Saturday, May 23, 2020

Autobiographies: Getting the Inside Story

Typically, I’m not an avid reader. I rarely read fiction these days and most of the biographies I’ve read have been on figures in media or music. I’ve actually read a good number of musical autobiographies. I find that the inside perspective into the genesis of a song or musical piece often broadens the dimension for its appreciation and understanding.

Some musical autobiographies that I have read are:

  • Riders on the Storm by John Densmore
  • I Used to Be an Animal But I’m Alright Now by Eric Burdon
  • Play On by Mick Fleetwood
  • I’m a Believer by Micky Dolenz
  • Chronicles Vol. 1 by Bob Dylan
  • Searching For the Sound by Phil Lesh
  • I Am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne
  • Clapton by Eric Clapton
  • Long Time Gone by David Crosby
  • Somebody to Love by Grace Slick
  • I Me Mine by George Harrison
  • Change of Seasons by John Oates

Some I have read when they were first published and others I only got around to after some twenty years or so.

Autobiographies are naturally subjective and generally divulge only select information(or misinformation) that the author wants the public to know, but they all tell fascinating stories and contain inspiring and memorable anecdotes that pass on into legend and lore.

What are some autobiographies you’ve read? More importantly - how do they inspire you?

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Rebels on Wheels

Recently I watched some old Hong Kong Kung Fu flicks and biker movies (Why has no one created a mash-up genre combining the two?). The biker flicks I just viewed were as follows: The Cycle Savages; Hell’s Belles; Run, Angel, Run!(all 1969) and Chrome and Hot Leather(1971).

The biker films of the Sixties were largely exploitative action dramas made on slim budgets and drawing on ‘straight’ America’s post-war fears and anxieties regarding the marginalized and outcast. They never sought to portray these subcultures accurately but rather as caricatures of their urban nightmares.

Usually the films pitted rival gangs against each other or saw them clash with townspeople, minorities, hippies or authority figures. Often protagonist and villain were interchangeable, the symbols of the hated and the vanquished emblazoned on leather vests and German helmets. During many of the other youth market-oriented features of the era, bikers were played as clowns or even buffoons. Ultimately the biker image became inextricably linked with that of Marlon Brando’s ‘Wild One’, an edgy and prickly but misunderstood rebel.

Rebellion is a frequent cinematic theme as well as a persistent cultural one. In reality, the ‘outlaws’ in most biker gangs express defiance in their rejection of motorcycle associations as opposed to governments and laws.

Today the concept of the rebel is also increasingly subjective and image-based.

Are you a rebel in some way? Do you think it might even be pretentious to think of yourself as such?

“Get your motor runnin’.”
Steppenwolf