Will's book

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Re: Will's book

Postby neil_jung » Wed Jul 21, 2021 6:47 am

Voodoo Billy wrote:"Jennifer Otter Bickerdike is a media and music academic" :lol: Mon dieu, sounds a bit pretentious to moi.


for playboy...
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Re: Will's book

Postby fat cherry » Wed Jul 28, 2021 4:46 pm

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Re: Will's book

Postby Mr. Brian » Sat Jul 31, 2021 5:00 pm

I was reading a Kindle book on The Alamo from the library that I couldn't renew and Wills book came in the mail a few days ago. I really wanted to finish that Alamo book before it got returned! I’m a history nerd. Damn I guess I’m officially old. I’ll start Will’s book this week. Glad to see all the accolades in the press and such.
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Re: Will's book

Postby fat cherry » Sun Aug 01, 2021 12:45 pm

It'll wait, lol. On the other hand my mum used to have several books on the go at any one time. No idea how she did that, I'm a one at a time bloke.
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Re: Will's book

Postby neil_jung » Wed Aug 04, 2021 4:40 am

i read my library's copy. you can tell why mac was the singer, the book lacks personality and charisma. the few highlights were seeing joy division for the first time, meeting mac (macul) in his transparent plastic sandals, the first gig, how they got the name (julian cope introduced them as thus by choosing the least ridiculous name from a list he'd been given). the book ends with them being told they need a drummer to sign for a label (after Zoo, that is)

in my opinion, not worth reading unless you are interested in a boring recitation of music listened to and conversations along the lines of...

alright, lad
alright
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Re: Will's book

Postby Mr. Brian » Wed Aug 04, 2021 7:26 am

neil_jung wrote:
in my opinion, not worth reading unless you are interested in a boring recitation of music listened to and conversations along the lines of...

alright, lad
alright


I disagree. I like learning about the origin of things, so I like reading history. I'm only into the first few chapters of Will's childhood and his recollections of those dismal yet carefree post-WWII Britain days. I had no idea that he grew up so poor with an absentee father in such a class-based system. When the father was around it was total physical and psychological fear. I can practically smell the musty piss-stained clothes when I read the stories. Then the parents who showed no emotion toward the kids or each other. This had to have shaped his personality and approach to life and I am enjoying the insight.
I found some of it dryly and darkly humorous, such as the story of the kid who murdered his parents with a hammer and stole their credit cards in 2004 in the house across from his school. His remark was that this would never have happened when he was growing up. They didn't know what a credit card was.
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Re: Will's book

Postby Voodoo Billy » Wed Aug 04, 2021 1:43 pm

Mr. Brian wrote:
neil_jung wrote:
in my opinion, not worth reading unless you are interested in a boring recitation of music listened to and conversations along the lines of...

alright, lad
alright


I disagree. I like learning about the origin of things, so I like reading history. I'm only into the first few chapters of Will's childhood and his recollections of those dismal yet carefree post-WWII Britain days. I had no idea that he grew up so poor with an absentee father in such a class-based system. When the father was around it was total physical and psychological fear. I can practically smell the musty piss-stained clothes when I read the stories. Then the parents who showed no emotion toward the kids or each other. This had to have shaped his personality and approach to life and I am enjoying the insight.
I found some of it dryly and darkly humorous, such as the story of the kid who murdered his parents with a hammer and stole their credit cards in 2004 in the house across from his school. His remark was that this would never have happened when he was growing up. They didn't know what a credit card was.


I have to agree boss. Most rock star stories are boring as fuck, people's everyday lives are much more interesting. I'm really enjoying the way he writes, never taking himself too seriously and much more entertaining as a result. I hope he's already working on the second volume. A fabulous read.
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Re: Will's book

Postby fat cherry » Thu Aug 05, 2021 8:58 am

neil_jung wrote:i read my library's copy. you can tell why mac was the singer, the book lacks personality and charisma. the few highlights were seeing joy division for the first time, meeting mac (macul) in his transparent plastic sandals, the first gig, how they got the name (julian cope introduced them as thus by choosing the least ridiculous name from a list he'd been given). the book ends with them being told they need a drummer to sign for a label (after Zoo, that is)

in my opinion, not worth reading unless you are interested in a boring recitation of music listened to and conversations along the lines of...


wide of the mark I'd say - but each to his own. I've said before the danger is that all the preamble can be dead dull - I've read morrissey's book, costellos and loads of other and you're thinking, gawd, get on with it. But this was quite good.| I've read the stuff about meeting mac/erics/terdroips in loads of other books and there's not many surpises to be had in that but a few little poits here and there that's different, and as they say above (in this thread that is) the kind of deadpan telling of it is kinfd of chilling and funny - sometimes at the same time. Trouble with the 'mac's the wordsmith' p[oint of view is, Mac's famously not finished writing his book several years on has he?
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Re: Will's book

Postby Kounelaki » Thu Aug 05, 2021 1:52 pm

Thanks for the reviews VTers.

Mr. Brian wrote: I'm only into the first few chapters of Will's childhood and his recollections of those dismal yet carefree post-WWII Britain days. I had no idea that he grew up so poor with an absentee father in such a class-based system. When the father was around it was total physical and psychological fear. I can practically smell the musty piss-stained clothes when I read the stories. Then the parents who showed no emotion toward the kids or each other. This had to have shaped his personality and approach to life and I am enjoying the insight.


