I'm sure books are nothing like that....

I'm halfway through a non-fiction book, Positively 4th Street, by David Hajdu, which is an account of the early folk rock movement.  I was listening to a Joni Mitchell retrospective album (Dreamland) and thought that some of her later songs sounded sort of bitter.  I'd heard something about that so I Googled, "Joni Mitchell/bitter," which opened the floodgates.

She has accused Bob Dylan of being a fake, and not all that talented.  Well, the being "fake" is certainly true, though I don't agree with the latter assertion.

When I saw this book at Linda's store, I snagged it.

It's interesting to me how cutthroat the supposed "non-commercial" folk movement was -- these guys were relentless in their pursuit of bookings and songs and record-deals, the more ruthless the better.

This includes Joan Baez, who doesn't come off as the ethereal angel of her image.  She used Bob Dylan as much as Bob Dylan used her, it seems.

I just get the idea of a bunch of scheming, conniving, back-stabbing, song-stealing, envious, elbows to the head crunching, get off the stage it's my turn, hey, can I be in your recording session (so I can corner the producer?), talented performers ignored and shoved to the side, damn with faint praise, bullshit spinning, make up my past and embellish the present, look at me I'm hot shit, and on and on.

I'm sure books are nothing like that....