High school junior Pete has always been a straight arrow. He’s a smokin’ bass player, but he likes the notes to stay on the page, and no improvising, please. Pete believes that control and precision are what define “good” music. Until he joins up with the Carlisle brothers and their band, The Tiny Masters of Today. Billy Carlisle is a complete improvised terror on the mic, and he and Pete are constantly at each other’s throats. But somehow, someway, the music they make is amazing, even if it never is quite the same song twice. As their local reputation grows, the guys find themselves being hailed as bona fide rock stars, complete with hot girl groupies and record deals in the making. But can Pete handle school, his growing relationship with his quirky girlfriend, Margaret, and being in one of the coolest garage bands in Portland? This book is not for you if you loved Rachel Cohn’s Pop Princess, or Meg Cabot’s Teen Idol, or are glued to the TV set when Simon Cowell speaks. This book is for those who dig bands like The White Stripes, Pearl Jam, Nirvana or even the old school G & R (before Axl got all Botoxed) and wonder what it was like for those guys when they were first getting started. I have a feeling that it was a little like this perfect gem of a book. All music aside, this is also one of the finest books I’ve ever read about the development of a romantic teen relationship (between Pete and Margaret) that depicts it like it really is. This book rocks, HARD!
Month: May 2007
The Exes by Pagan Kennedy
It would be bad enough having to see your ex-girlfriend or boyfriend everyday at school or work. But what if you were in a band with your ex? And you were getting too successful to leave it, even though it was starting to drive you crazy seeing him or her all the time? That’s the story, morning glory, behind Pagan Kennedy’s band book The Exes. Walt is still crushing on Shaz, Shaz is pretty sure she’s into girls, and Hank and Lilly are trying to find a way to still get their fix off each other without Lilly’s boyfriend Dieter finding out. Can the four of them deal with all the behind-the-scenes emotions AND rock Boston? The ending may leave you to draw your own conclusions about where this indie group is going to end up, but as usual, Pagan Kennedy, with her wide knowledge of pop culture, does not disappoint.
Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys by Francesca Lia Block
Cherokee sings and plays the tambourine. Witch Baby is on the drums. Raphael is lead guitar and Angel Juan keeps time on the bass. Together, they are the Goat Guys, and their band is just as mystical and magical as you would expect any creation of Francesca Lia Block’s to be. The trouble starts when Raphael gets serious stage fright and can’t keep it together for their first public performance. So, Cherokee goes to Coyote and gets a pair of magic goat pants that makes Raphael’s stage fright disappear. But with his new found confidence, Raphael starts buggin’ out on a power trip and even though the band is doing great, Cherokee is worried that they may start destroying themselves from within. Can she get Coyote to take back the power before it’s too late? A short and completely fantastical band book that pushes the bounds of reality.
Chartbreaker by Gillian Cross
This is the story of Janis Mary Finch, or just Finch, thank you very much. Finch is grateful to her band, Kelp, for helping her escape her dreary existence as Janis Mary, big boned boring high school student. But she is finding out that assuming the role of Finch, young British rock star on the edge, comes with a whole new set of problems that the old Janis Mary couldn’t even being to imagine, starting with the crazy love/hate relationship she has with Kelp’s lead singer, Christie. Through all the touring, recording, and performing, Finch wonders if it’s all worth it if she can’t have Christie, and in the last climatic scene in the novel, you’ll find out if Finch is a hard-core rock and roll goddess or just a soft-hearted teeny-bopper after all. A band-tastic book that’s set in London, so you get a taste of that great English slang and beat.
Orfe by Cynthia Voigt
Enny and Orfe have been tight ever since Orfe purposely projectile-vomited on Enny’s elementary school tormentors. Now, they’re in college and Orfe wants Enny to manage her new band. No problem — except Orfe is hung up on Yuri, this druggie fresh out of re-hab, and while the music’s always right, Enny’s got a feeling that Orfe and Yuri may be all wrong. Can Orfe’s music save Yuri from the depths of drugged-out despair? Or will Yuri break Orfe’s heart along with her music? This is a fairly deep read, despite its short length. Voigt based the story on the legend of Orpheus, so be prepared — there’s substance to these lyrics.
