All Hail the Queens

Try as I might to conquer IRL stuff, it gets the best of me. I keep on reading, keep on chiseling away at this site. I read these a while back and let them linger in my mind. They seem to go together; you may want to read them in tandem yourself.

A Song For You: My Life With Whitney Houston by Robyn Crawford I didn't know what to expect going into A Song For You. While I didn't follow Whitney Houston's career, or the tabloid press that hounded her in life and death, I picked up things here and there. I'd heard lesbian rumors, I'd heard her family had her in a metaphorical headlock for much of her career, I heard her death might have been an Illuminati sacrifice (seriously, Google it but don't tell them I sent you). With regards to the first two items, Robyn Crawford uses this opportunity to clear some air, and it's not done in a sordid way. This book reads in a sincere voice, one that almost breaks at the sad parts if you can hear it in your mind. I get that what Robyn felt for Whitney transcended friendship, camaraderie... and her frustration at watching the Houston family's treatment of the singer is palpable. It simmers, but I get the impression she is holding back a greater anger, and perhaps the sordid details people whisper on the Internet. It's like Crawford is caught between wanting to tell the truth and wanting to protect Whitney, even though nothing can touch her anymore, and in the end mourning her inability to prevent a tragic end. Rating: B

God Save the Queens: The Essential History of Women in Hip-Hop by Kathy Iandoli I love that a book like this exists. Iandoli is a journalist with decades of immersion in the hip-hop scene, and the result of her knowledge and access to influential figures in the genre is this comprehensive history. Iandoli traces the timeline of women's involvement in rap from parties in apartment building common rooms to jaw-dropping response records (read: The Roxanne Wars - I hadn't realized there was more than one "Roxanne" out there) to the present day. Iandoli's style is loose and engaging, injected with a touch of humor - a quick jab to readers waiting to "get to the chapter about Nicki Minaj" made me smile - and acknowledgement that the book might not be 100% complete. It may only mean there are still stories to discover, and perhaps a revised edition will appear one day. Rating: A-

2113: Stories Inspired By the Music of Rush by Kevin J. Anderson and Josh McFetridge, eds.

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Andy Rooney said, "Writers never retire." Drummers...well, it happens and it's not always voluntary. We know Neil Peart can't rock the solos forever, short of having bionic arms installed (don't think somebody hasn't suggested it), and if you've read recent interviews you know what's on his mind. Family. Writing. Somewhere he's said he hoped to adapt Clockwork Angels the novel to film. So yeah, he's not going anywhere in a sense.

While I didn't love the Clockwork Angels novel, I think there's strong potential in a film. Tighten the story and give it to right director, and I'll go see it. I haven't yet read the followup, because to be honest 2113 intrigued me more. Multi-author anthologies, for me, are a mixed bag in terms of quality, but this being a collection of stories - 16 of which are inspired by Rush songs - proved too tempting to resist.

Of the 18 authors included in the book, I've read three prior, including Kevin J. Anderson and Mercedes Lackey (I'd read somewhere she based the character Dirk from the Valdemar novels on Geddy Lee). Most die-hard fans have searched the Internet to read "A Nice Morning Drive" by Richard S. Foster, which inspired Neil to write "Dead Barchetta." It is part of this collection, and Fritz Leiber's "Gonna Roll the Bones" is the other reprint.

So we have 18 stories, each connected to a specific Rush song. The cover and roster suggest all science fiction, and you'll find everything from hard SF to futuristic drama here, but 2113 also showcases some paranormal mystery and noir. For the most part, Easter eggs of Rush lyrics are scarce - which suits me fine. The stories flow nicely, much like in Rush albums where the individual songs connect to form an all-encompassing concept.

Highlights for me in 2113 include:

"On the Fringes of the Fractal" by Greg Van Eekhout - Futuristic YA about loyalty and friendship, a willingness to sacrifice social standing for a friend.

"A Patch of Blue" by Ron Collins - Another theme of "deviating from the norm," as one Rush song goes, where creators in two different realms take similar paths for what they believe is right.

"The Burning Times, V2.0" by Brian Hodge - Like Fahrenheit 451 crossed with Harry Potter; a young fights censorship and as a result has to save himself.

"The Digital Kid" by Michael Z. Williamson - A dreamer's journey to overcome disability.

"Some Are Born to Save the World" by Mark Leslie - The story of a superhero's mortality.

