Paul Stanley- Face the Music:A Life Exposed

Earlier this year I read both Ace Frehley's and Peter Criss' autobiographies. I've been a Kiss fan for almost the entire 40 years they've existed - so I remember a bit of how I felt when they went through so many of the changes and I recall the hype, the press, so much of it.

What I recall of course, is my perspective. What reading these three books gave me, was their perspective. I have to admit, there was a part of me after reading Ace and Peter's books and the whole Rock and Roll hall of fame drama unfolding at the same time, I was prepared to think that maybe Paul Stanley, someone I've always admired, was kind of a dick.

A few weeks ago, I was at dinner with a friends and among the crowd was a musician that worked with Paul Stanley and he had only wonderful things to say about Stanley and his character. then, I read this book and it gave me a sense that maybe Ace and Peter are asshats. Don't get me wrong, I'm still their fan, but their words along with Paul's version kind of make it pretty clear to me that they are pretty jerky and make it hard for me to feel bad about them in any way.

Of course, I have to take this book with a bit of a grain of salt as well, but in general, I found myself believing what I read and gaining a new respect for Stanley completely outside of the scope of his being the guy in Kiss I've know for the past four decades.

I think this is a good read, while there are some things about it that are appealing beyond his fan base, getting to them will require the dedication to read all 450 some pages. For me, it was a no-brainer, I enjoyed it all.

Ace Frehley: No Regrets

Subtitled, "A Rock 'n' Roll Memoir"; and that it is. Look,. if you are looking for some kind of brilliance or magic or historical relevance, let me recommend the Benjamin Franklin bio by Walter Isaacson. If you are a fan of Kiss, this book is for you. If you are a fan of Ace Frehley, this book is for you.

Unlike say, the Warren Zevon book I read (and reviewed) recently, I think the reach for this book is far more selective. Any stories related in any way to the band Kiss are a little suspect. Here, you have a founding member who over the years and through two terms of service with the band has had much public controversy on the words of others. In No Regrets, at least there is the opportunity to hear Ace speak his peace, provide his take, tell his story.

Of course, we also get the whole story, from birth to current, it's an autobiography, and that's the point and thankfully, we get some pictures! I hate when there are no pictures!

The quality of writing is not brilliant here folks. This is not a masterpiece, it simply is what it is. A simple telling of the story of a man who just happened to find his way into one of the biggest rock and roll bands of all time and still had to live a life and find his way through battling his own demons. It's a quick read and worth the time if you like this sort of thing and/or you are a fan.

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

When Warren Zevon's "Excitable Boy" album was released, I was not yet 14, but from the moment I heard the music on that record I was hooked (I had not yet been familiar with the two previous albums he released but knew that some of his songs were recorded by other artists such as Linda Ronstadt).

Hard to meet anyone who doesn't know what is probably his most popular song, "Werewolves of London" from Excitable Boy but the Title Track has an equally catchy hook and so many of the other songs just resonate with what makes music appealing (at least to me); I became a fan as soon as I heard this record (I'm certain that Dan O'Connor was responsible).

In the early 1980's, David Letterman had Zevon on and they became fast friends (I wasn't aware how close they became until I read the book) and Zevon had many appearances over the following two decades. After reading the book, I went back and viewed many of them on YouTube and while I recall some of them from seeing them when they aired, they all took on so much more meaning after reading this book.

This isn't any ordinary biography, it was written, more appropriately, compiled, by his ex wife and lifelong friend and mother of his children. The book takes us through a chronology of Zevon's life through the commentary of the people who interacted with Zevon, his friends, his confidantes, his family, his lovers, his colleagues and of course, Crystal Zevon. Throughout the book, all of the commentary is cleverly laced with entries from Zevon's personal journal - it really gives a full set of perspectives and really tells his story in all of it's detail - the good, the bad, the ugly and the very ugly. In fact, one of Warren's wishes left to Crystal was that she tell the story, "even the awful, ugly parts".

Reading this book brought me on a journey not just through the life of one man, but all of those that were along for the ride, no matter how far they traveled. I got to take that ride with them from the outside looking in, only I now got to hear what what happened on the inside. It wasn't always pretty but it was a human journey and shows that despite the glory of fame or the quest for it, we are all human and we make decisions, we must accept the consequences of those decisions, we ache, we love, we err, we want, we live and we die.

This is easily one of my favorite biographical books that I've ever read. In the weeks ahead I will dig back into the catalog of Zevon and listen to that music again knowing that I will hear it like I've never heard it before.

