AMERICAN AUTHORS CHALLENGE--APRIL 2021---MUSICIANS WHO WRITE BOOKS AND AUTHORS WHO MAKE MUSIC

The Rock Bottom Remainders (sadly now defunct)

Creativity often finds more than one outlet for any given person, and the result can be excellence in more than one field. When I was contemplating what we'd do for the AAC in 2021, I came across a reference to The Rock Bottom Remainders group in something I was reading about Barbara Kingsolver. The link is lost to me now. But this group of authors who banded together to play charity gigs was my inspiration for a theme month about musicians who write, as well as writers who jam. >6 mahsdad: Jeff has beat me to the punch with his list of authors who participated in The Rock Bottom Remainders over the years. As you can see from the photo, Steve Martin was a perpetrator as well. I think any number of authors probably "play a little", and some of them even perform in public now and then, foremost on my list being Jon Clinch, who sings and plays guitar with some regularity at his favorite pub in Vermont.

This is a mighty deep rabbit hole, and I've explored just a few of the tunnels. No doubt you know of, or can find, many more examples. Herewith a sort-of-short list of possibilities for ticking April off your list.

Memoirs

Well, nearly everybody who is anybody has written a memoir. A few of the choices:

Art Garfunkel What is it All But Luminous
Bruce Springsteen Born to Run
Bob Dylan Chronicles
Patti Smith Just Kids
Harry Belafonte My Song: A Memoir
Peggy Seeger First Time Ever
Leon Fleisher My Nine Lives
Philip Glass Words Without Music
Queen Latifah Ladies First: Revelations of a Strong Woman
Joy Harjo Crazy Brave
Dessa True Stories from the Road

And actually a biography of a musician by a musician....Franz Liszt’s biography of Frederic Chopin (If you finish this one, you deserve an all-expense-paid trip to Europe, with unlimited pastry.)

Poetry

It's not a big stretch from song-writing to "pure" poetry; some writers, like Leonard Cohen (yes, he’s Canadian, but we’re doing a broad interpretation of "American" today) have started with the stark words, and later turned to putting them to music. Others have written lyrics that stand well as poems on the page.

Leonard Cohen Let Us Compare Mythologies
Patti Smith Woolgathering
Jewel A Night Without Armor
Joni Mitchell The Complete Poems and Lyrics
Tupac Shakur The Rose That Grew From Concrete (posthumous)

Novels

A few novels by authors better known for their music:

Leonard Cohen Beautiful Losers
Willy Vlautin Lean on Pete
Steve Martin An Object of Beauty
Josh Ritter Bright’s Passage
Woody Guthrie House of Earth

Books ABOUT music, written by musicians

Virgil Thomson A Virgil Thomson Reader; Music Chronicles 1940-1954; The State of Music and Other Writings
Aaron Copland What to Listen For in Music
David Byrne How Music Works

Children’s Books/Manga/Fantasy and other delights

Bruce Springsteen Outlaw Pete
Colin Meloy Wildwood Chronicles The Wiz Mob and the Grendadine Kid
Courtney Love Princess Ai
Dolly Parton, Jimmy Buffett, Jerry Garcia and others have turned their songs into children’s books

 Here's my selection for this month.

I hadn't thought of Steve Martin, but I have a couple of novels by him on my shelf... My original intention was to read Lean on Pete by Willy Vlautin, who is in an indie band out of Portland, I think it is.

Paul Steinbeck is a musician and professor of Music who has written
an amazingly comprehensive book on The Art Ensemble of Chicago, MESSAGE TO OUR FOLKS.

He delivers biographies and a detailed history of the group's initial performances in the U.S.,
then follows them around the world to all of their music, poetry, and theater presentations.

Musical analysis of major improvisations is also included.

>1 laytonwoman3rd:, >2 weird_O: David Byrne and Willy Vlautin are both on my list of recommendations. Go to it!

I just finished Steve Martin's Shopgirl novella. How serendipitous. It was pretty good.

If anyone is looking for authors who play music, pick anyone from the Rock Bottom Remainders. A charity "supergroup" from the late 90's early 00's. Plenty to choose from...