Geniuses of Crack by Jeff Gomez
Indie band Bottlecap has finally made it big. Mark, Steve and Gary follow fame to L.A. where they find that going commercial is, unfortunately, the only way to go. Band leader Mark tries to keep both artistic control and his superficial girlfriend, Corinne, from getting out of hand. Steve is hanging out with Sam, their weird mooching neighbor who claims to be some kind of artist but nobody knows just what kind, while Gary, nostalgic in the way only slackers can be, is on a mission to find old Atari equipment and woo his new girl, Whitney. Can three slacker guys from Kitty, Virginia, beat the corporate wolves of California? Probably not, but they’re going to go through a lot of angst trying. If you want to find out how Bottlecap was first formed, read Gomez’s first novel, Our Noise, of which Geniuses is a spin-off.
The Committments by Roddy Doyle
One of the best band books around, The Commitments is about a group of Irish kids who want to form a band. But this isn’t the Cranberries, people — The Commitments want to sing R&B soul. But can they overcome the musical roadblock of selling soul to Dublin, which isn’t exactly Motown? The best way to get a feel for this short novel is to pair it up with the movie version, which goes by the same title and is just as good as the book. That way, if you’re having a hard time with the Irish dialect in the book, you can always use the movie to break you in. Check out both versions from the library, watch one and read the other, and I think you’ll agree, they both rock.
Rock ‘n’ Roll Nights by Todd Strasser
This one, as they say, is an oldie but goodie. First published in 1982, Rock ‘n’ Roll Nights is the granddaddy of all YA band books. The Electric Outlets are waiting for their first big break, but record execs aren’t exactly pounding down band leader Gary Specter’s door. Gary, Oscar, Susan and Karl are just trying to keep their band together even though they just lost their first and only gig and none of the local music stores will take their independently produced single. Plus, Gary’s got this embarrassing problem — he’s kinda in love with Susan. That’s not the problem. The fact that she’s his first cousin is. This is a straight-talking band book about the hustling and serious work that goes into taking a band to the top.
Same Difference and Other Stories by Derek Kirk Kim
Graphic novels are a format, not a genre. So even though these melancholy autobiographical short stories are told in illustrated panels, they really belong on my Slacker list. Kim pens short, poignant pieces about love, loss, fear and failing in your insecure twenties. Common experiences like living off of Raman noodles and regretting that crush that you never came clean to from high school will ring almost painfully true to the Gen X and Y crowd. Full of laughter tinged with sadness, Same Difference provides a pretty accurate window into that period of your life when you’re almost a grown-up, but not quite.
Grosse Pointe Girl: Tales from a Suburban Adolescence by Sarah Grace McCandless and illustrated by Christine Norrie
It’s the late 80’s/early 90’s in the pricey Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and Emma Harris’s rites of passage include securing the right jeans, (Guess?) jelly shoes (pink) and friends (Stephanie, NOT Katrina) While I hear that at the time of this review the 80’s are hot again (just take a gander at the Rainbow-Brite colored VH1 “I Love the 80’s” docu-series) I’m not quite sure that today’s teens will be into this spot-on rendering of 80’s adolescence. But if you’re into resurrecting leg-warmers, Esther’s (aka Madonna’s) virginity, and Boone’s Farm-induced make-out sessions, you will thoroughly enjoy meeting Sarah McCandless’s Grosse Pointe Girl. There’s also some great graphic illustrations of Emma’s suppressed suburban upbringing by Christine Norrie (And if you’re 30+ and reading this list, then I can safely guarantee you’ll love it!)
