Re: (TV) richard hell in austin last night (memoir coming soon?)

[Phil Obbard <pobbard@yahoo.com>]

Thanks Robin. I had no idea Hell's long-touted book was so close to being
published.

I really enjoyed JUST KIDS, even though I'm a very passive Smith
fan. It'll be a whole new experience to read Hell's take on the era,
considering I've got pretty much 100% of his catalog from 1973-1985.


--Phil
________________________________
From: robin dunn <rdunnrn@yahoo.com>
To:
tv@obbard.com
Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2011 12:19 PM
Subject: (TV)
richard hell in austin last night (memoir coming soon?)

we had a really great
time at the RH reading last night.  as far as i can
tell, this was a unique
event.  richard apparently had some connections in
austin, who convinced him
to do this.  the reading was at a small french
restaurant (hidden in an
industrial area), which is actually in an old house. 
the room was packed with
100 or more people -- a few more listened outside in
the yard.  it was
cramped.  richard read from a small stage, preceeded by four
others, who read
descriptions of writers richard admires, with samples of
their work.

we each
got a great hand-made pamphlet with the descriptions and readings, and
a
simple broadsheet printed for the ocassion, numbered (150 made). 

richard
said he had just sold his autobiography, to echo, who did "just kids"
with
such success (and, he said, the steven tyler autobiography -- so who the
hell
knows).  the work seems to be more or less finished -- so i think there's
a
good chance we will see it within a year or so.  just a guess.

i was really
impressed with the text.  i think this may be a sort of male
counterpart to
"just kids" -- well written, from the same period, and a very
different
perspective (IIRC, patti didn't spend much time on descriptions of
breasts, or
make multiple references to blonde pubic hair, or what can be done
with a
"granite-like cock").

the first reading dealt with early TV, with a small,
casual tom diss/aside, no
mention of RL.  mostly just a very beautiful
description of what it felt like
to make that music.  richard did talk at
length later about peter laughner,
which i really appreciated.  another
section dealt with his relationship with
lizzier mercier, which i didn't know
anything about.

he said he needed to end the book far enough in the past so
as not to totally
piss off anyone he is close to today.  so it ends around
1984-85, when he got
off dope and out of music.  he seems to have come to the
conclusion that he
had become a completely hideous dope fiend, a stereotype,
and a man without
values.  so he changed course.

the reading was videotaped
-- no idea if we'll ever see that.  i recorded
richard's reading (which lasted
about an hour) on my phone.  if there's any
interest, i can try to upload it
to yousendit or such. 

r
--------------
To post: Mail tv@obbard.com
To
unsubscribe: Mail majordomo@obbard.com with message "unsubscribe tv"
--------------
To post: Mail tv@obbard.com
To unsubscribe: Mail majordomo@obbard.com with message "unsubscribe tv"