The Xmas New Year period is upon us and on top of a fantastic Test Series it’s perhaps a good time to catch up on some reading and afternoon naps.
I’ve devoured these four recently so while their fresh in my scone I’ll do a quick capsule review for you if any take your fancy.
1. Up Above the City, Down Beneath the Stars – Barry Adamson.
From Magazine to the Bad Seeds to sought after movie soundtrack composer, Barry has written an extremely revealing expose of his life that I couldn’t put down. From very humble beginnings in Manchester he writes about dealing with being mixed race, being sexually assaulted as a kid and going on to become a bass player extraordinaire for one of the most influential punk bands of all time. It’s a ripping yarn and a tale of courage, determination and self belief. He toured Australia in 1980 at the height of Magazine’s fame and tried heroin in St Kilda, something he would regret and take over a decade to rid himself of. The book is written almost cinematically and his music crosses all sorts of genres that keep the listener enthralled just as he did all those years ago with Magazine. The book is a fascinating insight into a true artist and we can’t wait to see him live in a few months in Australia. Here are the details:
https://australianmusician.com.au/news/barry-adamson-announces-march-2025-cut-to-black-tour/
2. We Solve Murders – Richard Osman.
If you’re a fan of Richard’s four volume creation, The Thursday Murder Club, you’ll slip seamlessly into this book. A retired detective happy in his daily routine in a quiet English village teams up with his daughter-in-law who is on a remote island providing security to a famous author hiding from an assassin. Seems totally implausible but somehow Richard brings it all together with the charm of The Thursday Murder Club. A TV series for TTMC is currently in production with an all-star cast and this may well end up the same. I didn’t enjoy it as much as TTMC, but it was always going to be a hard act to follow.
3. Sonny Boy – Al Pacino.
What a fortunate era of film making my generation were exposed to. So many stars and films that really pushed boundaries. One of those actors of course was Al Pacino and if you’re a fan of Pacino you will absolutely love this book. He literally jumps off the page at you in that South Bronx accent simply because he has written it himself with no ghost writers. Yes it was edited because as Pacino says himself, he is no academic so being relatively unfiltered you can genuinely feel he is talking to you. He talks a lot about his childhood in the Bronx, getting into trouble, gangs and having fun. He was raised mostly by his grandparents in those grey concrete tenements of The Bronx because his father was absent most of the time and his mother had mental health issues. Having starred in a school play at fourteen he’d quickly made his mind up what he wanted to do in life. He worked and got sacked in numerous crappy jobs before finding his feet in his first love, the stage. This is where he met John Cazale and both won best actor awards for an Off Broadway play. I’ll get back to Cazale shortly. Pacino (and Cazale) both got their movie break with The Godfather then Dog Day Afternoon (with Cazale). Pacino was nominated eight times for best actor at The Academy Awards, winning on the eighth nomination. Now in his eighties, Pacino has written a heartfelt retrospective which includes the loves in his life, his cliché dive into alcoholism and going bankrupt in his 70’s. He comes across as shy, self-deprecating and utterly committed to his art. He has made some bad decisions but was desperate for money at the time, such as the coffee advertisement he did for Australia. He can be forgiven after such a stellar career and unforgettable characters he has given us. An honest and gritty biography.
Now I’ve always had a fascination for the late John Cazale and was keen to get Pacino’s insights into this quiet achiever. Pacino said that he was like a master coach, gently enabling greatness and learned more from John than anyone else. Like Pacino, Cazale was first and foremost a theatre actor but his only five movies that he was a part of, were all nominated for Best Picture at The Academy Awards. The Godfather 1 & 2, Dog Day Afternoon, The Conversation and The Deerhunter. I love all these films but especially Dog Day where you’re not sure what the hell Cazaly’s character Sal is going to do. He was also Meryl Streep’s big love and losing him from cancer shortly after The Deerhunter was heartbreaking. There is a documentary on John Cazale called I Knew It Was You. This is an abbreviated forty minute version that captures the great man’s career and legacy:
4. One Crowded Hour – Tim Bowden.
I remember the late Tim Bowden from the quirky little ABC show Backchat. Little did I know what a distinguished journalist and writer he was until I read this biography of war correspondent and cameraman Neil Davis. It’s forty years old and in my eye it’s definitely one of the best books I’ve ever read. Davis was like those other Tasmanian swashbucklers Errol Flynn and Brent Crosswell except with psychotic tendencies, having little fear for his own life and with an enormous capacity to help others. He played footy for Clarence in Hobart and was an excellent runner and coach. Six foot three and charismatic he was also popular with the ladies. He could drink anyone under the table, steal and smoke their cigarettes and go for a ten kilometre run the following morning. In over twenty years of filming the horrors of war throughout South East Asia, Neil was killed filming a run of the mill and relatively insignificant attempted coup in Bangkok in 1985. You can find the footage on youtube as part of an international conference of war correspondents commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of Neil’s death. It’s bloody harrowing and you can see that as Neil is hit by shrapnel and realises he has seconds to live, he turns the camera onto himself to show his death. Everything Neil did was to bring the realities of war back to us sitting on our couches at home. Neil was often referred to as psychotic in regards to his bravery but as Tim points out in the book, Neil was incredibly meticulous, professional and ensured all his equipment and preparation for the days ahead were in perfect order. Neil preferred the frontline because that’s where the Vietnamese were. The Americans were lugging thirty five kilograms of pack on their back. The Vietnamese carried a sock of rice, a rifle an some ammunition. They would cover twenty four kilometres a day, the Americans four if they were lucky. In the early 80’s on a trip home to Australia, Neil handed over to Tim all the journals and letters that he sent home to his Aunt Lillian that had been written over the years. What Tim has done is brilliant. He’s edited the thousands of pages from Neil and within each chapter has placed his own preface to introduce the reader to Neil’s own words. He writes his prefaces one margin in, then adds Neil’s words two margins in. Everything connects beautifully and chronologically. Neil Bradbury made an award winning documentary about Neil called Frontline and the following is a short video from the Australian Media Hall of Fame. I recently visited the War Memorial in Canberra and visited the Neil Davis tribute shortly after reading Tim’s book and it was quite emotional. Two truly great Australians have created this stunning book.
