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BOOKS
 I WENT FOR A WALK - By Greg Attonito and Shanti Wintergate
For me, book reviews are often long and sometimes grinding to get through, but "I Went For a Walk" is way cool, and although it's aimed at younger children (I'll bet this could be one of books that you could even read to your child while still in the womb), it's also a lot of fun for us adults! Available in English and Spanish and sold at most major book stores, it was illustrated by Greg Attonito (lead singer of the Bouncing Souls), and written his wife, Shanti Wintergate. Together their imaginations create a story of a young child that first explores the Earth ("The sun came up, the sun went down and the oceans wrapped around"), and then travels across a groovy universe to the planet "Moove." Everyone there is like a perpetual motion machine, dancing all the time, fueled by the beat they create. Sounds like a place we'd all like to live! [Sounds like a Bouncing Souls show! – Editor] Another planet called IZ is a world where there are no worries of the past or future. Everyone there lives only in the present. Again, sounds like a cool place to live. [Also sounds like a metaphor for punk rock, where you get older but never grow up! – Editor] You know, I think if there's a lesson to be learned here it's that if lived your life like they do on both of these imaginary planets, you’d make your life a lot happier! The illustrations for "I Went For a Walk" are colorfully bold, almost in the unique style of the legendary 60's artist Peter Max, whose imaginative psychedelic technique is best known from the Beatles' animated movie "Yellow Submarine," Matched with the story line, there's a very creative, almost magical flow, with a cool, learning vibe to it.
Greg and Shanti are doing a book tour, performing a reading/signing of the book that may also include a few tunes on acoustic guitars. My daughter Melissa just became an elementary school teacher. I gave her "I Went For a Walk" to check out to get her professional opinion. This is one of those special books where, like a teacher and her class, you can learn as much from as you teach. When you give without expecting anything in return, that's a special gift. - Phil Rainone
For more information, visit myspace.com/iwentforawalk
MAROONED: The Next Generation of Desert Island Discs - Edited by Phil Freeman (DaCapo Books)
Greil Marcus' Stranded - which asked the first generation of rock critics, "if you were stranded on a desert island, what one record would you want to have with you?" - has become the template for the baby boomer canon of Great Rock Albums. You can argue that the records chosen by the likes of Lester Bangs, Robert Christgau, Nick Tosches, Dave Marsh and others might be a little dated at this point (the Who, the Kinks, James Brown, Van Morrison, and the Ronettes, among others) but you can't argue that those essays weren't written with a real love of rock 'n' roll. A lot of people say rock music ain't what it used to be, and maybe that's true; but it's even truer for today's rock critics. The current generation of music journalists included in this updating of the "Stranded" concept seems a lot less interested in sharing an all-consuming passion with music and a lot more concerned with coming off as hip, non-conformist, and smothering everything in a heavy layer of irony. I don't believe for a minute that these people would really want to spend the rest of their lives listening to nothing but dreck like Elton John's Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road, Skunk Anansie's Stoosh, or the Scorpions' Virgin Killer. Granted, Marcus' 1979 original is heavily infected with rockism, so maybe this crop of writers - which includes the Village Voice's Rob Harvilla, the Seattle Weekly's Dave Queen, and All-Music.com's Ned Raggett - bent over backwards to include jazz, hip hop, and metal. But the actual selections verge on the ridiculous (Dionne Warwick's Arista best-of Legends?) or border on the totally obscure (History of Our World Part 1: Breakbeat and Jungle Ultramix by DJ DB.) Marooned has some moments of flip, clever, entertaining prose, but it's a lot more about hipsters trying to impress you with their street cred and aloofness than it is about memorializing great moments in music history. - Jim Testa
 FRONTMAN: Surving The Rock Star Myth by Richard Barone (BackBeat/Hal Leonard)
If it weren't for Richard Barone, there might not be any million dollar condos in Hoboken. There might have never been a Jersey Beat either.
Back in the late 70's, when Barone first moved to the Mile Square City, he and roommate Glenn Morrow shared a two-bedroom walkup at Hudson and 10th Street for $88 a month. They were also the ones who asked the owner of the new bar around the corner - the one a block from the big Maxwell House coffee factory - if they could rehearse in his back room, and maybe play a show once in a while.
Almost 30 years later, Maxwell's has long been one of the world's most famous rock clubs, and Hoboken has become an uber-gentrified yuppiedom that somehow still plays home to an active, indigenous arts community. Richard Barone was an integral part of that process, and I wish he talked about those days a little more in this autobiography. But then, he did have a lot of ground to cover.
From his days as a precocious pre-teen radio DJ in his native Florida, to the inevitable move to Manhattan (soon rubbing elbows with the likes of Andy Warhol and Yoko Ono,) to his whirlwind stint as frontman of the Bongos - the band that put Hoboken on the map as a new center of pop-rock - Barone breezes through his life story with cheery abandon and an abundance of positive feel-good energy. The book almost reads like a self-help manual on staying positive, focused, and realizing your dreams; for Barone, it really did all come true.
The Bongos, Photo by Phil Marino
Those giddy early days at Maxwells - when the Bongos and their friends in the dB's and the Individuals were inventing the "Hoboken pop sound" on a weekly basis - was when I entered the picture, and I've always said that the excitement and joy (and friendship) that the Bongos brought to that scene was one of my biggest inspirations to start Jersey Beat. So let's just get that out of the way; thanks, Richard. I probably wouldn't be doing this today if it weren't for you!
