Dimensions
127 x 178 x 28mm
Following in the footsteps of the late great Lester Bangs - the most revered and irreverent of rock 'n' roll critics - twenty-four celebrated writers have penned stories inspired by great songs. Just as Bangs cast new light on a Rod Stewart classic with his story 'Maggie May', about a wholly unexpected connection between an impressionable young man and an aging, alcoholic hooker, the diverse, electrifying stories here use songs as a springboard for a form dubbed the 'Lit Riff'.
Alongside Bang's classic work, you'll find stories by J T Leroy, who puts a recovering teenage drug abuser in a dentist's chair with nothing but the Foo Fighter's 'Everlong', blaring through the PA, to fight the pain; Jonathan Lethem, whose narrator looks back on his lost innocence just as an extramarital affair careens to an end - this to the tune 'Speeding Motorcycle' as recorded by Yo La Tengo; and Jennifer Belle, who envisions a prequel to Paul Simon's 'Graceland' - one that takes place at a children's birthday party replete with a real live kangaroo.
This is both an astounding collection of short stories and an extraordinary experiment in words and music.
