"The title of The Uncool refers to rock critic Lester Bangs's assessment of Cameron Crowe, whose adventures as a music journalist were loosely depicted in his 2000 movie, Almost Famous. Long before he became a film-maker, the teenage Crowe travelled around the US interviewing some of the biggest rocks acts of the era, among them Gram Parsons, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, the Eagles and the Allman Brothers Band."
"Crowe is the reader, delivering a warm and vivacious narration that conveys the wide-eyed astonishment of his youthful self as he is thrust into the orbit of his heroes. He also paints a vivid picture of an era in which bands weren't protected by gaggles of PR representatives and a writer could spend 18 months with an artist as Crowe did with Bowie in the mid-1970s to write a single profile."
"The book draws to a close shortly after Crowe conducts a filmed interview with Tom Petty. With the video director gone awol, Petty instructs Crowe to pick up the camera and start shooting. In doing so, Crowe stumbles on what turns out to be his ideal medium: I'd been a music journalist, translating time and space for others to savour. This was an exercise in cutting out the middleman. It was like writing without a pen."
As a teenager, Cameron Crowe traveled across the US interviewing major rock acts including Gram Parsons, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, the Eagles and the Allman Brothers Band. He often appeared as a perennial outsider who cared little for sex, booze and drugs and who lacked certain savoir-faire, yet musicians appreciated his sincerity and admiring-fan perspective. His narration is warm and vivacious and conveys wide-eyed astonishment as he entered the orbit of his heroes. He evokes an era before PR entourages, when journalists could spend 18 months with an artist to create a single profile. A filmed interview with Tom Petty led him to pick up the camera and discover filmmaking as a way to translate time and space directly for others to savour.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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