ALL I DID WAS ASK -- Terry Gross

ALL I DID WAS ASK: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists
Hyperion -- hc
New York -- ©2004 -- 353pp
ISBN: 1-4013-0010-3


Public Radio's host of Fresh Air, Terry Gross, interviews a variety of guests. Included here are some of her more memorable interviews with artists.

"Don't Do It" -- Nicolas Cage
"Like a Skinny Boxer" -- Chris Rock
"Being Square" -- John Updike
"A Man's Voice" -- Johnny Cash
"Lift Everyting Up" -- Charlie Haden
"Erotic Cheese and Crackers" -- Mary Karr
"A New Gift" -- Andre Dubus and Andre Dubus III
"The Craft Itself" -- Uta Hagen
"Use the Disadvantage" -- Michael Caine
"Right in the Gut" -- Mickey Spillane
"You Will Not Find the Word 'Lesbian'" -- Ann Bannon
"We All Die" -- Walter Mosley
"A Family Courtesy" -- Mario Puzo
"Make Sense of It Later" -- George Clinton
"Bootzilla Twenty-seven Hours a Day" -- Bootsy Collins
"Dissonance" -- Nick Hornby
"In the Junkyards" -- Grandmaster Flash
"Alive in a Coffin" -- Paul Schrader
"A Difficult Place to Grow Up" -- Jodi Foster
"I Never Told Jokes" -- Albert Brooks
"Beauty Gone Berserk" -- Divine
"Kissing and Licking Boots" -- Mary Woronov
"To Iron a Shirt" -- Joyce Johnson
"So What?" -- Larry Rivers
"Not to Think" -- Sonny Rollins
"Send the Salami" -- Hal David
"Like Raw Meat" -- Isabella Rossellini
"A Little Out of Whack" -- Dennis Hopper
"The Way People Look" -- Chuck Close
"It Gets Harder" -- Frank Stella
"Mom, Dad, I Want to Be a Tap Dancer" -- Conan O'Brien
"Nothing Else Would Matter" -- Eric Clapton
"A Large Feminine Side" -- Steven Tyler and Joe Perry
"Too Much for You to Take" -- Gene Simmons
"Dramatic Beats" -- Samuel L. Jackson
"Stop Acting" -- Dustin Hoffman
"In That Hurricane" -- James Baldwin
"A Place of Protection" -- Carol Shields
"A Fraudulent Angel" -- Maurice Sendak
acknowledgements

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What a fantastic collection.

I listen to Public Radio. I'm not addicted to it, I contribute financially only occassionally, but I do listen if I'm in the car. When I happen to be listening and Terry Gross' 'Fresh Aire' comes on, I am usually interested. Now that I have had the chance to read through these interviews, I can understand why. Terry Gross asks intelligent questions.

Not a lot of inteviewers ask intelligent questions. Usually it's only leading questions about a new movie or a new book of or a new political campaign. Gross asks questions that we all want to ask.

Perhaps it's because this collection is with people who are artists (musicians, actors, writers, etc) -- people with whom I am familiar, interested, and can relate -- but I truly enjoyed the insight offered in these brief interviews.

Some of those that I enjoyed surprised me. I never would have expected to enjoy the Steven Tyler interview -- especially considering how blunt he was regarding his drug use -- but I did enjoy it.

Nicolas Cage is not one of my more favored actors, but I enjoyed his interview as well. In fact, hardly a bad one in the bunch.

Highly recommended.

CONAN OF VENARIUM -- Harry Turtledove

TOR Books -- hc
New York -- ©2003 -- 269pp
ISBN: 076530466X
cover art: Julie Bell

Conan, the barbarian, as a youth, before he ever took part in his first combat.

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I can't remember when I last read a book or story with the famous 'Conan' as hero. It's been many years, for sure, but there was a time that I greatly enjoyed those books. And so, when I saw this title on a shelf, I was eager to give it a read. Sadly, I found it sorely lacking.

Turtledove's actual writing style was just fine, though it did lack the excitement that Robert E Howard or even Lin Carter or L. Sprague de Camp manage to put into the stories. But the plotting was dreadful. I'd say that nearly half the book was repeating a couple of sequences (how much Conan liked a certain girl, how much the nasty Aquilonian liked the same girl, how much Conan hated the Aquilonian and wanted him dead, and how it all would lead to trouble). Saying all of this only once would have reduced this to a fifty page book, I think.

