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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This might not be the book you are looking for..., October 5, 2009
This review is from: Strange Things Happen: A Life with The Police, Polo, and Pygmies (Hardcover)
I feel a little bit like pulling a Jedi Mind Trick here to start off this review. Or that perhaps Stewart Copeland has pulled one over on all of us readers, or that he should do before the angry shouts and rampant confusion surely begins.
Police fans looking for, at long last, Stewart's definitive statement on The Police?
*handwave*
"This is not the book you are looking for."
As far as I see it, Stewart made his definitive statement on the early Police years with Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out. If you're expecting much more here, you'll be disappointed, although there are a few brilliant gems of observation that slip through the cracks when and where you least expect it.
Diehard Stewart fans--the self-proclaimed Nutters and Snarks--looking for deep personal insight and a detailed history of Stewart's life and all his various projects?
*handwave*
"This is not the book you are looking for."
Stewart Copeland is not here to divulge all his secrets, nor dish the dirt on his past relationships, musical or personal. If you're looking for either type of information, you'll be highly disappointed (go read band mate Andy Summers' book "One Train Later" instead). What Stewart is here to do is share some stories with us, and most of these stories are quite lighthearted and fun in their nature and tone. They're the kind of stories you'd share at a dinner party to good friends, people who will get all the in-jokes and references you'll be making. It's no wonder that when Stewart first shared some of these stories on his website, it was in a section of the site entitled "Stewart's Dinner Tales".
But if you're looking for a traditional autobiography? Seriously, listen carefully to me, right now:
"This is not the book you are looking for."
* * *
Structurally? Strange Things Happen is kind of a massive hot mess. It's divided into four sections: Stewart's early life (where he sticks The Police); immediately after The Police; the years 2000 - (roughly) 2007; and lastly the reunion tour. I found myself oddly reminded of a Kurt Vonnegut novel as I read through it all, with the various chapters jumping here and there through time--some very short, some longer; the narration from Everyone Stares stuck in-between the prose as a substitute for a developed chapter on the Police's early years.
However this jumpy shatter-shot structure seemed to emphasize the surreal nature of some of these events and adventures Stewart describes in his tall (drummer) tales. How does one go from being at the top of the world with The Police to seeking out pygmy tribes in Africa? Playing polo matches against Prince Charles? Becoming a reality show "celebrity"/villian? It's a wild life story that probably could have filled several volumes if described in detail, but that's not the intent here. We get the highlight reel instead--and with Stewart's clever prose and eye for pertinent, well-chosen detail, a great deal is often revealed in just a few words or sentences.
Some Police fans seem put off by the fact that The Police (v 1.0) is dismissed so quickly in the book. I think the important points Stewart wants to share about that time were, again, already made in his movie and then emphasized in the brief chapter that follows here, "Police Rule". He doesn't talk about the band, his bandmates, the creative (and other) tension between them. He talks about the disorientation of being The Rock Star, an idolized one, and the effect it has on one's mental well-being:
"It was getting claustrophobic. Privacy deprivation is something like sleep deprivation. The love that surrounds you becomes vexatious.
"I often wished that I could merely turn my collar up and shun the light."
But Police fans really should relax and take a deep breath, as they get more than enough about the band in the last section of the book. Again mostly snippets from here and there as the reunion tour rumbled along, it is an enjoyable look into the machinery of the band: rehearsing and road rituals, major tensions and how and where they were resolved; what brought out the best and worst in each of them as musicians (and individuals) and why it was painfully, clearly obvious that there could never be a "new" Police album after all of this was over. As far as individual incidents go, I especially enjoyed the chapter "Raging Kumbaya", Stewart's story of hanging out with Rage Against the Machine as well as the section in the "Toast in the Machine" chapter on what happened when Sting and Les Claypool crossed paths.
* * *
The book's Afterward, entitled simply "The Green Flag", apparently seems troubling to some members of Stewart's fandom and is getting very mixed reactions so far. I personally find it a very suitable ending in its ambiguity and the quandary presented. The afterword is placed side-by-side in the book by a full-page picture of Stewart with his wife and family, with the caption "This is who I really am". The message is not very subtle, I don't think: "I am not a superhero (Halloween costumes excluded.) I'm just a regular family guy who has had some strange things happen to me."
