Amazon.com
Not only is Peter Biskind's Easy Riders, Raging Bulls the best book in recent memory on turn-of-the-'70s film, it is beyond question the best book we'll ever get on the subject. Why? Because once the big names who spilled the beans to Biskind find out that other people spilled an equally piquant quantity of beans, nobody will dare speak to another writer with such candor, humor, and venom again.
Biskind did hundreds of interviews with people who make the president look accessible: Scorsese, Spielberg, Lucas, Coppola, Geffen, Beatty, Kael, Towne, Altman. He also spoke with countless spurned spouses and burned partners, alleged victims of assault by knife, pistol, and bodily fluids. Rather more responsible than some of his sources, Biskind always carefully notes the denials as well as the astounding stories he has compiled. He tells you about Scorsese running naked down Mulholland Drive after his girlfriend, crying, "Don't leave me!"; grave robbing on the set of Apocalypse Now; Faye Dunaway apparently flinging urine in Roman Polanski's face while filming Chinatown; Michael O'Donoghue's LSD-fueled swan dive onto a patio; Coppola's mad plan for a 10-hour film of Goethe's Elective Affinities in 3-D; the ocean suicide attempt Hal "Captain Wacky" Ashby gave up when he couldn't find a swimsuit that pleased him; countless dalliances with porn stars; Russian roulette games and psychotherapy sessions in hot tubs. But he also soberly gives both sides ample chance to testify.
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls is also more than a fistful of dazzling anecdotes. Methodically, as thrillingly as a movie attorney, Biskind builds the case that Hollywood was revived by wild ones who then betrayed their own dreams, slit their own throats, and destroyed an art form by producing that mindless, inhuman modern behemoth, the blockbuster.
When Spielberg was making the first true blockbuster, Jaws, he sneaked Lucas in one day when nobody was around, got him to put his head in the shark's mechanical mouth, and closed the shark's mouth on him. The gizmo broke and got stuck, but the two young men somehow extricated Lucas's head and hightailed it like Tom and Huck. As Peter Biskind's scathing, funny, wise book demonstrates, they only thought they had escaped. --Tim Appelo
Book Description
When the low-budget biker movie Easy Rider shocked Hollywood with its success in 1969, a new Hollywood era was born. This was an age when talented young filmmakers such as Scorsese, Coppola, and Spielberg, along with a new breed of actors, including De Niro, Pacino, and Nicholson, became the powerful figures who would make such modern classics as The Godfather, Chinatown, Taxi Driver, and Jaws. Easy Riders, Raging Bulls follows the wild ride that was Hollywood in the '70s -- an unabashed celebration of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll (both onscreen and off) and a climate where innovation and experimentation reigned supreme. Based on hundreds of interviews with the directors themselves, producers, stars, agents, writers, studio executives, spouses, and ex-spouses, this is the full, candid story of Hollywood's last golden age.
MARTIN SCORSESE ON DRUGS: "I did a lot of drugs because I wanted to do a lot, I wanted to push all the way to the very very end, and see if I could die."
DENNIS HOPPER ON EASY RIDER: "The cocaine problem in the United States is really because of me. There was no cocaine before Easy Rider on the street. After Easy Rider, it was everywhere."
GEORGE LUCAS ON STAR WARS: "Popcorn pictures have always ruled. Why do people go see them? Why is the public so stupid? That's not my fault."
Customer Reviews:
Couldn't put it down - I grew up admiring these characters..........2007-02-23
Firstly - I don't think that this book should be mistaken for a spiteful Paul-Johnson-type of takedown of Great Men...Biskind's not a curmudgeon, and I see no evidence of a Grand Thesis in this book smashing down facts to fit the preconceived mold...
