Rick James (2) (1948–2004)

This was a lot of fun to read and even though it was really ghost written for James, as explained in the introduction by co-author David Ritz. It has James' voice, including crude language, throughout. It is a brisk, salacious, tell-all story of a life of near misses, crimes, jail time, and the high-life. Prince gets taken down as being a jerk as does, kind of, George Clinton of Parliament/Funkadelic for choosing to indulge in James's blow instead of helping foster his glow. Along the way, show more Rick takes cocaine to get into the mood for his first TV exposure with Dick Clark (American Bandstand Season 21 Episode 42 aired Jul 22, 1978), fosters the singing careers of Teena Marie and Eddie Murphy and hangs with Linda Blair. Most interesting to me was with the near misses with Toronto all-star Mynah Birds (including Neil Young) and later with White Cane. show less

Jeesus. You can’t accuse James of false advertising, although you could have probably charged him with just about anything else, at anytime, and it would have stuck.

It was hard to keep from copy editing James’ autobiography as I read along. Although after a while, the awkward repetition of sentences and entire paragraphs began to seem like part of the experience. It was easy to imagine him telling a story and adding the same crazy bit several times in a row.

Me: “Um, Rick, you just said show more that.”

The imaginary Rick James that lives in my head: “Cocaine’s a hell of a drug.”

The most interesting part of the book for me was the Zelig-like way James was involved with so many of the people and bands that came to embody the late-’60s rock scene. Who knew?

Rest in peace, super freak. show less

This book was for me one of the most memorable and best autobiographies written. James takes us on a journey from his early days in Buffalo, N.Y. through his formative years as a musician, and on to his years as a star. Rick James led quite an amazing and interesting life.

great dance music