Barry Alfonso

A VOICE OF THE WARM, Barry Alfonso's bio of Rod McKuen, was entertaining and informative, but also immensely frustrating for me to read. Because here's the thing, I was a fan of Rod McKuen back in the late sixties. Newly married in 1967, my wife and I used to fall asleep listening to Rod's records - THE BEAUTIFUL STRANGERS was a particular favorite. So, sure I was interested in finding out more about this guy, a cultural phenomenon of the 60s and early 70s, who, against all odds, became show more perhaps the best-selling poet of modern times.

Many of the things Alfonso discusses about Rod's life could have been surmised just from reading his poems or listening to his records. But, in waiting until after the deaths of both Rod and his longtime partner, Ed Habib, to write this bio, Alfonso was left without any real primary sources for his study. And that, coupled with all the less than reliable stories McKuen told about himself, left the author to grapple with what he finally calls "the riddle of Rod McKuen." The closest thing to a primary source he had to work with was Rod's 1976 "memoir," FINDING MY FATHER, a book about which one critic noted -

"[McKuen] pads, repeats and wanders about in the service of another goal, the disingenuous celebration of himself as sensitive human being and skillful poet."

While it is probably true that McKuen suffered from a broken family and childhood abuse and neglect, he managed to survive all these things, served honorably in the US Army near the end of the Korean War and then managed to claw his way into the entertainment world through his writing, tenacity and skill in making useful connections. And actually, all these experiences came through pretty clearly in his recordings and poems. What Alfonso presents us with, finally, is a chameleon-like artist, and a savvy businessman and opportunist who saw his chance to make it in the turbulent times of the sixties, and he grabbed it. And the thing about Rod McKuen was you either loved his stuff or you hated it. I belonged - still belong - to the former group. And I suspect Alfonso does too. Otherwise he might have just thrown up his hands and given up on this whole task. Here's what he admitted right up front, in the book's Introduction -

"... Rod McKuen made it especially hard for a biographer to tell his story. Fact and fabulation are often inseparable in the accounts he gave of his life. For whatever reason, Rod couldn't help salting his interviews with a generous seasoning of wishful thinking, fantasized incidents, or outright untruths. Sifting them out from the verifiable information has been difficult. In many cases, Rod was the sole recorded witness to events in his life."

Sounds pretty damn frustrating, and I'll bet it was. Nevertheless, Alfonso puts together as complete a look at McKuen's life and career as he can. And, should any future scholar decide to take another look at this hugely successful and controversial poet and American chansonnier, A VOICE OF THE WARM will most decidedly be an important resource. Scores of people were interviewed for this biography, and Alfonso also obviously read voluminously, and not just McKuen's own works, but countless interviews and other stories about the poet and his work. The well-protected mystery of Rod's sexual identity - "McKuen presented himself as sexually fluid" - is discussed at length in various chapters here. And there are plenty of famous names dropped along the way too - Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, Bennet Cerf, Barry McGuire, Terry Jacks, Anita Kerr, and many others, especially from the music business.

In many ways, Alfonso's book reads like an "unauthorized biography," which is probably not surprising, as one wonders if McKuen would have ever consented to having his biography written. I was reminded of the recent Paul Simon biography, HOMEWARD BOUND, by Peter Ames Carlin, which I found equally frustrating, as Simon declined to cooperate in any way with Carlin. But perhaps even more, I was reminded of another biography, Holly George-Warren's PUBLIC COWBOY NO. 1: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF GENE AUTRY. Because I was one of those front-row kids at all of Gene's B-westerns from the 40s and 50s and I idolized him. So I was very disappointed to learn, decades later, that my hero was not all that perfect. And I feel kinda that way about this McKuen bio. Because I loved Rod's records - and I once had a dozen or more of his albums. (I only kept THE BEAUTIFUL STRANGERS.) And it was disappointing to learn what an opportunist, workaholic, control freak, and dissembler he actually was at times. But then I think of all the comfort he brought to his many fans, and I think, Ah, what the hell. The guy came from nothing, went through some hard times, and worked his way to the top of his field. And pretty much everyone that Alfonso talked to, in his many interviews, conceded that Rod was a kind, generous and generally considerate guy.

So, bottom line: a pretty damn interesting look at this "lonesome boy-midnight cowboy-beautiful stranger-chansonnier-businessman" character that was Rod McKuen. I will recommend it highly to anyone who was a fan.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER show less