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LOSER GOES FIRST

Name: LOSER GOES FIRST
Author: Dan Kennedy
ISBN: 0-609-61036-8

MY THIRTY-SOMETHING YEARS OF DUMB LUCK AND MINOR HUMILIATION

by Dan Kennedy ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2003

A little gem, but it’s excruciating to imagine paying the price for the material.

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It all started with the Les Paul guitar he didn’t get for Christmas.

Sure, he didn't even ask for it, admits McSweeney’s contributor and Atlantic Records employee Kennedy, but that didn’t quell his disappointment. It was the first ticket to cool that never got punched except in his fantasies, which the author relates with cinematic clarity. It wasn’t his last disappointment, bad move, or crushed expectation. “I’m lying in bed feeling like blind optimism’s one-night stand,” confides Kennedy. Fantasy: he will be a smokejumper. Reality: “a caveman forest custodian cleaning up after it all.” Fantasy: he will operate an espresso franchise. Reality: he sucks nitrous oxide from the whipped-cream cans while hiding behind his espresso cart. “As days go by, incredible things are not happening”: Kennedy is hungry to break into the music scene, but his first gig is pulling records at a music warehouse. An alternative music man, he heads for Texas to make his mark . . . just as Seattle takes off. (“I’m still not catching on to the fact that I’m in the wrong spot at the wrong time.”) He actually manages to line up a show, but he can’t play his guitar and doesn’t know any music. He decides to move into advertising copywriting and approaches his job interviews with brio. At one agency, he is told they need a miracle worker. “ ‘Rock it up on,’ I blurted loudly and nervously, trying to muster some excitement and confidence. (Pause. He was just staring. I was very still, hoping the tongue-tied words would somehow disappear from the air between us.)” We’d guess it was his agent who did the talking on the book deal. It’s good to know who you are, and Kennedy does (check the title); he’ll have you laughing, simply glad you aren't him.

A little gem, but it’s excruciating to imagine paying the price for the material.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2003

ISBN: 0-609-61036-8

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2003

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE RETURN OF THE MOGULS
by Dan Kennedy

- BOOK REVIEW
ROCK ON
by Dan Kennedy

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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.