200 Greatest 70s Rock Songs: The Stories Behind the Music by Frank Mastropolo

 

This is a cool book that looks behind the scenes of some of the best rock songs of the 1970s.  Its like having a backstage pass to the best artists of that time.  Explore the secrets of these songs from how they came to be to where the inspiration came from   

The music for The Rolling Stones song "Brown Sugar" was written in a large field in Australia while Mick Jagger was filming the movie Ned Kelly.  He had messed up his hand and was trying to rehabilitate it.  He took a brand new kind of electric guitar and took it into the Outback and came up with the music.  The song was recorded at Alabama's Muscle Shoals studio.  It took him 45 minutes to write three sheets of lyrics.  Because of a dispute with their manager, the song was not released until the album Sticky Fingers.  However they first debuted it at the famous concert at Altamont. The song covers such controversial topics like drugs, rape, slavery, and interracial sex. Mick said in an interview that "God knows what I'm on about in that song.  It's such a mishmash.  All the nasty subjects in one go.  I never would write that song today.  I can't just write raw like that."

"Can't You See" by South Carolina's Marshall Tucker Band was not a hit and Marshall Tucker wasn't even in the band.  He was a piano tuner who worked in the practice space of the band.  Then Waylon Jennings did a cover of the song that only charted to 75 for the band, but charted high on the country charts.  Hank Jr., Alabama, and about 40 different bands have done a cover of the song.  You can still hear it on the radio 54 years later. It has become a Southern classic.

 "Heart of Glass" was written by Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein and was a number one hit for Blondie in 1979. It was written in 1974 but the band had a hard time figuring out how it should go.  The tried it as a ballad and as a reggae song, but nothing seemed to work.  In 1978 they got producer Mike Chapman asked Harry what was influencing her at the moment and she replied Donner Summer.  The band had just gotten a Roland drum machine and were playing around with it.  Using a computerized was unusual for a guitar band.  People got mad at them for "going disco".  Clem Burke, the drummer refused to play it at first, until it became a hit and he was then forced to.  The lyrics weren't about anyone particular, just lost love.   For a while they played it with the chorus going "Once I had love and it was a gas.  Soon turned out it was a pain in the ass."  It was too repetitive so they changed it to "had a heart of glass."  The BBC bleeped out the one "ass" they kept in the song.  

This book also includes the stories behind such songs as: It Don't Come Easy, Hotel California, I'll Take You There, I Wanna Be Sedated, London Calling, and Long Train Running.  Mastropolo also included sections on singers and musicians who made the songs come alive, like Bobby Whitlock, the keyboard player , for Derek and the Dominoes and Harry Wayne "KC" Casey and the Sunshine Band.  It crosses many different genres of music and is incredibly interesting and informative.

Quotes

Kind of like a cross between a housewife and an evangelical preacher, is kind of what I do.

Iggy Pop

I don’t like the Eagles. There’re about as exciting as watching paint dry. Their albums are good for keeping the dust off your turntable and that’s about all.

John Wait

Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years by Sarah and Al Elizabeth Delany and Amy Hill Hearth

 Bessie, age 101, and Sadie, aged 103 are doing a lot more than just having their say.  They are witnesses to the history of blacks in America in the 20th century.  Their father was born into slavery and grew up to become a minister in the Episcopalian church.  He believed in education for both the boys and the girls of his large family.  He settled in Raleigh, North Carolina with his wife and raised a family.  

Bessie, or "Queen Bess", who was the feisty one and "Sweet Sadie", who was the quiet, yet determined one lived together their whole lives.  They talk about growing up in the South and about getting their education.  Bessie in dentistry and Sadie in education.  Bessie became the second black woman to get a license in both New York and North Carolina.  Sadie became a superintendent of schools for New York City.  For Bessie being a woman and black meant that people would steal the dental tools that she had borrowed from her brother and no one did anything about it.  She had a rough time of it.  Sadie started out teaching Home Economics and therefore had a slightly easier time as a woman but not a black woman.

They moved from Raleigh to New York City to go to Columbia University.  They lived in Harlem and saw the Harlem Renaissance unfold before their eyes.  They met people like Book T. Washington, W.E.B Du Bois, Cab Calloway, and Lena Horne.  They also lived through two World Wars and the Civil Rights Movement.  It is also about the rise of the black middle class. This is a fascinating book that takes you through the pages of history by people who lived it.  

