tags: fictional British band, the 60s
from GoodReads
Utopia Avenue is the strangest British band you’ve never heard of. Emerging from London’s psychedelic scene in 1967 and fronted by folk singer Elf Holloway, guitar demigod Jasper de Zoet, and blues bassist Dean Moss, Utopia Avenue released only two LPs during its brief, blazing journey from the clubs of Soho and drafty ballrooms to Top of the Pops and the cusp of chart success, and on to glory in Amsterdam, prison in Rome, and a fateful American fortnight in the autumn of 1968.
David Mitchell’s captivating new novel tells the unexpurgated story of Utopia Avenue; of riots in the streets and revolutions in the head; of drugs, thugs, madness, love, sex, death, art; of the families we choose and the ones we don’t; of fame’s Faustian pact and stardom’s wobbly ladder. Can we change the world in turbulent times, or does the world change us?
I'm a bit uncertain if I like or love David Mitchell's latest novel. The characters are not very likable and their back stories, except Jasper de Zoet's, are rather boring. There are plenty of cameos from real people from the music and arts scenes but they seem contrived and tedious. Mitchell again incorporates a few characters and places from his previous novels - Marinus and Enomoto and the town of Gravesend where Dean is originally from. Jasper's great great great grandfather is Jacob de Zoet from a previous novel, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. Jasper's story is the more interesting of the 4 band members. He is schizophrenic, actually someone is living in his head since he was 16 years old. He spent 2 years in an asylum until he was given a classical Spanish guitar as a therapy. The only notable part that made me smile is the short conversation under a dining table between Jasper and John Lennon.
Utopia Avenue band is a mix of progressive rock, jazz, folk, and blues. 1968/69 Deep Purple music comes to mind right away. Although Pink Floyd is mentioned in the book as one of the progressive rock bands at the time, DP [before they changed the lead singer and became a generic screecher band] in my imagination closely resembles the sound of Utopia Avenue if it was a real band. Jasper de Zoet, described as a guitar god, has a German girlfriend who lived with him for a while, just like DP guitarist Ritchie Blackmore had a German girlfriend living with him in London. BTW, I love eclectic music specially when merged together. Example: jazz with a bit of classical, pop, electronica, and heavy metal elements. Yes, to me it's not weird at all.
Deep Purple
Jasper's practice guitar music - Andres Segovia, RECUERDOS DE LA ALHAMBRA
Update 09/4/20: after rereading the novel, I have added another star. I'm still not liking the Elf character and her story. She is just not an interesting person IMHO.
A stirring and romantic historical novel about nineteenth-century Vienna and the tragedy and dynamic passion that inspired Ludwig van Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata.
Vienna, 1800. Countess Julie Guicciardi’s life is about to change forever. The spirited eighteen-year-old is taking piano lessons with Ludwig van Beethoven, the most talented piano virtuoso in the musical capital of Europe. She is captivated by his volatile genius, while he is drawn to her curiosity and disarming candor. Between them, a unique romance. But Beethoven has a secret he’s yet to share, and Julie is harboring a secret of her own, one so scandalous it could destroy their perfect love story.
When Beethoven discovers the truth, he sets his emotions to music, composing a mournful opus that will become the Moonlight Sonata. The haunting refrain will follow Julie for the rest of her life.
Set against the rich backdrop of nineteenth-century Vienna, The Woman in the Moonlight is an exhilarating ode to eternal passion. An epic tale of love, loss, rivalry, and political intrigue. A stirring portrait of a titan who wrestled with the gods and a woman who defied convention to inspire him.
Hi-jinks and fun ensue when three men and a woman find themselves together on an ocean liner sailing for England. When another woman enters the picture, we only know one thing: five is not divisible by two.
A Princess of Mars is the first of eleven thrilling novels that comprise Edgar Rice Burroughs' most exciting saga, known as The Martian Series. It's the beginning of an incredible odyssey in which John Carter, a gentleman from Virginia and a Civil War veteran, unexpectedly finds himself on the red planet, scene of continuing combat among rival tribes. Captured by a band of six-limbed, green-skinned savage giants called Tharks, Carter soon is accorded all the honor of a chieftain after it's discovered that his muscles, accustomed to Earth's greater gravity, now give him a decided advantage in strength. And when his captors take as prisoner Dejah Thoris, the lovely human-looking princess of the city of Helium, Carter must call upon every ounce of strength, courage, and ingenuity to rescue her before she becomes the slave of the depraved Thark leader, Tal Hajus!
Excerpt:
Her oval face was beautiful in the extreme, her every feature finely chiseled and exquisite, her eyes large and lustrous, and her head surmounted by a mass of coal black, waving hair, caught loosely into a strange yet becoming coiffure. Similar in face and figure to women of Earth, she was nevertheless a true Martian--and prisoner of the fierce green giants who held me captive, as well!
