Selvin has provided an authoritative account full of rich details (sometimes too many) of the San Francisco music scene from 1965 to 1971. Armed with material from archives, nearly a hundred taped interviews, and his own recollections, Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle pop music critic (then and now), weaves together the stories of the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, Santana, and other bands that were part of the scene that redefined American pop music. Standing behind much of the story is promoter Bill Graham (and the many pretenders to his throne), whose ambition and effort kept the scene from falling apart completely, at least for a while. Starting with the emergence of LSD as a legal, underground drug, Selvin shows how the various well-known and not so well known bands played psychedelic musical chairs with managers, venues, and record companies. Along with insider accounts of band feuds (such as the chilling tale of Joplin walking out on her first band on her way to an untimely and lonely death), Selvin presents a broad canvas and manages to both undermine and enhance prevailing myths about the psychedelic scene. Graham's benefits and concerts, with their chaotic scenesters running amok, and the discomforting violence of the Hell's Angels at Altamont and other places are straightforward reminders of just how extreme the Bay Area was. The book's biggest problems are its portrayals of female hangers-on (``toothsome'') and groups involving people of color (Santana is ``a pack of wolves''), and an overabundance of characters in the early chapters that will leave many readers desperate for a familiar face like Jerry Garcia. An often dramatic and compelling story that will serve as necessary reading for those who are too young (or too straight) to have been there and which will strike a chord of nostalgia among those who were. (Author tour)
Pub Date: Aug. 15, 1994
ISBN: 0-525-93675-0
Page Count: 374
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1994
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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