Music Book Review: The History of Bones: A Memoir by John Lurie

The History of Bones: A Memoir
by John Lurie (Music 781.65 Lur)

John Lurie was one of those folks who simply seemed cool in the 1980s: He’d been running his own band, the Lounge Lizards, since the late 70s, and they had a unique kind of punk-jazz sound that was unmatched. When Lurie started to work at film scoring in the 80s, he found himself also cast in some of the films, like “Down By Law” and “Stranger Than Paradise.” He even wrote the theme music for the long-running Late Night with Conan O’Brien show. In the early 90s, he was featured on the Independent Film Channel’s “Fishing With John” show, which ostensibly had him going on fishing trips with other celebrities, but of course much of the fun was simply in his interactions with his guests like Tom Waits or Dennis Hopper. And he’s recently become the star of HBO’s “Painting With John,” which focuses on him and his lifelong hobby of painting, but still takes some extra-subject cues from the style of Fishing With John. He’s mentioned having a memoir nearly finished in interviews dating back at least 15 years, and now it has arrived as The History of Bones, which you can check out from Polley.

 

Lurie turns out to be an incredibly engaging writer, and I think even those with only a passing interest in his music or acting will find this book hard to put down. For those interested in more about the history of that fascinating late 70s/early 80s period in NYC when so many new kinds of music and musical hybrids blossomed, Lurie was in the middle of it all, and has a great memory for detail. Like so many artists of the era, he ended up in the city without a precise plan, but so many creative people had congregated that almost anything could and did happen. But first we get started in Worcester, MA around high school age, where the Lurie family and John in particular go through a number of coming-of-age experiences in the space of just a few years. Some of these early experiences are pretty depressing: his father dies and his mother ends up returning to her native Wales, leaving John and his two siblings largely to fend for themselves as young adults. But some are positive, and I have to say, downright weird, like the tale of how John came upon his first saxophone: out wandering the streets at 4AM, he met a random person pushing a wheelbarrow, the two of them have a strange conversation, Lurie helps the man with his wheelbarrow of dirt, and the man lends him a tenor saxophone and a bicycle. Having already learned the harmonica and the guitar, this ends up being a transformative night.

 

Once he arrives in New York, The History of Bones feels almost like the stuff of fables. The twists and turns of Lurie’s life from 1974 to 1980 are more complicated than most folks’ entire lives. Amazing creative relationships and beautiful art is plentiful throughout this period, but this doesn’t read as a conventional happy story, either, as Lurie and most of his contemporaries struggle with lots of substance abuse issues as their work develops. While there’s some cliché to be had in stories of artists who develop drug problems, first feeling like their work is tremendously helped before becoming haunted by addictions that can take lifetimes to beat, there’s something noble about the way he and his peers just kept fighting, and ultimately most of them found their way to the other side. That said, the earlier portion of Lurie’s memoir isn’t for the faint of heart.

 

Later sections of The History of Bones focus more on the business side of the Lounge Lizards, and the many complications Lurie encountered trying to take this large band on tours and into recording studios. These sections of the book aren’t as chronological or as thorough—they feel more like the result of Lurie thinking of the many tribulations the band had to fight through over the years, and one story simply leads to another. These are pretty relatable stories for many folks who have tried to make it in the music business: show promoters don’t pay guarantees or sell your tour to some other promoter who drops the ball. Record labels don’t follow through with proper promotion. Band members get concerned about perceived unfairness with money issues, but they don’t know about all of the expenses you’re taking on on as bandleader. Recording sessions don’t go the way you plan. Television appearances get scuttled for strange reasons. And along the way, you can get a reputation for being a “difficult” person to work with, even if you’re just trying to transcend all of these challenges. There are even newer perils for contemporary musicians to avoid, like how streaming music cuts into recording income and now how to navigate pandemics, but all of Lurie’s experiences are valuable information for musicians to consider, especially if you’re trying to work with an ensemble larger than the usual rock band configuration.

 

The History of Bones doesn’t get into much of Lurie’s life in the last 20 years. There are allusions to occasional events from the last two decades—a brief comparison of an earlier hack journalist piece to the New Yorker article that ran in 2006 springs to mind—but for the most part, this is a story of the 70s through the 90s. I must admit to being curious about what he’s been up to in the time that he’s been mostly out of the spotlight, but it’s his memoir, and he’s decided to keep his current whereabouts and activities more private. At least now we have the “Painting With John” show to connect with him in the present day, and he’s even been active with his musical alter-ego Marvin Pontiac project in the last few years, so hopefully there’s enough Lurie for everyone.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try No Wave: Post-Punk, Underground, New York, 1976-1980 by Thurston Moore, Unstrung: Rants and Stories of a Noise Guitarist by Marc Ribot or New York Noise: Radical Jewish Music and the Downtown Scene by Tamar Barzel.)

 

( publisher’s official The History of Bones: A Memoir web page ) | ( official www.johnlurieart.com web site )

 

Recommended by Scott S.
Polley Music Library

 

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Check out this, and all the other great music resources, at the Polley Music Library, located on the 2nd floor of the Bennett Martin Public Library at 14th & "N" St. in downtown Lincoln. You'll find biographies of musicians, books about music history, instructional books, sheet music, CDs, music-related magazines, and much more. Also check out Polley Music Library Picks, the Polley Music Library's e-mail newsletter, and follow them on Facebook!