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A Da Capo original: Thirty years' worth of music writing by one of the first and greatest rock scribes and a fiercely imaginative cultural critic.
Meltzer casts a cold eye on the city of Los Angeles, California. In 33 essays originally published in the Village Voice, the L.A. Reader, and L.A. Weekly, he counts the ways he hates L.A.
"Lexicon Devil is, pure and simple, the finest volume on punk to have seen the light of print. (Yes, folks: that includes Please Kill Me.) Great book!"—Richard Meltzer Production has started on the documentary feature based on the book.
Writing about music, far from being the specialized domain of the rock critic with encyclopedic knowledge of micro-genres or the fancy-pants star journalist flying on private planes with Led Zeppelin, has become something almost any music lover can do--and does. It's been said, however, that writing about music is a difficult, even pointless enterprise--an absurd impossibility, like "dancing about architecture." But aside from the fact that dancing about architecture would be awesome, what is that ineffable something that drives people to write about music at all? In this short, insightful book, Joel Heng Hartse unpacks the rock writer Richard Meltzer's assertion that writing about music should be a "parallel artistic effort" with music itself--and argues that music and the impulse to write about it is part of the eminently mysterious desire for meaning-making that makes us human. Touching on the close resonances between music, language, love, and belief, Dancing about Architecture is a Reasonable Thing to Do is relevant to anyone who finds deep human and spiritual meaning in music, writing, and the mysterious connections between them.
A pictorial celebration of New Mexico's history and landscape. In celebration of New Mexico's statehood centenial, Richard Melzer focuses on the various social and political elements that have made the Land of Enchantment what it is today. Filled with images that document the past hundred years, New Mexico is a photographic delight accompanied by brief insightful essays that leave the reader in no doubt of a history that is both imposing and exciting in its scope. This book is also an official product of the state's centennial celebration. Richard Anthony Melzer is a professor of history at the University of New Mexico Valencia Campus. He is a former president of the Historical Society of New Mexico and is the author of many books and articles on twentieth-century New Mexico history.
"[This book] examines the complicated early days of the band, graphically demonstrating the showbiz sweat that goes into making a a succeswsful act. [It] is centred around the ... quality of the songs - made entertaining by the band's psychotropic & ghoulish humour, its interest in all manner of conspiracy theories, cults, monsters, vampires, UFOs, fopul play, arcane spiritualism, alchemy, love lost & love buried, science fiction & friction. The author draws on hsi personal interviews with Roeser, Bloom, Albert & Joe Bouchard, along with drummer Bobby Rondinelli, ... band pproducer Murray Krugman and BOC expert Bolle Gregmar."--Back cover.
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Arranged in chronological order, these pieces add up to nothing less than a full-scale history of the greatest tour band in the history of rock. From Tom Wolfe's account of the Dead's first performance as the Grateful Dead (at an Acid Test in 1965), to Ralph Gleason's 1967 interview with the 24-year-old Jerry Garcia, to Mary Eisenhart's obituary of the beloved leader of the band, these selections include not only outstanding writing on the band itself, but also superb pieces on music and pop culture generally. Fans will be fascinated by the poetry, fiction, drawings, and rare and revealing photographs featured in the book, as well as the anthology's many interviews and profiles, interpretati...
In a novel in the Beat tradition of Kerouac and Burroughs, a nationally known rock critic portrays the life of a debauchee who tries to come to terms with his continual drinking, womanizing, and flirtation with death. A first novel.