From Library Journal
Here are two quirky and entertaining collections of celebrity profiles. Since 1993, The Onion’s entertainment section, “The Onion A.V. Club,” has regaled millions with its profiles of artists and entertainers whose stars are not necessarily on the media ascendant. Section editor Thompson has culled some 68 of them from the last decade, arranged by tone into ten chapters. The dazzling diversity of entertainers and personalities on parade includes Merle Haggard, Elvira, Bob Barker, Joan Jett, James Elroy, Jello Biafra, Ron Jeremy (discussing his penis size), Mr. T., “Weird Al” Yankovic, The Unknown Comic, Henry Rollins (from whom the title is derived), and, wonderfully, Tom Lehrer. Repeated inte [Read More...]
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While it’s true that this book is a compendium of previously printed interviews, for those of us with little time to sift through the Onion seeking them out, this book is not only a time
saver, it helps focus the subject into a veritable intellectual safari.
What an interesting blend of people this book contains! Of the 65 Hollywood “outsiders” (”Weird Al” Yankovic, Penn & Teller, Harlan Ellison, Ray Bradbury, Stan Freberg, Mark Mothersbaugh, Dr. Demento, Jello Biafra…ye gads…somebody stop me! There’s just so many of them!) you have a chance to compare & contrast people in all aspects of the entertainment industry, and, I think, find something interesting about each of them. From the stream-of-consciousness of David Lee Roth (I like Dave, but I’m glad I wasn’t the one to interview him. Yikes! No more caffiene for you Dave) to the single mindedness tackiness of Russ Meyer’s …er, “interests” (glad I didn’t interview him, either but for entriely different reasons), to George Carlin’s cheerful nihilism, Harlan Ellison’s eternal angst, and yes, even the mysterious possibility that Al Yankovic may be harboring overdue library books, there’s a wealth of humor and interesting stuff in this inexpensive book.
Granted, if you are already really au courant with the entire arts and entertainment scene, this book may not jazz you as much. However, it introduced me to people I didn’t know before (or didn’t know as well), and to people I wanted to know better but didn’t have the time to research. It hints at a lot of new artistic avenues to explore (and most of the accompanying pictures are pretty nice, too).
I don’t know if I’ll ever have the time to satisfy the pop culture craving this book has started, but…all in all, I think I’d rather have an unsatisfied craving than no craving at all.
Well, it’s a blustery tempest outside right now, and I want to read some more of this book before the power goes out.
A very worthwhile collection, with something to entertain and inform in nearly every interview. As the title says, the subjects are mostly entertainers who’ve maintained their popularity over some duration without ever going totally mainstream: Tom Lehrer, Berkeley Breathed, Dr. Demento, Henry Rollins, Harlan Ellison, KRS-One, etc. There are few exceptions: what is cultural blip Vanilla Ice doing here? Some of the interviews interested me especially, for various reasons. Ian MacKaye proves himself to be a man of deep intelligence, which I already knew, but more than that: he possesses a strong, pragmatic view of the world. Rather than railing (rather short-sightedly) at the evils of record companies, as several of the subjects in this book do, for example, he sees that they exist to make a rpofit, and those musicians who wish to make their own profit by signing onto them shouldn’t be surprised when they’re used as dollar-generating tools rather than as artists. As he says, he doesn’t want to destroy the world, just create his own little world that can co-exist within the larger system. Andrew WK, whom I envisaged as some head-thrashing meathead based on his music (and song titles), turns out to be an introspective young man, honest and full of enthusiasm for all life has to offer. He’s a bit like Brian Wilson: meticulous, fragile, but wanting to bring joy to people with music. Who knew? KRS-One also turns in a surprising interview, with some rather unusual comments about the sate of hip-hop culture and how the black population is hurting it. And there’s David Lee Roth, whose interview is a splendid olio of self-aggrandizing, stream of (semi-)consciousness, disjointed logic, and outright nonsense. The man’s brain must be fried. But all the subjects have something of value to impart (except perhaps Russ Meyer, whose answer to every single question involves his need for well-endowed women), even if a streak of the curmudgeon runs through most of them. Good fun.