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Blogocentric Formulations #830930 added October 12, 2014 at 5:12pm
Restrictions: None
Hallelujah... done with James Patterson
** Image ID #2010042 Unavailable **
SONG: "Hallelujah"
ARTIST: Jeff Buckley
STATUS: Deceased (accidental drowning, 5/29/1997)
ALBUM: Grace (1994)
Even though he's not the first artist to perform or even cover this song, my choice today is:
Jeff Buckley spent a decade as a session musician in Los Angeles before moving to New York and gaining a following by playing cover songs. He eventually transitioned into original music, signed with Columbia, recruited a band, and recorded Grace, which would end up being the only studio album he released. After two years of touring, he moved to Memphis, Tennessee to work on his second album. Unfortunately, he drowned on May 29, 1997 while waiting for his band to arrive from New York.
Details of his death are oddly specific; he allegedly went swimming in Wolf River Harbor, a slack water channel of the Mississippi River - fully clothed, boots and all - singing "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin. He was accompanied by a roadie who remained on shore. The roadie's attention was briefly distracted and when he looked back, discovered that Buckley had disappeared. Despite a determined search, it took six days for the body to surface.
There have been numerous tributes to Jeff Buckley over the years, notably from PJ Harvey, Rufus Wainwright, Chris Cornell, Mike Doughty, Pete Yorn, and Duncan Sheik. Also, what connection do Jeff Buckley and Warren Zevon share? If you check this previous entry for the activity: "Keep The Lies of Locke Lamora In Your Heart"  , you might notice that Warren Zevon's song "Keep Me in Your Heart" was featured in the series finale of the show House. As it happens, Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins was a good friend of Buckley's and wrote the lyrics to the Massive Attack song "Teardrop" while thinking of him. She's mentioned that the song, in a way, is about Buckley and his death... and "Teardrop" also just happens to be song that was used as the theme for House.
Buckley is considered by many (including Rolling Stone) to be one of the greatest singer/songwriters of all time despite his limited output before his death. "Hallelujah" remains one of his most popular songs and my personal favorite.
 
PROMPT: A popular or classic author I really don't like is...
While it's certainly not for lack of trying, I just can't get into James Patterson's books. I thought Along Came A Spider and Kiss the Girls were pretty decent, but those were twenty years ago and the most recent offerings of his I've read fall far short, in my opinion. In recent years I've read Cross (his 12th Alex Cross book, published in 2006), and this one:
| ASIN: 0446194069 |
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Amazon's Price: $ 8.71
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I found both novels to be rather dull and unimaginative. Even worse, it was completely disposable entertainment... I would have been hard-pressed to recall any specific details or memorable scenes and dialogue even a week after I finished each book. I actually had to spend fifteen minutes perusing synopses of Patterson's work to even figure out which books of his I read, and even then I had to take a trip to my bookshelf just to make sure I had read Cross and not Double Cross, I, Alex Cross, or Kill Alex Cross. When it comes to other authors of extended series (Janet Evanovich, Michael Connelly, Harlan Coben, Lawrence Block, etc. I've read, I can usually distinguish their books and remember some element of each story. With Patterson, his stories are just in one ear and out the other.
On a personal level, I also dislike Patterson for his "collaborations" with other authors. Patterson has long been accused of first letting his "co-authors" do the lion's share of the work, and - more recently - of just slapping his name on a book that someone else has written in its entirety, either from a general premise provided by Patterson, or without his involvement in any way. I'm not sure where the truth lies, exactly, but I do know that Patterson's name shows up on sixteen published books in 2014, fourteen books in 2013, thirteen books in 2012, fourteen books in 2011, ten books in 2010... he's either one of the most prolific authors in history, or his working relationships with his co-authors isn't exactly an equitable 50/50 split.
Of his personal process, he is quoted as saying, "[I am] simply more proficient at dreaming up plots than crafting sentence after sentence." Coming from a screenwriting background, that sounds a hell of a lot like a producer more than a writer... and in the film industry, producers don't put their name in the writing credits like Patterson does. I know the argument in favor of this dynamic is that these authors are getting recognition and exposure in a way they may not be able to achieve on their own, but my issue is that Patterson is very careful to make sure the credits imply that he was involved in the writing of the novel, which even his own statement implies is not necessarily correct. If Patterson were interested in offering these authors the opportunity to get their work out there, would it not just just as much a boon to their individual careers to have a "James Patterson presents" their original novel? Or to have Patterson provide a review, recommendation, or otherwise publicize the work without also taking credit for it as a writer?
It's no surprise that writers, as they become more successful, build themselves into brands. There are opportunities for speaking engagements, collaborations, etc. that expand what they do beyond just sitting alone behind a computer and cranking out words. But I feel like most writers still remain largely true to their roots and continue to try and generate good work. From reading a few of his early works and then a few of his more recent works, I feel like he's has largely moved away from James Patterson the Writer, phoning in his novels in favor of spending more time building James Patterson the Brand.
I'm sure there are people out there that still enjoy his works (don't worry, I won't hold that against you  ), but for me, Patterson's work has just become too generic and unfocused for me to continue reading it. The last two books of his I read were given to me as gifts, but I think it's safe to say I'm pretty much done reading Patterson's work unless I have a really compelling reason to check something out. If I'm in the mood for a quick, entertaining mystery novel... I can think of half a dozen authors who will leave a more lasting impression with me.
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