
AMANDA & THREE BOOKS
If you’re looking for a first-hand account of Jennings’ journey from a burgeoning, polished rock and roll artist to a country music superstar, this 2009 memoir is an essential read. Waylon: An Autobiography recounts many of Jennings’ most difficult life chapters, from the loss of his close friend Buddy Holly to his struggles with addiction. It also serves as a tribute to Colter, who helped inspire him to improve his life.

IN THE MINDS OF MEN?
Some people really like the transporting nature of experimental prose or spare autofiction, but when I want to fully peace out of reality, I like being dropped into another life entirely, one that feels as rich and detailed as possible. The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides was a comforting reread lately, because the scenes have the quality of life. Anywhere But Here by Mona Simpson is comforting for the same reason, a fictional world that is so tightly woven that it blots out the actual world.

CAPOTE: IN COLD BLOOD
Capote´s distinctive, high-pitched voice and odd vocal mannerisms were bought to life in Philip Seymour Hoffman's Oscar-winning portrayal of him in the 2005 movie, Capote.

WRITERS WRITE TO RIGHT WRONGS
McCormick died in 2015, a poor, unhappy man unable to let go of his Johnson manuscript or the “Monster.” Now that the book and the field recordings have been released, we know more about Johnson and Texas blues, but we are still left with burning questions. The biggest question of all is what might have happened if Johnson’s life had not been cut so short and he had lived to become a crucial figure in the tumultuous changes in American music during the 1940s and ’50s. In a forthcoming Curmudgeon Column, we will try to provide an answer.

SIDETRACKS AD DETOURS present PASS IT ON weekly walkabout volume 16
great writers top stories gine artts

ALL THE SONGS A PRINCE CAN BRING YOU
this is the most in-depth exploration of Prince's songs ever written

SOMEWHERE DOWN THAT CRAZY RIVER
Musician and 24 actor Kiefer Sutherland, a Canadian, wrote: “The loss of Robbie Robertson is heartbreaking. Canada has lost an icon, and music has lost a poet and a scholar.”

BENNETT LEAVES FINAL GIFT
In all of the work he did with contemporary artists, he never sounded age-inappropriate, said music critic Jim Farber. Bennett always bent them to his musical will, never the other way around, he said.

PARKINSON. Presenter par excellence
We saw Parky flirting like an old romantic with the likes of Lauren Bacall and blushing as if with a schoolboy crush when he was chatted up by Miss Piggy.

MARY QUANT
showcases the period when Quant revolutionised the high street with her subversive and playful designs for a younger generation.
