Everything Is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson
“[The book is] better than you might figure.... the wild card was Avery, an unknown from Utah whose national track record starts here. But he's doneinspired, diligent work. Constructed from a greater proportion of direct quotes than is normally deemed proper, the biography is doublygrippingas a result...” (Robert Christgau - Salon)“Everything Is an Afterthoughtpresents a vision of the heyday of rock journalism, times that have long past.... The story Kevin Avery tells is of someone who believed passionately in the art that moved him...” (Alex Rawls - Offbeat)“...an absolutely riveting and (I think) important read. ... Avery has done an absolutely smashing job of research and that there's a lot to chew on here about all sorts of issues. ... rest assured that this would be an important book if Avery had done nothing more than get some of Nelson's brilliant essays and reviews between hardcovers, where they clearly belong, at last.” (Steve Simels - PowerPop)“What is central to thismagnificentbook is that Avery, a fabulous writer in his own regard, is also clearly a big Paul Nelson fan. As such, he presents a critical, yet caring, picture of Nelson's professional and personal life, the latter a bit sad and wistful, pulling out all the stops in a moving tribute, warts and all. [Rating] 5 stars” (Sound Waves)“...[I]n thisinsightful and rivetingbiography, Avery has brought the flat-capped, sunglassed, mustachioed, Nat Sherman-smoking, hamburger eating, and Coca-Cola guzzling wordsmith back to life; a writer as fascinating -- and frustrating -- as many of his interview subjects.” (Bob Ruggiero - Houston Press)“Kevin’s biography,Everything Is an Afterthought, tells the whole sad story. It’s heartbreaking as hell, butI couldn’t put it down. Paul was a compelling and complex as any of the artists he wrote about — and just as talented.” (Cullen Gallagher - Pulp Serenade)“Perhaps the best virtue of this book is that it captures the great rock critic Paul Nelson in ways he would have appreciated. It'sidiosyncratic, highly personal, dark, exasperating and, finally, inspiring. In Kevin Avery, Nelson, who died in 2006, has found a smart, sympathetic keeper of his flame…. The book restores him to a deserved place in the canon of music criticism. It's not always an easy read -- too grim for that. But for serious music fans, it'sessential.” (Anthony Decurtis - Rolling Stone)“...Nelson wrote like Fitzgerald or O’Connor, his prose full of god and anxiety... I’m not kidding when I say that you need to get on this ASAP if you do any music writing at all. It’s the Scribes Sounding Offbook of the year, in a pretty great year of them...” (Chris Estey - The KEXP Blog)“Like the best critics, Nelson was primarily a fan of what he wrote about, subjects that struck a chord with him. And here’s a bio and a collection of his work written by a fan of his.” (Robert O'Connor - Spike Magazine)“Music book of the year… [T]he thing I really appreciate in reading Paul’s writings is you get to a place where even if you disagree with him you want to really explore why… That’s what great rock writers do -- they send you to the music. Of all the books I’ve read this year,Everything Is an Afterthoughtis the one that has meant the most to me.” (Marc Campbell - Dangerous Minds)“Avery’s book… is an admirably unorthodox construction... What’s impressive about Avery’s biographic half of the book is that he’s produced both an intimate personal bio and a comprehensive professional bio as well.” (Joe Carducci (Author of Rock and the Pop Narcotic) - The New Vulgate)“Everything Is an Afterthoughtis as much a eulogy for the life and work of this influential critic and writer as it is a reflection of how otherworldly the entertainment industry of the 1960s and '70s appears from a contemporary perspective of online bloggers and digital music. …[T]he dual nature of his book is fantastic, because after reading about Nelson's life we desire and deserve to read his work.” (Thomas Conner - Chicago Sun-Times)“…Everything Is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson[is] adeeply movingbiography that captures not only Nelson’s tragedy, but also celebrates the ardor and artistry of his life and work.” (Cullen Gallagher - Our Town Downtown)“Believe it or not, music criticism was responsible for some of2011's finest books, with Kevin Avery's impeccably researchedEverything Is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelsonleading the pack.... Avery has done an outstanding job