Acquire Today The Brothers Scripted By Art Neville Issued As Ebook

really, really wanted to like this book, So much that I finished it, hoping it would turn into the book it seemed to promise, But, sadly, the bulk of the book dealt with each of the brothers' drug use, crime, jail time, and scattered children, Oh, there was music scattered here and there, but often fuzzily recalled as part of a drug score, before they went on stage, Every music fan needs to read one of David Ritz's biographies, The best is DIVIDED SOUL, still the place to go for Marvin Gaye, This one's great aboutof the way, when the seemingly endless tales of dope and women begin to blur and get boring, The big surprise for me, though, was how much sheer adversity much of it selfcreated delayed these musicians' access to the true fruit of their labors.
One of the most interesting books about New Orleans to be published in the past dozen years isnt a guidebook or a novel or a book of poems.
It's THE BROTHERS NEVILLE, an oral biography ofguess whofromedited by David Ritz, From their childhood in the New Orleans streets to their difficulties with drugs to their reembrace of Christianity, the path each brother has been on is different but interestingly parallelalmost like a giant song, with harmony laid upon harmony.
Such voices will be a small but sustaining comfort as New Orleans continues to reassemble its many pieces, even if many of them fit together peculiarly by outside standards.
Michael Brown, the muchexcoriated former head of FEMA, was revolting in his refusal to accept any blame he might bear in the manmade tragedy that followed Katrina.
Nevertheless, he had a point when he called the state of Louisiana in general and New Orleans in particular “dysfunctional, ” As Randy Newman puts it, “New Orleans is not the place to go to get your car fixed, ” Why, after all, did the citys founders elect to build one of the countrys most important port cities on land lower than the waters surrounding it There are many answers to that question, and many explanations of how the situation became worse with the destruction of Louisianas wetlands and the construction of everhigher levees.
And yet that testifies to a crucial part of the character of the city, even of its literature: its stubborn immutability,









originally published, in somewhat different form, in the NASHVILLE SCENE / Village Voice Media,I love this book!!!!! Excellent read a/b evolution of ramp b/funk, the civil rights movement, harsh realities of living in NOLA during Jim Crow, and heroin additiction.
The format is very creative and engaging a collective memoir of three brothers, Highly recommended, whether or not you're into the music, Although how could you not be Excellent book by and about an excellent N'Awlins band, I love oral histories, especially the musical kind, Thebrothers Neville have been playing music foryears, Their tales of growing up in New Orleans and being out on tour in the's and's are wild, I didn't realize what crazy junky criminals they all were, Except Art. He was too busy being a funky Meter, The format took some gettingusedto but I finally started appreciating it about halfway through the book, What a great story, or more like four stories, I finished last night and will

be listening to the Nevilles all day today! It is amazing they made it through their drug addictions, i enjoyed the book and was so eager for more inside perspective on music in Nola, but i would say/the book is about drug addiction.
So sad

Loved hearing about Aaron s work with Linda Ronstadt,

Still a must read for the New Orleans music scene, I am a Nevilles fan and this was a great book told in their own words, It explained who they were and how their music came about, It is a blessing that they made it through their addictions, arrests, and imprisonment, A great read. Great storytelling style as Ritz compiles tales that bounce from brother to brother, One gets a picture of the Nawlins family amp neighborhoods that bred amp bled these brothers from their's start in music on through their hectic periods of haphazard heroin use, robberies and record industry rip offs, to their height of successes amp triumphs in the late's and's.
Excellent portrait of the New Orleans first family of funk, Fascinating insights into the history of the city's music scene from thes onwards, Told in the first person from the four brothers this is a document of America changing through the years and of the brothers' growth through these changes Born to a musicloving family, the Neville brothers grew up immersed in the sounds and culture of New Orleans, and the blended rhythms of the city are reflected in their wide range of musical styles.
The result, like their native city, is a rich gumbo of flavors: Art, with his keyboard wizardry Aaron, with his angelic voice Charles, a spiritual seeker and jazz devotee and Cyril, whose passion for music matches the intensity of his politics.
In The Brothers, each tells his story candidly, recounting the early hits, the problems with drugs and the law, and the circuitous route to success.
Along the way, the brothers tell the story of the New Orleans culture as well the birth of rhythm and blues, the folklore behind the fabulous Mardi Gras Indians, the painful racial climate, and the family whose legacy is now a part of our musical history.
.