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PRISONER OF WOODSTOCK

Name: PRISONER OF WOODSTOCK
Author: Dallas Taylor
ISBN: 1-56025-072-0

by Dallas Taylor ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 15, 1994

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The unbilled drummer in the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young tells an unsatisfying and not always credible story of drugs and sex (and a little rock 'n' roll). Taylor, a millionaire at age 21 who spiraled down and down, writes his chapters in flashback scenes from two different vantage points: a hospital, where he undergoes a liver-transplant operation (funded in part by a benefit concert given by his musician buddies) and addiction-treatment sessions. But neither the intensive-care unit nor group therapy justifies Taylor's extensive and bad re- creations of dialogue, like the speech about the '60s that he delivers while in the hospital: ``I swallowed the whole `dawn of a new day, it's a new world' bullshit hook, line and sinker.'' His story includes some luridly interesting tales: nearly having an orgy with Jimi Hendrix (Taylor turned tail and ran when Hendrix greeted him at the door in the nude); wife-swapping with the Rolling Stones' Bill Wyman; and drug excesses with his band mates, with teenagers he met at Woodstock, and with a hitchhiker while driving 140 mph. However, he skimps on describing his musical career and his current life. Taylor now works as a substance-abuse counselor in California and has reconstructed his life with a new wife who didn't shrink from ``an ex-junkie, a thrice-divorced, has- been musician with a police record, no high school diploma and one grandchild.'' Former band mate David Crosby, in an introduction, sees Taylor as someone caught by all the ``peripheral traps'' of the music business. A worthy cautionary tale, however, doesn't necessarily make a good book. (16 pages of b&w photos, not seen)

Pub Date: July 15, 1994

ISBN: 1-56025-072-0

Page Count: 352

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1994

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.