Customer Reviews

Ritchie Valens: The First Latino Rocker

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

 

 

This was a great biography. I foolsihly thought that the movie was accurate, but this book proves me wrong. It would have been good for the movie to be just like this book, but of course the show business just wants to make it look good to make a profit! As well, maybe the movie makers had to change some things around or they would get sued. If I were going to make a movie about him, I would base it on this book. The movie was a good movie, but not truly about the real Ritchie Valens...same as the Buddy Holly Story.

Ms. Mendheim does much much more than give us an accurate account of the famed Lation rock-n-roll star's life. She successfully immerses us completely in Ritchie Valens' music, leaving us with a comprehensive wealth of knowledge that was long overdue for the public! Ms. Mendheim's thorough research is to be congratulated time after time! You WON'T be disappointed!

I had been a fan of Ritchie's since 1988. When I learned of this book through Ritchie's offical fan club; I couldn't have been more pleased. I had done a research paper in my senior year of high school, on Ritchie, and I realized how little was written about him. The first Latino Rocker is the only book out there about Ritchie, and I thought it was wonderful. The other shared someone personal traits about Ritchie that allowed me to know him at least a little bit. It was actually better than the movie La Bamba. I highly recomend this book for a new Ritchie fan. I love the pictures of him in the book. My heart goes out to his family and friends since tomorrow will be February 3rd.

As a Valens fan always searching for new information, I found this book to be an exciting read. I thought that Mendheim did a wonderful job researching for this book. However, to those of you thinking about buying this book, there are a few things you should know. First, this book is focused on the music of Ritchie Valens rather than his social life. Mendheim analyzes each of Ritchie's songs and uses her own musical background to describe Ritchie's work. In addition, she spends a great deal of time discussing the origins of these songs. Secondly, Mendheim does a fine job discussing Ritchie's role and interactions with the Silhouettes. Third, Mendheim describes a number of conflicting views about historical events but allows the reader to decide. Fourth and finally, not much attention is paid to the Winter Dance Party tour nor the daily interactions between Ritchie and his manager. Overall, this book is a must read and provides a lot of information not found on the web or any other book.

In all fairness to the author, it must have been a challenge to pen a book about a 17 year old whose notoriety came in the last year or so of his life. No disrespect to Valens, but there isn't a voluminous amount of information to write about.

With that said, the content about Valens' family was insightful and helped explain the significance of Valens' crossing over to the mainstream. I also appreciated the info about the band, "The Silhouettes," and how it nurtured Valens' musical growth (I don't remember Bob Keane's autobiography even mentioning "The Silhouettes!"). An informative discography was included, as were many well selected pictures.

However, in an effort to add pages, the book seemed to be "padded" with any information that was remotely related to - and not necessarily about - Valens. For example, there are THREE chapters of stories behind the songs, and only one, maybe two, that concentrate on his upbringing and musical development. There's also an entire chapter about tribute songs and other acknowledgments by other artists. The author even counts her introduction as the first chapter of the book!

I'm not discounting any of the information. I appreciate what is presented. My observations are more about the presentation and organization of the book. Perhaps a more precise title would inform the reader as to the direction and content of the book. In some ways, "The First Latino Rocker" reads like a university dissertation.

The First Latino Rocker jumps around more than a 2 year old on a sugar fix. It is terribly written, yet the author says it was 20 years in the making. My grade school cousin can write a one page book report with more info on a subject, than Ms. Mendheim gives in 175 pages. After the first 3 or 4 pages she has jumped from his infancy, to his musical career several times. Halfway through you are so confused with his story you have to continuously look back towards the front to see what the hay is going on. Let's just hope she does not quit her day job. The only high point in the book are the photo's.