Zachary Lazar's excellent novel of the swinging (on a noose) '60s, Sway, pulls together the stories of the Rolling Stones, the Manson Family, and experimental film maker Kenneth Anger. I reviewed it in Sunday's Inquirer. You can find that here.
The book convincingly brings Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Brian Jones (as well as Marianne Faithfull and Anita Pallenberg) to imaginative life. And it uses Anger, the director who employed Manson killer Bobby Beausoleil in Lucifer Rising and a Jagger Moog synthesizer score in Invocation Of My Demon Brother, as the Mephistophelean glue that holds the Stones and the Manson Family together. (And speaking of Jones, here's a piece in the Times of London about how the Stones might have turned out if a Hell's Angels plan to assassinate Jagger, as revealed by a new BBC documentary, had succeeded, and he'd never on to star in an upcoming movie directed by Martin Scorsese.)
For the music blog Large Hearted Boy, Lazar put together an annotated mix CD soundtrack to Sway, that you can find here.
The disc can be assembled easily enough from iTunes, except for the songs by '60s psych-folk Syd Barrett-ish mystery man Jonathan Halper, which it took me some Internet digging to find.
Here's Lazar's chapter by chapter song list. For his reasons, go to Largehearted Boy.
1. “Revolution Blues,” Neil Young
2. “Out of Time,” Rolling Stones
3. “Two Headed Boy, parts 1 and 2,” Neutral Milk Hotel
4. “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” Rolling Stones
5. “(You’re The) Devil in Disguise,” Elvis Presley
6. “No Expectations,” Rolling Stones
7. “Leaving My Old Life Behind/I Am a Hermit,” Jonathan Halper
8. “Sympathy For the Devil,” Rolling Stones
9. “Sway,” Rolling Stones
10. “You Got the Silver,” Rolling Stones
11. “Death Valley ’69,” Sonic Youth with Lydia Lunch
12. “Moonlight Mile,” Rolling Stones.
Comments (2)
Nice book review -- makes me wanna read. Like I've said, I'm just old enought to recall Beatles at Shea, so ... I love the Beatles but I LIVED the Stones.
Interesting recent news item below:
"Storm saved Mick Jagger from assassination"
Having infiltrated behind class-war lines last summer to finally recon/enjoy "the Hamptons," I can see how it could be done -- there are nice beachfront homes that are far away from neighbors or anything, fairly isolated ... beautiful.
D*
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Storm saved Mick Jagger from assassination
Mon Mar 3, 4:51 AM ET LOS ANGELES (Reuters)
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Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger only survived an assassination attempt by Hells Angels members nearly 40 years ago because a boat carrying his would-be killers was swamped in a storm, according to a new BBC documentary.
The details of a plot to kill the British rocker were revealed by an FBI agent as part of a series, "The FBI at 100," which is to be aired on BBC Radio 4 on Monday. Tom Mangold, who presents the series, told Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper that Jagger fell out with the Hells Angels after a member of the notorious gang killed a fan during the band's infamous free concert at Altamont in 1969.
The Stones had hired the local chapter to provide security for the poorly planned concert near San Francisco. The bikers terrorized the crowd, and were offended by Jagger's effeminate dancing. One of them stabbed 18-year-old Meredith Hunter to death in front of the stage. The chaos was immortalized in the documentary "Gimme Shelter." The Hells Angels felt they had been duped by Jagger as fingers were pointed in the aftermath of the concert.
Former special agent Mark Young, who was interviewed for the BBC series, said a boatload of Hells Angels set out to take revenge on Jagger at his holiday home in the Hamptons, near New York City. "The Hells Angels were so angered by Jagger's treatment of them that they decided to kill him," Mangold told the newspaper. "They planned the attack from the sea so they could enter his property from the garden and avoid security at the front.
The boat was hit by a storm and all of the men were thrown overboard. All survived and there was not said to have been any further attempt on Jagger's life." Alan Passaro was arrested and tried for Hunter's murder in 1972 but was acquitted after a jury concluded that he had acted in self-defense because Hunter was carrying a handgun. Passaro later drowned in an accident.
Posted by David R. Stampone | March 4, 2008 12:38 PM
Posted on March 4, 2008 12:38
Yeah, cool, I do (now) see the link in yer post to the Londinium Times piece on The Would-Be Assasination of the Mick; the Reuters article is still worth a look, tho, giving details on actual attempt.
Posted by David R.Stampone | March 4, 2008 12:46 PM
Posted on March 4, 2008 12:46