I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: BLUE ÖYSTER CULT–Blue Öyster Cult (1972).

Craig Ferguson mentions that the only concert he saw as a teen in America was Blue Öyster Cult.  My guess is that it would have been around the Agents of Fortune or Spectres tour (ie, around “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”) so that must have been a killer show.

In honor of his book, I’m going to look at the lesser known early work of BOC.  Their first disc is a fascinating amalgamation of hard rock, blues, boogie and psychedelia.  All of that is coupled with the utterly perplexing lyrics that they came up with. In addition to the huh? factor of titles like “She’s a Beautiful as a Foot” and “Before the Kiss, a Redcap” we also get fascinating title like “Transamaniacon MC” (later on John Shirley would write a book called Transmaniacon as a tribute to this song).

The album isn’t heavy by today’s standards, but at the time, this was some pretty heavy stuff.  The rocking chorus of “Transmaniacon,” the blistering speed of “Stairway to the Stars,” and yes, the undeniably heavy riff of “Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll” let you know that this is no simple rock album.

And yet, they work so well with the fundamentals: Steppenwolf is clearly an inspiration.  This is classic rock that doesn’t quite fit the classic rock mode (which, frankly, makes it far more interesting).  There’s a lot to like here, and there’s more to come.

[READ: February 26, 2010] American on Purpose

I keep saying I don’t read memoirs but then I keep reading them. Yes, I’m a liar.

Well, in this case, I felt it was justified because a) Craig Ferguson is hilarious and I assumed his book would be too and b) he has already written a novel that I really liked (as well as 3 screenplays which I have not seen). So I figured it would be a well-written, funny book.  And, since it turned out I had two days off because of the “snow” I finished the book in a couple of days.

Right, so Craig Ferguson is the host of The Late Late Show, a show that Sarah and I fell in love with last year and then kind of forgot about it. And then we caught it again recently and have been enjoying some TiVo’d bits every now and then. Ferguson has a wonderfully warped sense of humor and his show veers into the bizarre more often than not.   But he is always enjoyable, and his celebrity interviews are worth watching for how funny and un-promotional they are.
But what about this book? This book basically details his life growing up in Scotland, moving to the States and becoming a “huge star.”

But the crux of the book is about his descent into alcoholism, how it destroyed his first marriage and several other long term relationships, as well as potentially his career.

One of the reasons I enjoyed this memoir as opposed to other celebrity (specifically American celebrity) books is because his upbringing was so foreign to anything I know that it was like reading a novel set in a different century.   His first day of kindergarten he was strapped (palms up to receive blows from a leather strap) for disobeying.   This was Scotland in the late 1960s.  What could a 5 year old have done to warrant that?

So Craig was a general trouble maker and hated school (although he did love to read, so that’s a good thing).

When he was 15, he traveled to the States with his dad to visit his cousins.   He loved everything about the States.  And, when they took him to a Blue Öyster Cult concert and he was hooked on everything: the States, the rock n roll, and the drugs.

When he returned back home he knew what he would do.  At 16, he dropped out of school to join a band (he’s a drummer) and started drinking with abandon.  It wasn’t long before he became a hardcore alcoholic.

He also somehow got married. He and his wife moved to the States where they worked illegally for a few years till the drugs and drink sent them back to Scotland with a broken marriage and, fortunately for them, no kids.

Craig tried standup, since he was rubbish at all his other jobs.  He had created a character called Bing Hitler, an over-the-top parody of all things Scottish.  He turned out to be quite successful.  This translated into some acting gigs with th BBC. (Although I was sorely disappointed that he didn’t address his spots on Red Dwarf!)

As you probably guessed he sobered up, and came to the States. He lucked onto a job at the Drew Carey Show and eventually made it as host of The Late Late Show.  (This whole section of his life is completely fascinating, frankly).

I’m obviously giving short shrift to his life story because that’s what the book is about, and if you want the details you should read the book.  Really the question is, is it a good read? And the answer is most definitely. Ferguson is intelligent and witty and, like on his show, he’s self-deprecating but also cocky (a tough mix to pull off).  He doesn’t glamorize his alcoholism, nor does he use it as an excuse for his really shitty behavior while drunk.   He does spend an awful lot of time dwelling on that phase of his life (and fair enough, that’s a pretty big part of his life) so it gets a wee bit tedious. Even I was ready for him to go to rehab.

The other thing that sort of bugged me a little about the book was his sort of wide-eyed attitude about his life. I know this is a standard angle to take in memoirs (can you believe this happened to me?) and given what happens to him, it is probably a good angle to take about his life.   But it seems like everyone and everything he meets is a superlative: funniest, most beautiful, best laugh etc.  However, I think that this may only really come across as a flaw if you read the book as quickly as I did and you see this praise every few pages.

In fact, I think all of the flaws I found with the book come from reading it so quickly. Unlike in his novel where he had multiple characters and multiple points of view, since this was such a single-minded work, I think I may have overdid it on CraigyFerg.

And so I was kind of left with the feeling that he would be a fun guy to hang out with at a party but that you wouldn’t want to be married to him.  But we can all be proud that he’s now an American citizen.

The one surprising thing that the book does is that it really encourages patriotism. His love of America is genuine, and it is genuinely inspiring.  Patriotism has been thrown around for the last decade or so and been used more as a weapon than as a point of pride.  And he acknowledges as much with his politician bashing.   But what’s so great about the book is that he reminds you that America is (much) more than its politicians. And after all of the vitriol and political machinations of the last year, it’s important to remember that.

And, yes the book is funny too. It’s not quite as bizarre and looney as he is on his show. But there’s a lot of funny in here.

For ease of searching I include: Blue Oyster Cult.