The story of The Flag has been told well by others elsewhere, and will continue to be told by the fans who participated in its travels for years to come. (Goodness knows, whenever I can finally find the time to edit together my book of fans' recollections from the tour, that story will be told many times over!) But fandom is a funny thing. I spend a lot of time thinking about and writing about fandom, having been involved in various ones for most of my life. Fandoms very much are communities which develop their own rules and rituals, symbolism and language, as Stewart hints at here in the Afterward. And they can develop an almost religious fervor about them. Fans converge at conventions and at concerts, often donning ritual gear and costumes to identify themselves in a crowd and feel united. Fandom can by joyous; sharing in a common love for a band, artist, film or tv show can be great fun. Yet it can also turn ugly very quickly and harmful quite easily, both for the members of that fandom and for those at the center of all that attention. Everyone Stares certainly gave many of us a first-hand view of what it could be like to be in the middle of that kind of fannish mania and attention, and one gets the sense that Stewart is rather cautious about anything that could encourage or set off that crazed adulation again.
Which is not to say I necessarily believe that Stewart "reads" the Flag as such. But I do get the feeling that there's a sense of caution in embracing it too closely lest it get out of control--for those waving the Flag as much as for him. Throughout the book, we've read his stories of what it's like to try to find a normal life in the aftermath of being The Rock Star one time around. And as much as he may have enjoyed the ride this second time during the reunion tour, there's an understanding of where taking it too far can lead.
"The folks at the concerts aren't bowing down so much as rising up in exultation, but I'm just saying that I have an idea of what it feels like to be a golden calf."
It's cautionary in tone as much as it is a loving (well, I think so, anyway) acknowledgment of this "nutty" fandom that Stewart has, which he's long been more than generous with supporting and encouraging for these many years.
In the end, this is a book I'm very happy to be able to add to my collection of materials related to The Police and the members of the band. At times it's frustrating, at times it's hysterical, and some times it's utterly brilliant. It's another piece to the puzzle that is/was The Police that probably has no solution nor answer, but a piece I'll enjoy going through again from time to time for a good chuckle and to mull over in my mind--like any good dinner tale that deserves retelling amidst the best company.
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Copeland Book's a Hit, September 29, 2009
This review is from: Strange Things Happen: A Life with The Police, Polo, and Pygmies (Hardcover)
Stewart Copeland's first foray into publishing, "Strange Things Happen: A Life with The Police, Polo, and Pygmies," is in itself wonderful and strange. In addition to his storied career as drummer for 1980s juggernaut The Police, Copeland has a slew of other abilities: film composer, videographer, musical-instrument-inventor. Luckily for the reader one of Copeland's additional talents is a flair for hilarious, insightful prose. It seems unlikely that a person known for generating a theatrical hail of thunder on stage would generate this, one of the rarest of items in the rock world: a memoir nearly devoid of pretense or self-deception. Yet the book is 300+ pages of exuberant recollection, without the abundance of twisted rationalization so common in the rock genre.
Copeland on music, pg. 18: "I am nothing, no one. Just the beating heart of a larger body, enveloped by the soul of the faithful. A synapse closes in the mind of the enraptured protoshaman. Next morning, when my head clears, it seems obvious that music isn't just a tool or weapon, it's what my life is for. It's powerful juju, and I want to own it as much as it owns me."
Some of the tales here will be familiar to readers of Copeland's official website, on which he's maintained a trove of first person essays for the past couple of years, the felicitously-titled "Dinner Tales." However, only a couple of the chapters are pulled word-for-word from the website - and, as a plus for Copeland-philes of recent vintage, there's an entire new chapter concerning a green-flag project conducted during the 2007-2008 Police tour by the denizens of the website itself.
In addition to entertaining bons mots on subjects as diverse as Gene Simmons' organization of the kids' school choir and the hoi polloi of the Brazzaville, Congo immigration authority, Copeland pulls no punches when it comes to ladling out an occasional deserved black eye: the founders of Cleveland's Rock Hall of Fame are described as "fat cats" trying to convince musicians of their importance in order to gain access. It's actually quite a refreshing side of Copeland's personality; most big-time rock musicians are too cowed by what one might assume is fear of lawsuits to dish anything containing much substance.
