Moon Unit Zappa’s memoir, a bio of musical outsider Harry Smith and a collection of rock critic Dave Marsh‘s writing are all I need to get me through the week. As always, your mileage may vary — which is why there are a few other titles in this roundup. Read all about ’em:
Earth to Moon: A Memoir
By Moon Unit Zappa
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “From Moon Unit Zappa, the daughter of musical visionary Frank Zappa, comes a memoir of growing up in her unconventional household in 1970s Los Angeles, coming of age in the Hollywood Hills in the 1980s as the “Valley Girl,” gaining momentum as an accidental VJ on a new network called MTV, and finding herself after losing her father, then her mother, and the testing of her most important relationships. How can you navigate life as the “normal” child of an extraordinary creative? What is it like to live in a hothouse of individuality that on one hand fosters freedom of expression, and on the other tamps down the basic desires of a child for boundaries and affection? For Moon Unit Zappa, processing a life so punctuated by the whims of genius, the tastes of popular culture, the calculus of celebrity, and the nature of love, was at times eviscerating, at times illuminating — but mostly deeply confusing. Moon and her siblings were a source of constant curiosity, for their unique names and for their father’s reputation as a musical savant, even though he was never a commercial success. Searching for her own path, first as her father’s inadvertent collaborator and public sidekick with their surprise radio hit, then as an actress, an artist, a spiritual person, a wife and mother, Moon Unit calculates ever-changing equations of fame, family, death and ultimately legacy when dealt the shocking news that Gail’s will established an unequal distribution among the couple’s children, catalyzing a quest for meaning and redemption.”
Cosmic Scholar: The Life and Times of Harry Smith
By John Szwed
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Grammy–winning music scholar and celebrated biographer John Szwed presents the first biography of Harry Smith, the brilliant eccentric who transformed 20th-century art and culture. He was an anthropologist, filmmaker, painter, folklorist, mystic, and walking encyclopedia. He taught Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe about the occult, swapped drugs with Timothy Leary, had a front-row seat to a young Thelonious Monk, lived with (and tortured) Allen Ginsberg, was admired by Susan Sontag, and was one of the first artists funded by Guggenheim Foundation. He was always broke, generally intoxicated, compulsively irascible, and unimpeachably authentic. Smith was, in the words of Robert Frank, “the only person I met in my life that transcended everything.” From his time recording the customs of Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest and Florida to his life in Greenwich Village in its heyday, Smith was consumed by an unceasing desire to create a unified theory of culture. He was an insatiable creator and collector, responsible for the influential Anthology of American Folk Music and several pioneering experimental films, but was also an insufferable and destructive eccentric who was unable to survive in regular society, or keep himself healthy or sober. Exhaustively researched, energetically told, and complete with a trove of images, Cosmic Scholar is a feat of biographical restoration and the long overdue canonization of an American icon.”
Kick Out the Jams: Jibes, Barbs, Tributes, And Rallying Cries From 35 Years Of Music Writing
By Dave Marsh
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Spanning three decades worth of astute, acerbic, and overall astounding music writing, Kick Out the Jams is the first large-scale anthology of the work of renowned critic Dave Marsh. Ranging from Elvis Presley to Kurt Cobain, from Nina Simone to Ani DiFranco, from The Beatles to Green Day, the book gives an opinionated, eye-opening overview of 20th-century popular music — offering a portrait not just of an era but of a writer wrestling with the American empire. Every essay bears the distinct Marsh attitude and voice. That passion is evident in a heart-wrenching piece on Cobain’s suicide and legacy; a humorous attack on “Bono’s bullshit;” an indignant look at James Brown’s treatment by the FBI; deep, revelatory probes into the work of underappreciated artists like Patty Griffin and Alejandro Escovedo; and inspiring insight into what drives Marsh as a writer, namely “a raging passion to explain things in the hope that others would not be trapped and to keep the way clear so that others from the trashy outskirts of barbarous America still had a place to stand — if not in the culture at large, at least in rock ’n’ roll.”
Sight Readings: Photographers and American Jazz, 1900-1960
By Alan John Ainsworth
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In this book, Alan John Ainsworth considers the work of a range of American jazz photographers from the turn of the 20th century through the Jazz Age and into the 1960s. Drawing on extensive archival research, Ainsworth examines jazz as a visual subject, explores its attraction to different types of photographers, and analyzes why and how they approached the subject in the ways they did. While some of the photographers are widely recognized today, the volume also explores lesser-known figures of the period — including African American photojournalists, studio photographers and Jewish exiles of the 1930s — whose contributions are often overlooked. Informed by ideas from contemporary photographic theory and with a foreword by Darius Brubeck, Sight Readings is a wide-ranging, eye-opening new look at jazz photography and the people behind it.”
The Sound of Seattle: 101 Songs That Shaped A City
By Eva Walker & Jacob Uitti
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “This rockin’ paperback explores the musical evolution of Seattle through the lens of 101 songs spanning 80 years, examining the most prominent and important music and musicians to come out of our corner of the country, with a foreword by Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready. DJ and musician Eva Walker and music writer Jake Uitti take readers on a musical journey, exploring the songs and artists instrumental to developing the “Seattle sound.” The authors have curated the ultimate playlist for the Emerald City. It all begins in 1942 when Washington-born Bing Crosby records what will become the world’s bestselling single of all time, White Christmas. From there, readers will delight in a sensory trip through jazz, rock, punk, riot grrrl, pop, rap, grunge, indie, emo, and more, deepening their knowledge and love of the songs that shaped Seattle, and in the process, each of us. Both a love letter and love song to the city, The Sound of Seattle is a visual guide organized by decade, with seminal songs profiled and paired with inventive design reminiscent of a favorite zine or concert poster. Includes interviews with Seattle artists like Heart‘s Nancy Wilson, as well as sidebars showcasing musical landmarks throughout the city. How has the Emerald City’s musical output changed and evolved? What is the connective tissue between Ray Charles, Quincy Jones and Kenny G? Between Melvins, Sleater-Kinney and Foo Fighters? Between Sir Mix-a-Lot, Macklemore and Travis Thompson? Get ready to find out.”