Band members included Dave Barry, Stephen King, Amy Tan, Sam Barry, Ridley Pearson, Scott Turow, Joel Selvin, James McBride, Mitch Albom, Roy Blount Jr., Barbara Kingsolver, Robert Fulghum, Matt Groening, Tad Bartimus, Greg Iles, Aron Ralston

>6 mahsdad: Thanks, Jeff. The Rock Bottom Remainders were my inspiration for this theme.

I will be reading The Baritone Wore Chiffon by musician and mystery novelist Mark Schweizer. I hope this one is as laugh-out-loud funny as the first book in the series!

>4 m.belljackson:, >7 laytonwoman3rd: You prove my point....this is a really vast pool of talent. I have not heard of either of your selections.

>1 laytonwoman3rd: - Oh, I like this theme! I will have to dig deep on my shelves but I am sure I can find something. By the way, Joni Mitchell is also Canadian, just sayin'...;-)

>6 mahsdad: - I knew James McBride was a musician but didn't know abut that band.

Ok, I think I found one. I have, in my very high TBR tower, The Autobiography of Quincy Jones. I like him, he has led quite a life. I hope it reads well.

>10 jessibud2: Mmm....I know Joni is Canadian....didn't think I needed to mention it more than once. David Byrne was born in Scotland, as far as that goes, but he does have dual citizenship now.

I think I'll be reading Dylan's Chronicles Volume One, which has been on my shelf for some time.

I will put in a BIG plug for Bright's Passage by Josh Ritter, which is a wonderful novel about a soldier returned home from WWI. It was one of my top reads the year I read it (2011 or 2012)...

For a classical/jazz bent, I highly recommend a nonfiction book by novelist Haruki Murakami: Absolutely on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa. Murakami is a huge collector of classical and jazz recordings. He recorded conversations with his friend, conductor Seiji Ozawa. Their discussions range from recordings and performances to the nature of creativity and art.

I've never read any of Murakami's novels, but I really enjoyed this book. At one time, he also had excerpts of some of the discussed recordings on his website.

I started Mustaine awhile back so will take this opportunity to finish it. I would also be interested in Chronicles by Bob Dylan and my library has that one.

Lean on Pete is excellent - I think that Willy Vlautin has written about 6 novels now. His band is called Richmond Fontaine, I believe. I downloaded quite a bit of their music off eMusic but I've probably lost it through crashing ipods and computers a few years ago.

Val McDermid is quite talented musically, though I don't know if there are any proper recordings or footage of her doing a turn at crime fiction events.

>15 elkiedee: Oh, I didn't know about Val McDermid's musical talent. A friend just gave me one of her novels, and it will be a "first" for me.

>14 Kristelh: Thanks for the reference to Mustaine--my list was a little light on heavy metal!

>13 kac522: We have a copy of that Murakami/Ozawa book, although no one in the house has read it yet. I'm glad to have a strong recommendation for it. But neither of those artists are American.

And McDermid is Scottish, I believe?

>17 katiekrug: Right you are....if I'd read any of her stuff, I'd know that.

>17 katiekrug: and >18 laytonwoman3rd: Sorry, that is my fault, actually - I wasn't thinking about the "American authors" part of this. Though I think people from Latin America have questioned the use of "American" to apply exclusively to people in/from the US (apart from the Canadian question

>19 elkiedee: I'm more or less on board with including the whole North American continent in "American" for the purpose of this challenge, especially since I don't know of any specific Canadian or South American (or any of its component countries) reading challenges here.

I love Bob Dylan's Chronicles (I wish there was a volume 2), and Patti Smith's Just Kids. I love her M Train too.

Not sure what I'm going to read/reread yet.

>16 laytonwoman3rd: Duh...*smacks head*. It is a great book, though, and you'd think Ozawa would be an American citizen given that he's worked here since the 1960s.

>22 kac522: I actually thought he probably did have dual citizenship, at least...had to look him up to be sure. Apparently, Japan does not allow anyone to keep Japanese citizenship if they take on citizenship in another country. So I assume Ozawa wishes to remain a Japanese citizen.

I decided to read The Ten, Make That Nine, Habits of Very Organized People. Make That Ten.: The Tweets of Steve Martin for this challenge. At the beginning of the book, Steve Martin explains he started tweeting in hopes to find materials for his other works but it did not work out. While I found some of the tweets he used in the book funny, the overall impression is that the book leaves you with the desire for more.

I started Chronicles last night....loving it so far.