I'm made to remember, as I first read & then occasionally re-read this book, that the Seventies was not just the time in which the putative counter-cultural forces stormed & took the tired old film studio citadel (and in the process became, many of them, boring old farts struggling for relevance); nor was it simply the time in which Spielberg & Lucas hatched the modern Big Blockbuster--but it was also the age of the invention of the super-auteur, the well-advertised & vaunting "maverick" filmmaker who compulsively pointed up to the stands every time he came up at bat (Bogdanovich & Coppola, most egregiously)...The super-stardom of these people arrives with the mainstreaming of know-how fetishism, and the over-valuation of the film artiste - the ascension of film-schools, making-of docs, horserace reports on box-office grosses, and so on...Much of what has been taken for slimy "gossip" in this book seems, on reflection, to be intimately connected with the films themselves: and in some wild cases ("Days of Heaven"; "Apocalypse Now"), the prodigal wasn't bankrupted & chastened, but came back home a star...
That said - I'm grateful for Biskind's hard treatment of Altman, and of Paul Schrader--they were begging for it...I don't understand why he treats Robert Towne's "Personal Best" as an ignominous all-'round failure--it REALLY wasn't that bad!
Juicy and exciting read.......2007-01-17
This book reads straight from the gossip columns. It's a fun, juicy read that you won't be able to put down. Peter Biskind gives you a sneek-peek behind Oz's curtain to see the nitty gritty lives of people like Scorsese, Speilberg, Copolla and Lucas. This won't be "classic literature," but you will find it exciting, addicting and a definate page-turner! Read this book just for the fun of it!
Not Recieved, No Refund.......2007-01-04
They say they sent it to my address, but i never recieved it. I called them. they told me they sent it, and did not offer further help.
Great in spite of itself.......2006-09-17
Peter Biskind's EASY RIDERS RAGING BULLS is destined to become a pop-culture classic, of a problematic sort for sure, but a classic still.
Biskind's research is formidable - the current academic revival of interest in the career of the late Hal Ashby was probably instigated by this book - this alone is an indication of how throrough a cultural chronicle of 70s 'New Hollywood' this work really is. It has obviously been taken very seriously in some quarters, and for all of its' academic impact, it also managed to become an improbable bestseller.
It's also one of those things that you love, and slot into a sort of 'guilty pleasure' category; Biskind balances his exhaustive cinema-historical research with equally exhaustive tales of sex-and-drug debauchery, though ultimately the avalanche of tittilating tawdriness does serve something of a purpose, in illustrating how certain individuals responsible for reinventing and reinvigorating Hollywood at the beginning of the 70s were also sowing the seeds of their own demise by the end of the same decade.
Biskind structures the book in emulation of one of the key players illuminated within - the entire book is structured like an Altman film, shifting gradually between a great cast of contradictory, combative characters (Hal Ashby as the moral center of it all), with the many historical narratives weaving together at the end. Along the way, he engages in a little bit of analysis (not enough, but understandable, given all else that is going on here), tracing the shadows of Nixon and Vietnam through films as seemingly disparate as "The Exorcist," "Jaws," "The Godfather," "Star Wars" and "The Conversation."
Overall, an essential piece of American cultural history.
-David Alston
The Godfather of New Hollywood Books.......2006-06-23
One can tell just by watching the films of directors such as Coppola, Scorcese, Friedkin and all the others that made up the New Hollywood of the 1970's, that they were infused with a streak of arrogance. Many films that were full of pretence and repulsive characters, but that nevertheless embodied a new spirit of American auterism, brought about by a new found European sensibility and a shift in power from producers to directors. So its no surprise that Peter Biskind's detailed and intriguing read, reveals these directors to be monstrous human beings. Power hungry, tin pot dictators fuelled by drugs, alcohol and sex. Somehow despite the lines of coke and the absurd sums of money that went flowing around, some of the greatest films in American cinema appeared. Biskind's enthusiasm for this period comes across and it helps that he lived through it and his book is filled with a great deal of insightful social commentary, his reading of STAR WARS for example is quite interesting. However he does tend to overcook the political and allegorical side of his critique. At times the book becomes a bit too gossipy and academics and film students might be put off by the tales of back stabbing and drug abuse. But, this does give the book a spark, which separates it from the more impenetrable and theory based books on the same subject. It is precisely because of Biskind's talky and down to earth prose that makes the book such a joy. There is a great deal of value to this book and after reading it you cannot view the films of this period in quite the same way. Enjoyable from start to finish.
