From: edc@franklin.bchs.uh.edu (edward s. chen)
Newsgroups: rec.music.beatles
Subject: Re: The Lives of JL
Date: 15 Dec 1992 16:45:41 GMT
Organization: Little to none, or maybe not......
NNTP-Posting-Host: franklin.bchs.uh.edu

In article <1992Dec10.192754.2410@dct.ac.uk> mcsdc1al@dct.ac.uk writes:
>In article <12940.9212082359@csparc12.scs.leeds.ac.uk>, ross-c@scs.leeds.ac.uk writes:

>Albert Goldman has been thoroughly lambasted several times for attacking dead
>stars who are unable to defend themselves (Elvis, Lenny Bruce, John etc). 
>However, I personally feel that he is a really shrewd writer.  Certainly, his
>Elvis book was the first to reveal the full horror of the singer's death, 

Uh-huh, and it's amazing how his "facts" changed between his original Elvis
biography, and his second book "The Death of Elvis."   He contradicts himself
*repeatedly* without bothering to indicate why he changed his mind.   Besides,
if he were so "shrewd a writer" why does he need to return to the same well?
He did TWO Elvis books, is currently working on a Yoko Ono book (_Lives of
JL_ revisited)  and is considering another Lenny Bruce book.   Is he waiting 
for someone else to die?  Maybe he's mad because Woodward did the John Belushi
book much better then he ever could have. 

>>>I think that Goldman can be a valuable book, but only if you
>>>have read other biographies first.  I personally like Brown,
>>>because it avoids some of the extremes.  When reading Goldman,
>>>be very skeptical.
>
>Personally, I feel Brown's writing on the subject is very poor, giving too 
>wide a berth to quite impostant topics like John's drug addiction and his 
>(possible) homosexuality.  On the other hand, Goldman's book, IMO, is far 
>closer to the truth than any other biog.  

In this country, we say "innocent until proven guilty".

Goldman has taken yarns spun by sources with an axe to grind.

A *publishing house* considered Frederic Seaman to be an unreliable
source -- certainly a court of law would eliminate him in a second.
The same goes for Marnie Heir.   Unreliable because she lost a trivial 
lawsuit (for over a million dollars, I might add) to Yoko Ono.  By Goldman's
own admission, these were his two main sources.

Beyond that, Goldman lifted entire *CHAPTERS* from the aforementioned Brown, 
Pete Shotten, the few bad bits from _A Twist of Lennon_, and others  (and then
Goldman has the audacity to list the PEOPLE as sources, rather then the works 
he stole them from).  This is without getting into the wholesale rape of May 
Pang's _Loving John_.

>Other's(there are several) lack the basic facts to be a worthwhile account 
>of John's life.

Basic facts?   How many of the incidents that are described in the book have
been DENIED by the truth.  Places that don't exist (specifically, a beach 
house), People that Goldman claims were present that actually weren't (several
times concerning Elliot Mintz, "Yoko's Japanese cousin in customs"), and
incidents that never happened (the foot through the front window of Paul's
house).  In short, fiction, fiction, fiction....

>    Please read Goldman's book.  I doubt anyone will ever come closer to the
>truth behind John's life.
>

As I said, it has it's place.   But, it needs to be taken with about a 
pound of salt...

>>>Jeff
(now we know Albert Goldman's pseudonym on the net :-)

<ESC>
-- 
Something in the way she moves, attracts me like a pomegranate.
                                     -- George Harrison
Newsgroups: rec.music.beatles