If you want to check out some Good Warren Zevon footage, check at "Warren Zevon Addict's" page on you tube, CLICK HERE to get there.

Up All Night: My Life and Times in Rock Radio

It’s hard for me to be overly critical about this book because of the author. Carol Miller, a long time host rock radio personality in New York, was someone I listened to from the mid-seventies through most of the nineties when I left NYC to move to MA. Not only was I a big fan but I had a huge crush on her, what dude in their right mind didn’t? And, I had the great privilege of meeting her when I was at a party for the band Europe when they received their gold record for their album “The Final Countdown”. At that event, I actually had the chance to sit and speak with Carol Miller for a few minutes, she was super cool and I did my best to not be a complete buffoon.

I enjoyed reading this book very much because Carol Miller means something to me. So when she talks about things like her personal life, battles with illness and cancer, it was like reading about a dear friend who went through all of this deep stuff and you wished you could have been there to help them through, it was emotional.

When she talked about the challenges of being a woman in a male dominated field, about the disgusting abusive situations she was put in by management, I wanted to go beat the crap out these assholes for messing with one of my peeps. More important, it put a real perspective on a very real situation that still lingers in society today where woman are simply not treated as equals on so many levels.

From the title of the book, “Up All Night: My Life and Times in Rock Radio”, I was expecting some great larger than life stories about the larger than life rock and roll stars that I listened to Carol Miller play on the radio for so many years. The stories that were included did not disappoint, there were a few doozies for certain. I just felt that the title led me to believe that is what would dominate the book and perhaps its part my fault for the assumption, but I also must blame the publishers and editors who moved forward the final manuscript under this title.

As someone who grew up in the area where carol Miller gained her popularity and radio persona, I think the book works overall. As I’ve implied above, if you were a listener, you have a relationship and care about the personal stuff enough that it all works just fine; like I said, I enjoyed reading this book and in fact, finished it in three days. I question the overall appeal to someone that might not know who Carol Miller is or only knows of her peripherally. I question if the balance of the material in the book is enough to appeal to that broader audience.

For certain, the personal stuff will touch all people, it’s all very real and it’s quite likely that most readers will be able to associate with the stories of Miller’s life and perhaps that will be enough; I hope so only because I would like to see this book sell well for two reasons: I am a lifelong fan of Carol Miller and she deserves for it to be successful and, 5% of the proceeds are being donated to breast cancer research.

I would love to have read a book that was all about the radio stuff and the music and radio business interactions. I think it would even have worked if the personal stuff stayed put but there were a hundred or so pages more of the music stuff, it wouldn't have made the book too long - though I guess from the publisher end, it would have cost more to produce, but then again, if it sold enough more units to offset the additional cost...who knows? Not me, I can only say that in the end, if I invest the time to read a book, I need to get a return and when all was said and done, I got my money's worth.

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Here's a brief interview she did while promoting the book:

Bruce - Peter Ames Carlin

I am a huge fan of Bruce Springsteen so it was with great anticipation that I delved into this biography. This is not a quick nor an easy read and to those who aren't big fans of his, it may not even be considered a good read. For the most part, I really liked the book. The start was a bit confusing as it dug really deep into some of Bruce's family life that seemed at the time to be a mistake on the part of the editor. By the end of the book, I'm still not 100% convinced that it couldn't have been edited a bit tighter but it did add to the storyline that is the complexity of who Bruce Springsteen is.

I think my deepest criticism of this book is that it tried to be two separate things, a biography of Bruce Springsteen and an accounting of his music career. I know that it might seem okay since this is a biography of a musician but really, they are two very separate stories and really should have taken place in two volumes.

As a big fan, it was hard to read about the guy (Bruce) who really wasn't all that good to his love interests, who was often a bit difficult to his friends, and seemed on occasion to be a real pain in the ass. However, somewhere along the way, the obvious hit me. Bruce Springsteen, like all superstars that we idolize and look up to, is a human being. Another sparkling revelation, I know.

Another criticism of this book - The author really got exhaustive about the details of the music and the process behind it. To a point, it was necessary in many cases to further the biography but there came a point where pretty late in the book he wasn't far enough into the career and it seemed the later part of the career didn't get the due amount of space; and I don't just mean physical space but where the book seems to drag through the first 25-30 years of his career, the last 10-15 seem to just be thrown in there in some abridged form.

