On paper Steve Katzrsquo;s career rivals anyonersquo;s except the 1960srsquo; and rsquo;70rsquo;s biggest stars: the Monterey Pop Festival with the legendary Blues Project; Woodstock with Blood; Sweat Tears; and even producing rockrsquo;s most celebrated speed addict; Lou Reed. There were world tours; and his reacute;sumeacute; screams ldquo;Hall of Famerdquo; mdash; it wonrsquo;t be long before BST are on that ballot. He has three Grammies (ten nominations); three Downbeat Readerrsquo;s Poll Awards; three gold records; one platinum record; and one quadruple platinum platter (the second Blood; Sweat Tears album); not to mention three gold singles with BST. All together; hersquo;s sold close to 29 million records. He had affairs with famous female folk singers; made love to Jim Morrisonrsquo;s girlfriend Pam when Jim was drunk and abusive; partied with Elizabeth Taylor and Groucho Marx; dined with Rudolf Nureyev; conversed with Martin Luther King; Jr. and Tennessee Williams; hung out with Andy Warhol; jammed with everyone from Mose Allison to Jimi Hendrix; and was told to get a haircut by both Mickey Spillane and Danny Thomas. But his memoir is more Portnoyrsquo;s Complaint than the lurid party-with-your-pants-down memoir that has become the norm for rock rsquo;nrsquo; roll books. Itrsquo;s an honest and personal account of a life at the edge of the spotlightmdash;a privileged vantage point that earned him a bit more objectivity and earnest outrage than a lot of his colleagues; who were too far into the scene to lay any honest witness to it. Set during the Greenwich Village folk/rock scene; the Sixtiesrsquo; most celebrated venues and concerts; and behind closed doors on international tours and grueling studio sessions; this is the unlikely story of a rock star as nerd; nerd as rock star; a nice Jewish boy who got to sit at the cool kidrsquo;s table and score the hot chicks.
#784746 in eBooks 2015-06-29 2015-06-29File Name: B00X5Q0U60
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A cross-cultural studyBy J. A. WalkerThis book considers the impact that the fine arts and mass culture of the United States had in Britain afer World War Two. Those influenced included British artists; art students and critics (including the author of the book when he was an art student). Its a fascinating social and cultural history. It is also an account of Americas Cold War cultural offensive and the role played by American artists living in Britain (such as Kitaj). It documents the variegated responses of British artists to postwar America and its art; criticism and mass media. Their reactions ranged from Americanism - enthusiasm and compliance - to Anti-Americanism - criticism and resistance. Covering significant art movements such as Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art; the author digests information from hundreds of published sources and interviews to paint a vivid picture of a crucial period in British culture. Many of the critics; painters and sculptors featured - Lawrence Alloway; Peter Blake; Reyner Banham; Anthony Caro; Clement Greenberg; David Hockney; Richard Hamilton; R.B. Kitaj; John Latham; Claes Oldenburg; Eduardo Paolozzi; Herbert Read; Bridget Riley; Larry Rivers - are now internationally famous. The study is brought up to date with an overview of the decline in American influence during in the 1980s and 1990s and the rise of Brit Art. Walker is a scholar; an academic but he writes in a lively; accessible way. This book is well illustrated (but no colour unfortunately) and should be of interest on both sides of the Atlantic.