Book Description
What started out as a few twenty-something drug addicts writing a newsletter and scamming welfare-to-work programs in the mid-nineties has become a global empire of hedonism that includes a magazine, a chain of retail stores, a clothing line, Vice Films, Vice TV, Vice Records, and viceland.com. A compilation of the magazines best articles over the past decade, the book includes hilarious, edgy, and informative guides to sex, music and the party scene. With outtakes and photos from their most famous issues, The Vice Guide....is an irreverent look at an outrageous cultural phenomenon. The Vice Guide....will appeal to the same audience who made bestsellers of The Onion, The Darwin Awards, and The Hipster Handbook. With a circulation of 200,000 this free monthly had taken its place alongside Rolling Stone and Spin, establishing itself as the voice of a generation. It was named the #1 trendsetting magazine for females 19-24 and #2 for males 25-30 by the Cassandra Report marketing survey. The Vice web site, viceland.com, has 80,000 unique users per month. Vice has signed with New Line Cinema to write and produce their own feature films. They have also signed with Atlantic Records to develop their own label and with Showtime to develop a comedy series.
Customer Reviews:
The Vice Guide to Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll.......2007-08-31
The Vice Guide to Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll
great leisure read.......2006-01-25
"the vice guide to sex and drugs and rock and roll" is more of an introduction to, well, the vices in life. Most of the information is half assed, and its dripping with sarcasm on most of the important aspects of the book. however, its an enlightening read and the "government high" and "fashion do's and dont's" are perhaps the reason this book is always open near my toilet
Ack! False drug infomation everywhere!.......2004-09-02
Now, don't get me wrong, I love all of the clever wit and aggressive writing styles. Who cares if VICE doesn't bother editing for even near-proper grammar?
What bothers me are the essays from the supposed "drug experts." Sure, some nuggets of truth worm their way into the write ups, but most of the drug information provided is pure urban legend trash. Strychnine has no part in the synthesis of lysergic acid (LSD). Random testing has shown that only about .05% of acid tablets contain any strychnine, almost none of which contained enough to actually cause a physical response. Those jaw aches are a natural reaction the body has to certain drugs like amphetamines, tranquilizers, mescaline and acid. And LSD was not invented during the Vietnam War!
Alcohol should NEVER be combined with sedatives (or really any other drug for that matter). Also, condoning the use of anti-depressants in high quantity for recreational effect has got to be the most reckless drug advice I've ever read. For the sake of scientific truth and personal safety, DO NOT TAKE VICE'S DRUG ARTICLES SERIOUSLY!
VICE IS NO FUN.......2004-03-26
that's all i have to say. vice only exists now for shock value and contains nothing of it's original wit and satire. the people at vice are sellouts and all the people in montreal know it.
BOYCOTT VICE!
Porcelain Classic.......2004-03-24
This is easily one of the best toilet books ever. A perfect tome to have near the throne, this book has random article after random article about the title topics.
Vice is a vicious, free magazine that discourages subscriptions. The articles here vary from drug write-ups to profiles on black metal ghouls.
Vice is smart and sickly cynical. This is not Maxim or FHM.
Highly recommended. You can impress guests with this next to the Charmin.
Book Description
Mike Sager is to drugs, porn, and crimes of desperate delusion what Dominic Dunne is to the society murder. In addition to his long-classic Rolling Stone story “The Devil and John Holmes” (which helped inspire the upcoming Val Kilmer film, Wonderland) and his groundbreaking GQ piece about murdered Irish investigative reporter Veronica Guerin (also the subject of a major film starring Cate Blanchett), Scary Monsters and Super Freaks is a wonderful rogue’s gallery of up-close pieces about the most public failures of the American dream. From Rick James and his drug-fueled detour into white slavery to the life and suicide of porn starlet Savannah, from deep inside the beating of Rodney King and the Heaven’s Gate cult suicides to Chuck Berry’s sexual predilections, this book brings to high-profile true crime a highly identifiable voice and style. Currently Esquire’s Writer-at-Large, Sager takes us along for the ride with a raft of other figures including the late NWA Rapper Easy E. Winner, the FBI agent who fell in love with his informant, and the highest ranking DEA agent to be busted for drug trafficking. This is a brilliant debut collection by one of America’s most respected and stylish crime writers.