And then there were the non-barbarian aspects of the ... well... barbarians. Maybe it was important for us to see the twelve year old Conan behaving like a twelve year. Maybe not, though. Maybe it would be okay to see him as being exceptionally different. But in any case, seeing him playing what is essentially a game of soccer with other boys was totally pointless and to my mind, totally out of character.

I wanted to like this book, but sadly, the best part about it was the chronology of Conan books at the end.

CRISS CROSS -- Lynne Rae Perkins

Greenwillow Books -- hc
New York -- ©2005 -- 337pp
ISBN: 0-06-009272-6
Newbery Medal winner

A character study of early teens with wry senses of humor and observant insight.

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I like the makeup of this book. The wide variety of communication forms is compelling. There's narrative fiction, songs (lyrics and music), poetry, artwork, photography, playscript, and dialog, all rolled into this book in very effective ways. A chapter in which the author is describing what two different people happen to be doing at the same moment is written in two column form. All wonderfully creative for the readers this book is targetting.

But if you ask me what the book is about, I'll have trouble telling you. The plot is thin. Wispy. It's all about character ... which is okay sometimes, but I like form and substance, too.

I don't know that I've ever felt to contradicted while reading before. I liked what I was reading, but I was growing bored with it at the same time.

Difficult to recommend, but I wouldn't advise ignoring it, either.

FANTASTIC FOUR: REDEPTION OF THE SILVER SURFER -- Michael Jan Friedman

A Boulevard/Putnam Book -- hc
New York -- ©1997 --343pp
ISBN: 0-399-14269-x
Illustration by George Perez
cover art: Steve Fastner and Dave DeVries

The fabulous Fantastic Four join forces with the Silver Surfer and do battle against a massive planet destroyer in the 'negative zone.'

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Occassionally I like to read something quick and easy -- something in which I don't have to spend a lot of time learning about the characters -- perhaps this is why I enjoy reading books set in the StarTrek universe and/or the comic book universe -- the characters have already been defined.

However, I have to admit to a bias -- I've never enjoyed the stories of the Fantastic Four (comic book heroes) which take place in outer-space (or other worlds). I can't quite define it. And I know it seems strange, considering my propensity toward sci-fi stories, but the stories in outer-space never appealed to me. They always seem contrived, and this novel was no exception.

The extra-dimensional foe here, seemed a novelty for no reason. The foe was in no danger of attacking Earth, so the FF involvement was totally unnecessary. The Silver Surfer's appearance seemed fine, but his "falling in love" with the new protagonist seemed out of character, and yet a major plot point.

I just didn't but into this story. Not recommended.

GOD'S FAVORITE -- Neil Simon

Samuel French, Inc. -- playscript
New York --©1969 -- 96pp
ISBN: 0-573-60972-1
Two act play.

The biblical story of Job, as told by Neil Simon.

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I was not familiar with this Neil Simon play, and I thought I knew most of them. As I began, I wondered even more as to why it has stayed so unfamilair. The set-up was well established, the lines humorous, in typical Simon fashion, and the characters quite real (despite some quirkiness).

But then the plot developed. And let's face it ... the story of Job is not funny. No matter what lines Simon put into his character's mouths, watching a man suffer from a multitude of physical ailments just isn't funny, or pleasant, and I actually felt some revulsion toward the action in the play. I can't imagine seeing this, and perhaps that's why this had stayed in relative obscurity.

PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM -- Woody Allen

Random House -- hc
New York -- ©1968 -- 95pp

A neurotic, nebbish man tries to get over his wife's leaving him by dating again. His close friends, a married couple, assist him, lining up dates. His imagination assists and hinders him, in the identities of Humphrey Bogart and his ex-wife.

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I can't believe I'd never read this, and I'm not sure I've ever seen the movie. However, I really liked the play.

Although much of this is dated fairly specifically to the 1960's/70's, the basic story and comedy still works.

It would be difficult to set this in modern day -- why would the attorney be constantly calling in to let his office know where to reach him -- just open up the cell phone. And yet, if he isn't constantly calling his office, the set-up that he ignores his wife is lost.

