Everybody Was Kung-Fu Dancing: Chronicles of the Lionized and the Notorious

In these 32 varied and enlightening capsules of '70s and '80s pop culture, most still relevant today, Flippo ( It's Only Rock 'N' Roll ) defends the mercurial John Lennon against unsympathetic biographer Albert Goldman, schmoozes with gregarious crooner Tony Bennett and addresses his fellow transplanted Texans in New York (who go by the acronym TINY). All but three essays here were previously published, often in Rolling Stone ; people and events are grouped according to virtues such as prudence, temperance and fortitude or less admirable, equally entertaining qualities including lust, anger and gluttony. Illustrating the book are 15 mediocre, folk-arty linocut portraits of interviewees, among them Night of the Living Dead director George Romero, poet Jim Carroll and a Jerry Lee Lewis haunted by the "Elvis demon" that perpetually steals his Memphis spotlight. Interesting, if familiar, trivia abounds: Flippo tells how animal rights advocate Paul McCartney transported his chickens to Scotland via taxi and reminds us that country star Waylon Jennings, a former member of Buddy Holly's band, gave up his plane seat to the Big Bopper one fateful day. Even a fishing excursion in Tennessee seems hip thanks collection's knowledgeable and observant author.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This is an assemblage of 32 dated journalistic pieces and interviews, many of which were previously published in the early 1980s in New York magazine and Rolling Stone (without, however, the benefit of the original photographs) on popular music/culture, the bailiwick of former Rolling Stone editor Flippo. Among the lionized are Jack Henry Abbott, David Allen Coe, Tony Bennett, Al Green, Tom Wolfe, and Les Paul, while the notorious include mogul David Geffen, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, Mick Jagger, and playwright Christopher Durang. The book invites comparison with Kurt Loder's recent Bat Chain Puller ( LJ 10/15/90); Flippo and Loder both cut their rock incisors at Rolling Stone , the formats and scopes are similar, and each has a fondness for quirky-song-as-book-titles. Though the material is predominantly recycled and somewhat dated, Flippo is an astute observer and commentator. Large popular music collections should consider this; a discretionary purchase for others.
- Barry Miller, Austin P.L., Tex.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.