Description
I Am Still The Greatest Says Johnny Angelo - Despite persistent rumours of his death fifteen years ago, Johnny Angelo's legend continues. Johnny Angelo is a rock singer, and this is his story from the beginning. As a child he is a dreamer and a solitary, a thief, a killer of birds and cats. As a man he is a god to his fans, an emperor to his cronies, a hoodlum to his enemies. Girls lie at his feet. He becomes rich. He commits murder. At the end, police shoot him down in the street.
In a cool and highly original style Nik Cohn has written a bizarre fable for our time, capturing its sickness and horror yet staying true to its grandeur and allure.
King Death - Eddie is a strange man with an extraordinary talent that makes him the 'performer' he is. Eddie administers Death. His subjects, he explains, are not afraid, but are thrilled and transported. To Eddie, Death is completion, and he finds fulfilment, satisfaction, and pride in each job he carries out.
When Seaton Carew, America's most successful TV entrepreneur, chances to witness Eddie in action, Eddie's career is altered. Overcoming many obstacles, he and Seaton literally ride to glory on the Deliverance Special, a train carrying King Death and his huge entourage all over America. But then a disturbing change comes over Eddie and threatens to topple him from his grisly throne...
King Death is part nightmare, part modern fairytale and wholly original.
About the Author
Nik Cohn was the original rock & roll writer. Arriving in London from Northern Ireland in 1964, aged 18, he covered the Swinging Sixties for The Observer, The Sunday Times, Playboy, Queen and the New York Times and he published the classic rock history Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom in 1968. later he moved to America and wrote a short story that was filmed as Saturday Night Fever. His other books include Rock Dreams (with Guy Peellaert), Arfur Teenage Pinball Queen (which helped inspire the Who's Tommy) and Yes We Have No.
Reviews
Cohn goes beyond the usual fake apocalyptic ending (in which a star's big concert closes with an orgy of murder and mayhem) by making the underside of the story the story itself -- GreilMarcus * GreilMarcus *
Book Information
ISBN 9781843448976
Author Nik Cohn
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint No Exit Press
Publisher Bedford Square Publishers