I think the book has a lot of really interesting information and as a fan, I'm happy to have read it. There are certainly enough Bruce and music fans that will likely make this book a success but I can't help wishing it were done differently.

by Chris Daniele

Radio On

Once upon a time, radio was a sound salvation. It played all the time, in the kitchen, in the bedroom, on the pool deck, in the car. The tinny pop chug-a-lug wired the air around it with bright-minded echoes of retro romance and fakey fun, filling up the empty blue space that envelops all suburbia with the simplest of all possible remedies for boredom: a beat. - Gina Arnold, Route 666

Sarah Vowell's first book, Radio On is a diary of sorts that documents her experiment: listening to the radio every day for a full year. To some, this may sound simple, but she doesn't simply listen, she engulfs it, understands it, and somehow becomes the radio. Listening to everything from the top ten hits to obscure Native American chants on AM stations, she documents every song and every commercial listened to. An interesting anthropological study of her, if nothing else.

The book was written in 1995, a year after Kurt Cobain passed away and that's what sets the the book on the first page. Being a long time fan of the band Nivana, Vowell discusses how the band didn't just play music, they influenced it, along with a generation of followers. Throughout the book she touches on other musicians she likes (Courtney Love, Smashing Pumpkins) and abhors (Alanis Morissette, Hootie and the Blowfish). She addresses the idea of selling out and how most bands are completely overplayed, leaving the radio full of repetition and nothing new.

As stated, she doesn't just listen to music. Being a great hater of Rush Limbaugh, she frequently tunes into his program to see what he's ranting about. It's an interesting social commentary, listening to her opinions of him, juxtaposed by her vision of Clinton and the time, a president who she didn't always agree with, but ultimately supported. Along the way, she tuned into NPR frequently, namechecking greats such as David Sedaris and Ira Glass (individuals who she later in her life became friends with and works with currently on the program This American LIfe).

What was most interesting to me wasn't just her analysis of the radio (which she, ultimately, gets sick of half way through, yet trudges through like any good writer would), but how the book is very dated. Taking place in 1995, she addresses radio and CDs as the only medium of music. In one scene, during an early recording of This American Life, she notes a new, unfamiliar piece of equipment, a minidisc. Ultimately, I'd love to know what Vowell thinks of the radio today. Although, mostly, it hasn't changed, we still have Rush, we still have repetative top ten hits, but it's not nearly as influential as it was back then. In days of sirius radio where you can listen to whatever you want whenever you want, ordinary channels seem out of date. And regarding politics, I wonder what she thinks of the situation nowadays, or what she thinks of Mrs. Clinton running (and losing) for the democratic candidate. 

As a long time Vowell fan, I will admit this was my least favorite of her few, however I did enjoy it. It was an interesting journey through the world of this medium, something that, admittedly, I rarely listen to. If nothing else, it inspired me. Inspired me to put down the itunes and ipod and turn on the radio for at least right now. Who knows what I'll find on it.

The Everything Book of Home Recording

I got this book from the library because I wanted to try to get a bit more sophisticated and polished with my podcasts and wanted to explore ways of using recording equipment to do so.

This book is geared specifically to the musician looking to build a basic recording setup at home and it does a very good job at touching on all of the levels of equipment and how they fit into such a plan.

The text was written very similarly to that of the famous "Dummies" books so it was easy to read and had plenty of illustrations. Where I got lost is on the parts geared specifically toward musicians that used musician lingo that I am not all that up on. However, I did find it useful to learn about microphones, mixers, and the smaller scale multi-track machines out there and felt it was a good primer for jumping into the mix.

If you are a musician who has been itching to record on the cheap and/or learn about how to get started in recording, I definitely would recommend this book. While it did serve my purpose, it was a bit overkill for me but being a geek and someone utterly frustrated at having no real musical ability, I didn't mind so much.

Eric Clapton: The Autobiography

I've been a fan of Eric Clapton since I first heard him play. There are a select number of musicians whose passion for the music and their instrument are evident beyond all else. Clapton's storied career came at a price however and he himself introduces us to his personal demon's and openly discusses how they affected him and how he treated them.

In reading this book, I felt an attachment not to the legendary and brilliant musician, but to the human being that is Eric Clapton. I fell like I was confided in by someone who has reached a point where honesty and connections to the people take precedence over the fame.

So yes, we hear the stories about drugs, we hear the stories about womanizing, we hear the stories about alcohol and suicidal tendencies. What made this book different for me was the connection that he so clearly wishes, and succeeds to make with the reader and quite frankly, the sheer beauty of his recovery into sobriety and a beautiful family life. Somehow, I sense that when I go back to listen to his glorious body of work, this time, I'll be ready to hear it for the first time.