Quotes

Sister Sadie, we bought a house with windows, those windows are here for a reason and I'm going to use them! (Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters First 100 Years by Sadie and A Elizabeth Delancy and Amy Hill Hearth p 14)

You see, when you are colored, everyone is always looking for your faults. If you are going to make it you have to be entirely honest, clean, and brilliant.  Because if you slip up once, the white folks say to each other, "See, what'd I tell you"  So you don't have to be as good as white people you have to be better or the best.  When negroes are average, they fail, unless they are very, very lucky. Now, if you're average and white, honey, you can go far.  Just look at Dan Quale.  If that boy was colored he'd be washing dishes somewhere. (Having Our Say by Sadie and A. Elizabeth Delancy and Amy Hill Hearth p 114)

You see, when you are colored, everyone is always looking for your faults. If you are going to make it you have to be entirely honest, clean, and brilliant.  Because if you slip up once, the white folks say to each other, "See, what'd I tell you"  So you don't have to be as good as white people you have to be better or the best.  When negroes are average, they fail, unless they are very, very lucky. Now, if you're average and white, honey, you can go far.  Just look at Dan Quale.  If that boy was colored he'd be washing dishes somewhere. (Having Our Say by Sadie and A. Elizabeth Delancy and Amy Hill Hearth p 114)

I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones

 

Stephen Graham Jones has written another New York Times bestselling book that takes place in Lamesa, Texas and Tolly Driver who is looking back on the summer of 1989 when he was seventeen. Tolly's dad had died a year before in a car accident. He only has his mother who owns a hardware store and his best friend from school, Amber Dennison, the only Native living in town`.  Amber drives a Rabbit truck that runs on diesel.  The two are very close but not in a romantic way.  They are not in the marching band or the Future Farmers of America which puts them on the outside looking in. 

Tolly likes to go to parties and get drunk, throw up and make a fool of himself.  For the most part the other students ignore him because he no longer has a father.  Stace Goodkin is one of those people who gets great grades and follows the rules.  One night, the In Crowd decides to show Justin Joss a lesson in why he would never be a part of their crowd by taking him to a oil pump horse, one of those machines that bobs up and down like a bronco horse.  They convinced him to climb on top and ride.  Justin ended up mutilated by the machine.  Stace tried to help him, but only managed to distract Justin into causing more damage to himself.

The In Crowd throws a party one night and Tolly, as usual, is plastered.  He got the brilliant idea to do a cannonball in the pool getting everyone nearby soaking wet.  One of them was a baton twirler in the marching band named Shannon who is sitting at a table flirting with a cute older guy.  Tolly has a severe allergy to peanuts, so Shannon's date who puts peanuts in his Coke makes Tolly drink it.  He has a major reaction and his EpiPen is in Amber's car.  The band members take their belts off their uniforms and tie Tolly to a lounge chair.  He starts throwing up to try to get rid of the peanuts.  

Amber and Stace are talking inside the house when Stace sees into the backyard Tolly convulsing on the lounge chair.  Stace, a gymnast, vaults into action to get his EpiPen to him.  She injects him and her and Amber start trying to get him out of the restraints.  Suddenly, the dead Justin Joss appears with a chainsaw and begins to kill those at the party who were responsible for his death.  Even Stace is included in this because she was there.  He doesn't kill her, but hurts her really bad.  Stace had called her doctor father to help Tolly so he's coming and the police likely are too.  There's also Justin to contend with so, everyone runs off.  

Unfortunately, Tolly gets a splash of Justin's blood on his forehead.  When he wipes it away, it goes into an open wound on his forehead.  This will cause Tolly to go psycho and start his own killing spree.   And while the Tolly looking back hasn't killed anyone since, he's recounting this to explain how he became a psycho for a while.  This is a sharp book that nails high school life and living in West Texas on the head.  Its also the perfect book for today, Halloween.

Quotes

Amber...leaned against the steering wheel to shove her own hand down under the front of he seat, closing her eyes to let her fingers see better. (Stephen Graham Jones I Was a Teenage Slasher p7)

You think big thoughts when you're seventeen. Big stupid thoughts. (Stephen Graham Jones I Was a Teenage Slasher p9)

My kind don't exactly do  funerals.  I know.  We're the reason for the funeral. Stephen Graham Jones I Was a Teenage Slasher (p25)

Make enough of an ass of yourself, you get noticed, right? (Stephen Graham Jones I Was a Teenage Slasher p22)

Still? I'd just lost my dada year ago, hadn't I?  This--me being an idiot--was probably some stage of grief. (Stephen Graham Jones I Was a Teenage Slasher p28)

Someone not necessarily full of promise, but full of promises. Stephen Graham Jones I Was a Teenage Slasher (p66)

His two big sayings that year, both of which applied that night, were that nothing good happens after midnight, and that the grass really wasn't that much greener on the other side of fifty-five miles per hour.  Though it could get bloodier real damn fast. (Stephen Graham Jones I Was a Teenage Slasher p64-5)

Its less about survival, more about who you're holding when that big irradiated shock wave blows you to ash. (Stephen Graham Jones I Was a Teenage Slasher p66)

The world's so much simpler when you've got a chainsaw in your hand, isn't it? A chainsaw, or a machete or an axe, that's the elegant solution to every problem. (Stephen Graham Jones I Was a Teenage Slasher p67)

You always want your mom when you're hurt. When you call you're dad is when you've done something he can maybe be proud of. For pain, though, it's moms all the way. Stephen Graham Jones I Was a Teenage Slasher (p128)

We all want to hide, don't we?  To not have to be constantly navigating between our true selves and people's expectations twenty-four seven. (Stephen Graham Jones I Was a Teenage Slasher p136)

   

Dear Faithful Reader,

 I am sorry I have been gone these months. I have been gravely ill and have been unable to read or publish here. But soon I will have some new material for you to peruse and enjoy as you once did my other works.  Keep an eye out for the new stuff. And thanks for sticking by me through this difficult time.

