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11 Oct 13 - 08:31 AM (#3565991) Subject: Review: Linda Ronstadt's New Memoir From: Ron Davies Well, this sure ain't BS to me. Review is the closest I can come. Her new book is a pure delight. I haven't even finished it yet--but you could probably read it in one sitting; it's only about 200 pages. Flagrantly violated my own rule about only buying meaty books--usually 500 pp. or above. But I knew I couldn't resist it. Sure enough, it's a fascinating--if short--version of her life up to now. All sorts of worthwhile items to remember (I call it stories, rather than trivia). Just off the top of my head, and not to steal her fire too much: when she left home and school at about 18, over her parents' objections, her father gave her a Martin his father had bought new in 1898, with these words: Ahora que tienes guitarra, nunca tendras hambre. Need a diacritical mark, but translation is approximately: Now that you have a guitar, you will never go hungry. I think that's just great. Proved, in her case, to be true. Then there's the item that Keith Richards and Gram Parsons bonded over Keith's desire to learn about country music. So much so that when Gram begged him to let him record "Wild Horses" , Keith agreed--Gram recorded it a year before the Stones did. Then the story about how Jerry Brown garbled Linda's invitation to sing in "Pirates of Penzance"--I won't spill the beans on that. Just a great window into the music business in the 70's--and so many stars that lit up the firmament then. And of course some of her own story, especially musical development. |
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11 Oct 13 - 08:33 AM (#3565993) Subject: RE: Review: Linda Ronstadt's New Memoir From: Ron Davies How could I forget?: Title: Simple Dreams |
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11 Oct 13 - 09:38 AM (#3566004) Subject: RE: Review: Linda Ronstadt's New Memoir From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser) 'Senor plow, no es macho, y creo que es borracho....' |
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11 Oct 13 - 09:42 AM (#3566006) Subject: RE: Review: Linda Ronstadt's New Memoir From: Mr Happy AMERICAN FOLK DYNASTY TO PLAY IN BROUGHTON Three members of the famous Ronstadt family will play in Broughton on Friday 25th October. The concert at the Airbus factory social club is a fund-raiser for the Twinning Committee that promotes social and cultural links between the communities of Broughton & Bretton with their twin village of Auzeville (Toulouse) in France. The vice chair of the twinning committee, Charles Jenkins, met Michael Ronstadt at a folk event in the UK last year and asked if his family would play a benefit concert on their next trip to Europe. "I am absolutely delighted that Michael has agreed" he said "Ronstadt Generations is playing only 6 UK dates and it is a huge privilege to welcome them to Broughton on 25th". Most people will have heard of Linda Ronstadt but not realise that she is part of a dynasty of American folk singers that goes back 5 generations. Her 2 nephews, Michael Jr and Petie continue the family tradition and will accompany their father (Linda's brother) on this tour. Their set lists include a range of their own compositions as well as familiar songs from US including works by Tom Paxton, Bob Dylan and Paul Simon. The introduction of the Cello (Michael G) into the folk genre is, perhaps, a little unlikely but the virtuosity of the playing really works with the range of other acoustic instruments that the trio has mastered. The concert takes place on Friday 25th and tickets are available on the door £10 or in advance (£7.50) by texting "tickets" to the Broughton Vice Chair, Charles Jenkins on +44 79 68 86 74 24 ronstadtgenerations.com is worth a look Charles Broughton |
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11 Oct 13 - 09:47 AM (#3566011) Subject: RE: Review: Linda Ronstadt's New Memoir From: Ron Davies Since you brought that up, don't forget the family member, Luisa Espinel, who had a cameo as a Spanish dancer, in the Marlene Dietrich 1935 movie "The Devil Is A Woman". Also in the book. |
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12 Oct 13 - 07:16 AM (#3566261) Subject: RE: Review: Linda Ronstadt's New Memoir From: GUEST http://www.ronstadtgenerations.com/ |
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12 Oct 13 - 04:30 PM (#3566395) Subject: RE: Review: Linda Ronstadt's New Memoir From: Q (Frank Staplin) This caused me to dig out the fine DVD, "Canciones de mi Padre," a delight! |
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13 Oct 13 - 11:01 AM (#3566553) Subject: RE: Review: Linda Ronstadt's New Memoir From: Ron Davies I thought it was interesting that the title Canciones de mi Padre which Linda used for her first recording of tradtional Mexican songs was actually taken from a collection of Mexican folk songs and stories published by her aunt, Luisa Espinel. |
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14 Oct 13 - 03:41 PM (#3566874) Subject: RE: Review: Linda Ronstadt's New Memoir From: GUEST Glad that you loved the book, Ron. But I found it superficial and that it didn't really add anything of interest to the various in-depth interviews that Linda has given over the years. The discography was good - lots of books don't do well with discographies. |
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15 Oct 13 - 03:13 PM (#3567168) Subject: RE: Review: Linda Ronstadt's New Memoir From: Ron Davies Well, if you have listened to lots of interviews given by Linda, you may have heard many of the same stories, courageous Guest. I tend to read rather than waste time on televlsion. And I haven't run across many interviews with her on public radio, which is the only radio I have listened to since about the 70's. I also suspect that a 200 page book has more information than quite a few inteviews. Dirt on her personal life? Not there. Perhaps that disappointed you. It's also by no means an real autobiography. Her pesonal life during her time of fame was in fact left out in the book to a large extent-(-though her early life was detailed more--and I found that fascinating. ) Jerry Brown appears rather mysteriously, for instance. She certainly could have talked more about music, also. What was it like to work with Warren Zevon, for instance? I would have preferred a longer, in depth book, as I said--which as I also said, is what I virtually always insist on. But "superficial" is not justified. It's obvious that anybody who reads the book--carefully--will learn something about Linda. If you read it superficially, guess what. |