Gavin Edwards (1)Recensioni

Eminently readable with engaging prose. One of my "best of" picks for 2013.

A beautiful biography of one of the top five influential people in my life.

This book is a collection of misheard song lyrics -- lines people wrongly think they have heard in English- language rock, pop, and folk songs of the 1960s through 1990s.

For example, consider the line in Bob Dylan's "Blowing in the Wind", when he apparently sings: The ants are my friends, they're blowin' in the wind..., and as reflected in the book's title, when Jimi Hendrix sings 'scuse me while i kiss this guy ("kiss the sky")

Likewise, in "White Rabbit" (Jefferson Airplane), Grace Slick's soaring vocals remind us Remember, what the doorknob said... while Paul Simon complains that he . "gets no offers... just a come-on from the horse on 7th Avenue...".

As another example, Creedence Clearwater's "Bad Moon Rising", asserts there's... a bathroom on the right , while "Down on the Corner" advises You don't need a pinhead, just to hang around .

Some wrong lyrics are sung by people who know they are wrong, but who find amusement in what they sound like. For example, when Kenny Rogers sings "You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille", who can resist singing along With four hundred children and a crop in the field... Likewise, there's the Beatles' Will you still feed me, when I'm six feet four... and their famous phrase about Lucy: the girl with colitis goes by...

As yet another example: to most English speakers, the refrain "Guantanamera" sounds just like One ton Tomato...; and if you've not heard it that way before, you'll never be able to sing the song correctly again. As another culinary offering, there's the Eurythmics Sweet dreams are made of cheese... Or in a social venue, in a gathering that's cheering on a jolly good fellow, you can amuse yourself by singing He's a delicate fellow...

With 275 misheard lyrics included, there are plenty to choose from. An especially amusing aspect is that most of the misheard lyrics are accompanied by clever, hand-drawn cartoons that illustrate the misinterpretation.

I cheerfully grant that this book is rather puerile, but I found it quite amusing. My copy now has plenty of turned-down corners to mark my favorites.½

What a wonderful book!! It is uplifting and you learn so much about our dear Mr Rogers. He made the world a better place. I listened to the audiobook but I am sure it is great in all platforms. I HIGHLY recommend it.

We learn so much about this man. He was a solo child, rich, fat, bullied and he turned into a super KIND and gentle man. After learning about his parents and grandparents, you see where he got this.

Check out my review here:

http://shannonsbookbag.blogspot.com/2015/01/deep-thoughts-from-hollywood-blonde....

Honestly, it was a great book but it would have been significantly better if it didn't list every movie Bill ever made with a recap of each movie. That section of the book was painful to read, and almost seem like it was there to fill out the book.

Other than that, it was a fantastic read.

This book literally has it all. "Ya gotta be a baby!""Children are pieces of MEAT" Johnny Depp's band BITCH plus so much more

guy on the audiobook does a really good Johnny Depp and a pretty good Ethan Hawke!

Not my favorite biography. I think I enjoy the old movie stars more. It was still an okay read and sad that he died so young. Had such potential and who's knows where he'd be today hadn't he taken that speed ball.

Updating 9.1.16-I am hosting a GIVEAWAY of 1 hard copy of this book, to residents in the U.S. only. Please pop over to my blog to enter! http://charlene.booklikes.com/post/1460300/giveaway-the-tao-of-bill-murray
Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovxC8PTF2t4
(The trailer consists of one of the stories included in the book-one of my favorites, actually.)

This book was everything that I hoped it would be, plus some!

If you're like me, you have a fondness for Bill Murray. You've probably heard stories about how he crashes weddings, or photo bombs people's engagement pictures, things like that. Well, it's true, he does. That's his way. (Which is what Tao means in Chinese.)

The Tao of Bill Murray contains all your basic biographical information: (William James Murray was born on September 21, 1950 in Illinois. He was the fifth of nine children. He loves baseball and adores the game of golf. ) It covers briefly his formative years and his time with SNL. He has a bunch of sons and he was involved in their lives as they grew up. Then the narrative moves on to the really interesting stuff.

Such as: Bill can be difficult to get a hold of. He has an 800 number and if you want him to act in a movie or participate in any kind of event, you call that number and leave a message. If he's interested, he'll contact you. It might not be for weeks or months, or it might not even happen at all, but that's how it works. For instance, the movies Little Miss Sunshine and The Squid and the Whale were both written with him in mind, but he just didn't care. Quote:

"I just really only want to work when I want to work. Life is really hard, and it's the only one you have. I mean, I like doing what I do, and I know I'm supposed to do it, but I don't have anything to bring to it if I don't live my life."

