interrobang (‽)

For U.S. bands, the traditional way they would know they had ‘made it’ was when they were featured on the cover of Rolling Stone (witness Cover of the Rolling Stone, by Dr. Hook - yes, I’m embarrassed I know it, too…). For UK bands, it was when they performed on the now defunct Top Of The Pops. For me, I always thought that the pinnacle of achievement was getting a book published. Or, more specifically, getting a real book with an actual ISBN published. Many years ago, I worked on the Torchum Never Stops books, but these were self-published [by […]

Much as I dislike air travel (now that the ‘improved’ security measures have made it such a miserable, demeaning experience), the long intercontinental flights do have one advantage: I get to read for eight hours straight. 
On a recent trip back to Blightly, I finally finished reading Steven Thomas Friedmann’s The World Is Flat Release 2.0 (that’s “Second Edition” to the incognoscenti). This was recommended to me by a colleague, and although I usually eschew such advice or end up regretting not doing so, this one was actually a pretty good read.  The book is basically a treatise on the globalization of everything - especially […]

After seeing The Road to Psychedelia at the Black Angels gig, I felt compelled to dig into Janis Joplin a bit more.  So I ripped my wife’s 3-CD boxed set Janis onto my iPod, and dusted off my copy of Myra Friedman’s book Buried Alive.  I’d bought the book almost ten years ago during a spending spree at Tower Books (which also netted me Saucerful of Secrets: The Pink Floyd Odyssey, and U2: The Unforgettable Fire, both of which also remain unread) so it was probably a little overdue.
Friedman worked for Janis’s record company (Columbia Records) as Janis’s publicity agent.  She spent a […]

I just finished reading Danny Sugarman’s biography of Jim Morrisson, No-One Here Gets Out Alive.  It’s quite a few years old, but Jim’s been dead since before the book was written (even so, this is the second edition), so I reasoned that I probably wasn’t missing much.
I enjoy reading biographies and autobiographies of the artists I like - I find it gives me a better insight into their work, and I enjoy the music more as a result.  But with this book, although I still enjoyed reading it, I wish I hadn’t read it at all, because I came away […]

I swore I’d never do this, but I’ve been suckered into reading ‘management’ self-improvement books.  Last week I saw a copy of the ubiquitous Who Moved My Cheese? on a colleague’s desk, and scoffed at the ‘wacky’ title.  “Well, have you read it?” he asked.  Um, no.  “Well, it’s about managing change.  As you’re in Change Management, maybe you should give it a go.”  Never one to resist a ‘challenge’ I borrowed the book and dutifully read it. 
And it’s alright… It doesn’t offer any great insights or points of view (how could it in a mere 100 pages of wide-spaced, large type?), but its […]