The History of Bones - A memoir - John Lurie

 John Lurie is, of course, the guiding light and saxophonist for the no wave/jazz combo, the Lounge Lizards, whose debut album is among my top fave records. For some reason, I've never really researched any further Lizards recordings and I never knew anything at all about Lurie, so I picked this up to see what I could see.

Lurie's accounting of his youth is basically impressionistic images and brief anecdotes of his family and friends, meant to give you a feel for the time without getting into too many details, other than the time he was able to get onstage with Canned Heat as a teenager and play 2 songs on the harmonica for 20,000 people and details of the first time he took acid. His life's story is told in a series of incredibly improbable tales as he searches for enlightenment while ostracized from the general public but still interacting with innumerable people as he crossed the country and even the ocean in his quest of his nameless desire. He acquires a saxophone (another improbably tale) and spends his time playing (with zero training), doing drugs, experimenting with extreme yoga and listening to avant jazz and rock'n'roll.

The Lounge Lizards also come together in an improbably way, with Lurie accepting a gig without a lineup and throwing something together, buying a bunch of cocaine and instantly becoming a NYC sensation. Drugs continue to be a major part of his (and the band's) life as he tells of records'n'tours, successes'n'failures, sickness'n'(relative)health, and on and on. His writing style tends to make one feel nearly as f'k'd up as he is, but he continues to literally stumble into projects - musical and cinematic - that succeed against all odds.

(As a funny aside, he mentions a horrible gig at the Music Machine in Santa Monica and how horrible the place was and how terrible the sound was and, ironically, that was always one of the nicer places that I played in LA! Makes me think he must have been spoiled in NYC. Wonder how I missed the gig? Probably couldn't afford it.)

I gotta admit, there is a part of me that is irked that someone as f'k'd up and drugged up as Lurie - although obviously immensely talented - gets break after break, continually, while hard workin' little ol' me didn't get a fraction of his opportunities, but I guess that is what talent will get you! Reading his stories, though, it is fairly amazing that he is even still alive (unlike many of his contemporaries, such as his friend, Basquiat), much less that he accomplished as much as he did. I suppose I'm at the point in my life where it's no longer funny or even particularly interesting but simply depressing to read about people continually fucking up their life. I guess it's a good warning to those who are contemplating a life of drugs.

Besides the innumerable drug tales, Lurie also airs his many grievances and recounts an incredible number of slights, fights, ripoffs and more, real or imagined, and the amount of money he lost due to others' actions. Of course, it's hard to know how much of this is based in reality, but he is certainly carrying a grudge against a large number of people, despite his protestations of not caring. He also makes a point of repeatedly mentioning how he is described as incredibly handsome around the world, even when he is hated, which surprises me as I always thought he was odd looking, certainly not attractive, although I can't say that I know what is considered to be male attractiveness. 

Many more stories unfold until he randomly ends the book after new year's eve, 1989/1990. Obviously, with any living figure, you need to pick an ending spot, but I thought that was a bit odd, unless, of course, he is planning a second part to the tome. 

This was simultaneously really a great read and really uncomfortable - it's depressing how much harm he does to himself (and he only alludes to having Lyme Disease, which apparently manifests itself some time after the ending date of this edition), how many friends/band members he loses, and how life can be a fight, but at the same time, he has lived on his art pretty much his entire life - something that not many can say - and throughout he is given chances that many of us can only dream about and he often simply complains about them and belittles them. Still, it does make me want to explore more of the Lizards repertoire and learn more of his art - something that he picked up seriously after the book closes. I would still certainly recommend it.