Which brings us to the Tao of Bill. Basically there are a set of 10 principles by which Bill tries to live. I'm not going to list them all out here but it seems to me that Bill tries to improve himself and the lives of others by following this "philosophy." This does not mean that he is a perfect guy, because he isn't, and this book does touch on a few unpleasant incidents-it's not ALL fun and games.

However, this book does generally focus on the fun things and what a blast Bill can be. He loves to tell people that no one will believe them. For instance, coming up behind someone on the street and covering their eyes and asking "Guess who?"And once they turn around? "No one will believe you, you know." Going to a bar after a golf tournament at St. Andrews, chatting up some students and then going with them to a party after the bar closed. Once Bill realized it was basically a college house, (read: a mess), he decided to wash all the dishes. Bill says: "You can't just walk in and walk out, that feels strange. But if you walk into someone's house, do all the dishes and leave, then you feel like you've made a contribution."

Each chapter after the opening goes into each of the 10 principles of Bill's philosophy and then the last portion of the book briefly touches on each movie in which Bill Murray has appeared. It turns out there are quite a few of them I've never seen. Now I plan to do so. Along with a description of Bill's role in each movie, there are tidbits about the shooting of the film, (sometimes including comments from other cast members), and a brief review of the film.

This is not a complete biography with all the dates of this, that and the other thing all dryly listed. Instead this book was exactly what I was looking for which was an honest look at Bill's real life, with most of the focus on the fun stuff. That was exactly what I got. It was entertaining and enlightening and it gave me some ideas as to how I can make my life better, while at the same time doing the same for other people. For these reasons, I highly recommend this book!

You can pre-order a copy here: https://www.amazon.com/Tao-Bill-Murray-Real-Life-Enlightenment/dp/0812998707/ref... tao of bill murray

*Thanks to Net Galley and to Random House for the free e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. This is it.*

This is an interesting, entertaining look at the zany life and antics of Bill Murray and his impact on the lives of others. The book claims that Bill Murray has made it his mission to “wake people up”, meaning break up their boring daily routines in unexpected ways. These ways may include crashing random strangers’ parties, stealing popcorn from a nearly-seated stranger at a movie theater, pulling his shirt over his head and rubbing his stomach as some newlyweds are trying to have their picture taken, reverse pick-pocketing by sneaking money INTO stranger’s pockets, walking up to a stranger on a street corner and covering their eyes with the words “Guess who,” as well as numerous other stories of unpredictable and unorthodox encounters.

The book was a quick read, and held your attention from beginning to end. The last quarter of the book consisted of a filmography of Bill Murray’s movies, which included one of his best quotes from each movie and interesting looks behind-the-scenes from Murray himself and others connected with the films. It also contains a thorough index (in my opinion, a must-have for any nonfiction book). There are only two slight downfalls of the book (in my opinion). One, the author’s filmography comments seemed very biased, and did not really tell me what I wanted to know about the movies, such as their ratings and in some cases even their general synopsis. Two, many times throughout the book the author would use Jewish phrases and slang that many people (including myself) are unfamiliar with and would need to either look up or guess at. Also, at times the language in the book (mainly found in movie quotes) was a bit much, and I’d recommend this book for mature audiences only. I still liked the book, and would give it four glowing Hollywood stars.

Robert Sikoryak is an illustrator whose metier is flawlessly adapting the work of graphic artists modern and historical to suit incongruous cultural touchtones. If that sounds boring, I assure you it's anything but. Maybe it sounds silly to tell the story of Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" in a series of '70s-era Charles Schultz Sunday strips starring "Good Ol' Gregor Brown," but, if you think about it, it's also incredibly difficult: you have to draw things that Schultz would probably have never tried to draw (in this case, a main character who's transformed into a giant cockroach) and do it in a way that's perfectly convincing as an example of Schultz's style—while also telling the story in a way that respects the original AND uses Schultz's particular storytelling techniques. If you're impressed by this kind of thing, and you should be, you will become a fan.

That said, the best thing about The Tao of Bill Murray—and the only reason to read it—are the 26 drawings by Robert Sikoryak, each somehow commenting on the text around it. None is titled or credited, so identifying the references is part of the fun.

Here's a cheat sheet.