This seems like a good opportunity to read How Music Works which I've had on my bookshelf for too long.

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I've finished Chronicles. Overall, I'm not as impressed as so many reviewers seemed to be. It was an interesting read, but often Dylan's recollections seemed to mean a lot more to him than they could possibly mean to a reader in the random, somewhat cryptic way they were related. There is no time line, very few signposts to give you a clue as to when or even where some of the incidents took place. References to "my wife" never mention her name, so knowing which wife he was talking about at any given time would require research and correlation; some of those references seemed to have little or no bearing on the narrative in any case. At other times, however, he stunned me with his observations. His complete rejection of the labels people tried to stick to him---Spokesman of the Counterculture, Voice of the Folk Movement, Conscience of His Generation, even "protest singer"--- struck me as very poignant. He repeatedly made the point that all he wanted to do was write songs, be true to himself, and take care of his family. The best bits were his descriptions of other artists he admired, and he never says a bad word about anybody. Joan Baez had a "voice that drove out bad spirits". Robert Johnson's words "made my nerves quiver like piano wires." Harry Belafonte was "that rare type of character that radiates greatness, and you hope some of it rubs off on you." The closest he comes to criticizing anyone is when he mentions a producer or agent who didn't "get" what he was trying to do. I'm very glad I read this, but I'm not sure I can give it more than 3 stars. It did make me want to read Joe Klein's biography of Woody Guthrie, which has been on my shelves for a long time....so that's next.

I've started Dylan's Chronicles and am enjoying it so far. I've had it on the shelf a long time. Loved a lot of Dylan's music although I'm not sure I can ever believe whatever stories he may tell. I don't see either Steve Earle or Johnny or Rosanne Cash mentioned and they have books worth reading. Glad to see Josh Ritter's Bright's Passage mentioned. I half heartedly started (for about the third time) Neil Young's Waging Heavy Peace, even tho he is Canadian, but it seems to be better read piecemeal, like a couple chapters a year maybe, and more suited to fans who really know a lot about him.

I like that the Dylan book opens with him meeting Jack Dempsey at his New York restaurant in 1961. I have several photos of my great Uncle Chris there in June 1960 as well as an autographed copy of Dempsey's book signed that day. Too bad Dempsey didn't become a singer ...

>29 RBeffa: I keep meaning to add Rosanne Cash to the list. Her collection of short stories Bodies of Water, impressed me a lot, and I seem to have posted the only review of it on LT. I haven't read her memoir, but her commentary in Ken Burns's "Country Music" series was marvelous. I haven't read any of Johnny's stuff, except his novel about the apostle Paul...can't recommend that one. Sholem Asch he was not.

>28 laytonwoman3rd: I still have a ways to go but I am having a very similar reaction to Dylan's Chronicles. I think my reaction overall is more positive, but we'll see how it goes. The bouncing all around is a little strange as well as trying to figure out what year he is talking about in his career - with a chapter title like New Morning you would think he was there but he hadn't even gotten to Nashville Skyline yet as we find out. I have to think he is being intentionally, oh what word do i want, not obtuse, sort of intentionally vague about things to keep the reader off balance. When he says he threw a lot of stuff at the wall for what was a double album is he talking about Blonde on Blonde or self portrait or what. He'll throw that at you and then run off on another stream. He has some very interesting observations about stuff outside of his music. The whole section on him and Archibald MacLeish I found pretty intriguing. I find it hard to believe his protestations that he never wanted to be a protest singer and was wrongly called the voice of his generations etc etc. I have to think his thinking there was strongly a reaction to the madness he describes surrounding everyone intruding on his personal life. Anyway, I'm very glad to be reading this and with the way he jumps around I feel no loss by setting it aside here and there and doing something else. I have a large sense of skepticism of an unreliable narrator, certainly, and wonder at what he used as source material for some of his remembrances.

I'm inclined to star this somewhere near 3 1/2+ stars so far. I have some library books I need to work on so I am not sure when I will finish up.

I am really glad I finally got the little nudge to read this. For those who are more interested in the stuff of the first chapter and all the peeps, I can strongly recommend Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina and Richard Farina by David Hajdu. Having read that some years ago helped.

>31 RBeffa: I agree with every bit of that, Ron. Intentionally or not, the narrative has a definite "Rainy Day Women" vibe to it.