assembling a collection of the writer's work, fully illustrating why he was such an influential presence in his time.” (Bill Holdship - Detroit Metro Times)“...Kevin Avery’sEverything Is an Afterthought... chronicles the dramatic life of one of music’s keenest observers, Paul Nelson, and curates his finest critiques.... I read and adored [Nelson] growing up, but reading [him] in the context of today’s critical standards gave me the literary equivalent to the bends. It goes without saying that, in the age of the Internet, the whole idea of a critic has changed.” (Jim Farber - New York Daily News)“This volume isexhilarating. Avery tells with great energy Nelson’s tale, with copious details about the active period of his subject’s life, and in so doing limns a portrait of a certain kind of pop-culture/bohemian existence in the late-70s. And Avery’s generous selection of Nelson’s writings are certainly among Paul’s best...” (Ken Tucker (Entertainment Weekly) - The Best American Poetry)“Small wonder that Jonathan Lethem modeledChronic City’s protagonist on Nelson: Nelson’s bohemian eccentricities... make his biographya… gripping read…” (Jonah Wolf - The College Hill Independent)“Avery has crafted both a cautionary tale and a celebration of a noir-influenced writer who deserves a place alongside Lester Bangs for his ability to live, always, in the music. Devotees of folk, establishment rock ’n’ roll, and pulp fiction will rue not having discovered Nelson sooner.” (Heather ­McCormack - Library Journal (Starred Review))“Paul Nelson's writing meant a lot to me emotionally at the time, enough to just flick that switch so that when you went on onstage that night you remembered: Hey, you're working on a promise to keep, not to just yourself but to him. He put his ass on the line for you in that last story, so you better be good.” (Bruce Springsteen, singer-songwriter)“This book beautifully balances Paul Nelson’s life and work, the struggling man and the gifted craftsman.  Its Nelson is equal parts Hammett and Bartleby, a connoisseur and a Coke-head, possessed of wisdom and uniquely self-destructive.  That Paul’s actual writing makes up half the book takes nothing away from Kevin Avery’s scrupulous reporting and remarkable empathy with his subject.  I don’t know if the story of my friend and mentor, colleague and neighbor will break your heart.  But that’s exactly what it did to mine, and in a way that leaves me grateful.” (Dave Marsh, author and SiriusXM radio show host)“Paul was his own kind of subterranean—disappearing around corners on the surface, thinking his way through the catacombs beneath it. He cultivated his obsessions over decades, until he could pass on the glow they gave off for him to other people.  He left behind more than one ghost, and many of them are in this book.” (Greil Marcus, author of Like a Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan at the Crossroads)“Paul Nelson’s life was a fierce quiet drama of devotion to culture, with a run of triumphs along the way to a slow-motion tragedy.  This book restores the triumphs of his writing to a conversation that may not have known, or remembered, what it was missing.  That alone would make this book essential; the biographical research, the unpublished pieces, and the photographs make it a human saga as well, as heartbreaking as the novel or film Nelson never managed to write.  The whole thing proceeds out of Kevin Avery’s own quiet devotion, for which I can hardly express my gratitude.” (Jonathan Lethem, author of Chronic City and Motherless Brooklyn)“Kevin Avery has done something heroic here.  Avery has rescued the work and the passion, the life and the meaning of the great Paul Nelson.  Nelson was a deep and beautiful writer, mysterious and painstaking and brilliant.  Thanks to Avery andEverything Is an Afterthought, Paul Nelson’s work finally has a home.  This wonderful writing is here for the faithful, and now forever available for new fans who’ll never forget him.” (Cameron Crowe, writer-director of Almost Famousand Jerry Maguire)“If it wasn’t for Kevin Avery, the life and work of one of the world’s first and greatest rock writers might otherwise have remained scattered in time and space. Written and compiled with intelligence, meticulousness, and passion,Everything Is an Afterthoughtis simultaneously a moving biography, a classic criticism anthology, an earnest expression of fandom, and, most importantly, an overdue addition to the canon of essential rock books.” (Neil Strauss, author of The Gameand Everyone Loves You When You’re Dead)