain his aversion to being touched. Though Parker earned mega-millions during his lifetime, he left behind a relatively modest estate. Of course, the same can be said of Elvis. Parker's addiction was gambling, while Elvis simply overspent on virtually everything.They were both masters at profligate spending. The Colonel seemed to possess a "Jekyll/Hyde" personality, displaying acts of kindness and generosity to loyalists and cruelty to others. The Eddy Arnold years are very interesting indeed. Parker and Eddy were opposites, and Parker's taste for ostentation sometimes clashed with Eddy's more conservative tastes. The story of Parker moving in with the Arnolds is hilarious. Alanna Nash is a very gifted writer and unless I'm mistaken, this is her third Elvis-related book. "Revelations" is still the best Elvis book I've ever read. I've never had the pleasure of reading the Alan Fortas book, which I believe she ghost-authored, though I hear it's excellent. Her latest book is an intriguing read which I finished in one day. I simply couldn't put it down. The phrasing, the meticulous research and the fascinating enigma that was Tom Parker all come together quite nicely. Buy this book. I promise you'll like it.

The title including the word "Extraordinary" is fully justified. I thought this book would be a "dishing the dirt" epic on Parker but it turns out to be a very well researched lifetime biography of the Colonel's life and not just his involvement with Elvis.

The well told story is of a man who from poor beginnings in Holland was involved in a murder there and forced to flee to the USA at an early age. He then spent his life as an illegal immigrant with that dark secret.

His early struggles with poverty in the 1930s and 1940s including being discharged from the army with mental illness, sets the scene for a man who revitalised his childhood fascination with fairs and carnivals, which were a major circus in the Americas of that period. All the man's later business cunning and marketing skills were learnt in that "carny" environment of deceit, overstatement, advance promotion and getting the cash in any deal as soon as possible to survive. He clearly retained a soft spot for this teaching ground all his life.

His first major music involvement came with country star Eddy Arnold who he fell out with when Arnold found him doing personal side deals. With no real appreciation of music ever, he became aware of the early Elvis and the storm he was creating in the South and took control under an initial contract that fully reflected Parker's approach all his time in managing Elvis of keeping it simple and balanced in his favour.

The view established by the book is that while the Colonel (a title obtained by politial hucksterism and not from his army days) always looked after Number One and was continually doing side deals that personally benefitted him not his client, the usual Elvis fan's view of the Colonel being a parasite is certainly challenged-

- the fan mania developed across 1956 and subsequent years including manipulation of the RCA label and TV was unprecedented and owed a lot to the flair of Parker to do things differently in the face of others historic approach to how to promote pop stars;

- Elvis's enlisting into army service and his "protected" life in Germany plus a controlled keeping in the public eye across those years may owe more to the manipulation of Parker;

- the much derided series of Elvis movies in the 1960s together with their hit singles and dross LPs may in retrospect have actually protected Elvis from live performance and a decline in popularity esp. with the advent of the Beatles plus given his lifelong poor approach to financial matters kept him earning a steady stream of income in that period;

- the return to live performance while driven by Elvis was taken to a new level by Parkers' approach to concert promotion, both in Las Vegas and across the USA.

However, the book does not flinch from the downsides of the man's personality and approach to business, especially his endless paranioa, bullying and control by fear over all those who worked with him; his ensuring limited access and opportunities being shown to Elvis by others (notably his failing to allow his development as an actor in serious roles); his Las Vegas deals fuelled by his increasing addiction to gambling and not Elvis's best interests at the hands of the casinos, and due to his illegal immigrant status his unwillingness to ever allow foreign tours by Elvis which in the later years could have been major revenue earners for him.

The sad conclusion is that Parker given his personality always saw himself as the person in charge and Elvis his instrument and that Elvis's success and earnings were down to the Colonel's skills and negotiations not Elvis's talents. The reality demonstrated endlessly is that Elvis and his family (especially his father) were never going to challenge Parker, given their lack of financial acumen and extravangant spending laid them open to continual manipulation. Parker in turn given his personality was unable to help as Elvis's deline under drugs gathered pace and the inevitable happened.

The post Elvis years show a man who was still driven by the self benefitting deal and his manipulation of the Elvis estate, with the sad endgame as he gambled ceaslessly of a man who earned an estimated $100 million plus from his relationship with Elvis but at death had less than a million dollars in assets.

This is by far the best rock management biography that I have ever read.