The Uncool by Cameron Crowe

 

Cameron Crowe's first interview was with Che Guerera, someone his mother knew when she was head of the local community college's Spanish Cultural Center. Crowe was in high school at the time and would graduate at the age of fifteen, but got his start at the San Diego Free Press paper, The Door.  He did a lot of interviews over the years until he was fifteen, and got published in Rolling Stone Magazine.  Over the decade of the seventies, he wrote articles on Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Elton John, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, the Almond Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Led Zeppelin, the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and the Who.  In 1970, he bought two tickets to see Elvis and two tickets to see Derek and the Dominoes for seven dollars.  His mother took him.  She was completely against rock n' roll.  Neither knew what to make of Elvis's concert, where he played for a total of 48 minutes, most of which he was just making noises or letting the audience sing for him.  After seeing Derek and the Dominoes, Crowe's mother changed her mind about rock music.  

Crowe interviewed Bowie twice: the first time in the mid-seventies, when Crowe followed him for 18 months to "hold up a mirror" to Bowie; the second time was in 2006, when Bowie was clean and sober and a different man who remembered nothing about those 18 months.  He interviewed the Eagles twice: once after the release of their first album, when they were just starting out and didn't want to kill each other; the second time was when Hotel California came out, and they hit their peak lyrically and musically.  He describes Frey and Henley as The Odd Couple, with Frey as the messy one and Henley as the uber clean one. When he interviewed Led Zeppelin, it was a hard interview to get, as Jimmy Page turned down all interviews, especially from Rolling Stone Magazine.  He had a hard time with the Almond Brothers, too. Duane had just died, and Greg wasn't talking to anyone about it.  This ungettable get would earn him his first cover story and byline.  

Crowe delves deep into his life and his oldest sister's suicide when he was young and trying to be a bridge between his other older sister, Cindy, who had a hard time getting along with their mother.  He had a close relationship with his mother, who was the person everyone called to talk to because she was such a good listener.  While his mom was proud of his accomplishments, she still wanted him to become a lawyer like his grandfather.  When Crowe won the Oscar for best screenplay for Almost Famous, his mother told him that it wasn't too late to become a lawyer.  Crowe writes about the movies Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Almost Famous, and the musical Almost Famous.  He spent a year attending a local high school to write the screenplay for Fast Times.  

I know I shouldn't have been as amazed as I was at how wonderful this book was, considering he has been writing his entire life.  It is one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read.  He really makes you feel as though you are there, experiencing the seventies through the music.  The seventies were a unique decade that won't come again.  It's the soundtrack of Crowe's youth.  He makes sure that his movies have the music that defined his life and left emotional memories.  This was the golden age of Rolling Stone Magazine.  If you're a fan of music from the seventies, this book is a must-read.  He captures the essence of these artists at various stages of their careers.  It's a backstage pass to a time that will never be again.  

Quotes

My sister had too much pride to lie well.

Cameron Crowe (The Uncool p 14)

Why should we talk about the weather? There's nothing we can do about it. What about world hunger?

Cameron Crowe (The Uncool, p 39)

I understand your music. It's better than ours.

Cameron Crowe (The Uncool p 51)

I always felt that a favorite song has a mind of its own. It arrives just when you need it, and that arrival memory remains for the rest of time. Every time you hear the song, you can remember the feeling, like you're reading a diary entry. It's one of music's great gifts.

Cameron Crowe (The Uncool p 84)

American bands break up. British bands stay together. We're going to defy that theory.

Glen Frey quoted in Cameron Crowe's book The Uncool p86

He arrived like a talented character actor enters a movie with a secret behind his eyes.

Cameron Crowe (The Uncool p 109)

The only thing that was almost as good as a Who concert was what happened at a Who concert.

Cameron Crowe (The Uncool p 173)

I had an early cassette and listened with headphones, lugging my boom box on the cold streets of Chicago. Wet slushy snow was on the ground. For a Zeppelin fan who grew up in the desert, trust me, this was a heavenly way to first hear Physical Graffiti.

Cameron Crowe (The Uncool p 201)

I was learning that to be clever you first had to be sophisticateed.

