11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste...Dean Wareham's Cathartic Black Postcards, June 14, 2008
Andy Warhol said that in the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes. If one is lucky enough to land a recording contract with a name record company, write brilliantly crafted rock songs, and tour endlessly, then one might get to be 'almost famous' for 15 years. Such is the story that Dean Wareham, who was the lead singer songwriter of the alternative/indie rock bands Galaxie 500 and Luna, tells in his hilariously satirical, meticulously detailed and occasionally disturbing semi-autobiographical tome, "Black Postcards: A Rock Roll Romance" (The Penguin Press, New York, 2008). This is an essential read for anyone who loves rock music, as it is one of the most well written and insightful accounts from the trenches of the often seamy and occasionally glorious scene that was the alternative rock music business.
Drawing his reminiscences from a diary that his father, a successful management consultant suggested he keep, Wareham chronicles his middle class childhood in New Zealand and later in New York City. It was in New York where Dean came of age in the late 1970's during the halcyon days of punk and new wave. Like a sponge, Wareham absorbed the music, the style and the ethos of punk and new wave rock. Ever opinionated, Wareham quickly draws sharp lines of demarcation between "good" and "bad" music. The Clash, Joy Division, Talking Heads, and The Feelies fell into Dean's category of "good" music. U2, Metallica, The Cure and other big name bands who received extensive radio airplay, were not especially 'cool'. That the dizzying list of bands Wareham cites as influences, recorded abrasively uncommercial rock music and achieved only cult status is exactly the point, as it was that do it yourself for the sake of the music ethos that shaped Wareham's later choices of the people he befriended, the guitars he played, the bands he formed and the music that he created. Galaxie 500 and Luna were "not the Beatles" nor Nirvana as Dean wryly observes, but Wareham and band mates achieved the more modest aim of making rock music that was quieter than grunge but which was every bit as gripping. Wareham and Galaxie 500 members Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang distilled the urban folk-rock of The Velvet Underground as well as 60's garage rock to create jangly and trace-like guitar based rock. After Galaxie 500's demise Wareham, along with Luna band mates, Justin Harwood, Stanley Demeski, and Sean Eden (and later Britta Phillips) developed a more rhythmic and angular sounding rock described as "dream pop". When each band was at the top of their game, several critically acclaimed alternative rock records emerged, namely "Today" by Galaxie 500 and "Penthouse" and "Pup Tent" by Luna.
Wareham could have subtitled his book, "a Rock & Roll Alternative", because, Wareham is forever faced with choices. The choice making process that Wareham describes, gives "Black Postcards" its' dramatic tension. Dozens of choices must be made in a rock & roll life from the mundane to the potentially life altering. Whether to continue to take college classes or to instead spend a lot of time learning how to play guitar really well; which producer to hire to mix an album; how to spend time on tour after performing at sparsely attended shows; whether to be faithful to his wife or to romance the new female band member, Britta Phillips. What is frustrating about Wareham is that he more often than not makes the wrong choices. Not one to get too glum or mope about his lapses in good judgement, Wareham keeps the tone of his story loose by injecting copious amounts of deadpan, satirical and scatological humor, thus refreshingly breaking up the tedium of the seemingly endless road tours, sleazy hotels, and internal bickering among the band members. The following passage about a night spent in Los Angeles in 1989 seeing the bands Hole and The Dwarves is priceless:
"The Dwarves took it to another level. The guitarist (who was called He Who Cannot Be Named) wore only a jockstrap and a hockey mask. The singer (Blag Dahlia) wore a pair of fishnet tights and no underwear, so his package was quite visible. After their final song, the drummer knocked over the drum kit, pulled down his pants, and mooned the audience. Then he inserted two fingers in his a**. That was a show stopper." (Black Postcards, at p.99).
Wareham does not spare himself from his critiques, as he relates how he gradually came to grips (through therapy) with the uglier aspects of his own personality and saw how his destructive behavior hurt the people closest to him. Wareham conveys real pain when he describes the scene where he looks across a street and sees the nanny wheeling Jack, his then two year old son, away from him and effectively out of his life. "This was the worst moment of my life. Of course I know that other people live through much worse. Mine were the problems of a spoiled and self-indulgent singer/songwriter. Still this was my moment and it hurt. Never mind that it was self-inflicted." (Black Postcards at p.240).
