Download Under the Big Black Sun A Personal History of LA Punk Audible Audio Edition John Doe Tom Desavia Exene Cervenka Henry Rollins full cast Random House Audio Books
Under the Big Black Sun explores the nascent Los Angeles punk rock movement and its evolution to hardcore punk as it's never been told before. Authors John Doe and Tom DeSavia have woven together an enthralling story of the legendary West Coast scene from 1977 to 1982 by enlisting the voices of people who were there. The book shares chapter-length tales from the authors along with personal essays from famous (and infamous) players in the scene. Additional authors include Exene Cervenka (X), Henry Rollins (Black Flag), Mike Watt (The Minutemen), Jane Wiedlin and Charlotte Caffey (The Go-Go's), Dave Alvin (The Blasters), Chris D. (Flesh Eaters), Jack Grisham (T.S.O.L.), Teresa Covarrubias (The Brat), and Robert Lopez (The Zeros, El Vez) as well as scenesters and journalists Pleasant Gehman, Kristine McKenna, and Chris Morris. Through interstitial commentary, John Doe "narrates" this journey through the land of film noir sunshine, Hollywood back alleys, and suburban sprawl - the place where he met his artistic counterparts, Exene, DJ Bonebrake, and Billy Zoom - and formed X, the band that became synonymous with and in many ways defined L.A. punk.
Under the Big Black Sun shares stories of friendship and love, ambition and feuds, grandiose dreams and cultural rage, all combined with the tattered, glossy sheen of pop culture weirdness that epitomized the operations of Hollywood's underbelly. Listeners will travel to the clubs that defined the scene as well as to the street corners, empty lots, apartment complexes, and squats that served as de facto salons for the musicians, artists, and fringe players that hashed out what would become punk rock in Los Angeles.
Download Under the Big Black Sun A Personal History of LA Punk Audible Audio Edition John Doe Tom Desavia Exene Cervenka Henry Rollins full cast Random House Audio Books
"If you are wanting to see the more realistic side of what a young rock band goes through on their climb to the top, this book is a great read. Written by some of the most interesting musical artists from the west coast music scene this series of essays helps paint a wonderfully grimy and often insightful developing music scene. Fun, evocative and often hilarious, this book lets us peek back into our youth and see the music we loved with new eyes. Includes an essay by the great Dave Alvin, (A personal favorite of mine) that lets you know that fitting in and being cool seemed just as alien to the people on stage as it was to the people in the audience. Fun, wild and just great to read. thanks John Doe for putting this together."
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Under the Big Black Sun A Personal History of LA Punk Audible Audio Edition John Doe Tom Desavia Exene Cervenka Henry Rollins full cast Random House Audio Books Reviews :
Under the Big Black Sun A Personal History of LA Punk Audible Audio Edition John Doe Tom Desavia Exene Cervenka Henry Rollins full cast Random House Audio Books Reviews
- Full disclosure I'm a lifelong X fan. Good, now we've got that out of the way. I purchased both the edition and the audio book CD. Having been on the fringes of the L.A. punk scene since '82, I've always imagined what I'd missed by not diving in head-first into the scene. Now I know. And I can add more to my "look what you missed" file.
Who better to narrate the world of underappreciated L.A. rock than John Doe? In my opinion, X (John Doe, Exene Cervenka, DJ Bonebrake, Billy Zoom) still haven't received the appropriate amount of accolades they deserve. John Doe and company (Jane Weidlin, Henry Rollins, Exene and many others) provide a unique perspective on a genre only they could comment on. They lived it. And I'm damn glad they lived to tell the tell (so many others did not). This isn't sentimentality, it's remembrances from first-hand participants. The wonderful thing about it all? They were each other's fans. It's gratifying to know that I'm in such good company. Even from the fringes of the fringes. Thank you, John! - It's hard to be truly objective about this book, since I was a part (though peripherally in a less-popular sub-scene) of its contents. But still, I very much enjoyed the different voices and perspectives of (very) good friends, people that I knew, had perhaps met, or had only heard about, and their take on a time that now seems like a curious dream to me.
John Doe's between-chapter stories paint him as a Rod Serling-like observer and commentator, though unlike Mr. Serling, John and Exene and their merry crew were integral actors in the stories he and the contributors write about. Their recollections are true to the time and spirit of that era, and bring to life a cultural and musical moment that, though it shone brightly (or darkly, depending on your point of view), lasted too briefly before splintering and adsorbing into the larger cultural and musical fundament.
I read it all in one sitting and felt at once nostalgic and melancholy.
It's very good. - I have both the book and the audiobook, and can say the audiobook is fantastic! All the different chapter authors reading their own sections and recounting their times in this great era. Highly recommended!
- It is well worth the extra $ to get the audio version of this book.
It's very cool, and very interesting, to hear the actual voices of people talking about that time. It covers, mostly, the first wave of LA punk in the mid-to-late 1970s, ending around 1982. This is the pre-hardcore days, of joyful shared experimentation, and a wide variety of music types. There's a lot of nostalgia for a scene that ended. But it is a story told well, and will take many of you back, whether you were there or not.
The only downside is the repetition of long lists of the bands that dominated the scene then -- the names are important, but once you've heard one long list of the bands of that specific era and specific place, the third, fourth, etc., can be a bit grating. It's the kind of thing one would skip in the print version.
But that's a pretty small criticism of what is definitely a great production. - If you are wanting to see the more realistic side of what a young rock band goes through on their climb to the top, this book is a great read. Written by some of the most interesting musical artists from the west coast music scene this series of essays helps paint a wonderfully grimy and often insightful developing music scene. Fun, evocative and often hilarious, this book lets us peek back into our youth and see the music we loved with new eyes. Includes an essay by the great Dave Alvin, (A personal favorite of mine) that lets you know that fitting in and being cool seemed just as alien to the people on stage as it was to the people in the audience. Fun, wild and just great to read. thanks John Doe for putting this together.
- Very interesting accounts of the LA Punk scene of the late 70's and early 80's by a variety of people. Not all of the individual sections are great (one chapter wastes parts of 6 pages with complete song lyrics that are easily found on the internet), but my favorite is chapter 22, Dave Alvin's "No Slow Songs Tonight 1979-1982," which starts and ends with a very interesting anecdote that makes it a complete narrative.
Definitely worth a read, esp. if you lived through and enjoy the great music of that era.