John Jeremiah Sullivan’s off-beat collection of essays has something for just about everyone. Sullivan goes to a religious rock concert and comes up with some surprises. Sullivan’s brother gets electrocuted and nearly dies; an incident that becomes an episode on William Shatner’s Rescue 911. Then Sullivan visits post-Katrina Mississippi. Horrors abound. Sullivan writes about the recording of Michael Jackson’s best albums with Quincy Jones and legendary recording engineer Bruce Swedien. I had to break out my copies of Off the Wall to hear what Sullivan was writing about. In that vein, Sullivan’s searing “The Final Comeback of Axl Rose” (the Guns N’ Roses leader) brings Rose’s bizarre life into focus. There are essays on cave art and the teen soap opera, One Tree Hill. Sullivan’s range is impressive and so is his writing. GRADE: A-
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. Upon This Rock
2. Feet In Smoke
3. Mr. Lytle: An Essay
4. At the Shelter (After Katrina)
5. Getting Down To What is Really Real
6. Michael
7. The Final Comeback of Axl Rose
8. American Grotesque
9. Lahwineski: Career of an Eccentric Naturalist
10. Unnamed Caves
11. Unknown Bards
12. The Last Wailer
13. Violence of the Lambs
14. Peyton’s Place
Never heard of him but sounds interesting. I reserved it from the library.
PULPHEAD is a great collection of essays, Jeff. You’ll find yourself fascinated at John Jeremiah Sullivan’s range.
I’ll see if my library has it.
You’ll be astonished by John Jeremiah Sullivan’s approach to essays, Patti.
Guess who is now a Jet…
Congratulations on the Payton Manning signing, Drongo! The Broncos are now the favorites in the AFC West. ESPN is reporting a “snag” in the Tebow trade to the Jets. We’ll have to see how that turns out. Bills fans would love to face Tebow twice a year!
So all of a sudden the Broncos are better than the Chargers or Raiders? Time will tell. I’m not sure how the current head coach will work with Manning, who wants a completely free hand in running the offense.
I’m a big fan of Bronco head coach John Fox, Rick. I’m sure Fox and Payton Manning will work well together.
Fox is a defensive guy. Word is he’ll leave the offense to Manning and offensive coordinator Mike McCoy.
I have mixed feelings about all this business. Manning is of course a great QB, so my head says this is great for the Broncos. My heart though, is very sad to see Tebow leave. Not the best passer out there, but the most exciting player I’ve ever seen.
One hears that the Jags are now back in the mix.
According to sports reports out of NYC, Tebow had a choice of going to Jacksonville or New York, Drongo. Tebow picked the Jets. With the biggest media stage in the world, we’ll see how that works out.