Learning to appreciate the blues and the busking life: A review of Mister Satan's apprentice by Adam Gussow

Hello again, fellow clandestine literary agents were today's briefing. I thought we become acquainted with a very interesting coming-of-age story with a unique perspective, that of a street musician in late 80s early 90s. Harlem in New York City, in Mister Satan's apprentice, Adam Gussow takes readers on a fascinating journey of discovering the blues in music as a young man, particularly an interest in playing the harmonica to developing his talent in college and honing his craft on the street in Harlem and flirting with fame and fortune that ultimately faded away...

The author of this fascinating memoir is the harmonica-playing half of Satan and Adam, a raw-sounding, energetic blues duo whose music throbs with the vitality of the Harlem street corner where they began their unlikely journey 13 years ago. Satan, a.k.a. Sterling Magee, is the guitar-shredding, percussion-pounding, streetwise “master” with whom the Ivy League blues wannabe serves his apprenticeship, and it is those pages in which their association (and sometime sunderings) are detailed that are the most compelling. Central to this pairing is Gussow’s angst about being a white man in Harlem, especially during the racially tense summer of 1989. Gussow viewed what they did “as principled opposition to antagonism,” and-with few exceptions-he passersby, i.e., their audience, felt the same. Comments like “It’s good to see y’all getting it together. Pepper and salt” and “He plays harder when you come down” did a lot to buoy Gussow’s spirits.

Gussow’s memoir is in large part a coming-of-age story with the protagonist looking for musical and sexual outlets in, respectively, Greenwich Village clubs-where he tries out his stock of blue licks gleaned from records-and (mainly) at Columbia where he was an English major. The book seesaws between such humdrum issues as, is he going to get laid, is he going to amount to anything-well, we know the answer to that-and fiery accounts of blowing with Mister Satan and becoming a “blues-playing, money-making organism, one harshly sweet flailing thing doing what it did best; Outdoors, under the open sky.” After four and one-half years of blasting the blues on the corner of 125th St. and 7th Ave., they get a CD out (1991’s Harlem Blues on Flying Fish Records) and begin a slow crawl up the ladder of success: touring Europe with Bo Diddley; the cover of Living Blues, numerous festivals here and abroad, two more CDs; yet, as Gussow recounts in his Epilogue: “Minor celebrity beckoned, then faded.”

What doesn’t fade after reading the book is Mister Satan’s powerful presence, his hard-won, straightforward philosophy. On religion (in reaction to a pair of nearby evangelists): “All that love-your-neighbor bullcrap ain’t done a damn thing but drive Christians around the world to start wars and tear the mess up! And for what? Love your neighbor? Hell, if you got to ‘kill’ me to ‘love’ me you might as well go on and hate my ass!” On blues (after observing that rap is just “misery and complaint”): “Our music ain’t about complaining ‘no’ kind of way. People got the blues-thing all wrong, talking about ‘My baby left me’ and all that mess. Hell, if you treated her right, with respect and admiration, she ain’t ‘gonna’ leave you for no other man.” Respect and admiration. The subtext of Gussow’s memoir is that those qualities would help heal humankind’s rift.
It should also be noted that this book was one case in which the audio version (unabridged of course). Definitely adds something extra to the experience and not only read by the author. Mr. Gussow himself, but he also plays harmonica during the reading. So I figure listeners and auditory taste of what being a real buster a.k.a. Street musician actually sounds like the audio segments. Only serve to further enhance the story, by allowing the reader (or should I say listener) to be further absorbed into Mr. Gussow’s busking world. This book is a must read for any serious blues aficionado, harmonica player or just simply someone looking for a unique and intriguing coming-of-age story.

As always, agents, thank you for attending the briefing. And remember "reading his recreation for intelligence."