Cameron Crowe (The Uncool p 201)

He was seeking period. The problem was none of it could last. Particularly on a diet of milk, red peppers, and cocaine.

Cameron Crowe on David Bowie in The Uncool ( p 214)

The next morning, we made promises to get together soon, but it was no great surprise that we were one Christmas card away from falling out of touch.

Cameron Crowe (The Uncool p 225)

Skinny, a little underfed, with a look in their eyes like they knew a few secrets. No one wore jeans like them either.

Stevie Nicks on Frey and Henley in Cameron Crowe's The Uncool p 235)

Stevie was recently single and eager to make new friends like the Eagles' Don Henley. Lindsey was dating a friend of mine, Kathy Nelson. Christine was dating Beach Boy Dennis Wilson. John McVie was heartbroken. Mick Fleetwood looked on, knowing it had all been captured in the songs.

Cameron Crowe (The Uncool p 239)

Sometimes the truth is so blinding you don't even see it.

Cameron Crowe (The Uncool p 250)

Every life was an epic tale if you knew where to look.

Cameron Crowe (The Uncool p 257)

I must have tried to write about that very specific, very epic pain a thousand times or more. It's that moment when the trap door of love opens, and you go tumbling downward. The breakup scene that comes closest is in Say Anything...when Diane Court breaks up with Lloyd Dobler in his car. In my case, Molly's breakup gift wasn't a pen; it was a rare checkerboard UK edition of Elvis Costello's debut album, My Aim Is True. When someone breaks up with you that well. Believe them.

Cameron Crowe (The Uncool p 259)

The drummer knew Sinatra's set of hand signals, visible from behind. Though they'd still never officially met, he and Sinatra had learned their own musical shorthand. One night, the drummer finally asked his road manager if he could be introduced to Sinatra. The road manager declined his request. “Frank has met enough people.”

Cameron Crowe (The Uncool p 273-4)

Theater actors are different from movie and TV actors in an important way. Sometimes in directing in film, the actors will want to give less...The actors in our musical were always anxious to find ways to give more.

Cameron Crowe (The Uncool p 278)

Link To Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Uncool-Memoir-Cameron-Crowe/dp/1668059436/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3A1I277PGP58J&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.jvrZ8y8PRMkWI7t2i8TCWyyop4dJPAkjhAg82C09s_lZdAIypqPhItAV3457U0qVAT4DIUuThCAB1wDgz47K-mpoDLwGmNhZpYWvT4Lty9GuJekej0yMdISDlNHcI9Sfjx9LRMkFQXiu9AA5QCXU3UVXumKLMh6gB8AVRbRVrbAFLwxOGvkTzgqueXIIvmkP-ibT1aNDpAxmxN9c6vRU-o25oYW3xksAaeYMM8NynDs.mWQ9og_SOAh2GQjvQ3GsLb3RqW9fvvrd02G2ElfTIE4&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+uncool&qid=1772216751&sprefix=the+uncool%2Caps%2C182&sr=8-1

Dating at the End of the World by Janeva Rose

​

Casey spent her childhood, after her mother died, helping her dad, who was a doomsday prepper, fortify the house, build a fence with barbed wire at the top, and practice combat. She became quite good at throwing stars. 

Soon, however, a kid at her high school begins taunting her, calling her Doomsday, and getting others to put cans and garbage like banana peels in her locker.  She started to resent her father as being the cause of her suffering. And she came to hate the young man named Blake who made her high school years a living hell. Their senior year he stops bullying her and treats her nice. Soon the two are secretly dating. Until, at their first party together, he gets a phone call and turns back into the monster he was before, breaking her heart.

Flash forward to today and she’s engaged to a fellow doctor working together in a hospital in Chicago. A mysterious flu virus has broken out causing some people to become zombie biters or Nomes, people with no memories. Casey gets bit as the hospital gets overrun by these zombies. However, she gets better and doesn’t turn. 