"Black Postcards" is an essential rock read, because it is a lively narrative of rock & roll from the point of view of a talented but commercially unsuccessful rocker. Some complain that Wareham should have described more of the creative process that went into making Galaxie 500's and Luna's paeans of teen angst, lust and boredom, but these details were not essential to the intensely personal saga that Wareham tells. Like all the best rock records that when finished playing leave you wanting more, both Galaxie 500 and Luna did it their way, did it well, and then they broke up...the process often being rocky but a process of evolving nonetheless. Not many rock bands can say that they achieved such creative success and hopefully now that Wareham has written about his adventures, more people will check out the stark beauty of Galaxie 500's and Luna's music. Dean Wareham is to be commended for deflating some of the pompous rock myths and for honestly describing the price one pays should one choose to live out the adolescent fantasy of being a rock star. "Black Postcards A Rock & Roll Romance" captures the edgy and thrilling danger that good rock music is.
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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
More songs about buildings and food, April 5, 2008
A decent memoir by an indie rock icon. Undoubtedly it helps to be a fan of either Galaxie 500 or Luna, the cult bands Wareham fronted in the 80s and 90s. Wareham's no hack, but the book lacks narrative shape. A good writer on a small scale, the endless anecdotes flatten out as tour after tour is related in inconsequential detail. This approach does manage to convey the tedium of life on the road in an almost famous band: the crappy hotels, squalid clubs, long drives. We don't get much insight into the creative process, except the negotiations of recording an album in a democratic ensemble. Nor do we get much in the way of celebrity name dropping, though Luna opened for Lou Reed (one of the two times I saw them), who appears in a photo op and contributes a dustjacket blurb. Wareham is in fact, pretty discreet, handling the climax of the book, his infidelity and divorce from his first wife, with kid gloves. A salacious tell-all this is not.
What he does talk about is food: paella in Spain, barbecue in Texas, brisket on Houston Street. He also has the sniffy attitude of a fanboy music nerd of a particularly 80s ilk, catty about bands he doesn't like. Favorite road game: "Who wouldn't you open for?"
But Wareham's a smart guy who doesn't wear his Harvard education on his sleeve. There are a fair number of wry asides and one liners. Though some of these stories fall flat, I guess you had to be there.
There are also some genuinely poignant moments, like when he catches sight of his toddler son across the avenue the day he walked out on his first marriage.
All in all this is a respectable book for fans and those interested in the nuts and bolts of being in a minor league rock band. Still, better worth waiting for the paperback.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hey, how come there aren't more photos of Britta?, April 11, 2008
I was pleasantly surprised at how well-written and entertaining this book was. "Black Postcards" is a genuinely funny and touching book. Dean Wareham adroitly navigates his past, revelling the reader with nuggets from his youth ("My toes were smiling at me!") before documenting the fall of Galaxie 500 and the salad days of Luna. Throughout it all, Dean is refreshingly frank. No punches are pulled, he (rightly) takes credit for the rise of Galaxie 500 while openly admitting his own douchebaggery when necessary. Indie fans will also delight at the numerous cameos throughout the book by musicians such as Calvin Johnson, Yo La Tengo, and Stereolab.
But the humor! Goodness gracious me, it's been a long time since I've laughed so much while reading a book. Dean's accounts of life in a band are hilarious, from working in a studio ("We should have hired a cook...") to endlessly touring Europe in a van. The most amusing tales, however, are his casual dismissal of other bands. "We hated the Pixies." "I thought Eddie Vedder sang like Cher." "Metalllica are not the brightest bunch of guys you'll ever meet." "The Ramones were too punk to enjoy the beauty of the Rhine Valley." My favorite anecdote is a brief encounter with Anthony Kiedis in a hotel exercise room.
I would recommend reading this book even if you're not a fan of Galaxie 500 or Luna. Just being a music fan is reason enough to read this book because it will shed voluminous light on the day-to-day workings of being in a band.
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