·  Hardcover: 402 pages

·  Publisher: Pantheon; 1st edition (October 13, 1998)

·  Language: English

·  ISBN-10: 067945022X

·  ISBN-13: 978-0679450221

Amazon Kindle price $9.99, hardcover (available from third-party vendors. Prices vary depending on condition), paperback, $17.03, audio book downloadable file. $23.95 (or free with Amazon audible membership)

https://www.amazon.com/Mister-Satans-Apprentice-Blues-Memoir/dp/B015P2941I/ref=tmm_aud_title_sr?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Tramping through Europe as a street musician: a briefing on a busker's holiday by Adam Gussow

Hello again, literary agents. At our last briefing, we analyzed "Lucy" by Laurence Gonzales, which as you know, is sort of a Mary Shelley's Frankenstein for the new millennium, for this clandestine book briefing, however, I thought we would discuss an interesting sort of travelogue by Adam Gussow, entitled "busker's holiday" you could think of this book sort of as Rick Steve's meets Jack Kerouac, wrapped in the perspective of a graduate student street musician which makes for an extremely interesting perspective. I first came across Mr. Gussow. When I stumbled across his YouTube channel, while looking up lessons on how to play blues harmonica, Mr. Gussow transfixed my attention in the first 30 seconds of an hour-long video introducing the history of the blues harmonica, and/or blues in America, for videos later. (Three hours and 25 minutes in real time). I was still watching his lectures. One of the videos mentioned his book "Mr. Satan's apprentice." (Another phenomenal book, which I will probably schedule a briefing for sometime soon) about his experiences as a Harlem street musician in New York, which is a great book in its own right. Wanting to see what other literary offerings Mr. Gussow has made to the universe. I paid a visit to his author page and discovered busker’s holiday which sucked me in to this story from the very first page. As I've always wanted to just pick up and take off for Europe for a month or two. Mr. Gussow meets plenty of interesting characters on a journey that will make you laugh, think and cry. His story (although a fictional account of his own expenses) provide a unique and interesting perspective on the old standby of the travel log in venture story. Due to the unique perspective his street musician's eyes, bring to your ups cobbled stone streets. If you've ever wondered what it's like to backpack through Europe earning money along the way, or if you're looking to rekindle memories of your own backpacking trip through Europe in College, or if you're simply looking for a unique and travel log adventure story. Mr. Gussow will take you on a fantastic and eye-opening journey....

Adam Gussow, a professor of English and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi, is among the best younger scholars of blues culture one is likely to come across. He is no less, a superb, stylish, and gritty blues harmonica player who has, in his time, traveled and plied his trade as street musician and busker, most notably as part of the duo Satan and Adam, with guitarist/vocalist Sterling McGee. Gussow is the author of several fine books related to Southern and blues culture in America, and wrote a fine memoir of his relationship with McGee, “Mister Satan's Apprentice". This is mentioned just to establish that Gussow isn't a mere dilettante on the blues, mastering a few tricks and signature moves and then resting on laurels and a reputation made long ago; Gussow continues to gig, with McGee , as a solo performer, and in collaboration with a number of other musicians, often times in public, on the street, the hat out for loose change and scattered change, keeping himself honest with what he plays and maintaining a connection his vibe with the world of experience that is the energy the blues channels. He is a scholar who continues to seek the source, to find that invisible "it" behind the mere description and appearance of things as they present themselves.

His first novel, "Busker's Holiday", is, I imagine, a fictionalized accounting of his own quest, a young man at particular moment of his life when what he's been doing in terms of study, romance and location no longer fits the skin he wears and gets an itch to try something else, to what happens. Set in the 80s, the novel regards the plight of McKay, a doctoral candidate in literature whose life has hit a rough patch. Reeling from problems in his relationship with his girl friend, McKay jumps at the chance to go on a five week trip to Europe with his friend Paul. A blues fan, McKay gathers up his harmonicas and his amp, eager to perform before crowds on the Continent.