Might be worth tracking down Terence Davies' Distant Voices, Still Lives starring the late Pete Postlethwaite as a brutal father.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distant_Voices,_Still_Lives
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Re: Will's book

Postby neil_jung » Fri Aug 06, 2021 3:27 pm

fat cherry wrote:
wide of the mark I'd say - but each to his own. I've said before the danger is that all the preamble can be dead dull - I've read morrissey's book, costellos and loads of other and you're thinking, gawd, get on with it. But this was quite good.?



you were expecting morrissey to be interesting?! :razz: there's a chasm (or is that chasm?) between the word interesting and him!

i guess it depends what you are comparing it to. the last biography i read was one of fermi the physicist, one of the leads of the manhatten project, and he was a singular man, living in a timer when italy slowly went over to fascism, fleeing to the US, working on the bomb etc., and he was fascinating and the other people (the likes of einstien, bohr et al) were very interesting people in a time when the world was in geat flux, or walter issacsons' bio of da vinci, so poor he had to teach himself to read etc.

these i could not put down, will's, i didn't find him interesting nor anything prior to the bunnies. maybe volume two will be better?

in terms of mac's book, last i read he was writing pages then crying and throwing them in the bin. i'd say there are more issues than writing going on there!
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Re: Will's book

Postby fat cherry » Sat Aug 07, 2021 6:40 am

neil_jung wrote:you were expecting morrissey to be interesting?! :razz: there's a chasm (or is that chasm?) between the word interesting and him!


see what you did there! You're not him are you? that would make me smile. I think you have to start with an open mind, lol. Read loads and you never know what you are going to get. Song writers are often the worst. Townshend is whiney and judgemental (and maybe I should have seen that one coming) particularly of other people whho have addiction issues. Costello writes loads and says little. Marr is a tosser - he admits he didn't understand how the music industry worked but still maintains 'the drummer' was wrong in asking what was due and in his speech accepting his honorary doctorate (or whatever) praises the likes of Andrew Oldham 'as a maverick' but fails to mention how he ripped off the stones, sold their contract to klein etc etc.


i guess it depends what you are comparing it to. the last biography i read was one of fermi the physicist, one of the leads of the manhatten project, and he was a singular man, living in a timer when italy slowly went over to fascism, fleeing to the US, working on the bomb etc., and he was fascinating and the other people (the likes of einstien, bohr et al) were very interesting people in a time when the world was in geat flux, or walter issacsons' bio of da vinci, so poor he had to teach himself to read etc.
[/quote]

But was that written by a professional writer - and not a guitar player? :-) I kind of connected with Will a bit over where he grew up - council estate and all that - all the gang culture stuff, and although I got on well at school that made me a bit of a marked man to the nobheads. And in his case I think it explains the mr grumpy persona we all know and love.

If you're into the sciencey stuff theres a book called 'Cathedrals of Science' by Patrick Coffey about chemists from Arrhenius onwards, though the character who comes up most is Gilbert N Lewis (of Lewis acids and covalent bonds 'fame'), and about th enobel prize malarky - I know... it sounds dreadful but all against the background of the stuff you mention. I've also read loads of (the great oxymoron) popular sci9ence and get bored easily, but that was a good one.

Well the day passes and here I am writing on the internert..........
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Re: Will's book

Postby fat cherry » Sat Aug 07, 2021 6:43 am

fat cherry wrote: Townshend is whiney.......


and his novel 'the age of anxiety' is one of the worst books I've ever read. It starts with a 'rock star' who is in a film flying a hang glider off a cliff, and disappearing ....., after that its hard to get the novelist writing about himself out of your head. In my opinion obviously.

Dogs going bonkers now, must be walkies time.
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Re: Will's book

Postby neil_jung » Sat Aug 07, 2021 8:09 am

fat cherry wrote:
But was that written by a professional writer - and not a guitar player? :-)

If you're into the sciencey stuff theres a book called 'Cathedrals of Science' by Patrick Coffey



i don't think who wrote it is that important, i read jamie vardy's autobiography which was ghost written and, even through it was badly written, it was interesting. i tried reading a biography of pep guardialoa, written by a professional writer, and the writing was so bad that it made pep seem utterly unreadable.

books by the likes of michael lewis (the big short, liar's poker etc.) are only good if the people (real) he writes about are interesting. the last two of his books have been about not that interesting people and weren't worth reading.


thank you, i have heard of it but never read. i'll check my lie, barry
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Re: Will's book

Postby Mr. Brian » Fri Aug 13, 2021 1:29 pm

I love this book. Very funny and insightful. I'm a slow reader and typically only read on my lunch break. I'm about 3/4 through. I just got to the part where he start hanging out with Mac, or Macul as he was known back then.

So apparently despite the fact that he is about 6 years older than me and English, Will and I seem to have a musical background in common.
Shy Zeppelin and prog rock fans in our teen days who got into punk rock and new wave later and hung around that scene.
Started playing guitar just to be part of anything and make friends.
Not going to be a Jimmy Page or a Steve Howe so stuck with rhythm mainly.
That's where it ends.
I still play but I was never in a band that even remotely successful even at a local level.
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Re: Will's book

Postby The Monro » Mon Aug 16, 2021 3:33 pm

If anyone lives in that there London, he’s doing another ‘Evening With…' to promote the book in Walthamstow on 07.10.21:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bunnyman ... keep_tld=1

Half the tickets have already been sold even though they only went on sale a few hours ago.
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