As a written and spoken communicator, I learned during my undergraduate years that one of the best contributions that factors straight into the quality of what we produce is what we consume.
That is, we read directly influences how we write. And speak.
With that in mind, some of the more memorable books into which I buried myself in 2022 were informative and entertaining reads. And while reading, when arriving upon unknown or intriguing material such as words I do not recognize, concepts and ideas I admire, or persons I want to look into, I typically jot down those citations for reference anon. That includes books to which I want to devote my attention up the road, all attributable to a burning, insatiable and natural curiosity.
The most memorable books I’ve read and am reading as 2022 drives toward closure center on three themes: rock music, politics and sports. And all have memorable nuggets that may simply be turned into easily recited quips.
What A Short, Strange Encounter This Was
As of this posting’s date, I now am roughly midway through a book I stumbled upon: ‘Deal’ by Bill Kreutzmann, one founder of a favorite rock band. Subheaded ‘My Three Decades of Drumming, Dreams, and Drugs with the Grateful Dead’, this book is full of fascinating stories about those three Ds — and so much more.
(I should note I’m not a drummer despite a brief stint in my early double digits, dreams have long intrigued me but that’s writing material for another column and drugs are a nonissue with my life and times.)
As a 12-year-old in the late 1950s, Kreutzmann was standing beside his Dad at the front door of their Northern California home while his Dad sold an instrument to a guy in his mid-teens, he wrote.
That instrument? A banjo.
That teen? none other than someone named Jerry Garcia.
Tall, High-Profile Fan
A renowned fan of the band authored a pertinent book I read this past August. Bill Walton penned ‘Back from the Dead’, an intriguing, inspiring tome about the Big Red-Head’s life and times.
Among the subject matter is the grave injuries that hobbled him and how he bounced back, his collegiate and professional basketball pursuits, and his devotion to the Grateful Dead.
One day in late 1985, a Celtic practice was about to begin at the team’s facility west of Boston. On his own off to the side, Walton was approached by two Green teammates who suspiciously asked Walton if he knew why there happen to be large numbers of people near the practice facility who were dressed in bright, tie-dyed clothing of the sort they recognized Walton typically wore. He informed them that they probably knew of his close association with the Dead. They asked if he was going to the upcoming Central Massachusetts show, to which he said yes. Then they asked if they could come.
Walton writes that he contacted the band in advance, Larry Bird organized limousine service and crews created a special platform by the stage for the Celtic players who did attend. Bird and Garcia reportedly connected while conducting a deep, meaningful conversation. Robert Parish reportedly had a blast at his first show.
Years prior, a member of the band could not miss one particular fan in attendance at a show, likely because he was heads above all others. And that head featured a bright red shock.
The band member invited him onto the stage, thus commencing a tight relationship between the band and the player.
Prized Pandemic Production
The Celtics are the theme of another book I read this past fall.
Dan Shaughnessy, a longtime Sports desk scribe with The Boston Globe, researched and wrote ‘Wish It Lasted Forever’ during the early stages of the pandemic. That title is a quote direct from Walton, with whom Shaughnessy reportedly spoke as the virus first began wreaking global havoc. Walton referenced when the Green won the NBA Championship in 1986; checking in at six-foot eleven inches tall, Walton was back-up center to Parish during only season with the Green.
This book is as memorable and enjoyable to me likely because Shaughnessy writes about his experience as a newspaper reporter posted to the early 1980s Green beat. Though sports was never my beat as a newspaper reporter, I have many pointed sportswriting memories. And reading about the writer’s responsibilities reminded me of those beats that were my daily grind.
Younger siblings enjoy noted measures of success achieving big-league status in many sports, Shaughnessy writes, stating they have learned how to try that much harder while competing against the more experienced, formidable and sizable flesh and blood to whom they are related. He cited several examples of this phenomenon, prompting me to consider whether it applies to pursuits other than athleticism.
No Bull!
So too did I read The Church of Baseball by Ron Shelton, the screenwriter of Bull Durham, the award-winning 1988 book about minor league baseball.