Her and her fiancé hold up in his apartment until one night when some burners, those who are human and want to watch the world burn, arrive at their door and her and her fiancé, Nate must fight them off. Nate runs out the door the first chance he gets leaving Casey to fend for herself. The combat training comes back to her and she is able to get away. She decides to go to her father’s house, a place she hasn’t been back to since she left for college.

She doesn’t just find her dad there. Her uncle Jimmy, his wife, and their two kids, JJ and Greg, who brought a woman with him. Everyone seems to think she’s dead since they went looking for her early on. Her father has a surprise for her. Blake, a former Navy SEAL, has been working with him on the project for over a year. Not only that, but she will share her bedroom with him as they haven’t built enough cabins yet for everyone.

Casey is livid about this and Blake is acting like the asshole he was back in high school. He won’t let her go on a scavenger hunt since she hasn’t trained in a while. This infuriates her. 

When her dad’s neighbor, Elaine, who has moved in with them, reveals that she is diabetic and needs more insulin, it’s time to go to the hospital and get supplies. Casey has to go since she is familiar with a hospital layout and knows the various medications. While they are out, those who stayed behind were attacked by burners.

At the hospital, Blake gets bit by a biter and his fate is up in the air. At home, they fight off the burners, but must worry about both biters and burners taking down the fort. Meanwhile, as Casey watches over Blake to see if he turns, she finds herself fighting the new feelings she has for him. But can she trust him not to break her heart again?

I really loved this book. It was an emotional roller coaster that was a fast page turner with all the right ingredients for a wonderful novel. It ends on a cliffhanger and I do hope that she writes a sequel soon. Meanwhile, I will look into reading some of her other books. Rose is one to watch.

Quotes 

He reeks, which is saying a lot, because no one smells good in an apocalypse.

Jenna Rose (Dating at the Wns of the World p 27)

Link to Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Dating-After-World-Jeneva-Rose-ebook/dp/B0DW4HPCMF/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=1URUPSTYIW49G&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.HOHxO9cX7frsNXRRBZeyLRl3HzY0PHs5qY5vFoZX83J6kDI-5eOnH3Dp06XQ_78a2SSaZrZlvMMqN8I-6Y5klkKBvCC4c2QXNNFEcBpSKN1mbMOuKrzZgWx7dkegvxBKBAHUJMbxzSxs0t8L8CwCryttMasqQfR4dPNK4L5tANz7V8FKOrb04yU0wA0kBQZ4Vb91XcyjGNv35KZ6DCKQPw.p5MehQm873S5zdXqre70QhlMpWu3z_R6MLb-rsN1m2g&dib_tag=se&keywords=dating+at+the+end+of+the+world&qid=1771117288&s=books&sprefix=dating+at+the+end+of+the+world%2Cbooks%2C160&sr=1-1

Valentine’s Slay by Navessa Allen

​

This book opens at a cemetery in Louisiana when Noah, a worker there, is putting dirt on Emma Miller’s grave. Her husband had her buried on Valentine’s Day. Noah hears yells and at first thinks that it’s teenagers making out, but it turns out to be Emma who is still alive.

Emma believes that her husband, who was dealing with financial difficulties, had been poisoning her over the last six months. She had just discovered this, along with his infidelities; she was looking to get a divorce. He pushed her down the stairs and likely gave her something that would put her into a coma. He had power of attorney and was also her doctor so it was easy to keep her in a coma up until she was buried, where she would wake up in a coffin and die. 

But, Noah stopped that from happening and he took Emma to his place out in the country because she doesn’t want anyone to know that she is alive, since her husband would come back to finish the job. Emma’s husband didn’t just cheat on her he also put her down so many times that she thought he was right. 

Noah doesn’t see things the way that her husband does. He sees a beautiful, smart, kind, woman who needs the touch of another human and the love a man who has adored her from afar since high school. The two discover a passion neither has known before. But will Emma’s husband kill them before they can have a happily ever after?

I really enjoyed this book that is the sixth of a series that explores second chances. A novella that clocks in at 95 pages it’s the perfect read for an afternoon. The series has a hot pepper scale to indicate how hot the book is and this one got the highest score of four peppers. This novella is only $0.99 as a kindle book on Amazon. It’s worth a lot more than that. A perfect read to get you in the mood for Valentine’s Day. 

