The autobiographies of famous rock & roll icons like Nikki Sixx, Sammy Hagar, Ozzie Osbourne and Patti Smith make for some very fascinating reading. But, what about the lives of the other members of various bands, which may/may not hit the Big Time in such an explosive way? Just A Few Seconds by Nemo James is an autobiography that is captivating, written with an ironic and witty sense of humor, and though the author never became as well-known as someone like Eric Clapton or Jim Morrison, his life story is a very interesting and engaging one, indeed. This book is proof that the lives of the members of bands who never quite hit the Big Time for whatever combination of reasons, or who are largely itinerant musicians, going from one band to another, are often also well worth reading about.
Most guys and many teen girls have had dreams growing up in the 1960?s and even now of becoming someone famous, like an athlete with tons of endorsement deals, and actor, or a rock musician. Few have the talent and perseverance, not to mention the luck, that it takes to forge onwards to see their goals realized. Sometimes, though, it all works out for the best, and one can at least have a taste of the glory, a slice of the pie, a glimpse of what it's like to be one of the elite in one's field, and can enjoy a quite pleasant retirement with many memories and anecdotes. That's what Nemo James' life as he writes about it in Just A Few Seconds is about. His autobiography has already been sold out at Amazon once; perhaps ultimately, the author will become more famous for his writing skills than as a musician. As Nemo writes:
Yes, it's been quite a journey. I failed in nearly everything I did and yet always loved life and ended up enjoying the kind of success that the rich and famous only dream about. All that effort and hard work and yet it was nothing more than blind luck that brought about my success. No amount of talent or hard work can replace luck.
The book starts with a chapter called "The End." Why, you might ask? Just A Few Seconds is written in the first person, and the chapter is the author talking to us literally from beyond the grave (though he's of course today quite alive & well), and he's wondering such things as if he's getting a big turn out for his funeral, and how many times the church bell is tolling for him. He tries to think of it as not really an ending, but a "new beginning." This is how he approached every setback in his life, as we'll learn as we read, so why not act the same way about one's afterlife? The rest of the autobiography is fairly linear, though the final chapter is titled "The Middle."
There are some grammatical mistakes that somewhat bothered me as I read, but Nemo James held my attention from the beginning (should I say "The End"?) of the book to the very end ("The Middle"?). The chapters are short and concise, and have some quite clever titles to them, like "The Asylum Creeper," "Cheeserat & Gorilla," "Scrap Metal Man," "A Recipe for Shoestrings," and "Spaghetti Westerns." The writing alone would have held my attention, but the intriguing titles of the chapters made me want to keep reading on, to see how in the world the title could relate to things that happened in Nemo James' life.
Nemo was a self-taught guitar player, who did okay in school, but not that great. He struggled learning to read music by sight throughout the earlier part of his career, which likely hurt his chances of becoming a member of some bands that were popular at the time. He relates how he'd place adverts in the Melody Maker for his services, and how they paid off relatively well for him. He'd get work with many different bands, though he wasn't very good at playing the guitar at first. He really wanted to be a rock musician, but many rock bands weren't that interested in him from the beginning, so he accepted jobs playing for country music bands, or playing folk or Irish tunes.
Some of the most humorous but also bittersweet chapters have to do with his being a member of these dysfunctional bands, and touring U.S. military bases in countries like Germany. That's were the title of the chapter, "Cheeserat & Gorilla," comes about: it was the name of a band, formed from the nicknames of the two members that founded it. The author relates going back to one base after playing, and partying long into the morning there. The commander of the base wasn't very amused to wake up and find his tanks plastered with stickers that read "Cheeserat & Gorilla," for some odd reason.
Just A Few Seconds by Nemo James is an entertaining look at, as the subtitle says, "The Hidden World of Music and Beyond." Spoiler: Nemo's life does, as he hints at from the brief paragraph I excerpted above, turn out quite nicely. He now lives in Croatia, with his wife and family, and more of his life will be detailed in his upcoming book, Croatian Diaries," which will be released in December 2011. If you like reading about the world of musicians, and engrossing autobiographies sprinkled liberally with many moments of light-hearted humor, than I highly recommend you check out Just A Few Seconds by Nemo James.
Reviewed by Douglas R. Cobb for http://www.bestsellersworld.com/
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