Since Then: How I Survived Everything and Lived to Tell About it Review

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Since Then: How I Survived Everything and Lived to Tell About it ReviewIn Aspen Colorado a few years ago at xmas, I came across a poster advertising a concert given by CPR featuring David Crosby. CPR? CSN+/-Y, yes, but...Pevar and Raymond? Hmmm. MUST be sold out. Box office lady: tickets are available. Hmm, doesn't that mean this will suck? "No, its because it's the 23rd and most folks don't show up in Aspen till the 26th, and this concert was a last minute booking, it should be a real treat." I buy two tickets.
Night of the show, sold out, killer crowd, my date bailed due to a dinner party, i gave the other ticket to someone on the street (proves I had no idea what was in store, bc if I had I would have been calling friends all over town), went inside, worried, what will Mr. Crosby's voice sound like these days. Didn't he almost die about ten times over the past years, and who are these guys he's playing with?
1st thing, Pevar is playing with the warm up band, and he's just amazing even though I don't know its him till intermisson. Then the show. David emerges...a white haired sage from a medieval movie, his buddha's "Hello" as he walks onto stage just somehow instantly heartwarming. There's a big drum set, a bass player, a young keyboardist. Great energy in the room. Then, an explosion of pure voices in the high altitude air, jazzy, complex, rich music, David's voice faltering every once in a while due to the altitude (8,000 feet), but lent a clarity in the upper registers that I've never heard before. The drummer is killer. The bass player solid & perfect. Pevar, spectacular. And the keyboardist is James Raymond, Crosby's son (!?) -- and there is a palpable loving energy between them. Song after amazing song, one of the nicest musical nights of my life. All a suprise.
That evening was a gateway for me into the world of Neil Young's solo work, the many CPR recordings, a few more CPR concerts, a benefit concert with Crosby/Nash/Raymond/Pevar in Solvang, and all the non-hit CSN/Y stuff I'd never really listened to. But ever since then, I've been wondering: how did David have a son by a different last name and what is their relationship beyond their wondeful musical collaboration? How did he find Pevar? Who is Pevar? How did drummer Stevie Stanislau find them? What is up with Neil Young? What complex and amazing story was playing out on that stage that made it so magical? Was it magical, or was I just imagining it?
Well, for me, this book is a continuation of the gift I received that evening. It explains the remarkable story of David's recent years picking up around the Jan. 1994 Northridge earthquake. Like Crosby's music, the life is complex, authentic, maddening, hilarious, uplifting, and unimaginable -- which is why you have to read the book. So many great moments and stories. So interesting to watch this man evolve and wear his life's mantle as a messenger/sentinel with such humor/wit/grace through triumph and tragedy alike. So wonderful to get to know all the incredible people in his life. I loved it!
Ps: The story about how, recently reuintied, James plays David a tape of a song he composed to accompany some lyrics David tossed to him about Jim Morrison...David goes to Jame's house and they listen to the tape in James' beat up pick up truck b/c his house stereo isn't as good while his wife watches them, heart in throat, from inside the house, and David is blown away and realizing his son is a very gifted man who he really wants to work with alot more. Well, that was one of the sweetest things I've ever read.Since Then: How I Survived Everything and Lived to Tell About it Overview

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Nabokov: Novels 1955-1962: Lolita / Pnin / Pale Fire (Library of America) Review

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Nabokov: Novels 1955-1962: Lolita / Pnin / Pale Fire (Library of America) ReviewThree classic novels and a solid screenplay adaptation -- Vladimir Nabokov's literary genius is perhaps best shown in the second volume of Library of America's collections. The classic "Lolita" is paired with its own screenplay adaptation, and the comic "Pnin" and witty "Pale Fire."
"Lolita" is the tale for which Nabokov is best known. The redundantly-named, middle-aged (dirty old man) Humbert Humbert is haunted by some teenage love he had long ago, and which he thinks he has refound in the prepubescent Delores Haze (called "Lolita" by Humbert). He sets out to seduce the unsuspecting girl, but her mom is standing in the way...
"Pnin" is a gently comic tale about Timofey Pnin, a timid, moderately neurotic Russian professor who now lives in the United States. He's amazed by technology, fussy, a bit weird about his health, and has problems with American train schedules. The unfortunate Pnin stumbles from one problem to another, trying to keep everything under control in uncontrollable circumstances.
"Pale Fire" is perhaps the best literary satire out there. Poet John Shade wrote the sprawling 999-line poem "Pale Fire," shortly before being murdered. After his death, the poem is being painstakingly dissected and annotated by his neighbor, Charles Kinbote. Except Kinbote is a nutjob, who interprets "Pale Fire" as being all about him, and will come up with weird symbolism to justify his belief.
"Lolita: A Screenplay" is almost a different version of "Lolita." Here Nabokov recounted the same events of the novel, but from an ominiscent perspective -- that of the person who would be watching the movie. Very rich, very well-adapted, very evocative for a screenplay, this is almost as good as a book in itself.
Nabokov could handle just about any kind of writing, this collection shows us. From the opulent poetry of "Pale Fire" to the solid screenplay, from the erotic drama of "Lolita" to the chuckling comedy of "Pnin," he handles it all. His writing is detailed and lush, rich almost to the point of choking. He shifts perspectives, tells a story through annotation, sees through the eyes of a pedophile, and does it all with a certain winking flair.
Nabokov's writing is a combination of believable characterizations and rich language. Humbert Humbert, for example, is a horrendously believable person, especially since he makes constant excuses for his pedaphilic behavior -- the characterization is so good, in fact, that newcomers might even think (incorrectly) that Nabokov sympathized with the creep. At the same time, he creates the rather pitiful, absentminded Pnin, the self-serving nutcase Kinbote -- and they're all delightfully three-dimensional. You could bump into people like these on the bus at any time, and they would be just as he describes them.
Comedy, drama, satire and screenwriting are collected in the second Library of America collection of Nabokov's novels. Sexy, funny, brilliant and exquisitely written, these are among the best of Vladimir Nabokov's works.Nabokov: Novels 1955-1962: Lolita / Pnin / Pale Fire (Library of America) Overview

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