Wonderkid: A Novel, by Wesley Stace
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Wonderkid: A Novel, by Wesley Stace
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From Wesley Stace―formerly known as singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding―the hugely entertaining novel about the touring life of America’s unlikeliest rock stars
From Wesley Stace―formerly known as singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding―the hugely entertaining novel about the touring life of America’s unlikeliest rock stars
Sold-out concerts, screaming fans, TV shows, Number Ones. This is the rock and roll dream, and the Wonderkids are living it. But something’s wrong. The gigs are sold out, sure, but the halls are packed with little kids―not sexy hipsters. And that screaming? It sounds more wailing, actually. The TV appearances are PBS on Saturday morning, rather than Saturday Night Live, and as for Number Ones . . . you don’t want to know. Exposed in his impressionable youth to the absurdist literature of Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear, the Wonderkids’ lead singer, songwriter, and resident mad genius Blake Lear has always written lyrics as silly as they are infectious. Why make sense, he says, when nonsense is so much more fun? Rock and roll has always been for the kids, right? This is why Blake has no objection when the band is offered a deal with the devil: the Wonderkids will be rock stars, adored and revered. The catch? Their audience will be children. They will be a “kindie” band avant la lettre, before the Wiggles and Dan Zanes were a twinkle in Raffi’s eye. The band takes America by storm, and things go very right―until they go very wrong. The temptations of the road are many, and the Wonderkids are big kids, too. Narrated by Sweet, a boy Blake adopts on a whim, who becomes the band’s disciple, merch guy, amateur psychologist, and―eventually―damage control guru, Wonderkid is a delirious and surprisingly touching novel of the dangers of compromise, thwarted ambition, and fathers and sons, told with tremendous humor and energy by Wesley Stace―the rare writer who is as comfortable inside a rock club as he is inside a bookstore. A backstage epic of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, but also sippy cups, pillow fights, and Baby Bjorns, this is Almost Famous through the looking glass. Wonderkid: A Novel, by Wesley Stace- Amazon Sales Rank: #1627058 in Books
- Brand: Stace, Wesley
- Published on: 2015-03-10
- Released on: 2015-03-10
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 7.99" h x .90" w x 5.40" l, 1.00 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 352 pages
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Wunderbar (or, What book is it you want to read?) By JB LOVED this book. Granted, I was around at the time everything in it takes place, know the bands and got all the musical in-jokes and references, of which there are many. But you don't have to get that the title of this review is a Tenpole Tudor song to love this novel. It's funny as hell, it moves right along, it's narrated from a charmingly British perspective (which makes JHW/WS so endearing in concert!), and it's full of surprises. Love the characters, love the plot, love the way Stace the author is sure to tie up his loose ends in a neat package. If you were even vaguely interested in the rock music scene from, say, 1967 to 1994, this book is a killer. If you weren't...well, you should have been but you'll enjoy the book anyway. Except not as much as me. A very entertaining read. Fun, fun, fun and other, similar song titles apply.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Book for Everyone? By Rachel Barnard Jack and Blake are brothers and the first part of the story begins with them in England, describing how they got into music and their aspirations as a rock and roll band. They find themselves thrust into “Your child’s first rock band.” (Page 88), making Everyone Music that is marketed to entertain kids and adults alike. It is described as “Punk for kids. Punk fur kids whose parents like punk. Music for kids with cool parents. Top of the pops for tots.” Page 69). The band is made complete with the twins on rhythm section and Greg, but the twins quit before the band makes a run on America and Greg quits as eloquently as possible just as soon as they get to America. These deserters are replaced with Becca Fonseca, nicknamed mum, on bass and Curtis, the non-controversial dreads and diversity drummer. The band is truly now for Everyone but they’d all gone a bit American and the shenanigans truly begin. After controversy Becca is replaced with Camille as the new bass player, “‘Black, very beautiful, quite serious, slightly eccentric, possibly gay, definitely vegetarian, and Christian.'” (Page 197). Camille and Curtis make up the responsible part of the band, and that says something of the other half. Blake has adopted Sweet, our narrator, during the England to America journey, and fame hits the band hard, the charts are risen through, and toes step out of line. They are a kids band after all. It all falls to pieces multiple times, but the band pulls through until the big bust and the big breakup. Mitchell the manager quits and Andy the Damager, their rep from the record company, is none too pleased with the whole affair. Blake goes to jail, goes solo, goes sane and insane. Then the big finale…“‘I want to be a musician when I grow up, Mum.’ ‘Well, son, you can’t do both.'” (Page 160).Wonderkids could be the novelized version of This Is Spinal Tap. It all happened. It never happened. The truth is spit out all over the pages and Wesley Stace continuously impresses with stories that are too detailed not to have happened, but too entertaining to be true. In the beginning, as a rookie rock and roll fan, amateur musician, and reader, I was suckered into believing Wonderkids was a biography. Blowing through the final pages and looking up some of the facts to corroborate some of the more unbelievable details, I lean toward the other side: this is fiction. This is fiction so well documented that it has to have some truth.The author, Wesley Stace, is himself a musician and I would like to imagine that some of the capers in the story and the personalities in the characters are built from his own personal memory bank and imagination.Wonderkids was such a winding story, with so many characters and moments that I had to take some notes to help me organize my own thoughts and get a feel for the timeline of the band. The reader gets a good chunk into the book before the narrator is revealed in his own right as Ed Sweet. Before this sweet introduction, the reader is given first-hand details on two of the main characters. Did I mention that there are quite a few main characters? Characters with full personalities and whims that are such an entertainment for the reader.I was fascinated by Blake as a person (one of the main characters). He was given many simple descriptions, yet remained a complex character given to his own moodiness. He was, in essence, a real person with real faults and character flaws. He had his good days and bad days, good decisions and bad decisions. Blake grew from rock aspirations to nonsensical story teller/songwriter to moody musician. His character was dynamic and molded by his experiences and decisions during his time as a Wonderkidder. He adopted Sweet, who was 10 years his junior. He loved to hang out with the kids of his audience after his shows. Blake is like the pied piper, children flock on and around him and are entranced. He entertains them and invites them to him. He says, “My patience for other peoples kids is infinite.” (Page 114). He is patient with the kids, but also extremely loyal to his own ‘family.’ He takes the fall for his adopted son and brother without resentment or bitterness. Blake is very much the parent, albeit at times misguided, whilst still lacking discipline for Sweet and himself. Blake puts himself under fire for Sweet without a second thought, as parents do for their children.Our lovely narrator Sweet is the undirected teen who can’t help but get into trouble. Sweet’s Hamartia, if his fault could even be called that, is more than just sugary treats. He is misguided because of his role models’ poor examples in life and lack of parental discipline (also known as consequences), therefore his actions loom larger and larger until real life consequences kick in that affect the entire ‘family’ – the whole band. Sweet, however, is blessed with the motivation and maturity unbeknownst to most teenagers, and is “more than happy to be a handy marketing opportunity [selling the band's merchandise].” (Page 107). He later becomes what he has studied in these younger years of his: a band manager.I never much contemplated kids rock or kindie (indie music for kids). Is this a real genre of music? What is rock for kids like? Is it those Kidz Bop songs where kids sing rock songs in horrific A Capella versions? Is it a karaoke-esque version of something great, dumbed down for lesser ears? Censored lyrics? According to Wonderkid, none of these is true. Rock for kids is simply rock… for kids. The venues might be different and the audience might include children, but it is true rock. According to the great Wikipedia, kindie rock ” is a style of children’s music that “melds the sensibility of the singer-songwriter with themes aimed at kids under 10.” Children’s music veterans, Greg & Steve and Bobby Susser introduced various forms of kindie rock to the school supply industry in the mid 70s, and continue to do so, within their repertoire.” So it does exist… I felt, as I was reading this novel, that I was reading the history of kindie, that Wonderkids was the pioneer of rock for kids, rock for Everyone aka Everyone Music.This novel is somewhat exclusive in its content and writing style, it is written for an audience that enjoys the haze of being on the border of something great or for someone who was there and knows and can point and laugh with the characters saying, “I know them!” or “I know that song, that reference.” But I don’t know them and I was not always