Category: Books

Slash memoir recounts Guns N’ Roses mayhem
NEW YORK (Billboard) – He was the chain-smoking, Jack Daniels-drinking guitarist for one of the most explosive bands in history. But in his memoir “Slash,” out October 30 via HarperEntertainment, the former Guns N’ Roses member wants to set the record straight.
Fans can take note: riots, overdoses and controversies all make appearances. There are also surprises, from how Saul Hudson was dubbed Slash, to what it was like living with mercurial singer Axl Rose in their rehearsal space.
Just don’t bother asking Slash, now sober and playing guitar in Velvet Revolver, if the original Guns will get back together, because he insists it won’t happen. Ever.
BILLBOARD: IN THE BOOK, YOU MENTION THAT YOU FELT ROCK BIOGRAPHIES WERE “INACCURATE AND FULL OF S—.” HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT SETTING THE TONE TO AVOID THIS?
SLASH: I’ve been approached about doing a book for probably all the wrong reasons so many times, I couldn’t validate it in my own mind. For one, it seemed very self-indulgent, very self-centered and very final — and I have no plans of retiring. Finally, I started to realize all this Guns hype that goes on, all this bull— that surrounds that band, it’s inaccurate, and most isn’t even inaccurate, it’s just made up. I got fed up with it. (The book will) answer a lot of these questions. I just figured, “Be as honest as possible.”
BILLBOARD: DRUGS AND DRINKING ARE A BIG PART OF THE STORY. HOW DID IT FEEL TO SEE THIS DOWN ON PAPER?
SLASH: A lot of that stuff I came back and cut out because I didn’t want it to be one of those books that basically bragged about how hardcore (we were), blah, blah, blah. Especially nowadays, (because) a lot of musicians and rock bands have this badge they wear that says that they can party really hard, and I hate that. But I probably talk more about that than I actually talk about music. The music was sort of a natural thing you don’t have to talk about, but chemical abuse was sort of every living, breathing moment.
BILLBOARD: A HUGE PART OF THE BOOK IS GUNS AS YOU’RE TOURING AND THE TARDINESS OF AXL ROSE. WAS THERE EVER ANY EXPLANATION OF WHAT WAS BEHIND THAT?
SLASH: There’s no mention of that in the book at all because it’s not my place. In other words, if there was some sort of history that was common knowledge, it would be different. Because there was no real logic behind any of it, the only thing I could do was sort of put the facts there the way I saw it. There could be a lot of stuff that I don’t know about that goes on even behind the scenes, behind the scenes, behind the scenes.
BILLBOARD: THERE’S TWO YEARS OF FOOTAGE FROM THE “USE YOUR ILLUSION” TOUR. ANY CHANCE A FILM WILL BE MADE?
SLASH: I know right now there’s no rhyme or reason behind the business really that is the Guns N’ Roses original lineup or as close to the original lineup as we ended up with. All that stuff is in such a topsy-turvy state, and there’s really no relationship — a healthy, positive relationship, at least — between myself and Axl. (So) I really don’t have any idea as to how any of that stuff will see the light of day. The situation will hopefully be rectified at one point.
BILLBOARD: ARE YOU WRITING NEW MATERIAL FOR VELVET REVOLVER? ARE THERE ANY PLANS TO ADD DATES TO THE CURRENT ITINERARY?
SLASH: We have Japan and Australia booked for November and December, and then I think we’ll probably be heading to Europe at the beginning of the year. We’re going until the end of next summer for sure. We just got started touring, so as a group I can’t say that we’re actively working on the new record, but I’ve got my little recording apparatus on my guitar in my room, and that’s what I do during the days off on the tour. That’s where I start putting ideas down.
BILLBOARD: FINALLY, (AXL ROSE’S GUNS PROJECT) “CHINESE DEMOCRACY.” WILL IT EVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY?
SLASH: Everybody asks me that. I didn’t mention that in the book because it’s on Axl’s watch. It’ll get done, and it’ll come out when he feels comfortable with putting it out. And Axl works in a different time zone than I do. So what may seem like a long time to other people is a tick of the clock to him. It’ll come out though. It will.