I won't reveal which songs inspired which stories. As noted in the book's introduction, one doesn't need to be familiar with Rush's music to enjoy the book. That the majority of the contributing authors have backgrounds in SFF keep the stories cohesive. A fair number of Rush fans I know enjoyed Clockwork Angels, but I think they will appreciate this book as much, if not more.

My only nitpick with this collection: only one female author in the bunch. If the boys sanction this as a franchise, perhaps 2114 could feature a few more women writers. Lady Rush fans do exist.

Rating: A-

Kathryn Lively is a lady Rush fan.

Face the Music: A Life Exposed by Paul Stanley

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So for several weeks leading up to this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction I saw KISS trending in nearly every news site I follow. I get updates from Ultimate Classic Rock, and I received a KISS e-lert every damn day for a month. Lot of yakking back and forth. "Paul did this to us," whined somebody. "Ace is still a damned drunk." Yada yada. I asked my KISS-fan friend Joe if they got this much press at the peak of KISS-mania and he said no. "Mainstream media hated their guts," he told me.

In this book, Stanley touches a bit on the derision and odd looks they endured from the beginning - from labels, critics, and peers. To read how he looks back on the past, it's clear he's not embittered by it. "No Drama" fast becomes a theme, but it's difficult to avoid. Stanley does admit his unwillingness to put up with the two-faced sort (using a blow-up with Slash as an example) and the desire to show up past naysayers (as illustrated in an anecdote about a high school reunion), but for the most part Face the Music is what happened and where with KISS, from inception to almost present day, as Stanley remembers. If you're expecting four hundred pages of "screw Ace and Peter" you will be disappointed - probably because recent media hype of this book may have led you to believe it's a bash-fest. Face the Music isn't all prancing unicorns, either, but it is brutal and engaging in its honesty.

Now, I reviewed Peter's book and I enjoyed it, too. I'm not yet on the KISS Army caravan but I own more albums now than I did in 2012. Since it's been two years since reading Makeup to Breakup my recall is shot, but I don't need to reread it to tell you how differently Peter and Paul tell their sides of the story. Before we get into that, though...

Stanley's pre-KISS years are marked by physical and emotional problems, everything from a dysfunctional family to a disability that luckily did not affect his musical ability. As with Criss, school offered little in terms of a future, and music proved the greater draw. Early interactions with Gene Klein/Simmons tell of a combined curiosity and skepticism that leads to a more "functional" dysfunctional relationship that remains intact.

Early KISS antics roll through the seventies on mounting credit bills and a steady climb toward fame that explodes with the release of Alive! - and the subsequent buffet of women and expensive things. I get from this book Stanley had more fun recalling sexual conquests than dealing with financial problems that plagued much of their career (understandable). Where Criss had issues with KISS merchandise threatening to undermine the band and make them appear cartoonish, for example, Stanley argues the decision wasn't any different from how The Beatles were merched a decade before them. People still go for their music, right?

When you get to the chapters on the big reunion and tours, you may think you have to choose sides. Were Ace and Peter used to generate cash, or were they asked back to recapture old magic in a setting that stood to benefit everybody involved? Stanley argues for the latter - despite having two other musicians on the payroll, the full costume/makeup tour with the original four happened as a way to end that lineup on a strong note. From Stanley's view, that was the hope, and it didn't work out that way.

And the accusations of racism that caused all the recent press? It's maybe three or four sentences, one of which is vaguely worded. Early on in this book you feel Stanley's discomfort as he remembers his first encounter with anti-Semitism (which involved neither Ace nor Peter), and it's Stanley's perception of his bandmates' overall behavior that likely prompted the remarks, if only to create a bigger picture of conflicts within KISS as you read. I can't say what Stanley thinks of Ace and Peter beyond what I have read here, but the passages read more like observation than accusation.

What he has to say about Gene, now... no, nothing to do with race or creed. I'll leave you with something to anticipate.

I enjoyed Face the Music. Stanley's enthusiasm for KISS as an entity, more than a band, is infectious. It ends in a good place, too. This went out before the HoF ceremony, and some might think that would make for a good coda to any story, but you read Paul's book and know he's nowhere close to finished.

Rating: A-

Kathryn Lively is a mystery author, editor and avid reader. 