Quotes 

“Why are you so wonderful?”

“I’m not. I’m decent, at best. The bar, as we’ve already established, is in hell.”

Navessa Allen (Valentine’s Slay p 48)

Until the Clock Strikes Midnight by Alechia Dow

​

This fantasy romance for young adults is about the Guardians (who are made up of Celestials) that help mortals when they are at a crossroads to achieve their Ever After, be it a Miserable, Unhappily, Ordinary, or Happily. 

Darling is the first fairy to go to Guardian school. It is tough being the only fairy amongst celestials who are all logic and reason with no emotion. Yet she graduates at the top of her class and gets to have a chance to win a spot on the Moral Outcome Council. She hopes to change how fairies are seen and change how things are done.  She has a mental illness called vacillating disorder (fairy manic depression) that requires her to take medication or risk spiraling out of control. Because she decided to go to Guardian school her father has disowned her and told her she was no longer welcome in the land of her birth.

Calamity, Calam, is the most talented Misfortune in his class who doesn’t believe in love or happily ever afters. His mother left him and his father when Calam was young because she wanted to pursue a happily ever after for herself. His father has been pushing for this since he was a kid and won’t accept failure. He believes all the stereotypes about fairies not being reliable, being overly emotional, loves to overuse magic, and not being serious.

The task that both of them are sent to complete is to help a mortal named Lucy to find her Ever After. Lucy inherited a bookstore from her mother and once painted beautifully. She never leaves the store, which is not making much money. One of the patrons of the store is Andi, a princess who likes Lucy romantically and the feelings are returned but neither has told the other of their feelings. Calem wants to squash the romance before it gets started because love is not dependable and people leave.

The country that Lucy is from, Lumina, is going through a drought that has lasted ten years and taken all the hope from the land. Darling believes that if the country’s lands become fruitful again this will mean mean more business for Lucy’s store and help make Lucy happy. Darling goes out in the middle of the night to the fields and uses her magic, against Calem’s advise, and makes the lands fertile. She thought if she overdid the magic it would stay rather than disappear if she loses, as Calem is happy to remind her.

While Calem sleeps Darling gets up early and goes to various shops to work out trades with the bookstore to the benefit of both. Darling thinks that if everyone around Lucy is happy she will be happy too. 

The mayor’s wife is the only Miserably Ever After either Darling or Calem have ever met. She is pure evil and has plans for selling the land the bookstore is on. She is a main obstacle to Lucy’s Ever After.

I received this advanced copy of the book by the author. One of the comments by a reviewer was that this book was a combination of Good Omens and the Brandy version of Cinderella. I say that it is also a bit of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Calam seems both prideful and prejudiced against fairies. And he and Darling fight like Elizabeth and Darcy. Through all of their bickering and fighting they find themselves falling in love. But will Darling be able to silence the voices in her head that say she is worthless and will Calem come to think that love can exist for a Misfortune. I really loved this novel and would recommend reading it even if you aren’t a teen. 

Quotes 

It’s not a celebration if there isn’t a cake. That’s just a fact. No cake equals no joy, and no joy equals why are we even doing this.

Alechia Dow (Until the Clock Strikes Midnight p 1)

My outer appearance must always reflect my inner reality…or at least the reality I want to feel. No one looks too hard at what’s behind the smile when you cloak yourself in colors.

Alechia Dow (Until the Clock Strikes Midnight p2)

If there’s a problem you can’t yet solve, the first solution is hot chocolate.

Alechia Dow (Until the Clock Strikes Midnight p32)

Happiness is subjective. Survival is fact.

Alechia Dow (Until the Clock Strikes Midnight p44)

No one needs romantic love to survive. They need food. Money to afford that food. Their home. Clothes to put on their cold backs and heat to warm their hearth.

Alechia Dow (Until the Clock Strikes Midnight p 112)

She broke my heart so throughly that I questioned its existence.

Alechia Dow (Until the Clock Strikes Midnight p 162)

Love is disruption. It’s a fork in the road that leads to an uncertain destination.