Apatow tells how he got hero’s autograph
NEW YORK – Judd Apatow, writer and director of comedy hits “Knocked Up” and “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” is doubtless already a hero to kids who want to break into film or comedy. But once, he was just a kid dying for the autograph of his own hero, Steve Martin.
Apatow regaled an audience at the New Yorker Festival this weekend with the tale of how, on vacation in California as a boy, he had spotted Martin washing his car in front of his home.
The young Apatow jumped out of the car and asked for an autograph, but Martin said he didn’t give autographs at his home. “Please, we won’t tell anyone,” Apatow begged. Sorry, Martin said, but no.
So Apatow went home and wrote Martin a nasty letter, in which he gave an early glimpse of his now well-documented talent for profanity. Three months later, he received a package from Martin that contained a copy of his book “Cruel Shoes.”
“I’m sorry,” read Martin’s inscription. “I didn’t realize I was speaking to THE Judd Apatow.”
THE Judd Apatow’s latest hit, as a producer, was “Superbad,” one of the most popular comedies of the summer. The movie, which chronicles the final high-school days of two teenage friends (Michael Cera and Jonah Hill), was written by Seth Rogen (the star of “Knocked Up”) and Evan Goldberg, and directed by Greg Mottola.
Rogen, who also appeared with Apatow at the New Yorker Festival, discussed how similar his real life with his buddies is to “Knocked Up,” in which his real friends actually appear with him, living and acting in ways best described as juvenile.
“I’ve lived with them, in conditions that are humiliatingly similar,” Rogen said.

J.K. Rowling to meet Harry Potter fans in Toronto
Popular Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling will be in Toronto in October, her only stop in Canada on her North American tour.
Raincoast Books, which publishes her wildly successful wizard-in-training series, announced Monday that Rowling will be at the Wintergarden Theatre on Oct. 23 during Toronto’s International Festival of Authors.
Tickets to the 950-seat downtown venue are free. Starting Monday afternoon, 10 tickets a day will be awarded to fans online through the Raincoast Books website where an application is posted.
Other tickets will be disseminated through Canadian libraries, and public and Catholic school boards.
Children in Ontario can apply by taking part in the Forest of Reading program through the Ontario Library Association. The OLA will use a lottery system to award tickets.
Rowling will be reading from the seventh and final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which was released in July. The book became the fastest-selling novel, with more than 15 million copies purchased within 24 hours.
The 41-year-old author will also entertain questions and sign books during her Canadian appearance.
Rowling’s six previous Harry Potter books sold more than 325 million worldwide.
A complete set of signed books, believed to be the only kind in the world, is being auctioned in England.
The charity Books Abroad, which supplies books to children in 80 countries, announced Monday a set will be auctioned on eBay.
A relative of Rowling is a volunteer for the charity.
“It could be worth £20,000 ($41,000 Cdn) or even an awful lot more,” a spokesman for Books Abroad told the BBC.

French Harry Potter publisher lets teen translator off the hook
The French publisher of the Harry Potter books has decided not to sue the overeager high school student who posted segments from his own French-language translation of the highly anticipated final novel.
A spokeswoman for Paris-based publisher Gallimard said that, in agreement with author J.K. Rowling, the unnamed 16-year-old from Aix en Provence will not be sued, nor will the company seek compensation from him.
“The aim [of the initial police complaint] was never financial, it is only aimed to protect authors’ rights,” the spokeswoman said over the weekend.
French anti-piracy investigators came across what they described as the teen’s “near-professional” translations of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the internet during their probe of organized pirating networks shortly after the book’s English-language release worldwide on July 21.
The teen, who was arrested and briefly detained, said that he had not sought to profit from his unauthorized translation, which has been taken offline.
Gallimard’s official French translation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter et les reliques de la mort) is set to hit stores Oct. 26.
The seventh and final instalment of Rowling’s blockbuster Harry Potter series sold more than 11 million copies in North America and the U.K. in the first weekend of sales.
The previous six books about the teen wizard have sold more than 325 million copies around the globe and been translated into more than 60 languages, turning Rowling into one of the world’s best-known authors.

Agent says Simpson book to be published
LOS ANGELES – A literary agent for the family of stabbing victim Ronald Goldman has made a deal to repackage and publish O.J. Simpson’s canceled “If I Did It” book about the slayings of Goldman and Simpson’s ex-wife, a spokesman for the agent said Monday.
Details of the agreement, including the name of the New York publishing house, will be released Tuesday, said Michael Wright, a spokesman for Los Angeles-based literary agent Sharlene Martin of Martin Literary Management.
“The family and publisher have pledged to leave Simpson’s manuscript entirely intact, but they will also add key commentary,” Wright said in a prepared statement. “The Goldmans, the publisher and Sharlene Martin will all contribute portions of sales proceeds to the Ron Goldman Foundation for Justice.”
Wright declined further comment. Martin primarily represents self-help, nonfiction and memoir writers, including “You’ll Never Nanny in This Town Again” author Suzanne Hansen, according to her Web site.
The Simpson book, in which he reportedly explains how he might have committed the killings, was not released last year as originally planned because of public outrage.
Last month, a federal bankruptcy judge awarded rights to the book to Goldman’s family to help satisfy a $38 million wrongful death judgment against the former football star.
Simpson has maintained his innocence in the 1994 killings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Goldman. Simpson, who now lives near Miami, was acquitted of murder in 1995.