There is something akin to novelist Henry James here, the 19th and early 20th Century American novelist who had as a major theme the confrontation of the New World (America) and the Old World (Europe). But where James' novels--"The American", "Wings of a Dove"--were long, measured, slow paced and geared to consider the interior lives, the changes of psyche, occurring over long stretches of time, Gussow instead goes for the Beat-influenced insistence on sensation, speed, the influx of sound, smell, and blurred vision. There is the velocity and mania of Jack Kerouac here, that point where the novel opens up with its landings in Paris and beyond, but author Gussow has a better command of the technique. He keep the tone and pacing right; Kerouac and the Beats are an obvious and working influence on the style of this tale, but what we have here is something better and, I think, more honest to the experience. Kerouac is problematic for many of us, and for me the issue was his willingness, his chronic need to make his already made pace even more intense with infusions of hip-argot, haphazardly placed modifiers.
To paraphrase Gore Vidal, Kerouac used adjectives, verbs, similes, metaphors “the way truck drivers uses ketchup at a diner.” Again, Gussow has a better command of the style, the instrument, which that he gets closer to the Charlie Parker concern of “making it all fit”, the Spontaneous Bop Prosody that Kerouac’s principle aim with his prolix excursions.

Adam Gussow's writing is vivid, alive, the mellifluous sentences flow when he goes at length and the shorter sentences have something of the Hemingway craft of resonating terseness. It is a recollection that resonates. McKay is delivered very well; an engaging, seeking, impatient, naive, curious man in search for knowledge and new means to express a growing feeling of a rich inner life. The writing is swift but disciplined, loose but always aware of where the rhythm truly is, is a match for the harmonica playing and instrumentation you’ve described. It is a wonderful and engaging accounting of being within the experience of performance, of when the chops fail and where they come together.

As always, agents thank you for attending the briefing. And remember "reading is recreation for intelligence."

• Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: BookBaby (October 15, 2015)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0996712402
• ISBN-13: 978-0996712408
• Kindle price $5.99
• Paperback price $14.99
• https://www.amazon.com/Buskers-Holiday-Adam-Gussow/dp/0996712402/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1488146642&sr=1-3
  
  
   

A Frankenstein's monster for the Facebook generation: a discussion of "Lucy" by Laurence Gonzales

Hello again fellow clandestine literary agents. For today's literary briefing, I thought we would discuss and pontificate over a recent literary mission concerning the novel "Lucy" by Laurence Gonzales, believe it or not, I discovered this book entirely by accident. When hunting for an audio book, that might be good for an extended car ride. I had researched a particular narrator to see what other audio books. They might have narrated (I often do this. When searching for new book possibilities, if I'm not sure what exactly I want to read, for instance. I researched "Scott brick" And discovered the Oregon files (Now one of my favorite book series).

I was intrigued by "Lucy" having read only the back cover description, which described a primatologist, similar to Jane Goodall, named Jenny Lowe studying chimpanzees and plant life in the Congo, otherwise known as "DRC" the Democratic Republic Congo. Deep an African jungle, caught in the middle of a civil war. And while running away from a guerrilla ambush. She discovers "Lucy" who turns out to be far more than your average teenage girl. And it's through her, the reader is taken on a journey halfway around the world and back again. And along the way is able to pontificate on what it truly means to be human, and whether or not, that definition is contingent on genetics, personality or the environment. Personally, when it comes to "Lucy" I feel that Laurence Gonzales's book is highly underrated. And while there are definitely some minor inconsistencies with the plot and character development to be sure. His book should still be given solid consideration by anyone who is a fan of classic human condition stories such as Frankenstein. As this book will definitely put a new spin on the human condition and give all serious literary agents planning of food for thought concerning their place in the universe....

Think of a contemporary version of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” in which an egotistical scientist’s creation is not a hideous-looking monster but a well-mannered teenage girl who quotes Shakespeare, listens to Tom Petty and uses Facebook and YouTube. This is the high-concept premise of Laurence Gonzales’s lumpy new novel, “Lucy.”

Lucy is part human, part ape, the result of an experiment in which a British scientist named Stone managed to artificially inseminate a genetically altered female bonobo named Leda. Lucy is reared and home-schooled by Stone in the heart of the African jungle. His plan is to send her off to college in England, where she will presumably meet a mate. He envisions her as “the universal Eve” for a new and improved race of people that will preserve the best qualities of bonobo genetics.

After Stone is killed by insurgents, Lucy is rescued by another primatologist, Jenny Lowe, who knows nothing of Lucy’s peculiar parentage. Jenny brings Lucy home with her to Chicago and, when she fails to find any of Lucy’s relatives, decides to adopt the 14-year-old girl.