Customer Reviews:
Freaky Monsters.......2007-09-09
Based simply on the title of Mike Sager's "Scary Monsters and Super Freaks: Stories of Sex, Drugs, Rock 'N Roll and Murder," I had to buy the book. The title promises a lot, and the book delivers.
The compilation of essays from Sager's journalism career at GQ, Esquire and Rolling Stone magazines features stories of real people who find themselves in improbable situations and what becomes of them. Love triangles, religious cults, musicians, surfers, politicians, cokeheads, moms, pornos, law enforcement agents and prisoners: every person and situation that Sager presents, he presents in a way that one might not normally think of. The 19 stories serve our culture up to us in sometimes unappealing but always intriguing ways. And because each chapter is a complete entity unto itself, the book is good for picking up and putting down if you have a hectic schedule.
Completely enjoyable (though I confess there was one story that I had to skip over - which one it was, I won't say!). Thoroughly recommended.
"CUT THEIR EYES".......2007-04-09
First things first. I bought this book based on having read Sager's "The Devil And John Holmes" story in Rolling Stone back in '89 and really enjoying it. While I enjoyed all 19 of the stories presented here, I was close to tearing the damn book in half by the time I reached the final offering. Why? Because as I progressed through the book, I began to dread Sager's pet phrase of having someone "cut their eyes" at someone or something else. It's in almost half of these stories. Don't believe me? Check out pages 24, 39, 138, 154, 170, 209, 299, 357, and 416. I fault his editors at GQ for this as at least 6 of the 9 stories were first published in that magazine. Would that stop me from reading anything else by him? No, but in the back of my mind I'd be waiting for someone to "cut their eyes".
dark page-turners in miniature........2006-12-07
each piece in this book is somewhere in the 20 to 50 page range, but despite the brevity, you feel as though you've gotten an in-depth look at some dark, dark american lives. nothing here that you could call feel-good fluff. but it is mostly all very interesting; it kept my fingers flipping the pages faster than 90% of the other books i've been reading of late. highly recommended for those who like good writing on sex & drugs & murder & other sorts of mayhem. and personally i don't think there is a lot of good writing out there on those sorts of things.
A very well-written collection.......2006-05-24
I bought this book on a whim because it looked interesting in the store. I'm glad I did as I've enjoyed it very much. The book is a collection of nineteen articles originally published in Esquire, GQ, or Rolling Stone. The subjects are generally sad and sordid but Sager takes the time to understand his subjects and explain not only what happened to them but why. Some of the incidents he describes are familiar but Sager's work has depth and reveals and explains things other more superficial coverage missed. I recommend this book and will be looking for future work by this writer.
True Crime.......2004-04-21
You have probably read some of these articles over the years in magazines and weekly newspapers. Here are some great stories of the last twenty years. Stories about John Holmes and Rick James are great. Mike Sager goes into great detail to give a rounded picture of all his subects. The stories about journalists Janet Lewis and Veronica Guernin are pretty intense. Some of this stuff is about obsessions we all had about ten years ago like Easy-E Eric Wright and the Heaven's Gate Crowd. It's funny how time flys. Check it out.
Book Description
The western world was turned upside down by the rock ‘n’ roll revolution and here’s the real lowdown on the rock stars who made it happen — and what it did to their lives.
Customer Reviews:
Size doesn't matter.......2002-11-13
This book, with its vast chapters covering many famous groups, is on the surface promising. Sure, the title even sells it. But when you get down to it, this book is far removed from the subject it promises to cover.
