Customer Reviews

Fire in the Rain...Singer in the Storm: An Autobiography

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Holly Near has written a very entertaining book about her life. She describes how she has gone from being heterosexual to (possibly) gay and back to heterosexual. One such return to being straight caused a lesbian admirer to throwup. She is as perturbed to hear this as we are. But putting a label on Holly Near is not going to be a profitable experience. I just felt that I had met a woman and really seen her heart. I read this book some time ago and I still remember a strong emotion. The book is hard to find and we haven't heard from her. Holly, whatcha up to

This is a particularly good autobiography, and should be studied for its balance between candor and restraint. Near is fearless in examining the conflicts she endured (some of which she created) by becoming immersed in women's music and progressive politics in the 1970s - 1980s. She writes movingly about the pressures she encountered, and sometimes acquiesced to, in her journey of becoming a "cultural worker" as opposed to an entertainer, and her growing comfort of living with the conflicts instead of running from them. There is one key sentence in the book that epitomizes the futile infighting among different progressive camps that caused frissures where bridge building was sorely needed: "Mistrust and misunderstanding among those who care is more devastating than the insensitivity of those who do not" (p. 148).

What I think is missing from the book is a discussion of Near's one album deal with the Chameleon Music Group ("Singer In the Storm"). The album is not discussed in the text but is listed in the book's brief discography listing as a collaborative effort between CMG and Redwood Records, the label Near founded to release her recordings. If ever there needs to be a book written on the formation and history of an independent music label, Redwood Records would make an excellent and worthwhile subject.

All in all, this is an insightful, well written book by an artist who always defined herself on her own terms, and her process of realizing what those terms were. I would LOVE a sequel!!