After her husband’s death, Lady Fortescue knows she must work, even though the thought will appall her society relatives. So she decides to transform her once-grand Bond Street home into a hotel, the Poor Relation, offering society guests the pleasure of being waited upon by nobility.
With the help of other down-and-out aristocrats, London’s newest, most fashionable hotel is born. And it is the perfect venue for Lady Fortescue to play with the love lives of her guests and staff, starting with her nephew, the dashing Duke of Rowcester. Lady Fortescue has it on good authority that the duke once shared a dance with darling Harriet James, the hotel cook. When the duke comes to London, Lady Fortescue orchestrates a reunion that is sure to scandalize the ton.
The fashionable Poor Relation hotel has rescued its six owners from genteel poverty, but they need ready cash for its upkeep. Once more, one of them must discreetly rob a rich relative.
The faded spinster Miss Letitia Tonks is dispatched to disguise herself as a highwayman and hold up the carriage that is transporting her nip-farthing sister and her lovely young niece, Cassandra. But by a twist of fate, their dashing prankish neighbor, Lord Eston, himself masked as a highwayman, does the deed for her--and grabs the opportunity to dazzle Cassandra with a swift kiss.
The Poor Relation is in need of money to survive. Widow Eliza Budley wants to help save her new home, but with her fortune lost due to her deceased husband’s gambling debts, how can she? With no rich relative to go to, Eliza calls on the senile, elderly Marquess of Peterhouse, and pretends to be a relation while she steals just enough of his worldly goods to fund the hotel. But when she arrives at his bleak castle, she learns the Marquess is deceased, leaving his handsome nephew in charge of the estate. Once the dashing heir learns of her devious plot, can he get past her criminal leanings long enough to fall in love with her?
The owners of the Poor Relation Hotel are busy once again. This time, Sir Philip Sommerville has installed a vulgar, grasping woman in the hotel, and his co-owners are frantic to remove her. At the same time, they decide they must help a young guest find a husband. These experienced schemers almost make and break the wrong matches, but greed is revealed, and love triumphs.
Due to a bad wager by one of its founders, the popular Poor Relation hotel is in financial trouble. Fortunately, founder Colonel Sandhurst has a plan. Offering the hotel as a sanctuary to a bride running from her arranged marriage, the colonel plans to return her to her father in exchange for a ransom rich enough to settle the hotel’s debts. But the colonel’s plan goes awry when the bride’s jilted fiancé shows up instead, mistakes a hotel maid for his future wife, and promptly falls in love. To make matters worse, the ransomed bride herself is now smitten with another dashing guest, a nobleman unhappily betrothed to another woman. Now it will take all the matchmaking prowess of the eccentric staff of the Poor Relation to get these romantic affairs in order—and save their beloved hotel from bankruptcy.
Life is finally looking up for the eccentric owners of London’s Poor Relation hotel. The Prince of Wales’s coat of arms gleams over the entrance. All but one of the rooms are filled by the open-handed Prince Hugo and his entourage. The owners have taken on a popular actor as a new partner. Finally, these once-impoverished aristocrats have reached a position comfortable enough to allow them to consider offers to buy the hotel.
But their hard-earned success stands in stark contrast to the plight of their latest guest, Lady Jane Fremney. The slight, beautiful daughter of the Earl of Durby has been cast out of her family for refusing to marry the man her father has chosen. Lonely and bankrupt, Lady Jane has decided to commit suicide. But when hotelier Miss Tonks uncovers her plans, the entire staff tries to rescue Lady Jane by finding her a suitable husband—fast! Fortunately, these lovable hoteliers have a knack for matchmaking.
From Dean Koontz, the international bestselling master of suspense, comes an epic thriller about a terrifying killer and the singular compassion it will take to defeat him.
Woody Bookman hasn’t spoken a word in his eleven years of life. Not when his father died in a freak accident. Not when his mother, Megan, tells him she loves him. For Megan, keeping her boy safe and happy is what matters. But Woody believes a monstrous evil was behind his father’s death and now threatens him and his mother. And he’s not alone in his thoughts. An ally unknown to him is listening.
A uniquely gifted dog with a heart as golden as his breed, Kipp is devoted beyond reason to people. When he hears the boy who communicates like he does, without speaking, Kipp knows he needs to find him before it’s too late.
Woody’s fearful suspicions are taking shape. A man driven by a malicious evil has set a depraved plan into motion. And he’s coming after Woody and his mother. The reasons are primal. His powers are growing. And he’s not alone. Only a force greater than evil can stop what’s coming next.Kipp is a Golden Retriever and one of the main protagonists in the book; yes protagonist. There are other adorable gifted dogs in the book, Bella is a favorite. She has her own Bellagram to communicate with other dogs. Oh, and she also reads books and sometimes walks on hind legs like a human when nobody is looking. So cute.