Frontispiece: Bill Murray as Pooh in "The Tao of Pooh."
viii: Bill Murray as a Van Gogh self-portrait.
2: Bill Murray as Milton Glaser's Bob Dylan.
7: Bill Murray as Mercury on a Greek krater.
15: Bill Murray as the Fantastic Four's Human Torch.
38: Bill Murray as "The Bill," aka "The Fool" in the Rider-Waite tarot deck.
42: Bill Murray in Grand Theft Golfcart.
52: Bill Murray as the villain in a TinTin panel.
66: Bill Murray in R. Crumb's album cover "Cheap Bills."
72: Bill Murray at a party of Babars.
90: Bill Murray as the Mad Golfer in a John Tenniel "Alice" illustration.
100: Bill Murray on an Egyptian funerary relief.
108: Bill Murray on an airline safety card.
120: Bill Murray on a vintage Cubs baseball card.
126: Bill Murray as a god on a Hindu devotional image.
134: Bill Murray as the White Whale in a Rockwell Kent woodcut.
142: Bill Murray in Salvador Dali's "The Persistence of Memory."
148: Bill Murray as the serpent in a medieval woodcut of the garden of Eden.
162: Bill Murray by Edward Gorey.
176: Bill Murray as Hobbes by Bill Watterson.
186: Bill Murray by M.C. Escher.
198: Bill Murray by Shepard Fairey.
204: Bill Murray by Peter Max.
222: Bill Murray by Andy Warhol.
255: Bill Murray as Super Mario.
316: Bill Murray by Maurice Sendak.

The text, by comparison, is barely worth plowing through. It's mostly a collection of his off-camera antics, organized around the concept that Bill Murray is an enlightened trickster Buddha; when it quickly becomes clear that he's just a guy burdened by fame from a young age who has chosen to use his privilege in playful and mostly delightful ways. There's a strong whiff of Teen Beat in the adulation the author gives him for being a more than usually generous clown.

As is demonstrated by Murray's cruel treatment of Howard Ramis, not to mention the number of truly terrible movies he's performed in, Bill Murray is a human being like the rest of us, only richer and much more spontaneous. I'd much rather hang out with Robert Sikoryak.

I was really looking forward to reading this book that I received last Christmas.

It has taken me a year to read it. The entire thing reads anecdotally. Apparently Edwards actually interviewed Bill Murray once, although that never became apparent to me.

I found this excerpt to be interesting, regarding Murray: "Actor Hugh Laurie once quoted critic Pauline Kael saying that Cary Grant was the greatest of all film stars. "The reason she gave was that he always looked aware of the fact that he was in a film. He was amused by his predicament: not the predicament of his character but the predicament of Cary Grant in a film. And I could never decide whether that was a great thing, or whether actually James Stewart was the greater film star because he never gave that away."...Bill Murray is the modern actor most like Grant: he is often inside and outside his role at the same time."

Wow, I knew most of the correct lyrics.

Though he is a well-known actor and star of classic films like “Caddyshack,” “Ghostbusters” and “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,” Bill Murray in his later years has garnered a different kind of fame for unexpected appearances and unexpected behavior: delivering a toast at a complete stranger’s bachelor party, washing dishes at a Scandinavian house party (also filled with strangers), tackling an elderly woman into a bunker at a golf course (she was not injured) and a penchant for creative autographs.
Gavin Edwards collects many of these spontaneous sightings of Murray, along with other antics at celebrity golf tournaments and baseball games, and also provides a retrospective of most of Murray’s films. Taken together, these stories and film commentaries form what Edwards frames as the Murray way of life: living in the moment, being open to new experiences and opportunities and being unafraid to reject what’s expected of you (and reject what’s acceptable, period), and yet embracing your humanity and connections we share as human beings.
One quote from the book, which could be extended as a metaphor for much of Murray’s shenanigans: “All parties are good,” Bill has said. “Parties are only bad when a fight breaks out, when men fight over women or vice versa. Someone takes a fall, an ambulance comes, and the police arrive. If you can avoid those things, pretty much all behavior is acceptable.”

Totally disappointing. Except for three or four entries, it was neither funny nor entertaining in any way.

This is actually an uplifting book. Basically stories about Bill Murray's freewheeling way of life fitted into a structure loosely depicting his unspoken philosophy: The Ten Principles of Bill. Of course, few people can pull most of this stuff off, but there's always hope.

The whole secret to Bill Murray is improvisation. Wherever he is, whatever the situation, Bill Murray looks at it as a situation for improv. He can do anything he wants, anywhere, to anyone. If there are consequences, he can either duck them or pay for them. If it’s just him, it’s a new improv experience, usually with people he does not know and will never see again. Or it could be with an individual, as when he comes up behind a pedestrian and covers their eyes with a “Guess who!” followed by a “Nobody will ever believe you.” And he simply walks away. He likes to touch people’s lives in a totally noncommittal ways. It gives him pleasure, stokes his ego, and he gets to mark it up as having made another difference in this world. Welcome to the Tao of Bill Murray.

