A vibrant discourse on satisfying hungers of every kind.
The globetrotting, guerrilla TV chef of ill repute serves up some journalistic odds and ends.
A garrulous, sublimely talented chap with an eminently respectable couple of New York brasseries and a load of opinions to spare, Bourdain (A Cook’s Tour, 2001, etc.) remains an anomaly in the Food Network era. Instead of running a chain of big-ticket, big-ego eateries, he roams the world consuming massive quantities of strange food and prodigious drink, adding snarky commentary and turning it all into a TV show of sorts. Along the way, he writes for several publications, from Gourmet to the Los Angeles Times; a good selection of those writings are collected here. Subjects include other celebrity chefs (Rocco DiSpirito “messed with the bitch goddess celebrity and got burned”), the best bars for adrenaline-jacked kitchen crews to get hammered in the wee hours (in Chicago, it’s Matchbox) and the proper definition of cooking (“a cult of pain”); somehow it all flows together with nary a seam in view. But there is some repetition and, unlike most writers with an edge, he's better at being nice. Scourging attacks sometimes fall flat for lack of variety, while puff pieces offer the finest examples of foodie enthusiasm. Indulging in Masa Takayama's insanely expensive sushi is “like having sex with two five-thousand-dollar-a-night escorts at the same time—while driving an Aston Martin.” The unfathomable wizardry of Spain’s mad-chef genius Ferran Adria is “hugely enjoyable, challenging to the world order, innovative, revolutionary.”
A vibrant discourse on satisfying hungers of every kind.Pub Date: May 16, 2006
ISBN: 1-58234-451-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2006
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
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BOOK TO SCREEN
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Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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