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Sometimes - A life of love, loss and erasure
- GenresMusic
352 pages, Paperback
First published June 20, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 29, 2014
First, full disclosure: the only reason I read this is because I've been on an Erasure kick for a little over a month. I didn't expect a book about Erasure, and it wasn't -- and that's cool. I just wish I could figure out how I feel about this book.
The book begins with the near-fatal stroke Paul Hickey suffered in 2000, then transitions between various points in his life. The first impression I got of Paul is that he spent a good portion of his adult life being a conceited, impatient, self-important prick. Throughout the book, we're treated to plenty of scenes of PH losing his temper and screaming at people because, for example, they don't realize who he is (nevermind the fact that the only reason he's anybody worth recognition is because of his relationship, both personal and professional, to Andy Bell). Maybe it was the drugs; more than once, I was reminded of the joke in Bill Cosby's "Himself" act that goes, "Well, cocaine enhances your personality. But what if you're an asshole?" Or maybe it was something of an overcompensation for growing up dirt poor. Whatever the reason, pre-stroke Paul is a pompous ass who merits very little sympathy.
Then there was the sex. PH had a lot of sex, and he wants to tell you all about it. Starting at age 8(!), his penis was a stranger to few and a friend to many, both men and women (although he does admit that the women were more of a guilt thing, before he fully came to terms with his homosexuality). I will grant that he had a really fascinating life growing up...being born in 1950, he was coming of age in the late 60s, and being in the Monterey, CA, area, he had a front row seat to the hippie cultural revolution. He crashed parties thrown by Timothy Leary. He ran drugs up and down the California coast. He tripped balls with soldiers from Fort Ord who used his little house as a private place to shoot up demerol and mescaline. As uncomfortable as his stories from that time period sometimes made me, I appreciated the glimpse of what it was really like, something outside the romanticized, tie-dyed flower-power fluff that is the predominant image today.
There were some weird assertions made in the book. One was about Madonna, her record label's signing (and cursory unsigning) of Erasure, and how she might have lifted some ideas from them for her "Music" album. I'm not really a Madonna fan, especially not of that particular abomination, but I think it's a stretch to say that the fact that her label released "Cowboy" and then, three years later, she swiped the cowboy theme for her new album. PH also suggests that a picture of ruby slippers inside the album art is maybe stolen from the ruby slippers Andy wore in the "Heavenly Action" video. As much as I do love Andy Bell, he didn't invent the ruby slippers meme (that would be Judy Garland). PH finishes these conjectures with an air of "I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'," and it really comes across as sad more than anything.
The editing was atrocious. Misplaced apostrophes, semicolons where a comma should've been, typos, misspelled words, fragment sentences...oof. The book was published by a company that PH started as a means of distributing the royalties earned by Andy, and he cites only two people, either a husband and wife or brother and sister judging from the shared last name, as editors in his thank you notes. I wonder if, since this book was published the year before he passed away, there was a sense of urgency, a rush to complete it before it was too late? Who knows. But I kinda want to reach out to someone and offer to edit it myself. Maybe in exchange for an autographed picture of Andy...
So through all of that, I was kinda losing patience with PH. The pictures were cool, the hippie stories were awesome, but Jesus help me, he was coming across as an insufferable bitch. Then we get to the last chapter...and suddenly, he knows humility. He knows kindness. He's a gentler person, because he's been put in a position where he had to rely on others with no immediate way to compensate or thank them. He learned a lesson from the strokes he'd suffered, and he's a changed person. I really like the Paul Hickey in the last chapter, and in the promotional video I watched. He's calm, patient, relaxed, and humble. He's clean and sober, and realizes that the world doesn't revolve around him. It's almost kind of sad, that he lived so much of his life a slave to the drugs and negative emotions, and only at the end, in the last decade or so, did he join the rest of us in the "There's More to Life than Paul Hickey" club.
