BOOK REVIEWS
Mia Zapata & The Gits The Story Of Art Rock And Revolution
★
Feral House Books Book Review
Review by Ginger Coyote
First I would like to thank The fabulous Christina Ward for immediately sending this wonderful book. A killer read about the Seattle-based band, Mia Zapata The Gits vocalist that was written by her good friend and bandmate Steve Moriarty on Feral Books. Mia Zapata is the 27-year-old singer-songwriter, who was brutally assaulted and murdered by a stranger. Zapata’s death sent shockwaves through the punk community. There were no real leads to her killer. This went on for years. In the year of her death, forensics were not that advanced She became the focus of an unsolved murder much like the Black Dahlia in Hollywood. Fans and activists were outraged by the brutal killing and lack of law enforcement support. In this book the reclaims Zapata’s story to focus on the art she and The Gits created and not her tragic end. Most recently the case was reopened with more advanced technical equipment they were able to trace DNA to a guy in Florida who admitted his guilt of this senseless slaying. . A lot has been written and said about her murder, yet Zapata’s life and work remain overshadowed by the circumstances of her death. Zapata’s friend and bandmate, Steve Moriarty, tells her story―and the story of their band, The Gits―from their first meeting in 1985 to their last goodbye.
Moriarity and Zapata met in 1985 as first-year students at Antioch College, where they discovered the power of punk rock. Moriarty goes into detail about their struggles as newcomers to the Seattle music scene. Interspersed are the tales of how Zapata explained her legendary ancestor, Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, to entertain the band as they spent countless hours on the road crammed into a single un-air-conditioned van touring. This book is a biography; about a talented young singer/songwriter whose life ended too soon. Mia Zapata & The Gits The Story Of Art Rock And Revolution which is available on Amazon and at Feralhouse.com
Infinite Dreams: The Life Of Alan Vega
Laura Davis-Chanin & Liz Lamere
★
Backbeat Books
Review by JAIME PINA
I remember being in a bookstore and hearing two men talking while they were browsing the shelves. One looked at the other after spotting the book Suicide: No Compromise and said, “I can’t believe they published a hardcover book about Suicide!” It was obvious he was familiar with the band but the fact that he was surprised someone had written a book covering the band seemed odd to me. Suicide was a pioneering band and an astounding number of today’s successful performers use their bare-bones blueprint of a basic electronic rhythm track and keyboard hooks with vocals over it.
Now Laura Davis-Chanin and Vega’s life partner Liz Lamere have collaborated on a book telling his astounding story. Vega has always been a bit of an enigma and this book answers many questions about his pre-music life, the period after that where he went through hard times with nothing but a burning desire to be creative and his later family life. In between we learn about his light sculptures and drawings, his life-changing introduction to Martin Rev, his reinvention of Rockabilly and him settling comfortably into hard electronic music. While British electronic New Wave bands have made it clear they were fans of Rev and Vega’s groundbreaking records, modern acts in the hip hop and pop categories may not be aware of the debt they owe them.
The first part of the book is related in a regular fashion, detailing Vega’s early life with his family up to the end of his first marriage and his trip to NYC to change his destiny. The latter part of the book is related by Liz detailing how they met and began to work together and adopted a son. Also in this second part are plenty of interviews with various people in Vega’s orbit including friends, business associates and collaborators. The book is generous with many astounding photos from throughout his life. The photos are not just relegated to a photo section in the middle of the book but are spread out in relation to the story being told. And not just photos but Alan’s art, gig flyers and advertisements and illustrations pertaining to Alan’s aesthetic like the astounding Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald.
For fans of Suicide and Vega’s solo work and collaborations this book is an essential read as it is not something put together by an interested party but by Liz herself with Chanin Davis. I felt myself being drawn in to Alan’s plight as he went through cold NYC winters in dank abodes focusing not on the hardships, but on the results of his efforts. And as he moves up the ladder to legendary status it is clear he kept those hard years close to his heart and remained humble, grateful to those who helped and willing to lend a helping hand to people he himself saw a certain spark of his former struggling self in.
Born With A Tail: The Devilish Life And Wicked Times Of Anton Szandor Lavey
Doug Brod
★
Hachette Books
Review by JAIME PINA
Being into the Los Angeles Death Rock scene meant in part that Anton Szandor Lavey’s book, The Satanic Bible, was mandatory reading. Some people took it at face value. They really believed he was a Magus wielding supernatural powers and was responsible for the gruesome death of one-time associate Jayne Mansfield. Others, myself included, enjoyed the whole concept of The Nine Satanic Statements and LaVey’s whole thing about the hypocrisy of the religious establishment. He was someone tailor-made for the punk rock aesthetic and non-musical things he would describe as Satanic could also be labeled as punk rock as far as the attitude.
Doug Brod, an author of the fantastic and fun 70’s rock book They Just Seem A Little Weird, has written a great book covering the life and times of the man the press had labeled “The Black Pope”.
LaVey’s books are still in print The Satanic Bible is still a solid seller and there have been books about the High Priest and his Church of Satan. Since Brod’s previous book dealt with the hard rock genre, what motivated him to work on a book about LaVey? “I wrote the book because he was a fascinating character who had a big influence on the culture,” says Brod. “I thought he’d be worthy of a deep research dive. And he was. There have been other books written about him but none that took an objective, journalistic approach.”
Throughout the book, there are instances of LaVey offering colleagues and celebrities honorary memberships or priesthoods in the Church of Satan. Some accepted and some did not. Was Brod ever a card-carrying member of the CoS? “I never have been a Church of Satan member. I am a Jewish atheist,” he laughs. “Just like LaVey!”
The book is chockful of direct quotes and some taken from other sources. Sammy Davis, Jr. was not available to be interviewed for the book due to a slight case of death but his time spent with LaVey is well recounted as are many others. Some seem conspicuously absent. “I ran into a few brick walls: his daughters would not speak with me despite several requests. I also couldn’t get Boyd Rice, one his close friends, on board,’ says Brod. Tragically, Stanton LaVey was to be interviewed but it was not to be. “His grandson Stanton died the day we were scheduled to speak.”
Miraculously some of LaVey’s publishing colleagues were still around and made themselves available to the author. “I did interview some of LaVey’s older friends and the eighty-something editors who worked with him on The Satanic Bible and The Compleat Witch, who’ve never spoken about him before,” says Brod. “In all, I interviewed more than 50 people”
For people with a serious interest in the man behind the horns, Brod neither idol worships LaVey nor tears him down. LaVey was a prankster in many ways and to take him at face value is not part of the fun of his enduring legacy. Brod makes sure to play it in an even fashion when going over the many yarns LaVey liked to spin over his lifetime. “I didn’t write the book to debunk his claims, which I felt would be tedious, impossible, and not
something I was interested in doing,” he states. “But in reporting the book, of course, I uncovered information that ran counter to some of his claims. So there are some claims that I refute.”
There are many revelations in the book and Brod pulls no punches when discussing LaVey’s many faults including his admiration for an arms dealer, General George Patton, and members of Hitler’s inner circle. Quite odd for a man of Jewish descent and the author of the otherwise logical Nine Satanic Statements. And as the book progresses you can feel the tragedy of the once mighty LaVey losing his grip on the influence he once had and his admitted cash cow being infiltrated by fringes of the worst kind. A fascinating book about a fascinating huckster who, like in one of his beloved film noirs, ends up in tragedy. Tragic, but famous.