Spike Jones Off The Record : The Man Who Murdered Music,Used

Review'By The Time You'Re Finished, You'Ll Know More About The Music Business Than, Perhaps, You Wanted To And You'Ll Also Have A Nifty Perspective On American Social History In The 1940S.' San Francisco Examiner, 4/5/85.'Jordan Young Digs Beneath The Public Persona To Shed Some Light On This Complicated Man Who... Was Colorful And Wacky, Largerthanlife, And Always Hustling Behind The Scenes.' United Press International.'Looks For The Real Spike Jones. Not Simply Another Glowing Hollywood Biography... Objectively Covers The Ups And Downs Of Jones' Career.' The Los Angeles Times, 12/14/84.'Spike Jones Is Again The Cult Rage. Jordan R. Young'S Carefully Researched Biography Is Making Its Own Noise...' Time, 6/13/94'Thanks To This Book, We Can Learn At Last Just How Spike Jones Made His Magic, And What Sort Of Magic Man He Was.' Dr. Demento, 6/84'Young Reveals The Private World Of Jones And Expands On Thre Public Career Which Brought Universal Fame To This Master Of Musical Mayhem.' Jazz Journal, 7/85Product Descriptionthe Acclaimed Biography Of The Pistolpacking Bandleader And His His Accomplices In Musical Mayhem, Whose Zany Slambang Versions Of Classics And Popular Songs Are Enjoying A Major Resurgence Via Cd And Home Video. This Book Offers An Irreverant Backstage Look At The Man Behind The Carefullycrafted Image: A Lover Of Classical Music Who Wanted To Be Taken Seriously, A Man With A Razorsharp Tongue And An Xrated Sense Of Humor, And A Shrewd Public Relations Wizard Who Never Made An Unrehearsed Move.From The Authorspike Jones Was An Immensely Private Individual Who Took Great Pains To Hide The Truth. His Love Of Classical Music Was Kept Carefully Under Wraps, As Were His Razorsharp Tongue And Ribald Sense Of Humor. 'If The Real Me Were Ever Known,' He Once Confided To Tom Prideaux Of Life Magazine, 'My Entire Image Would Be Shot.'The Idea For This Book Was Sown One Evening In 1976, At A Spirited Hollywood Banquet Where I Found Myself Seated Next To Doodles Weaver. Despite Every Intention Of Pumping Him For Anecdotes About Jones, He Made Me Laugh So Hard, Just Being Himself, I Didn'T Get The Chance. The Following Year I Interviewed Mickey Katz For The Los Angeles Times. His Amusing And Unexpected Remarks About His Former Employer Further Aroused My Curiosity.Five Years Later, When A Wealth Of Long Lost Memorabilia Fell Serendipitiously Into My Hands Including Jones' Personal Files, And The Actual Arrangements Used By The Band The Time Was Ripe. I Began To Track Down And Interview The Survivors Of The Spike Jones Organization And Draw Out Their Recollections Of The Man, Who Assaulted Popular And Classical Music With Unparalleled Artistry.When 'Spike Jones And His City Slickers' Was First Published In 1984, I Didn'T Realize It Was Work In Progress. Although Many People Have Called It The Definitive Book, I Do Not Feel It Is Possible To Exhaust A Subject As Complex As Spike Jones. The Subject Will Surely Exhaust The Author First.A Few Years Ago I Realized A Third Of The People I Had Interviewed For The First Edition Had Passed Away, And That A Part Of History Was Fast Disappearing. It Occurred To Me That Perhaps I Hadn'T Told The Whole Story. This Revised And Expanded Edition Digs Deeper Into The Past And Hopefully Gives A Much More Complete Picture Of The Man And His Largely Unsung Accomplices, The Niche They Inhabited In The Entertainment World And The Circumstances Under Which They Worked.'Spike Jones Off The Record' Is Largely An Oral History, Of Necessity, A Story Told By The Men And Women Who Lived It, On The Road And In The Studio. The Additional Research For This Edition Shed New Light On Many Facets Of Jones' Life And Career And Yielded Much Heretofore Unpublished Information. New Discoveries, However, Have Led Only To Further Contradictions.Jones Himself Never Let The Truth Get In The Way Of A Good Story; He Would Sacrifice Almost Anything For The Sake Of