Growing Up With Chico by Maxine Marx - Book Review

Growing Up With Chico by Maxine Marx. Who doesn't love the Marx Brothers? When I discovered they existed my mind was blown. I couldn't believe it and immediately fell in love. I watched their movies, roared at their bits and loved their shtick. So much so that even when fully ensconced in the legal profession suit and tie matching belt and shoes I still referenced the "Sanity Claus," to see who was paying attention or knew what I was talking about. I never really delved into the Brothers background or looked behind the curtain until this little gem crossed my path. 

 

A lightning quick read by Chico's daughter doesn't pull any punches about her dad, her uncles or herself. Random paragraphs begin with sentences like, "Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy were sitting around..." But the beginning always the beginning on the road starving trying to break into vaudeville hustling on the Atlantic City Boardwalk. I love these snap shots of time and windows into worlds gone by. Even though time has changed the human experience is always at the center some how consistent no matter what the trappings of culture and locality present.

 

Back room card and dice games, the touring troupe gathering onto the train for the next town, the rise of and finally the retirement of the Brothers I would have loved to have seen Chico in a cabaret with his touring orchestra. There he was still hustling after the Marx Brothers stopped making movies shooting down the piano keys, telling stories, throwing dice.

 

Maxine's book gets you a little closer and inside to that world the good bad and ugly it was all there. Same as it ever was only with grease paint a honking automobile horn and lots of leering puns. The Marx Brothers in full gallop were just good fun. Behind the scenes the real world was very much there. Growing Up With Chico peals the curtain back almost like a backstage pass.

 

 

"Otis Redding An Unfinished Life" by Jonathan Gould - Book Review

What I loved about this biography written in cooperation with the Redding family was the social history and much needed context in fleshing out Otis Redding as a human being. His live performance captured in 1967 at Monterey Pop is seared into our collective consciousness. "I've got to go you all but I don't want to go..." His voice power, passion and success so unmistakably legendary as to make James Brown jealous.

"I was pretty sure that I'd seen God on stage" Bob Weir.

 

But what of the real person? Who was Otis? How did he grow up? Rocketing through that volcanic time period of change from the 1940's through the 1960's like a meteor across everyone's bow before the Summer of Love what was his life like in those short twenty six years? He was hustling hard. He was moving fast. Working with everyone and everywhere; The Apollo, Stax Records, New York, Europe, The Whiskey, Sam and Dave, Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd, the whole Walden family, Phil, Alan and their dad all while racism screamed at the change that was gonna come. The drive, bravery, talent and vision of that man, fierce and kind the portrait that emerges is why we read.

 

This book surprised me. It really did. The background and time Otis was born into is very much a part of the story. The musical history and social history of the men and women of his time contemporaries, characters, hustlers, thieves, racists, the music business is a cesspool let alone the political, social upheaval all swirling. All of those tangential intersections, crossing paths and currents make for a rich, deep, fascinating read and then he bought a plane. Music fans will lap up the artists, producers and managers and session players in Otis's life. History buffs will soak up the important Redding family history and the time Otis grew through.

 

 

 

Special thank you to Alan Paul for his bibliography in Brothers and Sisters that lead me to this gem.

Brothers and Sisters Review - Alan Paul

 

Just a quick shout out on Alan’s Book “Brothers and Sisters.” It’s a quick three hundred page tight compact read. Meaning every line is filled with information, quotes, history, stories, names it’s just over brimming with information and as a fan and/or history buff you will devour it with ease.

While the original six coalesced into a musical ecstasy of infinite cascading thunder and bliss that deserves every second of your indulgence and passion. The Brothers and Sisters branch bloomed in a profound way from that mighty tree of music. Give me more Chuck Leavell and Lamar Williams any day of the week. If it’s in the vaults somewhere it deserves to be shared with the music lovers. Until then have fun devouring the pages of the inside story of the album that defined the ’70s. I know I did then and now.

 Alan Paul

Allman Brothers Band

 Kirk West