A rigorously researched, captivating tome on one of the top bands of the 20th century.
A definitive look at a band that helped shape the musical soundscape of the 1970s.
If you thought you knew all there is to know about the Eagles, think again. Forgo and Cafarelli have teamed up for this encyclopedic work about the popular band. Album by album, song by song, their book covers the Eagles from about 1971 to 1980. (It’s the second of three volumes). Definitive isn’t hyperbole here. A 43-page index is followed by a 2,149-item, 38-page bibliography, including previously published interviews the authors draw from liberally. The book unfolds chronologically, diving deep into what made the band tick, its influences, and the musicians it in turn influenced. The authors pepper the narrative with graphic pullouts for each year, including “Nuggets” (outrageous vignettes), “On the Road With…” (acts the band toured with), “Collaborations” (acts the bands sang with), and much, much more. Forgo and Cafarelli share plenty of Eagles lore, including when Joe Walsh kissed Raquel Welch after accepting an award, the time manager Irving Azoff helped Glenn Frey avoid a drug arrest in the Bahamas, and the stories behind classic Eagles songs, like “Desperado,” “Hotel California,” and “Take it Easy.” There are record charts, graphics galore, insights into cover art, tales of drug use and other debauchery, and studio tidbits recounting the stories of Don Henley, Frey, Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit, Bernie Leadon, Randy Meisner, and others who contributed to the success of the Eagles over the decades. The authors have done a beautiful job of concocting a volume that will appeal both to faithful and casual fans. This doorstopper never lags, but it can be daunting. In fact, there are instructions on “how to use” the book, something that might scare away the average reader. But those who stick with it will be rewarded.
A rigorously researched, captivating tome on one of the top bands of the 20th century.Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2022
ISBN: 9781734365337
Page Count: 503
Publisher: Time Passages LLC
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
Maher calls out idiocy wherever he sees it, with a comedic delivery that veers between a stiletto and a sledgehammer.
The comedian argues that the arts of moderation and common sense must be reinvigorated.
Some people are born snarky, some become snarky, and some have snarkiness thrust upon them. Judging from this book, Maher—host of HBO’s Real Time program and author of The New New Rules and When You Ride Alone, You Ride With bin Laden—is all three. As a comedian, he has a great deal of leeway to make fun of people in politics, and he often delivers hilarious swipes with a deadpan face. The author describes himself as a traditional liberal, with a disdain for Republicans (especially the MAGA variety) and a belief in free speech and personal freedom. He claims that he has stayed much the same for more than 20 years, while the left, he argues, has marched toward intolerance. He sees an addiction to extremism on both sides of the aisle, which fosters the belief that anyone who disagrees with you must be an enemy to be destroyed. However, Maher has always displayed his own streaks of extremism, and his scorched-earth takedowns eventually become problematic. The author has something nasty to say about everyone, it seems, and the sarcastic tone starts after more than 300 pages. As has been the case throughout his career, Maher is best taken in small doses. The book is worth reading for the author’s often spot-on skewering of inept politicians and celebrities, but it might be advisable to occasionally dip into it rather than read the whole thing in one sitting. Some parts of the text are hilarious, but others are merely insulting. Maher is undeniably talented, but some restraint would have produced a better book.
Maher calls out idiocy wherever he sees it, with a comedic delivery that veers between a stiletto and a sledgehammer.Pub Date: May 21, 2024
ISBN: 9781668051351
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
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