For instance, when I turned to a chapter on the Beastie Boys, I was expecting to read behind the scenes accounts of their antics during their first tour. Who are they, what were they on, who and what did they get up to? Instead I was offered a literary perspective of how the English press handled the first encounter with the Beasties. Another chapter describes the infamous murder at a Rolling Stones' concert at the hands of a Hell's Angel biker. The problem here is that the book covers the 'whodunnit' of the incident, rather than giving any insider perspective to the Stones on tour. Little was mentioned of the individual members of the Stones.
Most of what I attempted to read was highbrow in style, far removed from any feeling of rock and roll. Being a music lover, I wanted more depth in the accounts of the artists that inspired me. I wanted passionate writing about a passion-worthy subject.
If you want to view this subject as a slide under a microscope, or as an excerpt from the writers of Scientific American, this book's for you. There's little soul in this mammoth book.
Rock and roll heaven.......2001-06-20
It took me almost three weeks to read, but wow! What a fantastic book! All the things I ever wanted to know about the excesses of the rock lifestyle. I was particularly intreeged to find out about plaster-casting, the Rolling Thunder Review and the true story of the death of Tupac Shakur. My girlfriend is half way through it now and she thinks the same. Not enough sex for me, maybe too many drugs, but overall a wicked book.
Book Description
Barry Klein recounts the "highs" and "lows" of his many adventures during "The Summer of Love," 1967, as he leaves Detroit for San Francisco to fully experience the hippie movement. Although it has been said (tongue-in-cheek) that if you remember the '60s - you weren't really there, Klein disproves this statement in his sometimes painful, more often humorous account of his personal "Trip" through the Summer of Love.
Book Description
Memoirs of a Drugged-Up, Sex-Crazed Yippie takes the reader through the life of a 1970s counter-culture drug user. Mark Spies goes from casual pot smoking to habitual use of pharmaceutical narcotics and cocaine. Due to the changing sexual attitudes, Spies has several unconventional sexual encounters. The 1970s brought us the "Woodstock generation." There was a sense of idealism that developed at the beginning and died at the end of that decade. Many counter-culture books focus on the 1960s, yet there are plenty of events in the 1970s that deserve attention. Nixon's war in Vietnam and Cambodia dominated the news and affected America's youth. Nixon's war on drugs impacted the counter-culture life style. Then there was punk rock, disco, casual cocaine use and revolutions braking out around the world by 1979. With politics in the background, this book gives the reader a look at drug use and the difficult business of drug dealing. The drugs, sexual attitudes, music and politics made the 1970s what they were. Taken as a whole, this book will give some insight into the people and events of the 1970s counter-culture. Steve Otto is a free-lance writer, living in Maize, KS. He is the author of War on Drugs/ War on People, published by Ide House, 1995, an expose of government corruption connected with the "war on drugs." Otto has published numerous articles in magazines, journals and newspapers.
Customer Reviews:
High Across The Prairie .......2005-04-23
Kansas in the late 1970's was so different from today; the Sunflower State might as well have been located in Holland.
Remember what it was like to share drugs with close friends and complete strangers? Remember when casual sex was so casual you didn't even know your partners name? Remember when the political climate of Kansas came down squarely on the side of tolerance? Remember when your personal philosophy of life was defined by rock lyrics and not a mission statement?
You don't?
Well, Steve Otto does.
In his latest semi-fictional novel, Memoirs Of A Drugged-Up, Sex Crazed Yippie (Authorhouse Press/2005), Otto excavates 1970's counterculture like an archeologist loving dusting off a Mastodon tusk. In a brisk 349 pages, Otto gives us a lucid look at a Kansas few people remember --- or can't remember due to a plentiful supply of "controlled substances" that were constantly and cheaply available. Characters romp through Wichita, Lawrence and even Sedalia Missouri when a cheap thrill was worth what you paid for it and pleasure was just the flipside of danger.