Thanks.

Nicole W Brown

Wonder Woman Just War by HG Willow Wilson ( Wfiter)

 

Grail convinces Ares that he was ready to leave the island and he says he's looking for his "Final Justice” The island of Thermyscia is being torn apart.  Trevor Steve’s unit disappeared and Etta tells Wonder Woman who immediately heads to the site where a soldier tells her she must have been one of those that came through the portal.

Wonder Woman meets up with Etta who tells her that what’s going on. Apparently, the US has an agreement with the Democratic country of Durovia that is been suppressing the indigenous people. Now a warlord has begun a war with the government. It is believed that he has Steve and his men. 

Wonder Woman finds out that Ares started this war. And that creatures from Paradise island have arrived through the portal and she finds out that the island may be gone. Worse, that Olympus May also be gone. Steve and his men manage to escape and find help with  Aphrodite.

Wonder Woman is trying to find a way to end this war and stop Ares. She also must find where Olympia has gone and Paradise island have gone.  This was a great comic with a fabulous storyline. I give this book a five out of five 

Listed on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Wonder-Woman-Vol-Just-War/dp/1779503458/ref=sr_1_2?crid=HAGZIUG1E4YR&dchild=1&keywords=wonder+woman+just+war&qid=1607442087&sprefix=wonder+woman+just+war%2Caps%2C150&sr=8-2

Southern Bastards Vol 3: Homecoming by Jason Aaron (writer), Jason Latour (artist) Chris Brunner (artist). Jared Fletcher) Letterer)

In chapter 9 titled The Ma Who Never Got Away the sheriff of the ints of time, we could've made the right decision.   This chapter about the sheriff involves him thinking about all the times he could've been a man. if he made the one decision and he has missed all of those points in time we could've made the right decision.  Then it shows a flashback to when he was young and asking Coach for help with filling out scholarship forms. But the Coach had other plans in mind,

Chapter 19 the one titled Esau Going shows him fucking a woman  When the one who is fucking the woman on the first is done very well and the picture of the two of them looks lovely. But a  few minutes later when someone is coming to visit Esau he is still ducking her only this time it is as brutal and truly shows. The man who has arrived is a Bible thumper who wants to convert Easu.   Donny Ray, the Bible thumper gets roped into following around Easu on his illegal business for others and pisses everyone off.  Then he tries to get Danny Ray to do something against his religion.

Chapter 11 titled You're LOoking at Country which focuses on Deacon Boone who is religious but is also a man of the woods who hunts all the time. At his church, he is the best snake handler and is willing to pitch in with food.,  But when hears about a mentally handicapped girl who was raped y a real bastard, Deacon Boone decides to hunt a different animal for a change,

The last chapter titled Fourth and Goal is about the big game between Craw County and the school the next county over,  The Coach has made some big mistakes that will cause the game to be very much an uphill battle. This game is the be all end all for the county and they haven't lost in years.  This book is about winning this game by any means possible;  This book is just one more in the series that shows how damn fine it is

Listed on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Southern-Bastards-Homecoming-Jason-Aaron/dp/1632156105/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1EKVRLY0DUK54&dchild=1&keywords=southern+bastards+vol+3&qid=1606746901&sprefix=southern+basta%2Caps%2C150&sr=8-1

Legionquest by a lot of people

 For those of you who are interested in reading a book about Legion aka David  Charles Haller then you will be disappointed because he does not appear until page 347 in a 555-page book. Legion’s first act upon being awoken from his coma is to kill Destiny who is under the protection of Mystique this brings Mystique to were Legion.is located.  Mystique is running for Legion and the X-Men are after her for a crime she committed.

This leads the X-Men to Legion and Charles’s biggest The X-Men found out about Legion and headed over there to help out the other X-Men that were already there.  The Shiar sends an ambassador to help them out by keeping track explains what the crystal does and how the different planets of the different universes will die too of Legion isn’t stopped.

Then four of the X-Men Psylocke storm Iceman and Bishop all went back in time about 40 years by accident with Legion who has a special reason for being there—to kill Magneto. Now the four have no memory of who they are or how they got there. The rest of the X-Men must do their best to try and find their teammates.

I won’t kid you the Legion section is out of this world. And while the rest of the book is filled with a best of of the. X-Men they’re the best because they’re from some of the best writers. At the end is a collection of pictures for a swimsuit issue and it’s out of this world. I hate that I missed it when it came out. I give this book a four out of five for tricking us readers into buying something that has material even I’ve read.

Located at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/X-Men-Legionquest-Scott-Lobdell-ebook/dp/B07BH496DF/ref=sr_1_1?crid=9GKSDL12J3F6&dchild=1&keywords=legionquest&qid=1606325553&sprefix=Legionquest%2Caps%2C144&sr=8-1