Excerpt HERE courtesy
of Dangerous Minds
Begin the Begin is the first biography of R.E.M. wholly
researched and written since they disbanded in 2011. It offers by far the most
detailed account of the group's formative years--their early lives, their first
encounters with one another, their legendary debut show, early tours in the
back of a van, initial recordings, their shrewdly paced rise to fame.
The people and places of the American South are crucial to
the R.E.M. story in ways much more complex and interesting than have previously
been presented, claims Robert Dean Lurie; he explores the myriad ways in which
the band's adopted hometown of Athens,
Georgia--and
the South in general--shaped its members and the character of their art. The
South is much more than the background here; it plays a major role: the
creative ferment that erupted in Athens and gripped many of its young
inhabitants in the late 1970s and early '80s drew on regional traditions of
outsider art and general cultural out-thereness, and gave rise to a
free-spirited music scene that produced the B-52's and Pylon, as well as laying
the ground for R.E.M.'s subsequent breakout success.
Lurie has tracked down and interviewed numerous figures in
the band's history who were underrepresented in, or absent from, earlier
biographies--they contribute previously undocumented stories and cast a fresh
light on the familiar narrative.
Advance Praise for Begin the Begin:
"Meticulously researched and always elegantly written,
Begin the Begin is a critical but glorious tribute to its subject."
--Christopher Sandford, author of Bowie: Loving the Alien
"Hope, yearning, and fear are visceral here, and the
portrait painted is of something joyous, mad, and brilliant all at once."
--David Guterson, author of Snow Falling on Cedars
"This beautiful, joyful book is more than a
biography--it's a deep exploration of art and its bloody relationship with
business, a meditation on the South, on youth and love, on family and fame, and
an intelligent return to the soundtrack of the 1980s."
--Rebecca Lee, author of Bobcat and Other Stories
Pre-order the book HERE
Learn more at www.robertdeanlurie.com and www.versechorus.com
Comments