But to dismiss this book as just another nostalgic stoner reminiscing about the last days of the counter-culture would be a major mistake. Although there is a certain "back-in-the-day" wistfulness about the time before political correctness was a mantra, Otto tempers his dreamy history lesson with brutal honesty.
The narrator of the story --- a composite of just about every old druggie you ever met --- may graphically describe the bliss of mainlining MDA, he also reminds us that brief moment of pleasure most often occurred in a squalid apartment at broken kitchen table next to sink full of dirty dishes.
Like all good storytellers, Otto takes the reader places they've never been before. Like William Burroughs and Charles Bukowsky, Otto sometimes takes you to places you've never really wanted to visit. Yet, Otto makes it worth the trip by including generous portions of political discourse, Cyrenaic philosophy, post-adolescent lust and near-suicidal thrill seeking to keep the narrative moving along like a junkie careening through a police roadblock.
Otto's work is always provocative and this book will undoubtedly draw the wrath of both solid conservatives and neo-feminists. Otto's characters never mask their contempt for the right-wing agenda and Otto's narrator never hides his obsession with female anatomy. However, criticizing Memoirs because it baits conservatives and objectifies women is missing the point. Filtering 1970's Kansas counterculture through the sensibilities of a naive middle-class, catholic school educated, twenty-something is no easy trick but Otto mostly pulls it off. He has a good ear for times-past and tries --- often successfully --- to make his prose read like it would have been written by someone experiencing these situations 30 years ago. Trying to be simultaneously innovative, entertaining and honest is a juggling act on a unicycle, but Otto is generally at his best when everything's up-in-the-air and he's peddling frantically. When the narrator's budding Marxist politics and his discussions with Iranian nationalists clash with his dawning awareness that Kansas politics has taken a sharp turn to the right, Otto makes it work.
Is Otto's look into the rear-view mirror a true reflection on the 70's, or do the objects simply appear bigger than they were? Ultimately, it doesn't matter. Memoirs resonates with characters buckling under the weight of the America Dream with redemption harder to find than next snort of Cocaine.
by Tim Pouncey
Book Description
This comic true adventure follows the outrageous experiences of one Redondo Beach loafer who is tricked into enlisting in the U.S. Army during the height of the Vietnam War. Suddenly Pete Whalon is thrown into a bizarre, harsh and alien world where "the rulers devour their young." Yet keeping his wits about him, Private Whalon carves out a very different sort of military career. Using youthful cunning, he transports his laidback So-Cal mentality to the Army structure with hilarious results! From Hawaii, to Saigon, to Long Binh (the largest U.S. military base in Vietnam in 1970), this reluctant soldier tests the patience and nerves of the lifers in command. Joining him in the rebellion is a motley crew of malcontented GIs, the core of which become his closest friends and the primary characters of this memoir.
Customer Reviews:
Drugs, Rock and Roll but little on the Sex side.......2007-06-03
This book is funnier than a rubber crutch in a polio ward. I thought I was the ultimate rear echelon m-f'er (REMF) in Vietnam but this guy edges me out. Being a 'shammer' and having run from duty that involved work, I found this to be right on the mark and very up front and honest in every respect. This is a must read for very veteran. Pete is telling what alot of veterans and the public do not really want to here.........that there was another side to being stationed in Nam. The book could have went more into the sex department as my tours revolved around that but nevertheless, you will enjoy this book and will laugh your rear off.
Hilarious reading!.......2005-12-21
This book is a hilarious mix of the Mash buddies going to Vietnam. Take out the medical and replace it with a bunch of guys trying to avoid work and trying to cope with Saigon and the Vietnam War.
Whalon begins with how he "joined the army" and continues with his various antics until he is released to return home.
This has the foundation of a light-hearted movie. I recommend Jim Carey to portray the leader and author, Pete Whalon.