Alechia Dow (Until the Click Strikes Midnight p 187)

Link to Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Until-Clock-Strikes-Midnight-Alechia-ebook/dp/B0DZ1PR5HC/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=1TRBVSI0KNE6F&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.J13CXDNhNJnWjIJRCaIXnQ.FzPNHMA3oybvQMhfwxTCy_wdxunO3ZZuYNYBEulA5TA&dib_tag=se&keywords=until+the+clock+strikes+midnight&qid=1770382605&s=digital-text&sprefix=until+the+cl%2Cdigital-text%2C307&sr=1-1#immersive-view_1770382620134

Death to Valentines Day by Catherine Cowles

​

This is the fifth of a group of six novellas in an unconnected series called The Improbable Meets-Cute: Second Chances. It is only 100 pages and can be quickly read in an afternoon. 

This story is about Maia whose relationship with Jackson, that lasted ten years, ended a year ago on Valentine’s Day when she caught him in bed with her cousin. She hasn’t dated much this past year and has come to hate Valentine’s Day. 

But her friends Vi and Erik have convinced her to dress up slutty in a lacy top that she normally wears with pants but instead, is wearing with a deep red pair of f**k me stiletto heels. They plan on dragging her to an anti-Valentines Day masquerade, being held at a castle in the mountains of Denver owned by a major donor at the Animal Preserve that the three work at.

At the party Maia sees her ex with another woman and grabs the closest guy to her and kisses him. She doesn’t know who he is, but he knows who she is, since he has been holding a torch for her for over a decade. The kiss is the best kiss either of them have ever had. But when she discovers who he really is she knows she has no future with him, Becker, because he is her ex’s brother. Besides, he lives far away and travels a lot as a professional footballer. Never mind the heartache it would likely cause their parents. Then Maia sees a dead woman on the patio and freaks out. 

In my opinion the dead body should be removed from the story. This book is only a hundred pages long and there isn’t time to properly solve a murder. The solution is utterly ridiculous and the story focuses on the romance between Maia and Becker. The book is not bad if you take out the murder and the e-book only costs ninety-nine cents. If you read romances and have an afternoon to kill this is the book for you.

Quotes 

Hate sex can be the best sex.

Catherine Cowles (Death to Valentines Day p 21)

“I still don’t understand the ‘ineligible recover downfield’ penalty thing”

“No one does.”

Catherine Cowles (Death to Valentines Day p 77)

Link to Amazon https://www.amazon.com/s?k=death+to+valentine%27s+day+catherine&crid=2UYQVABS4CVUU&sprefix=%2Caps%2C288&ref=nb_sb_ss_recent_2_0_recent

Immortal in Death by JD Robb

​

In this third Dallas/Roarke mystery, Dallas said “yes” to Roarke’s marriage proposal at the end of the last book. Now she has agreed to help Roarke with planning the wedding. She insists on paying for her own gown that will be made by her best friend Mavis’s new boyfriend, Leonardo, who is having trouble with his first show. The main model, Pandora, will pull out of the show and bad mouth Leonardo if he doesn’t stop seeing Mavis and come back to her, even though she doesn’t care for him, she just wants to own him. Leonardo knows if he gives into her she will keep dragging him along forever. Mavis doesn’t want to ruin his career before it’s had a chance to get off the ground.

Dallas gets a call that one of her weasels has died a very violent death where he was tortured. Dallas requests that Officer Peabody, who was introduced in the last book, be attached to her for this case. Boomer, the weasel, had a new drug and its formula in his apartment. This means that Dallas will be primary, but have to share the case with Illegals and a handsome cop named Casto, who is also Boomer’s trainer. 

Then Pandora is found beaten to death in Leonardo’s shop and Mavis wakes up there and sees the mess and calls Dallas. Dallas is forced to grill Mavis in interview and soon when all the physical evidence points to Mavis, she has to arrest her. However, Roarke posts bail and hires a team of lawyers to defend her. 

Dallas connects both murders together and believes that the new drug called Immortality (because it increases your sex drive, strength, and a cell regeneration that is youth in a bottle) is the thing both murders have in common. Meanwhile, Roarke is the one planning the wedding as Dallas begins to get cold feet. 

