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Johnny Thunders: In Cold Blood is the definitive portrait of the
condemned man of rock n roll, from the baptism of fire and tragedy
that was the New York Dolls, through the junkie punk years of the
Heartbreakers, to his sudden and mysterious death in 1991. It is an
unflinching account of a unique guitarist whose drug problems often
overshadowed his considerable style and talent, but whose
unquestionable influence on glam, punk, and more still resonates
today. Nina Antonia discovered Johnny Thunders and the New York
Dolls as a teenager and spent her formative years as a dedicated
fan before starting work on this book in her twenties. Then, when
Johnny and his manager read her early drafts, they decided she
should make it an authorised biography and granted her unique
access to Johnny s life. As such, it begins by painting a
historical portrait of Thunders and his early life and work before
shifting into the present tense as Nina vividly describes her own
experiences with the real-life Johnny and his associates. First
published in 1987, Johnny Thunders: In Cold Blood has been kept
alive over the years by an audience that isn t always catered for.
While the New York Dolls are now rightly acknowledged as having
been as pivotal as the Velvet Underground, and you might catch the
odd fashionista sporting a Dolls T-shirt, Johnny s dark flame burns
for those who have known adversity. He is the voice of the
disenfranchised; he is every gifted son or daughter who went off
the rails. Like Jesse James or James Dean, he couldn t come in from
the badlands of rock n roll; he wouldn t appease or kowtow to the
establishment. This new edition adds a new closing chapter,
bringing Thunders legacy up to date, new photographs, and a
foreword by Mike Scott of The Waterboys.
Writings that shed new light on one of the most gifted, if
reclusive, poets of thefin-de-siecle. A lost poet of the decadent
era, Lionel Johnson is the shadow man of the 1890s, an enigma "pale
as wasted golden hair." History has all but forgotten Johnson,
except as a footnote to the lives of more celebrated characters
like W. B. Yeats and Oscar Wilde. Johnson should have been one of
the great poets of the age but was already drinking eau-de-cologne
for kicks while a teenager at Winchester College. His attraction to
absinthe damaged his fragile health and cast him forever into a
waking dream of haunted rooms and spectral poetry. A habitual
insomniac, he haunted medieval burial grounds after dark, jotting
down the epitaphs of the gone-too-young, as if anticipating his own
early demise at the age of 35-falling from a bar stool in a Fleet
Street pub. It was rumored that Johnson performed "strange
religious rites" in his rooms at Oxford and experimented with
hashish in the company of fellow poet Ernest Dowson. Moving to
London, he fell in with Simeon Solomon, Oscar Wilde, and Aubrey
Beardsley, and would contribute to the leading decadent
publications of the day, including The Chameleon, The Yellow Book,
and The Savoy. Like a glimmering of a votive candle in one of
Johnson's dream churches, Incurable sheds new light on one of the
most gifted, if reclusive, poets of thefin-de-siecle. Containing a
detailed biography, illustrations, rare and unusual material
including previously unseen letters, poetry, and essays, Incurable
pays tribute to this enchanting and eccentric poet while providing
fresh insight into an era that continues to fascinate.
The 'Expression of Depression' anthologies arose from a journal and
pad of art therapy drawings recorded during a stint in rehab. The
idea was to collate similar pieces from as many writers as
possible; the desire was to provide empathy and inspiration to
anyone going through a similar experience of isolation and mental
struggle. 'All the King's Horses' is the third volume in a series
of six and contains work contributed by Nina Antonia, Sadie Frost,
Lucie Barat and Fran Lock. ..".A searingly honest and inspiring
testament to the fact that all art, by its very existence, is
life-affirming. The impulse to create is often, in the words of
Leonard Cohen, the crack that lets the light in." Jillian Lauren,
Author of 'Some Girls: My Life in a Harem' (Plume, April 2010)
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