While the Bongos never achieved the mainstream success they seem poised for, they did enjoy a reign as college radio favorites, MTV darlings, and enough popularity to tour non-stop for several years. Barone describes those crazy times - unabashedly owning up to the heady cocaine and alcohol-fueled excess that ultimately doomed the band - with the same introspective honesty he's always brought to his songwriting. When the Bongos' major-label career on RCA stalled, the band jumped at a seemingly ideal opportunity to move to Chris Blackwell's artist-friendly Island Records and record at Compass Point in Nassau. But that idyllic island paradise quickly turned into a nightmare, and the band wound up crawling home with their figurative tail between their legs - without a new album or a record deal - only to break up soon after.
Of course that's far from the end of the story. After the Bongos, Barone launched a successful solo career; and while he's never topped the Billboard charts, he remains a staple of college radio with the chamber-pop sound he crafted for albums like Cool Blue Halo and Clouds Over Eden. He's also forged a very successful career as a songwriter and producer, collaborating with everyone from Buxter Poindexter to Liza Minnelli to indie-rock icons like Fred Schneider, Jill Sobule, Gary Lucas, Klaus Nomi, and many, many more. And as a performer and behind-the-scenes arranger and event-organizer, Barone has helmed huge superstar-filled tributes to Peggy Lee (and more recently, Marc Bolan of T-Rex) as well as participating in the popular Loser's Lounge tribute concerts in downtown Manhattan.
What keeps the book compelling - besides the mind-boggling list of names Barone gets to drop as his story moves from one project to another - is his honesty and introspection. He's had his share of regrets, missed opportunities, romantic mishaps, and career missteps, and he doesn't flinch at recounting any of it. But there were also a lot of moments through the years when he really did get to feel like a rock star. And sharing that feeling is what his story is all about.
www.frontmanbook.com | myspace.com/richardbarone
 NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY, GOODBYE: Bands, Dirty Basements, And The Search For Self - by Ronen Kauffman (myspace.com/hubcitybook)
Ronen Kauffman seen every angle of NJ's DIY scene - he's done a fanzine, been in bands, and currently hosts an excellent podcast called Issue Oriented. His book doesn't pretend to be a definitive history of New Brunswick's basement-show scene; instead, it's a personal memoir of six vital years in Kauffman's life, from the day in high school when he first discovered punk, to the year or so after he'd finished college when he realized it was time to leave New Brunswick behind. In between, he falls passionately in love with both music (especially hardcore punk) and the political and social ideals of the DIY movement, dedicating himself heart and soul to publishing a zine (Aneurysm, which I vaguely remember,) attending (and later promoting) innumerable shows (some in clubs like the Melody Bar and Court Tavern, but mostly in basements and rent-a-halls,) moving from the Rutgers dorms to several memorable punkhouse apartments, going on tours, starting bands… the whole spectrum of the Nineties DIY experience. What stands out most here is the way Kauffman captures the camaraderie and bonding that an underground scene can nurture; the friendships, the trust, and the feeling that you're giving your life to something important, even if it is only punk rock in the end. It's honest, sincere, funny, sad, and in the end a bit ironic, as this ironclad idealist and Brunfuss loyalist eventually opts for graduate school in New York City and a career in teaching rather than staying put and wallowing in beer, tattoos, and no-budget tours into his thirties. It's a life arc that many of us have traveled, and as Kauffman's current endeavors show, one that doesn't necessarily have to end, just change and grow as we get older. As Kauffman notes early in the book, we all have to grow up, but that doesn't mean we have to turn into grown-ups. - Jim Testa (Release date: July 10. For pre-orders, visit myspace.com/hubcitybook)
ZINES
HUB CITY: OUT OF THE BASEMENT #1 and #4 (PO Box 1561, New Brunswick NJ 07093)
New Brunswick is such an anomaly: A university town filled with tens of thousands of people aged 18-30, Brunfuss only has one official live music venue (although there is a thriving basement-show sub-culture) and not a single record or music store. And until recently, not even a fanzine. Jarrett and Marrissa from the Screaming Females have thankfully filled that last gap with Hub City: Out of the Basement, which includes interviews with bands from the local scene as well as musings and opinions about crucial indie-rock issues. Issue #1 includes a long interview with local scene stalwart Mikey Erg, Jarrett's musings (following a national tour) on this country's antipathy to all-ages venues, and a rundown of some out-of-town bands coming through town. Issue #4 has an essay by Marrissa on her experiences discovering punk culture and a long interview with the band Hunchback. This is a great start and I hope they keep it up. One suggestion: How about an ancillary website or MySpace page with an up-to-date calendar of New Brunswick shows (especially the basement shows, which usually have to rely on flyers and word-of-mouth?) It would also be nice to see contact information on how to get a show at The Parlor or Court Tavern for bands planning on passing through the Hub City. Just a thought. - Jim Testa
NUTHIN' #20 (myspace.com/nuthin_zine)
This is Nuthin's four-year anniversary issue, celebrating with more pages and a color cover. This is an old-fashioned half-size photocopied zine, so the photos are a little grainy and the layout's not very fancy. But the writing - from a staff that's very involved with Ohio's punk scene - is always first rate. This issue includes interviews with Columbus' hugely underrated Tin Armor, the Modern Machines (who broke up shortly after this interview,) and Dave Parasites on the rebirth of the Parasites. There's also a feature called Know Your Labels that profiles the people who run It's Alive, Rally, Cold Feet, Whoa Oh, and Incessant Drip Records. Plus it's got the usual columns, some poetry (ecch,) reviews, and even a punk rock crossword puzzle. Recommended! - Jim Testa
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