Customer Reviews

Steve Goodman: Facing the Music

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4 star:		(4)
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2 star:		(1)
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This is an exhaustively researched, passionately written biography of one of folk music's real treasures. The range of people interviewed, from playground pals to "really famous big time musicians" is huge, and the message is consistent--great talent, great sense of humor, great love of life, great man. I'll never forget any of the times I saw him; the last time, when his health was clearly fading and he was sharing a bill with John Prine came back to me like a film. Thank you for writing this book, thank you for keeping Steve Goodman alive. I hope you find a wide audience and that Steve is "discovered" by many more people.

This biography is a remarkable achievement. Eals synthesizes a massive amount of material to construct not only a life but an era. It should be of interest to anyone moved by a period when folk music no longer meant either "like the hillbillies played" or "I Ain't Marchin' Anymore," but resisted in a different way the blandishments and selfishness of mainstream popular culture, with songs about old-fashioned girls and vegematics, Spoon River and 42nd Street, old black men and Door Number Three.

When Clay showed me an early draft of his opening chapter, in which he describes one of Steve's last performances as his illness was worsening, I worried that he risked stigmatizing the book, and thus Steve's legacy, with the mawkishness of a disease of the week tale of "courage." Clay acknowledged the risk to all of us who expressed concern, and yet pressed on, committed to the notion that there was a way to tell Steve's story in a way that was deeply human, and thus deeply universal.

Clay's accomplished that with the same humane artistry that Steve brought to his own craft. In so doing, he's created a kind of folk journalism for the early 21st century. It's not folk in the museum-sense of written with a quill pen harvested from a goose he raised himself. It's folk in the original meaning of the term, as being of the people, of being real in its regard for beauty and humor, delight and wit, musicianship and charm, family and friends, birth and death. Better get it while you can . . .

"Facing the Music" by gifted biographer, Clay Eals, captures not only Steve Goodman's brief but brillian life journey, but also the zeitgeist of his era with meticulous attention to detail. The book is a joy to simply browse, weighing in at almost the same weight as Goodman himself.

Even if you are not familiar with Goodman's impressive body of work as a composer,entertainer and inveterate Cubs fan, or with his songbook that ranges from the anthemic "City of New Orleans" to the bittersweet "Would You Like To Learn To Dance?"; even if you are not familiar with his tragic loss due to leukemia at age 36; this book is to be savored and enjoyed by anyone who cherishes the best of biographies.

So far I have read only two masterpiece biographies this year (May, 2007), Facing the Music by Eals and Einstein; the Man and his Universe by Isaacson. While both books involved enormous quantities of research, it's Eals' work that smacks of "life's obsession." Over nine years in the making, containing hundreds of interviews, never-before-seen photos, and an Acknowledgement section that reads like a folk music phone book, "Facing the Music" gives new meaning to the terms: Opus and Tour de Force.

All of this output would be meaningless, however, if the subject and the writing style were not inherently engaging. Fortunately they are both. Eals writes in an elegant and embracing voice that draws you in further with each carefully placed paragraph. And, having met Steve Goodman on numerous occasions, I can attest that Eals succeeds in effectively exploring the artist's varied dimensions. He offers well-deserved praise without turning the book into an 800 page obituary notice. The style of the book borders on journalism rather than classic biography. Eals works hard to depict Goodman through the eyes of those who knew him best. The constant stream of anecdotes, insights and episodes is addictive and makes it painful to stop reading.

Eals' over-arching theme is that Goodman's recognition of his own mortality colored all of his work. The positive message is that Goodman's artistic reaction to his own imminent demise was not mordant dirges of doom. Instead, he appeared to look death squarely in the eye as he strove to "get it while you can."

In the closing lyric of a tribute song that I wrote in Steve Goodman's memory shortly after his death in 1984, I respond to a query that Steve poses in his iconic "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request," which was: "Do they still sing the blues in Chicago?" The author was kind enough to include my song, along with 17 other tribute tunes, on a CD included with the book. In it I reply:

"Yes they still sing the blues in Old Chicago, boys,
Where a good man's not forgotten soon.
His songs meant so much
To the lives that were touched
By the Man With The Golden Tune."

