My large melon went through some good reads lately, all biographies. Some music, some comedy and some history as you're never too old to absorb the past.
Geddy Lee – My Effin Life
Most music/band biographies deal with the band having their differences at one time but Rush never seemed to have that. I was fortunate to see them live once and it was one of my top shows to see. They took their performances seriously. He went by 'Gary’ early on but became ‘Geddy’ from his polish mother’s accented pronunciation of his name. A chapter is devoted to the hell his parents went through during the Nazi Holocaust. A crazy time.
Lee was classmates with hockey player Steve Shutt and actor Rick Moranis. The former was an enforcer in pro hockey and it turns out he was one in grade school as well as Lee stopped getting bullied when Shutt stepped in. Lee helped the latter when Moranis was doing the SCTV McKenzie Brothers (“take off you hoser”) movie ‘Strange Brew’ and sang a song for the soundtrack.
I don't think there are many people that had issues with Geddy; a good person/friend.
Mel Brooks – All About Me
The short, Jewish guy from Brooklyn has lived quite a life and has an incredible take on humor; and fought for our country in World War II. His movies make me laugh even more now than when I first saw them as I was not even in my teens when Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein came out so half of the jokes I didn’t understand at the time. With the many racial stereotypes referenced in Blazing Saddles, I’m not sure the movie could be made today. Case in point, it recently ran in the local theater near me for it’s 50th anniversary and one elderly couple who I’m guessing hadn’t seen the movie before walked out in the middle of it as I’m not sure they knew what was coming. Not your average western. Another one of his movies that might be a tough one to make today, but is a great one, is History of the World, Part I. His take on the Spanish Inquisition with a song and dance number might make the censors cringe just a bit today.
I forgot he put together the TV show, Get Smart, as it was one of my favorite shows on re-runs growing up in the non-cable world.
Washington: A Life
The same author that wrote the U.S. Grant bio, a good read on the man who didn’t have a chance to enjoy older life as while he was our first president, he wanted to do only one term and head back to his place in Mount Vernon and retire, the developing country still had issues to address so he was urged to complete a second term and stabilize everything.
Not the hit of the party during social gatherings, Washington was portrayed as respected and cordial but not a "woo woo" type of personality.
Some good tales of the revolutionary war as the colony’s military was ill equipped, had their share of deserters and locals in the colonies weren’t exactly cheering for them. The British had a better equipped military but poor leadership and somehow we won.
It’s no coincidence that all of Washington’s portraits don’t have him showing off his pearly whites as he had some poor teeth. He wore dentures that had bolts and springs for them to work and were a mix of any teeth he could get his hands on.
Slavery was accepted during his life and the book portrays Washington as being good to his slaves and on the fence on the topic of abolishing it; but the fact is that he was a slave owner of many and didn’t push for abolishment so I think the author was being generous to him on the topic.
The Essential Lewis & Clark
An edited collection of the journals Meriwether Lewis and William Clark put together in their expedition from 1804-1806 across the country starting in Illinois and ending in Oregon and the Pacific Ocean. After the Louisiana Purchase was completed, President Thomas Jefferson wanted to see what was out there for commerce purposes and commissioned the two to check it out. Traveling into the unknown, some good tales of their group meeting up with friendly and non-friendly Indian tribes, also known as the Lewis and Clark before Lewis and Clark. Lewis and Clark had balls doing what they did but the Indians still get no credit for being first.
While the leader and more intelligent of the two, Lewis dealt with depression and sadly took his own life just three years after the expedition.
Johnny Cash: The Life
It should have been titled, “The man with a 100 lives” as Johnny lived a hard life but seemed to cheat death multiple times. He liked his pills.
Pill issues aside, you definitely knew one of his songs by the first few notes (dig da dig, dig da dig…) that seem to be constant in all of them. The great storyteller, Cash could preach with the best of them with his lyrics.
Cash even had a short experience in Michigan working on the auto line after high school but was home sick and headed back to Arkansas a short time after.
I was too young for it but in the late 60’s, Cash had what other music acts did at the time and had a television show that lasted a few years. The musical variety shows don’t exist anymore (sorry but 'American Idol' is not a variety show) but that was a different era as we only had three, maybe five channels to choose from.
Trail Head
