Travels With Loreena McKennitt [Paperback]

Niema Ash (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 20, 2005

"Travels With Loreena McKennitt" is not only a must for every Loreena McKennitt fan, but for anyone interested in the phenomenon of "Celebrity". It focuses on the story of Niema Ash and her friendship with Loreena McKennitt, the celebrated Canadian singer, composer and harpist - and explores the impact on the friendship when Loreena rockets to stardom. In a gripping tale, which involves backstage glimpses into the music scene, into touring with a band and into the making of a celebrity, Niema tackles the issues surrounding fame in a personal, honest, well-writen account. The recent attention given to celebrities in articles, on television and in court rooms, makes this book especially relevant.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Niema Ash is an award-winning travel writer and W.B. Yeats scholar. Her first book, "Touching Tibet", with a foreword by the Dalai Lama, was chosen as "Book of the week" by the Sunday Times. In Montreal, where she was born, she met some of the most talented musicians and poets of our time, including Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, John Lee Hooker, Seamus Heaney and Irving Layton, of whom she writes in her book, "Travels With My Daughter". Some of these musicians and poets became close friends - and one of the closest was Loreena McKennitt, with whom she has travelled extensively. In Montreal Niema choreographed and was the assistant director for two of Yeats' dance plays. In London, England, where she now lives, she formed the Yeats Theatre Company, and was the producer and director for two of these plays, which were also performed on BBC television.

Product Details

• Paperback: 340 pages
• Publisher: Purple Inc Press (June 20, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0955030102
• ISBN-13: 978-0955030109
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,325,719 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

113 of 129 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Niema Ash's travels with a vengeance, October 18, 2005

By 

Elizabeth Montgomery "EM" (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Travels With Loreena McKennitt (Paperback)

It always amazes me how slender some people's writing skills need to be before they consider themselves writers, and no doubt this cynically titled book, Travels with Loreena McKennitt: My Life As A Friend is just one of thousands of self-published efforts destined for the grungy end of the dustbin.

As a self-avowed Buddhist and "capitalist hippy", Ms Ash's writing career can be summed up in the three books she's written, of which the last two are self published or, as they say in some quarters, "vanity press" affairs. Her first book follows her travels in Tibet, and is adequately written; those who have never been there would find much of interest in it. But her subsequent two books, sadly, read like the work of someone obsessed with others' celebrity-hood. She may be somebody's true and loyal friend, but you'd never know it from these works.

In her last two books, she revels in her connections with the rich, famous and well-known: the Bee Gees, Leonard Cohen, Irving Layton, Moses Znaimer and Bob Dylan. The kiss-and-tell salacious accounts in her previous book Travels With My Daughter, like her latest, can hardly be considered anything close to serious literature or worthy of critical review. Its pretext is the notion of travelling with her daughter, but soon the real intention is known: in short, Ms Ash knows famous and accomplished people and wants you to be impressed by the company she keeps. And like a peacock looking for an audience for which to strut its feathers, she betrays those friendships when her own talent fails her. While it is clear she has little respect or regard for other people's reputations, she has even less for her own.

In Travels with Loreena McKennitt, unsuspecting fans of Loreena McKennitt are lured into believing they are about to get the real goods behind a woman who is renowned for her generosity and desire for privacy. The reader is then taken on a tedious account of Ms Ash's life on the road, her self-aggrandising view of her importance to McKennitt's career and her grievances with the artist - all common features, it must be said, of the self-serving accounts of hangers-on of the famous. Indeed, Ash's particular grievances -- real or, as one eventually suspects, largely imagined -- take up the last weary hundred pages of a 327 page book ending with her version of a falling out which arises over Ms Ash' partner's employment by the singer and then over some money she loaned them to buy a house.

Ultimately, this reader would prefer to watch paint dry. This isn't the first such extended back-stab disguised as a book, and it won't be the last, but it's hardly compelling fare whether you are a fan of Loreena McKennitt or not. Certainly creativity has not been well served, unless it has been the disingenuous manner in which Ash feigns being a friend while doing an awfully good impression of a vengeful parasite. If you ever suspected that behind every successful person lies a few jealous hangers-on carping behind his or her back, here's another bit of proof.

Perhaps it's no surprise, then, that this work is written by someone who piously states that the singer could count on Ms Ash for her "unqualified loyalty", while displaying anything but. To readers who think they are going to get an insightful, balanced and interesting view of the woman whose music they love, it proves to be a testimony to the adage "don't ever loan money to friends ... or hire them." Especially if they purport to be writers.

With a keen eye on the capital Ms Ash can derive from using McKennitt's name in the title and quite possibly written under the careful tutelage of legal friends, this is a thinly veiled exercise of vengeance. Reader beware! If you want to learn about Loreena McKennitt, you won't find what you're looking for here. Stick to the records.

58 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Vanity Press Indeed!, January 1, 2007

By 

Shining_One (Toronto, Ontario) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Travels With Loreena McKennitt (Paperback)

It pains me to think that a living tree died to create this trash I would not even use as toilet paper if I were absolutely desperate.

I'm glad Loreena McKennitt won the privacy suit against Ms. Ash. The book was poorly written, redundant, and an utter waste of time. I wish I could sue Ms. Ash for the hour and a half it took me to finish while in a doctors office. Thank god I didn't pay for this thing or I'd be really upset.

This book is nothing more than a long, tedious romp down Ms. Ash's own petty ego of broken dreams and leech-like clinging to those with fame. Its really sad how far some people will go to suckle at the crumbs of others - and how vicious they can be when they are cast off like the parasites they are.

I'd advise any true fan of Ms. McKennitt to avoid this bit of rubbish. It is nothing you'd care to waste your time on. Instead, buy Ms. McKennitt's new CD "An Ancient Muse" on sale here at Amazon. It is a MUCH nicer way to spend time with the legend herself!

45 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Oh, sweet justice!, October 30, 2005

By 

Mr Sir - See all my reviews

This review is from: Travels With Loreena McKennitt (Paperback)

"Ash says she cannot afford to pay the court costs and will declare bankruptcy. Alternatively, she is considering filing an appeal, on grounds that the proceedings were unfair. McKennitt was represented at trial by lawyers affiliated with Carter-Ruck, one of London's most prestigious firms. Ash had used up a £100,000 libel insurance policy preparing for the case and was forced to represent herself at the hearing." -- The Globe and Mail.

Tee hee!