Edwards has collected a small hillock of Bill Murray stories from the people affected by them – victims, witnesses, co-conspirators and coworkers. There about a hundred pages of these incidents, preceded by a biography and followed by an appreciative filmography. The anecdotes are sophomoric, and moronic, things that adults don’t do. Murray lives in the moment – the spur of the moment, and little else matters. He will be late for everything, annoy his employers, frustrate his friends and thrill total strangers. Bill Murray lives Animal House.

Edwards divides the stories into ten “principles” of Murray’s – things like loving spontaneity, including everyone in the party, and so on. These principles allow Edwards to gather stories with similar facets. Murray’s experience in improv gives him the ability to evaluate an environment instantly, understand a dynamic immediately, and find a way to leverage or destroy it instinctively.

Murray is a lucky man. He is rich enough and famous enough to live the life he wants, as honestly and as straightforwardly as he wants. He is forgiven for everything because he is a known humorous and harmless quantity. The Tao of Bill Murray demonstrates it thoroughly.

David Wineberg

Silly.

Went through this book in about 1/2 Hour. The concept is neat but I ended up wondering what tunes was the author listening to and how sober was he when he was listening. Some of what he thought he heard made perfect sense to me. Other lyrics that I still found confusing were not listed. Interesting read but somewhat disappointing and frustrating. After awhile, I had to put the book down because I ended up wondering what the author was really listening to.

An amusing little collection of misheard lyrics, but it would not have been nearly as funny without the illustrations. Some of those were just priceless. I did notice a disproportionate number of misheard lyrics that were actually the title of the song, but given how many years I misheard "Radar Love" as "Red Hot Love," I'm not one to judge.

But this also makes me think of this quote from Seal: 'One of the most popular questions people seem to ask is "Why don’t you print your lyrics on the album?”. Well the answer to that is that quite often, my songs mean one thing to me and another to the listener. But that's OK because I think it’s the general vibe of what I'm saying that is important and not the exact literal translation. How many times have you fallen in love with a lyric that you thought went “Show me a day with Hilda Ogden and I’ll despair”, only to find that it went "Show me a way to solve your problems and I'll be there”. I guess what I’m saying is that the song is always larger in the listeners mind because with it they attach imagery which is relative to their own personal experience. So it is your perception of what I’m saying rather than what I actually way that is the key.'

That said, I'm fairly certain that "The ants are my friends / they're blowin' in the wind" does not quite have the same feeling as what Bob Dylan had in mind.

I have mixed feelings about this book. Some of the reasons I hate this book are the same reasons I liked it. It touched on a part of River that is rarely talked about, his darker side. But then, do we really need to see this part of a person who's good much outweighed his flaws? I'm not sure, except that maybe it shows that he was human, flawed, and just trying to make it through life like everyone else.

As for the technical aspects, this book can be choppy at times as it goes back and forth through time. This may annoy many readers, but for me it did not take too much away from the book. All in all, I think the author was able to do what he set out to do, show a time in Hollywood history that River was very much in the center of.

Lo

I enjoyed listening to this biography of River Phoenix. I was in the mood for something different, and LAST NIGHT AT THE VIPER ROOM fit the bill perfectly. This book was released just a few days shy of the 20th anniversary of his death. A night out at a club. Drugs. A bad decision. A promising young actor dead at age 23.

This was more than just a recap of what happened on October 31, 1993. It spans River's life from his unconventional childhood in South America (his hippie parents were members of a cult) to his rise to stardom and beyond. Learning about what went on during River's childhood was surprising. I can see how his experiences shaped the troubled young man he became. The book also talks a lot about "Young Hollywood" at the time, which included Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Keanu Reeves, and Winona Ryder. Hearing about what the other actors where doing helped put River's career in perspective.

The audiobook was performed by Luke Daniels, and overall I was pleased with his narration. He had a strong, interesting voice and good pacing. When quoting people he would change his voice, and most of his impressions were spot on (at least for the people I'm familiar with).

LAST NIGHT AT THE VIPER ROOM is a well-written story of a life cut short. It didn't glamorize drug abuse at all - it told it like it was. Sad. The author also poses "what if" questions and the possible answers which were very interesting to think about. This book might appeal to film buffs and and fans of Gen X biographies.