Actress McKellar: Smarts, looks add up
NEW YORK – Danica McKellar has a message for girls: Cute and smart is better than cute and dumb.
McKellar, who played Winnie on the 1990s television show “The Wonder Years,” is coming out with a book, “Math Doesn’t Suck,” to encourage girls to get into math.
“When girls see the antics of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, they think that being fun and glamorous also means being dumb and irresponsible,” the 32-year-old McKellar told Newsweek for editions to hit newsstands Monday.
“But I want to show them that being smart is cool,” she said. “Being good at math is cool. And not only that, it can help them get what they want out of life.”
McKellar should know. The actress once struggled with the subject around the seventh grade, but a teacher helped her through. McKellar eventually majored in math in college.
The book includes tips to avoid mistakes on homework, ways to overcome test-day anxiety and profiles of three beautiful mathematicians.
“I want to tell girls that cute and dumb isn’t as good as cute and smart,” she said.

Everyone’s talking Potter; last book out
NEW YORK – The books are out; the word is spreading. “The last Potter is amazing. It has definitely gone way beyond what I expected,” Deb Kiehlmeier, 16, of the Philadelphia suburb of Cherry Hill, N.J., says of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” which was released Saturday to worldwide ecstasy.
“Harry Potter fans are always trying to predict what will happen next, and J.K. Rowling always gives them something different,” Kiehlmeier, who had completed the book 759-page book by late Saturday afternoon, told The Associated Press.
On Day 1 of the A.H. (After Harry) Era, reviewers and readers mourned the end of a historic series that proved young people can still crave the written word like the crispiest French fry. It was a day for the sleepless and the sleepy to enjoy and to recall one last, fresh taste of Potter.
The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune were among those bowing before Rowling’s achievement. She was compared to the greats of children’s and fantasy authors ó J.R.R. Tolkien, L. Frank Baum, Roald Dahl ó and held in awe for living up to the most intimidating standards.
“To create such an extraordinary world, fill it with complicated characters and convergent back stories is beyond the reach of most writers,” wrote the Los Angeles Times’ Mary McNamara.
“To sustain that world and grow those characters over seven books filled with plot twists, folklore and even a magical curriculum and then bring it all to an articulate, emotionally wrenching conclusion ó that is a truly epic quest.”
The AP’s Deepti Hajela called the seventh and final Potter a “classic,” writing that Rowling “completes her entertaining, compulsively readable series with a book that is both heartbreaking and hopeful, one that left this reader sad to say goodbye to Harry but thoroughly satisfied at how it all went.”
Some readers, ironically, were tougher than the critics, especially about the 759-page book’s brief epilogue. One reader on the Potter fan site http://www.mugglenet.com even suggested skipping the last chapter, or at least getting to it later so the rest of the book could be thoroughly enjoyed first.
For those who can’t wait to find out whether Harry lives, Potter fan Julie Neal advises patience. In a customer review on Amazon.com, she writes, “Regardless of the temptation, don’t skip to the end. It doesn’t work. The answers to all those key questions everyone wants to know unfold throughout the story.”
Potter is a pastime and a business. Before the release date, booksellers competed worldwide to sell the $34.99 book, with some cutting the price by two-thirds. Now, the re-sales are starting. On Amazon.com, some individuals were hawking used copies, and some new ones, for as little as $16, $1.99 less than Amazon’s price. On eBay, where just a few days ago a pre-release copy was worth $250, “Deathly Hallows” was offered Saturday for immediate purchase for $10.99.
The first six Potter books have sold more than 325 million copies, and in some places demand for “Deathly Hallows” is already exceeding supply. Taylor Books, an independent book store in Charleston, W.Va., quickly sold out of the 100 copies of the book it had put on sale.
Employee Dane Klingaman said Saturday that customers had been asking for the book all morning, but that only 12 copies that had been specially ordered remained.
“I’ve had to turn people away,” he said.
Seven of the top 10 best sellers on Amazon.com were Potter books Saturday, including a box set of the whole series coming out in September with a list price of $195. The British retailer Asda Group Ltd., which discounted “Deathly Hallows” to $10, said Saturday it had sold 450,000 copies of the book between midnight and 4 p.m. and was selling it twice as fast as the previous Potter. Waterstone’s, a British bookstore chain, said that at the height of the overnight sales frenzy, staff members were serving 20 customers a second.
Even people in war zones are reading Harry Potter. About 50 foreigners working in Afghanistan got their hands on a copy of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” on its release date, beating many of their friends back home.
“I sent several text messages to friends and none of them had it yet, and they all said ‘I can’t believe you’re in Kabul and you got the book before us,'” said U.N. worker Jayne Cravens, 41, of Henderson, Ky.
John Connolly, an executive with Paxton International, a logistics and moving company, bought 50 copies of the book in Dubai at 3:01 a.m. Saturday, the exact time of the book’s release in London. He boarded a plane to Kabul a couple hours later with the books on board.
“Harry Potter is released worldwide at the same time. As a logistics company based in Afghanistan for five years, we saw every reason to include Afghanistan,” said Connolly, who asked customers to donate a book to the American University in Kabul in exchange for the free shipping on the book. “It was not on the publisher’s list, that’s for sure.”