Of course, many will review this book looking for juicy details on Copeland's reputed stormy relationship with former bandmate Sting. Unfortunately for those readers, there's nothing new here on the subject, other than a few generalities. One common complaint about this book will inevitably be its lack of inside detail on the years of meteoric rise to fame by The Police. According to Giovanni Pollastri, Copeland's sometime promoter and manager of his official website, Copeland simply believes he's already revealed most interesting tidbits on the subject of his seminal band. There's plenty more to the man and the music, so why not provide details of lesser-known aspects of his life and career?
The downside of Copeland's book is an assumption of familiarity with his works which may be unavailable to the casual reader who knows Copeland only as "that guy who played for Sting." However, its strength is a quality found in abundance in Copeland himself: a genuine, gee-whiz enthusiasm that leads him, by his own admission, to say yes to virtually any adventure on offer. The reader is treated to a discussion of the ins and outs of Copeland's conversations with Les Claypool and Trey Anastasio, who played with him in Oysterhead - one of the best jam bands of the early half of the 21st century, and the early stages of preparations for the Police reunion tour of 2007-2008. Copeland is given the keys to the city of Melpignano, Italy after befriending members of the local musician's community and we're there to witness. Copeland seems genuinely to want to convey to the reader his own sense of wonder at the world and its experiences, as that expressed by fellow Anglophile JRR Tolkien: "You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."
There's also an insider's guide to day to day life as part of a famous rock and roll outfit, which Copeland has served up before in his feature film, "Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out." There's really nothing new here on that subject. However, Copeland's willingness to divest the rock-star mystique of some of its inscrutability is also something quite different than one might expect from an artist who could be expected to continue to benefit from its prestige.
Pg. 54: "[There are] folks who are so bewitched that they think they are in the presence of an apparition. Two of them will stand in front of me and talk about me as if I'm a painting on a museum wall..."Tell him he's tall!"...As I was starting to experience this I was pretty sure it wasn't normal, but for the moment it was the role I had chosen. It didn't occur to me until years later that I'm just some guy."
Readers looking for day to day minutia on The Police might wish to purchase Andy Summers' excellent memoir "One Train Later" or, for less detail but valuable insights, "Broken Music" by Sting. The spiritual companion to "Strange Things," however, is neither of these two books but the narrative "Wild Thing," produced by drummer Copeland's older brother Ian in the mid-1990s. Not only does that book provide detailed information on early decisions regarding management of The Police, but many other bands signed to agencies helmed by Ian himself and older brother Miles Copeland, founder of legendary label IRS Records. It's also a delight to read, and reveals Ian Copeland's effusive personality - which regrettably was extinguished when the elder Copeland died of cancer in 2006.
This book will appeal most readily to those who already possess at least a passing familiarity of Copeland's work since leaving The Police. Even so, if Copeland were only "some guy," as he dismissively refers to himself in chapter two, his reflections would be terrifically entertaining reading. Copeland is possessed of an intellect that makes quick work of a wide range of subjects, and his talent for turns of phrase is likely unparalleled by any autobiography by a musician of similar stature - with the possible exception of Ray Davies' excellent and shaded self-portrayal "X-Ray."
In short, "Strange Things Happen" is a must-buy for anyone with even a passing interest in Copeland's life and recent career. I'll give it five stars, even though Copeland will almost surely produce a work of similar quality sometime down the road - he's that prolific. ;)
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Strange Things indeed!, October 23, 2009
This review is from: Strange Things Happen: A Life with The Police, Polo, and Pygmies (Hardcover)
As a member of Stewart Copeland's online community, I am familiar with most of the text from this book. More than a few passages originated as posts from The Man himself. Still, there was enough unheard info here, at least to me, to warrant adding this to my library. Actually, I'm such a fan of The Police that it would have been added to my library either way! The posts from the road during that band's historic reunion tour are entertaining. Stewart's film making adventures in the far corners of the earth are hilarious. Most insightful to me were the chapters in which Stewart tries to explain his role in the band and his goal to please Sting, and how frustrated he felt when he could not do that. How many years Stewart must have waited to say those things. Having met the man in person, I can say that his charm translates to page very well. I was a bit surprised that Stewart largely ignored the death of his brother Ian, but I suppose the pain of that loss is still too fresh in the Copeland family. I finished this book in about two days. I tore through it. A great read!
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