Baby's In Black - The Story of Astrid Kirchherr & Stuart Sutcliffe by Arne Bellstorf

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The Beatles have inspired so much over their history. Countless musicians and artist cite them as the spark that ignited their own creative passions, and if there's one that often comes from their existence it's the endless "What If's." All through the last quarter of 2010 as we acknowledged the 70th anniversary of John Lennon's birth and the 30th anniversary of his death, we asked "What if?" What if he had lived...how much more music would he have created, would he be on Twitter constantly, and how would he have responded to 9/11? We can only speculate now and wish to see it for ourselves.

For me, a constant "What If" in the Beatles history prompts me to think about what might have gone down differently had Stuart Sutcliffe lived. If you're a die-hard fan who has followed The Beatles from The Quarrymen days to Let it Be, you know Stu was the true "fifth Beatle." He was John's best friend and a talented artist. In his very short life he made an indelible mark in the world of popular music - he helped name the band, and despite having very little musical talent he was deemed good enough by Lennon to join in the early glory, because no way did Lennon want a band that didn't include his closest friend. Some have speculated (or perhaps wished) that the Lennon-Sutcliffe relationship stretched past platonic into something more intimate - though no proof really exists of that. Philip Norman's John Lennon: The Life goes so far as to boldly suggest that Lennon had caused the aneurysm that claimed Sutcliffe's life - perhaps one of the few surprises that biography offered, one that is also quite difficult to prove.

What do we know about Sutcliffe? We know he accompanied John, Paul, George, and Pete (remember, this is the pre-Starr era) to Hamburg to pay the requisite starving musician dues in the Reeperbahn, which apparently in the late 50s, early 60s made Las Vegas look like Sesame Street. He met a local girl named Astrid - a kindred soul and eventual confidante - and chose to follow his heart. Sadly, his head didn't prove as healthy or as willing to stay, and he lives on mainly through stories that keep the band's early spirit alive.

It is only fitting, too, that the story of Stu and Astrid's brief yet iconic relationship be portrayed in a graphic novel. Baby's in Black was conceived and drawn by artist Arne Bellstorf. The title comes from the Lennon/McCartney song, a somber ballad that Astrid's loss inspired.

Black opens with an ominous dream of Astrid wandering alone in the woods, transfixed by something that doesn't belong there but ultimately does. She's awakened by friend (and former companion) Klaus Voormann, who has just come from a club in the Reeperbahn having experienced a phenomenon unlike anything he's seen: rock and roll, and more specifically the five-piece British band playing it. It's clearly life-changing enough to justify waking Astrid in the middle of the night to convince her to see the act. The moment she agrees sets in motion Astrid's own life-changing moment when she joins Klaus the next night and notices the quiet bassist hiding behind sunglasses as he tries to hide his musical inadequacies.

Black near-faithfully progresses with the courtship of Astrid and Stu, which flourishes despite a tenuous language barrier and the ever-present specter of Klaus, who seems to find consolation in actively supporting The Beatles' young career (Voormann would remain associated with the band for years in various roles). The black and white artwork nicely sets the atmosphere of postwar Germany - even in the merriest of places like Hamburg's red-light district there is an underlying seediness that simply cannot be expressed in color. The young Beatles are reproduced to recognition: Paul's expressive eyes, George's pensive brow, and John's wizened expression. Pete Best, another "fifth" in the band's lore, barely figures into the story.

If there are any complaints about Black, they may stem from the comparisons I keep wanting to make to the film Backbeat, which is the only other source I'm familiar with that focuses on this part of Beatles history. Where the film brought out tensions rising from Stu's defection, and perhaps a hint of resentment aimed at Astrid for "stealing" Stu, you don't get that in Black. Through much of the book, expressions do not furrow or pinch in anger - everything just seems to happen. Perhaps this was a quality of the existentialist attitude that influenced Astrid and Klaus's circle of friends back in the day, but having read other accounts of the band's Hamburg days (particularly Lennon's zealous attempts to incite the crowd with Nazi references) I have noticed much of that is downplayed in this book. Of course, this story belongs to Stuart and Astrid, so there is really no need for Lennon's antics to disrupt the flow.

Baby's in Black remarkably realizes this brief passage in modern music history. Simple dialogue and bold imagery speak out in a way no song can.

Rating: A-

Kathryn Lively is a mystery author whose titles include Rock Deadly and Rock Til You Drop.