Raincoast pleads with Potter fans to keep final book a secret
TORONTO (CP) – Raincoast Books is pleading with Harry Potter fans to keep the boy wizard’s final adventure a secret.
“We would want to make a public appeal for fans around the world to be patient until the end of this week when everybody will discover the secret together,” Raincoast spokesman Jamie Broadhurst said from Vancouver.
The request came Monday after rumours that a Vancouver man had discovered the manuscript for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” on a file-sharing website.
Broadhurst wouldn’t comment on that specific case, but said that any potential breach of security surrounding the final Potter book – to be released Saturday at 12:01 a.m. – is being investigated.
“There will be lots and lots of speculation online. It happens every time,” he said.
“There are many, many, many rumours. All those rumours do get explored.”
Raincoast has gone to great lengths to keep a lid on Potter secrecy in the past. Measures have included legal action to prevent the contents of the books from being revealed before the official publication date.

Paul Shaffer working on his memoir
NEW YORK – David Letterman’s longtime sidekick, Paul Shaffer, is stepping into the spotlight with a memoir about his show business career.
“These anecdotes have been accumulating in my mind for the past three-plus decades; it’s been a nutty ride, and I felt it imperative to finally commit my reflections to the page … at least Volume One,” Shaffer, 57, said in a statement issued Wednesday by Flying Dolphin Press, an imprint of Random House, Inc.’s Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group.
The book, currently untitled, is scheduled to come out in 2009. Shaffer will work on it with David Ritz, who has collaborated on memoirs by Marvin Gaye and Ray Charles among others.
Shaffer was a musician and performer during the early years of “Saturday Night Live,” perhaps best remembered as the piano playing foil for Bill Murray’s Nick the Lounge Singer. He was musical director for John Belushi’s and Dan Aykroyd’s “Blues Brothers” act and is known to “Spinal Tap” fans as radio promoter Artie Fufkin.
Since 1982, Shaffer has worked alongside Letterman, heading up “The World’s Most Dangerous Band.” He has also played and recorded with countless musicians, including Bob Dylan, B.B. King and Warren Zevon, and co-wrote the 1980s dance classic, “It’s Raining Men.”

Genesis Sketching Out Live DVD, Autobiography
There’s no new music in the offing, but that’s not keeping the reunited Genesis from planning a parade of product in the fourth quarter of the year, including a book and a probably DVD and live album.
Guitarist Mike Rutherford tells Billboard.com that “a guy’s filmed every breath I’ve taken since the first meeting in New York last October,” and that Genesis will be filming its concert Saturday at the Circo Massimo in Rome, which closes out the European leg of the Turn It On Again Tour.
“We’re gonna film that one for a DVD and probably have a live album out from the tour as well,” Rutherford says, guessing that they’ll probably come out “this year, I’m sure. It makes sense to have it this year.” Genesis is also releasing soundboard CDs from each concert via the Encore Series at the web site themusic.com.
Also coming this fall is a new book, “Genesis Chapter and Verse,” which will present the official biography of the band including interviews with Rutherford, Phil Collins and Tony Banks as well as Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett, plus managers and others associated with the group. The late Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun gave one of his final interviews for the tome.
“It’s a nice book, actually,” Rutherford reports. “My wife read it and couldn’t put it down. It had an effect on me, too, reading all that stuff you say about each other. It kind of brought it to the front of your mind how kind of special the way we work is and has been — the way we write, the way we get on so well, the way we’ve done things. I think it made us appreciate what a great journey it’s been and what fun it still is.”
Genesis continues the journey on Sept. 7, when the North American leg of the reunion tour begins. What will happen after those 20 shows, however, is anybody’s guess, according to Rutherford.
“At the moment we’re avoiding making long-term plans,” he notes. A reunion that includes Gabriel and Hackett is still a possibility, but Rutherford says a full-scale reactivation of any form of Genesis is unlikely.
“It’s not like we reformed the band and we’re going to get back and do an album,” he explains. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t do stuff together — but in a slightly different way. We’re having a very good time. We’re enjoying ourselves, and so we’ll talk when we get there about what else we might do rather than map this big, long plan out.”