When he and his partners were recruiting actresses and actors to fill the roles, they ran into some experiences and characters of note. Prior to Kevin Costner winning a central role, Anthony Michael Hall was under consideration but he arrived at the first audition with a crew of friends, stating he had not read the script. Staff told him when to return and advised him to read the script. When he did return, he was with fewer friends and said he had started reading the script. He then was sent on his way.
Prior to Susan Sarandon winning a central role, an unnamed yet well-known actress arrived ill-prepared as well. Despite acknowledging she had not prepped, she tried her best to win the role but wasn’t getting very far. Realizing she was on her last gasp, she embarked on a last-ditch effort by revealing large amounts of flesh to the men interviewing her.
Shelton excused her, later crediting himself for rising to the occasion at the time (and not later) by telling her no role was available despite her ‘body of work’.
Undercover Production
Another entirely enjoyable book I read this past year is ‘The Good Spy’ by Kai Bird. Subtitled ’The Life and Death of Robert Ames’, the book takes a detailed look at much of the work of the late CIA operative, crediting him as one person who helped bring about a 1993 peace pact between Israel and the Palestinians. Then-US president Bill Cllnton stood between Yitzhak Rabin and Yassir Arafat for the commemoration on White House grounds.
Well respected by many at the Agency, Ames was killed in Lebanon one decade prior to the pact when the US Embassy in Beirut was victimized by a terror attack. The author, whose relation to the Celtic’s forward with the same surname is unclear, wrote in detail about carnage at the embassy, noting the powerful blast shook the entire building and was heard, felt and seen for miles around.
He also also wrote about how the work of many undercover agents often is not noticed nor acknowledged, leaving surviving family and friends of victims in the lurch when seeking answers.
Gracefulness Demonstrated
Another political book I enjoyed this past year is ‘Grace’ by Cody Keenan, chief speechwriter during the majority of the Obama White House.
Among what Keenan covered is the 50-year anniversary of the March in Selma, Ala., the Supreme Court affirming affordable health care and marriage equality, and the ever-memorable eulogy that President Obama delivered at a historic South Carolina church that was victimized in a hate crime. The apt subtitle of the book is ‘President Obama and Ten Days in the Battle for America’.
Devoting roughly 14 years to working for Barack Obama as senator, then President and ex-president, Keenan excerpted fascinating detail about the precedent-setting leader’s one-on-one work style, such as how he routinely addressed the speechwriter as ‘Bro’. The writer mentioned the president suggested he listen to the music of the late Miles Davis, the accomplished trumpeter and composer, with the lesson being allowance for periods of silence to work in his favor while authoring speeches.
He takes readers into the White House offices and residence, onto Air Force One and Marine One, and many additional sites of note with detail and precision as if much of what he covered happened just yesterday.
As I read, I felt an intensity crescendoing toward when he ultimately wrote about the eulogy at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, when very few people knew what the president was planning on doing.
After having credited the victims’ admirable demonstrations of ‘grace’ for having allowed a stranger into their bible study, the president paused in silence for as many as 10 seconds.
And then suddenly President Obama gently starts singing:
‘Amazing grace — how sweet the sound//
That saved a wretch like me!//
I once was lost but now I’m found//
Was blind but now I see.’
Others in attendance including clergy flanking him, mourners and the organist also joined in, and President Obama was credited with bringing the world inside a Black church.
This is a book that I almost did not buy but one factor that persuaded my purchase was the opportunity to be face-to-face with the author at the late-October signing.
On to the New!
As the New Year dawns, my reading plans are iterative. That is, subject to change, with or without prompt, inspired by factors and prompts such as daily news, random encounters and suggestions.
But, nonetheless, I do plan to complete the Kreutzmann book during the first weeks of the year. Further, I have a list of books I’ve notated while reading or even thinking, with one being about the notorious terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal. So too would I like to read ‘Final Confession: The Unsolved Crimes of Phil Cresta’. Recommended by a friend, which always is a good way of picking up suggestions, this book is about an organized crime figure.
Moreover, I welcome suggestion and always am happy to do same.