Better Than Running at Night by Hilary Frank
Ellie is a savvy, street-smart native New Yorker, and as she starts her freshman year at a art college in New England, she’s pretty sure she will find herself at the top of her painting class. After all, she’s been creating dark, brooding canvases for years, full of blood, gore and despair. Her stuff is deep, man. Which is why it comes as a surprise to discover that just because she CAN paint doesn’t mean she does it WELL. Ellie learns some tough life lessons as she navigates her way through her first year, and not only those that come by way of brush and canvas. She finds out a serious secret about her parents, discovers that her hip, hot artist b-friend is actually a cheating asshole, and hardest of all, that painting is about craft and creating, not just emoting. NPR writer, now novelist Frank has written a brilliant send-up of the art school world with a very real, very sincere heroine at its center. IMHO, the best debut novel of 2002.
Shopgirl by Steve Martin
Mirabella is just standing around at the fine glove counter at Neiman’s waiting for her life to begin. Ray Porter is a wealthy, world-weary businessman who is clueless about women. How these two meet and navigate their somewhat odd relationship is the basis for funnyman Steve Martin’s first stab at fiction. Full of wicked truth about male/female relationships, Shopgirl is short enough to finish over a latte at Starbucks while you’re waiting for your blind date to show up.
Myrtle of Willendorf by Rebecca O’Connell
I haven’t read such a GOOD first book in a long time. A short novel, every word is precisely right and ideally placed–a small, perfect gem. Myrtle is a college sophomore who adores art and junk food in equal measure. Left to her own devices, she’d probably be okay with her bigger than average body image, if it wasn’t for her Calista Flockhart-skinny roommate Jada, who reminds her of her extra poundage on a daily basis. Jada’s constant offers to give her a make-over just make Myrtle feel worse, so she keeps feeding her face with lovely smooth whole milk and muffins dripping with real butter and strawberry jam.(By the way, the food descriptions in this book are absolutely mouth-watering!) Anyhoo, after a fairly humiliating experience where Jada and her boyfriend make Myrtle the butt of a very not-funny joke, Myrt takes back the power by using her big bod to inspire her artistically, and fully embraces her chubbiness. What a pleasure to read a book about weight that doesn’t end in a diet or anorexia. Myrtle just becomes happy with who she is and how she looks, and I say two thumbs up to that!!
Are You Experienced? by William Sutcliffe
At nineteen, David has decided he needs to have a big, life-altering experience that will change him forever. So, after very little research, he hooks up with Liz, a hottie he hopes to have a carnal knowledge of, and takes off for a three month backpacking trip across India. There, he discovers that India is extremely hot, crowded, and smelly, not the cool green paradise he imagined. He gets sick from the food, fights constantly with Liz (did I mention that she also happens to be his best friend’s girlfriend?) and almost loses his mind on a thirteen hour bus trip. But the real test comes when Liz ditches Dave after falling for a tantric yoga teacher, and he has to make it across the sub-continent alone. Can Dave deal with the “real” India experience? This book was so funny and so dead-on right about the lofty, P.C. attitude that western culture holds toward third world countries that my stomach hurt from laughing so hard. Talk about the selfishness and pretension of the X, Y, or whatever generation–this book is SO it.
Slab Rat by Ted Heller
Zachary Post is a bit of an a–hole. He’s a middling, middle-twenties article author at a glossy new York magazine who’s very ambitious, but not very talented. He lives in terminal paranoia of (3) things: that his famously forged resume is going to be found out and he’ll be out on his ear, that his two office girlfriends will discover he’s dating both of them, and that the new guy, Mark Larkin, will become Zack’s boss even though he’s even faker and smarmier than Zack (if that’s possible). So, Zack decides to kill him. Just kidding!–at first. Suddenly, it becomes shockingly easy to imagine ways that Mark Larkin could make his final exit. Zack quickly discovers that it’s not hard to be motivated when you’re planning the perfect crime! Quirky and mean-spirited, Slab Rat is the perfect twenty-something-office-drone-slacker novel, kind of like a really nasty Dilbert comic. Great reading for those days when your first-job boss is on the rampage and the copy machine has broken down for the gazillionth time.