Did I like the book? Mostly. I don't regret reading it, but I probably wouldn't read it again. I'd actually give it three and a half stars, were it not for the rampant editorial mistakes.
The book begins with the near-fatal stroke Paul Hickey suffered in 2000, then transitions between various points in his life. The first impression I got of Paul is that he spent a good portion of his adult life being a conceited, impatient, self-important prick. Throughout the book, we're treated to plenty of scenes of PH losing his temper and screaming at people because, for example, they don't realize who he is (nevermind the fact that the only reason he's anybody worth recognition is because of his relationship, both personal and professional, to Andy Bell). Maybe it was the drugs; more than once, I was reminded of the joke in Bill Cosby's "Himself" act that goes, "Well, cocaine enhances your personality. But what if you're an asshole?" Or maybe it was something of an overcompensation for growing up dirt poor. Whatever the reason, pre-stroke Paul is a pompous ass who merits very little sympathy.
Then there was the sex. PH had a lot of sex, and he wants to tell you all about it. Starting at age 8(!), his penis was a stranger to few and a friend to many, both men and women (although he does admit that the women were more of a guilt thing, before he fully came to terms with his homosexuality). I will grant that he had a really fascinating life growing up...being born in 1950, he was coming of age in the late 60s, and being in the Monterey, CA, area, he had a front row seat to the hippie cultural revolution. He crashed parties thrown by Timothy Leary. He ran drugs up and down the California coast. He tripped balls with soldiers from Fort Ord who used his little house as a private place to shoot up demerol and mescaline. As uncomfortable as his stories from that time period sometimes made me, I appreciated the glimpse of what it was really like, something outside the romanticized, tie-dyed flower-power fluff that is the predominant image today.
There were some weird assertions made in the book. One was about Madonna, her record label's signing (and cursory unsigning) of Erasure, and how she might have lifted some ideas from them for her "Music" album. I'm not really a Madonna fan, especially not of that particular abomination, but I think it's a stretch to say that the fact that her label released "Cowboy" and then, three years later, she swiped the cowboy theme for her new album. PH also suggests that a picture of ruby slippers inside the album art is maybe stolen from the ruby slippers Andy wore in the "Heavenly Action" video. As much as I do love Andy Bell, he didn't invent the ruby slippers meme (that would be Judy Garland). PH finishes these conjectures with an air of "I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'," and it really comes across as sad more than anything.
The editing was atrocious. Misplaced apostrophes, semicolons where a comma should've been, typos, misspelled words, fragment sentences...oof. The book was published by a company that PH started as a means of distributing the royalties earned by Andy, and he cites only two people, either a husband and wife or brother and sister judging from the shared last name, as editors in his thank you notes. I wonder if, since this book was published the year before he passed away, there was a sense of urgency, a rush to complete it before it was too late? Who knows. But I kinda want to reach out to someone and offer to edit it myself. Maybe in exchange for an autographed picture of Andy...
So through all of that, I was kinda losing patience with PH. The pictures were cool, the hippie stories were awesome, but Jesus help me, he was coming across as an insufferable bitch. Then we get to the last chapter...and suddenly, he knows humility. He knows kindness. He's a gentler person, because he's been put in a position where he had to rely on others with no immediate way to compensate or thank them. He learned a lesson from the strokes he'd suffered, and he's a changed person. I really like the Paul Hickey in the last chapter, and in the promotional video I watched. He's calm, patient, relaxed, and humble. He's clean and sober, and realizes that the world doesn't revolve around him. It's almost kind of sad, that he lived so much of his life a slave to the drugs and negative emotions, and only at the end, in the last decade or so, did he join the rest of us in the "There's More to Life than Paul Hickey" club.
Did I like the book? Mostly. I don't regret reading it, but I probably wouldn't read it again. I'd actually give it three and a half stars, were it not for the rampant editorial mistakes.
November 4, 2015
I would love to read the 'other side' of the story...written by Andy.
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