And of course, there's the discotheque. ... A 'discotheque'?!?!

The biggest challenge to staging this as a play, however, is finding a non-Woody Allen type to play a very Woody Allen character. Although this is such a typical vehicle for Allen, and it's hard to read without picture him in the role, the character really is any man with low self-esteem. Finding THAT, I think, is better than trying to play it as Woody Allen.

A rich comedy, steeped in the late 1960's, but worth reading/staging.

BEDROOM FARCE -- Alan Ayckbourn

Samuel French, Inc -- playscript
New York -- ©1978 -- 92pp
ISBN: 0573110476

Three bedrooms, four couples, one night, and a series of dyfunctional relationships and misunderstandings lends itself to this two act comedy.

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While this play seems to have all the ingredients needed for a farce (including the word 'farce' in the title), it strikes me as possibly a very difficult play to stage in farce style.

I think the idea of skewing time and location through the use of three bedrooms on the stage, is a wonderful vehicle. Making the important plot points occur solely in the bedrooms is difficult and maybe even a little forced at times. However, it is certainly easier to be told that there are hundreds of party guests 'downstairs' rather than seeing them.

The relationships are appropriately convoluted for a theatrical vehicle, although none of them stand out as being people we really care about.

It would be very interesting to see this done. Judging by the reviews of staged productions that I've perused on-line, it hasn't been done particularly well -- lacking in pacing and getting caught up in the relationships' quagmire.

Still, I'd recommend this as an insightful read for comic theatre, and would consider staging it.

THE DINNER PARTY -- Neil Simon

Samuel French, Inc. -- acting edition
New York -- ©2002 -- 64pp
ISBN: 0-573-62831-9

As the first of six guests arrive for a dinner at a swank restaurant, they begin to wonder what they might have in common, soon wishing that they hadn't accepted the dinner invitation.

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I saw this on Broadway and enjoyed it immensely. Now, as I read through it, considering it for production with a local community theatre group, I realize that I like this more than most of Simon's latest works.

I have felt recently that Neil Simon has either tried too hard to make us laugh (Laughter on the 23rd Floor) or been trying to be too poignant (the biographical 'Brighton Beach' series) for me to really enjoy his recent works. Where is the writer who penned The Odd Couple or The Sunshine Boys or even Barefoot in the Park? The answer is ... he is here.

Before I began to read this, I wondered if perhaps what I had enjoyed about the Broadway performance was seeing John Ritter and Len Cariou and Henry Winkler sharing the stage. But no, what makes this play work is the writing.

The witiness, which covers a characters pain ... classic Simon ... is here. And yet the pain isn't too deeply imbedded, otherwise we'd have trouble really laughing (which has been my problem with the Brighton Beach plays).

If you've liked the earlier Neil Simon works, you will probably like this one, too. Worth reading. Worth seeing. Worth producing.

THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY -- Michael Chabon

Picador USA -- tpb
New York -- ©2000 -- 639pp
ISBN: 0-312-28299-0
Pulitzer Prize Winner

A "biography" of Thomas Kavalier and Sammy Clay, two men who changed the world of comics.

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Finally. Finally I have read a major prize winning novel that is unique, and exciting, and adventurous, and easily worth the time I spent reading it.

I admit that I was somewhat hesitant to even start this novel as so many of the big prize-winning novels that I've read recently have been dull, boring works of self-loathing and pity and moroseness. To read a 600+ page novel of the type was not something I looked forward too. Fortunately, Kavalier & Clay was anything but.

Perhaps it's my own interest in the comic-book medium that helped make this novel so enjoyable, but I'd like to think that I would have been engrossed in this even if I'd never read a comic in my life. The research seemed impeccable, and the biographical style was brilliant. There was just the proper amount of 'biographer-removed' and 'biographer-respect' in the telling of the story.

Part of what marked this as incredibly well done is that I wanted, so badly, to see and read the comics that Kavalier and Clay created, and at the same time, it seemed that I had seen them. Absolutely remarkable.

Ther relationship between Joe and Sam and Rosa was extremely well plotted. It's hard to imagine any other possible way for the relationships to co-exist.

The war years for Joe seemed odd, at times, but it helped to explain much of what he had done.

Really a brilliant novel, and well worth the read.