Thank you, Clay, for insuring that my words will ring true, not just in Old Chicago, but everywhere where people read and enjoy this masterwork biography.

This is the book that all Steve Goodman fans have been waiting for. No one could have expected it to be this good though! Insightful, great pictures and interesting not just to Steve fans but anyone that likes to read biographies. Comes with a tribute CD too!

Great!

I have played Steve's music for my daughter and son, and have told them he is a national treasure and cultural icon. This book explains why, for when they want more details. (usually they do) Like other old fans, reading the book reminded me of seeing Steve at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, Main Point, and Mariposa. The book does a good job of describing the special quality of performance, that Steve was able to really work the room, no matter how big it was, and get everybody in the palm of his hand. The massive size of the book and its tons of details ensures that it will only be completely read by his most dedicated fans. So there's some irony in that, separates the men from the boys. Anyway, I'm just about done reading it, and it's been most enjoyable. CD's a real tearjerker.

Clay Eals scores with this biography of "Steve Goodman: Facing the Music." Even if Goodman had a shortened career caused by his untimely death from cancer, the book gives a multitude of reasons why he has been missed. The extra bonus is the parade of famous and near famous -- and ordinary -- people who populated his life. The anecdotes really payoff big time in giving the reader a true sense of the times in the full bloom of folk and pop music. Such a time won't come again, and unfortunately, neither will another Steve Goodman.

The book is lengthy, which may turn some people off, but worth a read even if you have to put it down a spell from time to time. The immense selection of photos is another incredible aspect of the book. And the design and layout are splendidly crafted as much as the writing.

I have no idea who Clay Eals is, but he has certainly captured Steve Goodman's essence in this wonderful biography. I lived on the same block as Somebody Else's Troubles, and I have bored my poor husband to death with tales of the best concert I ever saw....when Steve performed at Chicago Fest. All of us sat around on the floor of Navy Pier, and Steve just sat in a chair, and we were all in heaven. He was amazing. Thank you for sharing how influential he was, not only to Arlo Guthrie, but also to Jimmy Buffet, Bonnie Raitt, John Prine and so many others. If I hear one more person say that "City of New Orleans" is Arlo's most brilliant song, I will just scream. Thanks for recalling Steve's ability to make a roomful of total strangers into close friends...if only for a night.

I saw him at Cafe Lena and in concert with Bonnie Raitt. Loved him and now loved the story of his life.

Clay Eals' "Steve Goodman: Facing the Music" is that rarest of rareties: a biography lovingly written without sentimentality; scrupulously researched without being mundane or tedious; fabulously entertaining without being trivial or profane. Mr Eals' eight year "labor of love" comes through as not only a intimately detailed story of the life of a master singer/songwriter, but also a scrupulously balanced portrayal of an incredible era, in an amazing place, about a man whose legacy, while certainly assured among his friends and followers, has now been lifted into the pantheon of "great" artists by this terrific book.

If you read only one book this year, or one book in your whole life, this should be the one. It will make you laugh, cry, sing along, and marvel at the wonders of a young musical genius who died much before his time, and the wonders of a wonderful writer, Clay Eals.

Roger D. Surbaugh
Lilburn, Georgia

Clay committed to print an amount of detail normally reserved for great presidents or colossal criminals. But if you ever were fortunate enough to see Steve in concert, you might very well understand the passion and dedication he brought to this project. I didn't know Steve but when he died, it most certainly was like a death in the family. The many times he came through Minneapolis, opening for John Prine so many times at the original Guthrie Theatre, are highlights in a life where I've spared no expense seeing the best this city's stages have offered. None are quite so memorable as this hipster. He could dazzle you with a style and audacity in his playing that no one seems to have mastered before or since. But more than that, his songwriting combined with a wicked sense of humor that had you rolling in the aisles with laughter one minute, and silenced by raw emotion the next. Prine, another first-class wit and showman, had to feel the pressure of following this guy onstage night after night. It would have been akin to a public suicide had Prine not been so gifted and likable himself. I understand Steve could be a handfull at times--passionate people can be that way. But when we lost him a quarter of a century ago, Steve reminded us how people like that change us forever and leave us crying out for more ... the way we did every time he left the stage.