In all: a sad story of talent gone astray and a fascinating, disturbing portrait of the imaginative decadence of the disco...
A riveting tale of sex, drugs, and the pillbox hat as Gaines (Heroes and Villains, 1986) details the rise and fall of a talented designer turned disco denizen.
Roy Halston Frowick moved to Chicago at age 20 from Des Moines and with the backing of his hairdresser-lover started a millinery business that quickly gained a local following. Offered a job in New York by the famous Lilly Dache, Halston soon was installed at Bergdorf’s, selling hats and charming celebrity customers (including Jacqueline Kennedy, who wore his pillbox hat for the inauguration). As the ’60s progressed, Halston moved over to designing ready-to-wear. His showroom became a gathering place for the famous, and his simple, elegant clothes became all the rage, until a 1972 Newsweek cover named him America’s “premier fashion designer.” In 1973, he sold his business to Norton Simon Industries, which created an extremely successful fragrance. But as the 70's wore on, the licensing ventures languished as Halston allegedly began to use cocaine heavily, getting in to work at noon after nights at Studio 54. When Norton Simon was taken over, the Halston division was sold several times to corporations less tolerant of the designer's disregard for the bottom line, and finally Halston himself was banished from his own offices, with others producing under the Halston name. In March 1990, the designer died of AIDS. Jam-packed with sordid detail (prostitutes, anonymous sex in Central Park, a destructive long-term lover named Victor Hugo) and celebrities (Liza, Andy, Bianca): reading this is like mainlining ’70s gossip.
In all: a sad story of talent gone astray and a fascinating, disturbing portrait of the imaginative decadence of the disco era.Pub Date: Sept. 25, 1991
ISBN: 0-399-13612-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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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