Customer Reviews

Never the Same Again: A Rock 'n' Roll Gothic

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's gotta be a wild hopscotch between playing first wave punk in the late 70s and turning into a detective novelist for the next two decades. Yet, like his idol James Ellroy, Jesse Sublett's own life was imprinted with death. Sublett's talent lies not just in the vivid depiction of a nascent music scene in Austin, Texas but his deft juxtaposition of it as a man living with a dark memory and what might have been a bleak future. With wry humor and insight, Never The Same Again is in a category of its own in the rock book pantheon, an autiography turned up to 11.

Although marketed as "A Rock 'N' Roll Gothic," this remarkable book deserves a much wider readership. Jesse Sublett's very literate story should be required reading for everyone over the age of sixteen.

His autobiographical story is a cautionary tale in which he visits the darker sides of his life head-on with incredible courage--traveling back to the one tragic event that was to shape his entire life. How he deals (and doesn't deal) with this tragedy is what makes this book a compelling read. It is a survivor's story written in an honest and candid style.

This is not an easy book! Reader's may be confronted with their own demons along the way but Jesse's ultimately hopeful and positive message shines through--leading the way!

Family, friends, music, creativity, tears, laughter, and ultimately understanding meld together to form a powerful mix in this very human story of one man's journey.


Note:
I was first introduced to Jesse at an evening signing event in our bookshop in Glendale, CA. Both my wife and I were impressed with this tall thin man from Texas with such an easy manner. I might not have investigated this book had it not been for Jesse's reading that evening. Thank you, Jesse! Keep writing!

The best compliment I can give Mr. Sublett is that after the first third of the book, I had to put the book down, go smoke a cigarette and then didnt pick the book back up for about 3 weeks. The events of his life are gripping, entertaining, funny and sad. Jesse defianlty has a story to tell, but in the same way, his writing reminds us that we ALL have a story to tell. That good and bad things happen to everyone. I really liked his writing style. Certain phrases and ideas really stuck in my head - lines like "her eye's didnt see me" and the tape loop running over and over. These are both events that I could identitfy with in my own life. I too was involved in a murder trial in which I was there with body before the police came. I really dont talk much about it because I feel like no one I know has been in that position and Jesse's words summed it all up. It made me revisit my past.
Overall, I highly recommend this book - especially to those who actually live in Austin. Reading about all the clubs that are now long gone and reading the back stories on people who play everyweekend here in Austin was great. The idea of John Dee Graham at 17 is a trip. Also I think struggling austin musicains will also find this book to be inspiring and an eye opener to how success in the music biz goes; the reality of it.
I loved how this book ended but what I think would be even cooler is when Dashille is older, that he writes a book from his prospective starting off where this book ends. Now that would be cool. Congrats Mr. Sublett on a great book. Much love to Lois and the most handsome man. I now will pass it on...

Aside from his music, Jesse Sublett is known for his pulp detective novels. Here he turns his gaze inward, and exercises his detection skills to unravel his past and come to terms with an event which has troubled his sleeping and waking since its occurence. One of the few memoirs that I have read which treats the author's younger self with neither condesencion nor contempt: it captures his innocence even in "rebellion", and the lovely part is, that although he faced both the brutal murder of a lover and a deadly disease, that innocence has survived and blossomed into a new life.

I was privileged to hear Jesse Sublett speak at ConMisterio in Austin. The way he presented himself and talked about his book intrigued me. A great-grandmother, I've never been particularly fond of rock music, but I bought the book and read it on my airplane ride back to California.

Mr. Sublett pours his heart and soul out in this book. It gave me some insight into the make-up of a musician. The way he writes about his music and how it makes him feel is revealing, especially to someone like me who had no prior knowledge.

However, the meat of the story is how the murder of his girlfriend affects his whole life, and how that devastating event also changes him and eventually even influences his choices during his life-threatening illness.

Once I began reading, I couldn't stop. I highly recommend Never the Same Again.

Marilyn Meredith, the author of Wishing Makes It So and Wingbeat

It reads like a scene from a detective novel. A young musician returns home from a road trip only to discover the body of his girlfriend, strangled and abused. Taken into custody by the police and promptly named as suspect number one, he helps the police solve the crime. His life shattered, he picks up the pieces and moves on. But this isn't a scene from a fictional novel, it's the beginning of the one of the most intense and inspiring memoirs that I've ever read.

Author Jesse Sublett is one of the seminal figures in the Austin, Texas punk rock landscape. His most famous band, The Skunks, were one of the original scenemakers back in the late 1970's, throwing a power-pop-metal groove onto the three-chord substructure that defined the early genre. Jesse would later branch off from the Skunks, playing with several other bands over the course of his career. He also took up a career as an author of hard-boiled noir. This book covers a lot of those adventures, and they make for colorful and fascinating reading.

The REAL insight of Jesse's story, however, is found when he chronicles the two major life-changing events of his lifetime. First, he has to confront the savage murder of his girlfriend, Dianne Roberts. This tragic event literally displaces Jesse from everything that was familiar to him at the time. Later in life, as Jesse has seemingly moved on to build a new life for himself and his family, he is once again struck by tragedy, this time in the form of advanced neck cancer. Over time, Jesse is able to mentally connect the two events. By doing so, he is eventually able to make peace with both his disease and his awful memories of finding Dianne's body.

This is an incredible story of survival against the odds, through two different events that would have shattered most other people. Sublett writes with passion and flair, his descriptive passages hitting all of the right notes. It was hard to put this book down at times, but there were other times when I had to put it aside and think about it a little, to reflect on the words and events. Truly an excellent memoir.

Mr. Sublett, I applaud your courage and fortitude. I also appreciate you giving others the opportunity to gain insight from your experiences. Highly recommended.