sure what Wesley Stace was referring to in his reference-studded novel. Just like Ready, Player, One I still very much enjoyed the book and how well it was put together even if I didn’t get all or even most of the references. I understand the whole, but couldn’t get some of the pieces. For example, “He didn’t like the aggression in the air, the kids who’d stolen his baton, their scruffy seven-inch singles, their Xeroxed fanzines, their lapels full of safety pins and badges for bands whose art direction never deviated from the ransom note font.” (Pages 10-11). It takes a moment to sink in and the whole book is full of these moments, these heavy-weighted sentences and thoughts that it would take a course of study to get through the 300+ page book with serious clarity. Perhaps Stace’s audience is more intelligent or more up on the times than I am and perhaps you will be too, but I could still enjoy the fast-paced rhythm of his writing style and the fascinating story he was weaving throughout.This novel makes me wonder if the life of a musician rising to fame and falling into nonexistence again is just like Stace describes. Movies might exaggerate, but do books? Is life this glamorous? According to Blake touring is… “Sometimes it’s a bit like getting married every day, eating the finest foods, drinking bubbly, being showered with gifts; eventually, you just want a day off.” (Page 278).I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys movies like Almost Famous and This is Spinal Tap or pop-reference studded books (with specific theme of kid rock or the music industry).
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. WONDERKID is loud, funny and entertaining in the extreme By Bookreporter Several years ago, I took my now-11-year-old son to see Dan Zanes in concert. The show was at a venue where I had previously seen concerts by some pretty big names in indie music, and it was sold out for this concert aimed at preschoolers. The place was packed, and although I only knew a few of Zanes's songs, I was definitely in the minority. As little kids spun and danced in the aisles, their parents rocked out and sang along with all the lyrics. Needless to say, my mind went back to this slightly surreal scene several times as I read Wesley Stace's WONDERKID, about the rise and fall of a fictional 1990s band who, intentionally or not, became for a while the biggest thing out there for the littlest rock fans.Wesley Stace, who has performed under the stage name John Wesley Harding and organized the series of musical variety shows known as the Cabinet of Wonders, certainly has the musical and literary chops to write convincingly about a band like the Wonderkids. He traces the band's genesis to the childhood of two English brothers (known as Blake and Jack). Jack was always the quieter, less academically ambitious but perhaps more musical one. Blake, who was well on his way to a PhD before he decided to write his dissertation not only on nonsense but also in nonsense, becomes the charismatic, slightly off-kilter heart and soul of the band.The band's story is narrated by Sweet, a young teen at the novel's opening who almost literally falls into the band's lap as he tries to make a getaway after shoplifting a record. Sweet is miserable with his foster parents, and Blake soon adopts him (eventually literally), bringing him on board to sell merch at some of the very first Wonderkids concerts. Of course, this was when the band was still known as the Wunderkinds, before they made their big debut in America and before they were repackaged by the label (thanks to Blake's whimsical, nonsensical lyrics) as a band for kids, much to the band members' surprise.Not only does Stace hit this A&R nail right on the head, he also offers a real insiders' look into life on tour, including (along with the sex and drugs) the sheer tedium of life on the road in a tour bus. WONDERKID is getting a lot of comparisons to the movie Almost Famous, portraying as it does Sweet's often awkward coming of age amid the rock and roll shenanigans and dramas playing out around him. Stace also clearly has a lot of fun satirizing the band as a kids' band, as in this description of an early show: "I pushed my way through the seething scrum, avoiding abandoned prams as best I could while drinks spilled and crisps crunched like eggshells under foot. Halfway across the room and I'd seen it all: laughter and tears, nudity, even a full-on fight. And the band hadn’t even gone on yet."Like all successful bands, though, the Wonderkids are in danger of becoming victims of their own success; Stace illustrates how the very thing that made them famous --- their appeal to kids and families --- is also their downfall. A final section, in which the band reunites years later and is acknowledged as the pioneers of today's wildly popular "kindie music" scene, goes on a bit too long perhaps. But overall, WONDERKID is loud, funny and entertaining in the extreme --- perhaps exactly like some of their legendary shows.Reviewed by Norah Piehl
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