>31 RBeffa: - Positively 4th Street sounds great. I've made a note of it, thanks!

>33 jessibud2: It is a very good book on the New York and California folk scene in the early 60's. I hope you enjoy it.

In regards to Dylan's Chronicles I expect to finish it off later today. I've had my mild enthusiasm diminished and this is feeling much more like an OK 3 star read. I'll try and write up a bit more of a review tonight or tomorrow and probably just put it on my own page.

I think there are some suggestions in this promotion that haven't come up on the thread yet.

I will also mention that the Library of America has published two volumes of the writings of Virgil Thomson, composer, organist and music critic.

In case anybody might still be looking for a selection for this month, y'know.

I will probably look at Patti Smith, Linda.

I do like the idea of including Canada in the options as Mitchell and Leonard Cohen especially have plenty of written material to go at. It does say American Author Challenge and not US Author Challenge.

I have no problem including Canada in this challenge, Paul. I'm less sure how Canadians feel about being called "American"!

There is a new memoir, Crying in H Mart, by musician Michelle Zauner that is getting a lot of good press.

Two of my favorite song-to-picture book adaptations are Mooses Come Walking by Arlo Guthrie and Puff the Magic Dragon.

>36 PaulCranswick:, >37 laytonwoman3rd:. Thanks for that input, you two. I originally said I would read Quincy Jones's memoir, then changed my mind to switch to a memoir by Dan Hill, a Canadian singer songwriter. I was about 3 chapters or more in before it dawned on me that this was the *American* challenge so I switched back to Quincy. And then, last week, about 4 library books landed all at once, and three more are waiting for me so I paused altogether. I still will read both but I am not likely to finish before the end of this month.

Yeah, mostly we make a big deal of separating ourselves from Americans when it suits us. My dad was American so I'm good either way. ;-)

>38 megbmore: I need to check out those picture books.
>39 jessibud2: I think the possibility of including Canadians in this theme came up when I was making the list. I try only to suggest....never to dictate. If you're comfortable, it's all good.

I found my copy of Lean on Pete, and I may just temporarily set aside the Klein biography of Woody Guthrie (not that it isn't good, but it's one of those large format paperbacks, and Klein left NOTHING out, so it's taking an age to get through it) and see if I can finish the novel before May comes in.

Linda, I'm reading Lean on Pete now. It's pretty short and straightforward prose, so I'm sure you can finish it before the end of the month. I'm enjoying it.

>42 katiekrug: I picked it up when I went to bed last night, and read 50 pages before I turned out the light. Read another 40 before I got out of bed this morning!

>43 laytonwoman3rd: - I just finished it this morning! Ooof - what a read.

I finished Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir by Dave Mustaine. Why did I choose this one. Well I had started in August of 2020 and did not get it finished before it had to go back to the library. This was a good opportunity to finish it. Why did I read a book by a trash metal artist? Because this is my son's favorite musician and this will help me to understand why he likes this band so much. I also share a birthday month and day with Dave Mustaine. What I learned; in the beginning of Megadeth, a couple of band members were from Minnesota (my state). I learned a lot about Mustaine and is fight with drug addictions and there is really nothing new in that story. The conclusion to the addiction is that Mustaine became a Christian. He shares his testimony but it is not what you might expect. He doesn't try to change his life much, he just accepts God and Jesus is his savior. He still swears. He still has a glass of wine now and then. Mustaine was surprised at first that his music was called political but it is and he did come to accept that fact. So that his how I came to read a heavy metal memoir when I don't even like heavy metal. Some of the lyrics are really worth reading.

>44 katiekrug: Ooof is right, Katie. I finished it Saturday, but have been pre-occupied with other stuff since. I'll try to get a review up tomorrow.

I read Brandi Carlile's new memoir this month and enjoyed it very much. I recommend it. Also, if you don't know Brandi Carlile, ooo check her out.

Link to my review at my thread.
Brandi Carlile covering "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain". My favorite performance of this song.
Performing at the Grammys. She talks about the performance in the memoir and watching this after reading that was amazing.
Briefly discussing becoming a mother and then singing her song "Mother".

>47 lycomayflower: Well, thanks for THAT rabbit hole...
Brandi and Dolly. It doesn't get any better.

And now, for something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT...
Mary McCarthy's thread is up.