Rhino Records is branching out into the literary world with today’s debut of “Single Notes,” a new eBook series of “short reads about bands/artists by great writers” that kicks off with Binky Philips’ story of how his band, The Planets, became a “CBGB almost-was” and Lyndsey Parker’s memoir of unabashed Duran Duran fandom.
The titles, which are being sold as Kindle Singles on Amazon.com and through iTunes, will be released weekly, starting with today’s release of Philips’ “My Life in the Ghost of Planets: The Story of a CBGB Almost-Was,” which is available for free via Amazon.com through June 19. The second title, Parker’s “Careless Memories of Strange Behavior: My Notorious Life as a Duran Duran Fan,” is available for pre-order now and will become available June 12.
Publisher’s description of “My Life in the Ghost of Planets” (Amazon, iTunes):
There once was a boy who simply had to make it as a rock star. He learned to play guitar, really play the motherfucker, struggling with the uncooperative beast while everyone else basked in the summer’s sun and threw various-sized balls at each other. This boy, Brooklyn Heights’ Binky Philips, never relented. At the age of 16, he was ready to form a band. By the end of 1972, as the guitarist/songwriter for The Planets, Binky was sharing stages with The New York Dolls, KISS, The Ramones, Television, Blondie, et al. Our boy Bink was embedded in the heart of a pure organic moment of creativity and paradigm change as a regular performer at CBGB and Max’s Kansas City. In “My Life In the Ghost of Planets,” Binky Philips recounts those days of raucous fun and furious heartbreak.
Publisher’s description of “Careless Memories of Strange Behavior” (Amazon, iTunes):
If you ever paused your VCR so you could kiss John Taylor’s freeze-framed face…if you ever named your Cabbage Patch Doll after Nick Rhodes…if you ever pored over Simon Le Bon’s “Union Of The Snake” lyrics in search of clues to the universe…if you can pinpoint the onset of your puberty to the time when you saw the uncensored “Girls On Film” video for the very first time…then you will relate to this ultimate chronicle of one girl’s very unglamorous, totally one-sided love affair with the 1980s’ most glamorous band. In “Careless Memories of Strange Behavior: My Notorious Life as a Duran Duran Fan,” Yahoo! Music managing editor, unabashed Anglophile, and recovering Duranie Lyndsey Parker chronicles her hilarious and often embarrassing journey from a childhood spent in her Duran-postered bedroom, watching MTV and penning hate mail to crotchety anti-Duran music critics, to her own adulthood as one of Duran Duran’s most outspoken professional champions. And along the way, she makes a very strong case for the beloved but misunderstood Boys On Film’s place in rock history.
Below, you can also check out video features on each title.
As the author of 14 books on music, including the recent IF YOU LIKE THE BEATLES, how do I get in on writing one–or a dozen–of these?
It was a pleasure to hear Parker look back. She’s right. Duran was hated and as a guy I had to be a closet fan.
Two things. One, the first three albums were the gateway 4 me and they are threesome to own. Two, as a guy, I love the first one, but I prefer rio. Great album. It’s flawless but again those three are pretty perfect. It’s great 2 see people giving them their due with so much shite music today.
I’ve never really understood the hatred that Duran Duran had back in the 80s, they were great musicians and were capable of writing brilliant songs, their 1990 track Serious, being their best ever imo. I must say though, my favourite period of the band (or version of) was the Cuccurullo era, 88-00, Big Thing and Medazzaland are amazing albums that were overlooked by the fans. I still think they are lacking something today without Warren Cuccurullo, who was so much more inventive and dare i say more talented than Andy Taylor.
Just tried to pre-order “Careless Memories of Strange Behavior” for my Kindle – it’s only available for Kindle Fire or Kindle for Android. Boo. Other Kindles are left out. Guess I’ll have to read it on my iPhone if I really want to.
Hey, Cindy – that issue has been fixed – try this link:
http://www.amazon.com/Careless-Memories-Strange-Behavior-ebook/dp/B008A8NXGM/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1339718325&sr=1-2
Thanks!