The Who was an unusual band in that, for a time, its singer was considered its most disposable part. While on tour in 1965, Roger Daltrey, angry afterThe Who was an unusual band in that, for a time, its singer was considered its most disposable part. While on tour in 1965, Roger Daltrey, angry after a poor performance, flushed drummer Keith Moon's drugs down a toilet. Punches were thrown. When the band returned home, it was Daltrey who was told to leave. He was invited back after the Who did a few shows without him.
I liked this book more than I thought I would. At 231 pages, it's an easy read鈥攁nd a good companion to Pete Townshend's memoir, which came out in 2012. In his book, Townshend describes his frustration with trying to communicate his high concepts to the band; discussing his aborted Lifehouse project felt like "trying to explain atomic energy to a group of cavemen." Daltrey, for his part, faults Townshend for not being able to articulate his vision. "[T]alking to Pete could be like walking through a minefield wearing a pair of clown shoes. And a blindfold."
It was amusing to read about lesser known parts of the Who's history, such as when Daltrey set out to perform Townshend's songs at Carnegie Hall with an orchestra. A DVD deal covered the costs, but the producers insisted that Townshend appear at the show. John Entwistle, the Who's bass player, also participated; Daltrey asked him to perform a quieter song with the Chieftans, the Irish folk band, partly as payback for all the times Entwistle had cranked the volume on his bass. Alas, the show was not well received. Daltrey laments that the orchestra played too fast, following the baton of a conductor high on cocaine....more
I read this book after reading the recent The New York Times article about Renn, who has come up with a Gladwell/Friedman鈥搕ype explanation that we havI read this book after reading the recent The New York Times article about Renn, who has come up with a Gladwell/Friedman鈥搕ype explanation that we have entered a era of American life in which Christianity is now disfavored.
The cultural analysis is thin. Renn was clearly irritated by the brief era of corporate social justice. "Virtually all major corporations in America today have aggressively centered their firms around secular progressive ideologies," he writes in one of several passages that feel out of date. Renn lacks a sense of proportion. In a section about the decline in trust in institutions, he equates Barack Obama's shift on gay marriage with the lies that led the U.S. to invade Iraq, an outrageous parallel to draw. The discussions of Trump just skim the surface.
So I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone trying to understand evangelical Christianity as a political and cultural force. The parts of the book that suggest strategies for evangelicals to adapt to the "negative world" are more successful. But as a non-churchgoer, I am not the audience for that message....more
It's impressive that a book written several months ago draws a contrast between Elon Musk and Volodymyr Zelensky, two men very much in the news. (HayeIt's impressive that a book written several months ago draws a contrast between Elon Musk and Volodymyr Zelensky, two men very much in the news. (Hayes notes that Zelensky uses his ability to grab and hold attention to obtain the resources he needs to fight a war. Musk, a "black hole of negative charisma," worked in the opposite direction, spending billions to be Twitter's main character.) A nice surprise in a book that's largely about our phones' ability to seize our attention us is the discussion of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. To Hayes, the most important aspect of the debates "was the attention both men placed exclusively on the question of slavery." Hayes says the rules and norms of political debate that existed then have collapsed, first under the weight of television, then the smart phone. "The age we're living through is akin to life in a failed state, a society that had some governing regime that has disintegrated and fallen into a kind of attentional warlordism."...more
This Pulitzer winner had been sitting on the bookshelf for years. I'm glad I pulled it down. Stiles is a fine writer, with a gift for avoiding clunky This Pulitzer winner had been sitting on the bookshelf for years. I'm glad I pulled it down. Stiles is a fine writer, with a gift for avoiding clunky sentences. The book is a mostly sympathetic portrait of Vanderbilt, a tough, self-made man who made a fortune in steamships before becoming king of the railroads. The sweep of his life was enormous. As a teenager, he was ferrying passengers between Manhattan and State Island for a shilling when the War of 1812 broke out. By the end, he had helped lay the foundation for the modern corporate economy we know today....more
In my review of a previous book about the right-wing politics of the 1990s, I said I wished it had the sweep of a Rick Perlstein book. Well, here is tIn my review of a previous book about the right-wing politics of the 1990s, I said I wished it had the sweep of a Rick Perlstein book. Well, here is that book. ...more
Late in the book Zinn quotes H.L. Mencken: 鈥淭he whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed by menacing it with an endless series Late in the book Zinn quotes H.L. Mencken: 鈥淭he whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of the imaginary.鈥� True in the 1920s, true in the 2020s.
Another sentence with relevance for today: 鈥淸W]ars, especially in our time, are always wars against children...鈥�...more
I like '80s Bruce more than jump-on-the-piano-and-play-all-night '70s Bruce, so this book was right up my alley. I especially liked the chapter Hyden I like '80s Bruce more than jump-on-the-piano-and-play-all-night '70s Bruce, so this book was right up my alley. I especially liked the chapter Hyden where makes sense of the "darkest and most introspective era" of Springsteen's career, the period in which he wrote and recorded the songs for Nebraska and Born in the U.S.A. Hyden argues that the un-commercial Nebraska and hugely popular Born in the U.S.A. aren't as different as they may seem. He notes, for instance, that "State Trooper," the bleakest Nebraska cut, features a synthesizer part.
"As Michael Jackson was busy creating a spectacular template for big-time eighties music, Bruce was holed up in his garage and focusing his attention on a bunch of strange bedroom pop tunes. He wrote rickety rockabilly rockers and jangly, hollowed-out ballads. And then he recorded himself strumming an acoustic guitar against a repetitive, metronomic beat, a musical base he later accentuated with chintzy, alien keyboard sounds.
"I think of it as Bruce having his own Basement Tapes period, only he was making the music all by himself."
"Childhood was the germ of all mistrust. You were cruelly joked upon and then you cruelly joked. You lost the remembrance of pain through inflicting i"Childhood was the germ of all mistrust. You were cruelly joked upon and then you cruelly joked. You lost the remembrance of pain through inflicting it."
鈥淭ime gives poetry to a battlefield."
鈥淸T]o each man a city consists of no more than a few streets, a few houses, a few people. Remove those few and a city exists no longer except as a pain in the memory, like a pain of an amputated leg no longer there."...more
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