Although some of Lucy’s habits strike Jenny as odd — eating bananas without peeling them, clambering up trees, looking for termites in the floor — she initially shrugs them off as the behavior of a girl who grew up in the jungle. When she starts reading through Stone’s notebooks, however, she suddenly realizes the shocking truth: Lucy is “a humanzee.”

Mr. Gonzales, who is best known for such nonfiction books as “Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies and Why,” has done a lot of research into bonobo culture and the nonverbal communication of animals, but he doesn’t manage to lend Lucy’s back story even the veneer of plausibility. In comparison, Michael Crichton’s account in “Jurassic Park” (another Frankenstein-ian novel about the wages of scientific hubris) of how dinosaurs were recreated through the use of recovered DNA reads like a report from a respected scientific journal. Not only does Mr. Gonzales fail to explain how Stone might have managed the unprecedented feat of cross-species breeding in the middle of the jungle without any real laboratory or medical facilities, but he also sidesteps the question of why Lucy’s looks are so utterly human and why her bonobo genes are evident mainly in traits like her unusual physical strength and highly acute hearing.

What Mr. Gonzales does manage to do is make Lucy an appealing character — a bright, perceptive, lonely, observant adolescent, who, like many immigrants to the United States, is perplexed by the plethora of processed foods wrapped in shiny plastic, by the ubiquity of music, by the stressed-out, alienated city crowds. He makes the rapid arc of her transformation from a shy, unsure outsider into an all-American teenager thoroughly believable, as she becomes best friends with a schoolmate named Amanda, who teaches her everything from teen-speak to how to use a computer. And he also makes Jenny’s hopes and fears for Lucy palpable to the reader — fears that become all too real when Lucy comes down with a form of a treatable virus that has never before been contracted by a human, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention insist on doing some genetic tests on her blood.

Though Team Lucy decides it should seize control of this situation and announce her real identity to the world before word leaks out from doctors or the government, matters soon start to spiral out of control: a predictable media feeding frenzy ensues, along with some vicious attacks from religious extremists who denounce Lucy as a “demon child” and the spawn of Satan.

Unfortunately, Mr. Gonzales’s orchestration of these developments is increasingly hurried and perfunctory as the book hurtles along. He rushes through the momentous decision to create a YouTube video explaining Lucy’s story in her own words, making the whole scenario sound thoroughly hokey, and does much the same thing with the scenes depicting Lucy’s flight from home and efforts to elude a mysterious stalker who may or may not work for the government. The reader often has the sense that Mr. Gonzales is impatiently ticking off plot points on an outline, as if he were writing a movie treatment, not a novel.

To make matters worse, his depictions of Lucy’s enemies — fundamentalist bigots who want to send her to a zoo; conservative politicians who want to pass a bill that would officially render her “a nonhuman animal” — grow increasingly cartoonish, to the point where any real sense of threat is removed. It seems preposterous that the United States government or its agents would throw this teenage girl into a cage on an Air Force base. And it seems equally preposterous that they would allow a Mengele-like veterinarian to perform sadistic experiments on her. No more preposterous, one might argue, than the premise that a half-ape/half-human girl could exist in the first place, but having concocted that premise, it would seem that the job of the novelist is to try to get the reader to suspend disbelief for the story’s duration.

The clever ending Mr. Gonzales has come up with for “Lucy” marks a complete departure from the “Frankenstein” template and it’s oddly satisfying on an emotional level. Even so, it’s not enough to make up for all the careless writing and absurd plot shenanigans that have gone before.

LUCY

·  Hardcover: 320 pages

·  Publisher: Knopf; First Edition (July 13, 2010)

·  Language: English

·  ISBN-10: 0307272605

·  ISBN-13: 978-0307272607

·  Price: $24.95 hardcover, $11.99 Kindle edition (electronic book), $9.89 paperback

https://www.amazon.com/Lucy-Laurence-Gonzales/dp/0307272605/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

As always, agents thank you for your cooperation and keep adding to the universal literary conversation as literature is "recreation for intelligence."