A Cult Classic -- A Twisted, Hysterical Saga.......2004-09-16
Whalon's Saigon Zoo is a cult classic in the making belonging in the ranks of Hunter Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Bukowski's Ham on Rye. Every red blooded American will want to crony up with Pete Whalon as he takes you on a wild ride of Sex, Drugs, and Rock-n-Roll through the "the heart of darkness." The book has timeless implications that are just as relative today than ever before. Get ready to laugh out loud and make friends with characters that will feel close to home as you embrace this hysterical, twisted saga in The Zoo!
I don't recommend books lightly...this is a must have/read!
Average customer rating:
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Miles
Manufacturer: Omnibus Press
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Binding: Paperback
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Amazon.com
From Spalding Gray to Anna Deavere Smith, monologists have become a real power in contemporary theater. Few have had the savage impact of Eric Bogosian, who continues to get inside working- (and formerly working-) class Joes with attitude in his 1990 Monologue of 12 Characters. Among the vivid rebels he incarnates are an artist who resolves to keep his art inside his head to prevent "the system" from commercializing it and an entire group of blue-collar guys whose wedding-eve party for a buddy turns into a merry sleigh ride to hell. The virtuoso piece of Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll shows a high-powered executive who juggles business partners, enemies, spouse, mistress, and children on a cellular phone, showing each a distinct side of his twisted personality.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding.......2006-08-26
Eric Bogosian has a knack for creating great little monologues that completely suck you in. As unpleasant, or even repelling, as so many of his characters are, their tales are nonetheless engrossing, sharp, raw and extremely funny. You'll plow through this in no time, anxious to read each next monologue. And you'll be quick to pick it back up for a re-read too.
Brilliant and Powerful.......2003-01-18
Bogosian has a knack for creating compelling characters. A common aspect to all of his characters is desperation. Whether it the paranoid desperation of the "Artist" who stopped making art because "they" would know what he was thinking to the quiet despertion of the homeless "Bottleman" who finds comfort in collecting bottles or cans ("Bottles or cans, it makes no difference") so that he can enjoy an egg salad sandwich to the despertion of the man who calls "Candy" for a good time.
Right from the beginning, Bogosian (both in writing and as the lone actor in a one man show) pushes the envelope in establishing characters who live on the edges of society and who feel the pressure of desperation in their lives. For those of you who are interested, the movie "Talk Radio" has Bogosian exploring themes similar to those explored in "Sex, Drugs, ROck & Roll."
Brilliant theater.......2000-01-14
This work amazed me. Acting is generally seen as a cooperative effort, but this collection of monologues proves that wrong. Usually funny and almost always far more insightful than anything in the movies, this work takes an often ignored route to exploring contemporary American culture. Some people may be offended by the vulgar nature of some of the monologues (such as Dirt, in which the only word in the first sentence that is not an obscenity is 'ya'), this very vulgarity is a reality of life that is necessary to accept in order to understand what Bogosian has to say.
Save Your Sanity, Read This Book.......1999-09-13
Eric Bogosian is one of those writers, like J.D. Salinger or Raymond Carver, who makes me feel like I am not alone. I'm not the only detached observer wondering why the current state of humanity is so absurd. Bogosian always writes about junkies, losers, and heartless bastards. But they always have something that is perceptive and interesting to say. As the last charcter in the book, a nameless "Artist" says, "If they know what I was thinking, man...I'd be dead." I feel the same way with the wealth of "irrational" thoughts that float around in my head. Bogosian is also an expert satirist. Are you tired of self promoting, so called "charitable" rock stars? Read "Benefit," in which a Keith Richards-type figure encourages television viewers to support his "Amazonian Indian" fundraiser. Why? Because they don't even have Pepsi. After reading this book, I find like at least there was some one else who shares some of my views on life. And that revelation felt like it might have saved my life.
Books:
- Faking It: The Quest for Authenticity in Popular Music
- Fretboard Logic SE: The Reasoning Behind the Guitar's Unique Tuning + Chords Scales and Arpeggios Complete (The Fretboard Logic Guitar Method Parts I and II) (Fretboard Logic Guitar Method Ser)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Books Index
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