This book is a great read for the Valentine season. The series keeps getting better and better as you try to figure out who is behind the murders and the selling of Immortality. But the matter of clearing Mavis is foremost in Dallas’s mind leaving not a lot of time to think about the wedding or help plan it. Will Dallas solve the case in time to say “I do”. Or “don’t”.

Quotes 

“Clear me, you mean. I thought it was innocent until proven guilty.” “ That’s one of the biggest lies we live by.”

JD Robb (Immortal in Death p 52)

Beauty is easy, Lieutenant. Some are born with it, others buy it. An attractive physical shell is moronically simple to come by today. It’s still desired. Pleasing looks never fade from fashion, but in order to make a living from these looks, a person needs to have power.

JD Robb (Immortal in Death p103)

Death was the ultimate calmer, after all.

JD Robb (Immortal in Death p265)

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Immortal-in-Death-J-D-Robb-audiobook/dp/0593545664/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=31ZKLTT1Y8O2O&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.IEnYnnr33QUA7TmZmnLOC8VE09yWnt9_JVS9tszdXIV69akC1UBIYtasqxGiduWjtLLkgECJHIy8oAUgRt-dkrSnrGkqn79Q2WQPx5LVc5sKqAdPJFeByOoBD45V-3AQbOw93dXRo3nOYjEaojKVNmH94FbxkGYtvytm70DRr4IK4s8arrql_eEEB531GhQVXhX-6g6_EWUu0jxhET6CsA.qeCbeqOWLw00Wgpyv3xyPq7uyn5B9wmTdxQVZSP-rFM&dib_tag=se&keywords=immortal%2Bin%2Bdeath%2Bby%2Bjd%2Brobb&qid=1769991759&sprefix=immortal%2Bin%2Caps%2C245&sr=8-1&th=1&psc=1

Glory in Death by J D Robb

This mystery is the second book in the Lieutenant Eve Dallas, and her partner, the richest man in the world, Rourke who live in NYC in 2058. Both of them had horrible experiences as children that they used to get ahead in their fields. In the last book, Roarke let Eve know that he loves her, but she is having difficulty letting him through her defenses. They get into a huge fight and take a break from each other.

Eve becomes tangled up in a high profile case of the DA being murdered in a bad part of town. Eve thinks she was there on a personal matter and considering the fact that she had a nice portfolio worth a great deal of money. Some of this portfolio directs back to her ex-husband and the rest to her two children. Her son is very deep in debt due to gambling. He tried to get his mother to dig him out of debt but she refused. The daughter is getting married to a man who gambles with her brother and has a dark secret from his past.

When a rising star in the acting world is found murdered in public with her throat cut, just like the DA, Eve connects her murder to that of the DA. Eve tries to use herself as bait but it goes wrong and an innocent young woman is killed instead. The killer isn’t done and Eve is finding evidence that links the DAs son to all thee murders and sees him as a strong suspect.

This book keeps you on the edge of your seat and wondering who did it. It’s obvious that the killer is picking powerful women in order to get the glory he thinks he deserves that these women are preventing him from getting. I highly recommend this book and the series.

Link to Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Glory-Death-Book-2-ebook/dp/B0013380Z0/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=D266NML518BM&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.hv1ve2wXzNwNz1f-mFjqnVbo6fFyDsqW3yBmPye0L8vsDf2UFBKPowzGHFGGY0B6hrg7eS8Ss_GIQnCVp5ITqb2LfeQJgsNYpb5jxPEskdE7UHiKkrMj6VQ34mTNhnbMaSqCUUGId6l2UGgb26KYDW89XB0TrV8OuvzmIDhyvttqGLJt2RbQvCikQB59LoHIxD9dcrrufkvCbUrlcf2lrg.FQFtIyxEUgIhEBa_6XTrsQXr5WZlnlV7ax0tHKgI_5Q&dib_tag=se&keywords=glory+in+death+by+jd+robb&qid=1769463171&sprefix=glory%2Caps%2C303&sr=8-1#immersive-view_1769463184157